What Mama Wears: Ankle Boot love

Do you have a shoe-wish-list? I can't be the only one. I will willingly admit to regularly "window shopping" shoe websites and dreaming about owning different pairs of shoes. The hubs will attest to the fact that when we got married and moved into our first apartment together he insisted on counting as we unpacked the boxes I had labelled "shoes". I tried to insist that flip-flops do NOT count as pairs of shoes, nor do slippers, and I even tried to slip moccasins into that non-count list as well. He disagreed and counted every single pair of footwear that I owned... over 200 pairs later, he tried to make me admit that I had a problem. I did not. I said: "The only one with a problem here - is you. Obviously."

After being pregnant, my feet widened out and I had to reluctantly give up several of my beloved pairs of shoes and I'm now down to a much more manageable no. of pairs of footwear though I'm slowly trying to build up my collection... I figure if I go slow enough, the hubs won't notice.

Back to this post: the reasoning behind this little back story is: 1) I desperately wanted these boots the moment I saw them but they were $25 and I rarely if ever pay that much for shoes and 2) When I finally bought them they were on sale for $9. Yeah, $9. NINE. The hubs could not refuse me - ha ha!

Make it! T-shirt Refashion

Don't you love the comfort of a great t-shirt? I know I do. But I can't stand to wear a big, shapeless sack of a t-shirt. I picked up a couple of shirts and refashioned one into a semi-peplum style top. It's so easy, you could do it too!
So, I've included a random paint tutorial, and I'll intersperse real pics where I can, though the paint pics do a better job of showing how to do this.

What mama wears: Graphic Print Shirt

Warning: This post is graphic!

Okay - not graphic like GRAPHIC more like graphics. Like prints and stuff.

You know what I mean.

Just wanted to share this outfit that I rocked for our church directory photos. Oh yeah - you know it.

Nothing like a bold graphic blouse to say - Hey church peeps! Here I am!

So here it is:

Also - seriously rockin the pink socks... you know it! Not that you could see my feet for the pic, but I wore my boots to the church. Duh.

What mama Wears: 50s Housewife?

SO - I got this great fabric from Ikea a while back... and it didn't know what it wanted to be for a while... but then one day when I was browsing a pin-up clothing website (because, honestly, what curvy girl doesn't dream of looking like a pin-up girl from the 40s/50s/60s? really...) I realized that this gingham fabric wanted to be a circle skirt. It desperately wanted to. So much so that it needed to be sewn RIGHT. THEN.

So I did.

And then I wore it with killer heels, a white tee, pearls, fun rose cab. earrings and a swirly side updo thingamajig style for my hair.

I said to The Hubs - look at me. I'm June Frickin' Cleaver here! All I need is an apron... and a casserole or something.

I loved it.

So I'm sharing it with you.
Also - I've decided I'm going to post the WMW photos a little differently. I'm tired of doing all the photoshopping of the pics into one file, so I'm just going to put them up. Okay, the truth is, I'm lazy when it comes to PS. There, I said it.

Anyway - here's my 50s housewife look. And just so you know - I baked cookies that afternoon... but not in this skirt. Priorities!

 

Me: aka June Cleaver.

5 years of furry love - it's Copper-Dopper Day!

In our household there is another super-important day that immediately follows Valentine's Day. We call it Copper-Dopper Day. Feb 15, 2008 the Hubs drove me up to a dog shelter called "Paws Awhile" and we picked up my first baby, my furbaby - Copper. Or as we called him in the early months we had him, the Copper-Dopper.

Copp is a redbone coonhound, we figure he's around 9 years old now, and while he definitely has his issues (being born in a puppy mill, used as a stud-dog - that'll do some damage to a dog psyche) he's also an incredibly sweet, patient, loving dog. He loves to snuggle, and while he's not very "lick-y", he will rub his head against you, and 'snuffle' you (smell your face) if he likes you. He's a sweetheart.

So, every Feb 15 we celebrate the day that our little family grew. He's our .5 (y'know, white picket fence, 2.5 kids... still waiting on that fence tho'). And we love him.

 

He made himself comfortable pretty soon after we got him.

Valentine.............

Ah, Valentine's Day. A day where some embrace the cheesy, lovey quality of an admittedly corporately created holiday, and some rail against the proclamations of love and hearts and flowers and chocolate and all that's sweet.

I had a friend on FB remind everyone this morning that St. Valentine is actually the patron saint of bees, epilepsy and plagues. I wished him many plagues of seizing bees. I do what I can.

