Happy Monday

On Friday the Cat and I went to Forever 21 to look for some pieces for our Halloween costumes.  We found a lot of great inspiration, and I picked up a great new bracelet.

F21 by desertgirls featuring choker jewelry

Forever 21 choker jewelry / Forever 21 polish jewelry / Forever 21 necklace / Forever 21 gold chain jewelry / Forever 21 bow jewelry / Bracelet / Forever 21 polish jewelry / Forever 21 necklace

It's that one in the top left hand corner.  I love it.  I almost ordered it online a while back, but settled for the shoes that match instead, which I also love, despite the fact that they really aren't very comfortable.
Hence the bracvelet- I can wear that thing all day with no blisters!
I hope your Monday is off to a fabulous start!

What I'm Wanting: Turquoise

Happy Sunday, all.  We are wrapping up our vacation here in Wyoming with a little bit of country music, riding, and rodeos.  Hanging around real cowboys and cowgirls has made me crave some turquoise jewelry (when I was a kid, that was always my favorite), so I thought I'd share some pieces I wouldn't mind adding to my collection.

by Milk Handmade

This is a very simple take on turquoise, and I love that it is paired with gold since you almost always see this stone set in silver.

Ruche

With this Fauna Butterfly necklace, you can inexpensively jump into the bug trend that is popular in jewelry right now.

Max and Chloe

I love this necklace. It is so simple, but it is so pretty. And I just realized after making the statement about normally only seeing silver with turquoise, the three things I've posted so far have all been set with gold. I guess that is a more modern, less country take on this stone.
Okay, here is one more necklace.  This is the style that I was wishing I had last night when we went to the rodeo and a country music concert after.

kate spade

It would have gone perfectly with my white button up blouse and blue jeans (that's about as country as I could get while here; I don't have any cowgirl clothes).
I would also LOVE to have this one:

Charm & Chain

Hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday; tomorrow evening the Cat and I (along with my Mom) will be flying back home to California.  Before we jump on that plane, we will be doing a little shopping in Denver and then hitting up Cracker Barrel one more time.  Hey, a girl's got to have priorities, right?!

DIY Jewelry Board

I'm a big fan of jewelry.  It doesn't have to be expensive; it just needs to look good.  I love scouring thrift stores and antique shows to find vintage jewelry (I really started collecting old jewelry after I inherited my Gram's quirky collection).  I love nabbing things when they are on sale, especially when Dillard's puts their clearance stuff at an additional 50% off.  I like picking up cheap little pieces that don't look cheap, and I don't mind investing in pricier pieces every once in a while if I feel that the piece is really worth it.  I subscribe to the theory that the more often you wear something, the cheaper it becomes.  (I think I've mentioned that before.)  I wanted an easy way to  show off my jewelry so I would be able to take most of it in at a glance.  I have a lot of necklaces and bracelets, and I wanted a way to store them so that they wouldn't get easily tangled.  I had seen shadow boxes that display jewelry, which is functional and aesthetically pleasing.  So a couple of years ago when I was looking for a way to display my jewelry, I thought of going the shadow box route.  But I am lazy, and I didn't have any big shadow boxes, and I am cheap, and I didn't want to buy any.  I also didn't want to have to worry about hanging up said shadow boxes, because I am lame and I didn't want to deal with the whole issue of nails and hammers.

So I looked around my garage to see what I already had, and came up with a cork board that my old roommate and fellow teacher had left behind. 

Cork board

Perfect.  I dusted it off and brought it into my closet, where I was too lazy to hang it up.  I set it on top of a little table I have in the closet that also holds my Mom's old jewelry box that she gave me (the jewelry box actually came from my great grandparents' jewelry store that they owned when my grandfather was a kid).  I got some thumbtacks and started pinning my necklaces and bracelets to the board.

Jewelry Board

I ran out of room on the cork board, and needed a place to hold my chunkier bracelets that I couldn't pin to the board.  I searched my house and came up with a three tiered serving tray that I use occasionally for tea parties with my daughter and nieces and nephews.

 I unscrewed it and took two tiers off, and now I have a handy little bracelet tray to hold extra rings and bracelets, like my current favorite mixed metal piece from Hive and Honey.

Love- but it's no longer available
(similar style here)

I made a jewelry board for my daughter, too.  I had a framed cork board that I'd gotten from Marshalls eons ago.  The frame was originally green; I painted it black to go with her newly painted grey room. 

Now she wants it painted blue.  It'll need to match the bedroom that she just switched to, which Rebecca has graciously offered to help us decorate (hint hint!). This is a super easy, super functional do it yourself project that anyone can do.  Promise.

~Lori

Thrifted: Silk Skirt and Sketches

                                                 
  Recently I was out shopping at some local thrift stores.  I was on my way to the Goodwill when I passed by another thrift store that I had pretty much forgotten about.  Against my daughter's wishes, I made the right hand turn into the parking lot and we went inside.  Our first stop was the counter up front, where I immediately spotted some old jewelry that I knew I needed.  I found two bracelets: one a silver bangle with bows and the other a gold chain with green beads.  I also found a black and white bead necklace which actually turned out to be two individual necklaces twisted together.  For all of the pieces I paid $5.  Instant gratification! I knew it would be a good idea to duck into this store, even though Alli was against it. 

      Next we looked at the house wares, where I was lucky again.  I scored four really cool cityscape sketches.  They were $6.99 each, which I thought was a little high, but I really liked them, so I grabbed all four.  The cheap black frames need to be changed out, but after they rang up at only $3.50 each, I figured that changing the frames is totally doable.      

     Next up, we looked at the clothes.  This place is usually only good for costume pieces, but I found this beautiful pleated silk skirt for only $2.99.  I haven't decided how I am going to style the skirt yet; I'm thinking another shopping trip might be in order.  Usually I try to buy pieces like this only when I already have something in my closet that will go with it, but I figured I couldn't pass it up for that price.  I have all these dangerous little things I tell myself to justify purchases like this.  In this case, I basically figured it would be a crime not to buy it.  It's 100% silk, after all.  I'll keep you posted when I figure out what to pair with my pretty little bargain.  All in all, this was a pretty successful little side trip.   

    

 

~Lori