Fashion Find

A guy who's not afraid of color and wears it well

found on The Sartorialist

Project 365: Week 4

Week# 4

Sun. Jan. 17, 2010 I really don't like paying bills. There are so many of them sometimes.

Mon. Jan. 18, 2010 Getting ready for spring tryouts. Jeremy brought his friend Johnathon down to the cages to get in some early practice. Jeremy wanted to get in some pitching practice too.

Tues. Jan 19, 2010 Look at this mess! The concession stand is under construction. Chad and Kylie have put in 30 hours already! That's a lot of work, and they're not done yet...

Wed. Jan. 20, 2010 Valentines Day is coming along soon. Chad just had to pick up some candy.

Thurs. Jan 21, 2010 I guess even the potato chip companies wanted in on the holiday fun!

I took a picture - and then I ate it :)

Fri. Jan. 22, 2010 We had lots of fun putting together a birthday package for Uncle Todd. He'll be surprised!

Sat. Jan. 23, 2010 Test run for the spring tryouts. The board asked us to have concession open all day. So Chad, Kylie and I worked from 7:45am until almost 5pm. We cooked everything on the menu. People seemed very pleased with the improvements Chad has made and it promises to be a really good season.

Project 365

I am, of course, embarking on another year of Project 365. This year it seems to be referred to as "Project Life", which definitely has a ring to it. I looked at the kit available at beckyhiggins.com but the colors just don't...sing...for me. So I'm hesitating.

I decided to play around with my PSE instead. I figured I would, at the very least, figure out how to use the program! And turns out I was right. I've never understood layers before, and playing around really helped. Knowing that I wasn't going to mess anything up really kept things from getting too stressful!

I had downloaded the free card set from Becky in 2009 and printed the cards myself. So I took one of the cards and loaded it in PSE and played around with changing the colors. That was fun and all, but I wanted to change things up a bit. So I started figuring out how to erase things and add in other designs, use brushes and add in text. It was so fun! I can't wait to really get into this program and make some amazing layouts with it. I see so many ladies (and a few gents) on the net designing some very lovely layouts using all digital elements. So I want to learn more!

These are some of the cards I've made on my own so far. I haven't decided on this colorway yet, though!

Cute, eh? I can't decide if I want to go with a more vintagy style or a rock-n-roll style. Maybe I'll just go whole hog and mix and match! Off to play!

Hey, Doll!

One of the projects in my plan for 2010 is to create a paper doll each month. I've been looking at various patterns and reading up on projects in some mixed media books and I have lots of ideas! This one is just a colored-in version, nothing major. I did have fun, though! I forsee making way more than 12 of these this year! Especially if my daughter plays along. She saw me coloring today and pulled out her Project Runway paper dolls and patterns that she'd gotten for her birthday a couple years ago. We may make this a mother/daughter project! How fun that would be! We'd be doing the same thing but coming up with completely different outfits. *She's way more stylish than me*

Project 365: Week 3

Week #3

Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010 We went grocery shopping and I spotted this lovely VW on the way out. I caught the owner on the way and asked to take a picture. He was a little surprised and a bit confused, but let me have my way anyway. I now have a collection of these VW van photos! Too bad I can't own the van!

Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 I finished reading Breaking Dawn. Good book. The ending could have been a bit better. Still a quick read.

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 Look at all those library books! We're studying Colonial history and the human body. Lots of interesting stuff in there.

Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 I've been working on the old photos again. This time I was looking for birthday pictures of each of the kids to do a "13th" year layout. Got them scanned and ready to go!

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010 Chad got Jeremy started on overeasy eggs so now it's actually a bit of work to make him breakfast in the morning. Scrambled is so much easier!

Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 Coffee Date! I'm getting the coffee thing. It's nice to hang out, sippin' the java, having a chat. Time really flies as we enjoy the morning together.

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 I'm still trying to get the 2009 Project 365 finished up. I need to get the pictures from Nov and Dec printed now. Almost there. Not doing it this way again.

What's the Word Wednesday!

