Organizing Life: Black Week (3)

It's Thursday and I'm still coughing! Just cannot seem to shake this one. Any-whoooo…We just had some lovely rain, after a lovely sunny day and I must say I'm starting to feel a bit more human. Though, once again this week has just evaporated. Last night I managed to finish my boxy black dress, I'm so proud of myself. No pattern, just a straight rectangle sewn together. I added a contrasting patterned yoke and did this one with a boatneck. When I fit it on the first time it way way to long so I added horizontal pleats and now it's perfect. Just add a belt and we're good to go!

I cannot wait to try it on! I'll definitely do an Outfit Love post on this one. It turned out to have a mixture of 1920's and 1950's fashion, don't you think? Have you guys been sewing anything lately? I'm not a salted seamstress and I'm no fashion designer so the simple stuff can at times be a challenge to me. But hey, I'm learning! This little project has taken a nice big chunk out of my black fabric heap, which has shrunk quite a bit since I started.

While I'm at it, I decided to sort through my accessories and gathered up all my black accessories. It really helps to take photo's of what you have to your disposal. It happens more often than not that I'll get stuck wearing the same one necklace everyday for a month and then complain about not having any accessories. Knowing what you've got and being able to see an overview of what you've got to work with will help to plan outfits ahead. This comes in handy when you're planning a trip or even for that last minute fancy dress event. You also come to realise just how much you really have and what you NEVER wear. In taking my organising one colour family at a time, the monstrous task is broken up into more chewable pieces. I have found that there are a lot of things I don't feel comfortable in anymore. Now I know which things will have to go and it seems quite a lot easier to let them go.

If you have any organising tips for me, please leave you tips or links in the comments below. I'm always looking for more clever ideas on how to get sorted.

Have an awesome day!

xxx

Outfit Love: Black Week (2)

Hey, it's Tuesday! The past few weeks are a bit of a blur, I came down with the flu about two weeks ago and thought I'd recovered from it last weekend. To my surprise, it just hit me harder last Sunday. I was quite enthusiastic about Organising Life and started with my Black Week series last week Monday. Epic fail! I was so sick and my meds made me so sleepy, I don't even remember half of what happened last week. The lovely warm weather and my grandparents visiting over the weekend had me feeling a bit better, though I'm still coughing quite a lot. Being sick has left me very isolated and I fell out of touch with the world. With audio books being my only company as I slipped in and out of consciousness. I listened to How to succeed by Orison Swett Marden and Letters of a Post-Impressionist, Vincent van Gogh, but I'll talk some more about those later.

Today's outfit (to tell you the truth, I cannot even remember when this was taken) I'm sharing with you as part of my Black week series.

This was the first time wearing my new biker jacket (Woolworths) I really love this jacket, come to think of it, this jacket has actually replaced the soft black jacket I bought last year. I shall be getting rid of that one now. My booties! Ah, I found them at Fashion Express after searching everywhere for a comfortable, pacifical boot. They are so awesome, I ended up wearing them almost everyday! They just slip right on and the go with almost any outfit. I'm very chuffed with the above mentioned investments, they were well worth the purchase.

This little black number was more of a tunic and I've always wanted to lengthen it just enough for it to be worn as a dress. Lucky for me, I found just the right amount and type of fabric for just that purpose. So during my more "awake" times last week, I added to the hem, seemed it and voila! At last! I wore it out to dinner with Dave on Friday night and will definitely where it again. Maybe next time I'll remember to take an outfit photo. The offcuts of this particular piece of fabric were cut and melted, ready to become part of a rose hair clip (coming soon).

