A Crafting We Will Go

It was hot, sunny and miserable, but our Kansas City Blog Guild was invited to media night for the opening of a new Sprout's Farmer's Market. There was going to be fun food crafting and I was game, heat and all. I've mentioned before that it takes me an hour to get to the city, but with good music and NPR I really don't mind the drive.

When it gets hot, I grab my linen and when it get sunny I go for my ever faithful (as in twenty five years) straw hat. I've had all these pieces for a while, but only started combining them together lately. When I first walked out wearing this, Michael said, "Now, all you need is your Patchouli." He wasn't kidding, he knows I still have some. Of course, I wear either pure Patchouli or a mixture that has some Patchouli in it. My favorite is Earth by Perfect Scents, a Kansas City base fragrance shop.

My loose linen trousers have a tie waist which makes them easy wearing. They are by Carol Little and have been in my closet since the early 2000s. The Indian print top is rayon but it has always been cool, probably because of it being sleeveless. I picked this up at a thrift shop in Florida and used to think that only Florida had the good thrift shops. When I would visit my sister, I would take an extra collapsible suitcase with me! But now that I have found some wonderful stores in Missouri, my sister Donna and I will have more free time.  She won't have to take me to every thrift in the three county area (but you know thrifting, we will have to visit some)!

Does anyone remember the old Nature Company? We used to love that store. It was one of our favorite places to take the girls. I got this hat in the early summer of '91 at Union Station in Saint Louis. Isn't it crazy the little stuff you remember?

The bag has been on here many times. It's my Michael Kors Straw. It has been my go to straw bag for the last three seasons, and many more, I would predict. Of all places, I picked it up at Zappos. 

The sandals are Tod's.  They came from eBay a couple of years ago. I got them from a lady who was selling a three-pair deal of her old Tod's so she could get new ones. The heeled loafers have been on my blog twice during the Winter and Spring. The third pair in the deal will show up pretty soon. 


And Now To the Crafts-Fun Times with the Kansas City Blog Guild at Sprouts-Rather than a make and take it was mostly made it and ate it! 

The first project was painting a jelly jar with milk paint and then distressing it with sand paper. Then decorating it with yarn, cording or jute.  You don't see my lid in this photo, but it has one and is sitting on my kitchen counter, empty, of course. Sprouts has good granola but I have my own granola recipe that I've been making for years so I will fill them next time with my own concoction. 

Have you done flavored water yet? It is one of my family's favorites. For Memorial Day, we had watermelon and mint. At Sprouts we used strawberries and mint. I can't say blackberries because they were only in there for decoration. I love the perforated lids for the jelly jars with straws. The cheapest I could find was at Oriental Trading at 12 for $10. 

The cupcake station was my favorite. We had pre-made red velvet chocolate cupcakes and all kinds of fun stuff to put on them. I liked the fresh fruit. At least some of what you are eating is healthy! I've done this at home with the family but we never used fresh fruit. I think this is what I want for my Birthday, which is July 3rd. We always celebrate it during our families' 4th get together.

The yogurt station was great. What a fantastic morning after the big holiday dinner idea. Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, granola and three different types of honey. We used Siggi's which is in my fridge at the moment. My daughter, Michelle, always plans the morning after breakfast. I need to run this idea by her to see what she thinks because this idea I love.

So, a little fashion styling and a little food crafting for today and that is that. This is an extra post because of the 4th and The Style Crone's Hat Attack. I will still have my regular post on Sunday. And with that, it's goodbye until Sunday. Take care and I will see you then. Happy Styling!

This week, I am linking up with  Judith of The Style Crone's Hat Attack HERE, Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE ,Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE, Shelbee's Edge of the Week Link Up HERE and Nancy's Fancy Friday HERE.

Again, the photos of me were taken by my grandson William.

5 Days-6 Ways; Shopping My Closet

Last week, I tried a new experience. It was hectic but fun. I joined the second week of Sylvia Van De Logt's 40+ Style's Casual Style Challenge. The first week completely passed me by. I didn't realize what was going on at first. But once I did, I jumped in!

Before I even started, I made a pledge to myself that I would only shop from my closet. For the most part, this worked out fine. With one look, I did stretch things a bit. We were given the option to substitute items if needed and many ladies did (including me). So let's get started. First off, we were sent a 9 piece capsule wardrobe.  They were:

Bottoms

1. White ankle pants-I used my white White House/Black Market 
    jeans that I thrifted last summer.
2. Chinos-I used a pair of thrifted Gap chinos that I altered into a 
    slim leg-they were originally quite flared.
3. Denim skirt-I haven't wanted to wear a denim skirt since '99.
    So, I substituted with an asymmetrical Tomboy of Kansas City skirt, and  a white knee length cotton straight skirt. 

Tops

4. Printed cotton top in a bright color-I used a flowered Style and

    Company blouse from Macy's.

5. Printed bomber jacket-don't have one, don't want one so I

    did a substitution on this one. Will explain later.

6. Sheer flower blouse-This was already used in week one so although I did have something that worked, I didn't need to use it. 

7. Camisole-I used a modified camisole that had wider straps.

8. Asymmetrical top-I used a knit top that I got from my friend

    Sheree's Looks Like Carolina Boutique.  

9. White blouse-I used a 100% Linen Cherokee blouse that I 

     actually found at the Harrisonville Trade Fair--sort of a weird

     place to find a brand new blouse. 

We were given the option to add one extra piece which I did right off the bat for Day One. So here we go...................

Day One-Pair a printed blouse with a denim skirt or another owned skirt.

