Down with the Bloody Big Head: Watches that Don't Work and Shoes that Don't Fit

I was exploring one of my favorite sites today, and I found new accessories for my Hatta costume, purely by accident (I was planning on showing you some of my favorites on Shabby Apple, but that will have to wait for another day). Two little necklace watches and a glass ball that serves a double purpose as both a locket AND a magnifying glass were among the finds. It wasn't until after I had oogled over all the items and thought about how great they would be for my costume that I realized they all had Alice in Wonderland names. There's the Looking Glass Necklace and the White Rabbit's Timekeeper, as well as the Mad Hatter's Timekeeper. They're all incredibly cute and costume worthy, buuuut....like all good jewelry, they have their price. I do think having multiple clock necklaces would be a fun touch, so I might pursue that one a bit more, and see what happens to turn up. You never know what I might find hiding in some second hand store, or something else. Lodi is full of all sorts of little corners that have odd jewelry bits in them.

The other item I found is the exact opposite of the hat: the shoes! And boy are they cute. Black and white with a bow, these remind me somewhat of the saddle shoes from when I was little. Too bad they are almost sold out, the only remaining ones being in size 7. Ah well. I'm sure something else will come along at some point. If you happen to be a lucky 7, then you can take a look at the shoes here. Of course, if I was sticking with the true Hatta design (which I'm not, as I'm doing a more daughter-of-the-Hatta thing), I would be embracing the menswear-for-women fashion in the shoe department, going after the Eager Beaver design. Its actually simply "Eager," but I can vary rarely say the first word without the second following, so I've taken this chance to re-christen the shoes. If you paid attention in the movie, these are actually really really close in design to the ones Johnny Depp wore--just a bit fancier.

I think I'll stick to hunting watches for now.

Summer Days, Retro

I recently ran across a very inspiring story of an entrepreneur. Her inspiration was a child and the color red. When thinking about the freedom of being young, this woman began to envision a line of clothing now known as Damselfly. Damselfly is a UK-based company that creates children's clothing by hand, with all the little ruffles and frills that are fitting for a little girl--the sort I remember proudly wearing once-upon-a-time.

Damselfly is particularly refreshing in that it lets little girls be little girls. There is room to run and romp and play, but there is also room to play dress up, make cookies, and run a magical household. In this little corner of the internet, there is no need to hurry grow up. There is plenty of time to savor childhood. Contrast that to the latest annoyance in children's dress that I've found: padded bras for eight year olds--or younger. Target sells fully padded bras that run as small as a girls size 4 (its in the fineprint. Scroll down). I overheard someone comment that it was a good thing, since "little girls need to be ready to face the real world." Heaven help us, can't we have at least twelve small years to be carefree and to not care what the real world thinks?

Unlike Target, Damselfly operates in the realm where fairytales are O.K. Practical but pretty. Looking through the website, I feel a little sad that there are no little ones that I can dress in this style. It greatly reminds me of the frilly little dresses my grandmother made me when I was a little girl. Actually, it reminds me of one in particular. It was a Sunday dress, with lace all around the skirt. The fabric was blue with little butterflies and flowers all over it, and it had a sailor collar--one of those ones that was a big square in the back. I have no idea why I remember that dress so well. I can't think of any really important event that was connected to it, just sleeping on (or under) pews, pretending to write in coloring books, and running around the church lobby while I waited for my parents to quit talking and take me home for lunch. I remember wanting to wear it as much as possible.

I found that dress again a few months ago. It isn't really blue anymore: it has faded. There was a lot less lace on it than I remembered from my childhood. I think some of the lace was ripped, and the fabric was somewhat worn in a few places. By all rights, it should have taken its place in the rag bag, but I couldn't bear to part with it, so I packed it back up and it sits somewhere in the depths of my closet, until I have a wave of nostalgia and pull it out, or until I go on a cleaning spree and do get rid of it. I doubt that will happen though. It was the sort of dress that made memories. Or, to be exact, it is a memory.

I get the same sort of feeling browsing through damselfly, and I think that, someday, some woman who was privileged enough to wear one of those dresses as a little girl will pull it out and remember everything she did in it, and then she'll fold it up and set it aside, hoping that someday another little girl will get the chance to make her own memories in it.

I am a Very Bad Girl

For those dozen devotees of my blog, I owe an apology for Sunday's short, rather fangurlish post, as well as being naughty and not posting yesterday. There is, of course, a COMPLETELY valid explanation for this deviant behavior, and it has everything to do with bringing only the best possible commentaries on fashion and life to my dear readers. Sunday evening, I attended the Moonlight Classic, a drum and bugle corp competition. It was absolutely mahvelous, and I shall post more about it. I had planned to write about it yesterday, but life has a habit of being naughty, so I was naughty too and didn't post. Take heart, though!! I remembered at 11:30 PM that I was negligent, and it gave me such an adrenaline rush that I failed to sleep for a whole fifteen minutes over it.