Lenten Photo a Day challenge

So I saw this compelling pin come up today on a friend's pinboard... and while I'm not affiliated with the United Methodist church, I followed the link and read through an interesting project that I'm going to take on during this Lenten season.

 The concept is simple: each day take/post a picture that represents the word for the day. It should help me to consider many aspects of my life during Lent. I don't generally "give anything up" for Lent as I've never found it to be especially meaningful to me - but I feel like this speaks to who I am and will help me to "rethink" Lent. 

Let's Talk, Shall we?

For Canadians - today is one day a year that we all know what the phrase "Let's Talk" is about. Bell, the phone company, has decided that on February 12 they will be donating money towards mental health awareness, research and care for every text or long distance call sent on their network, as well as every tweet with the hashtag #BellLetsTalk. It's the one day of the year that I'm sorry I'm not with Bell as my cell provider because I'd be texting the HE-double hockey sticks out of their network today.

I've heard over and over again that the #1 lie everyone tells is this: "I'm fine." and I honestly believe that's true. So often we smile, lie and move on because we either don't believe that anyone else wants to know our issues or problems, or that they don't really care. Maybe that's true in some cases, but let's stop lying to each other and especially to ourselves.

What Mama Wears: Creature Comforts

Sometimes you have a day when you just want to surround yourself with creature comforts. For me, those things are: tea, baked goods, and every now and again I have a day where I need to wear something that's comforting in more ways than just warmth and ease of wearing.

Cake!

A while ago I posted about the aprons that I made for a cake decorating class I was taking with my sister. I thought I would post a bit about what we've learned now that we've completed 2 courses, and are 'certified' in the basic arts of buttercream, gumpaste and fondant cake decorating. That's certified.... not certifiable.


So the first course we took was on buttercream decorating. Admittedly, I had a hard time with the class's version of "buttercream" as the recipe they specified didn't actually have any butter in it.... but hey - you learn the techniques and then stick with what you know, right?

By the end of the class we had created several different piped decorations, flowers, etc and here are a couple of cakes using those techniques, but my own (IMHO, superior) recipes.

What Mama Wears - Print Mash-up for the subtle

I love prints, and if no-one cared what I wore everyday I'd probably be walking around with a mix-mash of crazy prints on a regular basis. But as the hubs and the kiddos have to be seen with me in public, usually I'm required to tone it down a bit.

In any case, when I saw this bold print skirt at Walmart for only $8 (8 bucks!?) I had to snatch it up because I knew I could get away with some print mixing a little more subtly and wouldn't get any weird looks from the hubs or the littl'un (who I like to call my little fashionisto - seriously - everything has to "match" or he won't wear it.... picky kid).

I had some funky cable-esque tights that I picked up from Ricki's on a whim and mixed those up with this bold print skirt, a fun, slightly more than basic ruffled blouse, and the ever present see-I-still-have-a-waist belt to cinch everything in. Voila!

Skirt: Walmart / Tights: Ricki's / Blouse: Ricki's/ Shoes: Walmart (old) / Belt: Ricki's

What Mama Wears: Stripes and Solids

Who doesn't love a good cardigan. Seriously - I can't think of one person who doesn't. They're wonderful sweater creatures: warm enough to keep you toasty with several options for styling and level of warmth. Sleeves rolled up or pulled down, completely buttoned up, tucked in, belted - the possibilities!

I have to admit though, for a long time I unconsciously subscribed to the twinset version of wearing a cardigan. I don't precisely know why... but I'm telling you, if that sucker had buttons down the front I always gravitated towards wearing a matching solid shirt underneath it. But recently I've seen quite a few fashion blogs with a very simple stripe/solid mix with a cardigan. I know, I know, you're thinking - seriously Tea? You didn't think of this by yourself? Are you getting enough sleep? And the answers to those questions are yes, no and no.

But here it is - a lovely boatneck striped tea underneath my new fave boyfriend style button down cardi from the big W. Wearing a funky wrap bead bracelet ups the fun factor a teeny bit, but I felt put together and a teeny bit stylish in this little ensemble. Wearing a belt over a cardigan is a new thing for me, as well and I got to try out one of those fancy skinny belt knot things that all the cool kids do.

Cardigan: Walmart / Striped tee: Old Navy / Pants: Ricki's / Belt: Giant Tiger / Bracelet: gift

So, what do you think? Do you like the belted cardigan look? Or is it all a little too prep-school for you? I like it... you might even see it a little more often!

Tea