I'm Just Teasing...

I have decided to push the opening of the shop back one more week. I know, I know…

I was taking photos of some of the garments I had made up yesterday, and of course I chose the wet, rainy, cold, dark day to take photos which meant they didn’t turn out as clearly and as true to their colours as they should be. One of the big things that has stuck with me while reading the Etsy forums and how to guides, is that taking well lit, clear photos is the key to making your product stand out.

I can’t take photos again until the weekend, because when I leave in the morning for work it’s dark and when I get home from work it’s dark (which is fine for taking outfit photos which don’t need to be too clear/true to colour/can be touched up easily without too much worry because I’m not selling you my outfits).

But this little set back means that I get to make more things! I’m currently working on the sweetest lemon yellow, full skirted 50’s inspired dress and a similar full skirted dress made out of a beautiful floral cotton vintage fabric.

I am going to share some of the poorly lit photos with you all though so that you can at least get some indication of what I’m making/can make if you were wanting something custom made which is relatively easy with Madeline. There are many more garments (and even more ideas), but here are just a sprinkling –

This dress isn't quite finished yet, but it looks amazing on (I almost don't want to sell it!). A while ago I came across a treasure trove of beautiful vintage collars, this is one of them -

So, there is a small taste for you - I hope you like them! The mannequin I've been taking them on is teeny tiny so things don't fit quite as well as they do a real person. I will be taking photos of myself in each garment, but to get the details it's much easier on a mannequin, I may need to give her some padding or make her eat a hamburger or something...

XX
Jen

PS) I've finally gone pro - flickr pro that is.

A Little Worried...

I'm a little worried about my shop opening!! I think at this stage I’m only going to have about 9 items in there – only 9!!! I was hoping to have 21 (which is one full page of items on Etsy) and I’m worried that the first initial selection won’t be as wide as I had wanted. It’s mainly skirts as I’ve mentioned and I have one dress to finish and hopefully I’ll get another made this weekend too.

What I really wanted for the grand opening was a shop full of beautiful dresses and skirts, tops and accessories (I’m working on bags and clutches at the moment too, but I can’t see them going up for at least a month as I try to fill my shop up with all the other things I want in it!).

I hope you won’t be disappointed, and I hope the items I have will be up to your expectations – I’m just so worried I’m going to be letting you all down and am tempted to push the opening back again. I won’t at this stage – I think I under estimated how hard it is to work full time and try to dedicate enough time to starting your own business. Honestly, at the end of the working day, the last thing I want to do is sit down and start getting the hem of a skirt even, and then sew it in a straight line (as easy as that sounds!!).

I plan to dedicate tonight and all of Saturday to sewing. Hopefully by Sunday I’ll start taking the photos, Monday will be editing them and Tuesday will be listing them. Then for the rest of the week I’ll be making more items to list and I’ll hopefully get a system up where I list regularly on a specific day of the week so you all know when to check out the shop (and of course I’ll be mentioning new up dates on the blog too).

Speaking of work – I’ve just spent the last two days getting my first aid certificate. It was a very full on two days as those of you who have yours would know! It was done by the Red Cross and next to their training centre was a Red Cross shop that I had never been too before or even knew was there! As I was waiting for David to pick me up on the first day, I popped in and bought some lovely vintage, navy blue t-strap heels for $2. When I first picked them up I thought they wouldn’t fit so put them back and continued to browse. David still hadn’t arrived once I had finished, so I decided to try them on, and I’m so glad I did – they are perfect and I’ll show you them next week! I might even wear them in the photos for Etsy!

I did take some photos of the swing tags, business cards and labels, but they turned out fuzzy and horrible because of the light I took them in – so next week?

Once again – I so hope I don’t disappoint! And thnak you all so much for your support in this too, you've all helped so much...

XX

Jen

The Beginnings of a Shop...

I straightened my hair for the very first time since January when I lopped it all off and let it go curly. It's strange to be able to run my hand through my hair, and it looks so much shorter straight than I expected it to be.

Hair Flick!!

Nothing much to talk about today, except that I now have my swing tags, business cards and fabric labels for my Etsy Shop - very very exciting :)

They are beautiful, the cards are printed in matt on a lovely textured, recycled paper stock and I can't wait to show them off by sending them out in packages and handing them out to people (in hopes that maybe I'll get a few local custom orders). The labels are printed on a twill cotton fabric and look and feel marvelous (no itchy tags here!!).

