Friday's Letters

Today I'm combining a Friday's Letters post with another because well, I just wanna- so there! ;)

Dear Blog, I have been so uninspired lately that I have been ignoring you. No matter what I do I can't seem to get inspired and I hate to just post stuff just to post it, so that I have something posted for that day. Seems so beside the point of having a blog, having to torture myself to do posts or come up with material just to fill space on a daily basis. SO, I am slowly regenerating myself and will eventually return to you full force...

Dear Cameron, you are almost 9 months old and I just can't believe how fast you've grown, how much you change and grow every day right before my eyes and how much I enjoy watching you do it all. You're hilarious and it's freaky how much like me and your dad you are. Genes and the proliferation of them are such a weird thing!

Dear Boo Kitty, I loved you like a child before I had Cameron and I still love you but if you pee or poop in the living room one more time I'm really going to lose it!

Dear shoe and bag closet, Ha! I conquered you! Hopefully that will inspire me to keep going and organize the other closets in the house, eventually moving on to getting other more major projects done. For now I will flaunt you as my one victory so far during this lazy summer of mine....

And now... here's my post on the shoe/bag closet organization...

So I've been in a full funk for the last few weeks. Not sure what it is, probably just the mid-summer blues but whatever it is I just can't seem to get it in gear. In an attempt to get myself kick started again I decided to take on some organizational projects that I've been putting off since we moved in almost a year ago.

First up was getting all of my shoes and bags out of the Shoes Under bags that they've been stored in for the last few years and organizing them in one of the guest bedroom closets. The closet we have in our master bedroom is kind of small compared to the size of the room. Luckily, we have two extra bedrooms with big empty closets!

A side note about Shoes Under- they SUCK! I bought them when we lived in an apartment thinking they were perfect since they'd just easily slide in and out from under the bed. Well, like I said they suck. The compartments aren't sewn to the bottom of the bag so everything pretty much just ends up bunched together at the bottom of the bag. And the bottom and sides of the bag have no structure at all, it's all fabric so the bag is floppy so when you push or pull the handle the bag just collapses and doesn't move. I'm such a sucker for those darn As Seen On TV products! Hope that Yonanas machine I just ordered is as cool as it seemed on the commercial.

Ha! Just kidding... how completely ridiculous is that thing!

Here's my finished high heel and bag closet. My flats, flip flops, sneakers and boots are in my Master bedroom closet. I used skirt/pant hangers to hang the bags. I saw on Pinterest that someone else used S hooks which is a brilliant idea but I have no idea where to get some. I've looked around as I've been out and about and haven't seen anything even close to an S hook. Besides, I like to use what I have if possible and I had a stack of skirt hangers just hanging around looking for a job!

Make a fab fascinator in celebration of the Royal Wedding!

Yep, I'm one of "those" people obsessed with the Royal Wedding. I love Kate Middleton! She's everything I think a princess should be- classic, beautiful, fresh and elegant. I can't wait to see all the pomp and circumstance, the fashion, hats, jewels, crowns and the dress!

In honor of Kate I thought I'd make one of her favorite accessories- the fascinator hat. I love these little hats but unless you're British royalty you really can't pull off just randomly wearing one of these lovely, crazy pieces. However, what better time than now to make one of these fun hats and sport it while watching the Royal Wedding.

The design of my fascinator was inspired by this Kate Middleton piece:

Using a thick and stiff piece of black felt I cut an oval out. Then I cut a slit in one end, overlapped the edges of the slit and glued them together with a glue gun. This creates a curve in the felt piece so that it forms to your head.


Earlier I made a trip to my local craft store to pick up a bag of feathers. I ended up getting these feather cuffs because I liked the fullness and floppiness of the feathers and I especially like the varied lengths of the feathers.


I got this black tulle flower pin on a sweater I purchased a few years back. I thought I'd use it on the front of the fascinator to break up the look of the feathers.

I started by gluing one of the feather cuffs to the front of the felt oval. (The front is the end that you cut the slit in and glued.) The second feather cuff I glued behind the first.

Then I just pinned my tulle flower brooch to the front of feathers. I didn't glue it down because I wanted to have the option to use it later.

Next I cut five strips of felt out and attached each end of each strip to the back of the feather piece. I glued three horizontally down the middle and two vertically along the sides. Using bobby pins I will use these strips to help secure the fascinator to my head.

