What Ashley has been making

3/31/2010 11:51:00 AM Ashley 7 Comments

Yesterday I cleaned up my craft spot (I've been organizing so stuff was everywhere) and I got to work on a few new projects.

I had a special request, from my Etsy shop, to make a necklace for a bride's upcoming wedding. I always love getting special orders, because personalizing something is just...awesome.

After some work the final piece was done...

The flower is actually removable and can be worn as a pin.

Back of the flower.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, but what's more important is that the customer loves it!

I had originally made it with people who had metal allergies in mind. My original design has the flower permanently attached and the only metal on the necklace is the metal crimps which are 95% covered by the silk ribbon. I blogged about that necklace and another here, if you're interested.

In other, very happy news...there is a good chance that I am going to try to marry Adequan (Nate's okay with this). After just one injection we saw a very noticeable change in Emmett yesterday. As in he wanted to play with his toys, he was putting weight on his back right leg, he was pouncing...he was somewhat his old self again(minus a few things). Now, by no means are we letting him go crazy, but it's nice to see him wanting to do these things again. I look forward, very eagerly, to the next rounds of shots and seeing what they do for him.

I definitely have some more crafts that I will be working on today, so stay tuned because I am very excited about them and how they turn out!

7 comments :

My wearable vintage

3/30/2010 12:26:00 PM Ashley 7 Comments

I've been asked here and else where if I wear the vintage I own and my simple answer is...yes.

While not all of the things are easily worn (I'm still looking for a reason to wear a ball gown), I do have a few things that I have thrown into my wardrobe.

If you are searching for vintage things to add into your closet, the best advice I can give is finding well made pieces and items that can be fixed easily. You also have to keep in mind that this is probably not something you can wear all the time.

As I mentioned in my last vintage post, I have worn the dress at the bottom (my mom's dress).

I scoured all of my pictures and found that apparently when I wear my vintage I don't take pictures. That's going to have to change. So for now, my lovelies, you will just have to deal with seeing the wearable items on Betty.

I'm starting to think that I am going to have to buy Betty a push-up bra, because man is she not fitting into the tops of these dresses.

Now keep in mind almost all of my vintage is wearable, but some of it is just too formal and I have yet to have a place to wear them.

This dress is just a great basic cotton dress from the late 40's, maybe early 50's. I need to fix to seams where the thread is coming undone, but that's such an easy fix for such a great dress that can be easily thrown on. I loved the color of this dress, because it comes off green but if you look closely you can see brown in it.

So basic, but I love the collar and sleeves which have a slit in them.

If you look closely right in the center bellow the belt, you can see where one of the seams is coming undone.

A close up of the collar to show the brown and green weaving of the fabric.

Simple, beautiful craftsmanship.

I got this two piece top and skirt during the winter and haven't been able to wear it yet. I probably will wear the skirt alone at some point, because the top need a lot of work. Whoever owned this before took out a lot of seaming on the top and it is HUGE compared to the skirt, so much so that I had to pin it back to take decent pictures of it. The zipper also need to be re-sewn into the back. What drew me to it is the hand silk screened flowers that adorn both the top and skirt. It's a heavy cotton, almost like a canvas in weight and feel.

Front.

Back, where you can see the zipper issues the top is having.

Flower detail on the top.

The tag sown into the top.

You can bet your tiny hips that when I lose my desired amount of weight that I will be sporting this rhinestone covered linen dress every chance that I get. With a slip of course. This wiggle dress is pure perfection in my book. It makes me want to throw on a hat and large sun glasses and have a cocktail or three.

Front.

Back

Shimmery rhinestone heaven!

The rhinestones are solidly attached to this dress.

This next dress was probably one of my first vintage purchases and at the time it fit me like it was made for me. It had a belt at some point and time, but really it doesn't need one. It's so Marilyn Monroe. I may have tried to find a steam grate to stand over when wearing this. I actually wore this to one of Nate's Academy dances. Except I don't think Nate was actually there. I went with some of my other Academy friends and Nate came late.

Front

Back

Yes, I have a thing for rhinestones. You just now noticed?

I put a crinoline under this dress and then I twirled and twirled and twirled and then felt queasy. It was worth it though. This was one of those dresses that I was like...yeah it's cute. Then I put it on and quickly felt the need to throw on an apron and spend the rest of my life in the kitchen feeding my man (a feeling which quickly goes away the second I take the dress off).

Front

Back

The adorable button detailing on the front.

The deeper v cut in the back and the wonderful rushing at the zipper.

Polka dots. Yet another weakness of mine. They are so fun and flirty. This dress is just that. I love the polka dots and the cute collar filled with tiny little lace daisies. Plus it's navy, which is probably the best neutral color ever. This dress actually still has its belt as well, which is rare.

Front

Back

Tiny lace daisies with rhinestone centers.

The next time I need to dress up a little you can count on my being in this amazing hand made navy raw silk dress. It's perfectly simple with a little added touch to make it perfect. I drool a little every time I look at this dress. The way the seaming is cut into this dress is pure amazingness. Not a detail was overlooked.

The beautiful front.

A deep v in the back to make it just as interesting as the front.