I'll get a picture of them up soon for you - but the shop opens next week so you'll get to see them then anyway!

I'm also not going to have as much stock in the shop as I had initially wanted for the launch, but pushing myself at the cost of the quality of the garment is not something I am prepared to do. So to that extent, things will be added weekly to keep it fresh, new and interesting which I think is probably better in the long term any way.

Have a lovely day,

XX
Jen

Casual cozy comfort...

Today is the shortest day of the year here, I drove to work this morning in pitch blackness, granted, I did leave just after 7am.

And all this darkness about the place calls for cosy comfort and a little 70’s vibe (though I should have thrown my red chucks on too).

I’ve got about three of these little cropped long sleeved jersey’s (this one, a green one and a little blue and white knitted sailor one that I think may have belonged to a small child) that I got in summer this year. I haven’t pulled them out mainly because I was waiting to get high waisted jeans to wear them with. I just can’t picture myself wearing them with a skirt – is that strange? It just seems like I’d be mixing things that shouldn’t be mixed. Maybe if I get the right skirt…

XX

Jen

Ps) here are a few more snow pictures I took from the other day. The initial ones I took were in the morning when I woke up, these are from about an hour later, the clouds closed in and the snow started to fall in huge, heavy snowflakes…

End of the Week...

Thank you all so much for your kind words about my first video post (if you missed it, it's in the post below this one!!). David is excited to edit my future posts, so look out for those!

Note to self: Think up some actual topics instead of just rambling.

The dress is a vintage one, the gloves are the ones I spoke about a while ago - beautiful vintage soft leather gloves for only $6!!

Today I am sewing (Sewing things takes so much longer than what you initially anticipate, I really do hope to have a decent selection in my Etsy store when it opens in a week and a half (Eeek!!)) and then going to the Mid Winter Carnival in town tonight. Though it's not really mid winter yet to be fair.

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend - I am so dreading going back to work on Monday, le sigh...

XX
Jen

My First Video Post...

Well, here it is folks, my first ever video post...

Sorry it's so dark, sorry I ramble an awful lot and sorry there's no pretty 50's jazz music to start it off (next time I'll get David so do some fancy edity stuff, because he's good like that!!) - it really was just a spur of the moment thing!

(Why do I have to have a weird expression on my face while it loads up???)

Something a Little Different…

Today I thought I’d change it up a little and wear something totally different than what you’d expect me to wear…

See, told you. There have been so many cute pictures of people wearing shorts all over flickr right now that I decided I wanted to put shorts on too. And to be truthful, I’d never wear shorts this short in public without tights underneath!

This morning I woke up freezing and to a beautiful white blanket of snow…

David's Footprints in the snow...

View from the bedroom window.

Mocha was a little unsure of what the white stuff was.

XX

Jen

PS) Sorry for no comment replying, my internet is slow!! And I’m going to be posting my first video post soon too :) It’s nothing special, just an experiment of sorts!!

Vintage Coats and Cute Kitty Cats...

The only thing I dislike about vintage coats and jackets is that the arms are always slightly too short, which is the case with this jacket. But I do love it! It’s made from a beautiful heavy wool in a dark blue with red stitch detailing, and a red lining. It also has a fantastic military-esque feel about it and fits like a glove (with the exception of the shorter sleeves which wearing long gloves fixes in an instant).

Funny story – our wee kitty Mocha has taken to sitting on David’s pillow in the morning (early in the morning, before David has to get up, which is early during the week) and cleaning his hair. She’s quite loud about it too and we are unsure as to why – is it because she knows David has to get up so is helping him by saving him some time in the morning and cleaning his hair herself? Is it because she now thinks of him as her little massive kitten David who needs taking care of? Is she doing it because she knows he has to get up and she wants him up earlier so she gets fed sooner?

No matter what the reason, it’s pretty darn cute, and one of these days I’ll get a photo!

XX
Jen

Ps) My comment replying may take a while because our internet is going at a snails pace and doesn’t tick over again until the 20th!!

Colour Me Happy...

A little bit of colour never did anyone wrong!