Voila! You're done. It's that fast and easy. A fab fascinator head piece to wear while you sip tea and watch the Royal Wedding. Enjoy and pip pip cheerio!

Check out these crazy but fun fascinators!

Dreaming of Summer

I'm over Spring. Over it. It's raining, there are still no leaves on the trees and I've finally realized that Spring is never coming. So I've moved on to Dreaming of Summer. Here's a style inspiration board I put together for myself. I made it on Polyvore which is an amazing website where you can put together the coolest fashion boards. Best of all the photos are linked directly to the website where you can purchase the items, making it easy for you and your readers to find your inspirations!

I did a very basic board my first time around but there are all sorts of backgrounds and templates to choose from that enable you to make your boards look like they're straight from a fashion magazine. So fun you gotta try it!

I used to rock a dress just like the striped turquoise/white one except it was awesomely 80's styled. Wish I could find a picture of it to upload. I think I rocked it with white pumps and giant 80's permed hair. Ha! My favorite combo is the orange dress with the clutch- so cute and affordable! The dress is from TopShop (one of my favorite stores!) and is only $40!

Along with coordinating heels I also selected a pair of flat sandals for each outfit. Everyone knows I love the super high heels but I always make sure I have a pair of flat shoes in my bag in the off chance that I need them. I always say that I could run a mile in my heels and I really think that I could but it's always nice to have a coordinating and comfy pair of shoes if need be. My favorite flat sandals on this board are the nude ones. They go with anything and they have little skulls on the top of the them!

Dreaming of Summer by janyclaire 

Bustier dress
70 GBP - warehouse.co.uk

Dorothy Perkins chiffon cocktail dress
24 GBP - topshop.com

Silk dress
$368 - aliceandolivia.com

Forever21 strappy wedge
$26 - forever21.com

Carvela stiletto high heels
$233 - asos.com

Alexander McQueen leather high heels
420 EUR - montaignemarket.com

Espadrilles wedge
$27 - tillys.com

Gucci platform high heels
$995 - bergdorfgoodman.com

TopShop toe loop sandal
$75 - topshop.com

Leather gladiator sandal
buyvip.com

Burberry leather tote
$1,395 - burberry.com

Turquoise handbag
$40 - mimiboutique.com

Linea pelle handbag
$165 - lpcollection.com

I wear my sunglasses at night

so I can, so I can, see the light that's right before my eyes...

I'm looking for a new pair of fab sunglasses. Tom Ford seems to be the front runner right now. Here are a few styles that have caught my eye.

 

Yves Saint Laurent YSL 6238/S

 

Hayden Panettiere in YSL 6238

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Tom Ford- Angelica

Halle Berry in Tom Ford- Angelica

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Tom Ford- Callae 0165

Kim Kardashian in Tom Ford- Callae

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Tom Ford Simone 0074

Britney Spears in Tom Ford- Simone


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Oliver Peoples Sabina

Padma Lakshmi in Oliver Peoples- Sabina

They're all pretty much the same shape and size. My two favorites are the Tom Ford Angelica and Simone styles. I like the gold metal detail of the Angelica and love the bamboo look of the Simone. Guess now I just gotta track them down at a retail shop so I can try them on and see how they look.

 

Oscars 2011 Red Carpet Roundup

I'm back! I totally had blogger burn out last week and only posted once! That combined with the fact that I was sick lead to a week of just veggin' out wrapped up in my favorite blanket. Anyhoo, I think I've regenerated and am ready to get back in the bloggin' saddle. And what better way than to talk about the Oscars! Let's talk!

I saw Ryan Seacrest interview Gwyneth Paltrow on the red carpet and was surprised when I heard her say she hadn't slept in a week because she was so nervous for her performance that night. You could just really see in her face that she was very, very nervous. Poor thing. I must say though, it was nice to see that even a seasoned performer such as her still gets nerves. I so totally can relate to those nerves!

Here's her performance from last night, I think she did okay. You could tell she was nervous. I don't care for the song (love her song Country Strong) but I do think she has a great voice.

And now for the dresses...

TO DIE FOR

Amy Adams

 L'Wren Scott and those amazing Cartier jewels

 I loved this dress! It was simple in cut but blinged out with the sequins and fit her body perfectly. Loved the gorgeous emerald Cartier jewels worth $1.3 million!

