Thursday, September 30, 2010

Penelope Coat~Part Duex

The muslin of the Penelope coat is done. If I'm being honest it was done a few weeks ago, but this is the first time, my camera, me, the time and a photographer have all been together at the same moment.=)

As anyone who has used the plain muslin for practice patterns knows, it looks and feels like you are dressed for life in an orphanage, but it really does fit how I want it to, and the collar combing went really well. I need to mess with the cuffs a bit more, but that will have to wait until I'm actually doing the coat as it it just a matter of which fabric I want showing!
(The cuff reference from the first post was from The Importance of Being Ernest, if anyone cares!)
The fabric is bought and washed, while hang drying the fabric released a cloud of purple fuzz allover the bathroom. Everything was fuzzy purple, luckily it was my little sisters(she is 17, just so you know. It makes me seem a little less mean!) turn to clean the bathroom. Horrible I know; my mess I should clean it up, but what are siblings for? ;-) 

I still need lining, buttons and the piping. The fabric is a shade or two more purple then the coat in the movie, so I think I'm going to change the piping color. The bright red and purple makes me think of the red hat society, and as I do not agree with their principles.....well, lets' not get into it! 

Next up, buying the rest of the supplies and*gulp* cutting out!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Etsy Favorites

I love Etsy! I not only buy from Esty, they have also helped me start up my own small business. Very small at this point, but check it out anyway!  *~Sparkles~* Okay, shameless self promotion over with!

~These are a few of my favorite things~

What I want to be, but sadly am not. The most you could call me is a west coast trotter. I've been to CA, ID, OR and WA and th-th-th-that's all folks!

I love these colors together, hmm I have been inspired by this color scheme.....details pending!

This is my stalking piece. I go and make sure it's still there everyday! Deep breath, I just have to wait until I get paid for house sitting.....
Check out the rest of this awesome shop, I love the look of silhouettes!

I have the dress, I have found the head piece, now all I need is the groom!! *sigh*

I have been crushing on this one since last year....OMG did I just say I've been crushing on something? ;-)

I bow down to this shops awesome cherry earring skills. I have nothing on them!

This one is already sold, so sad!

How could I not love this one? Though rather then buying it, I have an strong desire to make one. Even though it will end up costing me more money then just buying it. I can't seem to shake the feeling of needing to do this one on my own! Has anyone else ever felt that way?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fallapalooza Blog Party Post (Say that 5 times fast!)



1. Ring! Ring! You receive a phone call from a national sweepstakes organization saying that you have won a life-time supply of your favorite beverage!! What would that drink be?

Click on the link below to see my favorite Dr.Pepper commercial!


 2. If you could live in a Jane Austen novel, which book would you pick? What character would you be?
This is my very favorite of all Jane Austen's books and I would want to be Anne of course!=)


3. What is your theme song, that favorite song that absolutely matches you?

Do you know how hard it is to find a picture of this guy honestly smiling? All his publicity shots are of him smoldering, hmph. I love it when he smiles!

Back to business, at this point in my life right now, this is my theme song! There is a link to the video below the picture, but they wouldn't let me embed it, darn copyright laws!
The video does a good job of being fun and modern, but still has a vintage edge, and it's also a little crazy. Which is pretty close to my personality! Fun, modern yet vintage and a little bit crazy.=)


4. You are trapped on a deserted island. Your only supplies are the clothes you have on, and a box with five things in it. What are those five things?

1: A phone, preferably a cell, unless of course there's a phone jack.....

2: A radio, like a music one, not a walkie talkie one, with a phone as my first pick a walkie talkie would seem a waste of a choice. I guess the first two choices are also entirely dependant on  radio type signals, so.....

3: Do radio type signals fit in a box? Let's say yes, okay? ;-)

4: Food of some sort, unless there is a Piggly-Wiggly on this forsaken island.....

5: Matches

5. Chocolate or Caramel?

Can I have dark chocolate salted caramels? No?

Okay, I guess chocolate then!
 
 6. Vacation! If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Ireland!


7. If forced to do one of the two, which would you do: sky diving or scuba diving? Why?

Definitely scuba diving, I can't stop falling, I can on the other hand go up for air! But, since both involve skin tight suits, I most likely won't be enjoying either any time soon!  

8. Favorite TV show, and why?

Pushing Daisies, and as for why.....does pure awesomeness count?
If you have a NetFlix account, they have it streaming right now, just to let you know!

9. Are you a coffee and donuts sorta lady, or a tea and scones type of gal?

Can I be a tea and doughnuts type lady/gal?
(isn't that the cutest tea set ever?)