This bag is a recently acquired one and the brand is ‘Leslie of London’ – why don’t we have cool brand names like that and ‘So Obviously Rex’ anymore?

Last night was quite the night for me. I was driving in to town to pick up David and along the way everyone started to slow down, I had no idea why until I came upon a baby bird who had obviously been hit. It wasn’t a baby bird in the sense of ‘oh how cute, it’s the size of my hand’ no no, it was ‘Oh, it’s a baby bird the size of my cat, how cute’. It was walking in the middle of the road with its wing sticking out, and then it fell over.

Everyone else was just passing it, but I couldn’t, I would have felt so guilty. So I pulled over (with not really much room to pull over) put my indicator on, jumped out of the car, grabbed a blanket and picked the poor little guy up. He kept nipping at me which was probably a good sign that he wasn’t too badly hurt. I put him gently in the front seat and went to get David.

When I stopped, I went into an office to use their phone and call the conservation trust. I initially thought I had a baby Albatross (because they live out on the peninsula) but when I dropped him off at the Conservation person’s house, he told me it was a Shag.

So, I rescued a massive baby bird. Only problem was he had fleas, and lots of them on his head and when I picked him up, he shook his head and they all came flying at me. It was gross and I felt itchy the whole way home and once there immediately jumped into the shower.

There were a few jokes on the way home from David too. Ranging from – ‘Jen stopped the car for a Shag’ to ‘Jen had a Shag in the front seat and I had to sit in the back…’.

XX

Jen

JUMP!!

Up High...

I swear I'm wearing two shoes!!!

I think you’ll be seeing these jeans ALOT on this blog from now on. I wasn’t sure when I first put them on - I was worried about the crotchal area (and since I’ve now put that word in my blog, I’m probably sure to get a few more creeps!) but after swanning around in them for a bit I found they were really comfy and I didn’t have too much to worry about in that area.

I’ve also realised I hardly ever pose with extra things like bags, or the ‘outside’ version of my outfits with jackets etc. So, to make things more interesting I’m going to endeavour to remember to do this more often.

The bag is a lovely vintage one I got last year. The brand is ‘So Obviously Rex’ and I always get remarks on it, especially from older women/people that work in vintage stores asking me “Is that a Rex?” to which I reply “Why, yes it is”. One of my favourite ladies at work used to have one when she was younger and when I went to get my hair cut, the little old lady sitting next to me told me all about hers. Sadly, I’ve used it almost everyday since I got it and one of the handles is holding on by a single thread, which I really must get fixed.

Yesterday I decided to do a mission to all the different thrifty places I’d never visited before and I’m so glad I did. My favorite find of all was a pair of $6 soft vintage leather gloves that are beautiful and which I’ll show you soon. I also found some lovely cups with cherry blossoms on them for all of $2 and a heap of fabric. There was one particular shop I wanted to spend more time in, but the little old man was just closing up, so I’ll have to visit that one again soon.

I’ve been a naughty blogette and haven’t replied to comments in over three posts now!! Terrible…I promise to change my ways soon, I’ve been sewing all day today though and am planning on going back, so I hope to catch up tomorrow!

Xx
Jen

PS) In those comments I haven’t answered, I’ve had a few questions (which I’ve not answered, sorry!!) so this gave me the idea to do a questions and answers post. Is there something you are curious to know about me? Go on and ask! But please keep it clean and I’ll answer them in one long post later on. (This does sound like I’m a little stuck up and like I’m assuming you are even interested!! And I’m not, promise!!).

Grey...

Nothing special today. Yesterday I was sick and spent half the day in bed and the rest watching bad day time t.v (I secretly love Dr. Phil. But now that’s not a secret anymore…).

XX

Jen

June? Already?

Thanks so much for your kind birthday wishes everyone :) I can’t believe another year has passed and my little blog is officially one! It seems like such a long time ago, so much has changed and so many things have happened.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those that take the time to read my silly ramblings!! Seriously, you are all awesome and so I’m giving you all virtual hugs! I’ve met many a great person through my blog and have gained so much more out of it than I originally thought. Thank You!!

Also, happy birthday Queenie – We get the day off because of you!

XX
Jen

Ps) The lovely blouse is one I just received from Andrea!