Mar 25, 2011 | Life
Actually, they’re already underway at the Portland Expo Center: demonstrations on how to green up your lifestyle, organic and fair-trade foods and cooking info, documentary film screenings, beauty demonstrations, activities for the kiddies, and an eco-friendly fashion show each night. I’m heading to that tonight and I’m super-excited to see Lizzie Parker, Saffrona, Pacadudz, and Rock On Jewelry Design – which I’ll be posting photos of later!
The event continues all weekend – with a fashion show each night – so if you’re in the area, stop on by and say hello! (Attending is free, though you have to pay for parking.)
For more info and to create your own must-see agenda, check out the
See you there!
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 25, 2011 | DIY
Yesterday I coveted it, so today I’m going to show you how to make it. It’s DIY in 5 – minutes, that is. The easiest, quickest ways to take a piece from blah to fab and update it to current trends.
Also called the pussy-bow blouse on the other side of the pond, a chiffon bow at the collar of any blouse elevates it from everyday into elegant. But when you’re shopping on a budget (read: buying cheap), often the blouses that are affordable tend to lack such special details. I thrifted this lovely wide-collar chiffon blouse, but felt it needed an extra something to give it more style.
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Mar 23, 2011 | Fashion
Czech crystal stud earrings: Icing by Claire’s
Sterling 3-star necklace: unknown [from Japan]
Bird-Printed Dress: Miss Selfridge (from last year)
Star-printed tank: unknown [from Japan]
Rings: blue beaded – handmade by me; silver w/ rhinestones – Payless; gold band w/ rhinestone – Icing by Claire’s
Ruched clutch purse: Rampage (a recent Hautelook purchase)
Dark-rinse jeggings: Forever 21
Blue trouser socks: Target
Black Qupid perforated wedge booties: UrbanOg (same version no longer available though:-(
I’m having MAJOR computer problems.
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Mar 23, 2011 | Life
I spotted two pairs of socks I sent in this photo: the hot-pink stripe and the light pink socks!
As you all probably know, besides donating money for tsunami relief efforts in Japan, I also sent 38 pairs of socks for men, women, and children, along with some handwritten letters and toiletry items, to a newly-formed organization that aims to distribute these items to the displaced victims housed in temporary shelters in the northern parts of Japan.
This morning, Socks for Japan shared their first experience making a delivery to a couple shelters located in Ibaraki, who had cited an urgent need for socks and specially requested them. The group also shared the photos they took of the destroyed towns and homes, damaged personal items, and the isolated survivors in the various shelters they visited.
From their account of the day:
Three ladies sat together on a blanket after receiving their socks, all three engrossed in reading the letters. They looked so happy and kept turning to each other to share what their letters said. They noticed us noticing them, and the eldest among them held her letter up and told us, “This is wonderful.”
Hand-writing 14 copies of this long letter took an awful long time…
But for the look on this woman’s face I would write 10,000 more.
It’s so amazing to be involved with a charity that actually does what it sets out to do, wholly and caringly – and provides an actual account of their work so there can be no misunderstandings about it. Perhaps I shall never learn the names of these people…but I am so glad to have brightened their day in even the smallest way.
The write-up is incredibly moving, and hopefully puts to rest any criticisms that socks are neither needed nor wanted.
Thank you to Socks for Japan, who have allowed me to help in such a tiny way!
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 23, 2011 | Fashion
Are you kidding me???!
The Sam Edelman Lorissa pump, exclusively for Solestruck, available here.
First person to DIY this gets crowned spike DIY Queen for the millenium.
What do we think? Coveting badly? Or soooooo over the spike trend it’s not even funny?
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 22, 2011 | DIY
Condensing the last 3 weeks into one, since for various reasons I haven’t been able to post my usual DIY Links of the Week. My final project due for class, my husband’s country hit with three disasters one after the other, undertaking a sock drive and letter-writing effort…it’s taken some time to gather myself after these events and turn my eye back to DIY. Since I’ve grouped the last couple weeks of DIY’s and other things, there’s a few more than I normally include. Ready…?
Img source
And isn’t that what DIY is all about??! Doing it as best you can, on a shoestring budget, certainly fosters creativity!
So onto the Links of the Past 3 Weeks…
When you hear of acrylic vase filler and balloon weights…what DIY project springs to mind? A necklace? Well, if you were Modanista Junkie, they would – and she DIY’d a lovely sparkly ribbon necklace out of those amazingly counter-intuitive materials. Gorgeous!
Customizeable Melissa Plastic Dreams shoes…just cut away the parts you don’t want! Strangely reminiscent of those grippy pads I use in my kitchen sink…What’s the verdict: chic or sheesh?!
Sick of all those ugly, bulky black nylon camera bags? Learn how to turn a regular purse into a camera bag courtesy of Tater Tots and Jello…and never go back to the ugly.
PINNACLE: Reinvent the Icon was a pamphlet handed out during New York Fashion Week, showcasing a beautifully-shot editorial with a number of fur-free contemporary designs from labels such as Vaute Couture, Olsenhaus, VPL Victoria Bartlett, and Cri de Couer. Though a little graphic, it definitely makes the point that fur-free can be just as fabulous – and high-fashion! – as the stuff in Vogue. (And Anna Wintour tied up gave me a little chuckle;-)
Domo-kun Sandwich Cookies from Diamonds for Dessert are totally delish-looking! (Though I have to admit I’ve had a little crush on Domo-kun since like…1998 or so, so I’m a little biased…;-)
DIY Woven Chain Bracelet from Jagged Paper Doll uses beautifully-colored embroidery thread to add pizazz to a chain bracelet. Perfect for Spring!