The added suggestions were to add wedge shoes, romantic jewelry and no more than three or four colors. I paired a 100% polyester grey and pink jersey top with a knee-length white cotton skirt. Again, this top was thrifted. Usually, this style doesn't look good on me, but I feel this top does and I wear it a lot in the summer. Where I got the skirt is a mystery to me, I can't remember.

I chose shoes of a pale leaning toward neutral: Ellen Tracy shoes and a Big Buddha Bag of the same tone (both TJ Maxx). I liked the romantic take on the jewelry and used a pearl and silver chain Stella and Dot necklace (eBay) and a pearl motif buckle shaped bangle (Adrian Kriestler Drugs) with a mother-of-pearl silver ring (TJ Maxx).

Day Two-Pair an asymmetrical top with white pants. 

I had already put this top away with my Fall/Spring clothes. The taupe top is 100% stretch rayon made in the USA. It has long sleeves but I just scrunched them up (I do that a lot).  I let the tan and white of my main pieces dictate what accessories I used. The Ann Kline perforated cork wedges (eBay) are edged with white patent leather and these led to the choice of the laser cut white Rebecca Minkoff MAC bag (eBay), My jewelry is collected from everywhere throughout the years and falls into the wood, seed and paper category. But I would like to point out my purple-rolled paper necklace. I purchased it through Project Lydia, a Fair Trade non-profit that helps women to become self-employed and independent. 

I need to acknowledge the other model in the photo. Bennett, our 11 year-old Black Lab wanted in the picture that day and who could tall him no. 

Day Three-Pair a denim skirt with a white blouse

Rather than a denim skirt, I chose my Tomboy Design of Kansas City's by Laura McGrew asymmetrical cotton knit skirt. It is super comfy and makes me happy. 

I paired it with the white linen blouse tied at the waist. I stayed with a denim look with some Tahari light blue linen chunky heeled sandals (TJ Maxx) and continued the blue with my Eric Javit's bag (eBay). For pops of color, I added a red and bronze necklace, a multi colored modern bracelet (both from art museum gift shops) and red Zoya Pixie Dust nail polish. I pretty much always use nail polish to complete the color palette of what I am wearing. 

Day Four-Pair a printed blouse (red was suggested) with a pair of Khaki pants. 

I ended up doing two looks for this day. The one on the left is the "official" one. I have my one and only flower printed blouse (Style and Co. at Macy's) and purchased it because of its lines. It has gathered panels and is very slenderizing. The khaki pants are from The Gap. I altered the legs after I thrifted them as mentioned.

I added my Liz Claiborne belt (have had it for 30 years), a Michael Kors straw bag, and some Liz Claiborne four-textured wedges with wood and tortoise shell jewelry.

Stalking under my handbag is JayJay, a tiger cat who just showed up and adopted us. Today he decided he needed to be an accessory for me.

The right photo is my extra look. I think anything in these two photos could be interchanged easily. I added this look because this is a red blouse 100% cotton (thrifted) as suggested. There isn't a tag in this shirt, just made in India.

I paired it with my Vera Wang for Kohls cuffed capris. The accessories include my go-everywhere hat when I don't want sun. It's been with me for 26 years. The sandals are Minnetonka from our local farm and home store, and the little cross-body camera bag has no label and has been with me for as long as the hat.

Day Five-Pair white pants and white blouse with a bomber jacket

I don't own a bomber jacket and remember that I was only shopping my closet. I had to reach pretty far back into the closet archives to even come close for this one. 

I did some research and found that my favorite bomber jackets were Asian inspired. Imagine that (I am referencing my last style post here)! I pulled a dragon-embroidered men's shirt that my daughter Rachelle bought back in the Summer of '99. She didn't want it anymore and I just couldn't let it go. I was always going to do something with it. What that something is, I still have no idea. 

For this look, I temporarily hemmed it up a lot because it's a very long shirt.  I think it makes a nice boxy jacket, but I'm not committing to that idea yet. 

With it , I paired my yet to be used white camisole and white pants and let them dictate the black and white theme for the accessories. The black, white and silver flats are by Nine West (TJ Maxx), as is the bag. The bag came from Nine West's online outlet store site. I wished I had read the measurements a bit better on this bag. It was described as a bucket bag. They should have added "...it's big enough to put oats in to feed your horse oats.."! It really is huge. The black and silver jewelry are pieces I have picked up over the years and quite frankly, sometimes I forget where I get things. We are talking a few decades of collecting. 

That covers my busy styling week. Would I do something like this again? Probably, yes. Kudos to the ladies that did both weeks. I think one was plenty for me. This was a fun problem-solving exercise. For me, that's what makes fashion fun: "I have this and what can I put it with"?, or "I am going here and what would be appropriate"? 

This is the end. But, I have another small post coming tomorrow! It's a combination of Not Dressed as Lamb's challenge for Monday and Sylvia's latest newsletter.

I hope you have enjoyed this long, long post. What's new about that, right? This one really demonstrated how I shop. I look everywhere, even at my farm and home store. I discovered thrift shopping as a hobby last summer. There's such a challenge in it. I love the hunt for a great piece, even if it means that I have to alter it a tad. Another one of my favorites is eBay but I only look for brands  I am very familiar with and I am extra careful with purchasing bags. There are so many fakes with the really popular bags. I will discuss that a little tomorrow.

Take care-well, I guess until tomorrow!

This week, I am linking up with Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE,   High Altitude Style's Link-Up, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE, Shelbee's Edge of the Week Link Up HERE and Nancy's Fancy Friday HERE and finally July's My Refined Style.