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Archive for April 18, 2012

Bridal Lingerie

April 18, 2012 / Tan

The stuff underneath that only two of you see.
Don’t be shy. You know what I’m talking about.

Future brides and lovers of elegant and dainty lingerie, welcome to the Claire Pettibone Heirloom collection, quite possibly the most beautiful lingerie on the web (and beyond).

I honestly can’t do justice in describing the beautiful work that goes into these delicate, ethereal pieces. They truly feel like lingerie taken out of old regal England or a fairy tale. It certainly helps that the styling of these photos lends itself to another world, but the garments themselves take on a life of their own. Almost like that sweet little girl you know has a little saucy side.

Don’t you just want to walk around the house and sit on a piano in scanty lingerie now?
See more of the Heirloom lingerie collection along with Bridal, lounge, and more at Claire Pettibone

Category: Weddings / No comments

Chalkboards in the home

April 17, 2012 / Tan

Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher, but I love chalkboards.

Wait. Let me back track.

I hate them in my classroom. They’re messy, you inhale chalk dust all day, and your hands constantly have that gritty feeling.

In the home however?
Perfection.

It just adds that whimsical element and is so multipurpose. Not only that, but there is that one spot in your home that’s always changing. Change is much more fun that static don’t you think?

Here are some of my favourite examples of chalkboards in the home:

Gardener and Marks: A wall in the kitchen dedicated to chalk. Image found on 79 Ideas.

The Lovely Cupboard: Really put your door to use with a calendar and to do list on chalkboard paint.

Babble: Turn the hallway from a transient space into a gallery of ever changing art.

House to Home: Make efficient use of your office and turn the wall into an over sized calendar. You’ll never miss that important meeting again.

Category: Home / 4 comments

Titanic inspired dresses

April 16, 2012 / Tan

Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

I’ve always been fascinated (and horrified) by Titanic’s story. The idea that so many lives perished when there were COUNTLESS instances where they could have been saved (why did the crow’s nest not have binoculars!) is just baffling to me.

On Saturday night me and a friend (who I was mutually obsessed with Titanic 14 years ago when the movie was released) went to see it again in theatres. The eerie part was that because we went in the evening and because of the time difference, as we were watching the titanic sink on screen the same thing was happening at EXACTLY that same time 100 years earlier. It was a bit bone chilling.

But on to the more frivolous part of this post.
The one thing I noticed as I re watched the movie is that I’m still just as enamored by all the BEAUTIFUL dresses Kate Winslet wore as Rose. The lines, detailing, materials, colours, absolutely everything about those dresses makes me want to live in the early 20th century (but that desire stops there).

Since it would look silly to walk down the street wearing replicas of the gowns from Titanic, here are some similar dresses and looks I put together that have a modern twist.
Apologies for the poor quality of the movie stills. Obligatory note: movie stills are copyright 20th Century Fox et all).

#1 / #2 / #3 / #4

Which dress from Titanic is your favourite?

Category: Style / 3 comments

Guest Post – Appliqué DIY by Anita

April 13, 2012 / Tan

Hey everyone!
Welcome to Squirrelly Minds’ first guest post! Anita graciously offered to do an absolutely lovely sewing DIY. How fun!
Enjoy!

…

Hello! Here’s Anita, I usually blog for Occupy the Wardrobe or at my own little corner of the blogosphere, but today I’m here at Squirrelly Minds to share a DIY I originally made for Valentine’s Day (a heart sweater, awwww) but never documented the step by step. So I grabbed another sweater and did it again!

It’s a quick (okay, quick is a relative word) and simple DIY that you can do to update a sweater or t-shirt you don’t like so much (I have a few of those…). It’s easy enough for a kid to do it —as long as you trust your kid to deal with needles and pins, of course— and it’s fun! This dinosaur sweater is my second try at doing this. Last year I found a dark gray sweater I really liked at Forever 21 and went back for one in each color the next day. But the thing is, I really liked how the gray one looked on me, but the others? Eh, not so much. So they were relegated to a cold corner of my wardrobe till I decided to try this!

You’ll need the following:

I like using 100% cotton fabric, it’s easy to deal with and they come is so many colors and patterns. I try to pick contrasting colors that look good together. For the dinosaur sweater (I’ve been wanting to make one since Valentine’s Day when Google’s doodle has the little boy giving the girl a dinosaur sweater — who doesn’t love dinosaurs?) I picked a forest green that was on clearance. I didn’t want anything with pattern for this. I think I could have done some things better: I wish I had used a brighter color for the thread for example, or maybe a more vivid green, or a bigger dinosaur. But overall, I think this looks adorable, even if a little rough on the edges. I added a picture of the other sweater I made at the end of this post.

01. First you need to print (or draw, if you are so inclined) the template of whatever you want to put on your sweater! You can get the dinosaur template here. Then with paper scissors, cut it out. Tip: the template should always be something simple, like a silhouette. The less details, the easier it is to make it look good.
02. With your paper template cut, place it and pin it on top of the fabric you are going to use.
03. Using fabric scissors (it will make it SO much easier, I promise), cut the dinosaur out of your fabric. CAREFULLY.
04. Place your cut fabric on top of the sweater to see if you like it, and what position would it look better. This is the time to make changes in case you don’t like it.
05. Secure it to the sweater with lots of pins.
06. You can use embroidery thread, or you can do it like I did, and get normal cotton thread, and thread 4 pieces of it together to make a thicker thread.
07. Start stitching!
08. Now, this is going to take a while, so my recommendation? Pick a movie, put it on and enjoy! May I suggest…