Toast Tuesday: Jess James Jake

I always get so excited for Toast Tuesday's because I just love celebrating amazing people and supporting what they do. So help me support this next lady, Jess, from Jess James Jake Vintage.

I have admired Jess's Etsy shop for some time. I have even made a purchase, I just love the pattern on this dress. This lady must find true treasures from Albany. I think I gasped when my eyes first laid upon this dress, but thankfully I gave into my vintage cravings and bought it.

When I asked Jess what inspired her to open an etsy shop this is what she had to say:

"I started my shop in the spring of 2008 because I really wanted to save all this amazing clothing from going into landfills. My best friend also sells on etsy, so that makes it really fun (listing together, making treasuries, finding pretty items!). I love the quality and care that handmade and vintage items tend to have. They last so much longer than mass-produced garments and are much more eco-friendly!" I love that she has an eco-friendly approach to her shop and to fashion as she states on her profile, "I'm dedicated to a green shop: Recycle, Reuse, Reduce! I shred my own paper (junk mail, magazines, newpaper) for my packing material, use used (but clean) boxes/envelopes and other recyclable goodies whenever possible!!" I picked out an outfit that I would totally wear all the time especially when paired with a pair of my black combat boots:

..tee..skirt..bag..necklace..

Find your favorites at Jess James Jake and follow Jess elsewhere here:

blog..twitter..fbook..flickr..tumblr

Thanks for stopping by and witnessing another great Toast Tuesday!

-Lo

**This is also a great time to tell you that I plan to start my own green initiative. I've enlisted a few other blogger friends and I hope that you will be on board once I am ready to unveil**

Special thanks:

Jess of Jess James Jake

shipping tags at Pugly Pixel
tape strips at Pugly Pixel
scallop medallion at Pugly Pixel

The Day After the Storm

Today has been one of the most beautiful days. The air is a little crisp just hinting at fall. 

The windows have been open.

And all day I have been reading and taking notes.

Oh and cuddling with my cat Maven.

I may go for a run soon to really enjoy this nice day after being cooped up for two days.

Hope you're having a wonderful Monday!

-Lo

Rainy Day Crafts

I've had a little time to do some crafts as Irene will be hanging out in our immediate area soon. I'm deciding to craft a few things. I am constantly being inspired by Poppy Talk, but who isn't? My eyes fell upon this banner and I loved it and knew I needed to make one for myself especially since I wanted to buy some cute wall art for our bedroom..

..here..

I knew that I have plenty of left over fabric and came up with a sweet quote:

"You are the warmest embrace"

I asked my sweet boy for a quote and he said something along these lines:

"Scrody Balls"

It was a toss up but I chose my quote, I hope you can support my tough decision..

So here is what I did:

..Took a piece of scrap fabric and trimmed to make a nice rectangle..

..sewed all sides so that there was no unsightly fraying..

..left a short side to sew last and made room for a rod to fit through for hanging..

..ironed the fabric {it was super wrinkly}..

..taped two knitting sticks {..I gave up on knitting} together to make a rod..

..cut out letters with a handy exacto knife..

..hung it up with tacks to stay in place..

It was kind of hard to take a good picture of it because the flower fabric made the smaller letters harder to see. I think next time I would use a solid colored fabric. 

Thanks for visiting! Let me know if you try this out!

-Lo

Rainy Day Crafts

I am always incredibly inspired by items in the real world that I wish I could purchase but just don't have the money for. So instead I try to use what I already have at home to make similar pieces hopefully without looking too home sewn if you know what I mean. Anyway todays inspiration comes from Need Supply, which is one of my all time favorite online shops. 

..photo..

..photo..

This is what I did...super easy and fast:

..cut out two square pieces of leather back to back..

..cut out desired shape {you could make it bigger, rounder, whatever you please}..

..you shouldn't need to worry about unraveling since the leather stays nicely..

..use needle and embroidery thread to sew together your pieces {as seen above}..

..to attach leather cord I cut two little slits with an exacto into the back side..

Here is the finished necklace:

It's a little hard to tell but I used a light pink leather left over from this, a steel blue embroidery thread, and thick leather cord left over from my Printed Peaks necklaces. There are so many different ways you can do this and with a wide array of colors too. You could add beads, you could add cording to the bottom as fray, you could create a friendship bracelet design for the necklace part...the possibilities are endless...please let me know if you try this out, I would love to see what you did! I will have to show you a better picture soon but it is off to work for me! I hope you enjoyed!

-Lo

Frustration City

..here..

So although this has nothing to do with how lovely Kate looks in the ocean. It has everything to do with how nearly drowned I feel by my frustration. Ey. Ey. Ey. Yup. Welcome to frustration city. Population one. Anyway I've been introduced to Photoshop 5 and all it's glory. Although I am able to pick things up and learn {ehhem my first attempt at being photoshop savvy} rather easily, I am feeling a little boggled by the oh so many capabilities it brings. But as you can possibly tell there has been changes and there will continue to be. I'd like to start amping up this space a bit...or as best I can. I've been trying to seamlessly add tape or other images on top of others and they come out pretty terribly...any advice? On another note of frustration does anyone know of a super easy tutorial on how to create side navigation bars to house features? I tried one and it totally didn't work. Thanks readers for hanging in there with me! 

Happy Wednesday!