In the same spirit of weaving, …love, Maegan shared her Leather Lanyard woven bracelet tutorial. It looks great stacked with other silver bangles and chains!
I had some leftover galaxy-print fabric from a little I had custom-printed awhile back…just a little, mind you…so I went old-school and made a scrunchy with it! Here’s how, from About.com.
These Embroidery Thread Tassel Earrings from Studs and Pearls are just the colorful 70’s vibe I’m hankering after at the moment. Check out all the colors she made!
I love how UtBwB turned a men’s shirt into this vintage-style ladies’ blouse! She took something for HIM and made it PRIM…and perfect!
Speaking of men’s shirts transformations (okay, let’s acknowledge my obsession now;-), here’s a doozy: a cute little DIY check skirt made by here’s looking at me kid. Western-style and adorable, you have to check it out! (yuk, yuk yuk;-)
Bye Bye Soccer Mom made this cool crackle-finish Maltese Cross Cuff, using the same cross base from Jo-Ann Fabrics that I used in my double cage cuff DIY awhile back! The crackle-finish turns it into a completely different piece…and it looks fabulous in this reincarnation!
Who isn’t drooling over the bright zip clutches spotted all over style-sharing networks recently? DIY your own zip clutch, with the help of Style Scrapbook. (She made hers in a lovely yellow leather.)
Recent favorite affordable and cute shopping destinations:
And since I’m not doing my DIY Roundups anymore, if you have a DIY project, tutorial, or creation that you’d like to see featured on Chic Steals, please email me at carlyjcais at chic-steals dot com – and I’ll try to squeeze it in to one of my Links of the Week posts!
xoxox
Carly
-all photos copyright their respective authors; photo array by me-
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Mar 19, 2011 | Media
Forgot to mention this – I was featured on craft-tutorial sharing site Cut Out + Keep a couple weeks ago, as a Crafty Superstar!
Since I was feeling sort of black-and-white at the time and wanted to share a range of projects that utilized a variety of techniques, I contributed four projects (click the name to go straight to the how-to):
Thanks so much to Cat and whole team at Cut Out + Keep – I’m so thrilled to have been featured!
What do you all think of the projects? Anything that you’d like to try out?
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 18, 2011 | DIY
Major computer dump. If I haven’t credited your photo, please let me know; half of these I’ve forgotten where I saw them.
Here’s some major DIY inspiration for ya…just wish there were more hours in the day to do it all..
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Mar 17, 2011 | Media
Locals Jump to Japans Aid {link url="http://www.tualatintimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=130037863131055800" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"}Read More...{/link}
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In today’s local newspaper here in the suburbs outside of Portland (circ. 26,000) they ran an article about local people and their efforts for disaster relief in the wake of last Friday’s events in Japan. A small photo of me happened to land on the front page – and hopefully this will be able to attract more attention to everyone’s efforts and encourage people in their support for Japan during this dark time.
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Thanks so much to Angela, Jaime, and the whole team over there for making the effort to get the word out about this! I am so indebted to all of you.
Additionally, I emailed the head of my son’s school on Sunday and let him know about Socks for Japan, and he decided to share it with the entire community of parents, staff, and students, asking for monetary donations to be collected and given to Mercy Corps, and collecting a pair of new socks and a care note from each child if people wished to donate that as well. Sock Dreams, a local Portland retailer of socks and legwear, set up a table selling socks (really nice ones, too) for $2 a pair in front of the school for parents who hadn’t had time to go out and buy a pair…and then donated all the money received to Mercy Corps. This morning as I came into school and bought another pair to send with a care letter from my son, I saw people buying 4 and 5 pairs of socks at a time, and all of them being sorted into boxes ready to ship out for tomorrow.
Despite the obnoxious, petty, and ill-informed voices of critics that have brought so much sorrow to my heart since last week, the events of today brought tears to my eyes when I saw the goodwill and good intentions of so many people manifest.
xoxox
Carly
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Mar 15, 2011 | DIY
I don’t think I ever posted the step-by-step tutorial for this. Woops!
Inspired by this neckpiece (actually a belt)…from the J. Crew Fall 2009 catalog.
A very simple, but effectively pretty, DIY. Seen in this outfit last…last year here.
You Need:
*8″ Pearl-edged Lace Ribbon
*36″ Cream Satin Ribbon
*15″ x 3″ wide cream-colored Scrap Fabric
*8 Assorted Shades of Silk Flowers
*1 Large Pom Pom
*1 Small fabric Rose
*18″ x 6″ wide Peach Satin Fabric
And…
*Sewing Machine
*Needle & Thread
*Hot Glue Gun
*Fray Stop
1. Create the backing for your piece. I used an 18″ x 6″ piece of peach satin voile – and turned the edges under, hemming so as to conceal the raw edges.
2. Cut your satin ribbon in half; stitch the end of each to each side of your fabric backing. Apply Fray-Stop or burn ribbon ends to keep from fraying.
3. Add design elements with a hot glue gun onto your fabric backing. I added the flowers first, then squashed the pompon and small fabric rose (premade) in-between.
4. Create large fabric rose by rolling a piece of cream-colored scrap fabric, securing with hand-stitching. Glue onto backing.
5. Tie pearl-edged ribbon in a bow, and glue onto collar.
You’re done! You can wear it as a collar/necklace, as shown – or even wear it as a belt – which I love!
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxo
Carly
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