OOTD: A Return (ish)

Look at me go! Another blog post and it's NOT six months later.

All is basically the same in Nowhere Land. I'm slowly getting my creative buzz back, although it's hard. I'm still looking for a weekend job to supplement my week day part time office job. But, after six long months, I randomly cooked up a new tutorial and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Strangely enough, this was my inspiration.

Snapped Garters

I saw this beautiful image over on Snapped Garters and I mulled it over. There was something I loved about this strong stripe and bold color combination. I looked at both of the outfits in the picture and realized I'd wear both of them! Even now!

I didn't reference the pic while I was making my new tutorial, which is bad because I remembered the stripes a little different (I thought it was more patchy), but I'm so in love with the new tutorial I don't even care!

Etsy

Look at that beauty!

I LIVE for this look.  It's very comfy, very soft and has a nice v-neck style. This dress is so cute with leggings and winter boots- even though it's not exact, I love that it's still as 80's as the inspiration pic.

Details: Cirque du Frock Dress & Necklace, Thrifted Cardi, Frye Boots/Ebay

Look! It's the elusive Meghan Edge in her new natural habitat. I was so excited about this dress I just had to take an outfit pic to share. It's been a hard few months but I can still smile for the camera when I need to.

I also did my own hair, but I'll make a post about that later. Even though I cut a few inches off of it and it turned out so amazingly well, I'd still like to take it shorter, like a pixie! But I'm trying to make it closer to spring for that cut.

Speaking of hair, I've made a few crochet headbands and I listed them in the shop. I really don't like to crochet much but I'm trying to use up a large stash of yarn I brought from Philadelphia. Wouldn't this blue one match my outfit?

$18 on Etsy

I'm excited for the upcoming holiday. This is the first year in a decade that I've been with my family during the holiday season. It's difficult because I'm not emotionally in a holiday mood and I'd like to be. Yuletime is one of my favorite times of the year except for my birthday and Halloween, and I'm hurting so it's hard to be merry. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to baking cookies with my mother and watching Christmas specials with the family.

As much as there are things I wish I had, people I wish were near me that will not be, I have to say I have a lot to be grateful for this Turkey Day. I'm especially grateful to be wearing that lime green skull dress to my grandmother's house.

OOTD: Rough Edges

Y'all, I'm apologizing right now for what can only be described as "bad hair and bitch face". It's a little weird because my hair looks all frizzy at the bottom in these pics, but it doesn't actually look like that IRL. It was actually really pretty today! And the bitch face is not actual bitch face, just super tired face. Today was my first day back in the office after the office vacation for Fourth of July and we were slammed! I need a nap!

I didn't even get to take my usual bathroom selfies at lunch because it was just too busy, so I put in the extra effort after walking home in this nasty heat to take really washed out pics for you. That was just how excited I was to share this new tunic.

I'm really, really excited about it.

A long time ago I bought a tunic from Mango on one of my lunch breaks. I almost missed out on it- it was expensive, so I had to wait a few weeks to 'afford' it (it still went on my credit card) and when I finally was able to buy it, it was the last one and it JUST HAPPENED to be in my size. The grey print was what drew me to the tunic. I felt so pretty while wearing it, that I knew I needed more! But.. I'm poor. So, with a few days off thanks to Independence day, I decided to try out a bit of pattern making and I made my own version! Alas, no pockets like on the original.

Tunic/handmade, Leggings/???, Purple Chucks/Buffalo Exchange, Cardi/Goodwill, Bullet Necklace/Cirquedufrock

These gorgeous purple chucks were a score at Buffalo Exchange! They are pretty much new and the loveliest color.

As I said, we had a bit of time off for the holiday. I spent the entire time working, though. Most of it was on things for the shop that I haven't been able to post yet, but some of it was for me! Hey, you gotta treat yourself to new things sometimes.

