Overgrown

This was my "creepy overgrown child" outfit. Notice how serious I am about holding my skirt out. The peter pan collar and frilly socks combined with the black chiffon and creepy gold necklaces gives it an unsettling vibe that I am really into for some reason.

And a flower crown for good measure.

Vintage dress from My Sister's Closet, target tights, thrifted necklaces, target socks, forever 21 shoes, homemade flower crown

Treasures

For the last few posts I've been yammering about how I was going to use my gold studs to make an extra-blingy DIY project. Well, I finally got around to it! Behold:

Ta-da! Remember this vest? I thought it could use some extra sparkle, so I jammed a heap of studs into it. It makes me happy.

 Here's a picture I took of some things that have been inspiring my lately. It's all just stuff that was laying around my room that goes together in a random sort of way.

I'll try to list everything in the picture: fake flowers from a craft store, vials of glitter from a craft kit I had as a little kid, elephant figurine from the state fair, rocks from the science museum gift shop long ago, leftover studs, fake leaves, antique necklaces. Actually, the gold necklace was a gift from a friend. She came up to me at school and said, "I used to wear this to church with my grandparents all the time. My grandma was all like, 'it's vintage!' but I think it's just so gaudy. Anyway, it made me think of you. Do you want it?" I gladly took it, aware that I had just been vaguely insulted but excited by my slammin' new necklace! It has little cherubs on it holding a heart. It rules.

This is my cat, Paprika. She hasn't shown up on the blog yet, mostly because she's really hard to take pictures of. She does that cat thing where she's sitting perfectly still and looking adorable, but at the exact second the camera clicks she looks away and makes the photo a blurry mess. This time, however, I was able to sneak up on her while she was sleeping! She is the sweetest cat. And, as an added bonus, she matches my sheets! She has a brother named Cupcake who is equally cute, but I haven't been so lucky in photographing him.

First snow

Thrifted leopard shirt, gifted sweater, Miracle Eye leggings, forever 21 shoes

This sweater was given to me by my 5th grade teacher, Martha. She's a totally amazing woman who would always assign really interesting and creative projects for her class. She also had an affinity for dumpster diving and thrift shopping, and would occasionally bring her students odds and ends that she found. One day she dug this thing out from a humongous pile of stuff in the back of her classroom and gave it to me, because she knew I loved cats. I wore it regularly back then, but as I got older I deemed it "uncool" (silly me) and it fell to the back of my closet. The other day I pulled it out and realized how fippin' sweet it is, and that it was made to be worn with velvet leggings, and behold! This outfit was born! I love wearing things that were given to me by loved ones. It feels so special to put on clothing that you love and be reminded of someone special to you.

P.S. It snowed! Joy.
P.P.S. Happy thanksgiving, American readers!

Studmuffin

I've had this backpack all throughout junior high and high school. It's served me well over the years, going to and from school every day and carrying my gear on camping trips. But it was plain and boring, and the front was sporting an unpleasant curry stain from a spilled lunch incident (you can still kind of see it in the picture). So when I found this bitchin' leopard fabric in my basement, I thought it would be the perfect complement to my faithful old backpack. I added a few studs in the corner, and now it matches my style so much better!

P.S. I'm not done with the studs! I'll have another studly project to show y'all soon.

She wore her grandma's prom dress, raccoon slippers on her feet

Thrifted diy jacket, thrifted sweater, vintage dress, Dr. martens boots, diy headband

I put together this outfit the same way I do most of my outfits: by taking a bunch of my favorite things and putting them on at the same time. I bleached the jacket myself! I'm so proud of it! I ruined a pair of sweatpants in the process and the whole thing still smells faintly of bleach, but it was so worth it. It's the same one I wore in this post. I think it's much more awesome now.

I feel like I should also mention that this dress is the one I wore to junior prom last year. I got it the day before prom for $25 at My Sister's Closet. Clearly, I'm not one of those girls who puts a lot of thought into my prom look. I was super lucky to find it, though! The details are just perfect, and it dresses down nicely with a sweater and some docs.

I found this adorable daisy trim on one of my frequent trips to JoAnn Fabrics and immediately pictured it as a headband. I just sewed 3¢ worth of elastic to the back of it, and voila!

Ciao, bellas!

Awkward turtle

Thrifted shirt, skirt, cardigan, and shoes, halloween store tights, target socks

I didn't really have anything specific in mind when I put this outfit together, but it came together in a nicely awkward kind of way. I can't get over these tights! My new favorites for sure. I also may have to start wearing black lipstick more often.

You may have noticed that I took a brief sabbatical from blogging. I used my time off to wear sweatpants, do homework, and make a ton of DIY projects, which I'll be revealing to you over the next few posts. One hint: zillions of gold studs!

Accordion to me (HA)

Something that my newer readers may not know is that I'm an avid recreational musician. I have a special passion for collecting unconventional instruments, including a dulcimer and two ukuleles. For my IB music class, I'm lucky enough to get to experiment with a ton of different instruments, the latest being this badass accordion!

 We're playing the song "A Pair of Brown Eyes" by the Pogues and I jumped at the chance to pick up the accordion for it! It turns out that my history teacher's mom had an accordion lying around that she was willing to let me use, so she carted it off to school and now it's temporarily living at my house. Apparently, she used to carry it three miles across Chicago to get lessons. This is rather impressive, considering that it weighs about a million pounds and she was only 10 at the time. Aside from being a beautiful instrument with an interesting history, it has a beautiful sound and is really fun to play!

The case is also pretty cool. When I put my coat on in the morning my dad told me I looked like I was running away from home in the 1920s, which I took as a complement.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this thing and thought I would broadcast it to the internet. Are any of you readers musicians? I'd love to hear if any of you share my love of weird instruments!

Sweatery goodness

Thrifted sweater (borrowed from Laura), levi's jeans, Dr. martens boots, ring from Spanish camp

I enjoyed the odd color palate in this outfit. The pastels and bright colored pants go together in kind of a strangely clashing way. It was a last minute outfit based mostly around comfort, but it managed to be much more interesting than I expected!

In other news, I gave myself a manicure! I used OPI's Get In Lime with Black Shatter on the tips, and filled in the very top with random black polish. I can't stop looking at my nails! They were inspired by/stolen from the nail polish extraordinaire behind Nice and Shiny.

Peaches in the summertime, apples in the fall

 

Thrifted top, Miracle Eye leggings, Target socks, thrifted boots, thrfted turband (borrowed from Laura), Forever 21 necklaces

 

So I am really excited about these leggings. Like really excited. The color is beautiful, the fabric is beautiful (not to mention comfortable and surprisingly warm), and the fit is beautiful. And they go perfectly with my little girl socks! Yay!!!! The best part, though, is that they're from an online store run by a teenage girl, called Miracle Eye. It was featured on Jean Greige, one of my favorite blogs, and it was love at first click! They stock things made out of velvet and lace in every imaginable shape, and it is all so very beautiful.