Exclusiveness: Here Comes the Hobbit!

SQUEEE!!! I'm a bit excited, if you can't tell. While there were a few photos released earlier, this will be the first magazine article done. Very very very excited, to the point of silliness. :P You can see the full teaser article here.

SQUEEEEEEE!

Push the Button, Max! Remembering Peter Falk

A great man was lost this week. Peter Falk died on Thursday, June 23th. He was 83. A great actor, who I thoroughly enjoyed watching. He was first introduced to me as the grandfather in The Princess Bride, where he expertly tells a love story to his young grandson, who is sick and more interested in video games than in spending time with his relatives. It is a beautiful story, and Peter Falk is a wonderful narrator. I never imagined that the grey-haired storyteller would become one of my favorite actors, but he did.

Peter Falk is probably best known for Columbo, among other pieces. I never watched Columbo. The one film that I have watched the most of Peter Falk's is The Great Race, a prized piece that my father introduced me to. Falk plays Max, Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)'s assistant. I can't count the number of times I've watched this film, and every time, I have to marvel at the great acting, the pranks, and the wonder of it all. Max is one of my favorite characters, and I can't think of any person who could have brought him to life quite like Peter Falk did.

I know Peter hasn't made any films for a while, but it is still sad losing someone with talent. We will miss you, Mr. Falk.

"Push the button, Max!!"

That's Not The Creative I Was Thinking Of....

My brain, Polyvore, and myself have been having a fight the last few days. Polyvore is still an exploratory thing for me, so I keep finding great new bits and pieces to use. So Polyvore really isn't the problem. What IS the problem, however, is that I want to do sets for competitions, and my brain wants to do slightly morbid, somewhat weird, and altogether pure artistic sets. Somewhere between those points, we clash, and there is a big fuss I simply don't have time for. The first clash of plans was for a Penelope Cruz set that I was under a bit of time pressure to finish. I don't think I need to say that I didn't place in that particular competition.

ANYWAY, I've been experimenting with some new techniques, and am enjoying the more artistic-less-dressy style, but at the same time, I'm turning into a jack-of-all-trades-mistress-of-none. Right now, I was planning on working on sets for two competitions: a Summer Trends themed competition, as well as a Fierce Color with Sebastian Professional one. Its the Summer Trends one that is causing the trouble. I thought a nice beach and board game theme would be a good idea. You can take a look at its most recent permutation (which is always changing, because I'm still editing it), but it is most obviously creepy, not summery.

I'm just wondering why my creative juices have a mind of their own. I've never experienced this for artwork on a computer. I have experienced it freehanding things, but that is when I'm drawing without a purpose. Right now, my purpose is apparently to be violent, or at least slightly morbid (which should be nothing new). Corralling my thoughts into productivity is hard right now. I think the summer heat is getting to me.

The Village Lanterne: Blackmore's Night

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite music groups: Blackmore's Night. The legend goes that Richie Blackmore (one of the founders of Deep Purple) and Candice Night chose to start a Renaissance-styled music group in 1997, and chose the name based on a play of their own names--thus creating Blackmore's Night. The couple married in 2008 (awwww....), and their musical reputation has continued to grow.

What saddens me is, not that many people know of Blackmore's Night. They know of Deep Purple, but they haven't experienced the awesomeness of the modern-day renaissance. I was recently talking to the best DJ I know, who always teases me about my music selections, always ending his worry with "I don't know WHAT I'm going to play at your wedding!!" (He's one of the few people who is positive that I'm getting married next year and just don't know it yet. I've given up reminding them that I'm not even in a relationship). Greg (the DJ) was recently introduced to Blackmore's Night (by yours truly, of course), and asked about who the founders were. The lightbulb connecting Blackmore's Night, Richie Blackmore, and Deep Purple went off a few moments later. SCORE!!

While I could go on and on about the wonder of their music, I shall simply advise you take a listen and Search Amazon.com for Blackmore's Night. Oh yeah, and to get a taste of their style, take a quick look at this video.

Candice Night certainly has style. I chose The Way to Mandaly over my person favorite piece of theirs (Village Lanterne), because Mandaly has more outfits, and, since I'm about to start talking about medieval styled clothing, is somewhat important. I personally like Candice's style, and Blackmore's Night as a whole is just the cherry on top of a huge sub-cultures of medieval- and renaissance-ness. Providers such as ArmStreet are completely devoted to providing fuel for this trend, creating everything from full suits of armor to Lord of the Rings knock-offs (Eowyn, anyone? or are you more Galadriel minded?). ArmStreet is definitely a nice place to wander around and spend a lot of money at. I've never heard any bad feedback about them.

