Outfits Galore

 I can never seem to keep up with these outfit posts, so I bring you an outfit marathon, collected from the last month or so. . .

 this skirt, one of my favorite kitschy pieces

braids!

red-red dress worn to go gallery hoping during the last art murmur

 casual work-at-home wear

coffee-shop wear

this dress is one of the pieces I recently found at the Goodwill in El Sobrante

        

Most clothes thrifted, a few bought new. 

Have a lovely day, and don't forget to check back tomorrow if you entered my jewelry giveaway contest from last week! 

Tangleweeds Giveaway

A first! I thought that, along with the sale I'm having for the rest of the month, that I'd offer a Tangleweeds giveaway on my blog. I'm hoping this leads to other giveaways in the months to come. . .

For this first one, I thought I'd give you, the reader, a choice! You can pick ANY piece in my Etsy shop, up to a $30 value! That gives you a lot of options. . .

 All of these earrings come in under the $30 limit. . . To enter is easy, simply leave a comment on THIS blog post. I'll be choosing a reader at random on March 1st. I'll notify the winner by email the same day. Happy playing!

Nighty Night

I thought I'd leave all of you lovely readers with a quick Tangleweeds update before I retire from my work-studio for the night. I'm having a 25% off sale in my entire store! From now until the end of the month, a sort of recognizing and pausing to appreciate the end of winter before it is gone. . .

Simply use the coupon code "OakTreeWinter" and you'll receive 25% off everything purchased from my Tangleweeds shops.

I was just thinking, I'd love to have someone read fairytales to me before I fall asleep some nights, I think the next best things will have to be me reading them to myself. I'll leave you with that, and Arlo's sweet face. Good night!

A few of my favorite things

A quick and dirty round-up of a few of my favorite places to go for inspiration and fun on the inter-web. . . 

Verhext ~ for great life motivation. this woman is kick-ass and inspires me to do more with my life.

Angeliska Gazette ~ the woman behind this blog provides a great round-up of internet ephemera, links, videos and what-not, perfect for the likes of us wild-urban folk.

Style Like U ~ videos of people talking about their style, what influences them. need I say more?

Here's Lookin' at Me Kid ~ fashion/life style/home decor/artist blog. I basically love this woman's style.

Delightfully Tacky ~ another fashion blog. this gal lives in Alaska. I love her photos. Also, she went on a cross-country road trip last year, and it was a delight to read about!

That's it for today. I promise more pictures soon! I have a hundred and one things to work on today. . . oh, and Prince announced two show dates in Oakland for next week!!! Jeff and I are going to try to buy tickets at noon. 

I leave you with Arlo, just hanging out in the backyard with me while I take jewelry pictures. 

Have a lovely day!

Walkways

Wednesday item of the week in my Etsy shop! This week, I bring you a brand-new design. . .

~hand-forged copper earrings~

inspiration: stone and brick walkways covered in dewey moss and delicate flowering weeds 

Enter the coupon code "TangleweedsBlog15" at checkout on Etsy to receive 30% off these hand-textured, copper earrings. Discount applies to this item only, from now until February 22nd, 2011.

I wear this sweater a lot

I'm wearing. . . 

layers and jewelry! My standard for getting dressed.

skirt, cami ~ thrifted

belt ~ Pretty Penny

tights ~ Hue

boots ~ Ross

cardi ~ Modcloth

sunglasses ~ Flashbacks (it's like a cross between a vintage store and a Crossroads and it's in SoCal)

necklace ~ made by me

earrings ~ gift from a customer at Peaberry's

bangles ~ thrifted

It has been a busy busy day! So many errands. I can't complain tho, I do it to myself intentionally. I'd rather have one marathon day of errand running once a week (or once every other week) than a few every day. 

Back to the rest of my evening. I'm making a giant batch of carrot-fennel soup tonight. Half for eating right away and half for freezing. 

My Valentine's Day

My day. . . 

flowers when I came home from running some errands

 Corralling the cats in the upstairs part of the house. (Jeff is printing posters today. We don't want little kitty paws traipsing over wet ink on posters as they dry!) Otis isn't too pleased!

 More gifts: this lovely book that I've wanted ever since I heard the author interviewed on Herbal Highway.

 caterpillar in the backyard

 blush silk and rainbow moonstone. new earrings (these ones are for me!) and lace edged-cardigan.

Otis, again. Usually he's the harder of the two to get good photos of, but today he was being quite debonair. Don't worry, Arlo is doing just fine. (But he's a bit grouchy about this weather.)

Happy Valentine's day to all!