So, first pic, a dismal pair of Target jeggings (another attempt to treat myself that went horribly awry) salvaged into a cute skirt. An adorable, snuggly new skelly buddy that is the first PDF pattern I'll be listing in my store. Wolf dress is also an upcoming PDF tutorial for the store, and I'm so excited to wear that it's beyong belief (Megan always finds me the best things). I decided I absolutely needed a deer dress, too, so I made a stencil of a deer silhouette and used my Flying Trapeze Tutorial to make myself a casual dress.

The first two striped dresses are also for me! They were both made using the Flying Trapeze tutorial because that's my favorite, and I tried to keep them kind of funky but office appropriate because I do need some new things to wear to work. As you can see, I also made a shell tunic in addition to this awesome red-purple-yellow thing. I'm so excited to make more!

So that's a short little update on life 'round these parts. Just the same old thing, different month. I've been reading everyone's blogs, and if you miss me, check out @cirquedufrock on Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook and, of course, Etsy.

OOTD: Mango

I've had a tiny taste of unpleasantness in my shopping world lately, and let me tell you, I'm flustered! I know I dress a little weird, but hey, I'm still a generally nice person and I like to treat myself when I can, so it always surprises me when people decide to treat me... weird. Sometimes it happens when I'm in a boutique or store and I feel like I'm being judged and watched. Part of this could be the anxiety. I hate being in crowds of people, so sometimes stores make me nervous. I'm willing to accept that responsibility on myself, to a degree, but there are some boutiques where they just assume you are too poor to buy yourself something there and immediately discount you as a potential customer. It's sad, really, because a lot of stores have lost me that way.

So to balance the bad with the good, I want to tell you about a store that I've fallen in love with near my house. It's called Mango and it's in Chestnut Hill. The shop people working there are lovely, they have an ever-changing stock of gorgeous garments and accessories, and I've never once regretted a purchase from them. Speaking of, take a look at my outfit below.

Top & Pants: Mango, Cardi: Thrifted, Collar: Buffalo Exchange, Mocs: Minnetonka

These pics were taken in an attempt to get myself psyched up for blogging again. The problem is that I get up too early for pics and the sun is always shining directly at my camera. There really is no other place for the pics (which also means messy kitchen table is included in my shot!). On the plus side, I really love lens flares, and at this angle I get bunches of them.

I feel so pretty when I'm wearing this outfit. Like some kind of weird fairy-tale princess. The shoes are so comfy and I love the color of the top. It's definitely one of my favorite new outfits and I have a wishlist a mile long of things I also want to buy from that shop.

The day I went in was during that rough week I had a while back, so I needed a treat. In addition to the top and pants, I couldn't leave behind this awesome statement necklace. I don't know where (or if) I'll ever wear it- I don't go out, except to work, and it's really not work appropriate, but that beaded sugar skull was calling my name!

I really hope to do more of these type of posts where I show you the awesome stores I like. I had a fantastic shopping experience at Mango and I look forward to going back.

OOTD: Owls Are Not What They Seem

I'm back!

This time I'm doing a brief little write-up on the outfit I wore on Sunday. It's really hard, having a blog but having all the other social media we have, because by the time I post this OOTD the actual pictures will have been circulating for a week. I could always hold back and wait, but I get so excited I just have to share immediately! So, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, sorry but you're getting repeat pictures.

Dress: Cirque du Frock, Shoes: Chucks/Ross, Jacket: Thrifted/GAP, Jeans: Old Navy

This outfit is kind of my favorite thing now. I love the cuffed jeans under my dresses look, and I practically live in this denim jacket when I'm not at work. It's still a little chilly in the Philadelphia area, so jackets are a must have. My hair is still wet in these pics but I don't care. We were on our way to our new favorite store- BJ's Wholesale. It has a funny name, if you're as childish as I can be, but we got a case of Mexican coke and I got a 32 gig memory card for my phone, so it was a productive outing.