Candice Night's style can be a little more modern than ArmStreet, though. I would suggest looking for individual pieces (much like I'm doing with my Mad Hatter costume), and then combining it into something beautiful. I've noticed that Candice tends to mix-and-match items, and that's fun to do anyway. I would recommend searching through sites like Etsy and ArtFire. Etsy's search engine is much, much more cooperative than ArtFire's. As with all things, remember, though, that the more detail and quality you want, the higher the price is going to be. Damsel in this Dress has nice corsets and bodices, of course (I've linked to them before, I believe), and My Elegant Muse has full costumes, as well as selling all the parts separately. Seasons of the Earth is the same (to note, this seller has about three different names that the do buisness under). Zachulas Crypt mainly does costuming for pirate and vampire reasons (yeah, yeah yeah.) but still carries on the theme. The Elven Seamstress sells most of the above, but also strikes out in a new area: men's clothing! If you can get your man to dress up like Richie Blackmore, kudos for you. Anyway, take a gander through Etsy and Artfire's search engines, and be inventive with your search terms. Searching "gypsy" can come up with a whole new world of this exact same stuff.

Oh, yeah, and if you want to do it the cheater way, check out Chovihani. She makes shrugs with the huge sleeves so you don't have to actually wear the entire chemise. Also, if you happen to know what instrument Richie Blackmore is playing in that picture way up there, please let me know. I want one.

If you waded your way all the way through those links, you deserve a cookie. Keep looking. One might show up soon. 

Laptop for sale, slightly used. One bullet hole in screen.

If you haven't noticed, I didn't post anything substantial today. I've been busy banging my head against a desk trying to get a little inspiration for a tiny little journal that was due today. I never thought 300 words could take four hours to write. Well, I didn't really write for four hours. Part of that time was spent staring at a blank page, another part making dinner and another part complaining about it. Suffice to say, it was a very naughty paper and I did not come up with any great insights for here because I was staring at a stupid blank page. 

I'll have something more interesting for tomorrow. See you then!!

Featured Blogger: Sky Destrian

My dear friend Sky keeps teasing me that I need to blog about her, since she is supposedly my "EVUL elf lady-in-training," whatever THAT means. Anyway, I finally settled down to create a list of questions and made Sky my guinea pig at this Featured Blogger thing.

What age group are you in? Between 15 and 25. :P
About how much do you spend on clothing each month? Um... $0? I am really not as much of a clothes person as one might think. I only buy a couple new outfits every season.
Do you prefer shopping online or in person? I'm the kind of person who needs to try on the clothes in person before she can buy them.
What are your favorite stores? Target. Good clothes for good prices. ;)
What would you call your style? A mix of vintage, modern, and classy.
What color is your favorite to wear? I really like purples and blues, because they bring out my eyes. I also have a lot of neutral colors, like black, brown, and gray, that I like to wear with splashes of color.
What color do you feel looks awful on you? I'm not a big fan of oranges or super bright neon colors.
Do you like patterns? That depends. I like polka dots and stripes in a general sense, but don't have a lot of pieces of clothing with them on it. I do like plaid button-up shirts though.
If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream outfit look like? That would definitely depend on my mood that day. I'd like to purchase a nice 50's style dancing gown, or something reminiscent of the costumes from Narnia or Lord of the Rings. But for a more modern look, I'd probably want to buy some nice sunglasses, scarves, and accessories so that I can dress up the typical jeans & t-shirt look.
Does your blog reflect your clothing styles? Yes, definitely. I like to post my sets that I make on Polyvore. Though I am far from being a fashion blogger.
Why or why not? I like to show off the sets I make on Polyvore, because they reflect the clothes that I want but don't have. As for why I'm not a fashion blogger, well... I'm not exactly fashionable in what I wear day-to-day. But I try. :P
How do you think clothing reflects personality? Clothing reflects personality because it's an outward reflection of who you are. Unfortunately, clothes are the first thing people usually notice, so I believe your clothing should be an expression of you. Are you quirky? Dress quirky. Are you retro? Dress retro. And the list goes on.
Do you have anything else you would like to share with us? When I was little, my mom always said that pink didn't go with red. I am still unsure about this.
Where is your blog, and what is it about? You can find my blog at http://www.furtherup-and-furtherin.blogspot.com. It's about my life, my Savior, my music, my fandoms, with the occasional spurt of song lyrics and the clothes that I wish I had. :P

If you would like your blog featured, feel free to contact me.

