Silk

I find as I get older I can't handle synthetic fabrics anymore.  I don't like how they feel, how they don't breathe.... I love cotton mostly and rayon.  Lately I'm falling more and more in love with silk.  It's so light, delicate and lovely.  I like to mix textures and silk is my current favorite texture to throw in to the mix.   Kind of a high/low look with silk as a statement piece. Fancy silk pieces with a cotton tee for example. Or a denim jacket with a silk skirt.

 This look is hands down my favorite look from the latest runway pics on pinterest. This is by Altuzarra. I love the shiny silk silk with the dull henley looking tee. It's definitely inspiring my spring/summer wardrobe purchases.
                                           
                                                    


These pants look so comfy but they are also so chic. I love how she paired this with a simple white tee. On pinterest.

Here is a Ralph Lauren runway look. Boho silk. Pinterest

I love this simple silk tee dress down with leather sandals.  Styled to perfection. Pinterest 

I am also loving simple silk dresses like this one Rosie is wearing.

Here is one from J Crew Collection. I think it would be perfect for an island vacation, but I always think and island vacation would be perfect.

Another favorite for this spring is the shift dress.  This dress is silk and would be another perfect option.

Kind of like the shirt dress is the tunic dress.  The tunic dress (or caftan) looks better on me because of the lower neckline.  This caftan one is a satin silk/rayon blend from Thakoon. Perfect with some flat sandals for strolling around on the weekend. 

If the ones above aren't in your price range, try looking for some vintage ones. The floral button up one above is on etsy right now for $28! 

If you are looking for some thing more minimalistic here is one that is in my shop right now for $50. The silk is kind of matte and it's so lovely.  

Sweater Season!

Yay! It's finally cooled down enough in Southern California for me to be able to start thinking about sweaters again. I love sweaters. They're cozy and they can make great statement pieces.  I headed over to Anthropologie's website to see what they had. I'm going to be honest, I was a little un-inspired this time. There are seasons where I just drool over Anthropologie's sweaters and this season I was a little let down. There were a couple of cute ones, but hopefully next fall will be better. Fingers crossed.

Anyhow between looking at street style blogs, popular internet searches, and just plain ol' shopping I've noticed some sweater trends. Oversized is huge right now, pun intended. Fairisle is still going strong. Cable knit, especially big chunky cable knit is being worn by lots of fashionistas.  Anthropologie seems to be liking polka dots and dots in general. Dots are all over Pinterest too.

In my opinion though (and not because I have a vintage store on Etsy) I think this year that vintage is the way to go.  There are some really cool ones on Etsy, so make sure you see the photos at the bottom of this post. Don't miss the NKOTB one, amazing.

This one below from Anthropologie looks cozy and I love all the color. I've noticed "Spacedye" sweaters have been a popular search on Etsy  lately. This would be cute with high boots.

Pallava Cardigan Anthropologie 

Yes, this one is in my shop but it's awesome.  I love the bright color and those striped sleeves are awesome.

Spacedye Sweater Anthropolotique :-)

This is one of several polka dot sweaters that Anthropologie had on their website. Very versatile. If it was in my closet I'd wear it with a pencil skirt.

 

Tweed Dots Pullover - Anthropologie 

This one Etsy is polka dot AND Fair Isle. Too cute! I'm personally too busty for that high neckline. It's only $18, so if you want it you'd better move fast! 

Vintage Polka Dot Sweater ETSY

These throw on sweaters are great for Southern California where the temperature changes like crazy throughout the day. You always need a cardigan to throw on. The one below is probably my favorite on Anthropologie and I LOVe how they styled it. 

Argyle Intarsia Cardigan Anthropologie

This vintage one on Etsy is very cool. I love the toggles.

Vintage Nordic Fairisle Sweater ETSY

More Sweaters sweaters that I just love!!!!

Imagine this leopard cardigan with a pencil skirt, tights and boots. I LOVE it!

Vintage Slouchy Leopard - Etsy

This one is AMAZING! If I had an extra $98 right now it would be in my closet. So cool.

 

Vintage Horse Sweater Etsy

I love the cable knit on this one. Simple, versatile and cozy.

Vintage Cable Knit Long Cardigan Etsy

And to close out my tour of sweaters, this NKOTB one is too cool. Too cool for me, but some girl is going to rock it and I give her props.

NKOTB Sweater Etsy

What sweater trends are you into this year?

