Handfasting Inspiration

John and I are having a handfasting ceremony next month. I have so little time to prepare! Luckily I have absolutely wonderful friends who are willing to help out. And God bless the internet for allowing me the ability to look up random pictures to use as reference for our Fae inspired engagement ceremony.

What to Look for:

• Faerie related clothing
• Something that incorporates both of our personalities (His Greek influences and my Buddhist influences)
• Unique Nature based decorations
• A color scheme to tie it all together

These images came from a rather thrifty little blog that I follow- Gypsy House Designs- I absolutely fell in love with these images. The gowns, head dresses and scenery are absolutely flawless. I wish I had an unlimited budget but, alas, I have to keep it as close to a hundred dollar budget as possible. This does give me quite a bit of inspiration for the wedding soon to come.

Twig Oaklyn Flewinia Thistlebottom, better know as Twig the Fairy,  is an absolutely adorable young woman who often makes appearances at Medival and Renaissance Fairs. She's been featured in several fashion and counterculture lifestyle magazines. If there was ever a place to pull small budgeted Faerie costumes from, it would be Twig.

Lastly will be our decorations and color scheme. Since the theme we decided on was Faeries I thought it seemed fitting to create some tiny chairs for our Faerie friends to sit in during the ceremony and reception. I gathered up a bunch of twigs, tree bark and moss and plan on piecing them together.

I was also considering making some natural terrariums to place around the church and to keep us company in the apartment later. I've already invested in jars, Now it is a struggle to get the actually plants to fit within our budget.

 After all of this, the main thing to do now is hunt down some fabric and trim to make my dress and John's tunic. I'm all shimmery eyed this month and I hope this glow stays. Lately I could use the extra boost of shiny. Maybe I should rummage through my closet and look for clothes to make over. That might get my head of of those dark, broody clouds overhead and focus more of the bright blue Oklahoma sky.

A Day to De-stress- Daily Outfit

It always feels like every time I get ahead, I get slapped in the face with something cold, hard and on occasion sharp and pointy. So, I decided I needed a day to de-stress. Just a day to sit, drink tea and coffee and read a nice book.

I started my day with an awesome rose milk tea. I spent the time to make it look pretty so that I at least had the satisfaction of creating something beautiful and simple. It made me feel good and my experiments with adding different combinations of tea with the rose made it taste just like my favorite tea at Tea Cafe.

I've been browsing around Google and admiring a street fashion movement called "Dolly Kei" and decided to compose something to wear from that using the random bits in my closet. It made me smile a bit when I looked in the mirror and as an added plus it was comfortable. It's also inspired me to makeover my coat. Most of the buttons have fallen off so I'm going to seize the opportunity to go to a junk shop or art supply shop and buy unique buttons and pins. I'm also thinking of adding trim around the sleeves and bottom rim of the coat. I might even add a layer of patterned fabric to the inside. That sounds nice. I should post my progress soon.

I spent the afternoon at Brandy Park (better known as "The Duck Pond") and listened to the geese yell at passing cars who were playing loud music. Hence "The geese disapprove of your choice in musical aesthetic." I doodled for a little while before deciding on walking back to the apartment. John and I kept an eye out for random nuts and bolts that we can incorporate in our costume or props for the Steampunk con and then he treated me to Spaghetti-O's. Best. Day. Ever.

Lolita: A Street Fashion and Lifestyle

Lolita fashion comes in various forms. Just as every other street fashion and lifestyle, there a countless subcategories to address before throwing out a blanket term such as "Lolita." In general, a good working definition of what Lolita is and stands for is: A fashion subculture that is primarily influenced by Victorian clothing. The Lolita lifestyle is one that surrounds itself with etiquette, beauty and doll-like cuteness. After the initial birth of the Lolita style fashion, DIY artists would add their own artistic flare to their Lolita inspired dresses, stockings and bows. These innovations lead to a more diverse fashion subculture.

Some Popular Subcategories
In Brief

• Ama-loli/ Sweet Lolita - This Lolita style emphasizes soft, pastel colors and is often garnished in sweets such as cupcakes and candy. There are many child-like motifs incorporated in its design.

• Shiro Lolita - In contrast to her counterpart Kuro Lolita ("Kuro" meaning "Black"), Shiro Lolita revolves around the beauty and simplicity of the color white. Being a rather neutral Lolita style, it often crosses over with Sweet Lolita and often Gothic Lolita.

• Gothic Lolita - This style combines Lolita with Gothic trends. Black is often the favored color of choice. While some will settle for something that resembles Kuro Lolita, many a loli with accent their dresses with bats, Medieval crosses, wilted flowers and other common Gothic fashion trends.

• Gore Lolita - Gore Lolita caters to the look of a broken and injured doll. this style is fairly neutral in that it can be a type of Gothic Lolita trends and even Sweet Lolita although that is not as common. These Lolitas will wrap themselves in bandages and even stain parts of their outfit with fake blood to make them appear injured and vulnerable.

• Wa Lolita - These Waloli's combine Lolita aesthetics with traditional Japanese garments. Many of their patterns derive from silk kimonos and often incorporate the traditional Obi.

• Rococo Lolita - Rococo Lolita's embrace the patterns and traditional designs from the Rococo period. this style is heavily influenced by the Rococo color palette and love of ruffles and antiqued lace.

• Kodona - This Lolita style caters to the males who want to participate in the popular street fashion. this style utilizes Victorian hats, vests and often times Visual Kei inspired footwear.

 Lolita Lifestyle

The lifestyle choices of a Lolita often don't stop at the clothing style itself. Many people choose to enjoy dressing in this fashion all days of the week for several years if not their full lifetime. This act of defiance against the mainstream, casual and more acceptable fashions is considered very admirable. Choosing to look, act and dress how you feel best despite public ridicule and disruption of harmony is a very hard thing to do.

With the Lolita style comes an often shy and vulnerable demeanor that is polite, courteous and sometimes very playful. This of course isn't the only type of Lolita personality however the quiet onlooker personality is more or less the most common. Many people confuse their politeness with dullness.

A more in depth description of the Lolita Lifestyle is in this video I found on a blog I've recently started actively watching called Lolita Charm. The author of the blog posted this the other day and I was quite inspired by these girls that I had to share it.

Oklahoma Steampunk Exposition

It's official: John and I are going to the Oklahoma Steampunk Exposition this coming April.

I have a LOT of props to make as well as costumes to make so I'll log my progress here. Currently I have both of the outfits planned out as well as my props. I just need to hunt down materials and dig through some dumpsters and I should be set.

Here is what I currently have planned as far as the props and modded clothing go:

• Several pairs of uniquely designed goggles
• A modded leather jacket
• 2 pocket watches
• A pistol
• 2 rifles
• 4 "Steam Canisters"
• Tool belt
• Miscellaneous tools
• Holster
• And a gunarm

I'm not sure what my budget is on this one but I have about three months to complete everything and its gonna be a lot of fun. Once I start working on stuff I'll post pictures. until then I'm just going to hunt down materials and continue sketching.