Bridal Feature: Balancing Bling and Bloom

A few days ago, I briefly mentioned designer Pnina Tornai when I last talked about bling. She is the creator of the dress that I am still dying to get a picture of: the all-swarovski crystal wedding dress. So far, no luck. However, today, I'm lacking much inspiration for anything except something related to Say Yes To The Dress, the TLC show that I am kinda sorta a little addicted to. It all started when my great aunt suddenly turned to me one afternoon and said:
"You know, you really should watch Say Yes to the Dress."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Its about weddings. Watch an episode, and you'll see."

That afternoon, I slipped back up to my hotel room, and downloaded season 5, episode 1.

I was hooked. The show is so much more than simply watching people pick out wedding dresses. For me, it is a study of interpersonal relationships, and great for examining psychology. And a chance to look at pretty (and absolutely horrendous) gowns. Out of all of those gowns, I must say my absolute favorites (and absolute hatrites) all come from Pnina Tornai. The first dress that caused me to fall in love with Pnina's designs is the one pictured above. The second is this one. For more pictures of the dress, you can actually see wedding pictures from the American Chopper family here. I love the simplicity and drape of this dress, with its quiet elegance.

Contrast to that another one of Pnina's creations, which lands on the complete other side of the spectrum. Big, bulky, and heavy. Yet, its still unique, as is the over-blinged ballgown that has been a hatrite for several years.

Pnina's designs often walk a fine line, one where designs will either soar high or will crash and burn. Most interesting to me is, the ones that completely crash and burn in my mind are favorites for others. To each her own, I suppose. I just can't understand that much dress.

Take a look at Kleinfeld's site, and maybe you'll be come a Say Yes addict, too.

West Coast Trending: Feathered Hair

As some of you may know, at the end of July I will be in Kansas and the surrounding states visiting friends, working at conferences, and generally making a nuisance of myself. Right before I go, however, I plan to utilize a Californian trend that has pretty much become a usual thing in my town, but is relatively unheard of outside of the west coast: I am going to get my hair feathered.

Hair feathering isn't exactly new, it just has taken a while to spread, mainly because it was incredibly expensive for a very long time. It started growing popular when brides started demanding feathers again, and, like any other industry, began to explode. Bridal sites began advising on where to get the best feathers, Refinery29 featured the trend, and an LA stylist put a new spin on the trend by substituting tinsel for feathers. Personally, the only reason why I would take feathers over tinsel is that its summer, and I don't have to look as professional when I'm traveling. I actually ran across the tinsel trend before I saw the feathers, which shows how much I was paying attention.

For fun, go ahead and grab a piece of paper and a pencil, and mark these statements as true/false/not usually. I'm not linking to sources for these, mainly because I'm not sure I could remember where I found all the factoids.

1. The feather is attached to your scalp with a fishhook.
2. If the feathers are real, a rooster was tortured to get them.
3. Synthetic feathers can be made to reach any length.
4. The feather is attached to a strand of hair with a small silicon bead. 
5. A good stylist can "clamp" two feathers together to make a long feather for longer hair.

Statement 1: Not usually true. While I suppose it could be done, the usual method is to use a silicon bead.
Statement 2: True. So watch out where you get your feathers. Also, for health reasons, I would suggest avoiding real feathers in the hair, since real feathers can house microscopic pests. If those pests can live on a rooster, they can live on you, too.
Statement 3: False. Feathers cannot be made longer than about a foot, and still maintain the thin width usual for feathering.
Statement 4: True. A feather will last about six weeks when applied in this manner. After that, you will molt.
Statement 5: True. A stylist who knows what he or she is doing can adjust the length of feathers to fit to your hair length.

Have you tinseled or feathered your hair? If you have, what was it like? Would you do it again?

The Bedazzling Bedazzler: Costco

Bedazzle is defined as "To dazzle so completely as to make blind."

I've found the company that makes bedazzles. And, oddly enough, they were in Costco, the business man's Wal-Mart. After snapping a picture of a supposedly Swarovski Crystal studded mirror, I had to find out what company MADE this stuff. A surprisingly under bedazzled banner told me the company name, and I dutifully came home and researched it. b. b. Simon is the maker, and, between Simon and Pnina Tornai, Swarovski should never have any stock problems--especially considering the odd crystal studded wall art and that Pnina has been known to create dresses that are made completely from Swarovski crystals.

I spent nearly two hours in Costco today, mainly because I am a longsuffering saint who is overflowing with brotherly love and thus is willing to sacrifice her own life for the benefit of others a loved one wanted to purchase a smart phone, and I needed to buy some little kid snacks. I know that Costco is expanding in the higher-end oo-la-la fashion industry (they recently launched their own traveling bridal boutique), but I'm seriously doubting how much they are going to gain in sales by this. I'm also wondering about the percentage of those crystals that are REALLY Swarovski. Did I mention that a street vendor was recently hawking "Swarovski Bras"? I hate to be the old grump, but for those of you girls who were oogling over the aforementioned undergarments....you don't have something with Swarovski crystals on it that sells for $12. Jus' tellin' ya......