11. What is the last movie you watched?

I am sad to report it wasn't very good, I had high hopes, I love Alexis, but not even her cuteness could save this movie!

12. Ding-dong!!! Your favorite actor/singer/celebrity is at your front door!Who would it be?

I want Rockapella to show up and give me a singing telegram! This is my favorite song that they do!
Zombie Jamboree is pretty awesome too!=)

I love Kevin Wright(the curly headed main singer) He is my favorite singer, that voice! Though he looks a bit like Richard Simmons in the video.....

14. What types of blogs do your like best? (examples: DIY, cooking, journal, ect.)

I like the blogs of people I share common interests with, or some I follow just because the pictures are beautiful! So, for the most part, probably fashion/sewing, literary and photography blogs!

15. What is your favorite Bible verse, your "life verse?"

Ecclesiastes 9:10
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
Yes, the last bit is depressing, but this is how I try and live my life! Living everyday with passion and doing everything with all my might and as unto the Lord.=)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Vanille by Molinard



I have been looking for my signature scent for years now,.....yes I am one of those people, take from it what you will!

I was stubbornly chasing after rose scents, but they always faded after a few hours or made me smell like an old lady. Plus, they almost always had musk in them, even a hint of musk and my body chemistry turns it into cat pee scent, not good!

I gave up the florals in despair and went to Bath and Body works looking for inspiration. I ended up getting the Warm Vanilla Sugar and fell in love, unfortunately, that too only lasted a few hours. So, I tried the scent in a Wal~Mart brand and it smelled like tires on me. I almost gave up again when I found Aveeno Positively Nourishing in the vanilla chamomile scent. It smelled just like the cotton candy blizzard from Dairy Queen(does anyone else loooove those?), I had to buy it
 
This made me once again long for a vanilla perfume. I googled it and found Vanille by Molinard. Affordable and it was just plain vanilla, no other back notes, or top notes, or finishing notes(can you tell I've spent some time researching the world of perfume?) After weeks of deliberating I finally bite the bullet and bought it, and let me tell you, I have finally found my signature scent.

It smells like creme brulee, all toasty and warm vanilla sweetness, with a hint of caramel. So, not only does it smell really good(like people following me around sniffing me good) but it's affordable and it lasts all day.

What is your signature scent?

And just becuse I love the smell of Old Spice and think of this commercail whenever perfumes or colognes are brought up!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Brooch Bouquet




Remember MY POST about brooch bouquets? I said that I was thinking about collecting the brooches to make my own..........
 
Well, I decided and now am on my way to collecting the 60-75 pieces that I need. In googling the making of them I found Fantasy Floral Designs , you need to look at all of the gorgeous bouquets that they have done. After looking through those, I was a little intimidated, but still willing to try. But, the only tutorials I could find used Styrofoam balls, and I did not want to use one, all of the ones made that way looked odd to me.

I persevered and then found this very good tutorial! http://mysanfranciscobudgetwedding.wordpress.com/tag/diy-brooch-bouquet/

Here are the pieces I've collected so far.


~Etsy~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Screw Back Earrings

~Christmas Present~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Michael's~
Pendant

~Christmas Present~
Lord of the Rings Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Etsy~
Brooch

~Someplace~
It's a flower that has been floating around my room for years, looking for something useful to do, it has finally found a purpose!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Jumping on the Hayride

I am going to jump on the blogsphere hayride(bandwagon) and do a; my favorite things about fall, post!

~Sunflowers~
(Image via my camera)

~Fresh Apple Cider~
This is an old fashioned hand cranked apple cider press that a family in our church has, they haul it out every year for our churches harvest party!
(Image via my camera)

~Visiting the Pumpkin Patch~
(Image via my camera)

~Fallen Leaves~
(Image via, we heart it)

~Hay Rides~
(Image via google)

~Corduroy~
Hats, skirts, dresses, purses, jackets, etc etc etc. I'm a sucker for anything made out of this fabric!
(Image via google)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Is That Darn Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

I'm sure at some point in our lives, we have all been asked this question. Is the glass half full, or half empty? I always answer half full, and that means I am an optimist. If you answer the opposite, it means you are a pessimist. If you; like some small percentage of the population, launch into a very long and philosophical answer, about how it's not empty at all, it's full of air and water. Or it's all the way empty, because you didn't want water so it's empty off what you want..... don't be surprised if when you are done talking, I've managed to slip away and am now some where else, viewing the world though my rose colored glasses.

