Jun 8, 2013 | Fashion
Neon bra: Aerie. Vinyl Eyelash Applique T-shirt:
DIY (
tutorial here). Yellow wrapped rhinestone bracelet: H&M. Gold Rhinestone-Detail Watch:
DailyLook purchase. Double Spike-End Bangle:
DIY (
tutorial here). Neon Yellow Transparent Clutch:
DIY. Colorblock Zip-pouch (inside):
Vivi Magazine freebie. Poly Floral-print Pants: Forever 21 (similar
here). Patent Wedge-Heels: Zara
Once I made this DIY Eyelash Applique shirt, I started to think of all the ways to wear it. Wearing with a pair of jeans is awesome, and makes a casual outfit a little more tongue-in-cheek (or eyelashes-on-mammaries?) Pairing with a sweet flippy skirt was how I wore it at the latest Portland Bloggers Meetup a couple weeks ago (though you can’t tell in the picture).
But on this day, to make it a little more dressy and to counteract a pair of very sleepy boobs, I added a loose pair of crazy jungle-print pants from Forever 21.
I’m in love with the crazy floral and leafy-print, so much so that I’m willing to overlook the flimsy material that seems to rip each time I wear them. I know have to do some serious mending! *sigh*
I DIY’ed my own version of the ubiquitous transparent clutch, but I’m not loving it so much. I have to do a couple tweaks on the design before I can share on the blog, unfortunately.
I’m now off to a dinner at my husband’s workplace…it’s Hub’s birthday in a couple days and so his coworkers are throwing him a party. The sleepy boobs shirt is staying home, though! Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!
xo
Carly
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Jun 4, 2013 | DIY
To mix and match with destroyed denim cutoffs, favorite jeans, or a soft, loose maxi-skirt…the ultimate piece of festival wear is the versatile T-shirt. Take yours a step further with your own DIY print and some well-placed studding to complement the print. boohoo makes the softest, drapiest, most versatile tees – just perfect for customizing with your own hand-made print. And it’s super-easy to make a #boohooDIY with some sticky foam, soft fabric paint, and some pyramid studs! Here’s how:
You Need: (more…)
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Jun 3, 2013 | Fashion
Alicia and Ben Wood are the dynamic husband and wife duo behind Ms. Wood. After graduating from Seattle Central’s design program Alicia moved to New York to study at Parsons before moving back to Seattle to work as a designer at Tommy Bahama. Ben is a talented fine wood-worker specializing in furniture, shoes and accessories. Launching their line with wooden jewelry and gorgeous hand-carved wooden platform sandals (tied with buttery-soft leather straps), together they won the title of Best Emerging Designer of 2010 at Portland Fashion Week. Now having expanded the line to offer drapey kimono-style tops and dresses, as well as structured handbags, Ms. Wood is a permanent fixture in Portland, known for organic, easy-to-wear pieces.
You can shop the Ms. Wood collection in the official store online, or at select boutiques on the West Coast (see list here).
xo
Carly
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May 31, 2013 | Fashion
Nanogarden photo by Wim Noorduin/Harvard University
I can’t believe May is almost over! This month has just whoooshed by, and I mean whoooshed, leaving a huge mess in its wake! I’m leaving the country in TWO weeks, just when Portland gets gorgeous and Summery…and trading it in for unending rain during Tokyo’s steamy-hot rainy season….followed by mosquitoes breeding in droves as soon as the rain stops. I’ll be bringing my open-toed rain-proof sandals! School’s almost out and the year is wrapping up…and there’s been a ton of interesting info online this past week:
Dream It: Inspiration & Creativity
An installation of colorful masking tape in Japan. I wonder who got all that washi tape when they were done with it?
This may be an older post, but it’s still super-relevent. 21 Ways to Be More Creative will help kickstart those creative juices when you hit a roadblock!
Amazing micro-flowers: Nanogardens grown on the surface of a penny. Is “nanogardening” the next new thing?
Buy It: Shopping Picks
Designer merchandise is currently on sale at Saks.com, and you can snag a gorgeous Summer shirtdress for only $55 (marked down from $138). Can you say score??
All tortoiseshell glasses and sunglasses are on sale here for 15% off
for the month of June. Snag them while you can!
