Snow falls…

                       

~ * All images supplied by Google “Snow” Image search * ~

Well, when the snow falls it is a tradition in our family that DH and I run away to Mt. Perisher for some sweet boarding.

The snow has been falling a LOT.   And consequentially we will be away for the next week.  Further more as I am completely inundated with things to do today before we leave tomorrow, I am afraid I do not have time for more than this quick post.

However, that tutorial I promised will be up as soon as I get back ~ so hopefully you can hold out for that.  I hope that  everyone has an excellent week and I will catch up with posting upon my return. 
xox,
bonita

These are my confessions… Outfit Fifteen

Outfit fifteen I wore went we went over for dinner at my in~law’s place.  Yes, I get all dressed up for no reason what so ever.   >.<   That is just the way I roll……   >.>’

    

 

Accessories  ~  Hair Band {I really can not remember….  =>o<=}    Lace Gloves {JayJays}

Necklace {gift, pendant by b dot depictions}    Earrings {Parklea Markets, Sydney}

Bracelet {gift}    Watch  {thrifted}     Shoe clips   ~  {b dot depictions} 

Shirt  ~  Primark     Vest   ~  SES     

Top Layered Skirt   {Hong Kong ~ I have no flipping idea which shop!!}

Bottom Layered Skirt  ~  Tightrope     Stocking Socks   ~   Best&Less      Shoes  ~  Thrifted

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

Hint ~  I have a little preview of a tutorial I am working on in these photographs.   Can you guess what it is?   If not, I will spare you the suspense.  I am writing my very first tutorial and it will be on crafting your own lace shoe clips/hair clips like the ones I have clipped on the side of my pump straps.  I hope you will like it!   ^__^  ~ ♥    I shall try to have it up next Monday.

I also have an idea that I am wanting to try, but I am not sure if I will actually get to do it or not.  My idea is to do a “Circle of Confessions” and basically, what happens is that every Thursday I send out a bunch of questions on a random topic {may or may not be: blog related, fashion related, life related, etc.} and the bloggers in the Circle post their answers to those questions on Friday.  

I got the idea from Kate of Modly Chic, she does it as a “Friend Friday” with the same principles.  The only thing is that I am not sure if anyone would be interested…..   However, I think I am going to be an optimist and create a page so that if anyone out there is keen on becoming a Confessions Gal they can find out more. 

I will make a button/banner so that if you do join the circle, you can link to it on your blog and the information will be provided without you having to post about it every time.

So, who is wanting to do this? 

xox,

bonita

bonita answers

If you could design your own fashion line with only one type of clothing, what would it be?

Dresses.  Multitudes of frilly, floaty, flouncy dresses that are 40s and 50s inspired with a touch of Victorian Princess.   And I’d call the line Dreamer ~ because every lady out there always has some dream when it comes to clothes.  I’d want to be able to fulfil all the dreams of the vintage princesses.

What beauty items are in your purse right now?

Lip gloss and emergency concealer.

What won’t you be caught dead wearing?

Tights/leggings as pants.   To me, doing that  is as good as walking around nude.  And no, that slightly~longer~than~average~denim~cotton~Sienna~Miller~type~shirt does NOT cover your backside!

What’s your favourite beauty brand?

I do not really have a favourite brand of makeup as I am not really into it.  But I do love a good Sally Hansen nail polish.   ^__^

What is the one thing in your closet you can’t live without?

I adore my shoes.   I love them to bits and I really can not live without my Mary Jane style heels.  I wear them everywhere!

What’s the worst hairstyle you ever had?

The worst hair style I ever had was in year 10 when my Dad cut my hair.  Usually he is a really good hair dresser, but he does not get the concept of curly hair which is 1}. As it dries it gets shorter.  2}. The more you cut it the more bounce you get, which means that if you cut off one inch and it’s really long you might make it 2 inches shorter when it’s dry.   Cut off of two inches when it’s shoulder length and it will end up around the tops of your ears. 

Which is precisely what occurred.   And he gave me a fringe before I knew there was such a thing as blow drying and hair straighteners. 

So I literally had a triangle frizz pouf on my head, and from that day forth I vowed that my Dad would never touch my head again with scissors and he has not…..  

Whew.  What a saga. 

Your least favourite song is…

I absolutely can not abide Scissor Sister’s “Don’t feel like dancing” ~ that song drives me balmy.

Your best piece of beauty/fashion advice is….

Try to stay away from dressing only in the really trendy stuff.  If you want to be right up there with on~trend style, try a few accessories, or a new pair of shoes to jazz up your outfits.  But I would stay away from dressing in head to toe trend because personally, I think that it makes you look like a magazine cookie~cutter. 

