Halloween '08

Happy Halloween!

My friend Talisha was nice enough to take a picture of me in this years Halloween costume when I went and visited her at work.

I thought that the green walls would look good with Halloween colors of orange and black and so added embellishments to the pic in those colors even though they don't match my outfit.

I'm calling this look eclectic sweet punk chic. Vintage 1950's prom dress, denim jacket, vintage 1950's spike high heels, hot pink fishnet tights, antique silver mesh purse, and miscellaneous jewelry. Oh, and of course, pink hair (this time I tried something different, I powdered my hair with blush...what you normally put on your cheeks...with okay results. But at least this year I wasn't coughing up pink spit from that horrible hairspray stuff like I did from a previous year.

I went shopping for thrifty treasures wearing this outfit. A lot of people liked the dress. Some liked the tights. And it was pretty fun. But it didn't take long before the very cute shoes became an ultra pain to wear. I usually wear low heels, not high heels, let alone skinny spike high heels. So I wandered all over the store carrying my shoes (getting my feet pretty dirty) as I found the greatest stuff! I am very excited about some of what I found.

So here are some of my Halloween treasures.

First I fount this awesome, rusty, and huge old treasure box...er, tool box. It's full of all sorts of nuts, bolts, a few tools, and lots of...bark. Little bits of bark from a pine tree. Go figure. But because the rusty color is kind of Fall like I may end up using it in the Fall/Thanksgiving window at the store that I will be doing tomorrow to replace the Halloween one.

Then I have all these little goodies. A train case (to those who know of my suitcase addiction you know I am thrilled to have found this). A bag of pink sparkly felt that I have plans for making into something sweet. A tole painted tray of roses. A little wood tote (will probably paint white and line with some vintage wallpaper I have). A little white wood cart that looks like carved tulips (it will look pretty good in the garden area of the store). A vintage Sunbeam mixer with the milk glass bowls. Two old bread pans. An interesting tray. Some really pretty ribbon with purple flowers on them. An old LDS song book. I don't think I'll get the song book back though. My mom got hold of it and is singing songs from it even as I type. :) It has lots of songs she remembers singing when she was a teen. A children's book from the 60's with quaint illustrations. A Final Fantasy VII book written in Japanese. And a book on scrapbooking. And a pair of modern Japanse sandals. (You can't have them Talisha...lol.)

Which Jane Austen Character Am I?

I just took this quiz and here are my results.

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Maybe I should put on my Regency style dress on for my Halloween costume...too bad I do not have a bonnet to go with it.

Or I could go with my previous plan and wear my vintage 1950's prom dress and show my decidedly unsensible side.

Willing to let go of Perfection

I have been recovering from a disease, a disease for the desire for perfection that results in becoming stuck, frozen, and immobile any time I realize I cannot do things perfectly. In the past I found the easiest way to get unstuck was to turn around in the complete opposite direction as I'd been going in...this could also be known as Quitting.

Yesterday I found another alternative "treatment", an alternative I knew about and sometimes forgot about, but even when I did remember I often did not take advantage of it anyway. And that solution, that cure to my disease that froze me into a state of immobility...is to let go of perfection, to be willing to just get things done even if it means I don't have the beautiful, wonderful, fabulous, looks like it came out of a sweet dream quality, I wish it would have.

This time I was willing to accept the alternative treatment more fully as a friend helped me understand how I reacted when I clung to this disease, why I did, and who I would be without it. (note: here in this post the word disease = unrealistic and/or negative thoughts)

If you've seen my post below about some things I have recently listed for sale on etsy, that is the direct result of learning/choosing how to let go of perfection and be willing to experience that imperfection. I have seriously been putting off this task for months because I knew I could not make the photos, the descriptions, etc. meet up to my "perfect" standard. (Which would probably mean to try to make it look like it came out from a magazine.)