Oh, yeah. I got enough kid snacks to feed us for the next 70 weeks. Cheers.

Wren's Dictionary: Sniggle

Sniggle: ˈsni-gəl

The origin of the word sniggle is unknown, but appears to have its roots in the 1500s and 1600s, when snicker, giggle and snuggle first became popular. To sniggle is to 1)suppress a laugh unsuccessfully and end up laughing in little gasps 2)suppress a laugh and end up having a coughing fit or 3)to laugh at two people snuggling or 4)to get a case of the giggles while snuggling.

The first definition is the most common.

Variations of sniggle would include sniggling (he's is prone to sniggling), sniggled (they sniggled privately) and snigglish (she can be a bit snigglish at times).

Down with The Bloody Big Head: The Hat Is Here

I got my hat today!!! And it is quite cute. It is a little (well, quite a bit) smaller than I expected, but that's okay, I think it will still look cute once I'm finished with it. It is a little smaller than this one, and, of course, is white, with no bow/flower. I chose to make my own bow, so I can make it the correct color and proportions. For some reason, the design of the hat is very, very important to me.

In other news, I think I shall be relying somewhat upon steampunk accessories to finish this project. I tend to despise plaid, and the Hatter's gloves happen to be a plaid. Will wandering around Halloween Mart and looking at various hats, I, on a lark, wandered over into the steampunk section, since that has a variety of oddities that just might provide one with some hat ideas. Instead, I found a possible variation on the plaid gloves. These. I do have some black fingerless gloves, and may end up going with those or something else out of my scrapbag, but it certainly was another lightbulb idea find, since I've been on the look out for anti-plaid gloves. We shall see what my next mad find will be. In the mean time, I'm having quite a lot of fun over here, so ye be warned. ;)

Watch out for the D'jaws!

I honestly must admit I never intended to blog about sharks, but my life has brought me to this. Not only has one of my friends started acting as if she was a shark...and THEN I ended up writing a story segment where a character was swimming with sharks. Thus, the sharkyness of it all has pierced the veil of my mind, and landed me oogling over ModCloth's shark stuff. It started with seeing the oven mitt that eats your hand. Then the killer whale shaker set appeared.

D'jaws the friendly shark (who, according to D'jaws, doesn't realize he's a terrifying great white and thinks of himself somewhat as a swimming puppy dog) has, for some reason, inspired me to comb through modcloth's home decor section for sharks. Items seem to vacillate between "good shark" and bad shark" (the former being the protective oven mitt, the latter being the cup that illustrates a swimmer getting eaten), however, the final straw was the Titanic ice-cube tray, which allows your child to use the oven mitt to re-enact the sinking of the Titanic, and dramatize the story by adding sharks to the dangers.

D'jaws, you ruined me. Now I want a shark kitchen. Maybe even have a great-white head mounted over the door, with a clock in its mouth. Too bad ModCloth didn't have one of those....

Paper Flowers Are Fashionable

Any couple who buys clothes from ModCloth--and then wears them with pride--is someone who has an individualistic style sense.

If you haven't noticed, I like people like that. Jeremy and Theresa are people like that. Their engagement pictures featured several modcloth items, and paper flowers. You can read more about their engagement on GreenWeddingShoes, although be forewarned that the page loads somewhat slowly, probably due to the number of graphics on the page. After reading (and seeing) things from their engagement, I was quite looking forward to finding out how exactly they designed their wedding. I was a little disappointed that the bridal party was dressed by the usual suspects (David's Bridal, Men's Warehouse, Priscilla of Boston), but perked up to see the nice, old-fashioned flavored touches on everything else. Take, for example, the cake and the guestbook, as well as the bouquets (one is pictured above). A nice touch is, all of the flowers are made from pages of the couples' favorite love stories (awwwww). The flowers also replaced the boutonnières.

If you want to read more about the wedding, and see more pictures, you can look again on GWS. If you liked the wedding and engagement pictures, they're done by Micah & Megan, who I probably shouldn't link to, since I did the egregious no-no of cropping and using one of their pictures for the beginning of this post, all without asking for permission. Naughty girl. Anyway, a major shout-out for their amazing wedding photography. Take a peek at their blog if you get a chance.

And remember. Paper flowers are fashionable.