The older I've gotten, the more I've wondered, is my optimism is a shield I use to hide from reality? I don't want bad things to happen, so I convince myself that they are not going to happen, then am heartbroken when they do. I always want to believe the best in people and have dealt with some problems because of it. I know that I would handle a situation in a certain way, without bugging or inconveniencing anyone, so I assume the rest of the world operates that way as well.

I blindly have faith that it all will turn out all right, and am unprepared when things go bad. I thought for sure I would be married before I had to get another job, twice now. I have convinced myself of this fact twice now! I started out at 17 watching a little girl and then her little brother, I had years before they went to school, I was for sure going to have moved further on down the road of my life by then, right?

Well, the girl is in 2nd grade and her brother is in kindergarten. Okay, that's okay, so I started watching another set of siblings thinking this is it, this is the last job I will have to get, before I can head on down the path I know God has for me. Well, the older girl is now in 1st grade and her bother is in preschool, so while I am still needed for afternoons, my paycheck has been cut in half.

I asked the parents back in July what their  plans where, they didn't know. They would let me know as soon as they figured it out. Time passed and my no news is good news policy was in high effect! No news, was not good news and I was left stunned and hurt. Had I been a pessimist, I would have assumed I was going to be worse off and already have gotten a new job.

So, here I am, single and needing another job. Filled with doubts and scared as hell that maybe, just maybe I got it wrong. Maybe it wasn't God calling me to be a wife and mother, maybe it was just what I wanted. Maybe I was supposed to go to collage and become a teacher or go to beauty school and learn to cut hair. Did I majorly screw up, am I out of Gods will? What am I going to do? Taking care of kids and a household is all I know how to do, there are not well paying jobs out there for that skill set!

After knowing for sure twice now that I would be married before I needed another job, I have been bitterly disappointed that price charming has not shown up. I realize that I need to; while not completely lose my faith in the goodness of the world, take the rose colored glasses off a little more often and try to see the world how it really is.

Sorry for the rather long depressing post, I'm sure the rose colored glasses will slip back into place before long and I will once again be oblivious and happy with the world! I really do know; in my heart, that I am right where God wants me, but my aforementioned overactive imagination runs wild when I'm upset!=)

Monday, September 13, 2010

Femme Fatale

 Va-Voom Vintage is my favorite vintage site (for obvious reasons!) and I love her post on how to be a femme fatale! Ive always has a fascination with Ingrid Bermin, Kathrine Hepburn and the like, but I have always been and will always be more of a Melanie; from Gone With the Wind, or Diana from Anne. It's nice to know how to properly behave as a femme fatale if the opportunity ever comes up! =)
My femme fatale name in Marlee Clark by the way. Click on the link to read the post and find out how to discover your own femme fatale name!=)

http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-be-femme-fatale.html

*Marlee Clark*
In my imagination!

*Marlee Clark* (kind of)
In no glasses and red lipstick reality! So, in other words not real reality, just the best I could do at a femme fatale look reality!

*Marlee Clark*(Ha, not really!)
This is the normal me, not very femme fatale, right?
(This is a picture form when we roasted marshmallows over the burners on our stove, the perfect way to grantee a perfect roast every time!)

Friday, September 10, 2010

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Beauty and the Beast

A polyvore set with some of the more well known versions of this story and a few lesser known ones.=)


Beauty and The Beast

Beauty and The Beast by LadyKatySue on Polyvore.com

Give Away

V and Co is hosting a giveaway for a $100 Visa card. You just have to leave a comment with your favorite thing about summer. Then if you want a second entry you have to blog about it and leave another comment, I'm willing to spend 5 minutes for a chance to win $100, are you? ;-)


Saturday, September 4, 2010

Beauty

Another entry for the Belle event, click here for more. http://spacious-soul.livejournal.com/55065.html
Pretty much the best; this could actually happen in real life, version of Beauty and the Beast that I have ever seen! The book needs to be read too, Beauty by Susan Wilson. I caught it on Life Time a loooong time ago and had been wanting to see it again. And in spite of my frequent e~mails, the production company has yet to answer me about getting it on tape. I was over joyed when I stumbled across the entire movie on You Tube! It's in eleven parts, but still shorter then if you had to watch it with the commercials! Enjoy!!


Thursday, September 2, 2010

Into the Woods Excerpt

Once again, this is for http://spacious-soul.livejournal.com/55065.html Belle event!