EBULLIENCE

[i-buhl-yuh ns] noun

1. high spirits; exhilaration; exuberance

2. a boiling over; overflow

Source: Dictionary.com

The American Heritage Dictionary gives the definition "zestful enthusiasm".  I like that. I could use some ebullience in my life. Adventures, here I come!

No! No! No!

all photos taken by me. it was a bummer of a photo shoot.

Yaa-aa-awwwnnn! It's Monday!

Oh, yeah. I'm right there with ya, bub.

It's another week in the Rolling Schoolhouse. Mondays are always the roughest. I wish we could skip them and say we did it. But then Tuesday would be Monday and that just wouldn't be right. So we'll muscle through the day and make the best of it. Once we get back into the daily schedule the week rolls on by.

So here's to Monday - may it pass with little stress, lots of fun, and full of memories!

I want one!

These new "old" bikes are just so cute!  I can just see myself tooling around on one of these in a sweet little sundress and some cute shoes. I'd have to add a basket to carry my goodies! I just don't know which color I'd choose. I really like the lavendar as well as the yellow. But this baby blue is soft and pretty, too. Which one?! Which one?! Choices, choices :)

The Dogs are Barkin'!

It's been one loooong day. Today was tryouts for little league baseball. The board asked Chad to open the concession stand for the day so he and K have been working all week to get it ready. Today, Chad and I spent the entire day - from open at 8 to close at 4 - in the concession stand. K helped about half the day. She was beat. And man, are my feet on fire! I even wore trainers to give a bit more support. We still had fun with it though. It was great to see all the new players and catch up with some of the kids from J's previous teams. I was so busy, I forgot to take pictures throughout the day. But I did get a couple shots:

Project 365: Week 2

WEEK #2

Jan. 3, 2010  (Sunday) We spent a couple hours at Downtown Disney. The kids went to play DDR at Disney Quest so Chad and I had some time to check things out.

Jan. 4, 2010 (Monday)  I had a bunch of scraps from making my new dayplanner calendar, and instead of throwing them away I made this cute bookmark. Way better than the tag I was using!

Jan. 5, 2010 (Tuesday) Chad's scarf. It's gonna take awhile to finish this one.

Jan. 6, 2010 (Wednesday)  I went to the park to get some fresh air and play around. Those are my feet. Yes, I'm wearing socks. It was really, really cold out there. Even in the sun.

Jan. 7, 2010 (Thursday) G.I.Joe and his buddies infiltrated the book stacks and took down a few notes for Math class. I think the fractions scared them.

Jan. 8, 2010 (Friday) Who doesn't love CiCi's? Come on, you know you do!

Jan. 9, 2010 (Saturday) That be ICE in that chair! Orlando doesn't see weather like this very often. I wish we weren't seeing it now. The bitterly cold wind makes it even worse. Not even my thickest sweater can hold out this cold. It's ridiculous! I have a picture of the ice sicles hanging off my truck too, but this one is my picture for the day.  What a way to round out the week! sheesh...

New Toys for Momma

A big thanks to Katie the Scrapbook Lady for this idea. It seems like everyone's doing these as digital scrapbook pages, and I've always done them on traditional pages. But when I saw Katie's layout, I just had to try this. So I looked up a free toy at BigHugeLabs and had some fun!

These are my 2009 crafty accomplishments: 1. Hand-embroidered Kirtle skirt for my Tudor Lady. 2. Hand-embroidered baby blanket for new nephew, Connor. 3. Braves cookies for J's baseball team. 4. My first knitting project. 5. Scarf for me! 6. J's halloween costume: Sasuke Uchia from the Naruto manga series

7. My first hat knit in the round. 8. First crocheted roses. 9. Snow White dress for my niece, Katelin.

10. Scrapbook layout 11. Temari ornaments 12. Gingerbread house with all the trimmings!

This is the bead function. I like it. I will be playing with this one a lot!

And the pop art function. Could use a few more color options. But still fun to play with!

and even better:

ta-da! The photostrip! Ha! I'm officially a fan of Big Huge Labs!

What's the Word Wednesday!

MELLIFLUOUS

[muh-lif-loo-uhs] adj.

1. sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding: a mellifluous voice

2. flowing with honey; sweetened with or as if with honey.

Source: Dictionary.com

If only I could speak in such mellifluous tones. Alas, I suffer from the pollution of the english language, my speech peppered with the gutteral slang of generations of rebellious souls.

January Photo Challenge: Reflections

In an attempt to get a bit more creative with my photography, I've looked up a gaggle of photo challenges on the internet and made myself a list. One of the items on my New Years goal list is to learn to use my cameras to their fullest potential, and get out there and take some photos! Challenge number 1: Reflections

Downtown Disney window display. You can see me and Chad in the bottom left corner if you look really close. I was just a little too short, so you can only see the top half of my face.

This is the pond at the RV park in Winter Garden. I timed it just right to get some nice movement on the surface as well as the play of light and shadow. I think I annoyed the ducks, though.

And this is me, hunkered down under the slide. I'm such a goof.

I used my little Sony Cybershot for this photoshoot. It was way too cold outside to pull out the Canon. My hands were frozen and sleet was sliding from the corners of my eyes. The wind was insanely bitter. But despite the weather I managed to snap 50 photos! How 'bout me?! These 3 are my favorites so far. The month isn't gone yet, so I plan to add a few more photo shoots to my challenge files. Wanna play?

love, love

This picture has been making its way around the net. And I'm not one bit surprised. Someday, I'll have a studio and this photo will be part of my inspiration. Join in the love, won't you?

source: weheartit.com

The Knitwit Files vol.2: Checkerboard Scarf

This is what I'm working on right now. This picture is 3 days of work. I've haven't gotten very far, have I?

The checkboard pattern is turning out to be fairly easy now that my fingers have it pretty much memorized. I've made a bunch of scarves already, but always solids or stripes. So this is my first pattern switching colors mid-row.

I found the pattern in a big book of knitting projects from the library. I don't remember the title now. I made a copy of the pattern because Chad said he liked it. So I'm making this one for him. It'll look really nice with his wool coat.

It's a simple rib stitch pattern, but I have to keep track of the rows on paper to know when to move the end color to the beginning. The needles are so small for this one that I can't make out the rows just by looking at the knit. I'm just not that good yet! :P

Temari toys

I am in love with the Japanese art of Temari! I just can't get enough of it!

I found a book at the library about Temari and since I love embroidery on a flat surface, I thought it'd be a fun challenge on a spherical surface. I was so right. It is a bit of a challenge, but once you have an understanding of how the needle positions work, it's so much fun! And even better yet - it's a great way to use up scraps! Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like waste. So all those bags of fabric scraps are now going into these lovely Temari balls! And anytime I find bits of yarn at the thrift shops I grab that up too. The yarn gets wrapped around the cloth to form the ball. Then the final layer is thread. Once the ball is covered, I mark the pattern points and get going!

These 2 are full size - about 10.5" circumfrence. In the back of the book the author states that Temari can be made on any scale. So I gave it a shot and made some mini-Temari as ornaments for the christmas tree.

They turned out really cute. They came out around 4" circ. I made them as a set to give as a gift. That's why they're not on my tree. I'll make some more later for me!  My next attempt will be even smaller! I want to see if I can make a set of earrings!

Yes. I'm just a little bit obsessed.

National Hat Day!!

I just found out that January 15th is National Hat Day! Why didn't someone let me in on this so I could prepare?! And why aren't more people wearing hats?! especially since they can get away with it today! Here are some pretties I found on the web:

Carmen Miranda, of course. Who wouldn't want one of these?!

1950's cocktail

found at Blue Velvet Vintage

Vintage Poet's Hat found at ModCloth

1920s Flapper (I die)

Found at 1860-1960: one hundred years of fashion and accessories

I love hats. All hats. But not all hats love me. I just have one of those faces that doesn't take well to hats. And not a lot of companies make fashion hats for those with locks!

For Christmas 2007, my MIL gave me a great big box full of vintage hats! Oh, what joy! It is one of my fondest desires to have a wardrobe that will allow such delectable head gear...once the dreads are gone...

You, know, I do believe I need to get out my box of hats and play.