Gentleman Prefer Blondes

Apparently I have been following a "hair color" theme when choosing movies to watch recently. (I didn't even notice this theme, Jeff pointed out to me.) This has been entirely inadvertent. (Or maybe it's a sub-conscious thing since I've been considering a hair-color change recently.)

Gentleman Prefer Blondes

Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are fantastic in this movie. . . there's even a bit of early feminist thinking woven into their characters. Jane Russell's Dorothy Shaw is absolutely hilarious. I personally think she sort of steals many of the scenes from Marilyn. 

And, of course, the fashion is inspiring. I can't help but feel like fashion used to be more adventurous, at least "mainstream" fashion, that is the clothes that were considered acceptable attire for a woman (or man.) Now, I'm certainly not sitting here advocating for a return to the 50s or early 60s. I watch movies like this one and find myself thinking "gosh, those women must spend half their life-time simply maintaining their looks." I certainly don't want to go back to that. Or uncomfortable undergarments!

I watched this last night with my two cats, some yummy cookies from La Farine, and a warm cup of tea, after a VERY full day of thrifting fun in El Sobrante with two good friends. Hopefully I'll have some pics to share of my thrifted goods soon. 

Have a lovely day, it's time for lunch for me.

A Day Late!

I apologize for my tardiness with my item of the week Etsy listing. . . but better late than never, right?

 This week's pick in my Etsy shop is in honor of the Chinese Year of the Rabbit.

~hand-forged brass pendant~

inspiration: my pet rabbits over the years and wild ones spotted on camping trips and hikes through hills

Enter the coupon code "TangleweedsBlog14" at checkout on Etsy to receive 30% off this hand-forged brass pendant. Discount applies to this item only, from now until February 15th, 2011.

French Influence

So, I'm not exactly sure where the inspiration came for this outfit. . . mostly I just wanted to dress up and get fancy, even if it was just to go out and have beers and pizza with Jeff. I am feeling a bit of a french vibe from this outfit. I think it's mostly the thigh-his and the lacy top.

This is a new necklace design (I haven't even given it a name yet!) but you can expect to see it in my Etsy shop later this week. 

I scored this vintage Dooney & Bourke purse from an old roommate of mine. She was moving away after graduating from Cal and was seriously purging her closet. I hated these purses as a teenager (my mom always carried one) but now they really appeal to me. I love the hardware, and the craftsmanship. 

outfit details:

~skirt, booties, bangles ~all thrifted

~blouse and thigh-hi stockings ~ UO

~blue-grey stockings ~ Hue

~earrings and necklace ~ Tangleweeds 

Have a beautiful day!

Casual Day

Sometimes you find and skirt in a store that is just so perfect you have to buy it even though it's too big, too small, has a cigarette burn front and center, whatever. This skirt was that a loooooong time ago. I've had it nearly from the beginning of my thrifting days (so I've had it at least 10 years). 

It was too small, simply put, and too long. So I shortened and re-hemmed the bottom and then cut the waist out and lowered it. It was a very full skirt so there was plenty of fabric to play with. In the end the waist turned out to be sort of like a paper-bag waist, which can be attributed mostly to my self-taught and remedial sewing skills more than anything else, but I like the effect. 

skirt, cami, sandals, belt, bag ~ thrifted

earrings, longer necklace ~ Tangleweeds

amber necklace ~ gift

cardi ~ xmas gift last year

leggings ~ Target

bracelets ~ thrifted

These sandals are my new favorite pair of sandals. We've been having such unusually warm weather (at least we were a couple of weeks ago) that I've been able to break them out of the closet already. They were only $3 at the San Leandro Thrift Town! Next time I go on a buying spree there I'll try to take photos. Last time I went with two good friends, one of whom has a blog here: The Dandy Brimborion.

Back to making jewelry! I'm trying to build up a healthy inventory since I'm trying to do more crafts fairs this year than last year. Which means A LOT!

The Redhead From Wyoming

I watched this movie last night while cutting out little price tags (these have my Etsy address on them!). I'd been hankering for an old movie and was perusing the "watch instantly" classic movie options on Netflix and found this. While I'm not usually one for old westerns I really enjoyed this one. Two great things: the lead female role outsmarts all of the men AND the fashion. I kind of get a chuckle out of it because you know that no woman would have had the money and resources to look as well put together as Maureen O'Hara's Kate does, but the fantasy is nice to appreciate (and draw inspiration from).

Gypsy Jewels

Wednesday item of the week in my Etsy shop

~hand-forged brass earrings~

inspiration: gypsy jewelry, baubles and metals and gems all tinkling and clanging against one another

Enter the coupon code "TangleweedsBlog13" at checkout on Etsy to receive 30% off these hand-forged brass earrings. Discount applies to this item only, from now until February 8th, 2011.