Wren's Dictionary: Snarcasm

Snarcasm: (snär-ka-zəm)

From the Greek sarkasmos and the dialectic snark (a variation of narc, meaning "to irritate people into selling illegal substances") comes the word snarcasm. A form of satirical wit, snarcasm is speech that is directed against an individual with the intent to annoy or cut said individual. In some extreme cases, prides have been fatally wounded as a result of intense application of snarcasm.

Variations of snarcasm would include snarcasmic (he's being very snarcasmic), snarcastic (that's snarcastic!), snarcasmed (she was snarcasmed in that catfight) and snarcasmish (don't you think that's a little snarcasmish?).

Down With The Bloody Big Head: Starting from the Top

Since I wrote of the beginning of my Mad Hatter adventure, several things have happened. First, the party got moved, and no one told me, so its over. Oh well. Secondly, I ordered the hat. I decided to go with a white mini top hat, for a few reasons. First off, I always think that minis look better on females than standard top hats, and I happen to be a said female. Secondly, with the various ways I've experimented with my hair, a small hat that can perch precariously in the midst of a LOT of hair would be a good idea, since I do happen to have three or four feet of hair. Finally, I chose white because I can then decorate it however I choose, and while I may want to use paint or dyes at some point, I would prefer to work on a white surface rather than a black one.

This hat has also gotten kudos from me for having the right shape. Most of the hats that were under $25 (search engines won't usually let me select a price range lower than that) also happened to have a straight up-and-down edge to it, which is quite different than the sloping out edges of the Mad Hatter's hat.

I should be able to do most of the work on the hat from scraps that I've saved from other projects. I'm anticipating only having to buy the hatpins and the peacock feather for this part of the project. Huzzah.

Polyvore Weddings: Did it!

Well, last night I bit the bullet and submitted my Nordstrom Wedding piece to the Polyvore Competition. There are a little less than 10 hours left to submit entries, but I gave up and called it quits with what I already had.

If you're interested in viewing a higher-quality version of the piece (its pictured to the left), you can take a look at it here. If you do head over to polyvore and look through my sets, please share a comment or like a set (or both!)

Now, on to throwing together an entry for the Armani Exchange competition that ends tomorrow.....

Down With The Bloody Big Head: Planning to be the Hatta

I stopped going to dress-up birthday parties when I was about eight. Since then, I have not dressed up for one party, and princess themed items have been waaaaay out of the question. Until you hit college. Then, all of a sudden, its like your six again. Dress up?? I'd love to! Wear a tiara?? EVEN BETTER! The only problem is, when I was six, my parents bought my costume for me, or my mom made it. Now, I'm on my own. However, either way, I am planning on attending an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party.

I was originally considering going as The White Queen, but decided that it is

• too complicated of a costume 
• going to be a very expensive costume
• too hot to wear that sort of dress in the middle of summer.

So, that idea has been ditched. Instead, I've decided to make up my own random costume idea, which, for some reason, is much more permissible when you are taking a male character and designing a costume for a female. My choice: The Mad Hatter. I intend to base it on the Hatter Johnny Depp played, but other than that, I don't have many ideas. The basic design I've sketched out so far would have a basic corset/bodice that would be a suitable bright color (lime green [pictured], a pink/bright purple and a deep purple have all been considered), as well as a loose-sleeved shirt somewhat reminiscent of what Kiera Knightly wears in Dead Man's Chest--if I can find it, of course. A bright, perhaps clashing skirt would be necessary,  possibly in the style of a gypsy skirt.

I'm still hunting for a cute top hat and, I think I have a multi-colored scarf that could double for a bowtie.

I'm starting to think I'm crazy......

Mixing Stories: Chronicles of Narnia, the Mousehunt Way

Okay everybody!!! Its time for story time with Auntie A!!!! (:P)

The Magician's Nephew brings the reader back to the very beginning of Narnia where we learn how Aslan created the world and how evil first entered it. Digory Kirke and his friend Polly Plummer stumble into different worlds by experimenting with magic rings made by Digory's Uncle Andrew, encounter Jadis in the dying world of Charn, and witness the creation of Narnia.

Four ordinary children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie discover a wardrobe in Professor Digory Kirke's house that leads to the magical land of Narnia, where they meet many different creatures, like Centaurs, and talking beavers and foxes..... The Pevensie children help save Narnia from the evil White Witch and her armies full of creatures like Cyclops and hags and goblins, who has reigned over the kingdom of Narnia for a century of perpetual winter. They know this winter is breaking when Father Christmas appears. The children become kings and queens of this new-found land and establish the Golden Age of Narnia. They grow up in Narnia, and soon a nearby prince, Rabadash, shows interest in Susan. She refuses to marry him, however, but during that time, Shasta and Aravis escape Calormen with the help of Aravis’ friend Larsaleen. Soon the Pevensies must return to England, where they are children once more.