The leading fashionistas, the ones that make the trends, are the ones that always put their own spin on fashion.  And you never see them walking around looking like they’ve been dressed by a magazine page.  They take what is new and give their own edge.  And that’s the side of fashion that I like to call art.  Taking something that’s already been done and making it your own. 

Oops, I just realized that the last answer kind of turned into a mini~rant.  Sorry!  I guess I just feel rather strongly about this idea as it collates very strongly with my own fashion philosophy.   Which is “Make it your own!”   I believe that the best way to enjoy what you wear is to define it through your own style rather than letting other sources dictate what you wear ~ which in turn tends to define you rather than you defining it….

I hope that made sense.  Anyway, will stop ranting now!

xox,

bonita.

Giveaway ~ Vintage Styled Postcards

Check out Tuppence Ha'penny Vintage’s giveaway featuring these neat postcards!

I am so hoping for the everywoman one with that gorgeous checked dress.  It looks so nice. 

Free Postcards Giveaway!

I got a bunch of promotional postcards printed from Vistaprint, to hand out over the weekend. I made three different designs - two Everywoman magazine covers (one wartime, one early 50s) and one from my "Marilyn" pin-up beach photo shoot. Anyway, to celebrate Vintage this weekend I'm offering these up as a giveaway for all followers!

Any follower is entitled to one, and if you post a link back to this giveaway on your blog or twitter, and/or Like my new facebook page you can have more! Just email me your postal address and I'll pop one (or more) in the mail for you.

This is so much fun - I'm already picking out more images to make into postcards in the future, so this probably won't be the last giveaway of this type.

~* ♥*~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

Isn’t she just the best?  I am thinking that I shall try and do something like this too.  I am supposed to be ordering some business cards from Vistaprint sometime soon so maybe I will do a postcard giveaway too!   Or maybe I will save them and do a really big giveaway when I reach 50 followers.   What do you think?

xox,

bonita

Drabbles, Photographs and What not

A drabble I wrote today about one of my favourite jackets.  You haven’t seen me style this one yet as it is a spring/summer/fall coat.  Having 3/4 sleeves makes it too cold for winter.  But hopefully it will pop up soon!

~* The First Sight *~

   It was love at first sight...  She looked across the store at me and I could feel my threads tighten with anticipation.  She was dressed in black: a cute knee length skirt and a ruffley top.  I could see her blue eyes light up when her gaze fell upon my floral print and tailored shape.  She danced across, I could tell she really like me even before she touched me.

    She plucked me off the rack and turned to her friends excitedly.  "It's perfect ~ so my style!!" she exclaimed.  

    We didn't even make to the fitting room.  She slipped me on right then and there and took a look in the mirror.   She turned this way and that.   It was a match made in heaven and she took me home that very day. 

       I heard her murmur something about having spent too much money on clothes today but that she couldn't resist me....

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

News and what not ~  DH has just gotten a new job which will involve him travelling around Australia for an indeterminate amount of time.   And I am most likely going to be going with him.   ><

I love travelling and exploring, but we also have to sort out a house to buy in Canberra so that when we come home on the weekends we will have somewhere to live. 

And there’s the moving as we are currently house sitting, but will have to leave before we manage to buy our new place.  So there will be floating for a while.  Hopefully we can find a place to stay for the next three odd weeks or so.   It’s all rather crazy at the moment to say the least. 

So in terms of blogging, please do not be mad if things get rather disjointed.  I will try to keep up with everything, but I know it is going to be a challenge as there will be a lot of up and down.

In the mean time, here are some photographs I took the other morning.  I was supposed to be packing the car to go to the snow, but I saw these gorgeous flowers sprinkled with rain drops and just knew I had to do a super quick shoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The snow ended up being fantastically great fun, but what was better was getting those photographs when I had too.  I hate having photographic regrets ~ where you are all “Darn it ~ I wish I had my camera!”  It just bites so much when there is a perfect photo and you can not capture it.  At least, that’s what I find anyway!  

xox,

b.

P.S. ~ That drabble is the true story of how I 'met' my jacket and brought it!

Outfit Fourteen ~ A Flower Affair

What I am wearing to dinner with the family  ~ ♥

 

Accessories  ~  Ribbon Necklace {b dot depictions}   Bracelet  {Diva ~ gift from my sister}

Belt  {Valley Girl}   Tights {Valley Girl}

Shirt  ~  Best&Less  {yes, I bought three of the same shirt in different colours…  >.>}

Skirt  ~  Thrifted     Shoes  ~  New Look {UK}

Random photo spam!!  Yayz!   DH likes to take photos of me in the most inopportune moments {great for him, not so for me!} and this is resulting in the photo spam photos.  They are fun to do up though.  I get to go nuts in photo shop.   >__<

Question ~ am I putting up too many photos in my outfit posts?  I would hate for you not to be able to load the page because it is too data heavy.   Please let me know if you are having any problems viewing these pages.  Thank you!  ♥

xox,

b.