A little bit of history about this post. I wrote this book after years if procrastinating and many, many false starts. I have always loved the Beauty and the Beast concept and had been wanting to write my own version for years. I finally decided no more waiting and banged it out during NaNoWriMo last year. This is an excerpt  from Chapter 7.Previously, Hannah was a children's librarian who had been demoted to book re-shelver because of day dreaming. She was sent to the basement for something and found an old chest, events lead her here, to the Beast's world, where we find her now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hannah walked through the meadow that just yesterday had been full of flowers and bird song. Now it echoed the rest of the woods. Cold and snowy, there was not a green leafy thing to be seen! Walking warily though the meadow, Hannah came to the spot where the tree branch had pinned her to the ground. She grasped the branch and tried to pull it out of the ground. It was stuck fast; even using all of her strength Hannah couldn’t budge it. Letting go of it she looked up at the trees and whispered, "What is going on here? What happened to you?"
Rubbing the amber stone, she went to the place where she entered the clearing yesterday. The trees were still woven in a tight mat of branches and needles. Going around the perimeter of the clearing Hannah could find no spot where the branches would let her through. Feeling a seed of panic sprout in her chest Hannah went around the clearing once more. About halfway around she heard a bird let lose in happy song right above her head. Hannah looked up and saw a small yellow and blue bird perched on a branch, just within her reach.

When the bird saw that it had Hannah's attention it hopped up onto the next branch and peeped impatiently at her. "What? You want me to follow you? I can't get through right here! The trees won't let me!" Hannah pushed against the mat of branches in front of her, demonstrating for the bird the fact that she couldn't get through. The little bird rolled its head in annoyance and hopped down to the first branch, peeped a few times, then hopped up to the next one and looked at Hannah expectantly.

"Oh! You want me to climb? I'm not sure I want to climb on something that just yesterday tried to spear me!" Hannah put her hands on her hips and shook her head at the bird. Looking about as annoyed as a bird can, it flew down and sat on Hannah's head, peeping and pecking at her. Hannah tried to shoo the bird away but every time she got him to fly off he would just land back on her head when she put her hands back down. After about five minutes of this Hannah threw her hands up in the air and yelled, "Fine, fine! You win, I'll follow you! Even though I think it's a really bad idea. What if the trees decide to dump me! Or find some other way to kill me! I guess that doesn't matter as long as you're happy."

Hannah reached, grabbed the first branch and scrambled up. When she looked up to see where the bird had gone, she found him sitting on the branch, just above her, looking as smug as you can with a beak! "Yeah, yeah you got your way! If I die, I'll let the Whisper know it was all your fault!"

Hannah followed the bird through the trees first up; then from tree to tree where the branches where strong enough and over lapped. Hannah got more and easier in her movements as she relaxed. She began to enjoy her journey through the tree tops. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice when the bird suddenly peeped in fright and flew off. "Wow! What a view! Hey, bird where are we going?" It was just then that she noticed that the bird was gone. She looked all around and also noticed that the stone on her necklace was glowing.

"Hey, bird? Bird, where did you go!" Hannah looked around frantically and began to feel sick to her stomach. "Whisper, can you hear me? Is anyone there? What do I do now? Where do I go??"

No longer was this a beautiful trip though the tree tops. With her friendly little guide gone, Hannah felt like she was going to fall at any minute and that the trees were going to turn on her. Just then Hannah felt the tree begin to shake. She looked down but couldn't see anything. The tree began to rock harder and harder. Hannah realized the wind had come up and started to look for a good path down and out of the tree. Suddenly the branch underneath her snapped off and fell crashing to the ground! Hannah leapt for the next branch and just caught it with her fingertips.

She swung her legs and managed to wrap them around the trunk. Inching her hands along the branch she was able to slowly move towards the trunk of the tree. After what seemed like ages she reached the trunk and wrapped one arm around it. When she felt secure she let go of the branch and wrapped the other arm around the trunk as well. Hugging the trunk, Hannah pressed her face against the rough bark and gathered her wits about her.

"You're okay! Just stay calm. Pretend you're not high up in a tree that may or may not be trying to kill you. Think, think. What should I do?" Hannah wondered allowed.
Hannah looked around and saw that there was a branch that looked like it could support her weight about five feet below. After looking around for any other option, Hannah slowly began inching down towards the branch. She had just about reached it when the tree began to shake again. Holding onto the trunk in a death grip, Hannah closed her eyes and feared the worst.

All of the sudden, the tree stopped shaking. Hannah kept her eyes closed and once more began inching downwards. When she finally felt the branch underneath her she relaxed. Turning around so she was sitting on the branch, Hannah leaned back against the tree and sighed deeply in relief. A soft breeze played across her face and brought a faint scent with it. Now where have I smelled that before? Smells like vanilla and something else................wait a minute, leapin' lizards!