Oh, I need this dress in my life, state. It would be the perfect Summer dress….plus chevrons. Who doesn’t like chevrons??
Make It: DIY
5 Anthropologie knock-off ideas for your home will help beautify your living space easily.
This DIY Racerback Muscle Tee Recon video will have your old tee festival-ready in no time.
I’ve just discovered a new DIY Blog/Tumblr: Dream a Little Bigger, which has a ton of links to tutorials all over the internet. So many great projects to visit!
Live It: Lifestyle
If you shop cheap, this is a must-read: How to Make Your Fast Fashion Items Last. Take care of them, and your affordable clothes may just live through their first wash.
Now’s the time to ramp up your interaction online: Your social media profile might be your next credit score.
Get your FILL every Friday!
xo
Carly
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May 27, 2013 | Fashion
Welcome to the first installment of my brand-new series, called “One Piece, Three Girls!” and Happy Memorial Day!
In this series I feature a single article of clothing, jewelry, or an accessory, styled into 3 different looks for 3 different ladies.
For the first post in the series, I’ve partnered up with the amazing Portland boutique Mabel & Zora, to feature a dress from owner Tiffany Bean‘s Spring 2013 collection.
Mabel and Zora opened in June of 2006, headed by husband and wife team Corey and Tiffany Bean. 
The vision for the store was inspired by Doris Day movies and Tiffany’s grandmother’s boutique from the 1950’s. Known for amazing customer service and a personalized shopping experience, the boutique offers dressy lines such as Lilly Pulitzer, Michael Stars, Three Dots, V. Fish, and Butter by Nadia.
Tiffany started designing her own clothing line Tiffany Bean Designs in 2010, also inspired by 1960s movies and fashions. “I love mid-century styling; it is a perfect mix of functionality and design. I romanticize about the jet-set lifestyle of movie stars from Los Angeles to Palm Springs and have designed our home, the shop, and line around this love affair of mine!” The line features a number of easy-to-wear, flattering dresses and skirts that can be dressed up for the office or worn on one’s day off- including colorblocking, fun prints, and signature wrap-style dresses.
For this feature, we have chose the Tiffany Bean Frances dress, a gorgeous contrast black-and-white stripe tube top dress. It’s made of stretchy, medium-weight material so it smooths over the body, and is a flattering knee-length (which happens to be a great length on anyone, no matter their body type). Due to its inherent versatility, this dress is the perfect dress for One Piece, Three Girls – and an on-trend must-have for your Summer wardrobe.
First up, we have Brooke. You might know her as Brooke Morse, the wonderful photographer who takes my outfit photos from time to time. Besides being a photographer, she is also a talented makeup artist, currently expanding her online portfolio. For Brooke, we went with a bohemian casual look, covering up the skirt portion of the Frances dress with a sheer lace DIY maxi-skirt, and pairing it with earthy brown leather accessories and gold jewelry.
Brooke is wearing: Tiffany Bean Frances Dress, Target Merona straw fedora, her own gold hoop leaf earrings, Target Merona scarf, DIY Gold Double-Ended Spike-End Bangle, Gold-Dipped Quartz Ring (from HauteLook), DIY Pamela Love Arrowhead Ring, her own vintage bag, her own wedge-heel sandals.
Next we have Kristin. Kristin Rosario has been assisting part-time with the marketing of Chic Steals since the Fall, and is a marketing guru with a great eye for business opportunities and ideas. Given that she’s often in meetings or an office environment, she needs to look polished and professional every day – hence, a structured blazer grounding the jersey dress. To play up Kristin’s femininity, we layered a couple colorful necklaces and added a ladylike touch with a ruffled bag and a pretty polka dot scarf.
Kristin is wearing: Tiffany Bean Frances Dress, her own milky quartz stud earrings, her own leather-sleeve black blazer, Ann Taylor rose quartz pyramid necklace, Kendra Scott Rayne Long Necklace in Black, her own rings, Steve Madden Ruffle Bag, V. FRAAS Taupe Polka Dot Scarf, her own beige patent pumps.
Finally it’s my turn. For me, I decided to go with a vintage eclectic look, utilizing a thrifted vintage belt and a chiffon overlay for a softer feel. By belting the top it gives it a little more coverage and dresses it up for an evening out, or for a barbecue with friends from work.