SHE LOOKED GOOD FOR HER

 Reese Witherspoon 

Georgio Armani Prive

When I first saw her I didn't recognize her! She always pretty much looks the same on the red carpet, nice but nothing amazing. This look is still very simple but I just love that she did something totally different. And her hair! Love the hair. I heard Erin Andrews on Good Morning America this morning say she looked like vintage Barbie- so true, she so does!

Celine Dion

Giorgio Armani Prive

I thought Celine looked gorgeous and loved this dress. She usually picks weird, quirky pieces (like the backwards tuxedo she wore in 1999) so it was nice to see her in something so simple, sleek and elegant. And to think that she just had twins a couple months ago!

UGH

Marisa Tomei

Charles James

Can somebody please help Marisa Tomei? She is such a wreck. The poor woman just can not get it right. The top on this dress sat too high on her chest making the sides ride high up into her armpits. The bottom is too poufy, weird and unflattering with its asymmetrical line. I actually saw her kicking it out from underfoot every time she walked.

NICE TRY BUT UH, NOT SO MUCH

Jennifer Hudson

Atelier Versace

I think this dress is very pretty and love the color against her skin BUT I just don't think this dress found its rightful owner. Mainly because of her boobs. Sorry but they just looked so smushed, flapjack pancake-y. And I know she just lost a ton of weight and good for her and all that stuff but this dress just did not work with those boobs. This dress definitely calls for a small breasted woman.

BEST INTERPRETATION OF A 

CARTOON/SCI-FI CHARACTER

Cate Blanchett

Givenchy Haute Couture

This is Givenchy Haute Couture so maybe it's just that I'm not sophisticated enough to "get it" but I just couldn't look away from those jarring cap sleeves. I think if the dress was strapless with a halter-like top it would have, for me, worked better. I thought the top part of the dress looked like a Star Trek uniform. My husband said he thought she looked like a Teletubbie.

Lorain Avenue antiquing

We've been searching for vintage industrial caster wheels to go on an industrial console table we made in the Fall (a post on this soon to come) for awhile now. We've looked extensively online and have made several trips to antique shops in search of these elusive casters. On Sunday we drove up to Lorain Ave. in Cleveland (a well known antiquing area of the city) hoping we'd get lucky this time. You'd think they'd be super easy to find in this area. I mean, where else would you expect to find rusty industrial remnants and cast offs from the long gone industrial age but in Cleveland?

Our first stop was at Antique Arcade/Antiques in the Bank, an antique furniture and architectural salvage shop. It completely blew our minds how much stuff was packed into the two story shop. Every inch of floor space, wall space and even the ceiling was covered with hardware, banisters, floor grates, doors, stained glass windows and anything else you could think of. So cool! 

We found several bins of old casters but they were all much too small (we're looking for 4 or 5 inch ones). We did find a set of industrial pocket door wheels that we thought might work so we bought those for $20. The store was so amazing and definitely someplace we'll keep in mind when putting together any future projects.

An aisle of antique door knob plates and door knobs.

 

Old heater/vent grates. Love these but couldn't figure out

what to do with them.

Door and chairs everywhere!

Along the way we came across Suite Lorain. A 50's diner looking building from the outside, inside it harbors mid-century modern furniture and in the back you'll find...

70's!

...a huge selection of vintage clothing! When I walked back into the clothing section I literally gasped out loud! I could not believe the amount of vintage clothing. I walked up and down the aisles, taking it all in and then settled down into a rack labeled Couture. Diane Von Furstenburg, Lanvin, St. John... amazing labels.

Unfortunately, it was already 3 pm and we hadn't even had lunch yet. I was starving and weak from hunger so we had to cut the visit short. But I will definitely be going back to peruse every inch of that place and add some fab pieces to my vintage dress collection!

Racks and racks of vintage goodies!

The vintage hat and bag section.

After visiting several more shops we walked away empty handed but not disheartened! We ended up  getting a great lead on where to buy new industrial but somewhat vintage looking casters from the owners at Antique Revival, a shop that showcases industrial and architectural pieces for the home. Ultimately, I think we're going to end up purchasing new casters and then have to figure out some way to age and antique them.