Feature ~ The Paradoxes of Blogging

When getting dressed these days I often wonder at how much harder it seems to be.  Before I would just throw on the clothes and be done with it. 

But now I find myself fussing over the outfit ~ am I wearing too much RTW?  Will readers out there shun my blog for my outfits not being vintage enough?  If I do crazy outfits all the time will I scare people away or attract them to Depict This!? 

All this thinking was intensified by this post from Rebecca of The Clothes Horse.

 

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

 

The Paradoxes of Blogging 

by The Clothes Horse

I wanted to clarify (or perhaps continue) the points I mentioned in my post Paradoxes of Blogging.  The main point today is: wearing an outfit for the sake of a photograph….

…More often, I will have my "style experiments" which I wear all day, but my point is: I wouldn't have worn them all day if I didn't have this old fashion blog and the thought of pictures in the back of my head. That is what I meant by "the process of recording alters the record." In the conscious act of deciding to record things we begin to construct items to record and alter what we are recording; if we hadn't decided to write blogs then the day, outfits, and ourselves would be different (although possibly this difference is minor). My outfits are definitely being worn, but in a "normal" world they probably wouldn't have been outfits I tried out. My blog has given me some sartorial courage and a reason to exercise it. If you came upon me on the street (or path in the woods), they are what I would be wearing that day.

There is the inherent staging effect of taking pictures; particularly when you take them of yourself. I mentioned this way back in 2008 and with photographic illustration. In that post slightly clashing elements of a tote bag and leopard print headphones were highlighted when they normally would have been removed for the sake of blog images. Such edits happen frequently and not always by conscious choice (often I merely forget to photograph my purse rather than purposely leave it out). Many other factors lead to the staging of outfit shots as well. Most of the winter I removed my coats in order to photograph the outfits I was wearing underneath them, misleading some people to think I lived in a warmer climate than I do. I also spend more time every day barefoot than I do in heels; one of the joys of working from home, no?

Truthfully, even if I could paint a perfectly accurate and realistic image of my life and my outfits: I doubt I would.  This blog is escapism as much for me as it might be for others visiting; so if only idealized images of this period in time remain to jog my memory later, I'm content with that.

~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~* ♥ *~

I started doing outfit posts because occasionally I would put on a cute outfit and think, “Gee, I wish I was going somewhere that I would get a photo taken in this outfit!  I really like it!”  but now I find that outfit posts are determining a great portion of what I wear.

It is the process that Rebecca calls “recording altering the record”.   I find that an interesting concept in its truth because you can not escape from the fact that when you start thinking about writing something down, or recording your efforts permanently there seems to be a sort of automatic staging, or self censorship ~ much like how you censor yourself before you say something.  {At least, if you are me you do!}

I find it very intriguing how it can be just as much of what we do than who we are that influences what we wear.  I used to think that I was a “This is who I am” only dresser, but I have realised that particularly now that I am outfit posting that I am just as much a “This is what I do” dresser too.

How do you dress?  By what you do or by who you are?

xox,

b.

Emerging Thoughts Giveaway

Hi everyone!  I hope your weekend has been going well for you!  I have been super busy with snowboarding, friends and horses, so it has been rather crazy around here.  I did a photo shoot on the way home from Cooma yesterday, so I should have some photos up for you soon.  

I thought that this weekend’s giveaway from Keiko Lynn is a really cool one, so I am posting the details and the links.   Good luck everyone!

~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

Today's giveaway is courtesy of Emerging Thoughts, who is offering one of my lucky readers a print of choice from a featured artist on their site, Cindy Bernhard. She is wildly talented and a Postlapsaria customer. That's an old Postlapsaria design in the above self portrait!

To enter, simply visit Emerging Thoughts and then leave a comment below with the print of your choice. A winner will be chosen at random and announced in this post!

Up to TWO bonus entries - leave additional comments notifying me with the following:
+ Follow Emerging Thoughts on Twitter
+ "Like" Emerging Thoughts on Facebook

Entries will be accepted until 9 pm EST on Monday, August 16th. You must leave a valid email address or some way for me to contact you in order to win. Good luck!