I hope you all had an amazing Tuesday and to all my sick buddies out there(cause I hear there are a few others), keep warm and I trust we'll all get better real soon!

xxx

Organizing Life: Black Week (1)

Hey there, friends! Before I share with you what I'm up to… I would like to show you this amazing poster! I know the quality is a bit off, I just couldn't seem to find a link to a person to ask permission to use the original. It all started with my favourite local ribbon suppliers, Ebony & Ivory! I have ordered ribbons from their online shop a few times and I like to just go over to their website to peruse their latest products. They have such a beautiful website, so when I saw they were on Pinterest, I followed them immediately! That is where I found this image… it was uploaded by Mosquitopress and does not have a source or link. I just had to share it with you because I am a Pluviophile. I love rainy days, they comfort my soul! They calm me in the strangest way…I long for rain when it doesn't come around as often as it should. I know many people wouldn't agree, but to me rainy days are amazing! I work better, I sleep better, I think better… but the best thing about rainy days, is that David would let me know he's making pancakes (crepes, as you know it) for dinner! What's not to love?

Getting back to my title, I'm "trying" to sort out my life! We will be moving soon and I have a crazy amount to sort through and throw out before we do. As you well know, I get my fabrics from our local charity shops, thrift stores and many times friends and family will give me bags full of scraps which were going to become landfill. Usually, all the fabric attained, is washed and then sorted into colour families. Now, I have been working with which ever type of fabric comes my way, but lately I have felt the need to work solely with natural fabrics and fibres. My plan is to use up all my thrifted synthetics asap. in order for me start focusing on the naturals. The first colour family is black, so this week will be dedicated to all black supplies I have. To use up as much as I can, to donate what I can't and so forth. Hold thumbs I make it through, because as my fellow creatives know, this is a colossal task!

Let the Black Week begin!

First things first, the fabrics are sorted by type, the small pieces are going to become flowers and the pieces that are big enough might just become pretty wearables! I have ironed the pieces which needed ironing and planned projects for the larger pieces. Starting with the small pieces, I cut them into various squared sizes and made roses using this tutorial. This method of fabric rose making is the quickest, easiest one I've come across so far. Then I made other roses using a combination of my own developed method and this tutorial. I also tried this very cute tutorial.




These pretties will become the most beautiful accessories will be available forsale soon. I shudder to think that some people just throw these bags of fabric in the trash when clearly these fabric scraps have super potential! Do you see the rose(above) with the pop of mint in it and the one on its left? They were what looked like the hem of someones nighties, just look at how pretty they turned out. Next time you shorten a dress or night gown hem, consider what you could make with the offcuts before you chuck it in the bin. My favourite quote comes to mind, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" that is just so true!

Hope you all had an amazingly creative Monday!

xxx

OddOneOwl Spotting!

Hey there, friends! I have to say that this year has been weighing heavily on my shoulders and from what I here, so many others are going through tough times! Whether it be emotionally, physically, financially…you name it. I have found myself blogging about my depression and that's awful! I used to escape to OddOneOut, this was my "happy place". There was this rule, you see? "If it's not positive, it doesn't get posted here!" Well, that's out the window! I started #oddoneowlspotting as a way of getting myself out of this deep dark pit. After all, how can you not smile when surrounded by beautiful, smiling owls? Only I was struggling so to get myself to write, that I didn't do this properly.

So, thanks to Natasha for joining in the #oddoneowlspotting and for featuring this challenge on Bamboo Blossom, you will receive a little #randomgiftsoflove from me soon. For my family members who participated on Facebook(…cause they're not on instagram) thank you for joining me, it was fun.

Now I would like to officially open the floor for another month of #oddoneowlspotting! Join me in the fun and see just how many there are out there! It would seem spotting owls has become somewhat of a hobby for us now.

To join the challenge, you need to:

• follow OddOneOut on Blogloving
• follow OddOneOut on Facebook
• follow me on Instagram 
• spot some owls, post at least three times a week
• add the tag #oddoneowlspotting

On 31 August, I will do a round-up of the best #oddoneowlspotting insta-pics and post them right here on the blog. My very favourite instagram will be awarded a small oddoneout token of appreciation, my way of saying thank you for taking the time to have some fun with me.

Good luck and here's to a wonderful August!

xxx