I would love for the pics I took to be better than just in focus and the lighting decent...I would love the pics to be so amazing that you hardly want to look away from them and you itch to buy the items shown. I'll look at other pics on etsy or on some of my favorite blogs or online stores and wish I could accomplish things like they do. And sometimes I try...and then I Freeze! So for the sake of getting things done, for the sake of peace of mind and sanity, for the good of my health, my heart, and the good of my bank account, and so much more, I am willing to let perfection go. I will always strive to improve and do better than before. But striving for the impossible to the point where I make myself sick over it, or I actually lose my job over it (bye bye job writing for a local newspaper because I was terrified of not being perfect), and all the other many ways this disease has impacted my life is just not something I am willing to put up with from myself anymore. I think I deserve better. I think I deserve to have a life. And without "perfection" I think I have a chance of having one...one that is happy, peaceful, and carefree.

So the work I do won't look as wonderful as if it came out of a magazine. But it will be a good job. And it will get done.

The first step is to admit you have a problem. The second is to let it go...

Suddenly etsy...

I've finally got around to listing a very few things on etsy.com again. (If you're by any chance interested in checking the items out you can click on the pics and they should take you to my etsy shop).

First are some vintage bingo cards and markers that I've managed to successfully sell on etsy before. The red (alright, it's kind of orange), white, and blue coloring makes them fun for any body wanting to use them for an Americana themed collage art.




Next I have some vintage and very kawaii (that's Japanese for cute) hair barrettes, with yellow kitty cats, turquoise strawberries, pink apples, blue stars, and peach hearts. I think they'd be great for someone who's into the Japanese Street Fashion look or any other funky style. or of course you could be normal and just give them to a sweet little girl to wear in her hair.




And last (for now), a funky vintage beaded purse almost just like one I remember from my childhood.



I have a confession to make regarding the beaded purse...the one like this that we had when I was a little kid, only it was bright orange...well I used to pick the plastic beads off of them and chew them...hey I was four or five. I chewed on those little pegs from the "You sunk my battleship!" game too. This may only paritally account for why I am so weird today.

That's all I've listed for today, but there will be more later. In fact, you might see somethings I actually made myself, and not just vintage things. Something more shabby chic like even maybe.

Beauty of Spirit in Clothing

If you like Christian clothing then you've got to check out the clothing company at www.C28.com. This is probably one of the coolest Christian clothing lines out there that doesn't end up being cheesy, dorky, too cutesy, etc. Their t-shirts and other products are Art (in my opinion) with a message.

I really love this t-shirt shown on the left, with this quote on it, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you..." - Psalm 42:5-6

And right now they are having a sale on select items (including the tee shown on the left...it's only $10) right now until Saturday. So this moment is one of the best times to check them out.

Now if there were only a Mormon t-shirt clothing that made stuff as great as this (or maybe there is and I just don't know about it).

Don't Believe Everything You Think

Okay so I'm posting three times in one evening...maybe it makes up for the times I didn't post...or maybe it's just annoying. But I forgot I was going to post this last night and so there you have it.

This was one of my latest projects I did yesterday...

I took one of my favorite quotes, "Don't Believe Everything You Think" ('cause sometimes we get caught in a rut of believing stuff that just isn't so and makes us stuck in our lives) and using this funky font that kinda reminds me of the steampunk style, made it into a graphic and applied it to apparel on CafePress.com.

Although it's just simple text I think it turned out pretty cool.

If you'd like to see the other products it's on (mostly other kinds of shirts) you can see them at
http://www.cafepress.com/QuestionThinker

Cake Love - A Man With Passion

Reading on one of my dear childhood friends blog about her attempts to bake a cake from a recipe book by Warren Brown reminded me of when I first saw this man who went from being a lawyer to baking cakes being interviewed on tv. I love reading and hearing about people who are passionately following their dreams. Usually I end up reading about women following their dreams of opening their "business of bliss" who inspire me to think maybe someday I can do that myself. But Warren Brown is one of the men who I have heard about that inspires me as well.

So I found his business's website Cake Love and in the "about Cake Love area" of the website I re-read the story of how he started this biz. If you love cakes, or you enjoy hearing stories about those who have dropped living a life of what success is "supposed" to look like based on what the world tells them is success, you might enjoy reading it as well. And well, Warren Brown is pretty cute as well so you can check that out as well. :) http://www.cakelove.com/about_story.php