-Keiko Lynn

~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~

 

I also had a really cool idea when I was waiting in line at one of the t-bars at Blue Cow.   I want to knit myself an animal hat and hang an amigurumi off it instead of a pompom.  The only thing is that I have to wait a bit to try this as I do not have the right sort of wool to felt.  *sad face*  Oh well.   Maybe I will do a takochu hat something like this ~

xox,

b.

Outfit Thirteen ~ Bow Peep

I was trying to recreate an outfit I wore last night but I realized it was totally unsuitable for trotting around Civic centre for goodness knows how long as the key coordinate involved high heels of some description.  >.>’

So I threw together an outfit that actually centred around my most favourite pair of flats ~ which are these totally cute round toed black ones with a frill and bow accent.  ^3^  ~ ♥   I also realized that I had a lot of bow accessories on today.  But that is hardly surprising as bows are kind of my signature item.   I can not resist stamping them all over my nails!

 

 

Accessories   ~  Hair bow {Equip}   Crochet Collar { b dot depictions}   Belt   {Thrifted}  

Cardigan  ~  SES     Jumper  ~  Can not remember; it's years old but I love it      Shirt  ~  SES

Tights  ~  Valley Girl   Flats  ~  Kmart {best buy ever!!}

Nail Art  ~  Konad Stamping on BYS metallic purple polish {my sister’s}

In other news ~ I updated my Etsy shop with some new items that I have been working on.   I have made a variety of rose hair accessories ~ bobby pins with different sized blossoms and in two different colours as well as a comb with a cluster of roses on it.

Have a look!  ~ b dot depictions Etsy shop ~   Please let me know if you like them and if you think that they are reasonably priced.  I always have trouble trying to decide how much I should price things.  I want to be fair, but also cover the amount of materials and time I put into the handcrafted items.

In terms of busyness, DH and I will be at Mt. Perisher for the next two days so I will be AWOL from blog posting as I will have no internet access.  Enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll try to find a giveaway to post about this weekend.  >u<

xox,

b.

A Thousand Squee~s

*squeee!*  I just got my first ever blog award!  How cool is that???  Thank you to Carys of La Ville Inconnue  for awarding it too me.  >U<  

Award rules are as follows:

1}. Thank the person who gave you the award:  Thank you Carys!  I find your vintage style such an inspiration and to have your support means a lot to me.  ^^

2. Copy the graphic onto your blog.  Ta~da!  Is not so pretty?

3.Pass it along!  *salutes*  Yes ma’am! 

Now here are some lovely blogs I shall pass this award to ~ please visit them because I am sure that they appreciate the support as much as I do.

 

~ ♥  Berrysprite  ♥ ~

Amazing craft ideas and cute calendar desktop downloads available for free!  Holly is very generous to her readers.

~ ♥  Casey’s Elegant Musings  ♥ ~

Beautiful vintage sewing inspiration and outfits to envy ~ but I think that she deserves it all because Casey is the nicest and of the most creative bloggers you’ll ever meet.

~ ♥  Craft My Soul  ♥ ~

Cool DYI inspiration, craft ideas and fun ~ what more could you want?  

~ ♥  Keiko Lynn  ♥ ~

Superb outfits, stunning makeup tutorials and beautiful photographs, Keiko Lynn’s blog is full of great stuff to look at.

~ ♥  Lulu Letty ♥ ~

I try not to sound too much like an obsessed fan girl with Maria, but really, her outfits are to die for….  And she is one of the sweetest, most amazing bloggers I have ever had the pleasure to meet. 

~ ♥  Only Half Dressed  ♥ ~

Lovely photographs, cute puppy dog and friendly posts ~ I really like visiting this blog! 

~ ♥  Strawberry Koi  ♥ ~

Amazing surreal and fantasy vintage photography and art work ~ Aya has great inspiration of beautiful things on her blog.

 

Apart from that exciting news, I have also joined up with the Sketchbook Project!  I was reading through All That Glitters and I saw a link to it.  I thought it looked interesting so I signed up.   Basically what it is is a the Art House Co-op sends you a sketch book {you pay for it} and you choose a theme.  You fill the sketch book with theme inspired art and send it back to them.

Then your sketch book and everyone else who participates in the project’s sketch books go on tour around America!  The viewers get to interact with the sketch books and as the artist you get to find out how many people look at it and everything.  After the tour your sketch book is stored in the Brooklyn Art Library.  That’s pretty cool if you ask me.

If you want to find out more go here:  The Sketchbook Project.

The theme I choose was “It’s raining cats and dogs” and although I do not like drawing dogs that much, I do love cats and rain and I can not wait to fill my sketch book with super kawaii images and bits and pieces!

xox,

b.