I love owls so much. This is another example of what you can do with my Sideshow Dress tutorial. I usually use a lot of contrasting colors/patchy fabrics when I make this dress, but you can also use the same color for a more monochromatic look. It changes it up completely. The large graphic print on this dress needed to be the focus, so I accented it with a men's v-neck and black jersey side panels.

Sideshow Dress Tutorial

Because Megan Mae is such a sweetie and features my stuff all the time, I put together a little collage for our Tumblr accounts featuring her. We have one for each tutorial. This is the one for the Sideshow Dress. I love the various ways my tutorials come out, and I love seeing her in her cool dress.

.... I thought I was hilarious when I wrote that caption under the 'wardrobe remix' part. Don't let me market my stuff at 3 AM guys, it can get really weird.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll be back soon!!

Laurel Hill Cemetery (Part 2)

In an attempt to return to blogging, I'm breaking up my Laurel Hill post into two. The first post was the cemetery itself and all the gorgeous things I saw. Next is the #ootd portion of the day.

I've been very proud of my outfits recently. I'm beginning to feel more comfortable in my style and less self-conscious, and it really helps that I'm making things I'm utterly mad about. I love all the clothes I'm wearing! Last week was such a treasure, too, because I went out with friends which means I had an excuse to dress up.

Tracy took this pic after we'd finished being ghosts and went to a local diner for some lunch. She's friends with the girls that made my cell phone sticker (Rainbow Alternative) and wanted a picture of me holding it. I'm happy she took it because I worked really hard to get my hair cute! I braided my bangs to the side and pinned the rest back from my face. I felt super adorable!

I love this tunic. This was the first ever Calliope tunic that I made. It's a neon yellow Ireland T-Shirt with a striped knit blouse and a favorite fabric scrap along the bottom. I appliqued the little shamrock from the original tee on the front. It's worn here with my new favorite Minnetonkas, my ON Rockstar Jeggings and a favorite denim jacket.

I had this jacket on at Target and I got compliments on my 'awesome pins'. It was pretty sweet to hear!

Tracy also snapped these two action shots of me. She's the sweetest!

I felt so pretty in this outfit. I wish that jobs were more relaxed with their dress codes because I would wear stuff like this every day and feel so much better about myself. In regular clothes, for whatever reason, I just feel awful, but in weirdo patchy tunics with rolled up jeans I felt alive.

Here's to more days spent feeling like that.

OOTD: Jeans and a Tee Shirt

holding

That's how I start draft posts.

holding

holding

holding

and then between the posts, I put pictures so later I can go back and add captions or whatever commentary I want. In an ootd post like today, it would read holding (photo) holding (photo) holding (photo) because sometimes the goal is just to get the pictures in and then write when I have the time. I used to just upload the pics but a few glitchy blog posts and several frustrated sighs later, I learned that just a word between the pics would 'hold' me until I was ready to talk.

I've just not really felt much like talking lately, thus, radio silence on the blog.

My life is kind of in a holding pattern right now, even at work where certain things are preventing me from doing my job properly. For someone like me, someone who prides themselves on working hard, that is difficult. Even my coworker yesterday said it - "So, you're like in a holding pattern right now". Yes, I really am.

I'm just sort of stuck. And haven't been very nice to be around.

Every minute of spare time has been spend dealing with a never ending string of dentist appointments which will probably continue well into the fall, as well as a lot of pain or being too drugged/tired from the dentist to even do anything productive with my spare time. It's been difficult.

But I know it will get better, and eventually I'll resume blogging like I never quit and I'll pick back up with writing (because I'm sooooooo close to finishing sooooo many things). I've even taken teeny steps towards my dreams of an online store. I've started making things that make me really feel like an artist again, and that's been kind of important because I lost that feeling for a long, long time.

Anyway, enough whinging. On to the outfit post.

