Etsy love

I haven't done a post on things I love for Etsy. This post my be driven by the fact that my husband got me the cutest vintage daisy brooch that has a tiny little lady bug sitting on it...from Etsy of course! My husband was so darling when he gave it to me. He finds ways to make me fall more in love with him every day.

As much as I would love to gush about my husband, I will save you from the desire to click the close window button and move onto my lust worthy Etsy items.



Now if you buy any of these...I must insist that you let me know how you like them!

Formal dresses waiting for their moment(s)

Part of my day was spent in our home office. This is where my vintage lives as well as my formal and semi formal dresses.

Seeing as the reoccurring theme for a military move is to make lists and take pictures of your stuff, I figured I'd start here. While most may not fully care about dresses...I do. I love dresses. I live for them. Which is something I doubt my mom would have ever expected me to say, mostly because I hated dresses when I was little. My mom couldn't pay me to wear them. Heck I didn't even know (or care) what the difference was between skirts and dresses.

Now by no means was I snapping a picture of every dress I own, that would be pure insanity, but I did take pictures of my nicer dresses. A lot of these dresses have seen a lot of love...while others are just waiting for their moment to shine. Lets just say I have a few ball gowns that haven't seen any love and I blame the fully on the lack on military balls.

I figured that since I have pictures of these dresses, that I would share a few with you as well.

First up are dresses I have worn. Some were for balls (dances), others for date nights and one for our second wedding reception.

Now for the dresses I love, but haven't had the chance to wear yet.


I have a few others that are sitting in the closet, waiting for their moment, but these are some of my favorites. I have so many nice dresses, because I love dressing up. I love how I feel in a nice cocktail dress or gown. I just wish there were more reasons for me to wear them. One can hope and dream.

Necklace lust turned into a DIY

I just can't leave my crafts alone...no matter how much I should. It doesn't help that all of my beads will be coming with us, because honestly if they get mixed up again that will be no bueno. Anyway...as I've said before, when I am stressed I tend to craft.

I decided to make a necklace I have had my eye on for quite awhile. I found it one day when I wandered over to Stella & Dot. While I don't love everything they have to offer, they always seem to have something that catches my eye. Most recently is their Palm Necklace with Starfish. What I hate is the $98 price tag.


Don't get me wrong...it's a beautiful necklace, but I knew I could make my own version.

For a period of time I was looking for a starfish brooch and was coming up empty handed...then I had derp derp derp moment and realized any brooch would do. So I rummaged through what I owned and found a brooch that was my mothers and some 10mm opalite beads I bought a few months back.


By no means do you have to go the semi precious bead route, in fact it will save you money if you stick with glass beads. The opalite was just something I already had and I liked how it looked.

Now with the Stella & Dot necklace they tied a knot between every bead. It's the same technique that is used for pearl necklaces. Now this it not something I can easily teach...it's something that you have to learn how to do by doing it and it takes time. What I can show you is a way to cheat the look.


Instead of doing the knots I place a seed bead between each 10mm bead. I love doing this, because it's quick and you can choose the colors of the beads. I went with the teal because it matched the rhinestones in the brooch.

This actually was a quick project. It starts and ends with two lobster claw clasps, so that they can be attached to the pin on the back of the brooch (or to themselves if you want to wear it broochless). All in all it took me about 30 minutes to put it together.

And here's the final product.


The total length is a little over 60 inches with the brooch and can easily be wrapped around the neck three times.

Total cost was about $40, with $10 for the brooch and $30 for 4 16in strands of the opalite. If you went with glass beads you could easily get the price to around $20 for the whole project, maybe cheaper if you got the brooch and beads at a good price. Really though, the brooch was my mom's so I only spent $30 on the beads.

I love the way it looks and that I can change out the brooch for the many others I have.

So there you have it. Just a few beads and a brooch and you too could have a unique necklace that is all your own.

My weekend update

Holy crazy weekend Batman. How is it that when you are starting to get your most busy, that things just pop up out of nowhere? Good things mind you, but still random things.

I think I have battled this sinus infection to its death, now I just have to deal with red nose of doom...aka Rudolf (the Red Nosed Reindeer) nose. Mostly I'm just stoked to have my sense of smell and taste back. Real food with real flavor ROCKS!

Anywho, this weekend turned into craziness rather quickly...thus my disappearance. It all started on Friday with a "Smooth Move" briefing up on base. If you're Air Force (and maybe any other branch) you've probably been to one of these. Being there just confirmed that we are one of the least military families in the military. After being entertained by the poor guy who knew nothing about finance...yet was there...talking about finance, we wandered over to TMO to set up a moving schedule. Woo-freaking-hoo. I hate packing and moving. I hate even more that everyone at the briefing said that stuff will be damaged. Fabulous.

The control freak in me is dying inside.

Luckily we had a friend visit, which helped take my mind off the fact that movers will write down less (quantity) of an item so they can pilfer it.