Not long after, the foursome are drawn back into Narnia by the power of Susan's horn, blown by Prince Caspian to summon help in his hour of need. Narnia as they knew it is no more. Their castle is in ruins and all the Dryads have retreated so far within themselves that only Aslan's magic can wake them. Caspian has fled into the woods to escape his uncle, Miraz, who had usurped the throne. The children set out once again to save Narnia, and with the help of many Narnian creatures, including brave mice like Reepicheep, put Prince Caspian back on the throne. At first, they seem to be outnumbered, but the Dryads soon awake, and save the day. After they finish this, they are once again returned to England.

Peter and Susan are not able to come on the third trip, as they are now too old, but Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their priggish cousin, Eustace Scrubb, are drawn into Narnia. Once there, they join King Caspian's voyage on the ship Dawn Treader to find the seven lords who were banished when Miraz took over the throne. This perilous journey brings them face to face with many wonders and dangers, such as water that turned one of the lords to gold, sea serpents, kidnapping pirates, and kind mermaids and Nyads. At one island, poor Eustace is turned into a Dragon!!! After they find all the lords, the cousins must return home.

Instead of calling the Pevensies back to Narnia again, Aslan calls Eustace back to Narnia together with his classmate Jill Pole. There they are given four signs to aid in the search for the enchanted Prince Rilian, Caspian's son, who disappeared after setting out ten years earlier to avenge his mother's death. Eustace and Jill, with the help of Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle, face danger and betrayal before finding Rilian, and are forced to defeat the Lady of the Green Kirtle, who eventually reveals her true nature when she turns into a snake.

The Last Battle chronicles the end of the world of Narnia. Jill and Eustace return to save Narnia from Shift, an ape, who tricks Puzzle, a donkey, into impersonating the lion Aslan, precipitating a showdown between the Calormenes and King Tirian. Aslan arrives, and the world ends, but not before Aslan takes all the good guys to go live with him.

Come back again soon for another Storytime with Auntie A, and see what happens when you put Lord of the Rings to the tune of Mousehunt!

Polyvore Weddings: I Broke My Resolve

I officially ran out of flowers and other small usable accent items within Nordstrom's stock. Thus, I've officially broken my resolve to be a Nordstrom Purist for this competition. All of the clothing is still from Nordstrom's. The only non-Nordy stuff is the accent items, like flowers, clocks, and some text.

To express my severe grief over this, I've chosen to tout a blood-splattered corsage for the day.

Okay, I'm done being severely grieved.

I'm still proud of myself for having gotten this far while using things ONLY from one store. Hopefully, next time, I can keep that resolve to complete a competitive set with items from only one supplier.

Cheers! I'm almost done.

Recreation: Liv Tyler at Givenchy's Paris Fashion Week Show

Dressing like a star is expensive. Or not. With a little luck and some dumpster diving (sometimes literally), it can be done pretty cheaply. I had to say, seeing Liv Tyler's outfits at the Paris Fashion Week was quite a jaw dropping moment. I've never really found a certain "star" whose style I really love, and sometimes I like Liv's clothes, and sometimes I don't, so it was somewhat surprising to look through the photos on www.lovelylivtyler.com and find that I really liked pretty much everything I saw.

Breaking down those styles and recreating them, on there other hand, can be a bear. Let me start out by saying this: whenever I look to recreate something, I try to recreate the style, not the specific look. I don't want to look like a carbon copy of someone else, and I don't want to make other people into carbon copies of something, either. Instead, my goal is to recreate the feel that a certain outfit has for more general use--something that can be dressed up or down depending on the wearer's choice. My second goal is to be cost-effective. I don't have a millionaire's budget, and I doubt you do, either. So if I have to go dumpster diving, I will. (Haven't had to yet, though. ;) 

Liv's dress is pretty simple: It is a black sweater dress with a snarling big cat on it. Coupled with this is black stockings, black peep-toed heels, and a small black clutch that we find from other pictures appears to be either a leather or a simulated leather. For most of the evening, Liv appears to have borrowed some nice guy's tuxedo jacket.