Shirt: Recon/Me, Shoes: Target, Jeans: DIY/Me/American Eagle, Necklace: Target/Recon/Me

I got this cool as hell Cape Cod Whale Watching tee shirt from the 5 for 20$ bin that Captain Vintage always has at the Punk Rock Flea Market. I LOVE it, and it fits my travel tee collection. It was a little boring, though, so I made it into a skirty bottomed tee. I also reconstructed my gold-tone deer skull necklace from Target, putting it on a contrasting gunmetal chain.

It was a perfect outfit for one of the few Saturdays I've had lately without a dental appointment. Seriously, who knew one tooth could be so much trouble? And now, even with the root taken out, I'm still in pain. It's so strange. Hopefully a permanent crown will be the end of my misery and booked-up weekends.

I almost didn't put this picture in the post, but I feel like it sums up my mood so well. Sort of disenchanted, entirely uncomfortable and generally pessimistic. ;-) I'm a charmer, as my spouse would say.

I do really, really love this outfit and I have already started chopping up ALL of my tee shirts. I could also see this being a good layering piece in the fall, which can't get here soon enough in my opinion. I'm always miserable in the summer but happy in the winter. Come on, fall, I'm waiting for you.

Until next time. <3

OOTD: Purple Arrows

I'm back!

For this outfit, I'm showing off a soft purple dress I made a while back with some fabric from JoAnn's. It's a very cool repeating arrow sort of print. Usually I try to spend about $5-6 a yard when I buy fabric for new dresses (unrealistic, but I try). This fabric was actually about $10. But every time I walked past it I just couldn't help but stop and look at the pretty color and the gorgeous pattern and I didn't have anything quite like it, so in the end, I decided it was worth the cost and I got enough to make this dress.

Dress: Handmade/Me, Cardi: Thrifted, Booties: DIY/Me/Roxy, Necklace: Philly Aids Thrift

This is actually my second attempt at taking outfit pictures in it. The first time I wore this dress, I got all excited and decided I was going to 'be pretty' for work that day and I wore the most uncomfortable Mary-Jane heels. I did not take pictures before I left, and by the time I got home my feet were screaming (and the Payless brand shoes that I hadn't worn in three years were flaking, so into the garbage they went).

That's alright, though, because my purple chucks are the same color as the dress, and thanks to Krista, I knew how to style them folded down.

I love those sneakers so much. Custom chucks - if I could, I'd make another pair. Also I love that belt I'm wearing- it's actually white and navy blue stripe and got it from Philly Aids Thrift. I had to take it in a bit, but I really do love it.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say for this post. Until next time!!

OOTD: Lancaster Picnic

And there I go, dropping off the radar again.

Not that I haven't been reading, I have, I've just not had a whole lot to say!

I've been trying to be productive, and that has taken a lot of energy. I'm trying really hard to keep my goals for myself while also trying to balance fun nights writing with my friend. Sometimes it works better than others, and I have to remind myself a lot that I am allowed to have fun. I forget that sometimes, when I'm so focused on trying to 'get things done' that I'm allowed to be, to quote my mother, 'frivolous'. I have a really hard time with allowing myself to be lazy or unproductive or just relaxed, and it's been really stressful inside my head lately. So, lack of blog posts.

Unfortunately I set a goal for myself that I would have one of my mini-books available at the end of May and while it is in the editing stages, it's also a week to the end of May and that's not happening, so I feel very disappointed in myself.

On a happier note, I'm here with a new dress that certainly puts a smile on my face.

Dress: Handmade/Me, Shoes: Chucks/Ross, Cardi: Thrifted, Owl Necklace: The Mister

As many of you who follow my blog know, I force my mother to take me to the Lancaster Goodwill every time I go to visit her. She tolerates this (lovingly so) because she knows it is the best Goodwill to me. I really scored the last time I went with her because I found all these handmade table cloths that were perfect for making dresses! There were three in each 'set' and just enough fabric for a dress out of each. This is a saturated soft blue with pink and yellow roses on it. It's so springy! I used my favorite dress pattern and I've already worn it twice. I'm rockin' the chucks here even though it's a work outfit because they are the only practical rain shoe I have (and that's not saying much). Also, chucks are super comfy and no one can really see my feet under the desk anyway.

