Autumn Breeze

Autumn Breeze by my-essence featuring heeled booties

Outfit Love: hues of a storm

This Outfit Love post is titled hues of a storm, just because the colour combination reminded me of a stormy sky right before the first crack of thunder... Man, I really miss those Gauteng thunderstorms!

• Vintage Scarf - Matchbox @R10, this is a beautifully designed scarf with an amazing colour pallet.
• Textile Necklace - OddOneOut @ R190, this silver is my most popular colour in this range.
• Purle Coat - Zoot, I can't remember what I paid for this one, I bought it a few years ago but it wears well. I love the style of this coat, it almost feels like it was tailor made for me and it goes with almost everything.   
• Cindy Leigh Armstrong - Mr. Price, Project @ R169.95, this dress is beautifully made, simplistic yet it has subtle details which make it interesting. The fit is perfect and I love the colour. 
• Vintage Floral Dress - My Mom's @ Priceless, my mom wore this dress back when she was about twenty, she dug it up last winter and thought I would like it... I love it and it fits perfectly!

I wore this outfit to choir practice last night where we had to sit for a photo with the Mayor (before practice). The photo was taken for the Hermanus Times, our local newspaper, to accompany the article about our choir achieving a Cum-Laude at the Eistedfodd in Stellenbosch last week, yay! Congratulations to all of the members, we did good! 

xxx

After the spring rain...

After the spring rain... by my-essence featuring color block dresses

Gillian, you made my day!

Last week sometime, I'd been sick and feeling icky and down in the dumps. It was just the worst of days... Then late Thursday afternoon my mom came to me with a bunch of bags, all excited! "just look at what Gillian sent you!" So many awesome pieces of fabric, bric-a-brac and, get this, a bag full of colourful zippers!!!! What a turn-around! Suddenly all the icky had gone and my head was filled with new ideas of what to make with all these treasures! Gillian gets all these things from our local chatity shops. She buys from them as to support their cause and then doesn't know what to do with it. Well I know just the thing! Just look at all these pretties... 

These doilies (above) are vintage paper and plastic doilies. Do you remember those plastic doilies? My great gran used to have quite a few of them, then I thought it was weird. Amazing how the things I thought were strange growing up, are the things I'm in love with now!

Thanx, again Gillian! I can't wait to make some pretties!

xxx

Outfit Love: Achive #01

So... I was browsing through our back-up discs, looking at all our old photies, when I came across a bunch of random shots that Dave took of me. Some were taken while on holiday, others were just before a night out and some are just random outfit pics. Well, then I thought, why not share them with you all? So here is the first one:

• Chiffon&Lace blouse - (pardon my spelling below) I found this beauty at our local Hospice
• Grey Bow Belt - I freaked out when I saw this one at Mr. Price and I just had to have it

-I still wear both these items, they make me feel really pretty-

xxx

Happy Birthday, Friend!

Hey Natasha (Bamboo Blossom)! Happy Birthday to you! I'm so glad you like your prezzy....yay! I made you this "goody jar" which contains the following goodies:

1. Vintage Buttons - because you love sewing
2. A winter brooch - I made using vintage corduroy that I found at the charity shop
3. Grape lipbalm - because it's yummy
4. Rubber Ducky - just for fun
5. Ice-cream scented bubbles - because it's awesome
6. Mini crochet bunting - I made this one for your work area
7. A lovely beaded handbag charm - but you can really put it anywhere you like<3 

 

 Thank you for inviting Dave and I to your party. It was awesome! The movie at Romantiques was great! I love "Some like it hot", Marilyn Monroe is so funny, and don't get me started on the cross-dressing Jack Lemmon and  Tony Curtis... Natasha also made all her guests party packs to enjoy during the movie. Those Brownies were yummy! Only, it was a bit difficult to see what you were eating in the dark theater and when the movie was out, Dave told me that he had almost dunked his brownie in the tomato sauce (which was meant for the pastry), hahaha! I don't even want to think what that would have tasted like, yuck! 

So after the movie we went to Tapa's for drinks and ended up having Nacho platters. OH MY WORD! I've had Nachos at various places, but this was by far the best Nachos I have ever had! Wow! Anyway, thanx for a really awesome time, friendy! Let's do it again!

-It was so nice meeting all Natasha's lovely friends, hope to see you guys again-

xxx

Lucky Friday Finds #2

You know how you sometimes do stuff you know you shouldn't be doing, but you just can't help doing it...

...well, I know I shouldn't support Chinese trade, especially in our small town where local craftsmen and -women are struggling to make a living. You can find almost anything at the Chinese R5 stores at half the price as what you would pay at other local stores. Then, off course, the quality of these Chinese made products are usually very poor. I just cannot help but browse through these Chinese stores, sometimes you come across some really awesome handmade items. I know, you think I'm crazy, but these are hand carved clothing pegs made from Chinese bamboo! The traditional Chinese products were usually of exquisite craftsmanship. If you look at their history in arts, their work was amazingly detailed and of the highest quality. It's a pity that greed and consumerism changed all that. 

Aren't they just beautiful? They even re-used miss printed playing card paper for the packaging, now that is cool!

xxx

splashes of pastel

splashes of pastel by my-essence featuring sleeveless shirts

Vanessa Bruno sleeveless shirt
$416 - lagarconne.com

Pleated skirt
$64 - topshop.com

Zara platform heels
$100 - zara.com

Outfit Love: My thrifty silk shorts

There is nothing quite like finding a beautiful silk item in a thrift store! The sheen of silk attracts me like a light attracts a moth. Although silk is very fragile, it is one of my favourite natural fibers. It feels amazing against your skin, it's light and airy, perfect for summer! I just added leggings to make my outfit a bit warmer for our nippy Autumn weather. This pair of shorts is also ideal for our windy conditions, you don't have to worry about it blowing up like a skirt would.

• Textile necklaces - OddOneOut, these range from R60 to R200
• Vintage leather belt, this super awesome belt, I found in a thrift store in Pretoria, East-lynn
• Vintage floral silk shorts, found these beauties at Matchbox (see my Friday Finds post, here)
• Leather wedge sandals, these edgy wedges I found at the Rage factory shop in Pretoria, Atterbury

-just love the stud details on the belt and on the wedges-

xxx

Lucky Friday Finds #1

Wow! Just look at what I found at my favourite secondhand shop...Matchbox! 10 balls of Mohair! A lovely little cotton make-up bag, Woolworths brand. A beautiful coral, vintage purse. Butt Trim buttons still on their original card. A mesh embroidered pin cushion and the most beautiful, floral, silk shorts<3 This really made my day! I can't wait to make something with this Mohair, perhaps a lacy cardi or a poncho...I'll just have to surf the net for a suitable pattern:)

I love the colour pallet all these items create together, don't you?

xxx

Outfit love - love Autumn

Well, it wasn't that cold during the morning but I had to put my jersey on later. Our days are becoming colder by the minute, especially after the cold and rainy weekend we just had! I just love the changing of seasons!

• My lovely birdcage necklace from Skermunkil is really a work of art, I just love it!
• Florals & polka dots dress - this lovely vintage looking dress, I found in the maternity section at Mr. Price. I just couldn't leave it alone, besides, who says you have to be pregnant to where one of these? I say "rules are meant to be broken"!
• Resin & bone bangle, this one I bought while on holiday in the Natal. I always try to get something small as a token to mark certain times in my life.
• Wooden bangle, this one stood out when I visited my friend at Matchbox and it hitched a ride home with me.
• Ankle boots, these I got from Mr. Price last year, just as the winter ended. So I'm real happy  when I get a chance to where them.    

-love-love-love-

xxx