Tuesday, August 17

Outfit Fourteen ~ A Flower Affair

What I am wearing to dinner with the family  ~

Flower_6

Flower_1 Flower_4

Flower_7Flower_2 

Flower_3 Flower_5

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}

Flower_SPAM

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.

Monday, August 16

Feature ~ The Paradoxes of Blogging

Vintage_16

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 BloggingThe 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.

~* *~* *~* *~

1950s_2

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.

Sunday, August 15

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!

~ ~ ~ ~

Giveaway

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 ~

TakochuHat

xox,

b.

Wednesday, August 11

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!

BowPeep_1 BowPeep_2

BowPeep_3 BowPeep_4

 BowPeep_5

 BowPeep_6

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.

EtsyListing11-08-10

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.

Tuesday, August 10

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.

 

The Sketchbook Project: 2011

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.

Monday, August 9

Takochu Amigurumi ~ Take Two!

So I finished my takochu amigurumi, but then I had an idea.  I want to see if I could adapt the pattern and make a takochu small enough to hang from my mobile phone.  And I could!  I an now the proud owner of the cutest mobile phone charm ~ Bubble.

Here she is!

MobileTakochu_1  MobileTakochu_4 

She turned out just the right size and it wasn’t that hard to rework the pattern so that her body would be shaped the way I wanted it to be ~ which was smaller than what the original pattern called for.

MobileTakochu_2

 MobileTakochu_5
 
I know I have already shown you pictures of the other takochu I did, but I did not show all of the family as it ended up ~ all polished and decorated.  So I hope I do not bore you, but here are more takochu family shots.  These are the last of the takochu amigurumi I promise!

Takochu_2_1

~   Left to Right: Big Brother, Happy Lucky, Sailor Boy, Lilly Sister and Baby    ~

Takochu_2_2

 Takochu_2_3 Takochu_2_4

 Takochu_2_5 Takochu_2_6 Takochu_2_7
 

Takochu_2_9

I am so please with how they all came out ~ particularly as it was my first ever go at amigurumi.  I have done quite a bit of crochet before I tried these however, and I think that really helped.   Oo, and I made up a pattern for Baby’s pacifier!   Isn’t it so cute?    =3= ~
On a final note, amigurumi is a really easy hobby to learn and I would totally encourage you to go out there and try it yourself.  It is so much fun!
xox,
b.

Sunday, August 8

Review ~ Sally Hansen Treatment Polishes

To make up for my slack posting this week I thought I would put up an extra post that I had prepared over the last two weeks. I hope you all like it, as I thought I would try my hand at a review….. It is rather long. Sorry!

I thought I would do the review on the Sally Hansen polishes I’ve been trying out. Just in case anyone cares!!    O_o

I am not doing a review of coloured polishes, but of these three treatment polishes.




1} Sally Hansen Miracle Cure ~ For severe problem nails. Packaging claims polish will cure peeling nails with 50% stronger nails in 3 Days.

2} Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle ~ Salon strength. Packing claims polish will cure soft nails, brittle nails, and help nails to grow 30% longer {tip length} in 5 days.

3} Sally Hansen Insta~Dri ~ Anti~chip top coat. Packing claims the polish will dry your colour polish in 30 seconds.


~*~ Polish 1 ~ Miracle Cure ~*~

Instructions:

Shake gently. Apply one thin coat to clean, dry, bare nails every other day. If wearing nail colour use as a base coat, then apply colour.
 


Product Details:
Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}




Review:

I used this polish as an undercoat and I left it on for around five days. Firstly, the polish went on really smoothly and dried quickly. It made a great base for my nail colour. I noticed that after a couple of days ~ whether it was strictly three I am not sure, my nails did feel stronger. I could not tell if the polish had ‘bonded’ the peeling layers on my thumb nails together {being covered with the pastel pink colour coat and all!} but when I took the polish off, I could only see a tiny bit of peeling on my right thumb and that was an improvement from before.

Conclusion:

I would not say that the polish cured my peeling problems in 3 days, but I did notice that my nails were stronger so it could be with extended use {more than once like I did!! ^^; }the polish could ‘cure’ your nail peeling problems. I for one am willing to give it another go.

And I will say that compared to other nail treatments for peeling I have tried at various times, this Sally Hansen one seems to be the most effective by far as in I can actually tell my nails are better and “see” the results!

Would I buy it?

Yes. I will keep using this, and if I run out, I will get more! I think that it is good value and saves you a trip to the salon to try and stop the dreaded continuous peeling effect.

Rating:

9/10 ~ it does not quite exactly manage to do what it says it does, but it did improve my nail health as far as I could tell without proper testing.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



These next polishes are featured in these pictures.
I used them as the base/top coats.