Okay maybe the visit didn't fully get my mind off the move, but it was great to see our friend. It's been awhile, so sitting and catching up is always wonderful.

Yesterday we got a call from another friend who was driving through town. So we went and had dinner with him as well. Sushi to be exact...sushi that I could finally taste!

It's funny to me that we've been here for close to three years and all it took was us moving away in a few months to get the chance to have friends visit. Isn't that always how it works though? Everything happens when you are the most busy?

It was nice visiting and relaxing, but I know that this was the calm before the storm. How do I know? Our house is a disaster and it's not going to get any better till it's all packed up. Ugh. Hate that.

That...and I think I officially have to say that I have too many shoes. I know...I know...but damn are they going to suck to pack up. The movers are going to HATE me!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, full of fun and excitement. I promise to be back to blogging with a vengeance. I even have a craft project I want to share with you...because I just won't quit crafting till my supplies are boxed up and taken away!

Have a great Sunday!

And the winner is...

Vintage wiggle dress lurve!

It's 9pm here and this is really the first time today I have been productive. I got some laundry done this morning, just in time to be knocked on my ass again. How did I deal with up to 3 sinus infections a year when I was younger?

Anywho, I was going to write an awesome blog entry, but typing large amounts just isn't happening. So to appease you wonderful readers, I give you more vintage! You can thank me later (or in the comments) if you must.

This is the kind of dress that makes me dream of skinny waists, garter belts and a wave in the hair. It also reminds me that I need far better undergarments that I have. This beauty is all linen with beading across the bust line, a wiggle dress in the truest form. The rhinestones are a milk glass with rainbow shimmer. I drool over this dress everyday I see this.



Don't forget that tonight is the last night to sign up for my giveaway. I will draw a winner tomorrow, so look for that post!

As always, thanks for reading and don't forget if you have a question, ask me a FormSpring!

Reminder

I wanted to take a moment from my phlegm induced purgatory to remind you about the current giveaway I am hosting. It ends tomorrow night. If you haven't entered it, you totally should!

I am off to suck down buckets of herb tea in hopes of being able to remember what smells...well...smell like!

Beauty and the phlegm

Hello my lovelies, I hope you all had a nice weekend. If you did, then I am slightly jealous. Friday night I was feeling congested and by Saturday morning I was in full blow sinus infection territory. By no means is this my first ever sinus infection (try my 398th) and it definitely won't be my last.

Lets just say that I was the child that had to play outside while wearing a mask, because my allergies/sinus issues were just that bad.

While these infections are nowhere near as bad as ones I use to get...I will say that my body has crap-tastic timing with this whole "screw you and your breathing" thing.

Luckily, Saturday I was able to go out with Nate. I was also even able to keep the phlegm to a minimum! It was nice to get out to look around. Which brings up the fact that shopping has pretty much been halted in our household. Saving money is always something we think about, but really right now we don't need or want any more stuff to move. So for now I look...and sometimes drool.

Except for this weekend...I broke the no shopping hold I imposed on myself. I bought two dresses at TJ Maxx and I am totally playing it off as items I need. I need them for our move. We'll be sitting in a car for up to 8 hours a day for 4 days and traveling across 5 states. With most of those states being in the south. Can we say hot and muggy? I can.

A dress or skirt to travel in is just more comfortable for me. Less fabric to bind in awkward places. Of course for as many dresses as I own...not many are suitable for comfortable travel. I want simple cotton jersey dresses. Thus the purchase of the two dresses...


I love maxi dresses. I really don't know why...but I do. This dress was an instant must have, especially for $17. Lurve the ruffle detail. It makes a plain dress more fun! This is going to have to have a tank underneath, because this is a booby dress. Even Nate said it was a bit much. Now that's saying something.


Yet another booby dress...yet nowhere near as bad as the first. This dress was a bit of a splurge at $30. But really $30 is awesome, because I have this exact dress in teal, which I got from Anthropologie. Yes...that's right this is the same exact dress...just a different color. I got the teal dress on sale for around $60, down from around $130. So really $30 is nothing. This was a very exciting find!

I'll be rummaging through the closet here soon, trying to figure out what we will take with us. For now though, I am going to pump myself full of meds so I can hopefully get over this sinus infection now...and not later.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!

More vintage

There hasn't been a vintage post in awhile and I figured it would be far...far...far more exciting then talking about me cleaning through our Tupperware.

I'm also realizing that having all of the photos of my vintage is not only awesome because I can share it with you, but also awesome for this coming move. I now have a picture of every piece of vintage I own...which is great for our records.

Anywho, today's dress is a beautiful dress from the 60's (maybe late 50's). Again, the beading won me over, but more than that I love the mix of the two pinks and the green. The green is very unexpected, but in a good way. I hope to lose enough weight that I can be able to wear this to a military ball or party.

Sorry for the wicked lean on Betty. After all of the constant dress changes she started to come unscrewed from her base.


It really is an amazing dress. Even the interior looks great, which can be rare with vintage dresses. I really can't wait to have a reason to wear it!


Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already!