Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Park

I dislike trying on clothes. I'll hold something up in the thrift store and just guess if something is going to fit me, then buy it.  At $1-2 a pop, if it doesn't fit I can donate it.  I fell in love with this blue top, but alas, when it came home with me, it shrank.  Or I bloated, more likely.
I thought and thought and schemed and pondered, but couldn't figure out a way to make it work.  Finally, I realized I could add strips of coordinating fabric on all the side seams!  Whew, it actually worked!
Last weekend, hubby and I took "the Dawwwg" to my favorite local park and I wore my newly completed Franken-top. 
Can you believe how blue the sky is?  It was another lovely and wild, North Carolina day.  This idea has started a dangerous precedent.  How many ill-fitting blouses will I now brazenly purchase, knowing I can slap some strips on it's sides?  I shudder to think.
Photography by David Wingler

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sailors and Seashells

I love the ocean. Both my grandfathers were sailors and I think I've inherited a connection to the sea. I can't go too many months without, at least, sitting on a shore with my feet in the sand.

"Anne thought she left great happiness behind her when they quitted the house; and Louisa, by whom she found herself walking, burst forth into raptures of admiration and delight on the character of the navy: their friendliness, their brotherliness, their openness, their uprightness; protesting that she was convinced of sailors having more worth and warmth than any other set of men in England; that they only knew how to live, and they only deserved to be respected and loved."~ Jane Austen, Persuasion

I saw these coral necklaces in the Anthropologie catalog and thought I might try my hand at it. 
I drilled a hole in a shell that I brought back from our honeymoon at Carolina Beach. Neon is really big right now.  I didn't have any neon paint on hand, but, I used a bright orange acrylic to dip it in, so I could show you.  Then I attached a wire and jump ring to it, and attached that to a gold chain from my tangled bead box.
I also have an obsession with t-shirt scarves. I've made over 20 that I am going to give away to some teens that I'll be speaking to about style.  But I keep pulling them out of the bag to wear myself. I promise I'll put them back. :)  Give me a shout out below if you want me to demo how to make them. They are very easy.  This is my first experiment with drawing on one with, yes, a Sharpie!  And I'm quite happy with it.
cut out of the News & Observer