-Lo

Thanks:

Vintage Deco tape via Pugly Pixel

Toast Tuesday: People Webs

Hi all! Back with a fantastic toast tuesday. If you've forgotten what Toast Tuesday is all about, I've got you covered:

People Webs is both blog and etsy shop that truly blows me away. One day as I was looking through twitter I believe the lovely Hivenn had linked to Lindsi of People Webs. Stars fell out of the sky, everyone danced in merriment. Or so that is how it felt. I immediately fell in love with her blog because she is fantastic at crocheting and even includes patterns! {I'm currently working on the bow headband..and haven't crocheted in 5 years...eh.} Then I found her shop where you can buy some super pretty items like collars, tops, and dresses. They are so beautiful they almost look like lace. I found out what inspired Lindsi to open her own shop:

"I learned how to crochet a few years ago right after i got married. we were traveling a lot at the time and crocheting was a portable hobby that i could bring with me. and i ended up falling in love with it! i started making accessories as gifts, and eventually opened my shop. now i also sell crochet clothing. i am really inspired by vintage patterns and fashion. i love seeing the old styles in new ways, and i also love that it's such a traditional art that women have been doing for years. it's really fun knowing that i can make something one of a kind for someone to wear, and it's also something i really love!" Isn't she awesome?! I only wish I had that talent! I wish she were my sister so that I could either steal her amazing clothing or expect amazing gifts during holidays! :) Here are places you can find Lindsi:

..shop..blog..patterns..twitter..

And so the web unravels and you have yourself another Toast Tuesday! Please check out People Webs, you really won't regret it! Thanks for stopping in!

-Lo

Special thanks:

free floral ephemera at Pugly Pixel via  The Graphics Fairy
shipping tags at Pugly Pixel
tape strips at Pugly Pixel
scallop medallion at Pugly Pixel
Trying to learn photoshop 5..please bare with me! :)

Treasure Weekend

This weekend can best be described as a Treasure Weekend. There are no other words. 

Friday night was filled with sushi...mmm.

Saturday was filled with blading in Brooklyn.
Sunday was filled with getting blading clips.

This is what I wore! The tee is Casualty, which is a rollerblading brand. Oh and I made the America headband! 

 This was the first year of this competition. NYC Street Invitational. All the pros were there. Alex Broskow took the W.

Our friend Mark Rosen filming for ONE magazine.

 My sweet boy's brother taking great shots.

 
And then I couldn't see the comp any more and was referred to this vintage store. Where there were row upon row of vintage lovelies. I was in vintage heaven. I could have spent a whole day and my life savings in there. Everything was priced well especially for the quality of the pieces.

Then we headed to the beach for my sweet boy's brother's birthday.

My sweet boy taking some pictures.

Sunday. My sweet boy geared up to get blading clips that will be included in a video.

Look at me! I filmed two of his tricks!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I can't believe it is the start of another week!
Be sure to check back in tomorrow for a great Toast Tuesday!
-Lo

Splurge or not to Splurge: Makeup Bag

As far as my makeup bag goes there are tons of things in it and I don't even use half of them. So here are the ones I use pretty much every day.

-Neutrogena Naturals face wash-

-Olay face moisturizer-

-compact face brush-

-Maybelline Mineral Powder Illuminator-

-Maybelline Minderal Powder Bronzer-

-Covergirl Fresh complexion concealer-

-Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion mascara-

-Wet n' Wild liquid liner-

-NYC blushable creme stick-

-MAC "Up the Amp" lipstick-

I'm on the most strict budget known to man but wanted to share with you the things that I do end up splurging (and by splurging I mean around $8). I splurged on the Neutrogena Face wash (around $9), olay face moisturizer (around $8), the Maybelline Mineral Powders (around $8/ea.), and the MAC lipstick (around $15). These are items I spent money on because I really like them and think they work well. {The MAC lipstick was a recent splurge and the purply tint had me...usually I wouldn't spend anything on lipstick}. I think the most important thing is your skin and keeping it healthy and that is why I wash it with the chemical free face wash and use the SPF moisturizer. Mostly for the other items in my bag I can find cheaper substitutes, mostly I pick whichever is cheapest. I know though that the Wet n' Wild liquid liner works really well and there is no need for anything else. If you were wondering I also spend close to nothing on shampoo, conditioner and body wash. What do you splurge on in your makeup bag?

Also because I thought it went along nicely with the routine of getting ready daily. This is what I smell like...Victoria Secret "Very Sexy Now" mist (which I've had for like 3 years..I don't think they sell it anymore...bummer), Vaseline cocoa butter lotion, Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange solid perfume (I keep in my purse in case I'm in a rush and didn't spritz myself, it smells beyond awesome). 

Thanks for stopping in! Happy weekend!

-Lo

How to Bokeh...Better than Me

Hi all! I know that many of you are huge into your photography and I wanted to share with you the Bokeh effect that you can produce rather easily or you can buy a kit for it here but it is so much fun to do it yourself. So for those of you that do not know, Bokeh which is an adapted Japanese word is used in photography to describe those areas in the photograph that are not in focus. You can create images in which Bokeh is in the background creating a nicely blurred backdrop to your in-focus object like:

..find here..

or the Bokeh can be the center of your photo like:

Here is a video that shows the Bokeh effect:

Here is an easy tutorial on how to make your own Bokeh effect:

I really wanted to try Bokeh out for myself almost a year ago and luckily a friend was pretty much a pro. The heart photo above is mine and I had luck with a few other shapes too:

So after that success and recently seeing the video above I thought that I could give it another go but I wasn't using my sweet boy's 50mm Canon lens, I didn't cut the Bokeh object small enough, and I don't believe my aperture was at its lowest. Oops. So instead of little heart lights I mostly just shot through the cut out and just fooled around with my camera in general. I was on Church Street in Burlington Vermont.  They came out funny but I don't mind it, here they are:

Now you all know how to Bokeh better than me! Thanks for stopping in and share photos with me if you use the Bokeh effect!
-Lo