I'm loving my new dress, my hair, and my owl necklace lately. Also, I've been experimenting with not smiling in photographs and I find I actually sort of like my face that way. It's always good to find things you like about yourself.

Well, I'm going to go try and edit a chapter or two before bed (even though it's already midnight here). Until next time!

OOTD: Embellished Shoes

I'm back!! It's been a crazy busy week, with tons of patients and lots of writing. I'm working hard to get one of my books ready to share with you guys in the next month or so (I've set goals!!). In the mean time, here is this dress I made!

Dress: DIY/Me, Shoes: DIY/Roxy/Me, Cardi: Thrifted

I'm very excited over this outfit for many reasons. I love this dress, even if I feel kind of fluffy wearing it. It's a skirt I bought when Brenna and I went thrifting, and I kept trying to make it work but I really don't like skirts. So I made the top to one of my Radioactive dresses and just attached the skirt to the bottom. I feel super pretty when I wear it, but also a little... girly? I like to have a sort of tomboy edge to my style, so this is a dress that takes some getting used to for me.

On the other hand, I love these shoes. I didn't originally, I had some major buyer's remorse. See, I wanted some wedge sneakers but I couldn't find any within my budget. So I went to Ross and picked up these Roxy booties for $20. I thought it was a steal, but when I got home, I didn't like how they looked. I thought I would look silly in ankle boots and I thought they were too big. Wah wah wah. So I stuck them in a closet and ignored them. Fast forward a year when I'm bored with my wardrobe and need something cute and office appropriate to wear to work. (Summer is not my favorite shoe season.)

Hottopic

I was inspired by these sneaks from Hot Topic (because the Roxy shoes were a little plain) and I decided to bling up my wedge booties.

I added the stud on the strap and the buttons and beads on the side. I have to admit, I'm in love!! These are really comfy and even though I'm still not sure about wearing booties, I have been wearing them every day now.

Don't you love when you shop your closet and find something that works after all?

Until next time!

OOTD: Princess Dress

Lately I've fallen in love with the Lagenlook/Mori Girl styles on Pinterest, but despite looking incredibly easy I'm finding it hard to recreate the looks. (For instance, my men's shirts into smocks...)

Here is my latest DIY attempt. I used my Radioactive dress pattern for the top (and a large men's button up) and a thrifted linen skirt for the bottom.

Dress: DIY/ME, Necklace: P.A.T., Sweater: NY&Co/Thrifted&DIY

I really love this one, and I feel like a princess when I wear it! I think that's one of the things that always separated me from the other girls when I was younger. Everyone considers a princess dress to be something covered in sparkles, but I usually wanted the peasant-y rags that they were wearing prior to fairy godmother transformations. This dress is very comfy, and the only downside is I do have some Marilyn Monroe Steam Vent moments.

It's not perfect, because it was whipped up at 1 AM when I couldn't sleep, but it's still one of my favorites.

OOTD: 50th Anniversary

A few weeks back I went down to visit my grandparents for a weekend. It was their fiftieth wedding anniversary and I was their present! My grandmother put out her Easter decorations just for me (no, seriously, she said that) so my mom and I decided to take an outfit pic! This dress is one of my newest and new favorites. My grandpa was SHOCKED to learn that it was once a table cloth.

Cuff: Michael's, Jacket: DIY/Me, Dress: Handmade/Me, Necklace: P.A.T.

Isn't that giant peep amazing?

Restroom Wisdom from the Lancaster Train Station

Also a cool lock.

My grandparents live in Baltimore but it's cheaper/easier for me to go to Lancaster. So my poor mom had to pick me up from LANCASTER and drive me all the way to Timonium, MD (Or..was it Towson? Or Both?) to get some delicious crabs for dinner and then back to Baltimore to visit with my grandparents. It was worth it to see everyone, though, and she was nice enough to drive me all the way back to Philly the next day.