Hannah's eyes snapped opened, she wasn't sure what she would see, but needed to find out. What she saw was this. Crouching on a branch across from her was a huge black form. It was built like a lion, but was black as a moonless midnight. Much to Hannah's surprise, this creature was wearing a long black cloak. His paws were at least three times the size of her hands. Gulping, she quickly looked away and noticed a tail was hanging out from below the cape. Hannah had the insane urge to giggle as she saw it twitching back and forth. She finally screwed up the courage to look into the creature's face.

A black mane that stood out around his head and a surprisingly pink nose were the first things Hannah noticed, but it was his eyes that caught her attention and held it. They were oddly human and in a flash of clarity Hannah saw that they were the same softly glowing color as the pendant she wore. Just as the pendant had drawn her in, this creatures eyes did the same. Hannah could see many emotions in those liquid, amber eyes, but was at a loss to describe any of them.

If he wanted to kill me he could have done it last night or most likely at any point! He looks nice, if pretty scary. I wonder what he is? Cat man? The Hairy Wonder? I think Beast will do, that's what these kinds of creatures are usually called! What should I say? What should I do...........

As Hannah mind raced, a breeze ruffled the Beast's mane and blew across Hannah's face. She was startled into saying, "Are you the one who smells like that? You smell good!" Hannah flung her hands up to cover her face when she realized what she had just said!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Beauty and the Beast Trivia

I may have forgotten that the Belle event started today. I may have thought it began on the 15th, but I still have a post for you! Some movie trivia, I love useless random facts!

Head over to http://spacious-soul.livejournal.com/55065.html to see the other entries!=)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chip originally had only one line, but the producers liked Bradley Pierce's voice so much that extra dialogue and business was written and storyboarded for the character.


The original "cute" character of the movie was a music box, which was supposed to be a musical version of Dopey from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). But when the character Chip's role was expanded, the music box idea was scrapped. However the music box can be seen for a brief moment on a table next to Lumière just before the fight between the enchanted objects and the villagers in the Beast's castle.

The last phrase of Cogsworth's line "Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep... " was ad-libbed by David Ogden Stiers.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, losing to The Silence of the Lambs (1991). It was, however, the first full length animated feature to win the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy).

The first animated movie to win the Annie Award for Best Animated Film.

A song sung by the enchanted objects entitled "Human Again" was cut before production started. The song was later added to the Disney on Ice and theatrical productions and was recorded and animated for the 2001 Imax re-release. It was also added to the special edition released in October 8th 2002, making the movie a bit longer.

Art director Brian McEntee color keyed Belle so that she is the only person in her town who wears blue. This is symbolic of how different she is from everyone else around. Later, she encounters the Beast, another misfit, also wearing blue.

While songwriters are writing the melody to a song they often use dummy lyrics to help with writing the melody. In the song "Gaston" the writers liked the dummy lyrics so much that they used those in the final production.

Computer technology was considered for the rooftop fight and the forest chase, but the primitive state of the technology only allowed time to use it for the ballroom scene. Even for that scene, they had a fallback strategy: what they called the "Ice Capades" version, with just a spotlight on the two characters against a black background.

In the French release, Cogsworth's name is Big Ben, after the famous clock in London (extra, completely irrelevant, detail for trivia fans: the landmark's real name is "The Clock Tower of the New Palace of Westminster", while Big Ben is actually the name of the large bell that strikes the hours - nevertheless, the clock is seldom referred to by any name other than Big Ben).

When Beast and Gaston are having their life-or-death struggle on the castle, Gaston yells, "Belle is mine!" Originally he was supposed to say, "Time to die!" but the writer changed it to fit Belle back in the scene.

This was the first Disney animated movie to use a fully developed script prior to animation. In previous films, story was developed through the use of storyboards only, and was further developed during animation. Several previous films had gone way over budget when the animators spent time and effort animating scenes that, it was eventually decided, did not fit the movie, and producers realized that they could save money by having a script written first.

The dance between Belle and her Prince in the finale is actually reused animation of the dance between Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty (1959). The original Sleeping Beauty (1959) pair had been drawn over to become the new Beauty and the Beast (1991) pair, and this was done because they were running out of time during the production of the movie.

In the 1930s and again in the 1950s, Walt Disney attempted to adapt Beauty and the Beast (1991) into a feature but could not come up with a suitable treatment, so the project was shelved. It wasn't until The Little Mermaid (1989) became hugely successful that they decided to try it a third time.