~*~ Polish 2 ~ Nailgrowth Miracle ~*~

Instructions:

Shake gently. Apply one coat to clean dry bare nails every other day. Wear as a base coat under your favourite Sally Hansen nail colour. Apply two coats of your favourite Sally Hansen nail colour and let dry. Apply one coat as a protective top coat. Use one thin coat as needed to refresh manicure. Remove with Sally Hansen Polish Remover.

Product Details:

Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}

Review:

I used this polish as an undercoat and I left it on for around two weeks. Firstly, the polish went on really smoothly and dried quickly. It made a great base for my nail colour ~ much the same as the Miracle Cure. My nail tip on my left ring finger measured 3mm when I first put the polish on and my thumb {which are my slowest growing nails as well as the only ones with peeling problems!} tip measure all of 2.5mm! Yes, I have really short nails which is why I decided to alternate the Miracle Cure with the Nailgrowth.

After two weeks of using the Nailgrowth as an undercoat on my nails I measured my thumb and ring finger again and both of them had only grown a little bit. The ring finger had grown 1mm from 3mm to 4mm and the thumb had only grown 1/2 a mm from 2.5 to 3mm

Conclusion:

This polish makes a great base coat with the added bonus of being a treatment at the same time. I would say, however, that the effectiveness of the treatment was lacking. I did not really see any growth. It took twice as long as the recommended treatment time {5 days} to get the 30% growth. So as a growth treatment, it is not as effective as it claims. It may not even help the nail to grow as I am pretty sure that is my nail’s normal growth rate!

Would I buy it?

It does make a good undercoat, so if you are looking for something that dries quickly and goes on smoothly I would buy it. But if you are looking for a polish to use as an undercoat and a treatment at the same time I think that there could be other polishes out there that may perform better than this one. That being said, I do not know which ones they are! I would try something else before I came back to this one I think.

Rating:

3/10 ~ disappointing with the growth results, but a good undercoat nonetheless.



~*~ Polish 3 ~ Insta~Dri ~*~

Instructions:

After applying your favourite Sally Hansen Nail Colour, wait two minutes, then apply one coat of Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. Manicure will be dry to the touch in 30 seconds.



Product Details:

Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}


Review:

I used this polish as the top coat as instructed over a Rimmel 60 seconds midnight blue and a Sally Hansen pink {I am sorry I do not have more details as these polishes belong to my sisters and I did not think to get the names, numbers, etc.}. I did the base with the Nailgrowth, put on one coat of each colour and waited a few minutes for the colour to dry. The Insta~Dri went on easily and did not smear the polish beneath it; like some top coat polishes will! It was nice and thick.

I waited two minutes like the instructions said and surprisingly my nails were touch dry. They were only tap dry though, not bump dry! I found that if I accidentally nudged them too hard, the polish would wrinkle/smudge. I found I had to wait at least another fifteen minutes before I could really use my fingers again ~ I certainly would not doing anything like doing up a zip before that. The final product, once properly dry, is really glossy and shiny. Not quite as shiny as a wet nail polish shine, but very close. It ended up very smooth and very nice.

Conclusion:

I would say that this polish, much like the other ones, comes close to what it claims to do, but does fail slightly. I would not say that it is touch dry in 30 seconds, because sometimes I wack my nails really hard! But perhaps if you are gentler you would be able to get away with it.

I do know that the three coats of polish I had on did dry a lot quicker than what they normally do, and were less inclined to smudge. That being the case, I was still happy with the results of applying the Insta~Dri to my nails in terms of dry ability.

For the top coat, anti~chip protection, I would say that it works quite well. I must admit I am brutal to my nails ~ between horses, hot glue guns and super glue, paint and all sorts of nail polish chipping activities, I was quite pleased that this manicure lasted as long as it did. Five days showed a little wear in the polish around the tip of the nail, and two weeks showed quite a lot of chipping, but it was still better than what my nails look like after two weeks without a top coat.

Would I buy it?

Yes, it is best top coat I have found so far.

Rating:

9/10 ~ I wish my nails really did dry as quickly as they were supposed to, but other then that I am very happy with this product. Money well spent!


xox,

b.