Cheap and Cute - 99 Cent Store Etsy Packaging

Things have been slow this week in terms of sales at Anthropolotique.... So what to do with my free time? Work on my shop. I used to sell on Ebay and a big difference between Etsy and Ebay is what customers expect in terms of packaging. On Ebay it doesn't matter so much, customers are just happy you are not a scam and that they got what they ordered.  Well Etsy customers  really like it if you make your stuff cute. And I agree, half the fun of buying something on Etsy is getting something in the mail that is wrapped cute.  I'm sometimes amazed at the packaging that arrives, the packaging looks like it cost more than the actual item I purchased!  It's hard to make money on Etsy and I'm surprised that sellers are able to afford such cute packaging...

Last night I had 2 whole hours to myself and created a mission for myself instead of staying home and watching trashy reality TV.  Mission:  find cute Etsy packaging for cheap. So I headed to my favorite cheap place... the 99 Cent store.

First I grabbed several rolls of this brown kraft paper. I like to recycle boxes for shipping and I use this to wrap the boxes.  Quite often the 99 Cent store is sold out so I stock up when I can.

I was actually looking for some cute string to wrap with but I felt inspired when I found the yarn. Everyone does string, yarn is different... I think.

My Treasures. A dictionary? Retro looking contact paper? Just wait and see.

 

My prototypes 

No I did not get that tag punch at the 99 cent store. But I did get it for super cheap at Joann's with a 50% off coupon. I use those tags for everything.

 

Prototype 1 - Kraft paper, white string and a tag punch from contact paper. I can also peel the back off and use the tag as a sticker.  I'm going to go back to the store and see if they have contact paper in a Christmas print. Wouldn't that look cute?

Prototype 2 - Kraft paper, yarn and tag punch from the DICTIONARY. I love this idea because it's also like a fortune cookie, what word will they get? One of the tags I did this way happened to be the word "encourage" and another was "transcend". 

Prototypes 3 and 4 for clothing. Clothing looks much neater wrapped in tissue vs. the kraft paper, so I think I'll stick with the tissue paper. Also that's a "Thank You" stamp that I bought at the $1 section at Target.

Stamp from 2impress 

I'm also thinking of purchasing the stamp above with "Anthropolotique" in the middle. 

Thoughts?

Me Versus "The Model" - Etsy Photos

When I first started my Etsy shop I KNEW what I wanted it to look like.  Eclectic Anthropologie like items, great prices and super cute pictures.  I had  the inventory so it was time to do the photos.  I put some makeup on, found a white wall and told my husband to snap away.... I was so excited to see the photos. Ahem... cute photos don't just happen. Trust me. It was dreadful.  I wish I had an example but they were quickly deleted.

It's one thing when someone tags an unflattering photo of you on Facebook from some random family gathering, but it's another thing entirely to edit photo after photo of yourself when you are actually TRYING to look cute.  Depressing. I actually started re-think my vow to never get botox.... Solution?  Crop my head off, and call it "artsy"

To be honest I did get better at modeling and my mother might actually say I looked nice (but you can't trust your mom). Regardless, it was time to find someone else to model.

One day I met my friend's daughters. Cute, model sizeAND one of them is an aspiring model but she's a bit young.  I don't want to sound predatorial but the wheels in my brain got turning.... "Would your daughter like to model for my Etsy store? Yeah, you don't know about my Etsy store because I'm too embarrassed to let my friends see my modeling attempts...."

Anyhow I now have a model. I actually enjoy editing photos. Instead of only having 1 useable photo out of 10 photos where my husband lovingly reminded me to "suck it in".  I now actually have the awesome "problem" of choosing which photos are best out of the 10 gorgeous ones. PLUS I don't have to bug my husband to photograph me and "my model" and I are having a blast!

Now to be quite fair the photos I posted of me are not the worst. Somehow all the bad ones have mysteriously disappeared and the "OK" ones all have the heads chopped off. 

Well here you go.... Me Vs. "The Model"

Meet Belle. She is just lovely inside and out.

 

Meet Me. Classic example of "cropping my head off". Looks artsy, right?

 Sheer Beaded Dress 

 When I posted this gorgeous photo of Belle my store got tons of hits and the sweater sold fast.

Not terrible... but when I posted this photo... well let's just say the jacket never sold:-) 

Belle from the back - Pink and White Lace Dress

Me from the back. Took a year to sell this jacket AND I had to mark it down to cost, but hey it sold.

Hello hottie. One of my best photos. They are few and far between, but sometimes the stars just align. I HAD to show the slit, good thing my legs are my best feature.

St. John Wrap Dress

I love when she looks back over her shoulder. Lovely.

90's Floral Jean Style Jacket

Well we can't all be models, but we can try! 

** This is NOT a shameless attempt to fish for compliments. I am very secure in myself, otherwise I'd never have written this post:-) Thanks Mom, I know you love me and think I'm beautiful.