Carly is wearing: Tiffany Bean Frances Dress, urban sweetpea Double Initial Necklace (c/o Max & Chloe), Feather-print Chiffon Top (Japan), vintage shell-detail belt, H&M rings, Wildfox bone ring (from HauteLook), gold crown rings (Japan), R&E Gold Square-Heel pumps (Japan), Lilly Pulitzer Spring Fling Clutch. 
(I also brought macarons from Pearl Bakery to nosh on while we shot photos – they were enormous and oh-so-tasty:-)
And as an added bonus, Tiffany is offering the Frances dress featured above for an exclusive STEAL – at an amazing 30% off for my readers!
(Enter code CHICSTEALS at checkout in the Mabel & Zora online shop to take advantage of this offer – expires 6/21/13.)
Plus, right now Mabel & Zora is having an enormous Memorial Day Sale in-store, with sale pieces marked down from 30-75% off (including Yosi Samra ballet flats, pieces from the Tiffany Bean Spring Line, Ms. Wood) 
If you are local to Portland, definitely drop by the shop today take advantage!
Thank you so much to Tiffany and the Mabel & Zora team for their hospitality, and to Brooke and Kristin for being my willing models!;-)
Let me know what you think – whose look do you like the best? And how would YOU style the Frances dress?
xo
Carly
P.S. If any of my readers are local to Portland, OR, and between the ages of 25-40, I’d love to feature you in the
“One Piece, Three Girls” series.
Drop me a line and let’s collaborate!
May 26, 2013 | Fashion
To celebrate your stylish new grad, it’s a wonderful idea to gift something useful, commemorating the occasion marking this life event. Personally, I’m a big fan of either a piece of must-have jewelry or a special watch for the occasion: an adult item that will accompany her on her journey from school and beyond. (more…)
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May 24, 2013 | Fashion
photo by Eric Standley
Welcome to my 3rd installment of F.I.L.L.! It’s been a crazy-busy week, and I have even more ahead. 3 weeks until I head to Tokyo for a month, 3 weeks to get tons and tons of DIY’s done and posted! Yikes. But I’ll rally and get it done. For some reason, there’s always like 1-2 weeks in a year I feel everything hinges upon, and I’m heading into them. So, while I buckle down to get some major work accomplished, here are some links that have caught my eye this past week:
Dream It: Inspiration & Creativity
Every wanted to manifest what you see in your dreams? Computers can now detect what subjects are dreaming…at least 70% of the time. Now all they need is some method to record it.
Life Hacks: How to Jumpstart Your Career gives some great advice on how to jumpstart anything. Just implementing a few of the productivity hacks in the list will double or even triple what you get done in the day.
See Eric Standley’s Stained Glass Art made from paper, and prepare to have your breath taken away. Seriously amazing handiwork.
Buy It: Shopping Picks
Totally amazed at this: Reet Aus, the world’s first mass-produced, upcycled clothing line. You can order Reet Aus, or other upcycled, sustainably-manufactured clothing lines (there are a few) at the TrashtoTrend website.
Is it wrong to want this chic monochromatic bikini so much? I figure it would be pretty DIY’able if one were so inclined, but I kind of want to buy when it comes to swimwear.
This is the chic-est dress imaginable, perfect for a night on the town. It is a night on the town, really. Point-blank.
Make It: DIY
I adore this DIY Lighted Constellation Canvas! It’s so dreamy and romantic – and perfect for any room.
How To Make Clothes Look Vintage and Worn is a great collection of tutorials for faux-ageing your stuff.
Simone Heng of CheapnChic.net is a DIY blogger based in Dubai, with a ton of awesome DIY tutorials on her blog. Check them out!
Live It: Lifestyle
In the wake of the clothing manufacturing factory collapse in Bangladesh, news outlets are beginning to examine the consumption of low-cost clothing and the social and economic ramifications. Watch NBC Nightly News’ The Cost of Cheap Clothes for some insight.
NastyGal is a Fast-Growing Retailer says the New York Times. I’ve been following them for awhile, and have been amazed at the company’s growth and success.
Get your FILL every Friday!
xo
Carly
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Today my tutorial for a DIY Summer Net Bag (made from a men’s T-shirt) is up on the
Happy DIY’ing!
What could speak to Spring more than a bouquet of pretty pastels, made into jewelry? With 