P.S. ~ Sorry about the length of the post, I hope it was worth reading that much text! ><

Friday, August 6

Takochu Amigurimi

I posted about amigurumi ~ the awesome new craft I discovered last week, and this week while I have not been feeling so great, I have been working with a takochu amigurumi pattern that you can find here ~   Takochu Amigurumi

I had actually found a whole bunch of amigurumi patterns, but I decided to start with this one because it looked like the easiest to understand as well as complete!  =o=

Takochu_1
 
~ ♥  In the middle of decorating my second Takochu    ~
 
Takochu_2
 
~ ♥  Left to Right:  Big Bother Takochu ~ he’s not finished yet!!  Just an empty shell…  -__-    ~
 
Lilly Sister Takochu ~ she may have been born second, but she’s the only girl in the family so she gets a lot of petting from the boys
 
Sailor Boy Takochu ~ born first, he is the eldest {but not the biggest} and he is the clever adventurer of the family
 
Baby Takochu ~ he is the third born, but has not got any eyes yet as I don’t have any small enough!!
 
 Takochu_3  Takochu_4 
 
~ ♥  Sailor Boy has an anchor behind and three bubbles on his head and Lilly Sister has a hand sewn flower and curly hair with a bow   ~
 
Takochu_5  Takochu_6
 
~ ♥  Baby can not see  ;_;  and Big Brother is missing his stuffing, legs and snout!  =_=   ~
 
I am planning one more Takochu to finish off the family ~ okay, so as I type this I have already started him.  >w<  Big Brother can now see as well as having all his pieces sewn on.   Baby is still stuck for eyes, but hopefully I can buy some soon for him.  I did try felt eyes, but they looked silly so I did not stitch them on.
 
Next amigurumi?   Um….  Maybe a bunny or a snail.  I really can not decide as they are all soooo cute.  ^3^
 
xox,
b.

Thursday, August 5

Outfit Twelve ~ Princessly Living

Or “Venture into Frills”.  So this is the Hime Gyaru flavoured outfit I promised earlier.   On that note, I apologise for the lack of updates.  I have reoccurring abdomen pains that bother me from time to time.  Unfortunately this week the pain has been more than just a little problematic!   I also finally figured out that the pain is multiplied a hundred times if I overdose on wheat….

I have only just developed this level of serious wheat intolerance  over the last five months or so, and at this stage it is really difficult to decipher at which point I have had too much.  Some things also appear to upset me more than others….   Bread, escargot scrolls from Baker’s Delight {*sad face*  They are sooo yummy!  T_T }, any pizza that is not thin crust, pizza pockets and too much cake seem to be the real culprits so far. 

Unfortunately, I assume that this list is only going to grow longer as time goes on.  Hopefully, it will not reach the stage where my favourite treats {chocolate ice cream  and peanut M&Ms} are involved!!   >o<  Okay, enough about my tummy troubles, I am sure you do not really want to know.  >.>’  

Here’s the outfit~

Hime_1 Hime_3

Hime_2

Hime_8 Hime_9

Please note that this is not correct Hime Gyaru as I do not have the right makeup ~ false eyelashes and circle lenses, and I am pretty sure my skirt should be poufy~er.  If I had a crinoline, or a petticoat or two {like I am hoping to get one day} that problem would be rectified, but I do not think that I would ever really wear false eyelashes or circle lenses.   I am not really comfortable with wearing that much artificial prettiness ~ I do not think it is the right look for me.  I do think that they look good one other girls though ~ so kawaii.  But then again, maybe I would like to try them out ~ just once!  Just to see what they would look like.

Oh, and further notes on Hime Gyaru style ~ I do not think I have the right colour scheme or shoes.  Or the right hair!  I did try a modest bouffant do, but I think that it kind of sunk, because you can not really see it in the photographs.  Although that could be the angle too…  ><

Hime_5Hime_7Hime_10

Too many photos again?  Tell me what you would like to see, more detail or different backgrounds, or more wacky poses with photo spam.….  Should I smile more?

Hime_4_Spam

I actually stopped and did this in the middle of the shoot…  >o<’

 

 

Hime_6

And that’s all I got….   =^.^=

 

Accessories  ~  Pearl Hair Band {Equip}   Earrings  {Equip}   Necklace {made by b dot depictions}

Twin Crown Broach {Diva}   Cuff  {Diva}  Bracelet {embellished by b dot depictions} 

Ring {made by b dot depictions}  Shoe Clips {random $2.00 shops}

Top ~ Best&Less  {you must be so sick of it now!  ><}   Vest  ~ I do not remember which shop…

Skirt  ~  Tightrope     Tights  ~  Valley Girl    Shoes  ~  Thrifted

Underskirt for extra pouf  ~  SES

 

“That’s all there is ~ there isn’t any more…..”

xox,

b.

 

P.S. ~ Whoever correctly guesses where the quote above comes from can send me a photo and I will photo spam it for them as a present.   >w< ~ <3

P.S. II ~  Apologies.  There was more after all…. u_u

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