The slit detail on the front.

This was a random find that is really great to just throw on. It need a slip underneath, but other than that it is good to go. I usually dress this up with a little belt and a cute pair of flats.

Front

Back

The knife pleating and color of this dress really sold me. It has some flaws at the bottom, but the ruffles hide those imperfections well. It's light and flows so beautifully when worn. Again, it had a belt, but not when I bought this, but it's so easy to throw one of my own on.

Front

Back

Close up of the bust to show the pleating.

This two piece was either worn once or never worn at all. It's so 70's and I love everything about it. It can be worn so easily on it's own, but the little jacket adds so much to the look. The beading is not over the top. It makes me want to throw on a pair of pearls and call it good.

Front

Front with jacket.

Back

Back with jacket.

Beading on collar of jacket.

Beading on bow.

Well, there you have it. All of the dresses I have either worn, or am planning on wearing the next chance I get. Wearing vintage is great, not only because of the store, but because you know that no one else will be wearing anything close to what you have on.

Is there something here that catches your eye? Do you have something vintage that you love adding to your wardrobe when you get the chance?

7 comments :

Just another manic Monday

3/29/2010 11:10:00 AM Ashley 6 Comments

This morning started with a trip to the vet. This was actually a scheduled visit for vaccination updates and a heart worm test.

Emmett is always game for a car ride...as long as it's not to the place that took his manhood away. Upon seeing the vet he promptly started shivering and throwing around puppy dog eyes.

Well played Emmett, well played.

If only it had worked. Three needles and a negative heart worm test later we got talking about his bum hips.

We really hated the Deramaxx that they gave us. They never told us about the major side effects and we sucked it up for not asking about it more. We gave him a half a pill and did not like what we saw so we promptly stopped. Being obsessive pet parents we did some research and discovered this "miracle" drug called Adequan.

Simple terms...it's a shot into the joint that helps relieve pain as well as repairing cartilage. There are no major side effects unless you are giving your dog 10 times the normal amount for longer than advised. If it works...it works amazingly. If it doesn't, there isn't any harm to your pet. You have to give injections frequently (six) every three days and then it goes to once a month.

That meant Emmett left with a forth shot today. And instead of coming back every three days, the vet showed us how to inject it ourselves.

That means I am going to have to deal with needles.

*Shudders*

We must love him a lot.

At this point he is pretty doofy with all of the drugs and it sleeping in my lap as punishment for taking him to that place that shall not be named...

Side eye from the disgruntled "laptop".

He is done with my annoying picture taking.

Hopefully after a good nap, some treats and belly rubs he will forget about the torture that we put him through...until three days from now when mommy has a major freak out over having to deal with needles.

GAH!

6 comments :

Organizing madness

3/28/2010 04:09:00 PM Ashley 3 Comments

I have one current major goal right now. Organize. By organizing everything in our house I am able to tell what should be kept, tossed or donated.

My most current project is organizing my beads, which is a HUGE project to tackle. Seriously...I own two different large tackle boxes filled with beads. It's pretty mind blowing. I'll post about them at a later time. Today's post is about the copious amounts of ribbon I needed to work through as well as the always forgotten toolbox.

I will admit...I have a lot of ribbon. Some of it was ribbon I got from my mom and work, while the rest was just random purchases.

Why so much ribbon?

I love wrapping gifts with wonderful bows and I use it in my crafts.

In the past year I had ribbon all over the house. I had stuff in the garage...mixed in with my crafts...in the office. Everywhere. So I spent the day collecting everything and putting it in one spot.

What I started with. The red ribbon on the top was used for our wedding.

Bolts of ribbon that had been used was pinned down to keep it in place.

Loose ribbon was wrapped around my fingers and tied off.

Bolts of ribbon were placed in long plastic bins that are meant for wrapping paper, which I got from Target. They actually came with smaller boxes for ribbon and I used those for my loose ribbon.

Overall, I'm happy that everything is all in one spot now. I'll be happier when I can have them properly displayed in a craft room, but for the somewhat constant moving that will be happening soon, I'm happy with this.

Next up was our poor toolbox that lives in our garage. It usually just has stuff tossed back into it, if those items even make it that far. When I got to it, there was a good amount of its contents sitting on top of the box.

Be amazed at the laziness that it takes to set it on top of the box, but not actually opening the box to put the stuff inside.

Somewhat unknowing when you open it.

The bottom of the box. It may not look awful, but I had started taking some of the items out and I'm just crazy.

Organized! Tape to the left, tools in the center, nails to the right.

Loose nails and screws separated and living happily.

Larger, random items stored in the box on the top. What a novel idea to use the space that the toolbox supplies.

The insert with all of the main tools we use the most. This pulls out and can be carried around.

Is it perfect? Probably not, but it's a million times better. We can now find things much easier than before. Plus we can quit buying hammers.

You like our toolbox? Me too. You can get it at Lowe's.

Are you doing any organizing? How do you tackle your organizational projects? Is there something you need to tackle, but just can't bring yourself to do yet?

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The Thing About Daisies...

What Ashley has been making

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My wearable vintage

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Just another manic Monday

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Organizing madness

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