Since I personally believe that peep-toed shoes in the basic colors (black and brown) should be a part of everyone's shoe collection, and I also believe that everyone should have a decent collection of clutches and stockings, and I also think every girl should have a nice guy to lend them a jacket, I won't be looking to replicate those. Instead, I'm going to give you the basics, and then my suggestions as to how to accentuate it for a pool- or beach-party feel. I think you're all smart enough to come up with your own designs after that. ;)

When walking into a JCPenny the other day, I realized I had just found the dress that could make this set. Being ever-armed in case of emergency, I pulled my iPhone out and took a picture. Once I got home, I pulled up Safari and started researching. The dress is by Bisou Bisou®, and comes with the belts (which I would, personally, suggest removing). It is a t-shirt dress, so not quite the sweatery, long-sleeved feel that Liv's winter dress has, but it does seem a little bit better suited to summer life. This dress prices in at a little under $40. For the beach/pool party feel, there are a variety of directions your could go for shoes, but my favorite choice is Montego Bay's Maeve Beaded Toe Loop Sandal. For a dressier look, I would go with Fioni's Lockleer Flower T-Strap Sandal, in either the blush or the brown. The handbag I fell in love with is pretty simple, and also from Payless (who doesn't love Payless??), and is Minicci's hobo-ish Floral Karesa Shopper.

And the final tally?

Dress:    $39.99
Sandals: $24.99
handbag:$19.99

Total: $84.97, plus tax.

I'd be willing to bet that cost less than Liv's original dress.

Polyvore Weddings: I'm Stuck

Today is day three of this project, and, I've made exactly 1/2 of my project beautiful. The problem is, I've not the least idea with what to do with the other half. Unless I think of something overnight, I'm pretty sure this will mean I drop my resolve to use only Nordstrom items.

Not that everything's been all bad. I did learn how to use "color blocks", and I really enjoy the added effect, which was classy and simple. But it isn't enough. There is something missing. I much prefer the look that was perfected by my polyvore friend Anita.Rebel yell!✯·•●♥, who, for her more rebellious tendencies, does have a very good artistic sense. One of my favorite pieces that she created to is the one pictured to the left, a polyvore Anita created for her mother (click on it for a larger version with more detail). Anita also has the gift for speed, churning out a high-quality design pretty much every other day--although, I have noticed that she makes good use of templates, something I (again) only recently discovered.

Ah, I think talking about Anita--and staring at her polyvore set--has given me some ideas. I think part of the reason I feel unhappy with adding more to my set (which I know I need to do), is because its making it too top heavy (although I am still refusing to put any shoes in this set). Perhaps I might not need to break my Nordstom-only resolve, after all.....

Polyvore Weddings, the Nordstrom Way

In exactly one week, another Polyvore competition will be over. At that point, I hope to be able to say I have successfully completed said competition, and, eventually, hope to win. But then, who doesn’t?

For those of you unfamiliar with Polyvore.com, it is a very interesting website that serves as a creative outlet for a good number of fashionistas. I’ve used it before to make a variety of different sets, such as the one pictured above. The basic idea is you take a theme, and then build an outfit and a style off of that theme. Quite a lot of fun.

The competition theme is Nordstrom Weddings. I love this, quite simply because, well….imaweddingfanatic. The only TV show I watch religiously happens to be TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress. My bribery to finish long papers on time is that, if I finish on time, I will sit back with a coffee and a sweet treat and read BRIDES Magazine. I know which destination venues are the best for a low(er) budget bride, aaaand I can also tell you a rough estimate of a gown based on looking at it. I downloaded the Royal Wedding app for my phone, and made calculated guesses on what Kate would wear (and was pretty darn close to getting it right, too!). Now, I’m back into the throws of planning a wedding—polyvore style.

After spending most of yesterday debating what basic style I wanted to go for, I finally settled on a color scheme, as well as the dress I will base the entire set off of. It is a Tadashi Shoji Gown and the price weighs in around 798.00 USD. More details on the specific dress here. I'm still trying to decide if this fits a garden wedding or a beach wedding better, as that will (obviously), effect my final product. However, I must say, I'm happy with finding THE dress (at least, for this competition).

Oh, and I've also set a mini-challenge for myself: all of the items within this set must be from Nordstrom's. We'll see how I do.....

A Fattening Start: Welcome to National Doughnut Day

I find it fitting that my first post on TaintedLoves should be about getting a sugar high. Eating is one of my tainted loves. And eating FREE doughnuts, is, definitely, very high on that list. Today, I danced through the waves of crowds at Krispy Kreme to retrieve my free Krispy Kreme doughnut of choice, which, really, resulted in my eating two doughnuts instead of one. As you can tell, I brought a friend (I most certainly will not be eating four doughnuts on my own!!), and we enjoyed a nice breakfast on the couch located behind the coffee cups. This is the second time I've had the current "featured" doughnut, which happens to be an oreo-filled and -topped doughnut, and is quite tasty. It isn't as good as the Chocolate Kreme one they last featured, which was a dark-chocolate lover's dream in doughnut form. I guess the Oreo one will do until I find a new chocolate doughnut fix.

I shall be keeping my eyes out for more free sugar highs. Don't forget to go get your free doughnut.