Cherpumple: The "Monster" Pie-Cake

Have you seen this yet? I found it over on the Craft blog and it is blowing my mind. I sort of want to make it but I am a little scared of it!

I want this dress

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My plaid dress by rubymarilyn featuring Oliver Peoples sunglasses

I found this plaid dress online and it was on sale! Then I saw that they no longer had it in my size. Boo. I wonder how hard it would be to make. I love the pockets on the sides. Dresses with pockets= epic win.

Bookshelf Love

I am in love with bookshelves.

I may have mentioned that I am moving back home. Lame? Yes. Cheaper? Hells yes. Though this is not a perfect situation I am determined to make the best of it, including building a wall of shelves in my room. How hard is this? Apparently it is very hard for me to do. I already have one long 'built in' bookshelf that I am planning on continuing down the entire wall but it is such an odd length. 10' + 3 and 3/4". Lamesauce. If I buy 10' boards it will be short and look weird but if I go for the 'correct' length then I will be spending more monies and I will be creating a lot of waste by cutting off the bits I don't need. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it goes. Until then I looked to flickr for some inspiration.

New Obsession: Polyvore

Not really sure why I have never gone to this site before. I have heard about it a 1000 times but I finally started poking around there! Holy time-suck Batman! I am in love. I apologize in advance if I never post anything but polyvore sets again.
Traveling by Train by rubymarilyn featuring Steve Madden shoes

NW3 by Hobbs Cross Over Stripe Silk Dress, Multi, 8
139 GBP - johnlewis.com
More NW3 by Hobbs dresses »

Steve Madden Women's Darrina Platform Pump
$99 - endless.com
More Steve Madden pumps »

Large Leather Suitcase
220 GBP - mysugarland.co.uk
More luggage »

Christian Louboutin Mini Loubi satin clutch
$725 - net-a-porter.com
More Christian Louboutin clutches »

Two row cameo locket necklace
12 GBP - dorothyperkins.com
More Dorothy Perkins necklaces »

CARVEN VINTAGE 12 BROWN PLASTIC -
110 GBP - farfetch.com
More sunglasses »

Urban Decay Cosmetics - Stardust Eyeshadow
$20 - urbandecay.com

Sephora.com :: CHANEL
sephora.com

Rockabilly Hootenanny

Reckless Ones

My local Eagles club hosted a night of Rockabilly music to raise money for cancer. I was SO PUMPED for this event. It was going to be the highlight of...well my week at least! I was so excited I even made a dress for the occasion (but ended up wearing a simple black dress I already owned. Long story).

Anyways most of the bands were from the Twin Cities with Slim Jim and the Phantom Trio being the main attraction.

Slim Jim and the Phantom Trio

I was really looking forward to seeing the Dave Wolfe Trio but we missed them- apparently they went on earlier than expected because they had to be somewhere else that night as well. I had never heard them play before but when I was 14 I met Dave Wolfe when I went to my first 'real' concert with my dad. It was the 'Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas concert'. My dad apparently knew a bunch of the rockabilly guys from the cities and before the concert they were hanging out in the lobby chatting. These guys were so cool looking. This was my first encounter with this subculture- the slicked back hair, the leather jackets, and the tattoos! I was hooked. When I heard his group was playing at the 'hootenanny' I felt like things were coming full circle. Oh well- next time.

Reckless Ones

The other groups were really great. The Violent Shifters were more psychobilly than rockabilly. Then Reckless Ones were pretty cool- people were swing dancing to them the entire set. They are supposed to be headed back our way in October and I think I will try to go! We had to leave a bit early and thus missed the end of the night but we had a friend who decided to get really super drunk and thus we had to get her home before she embarrassed herself. (I am all for having a good time but be smart! Be safe!)


Here is a sweet video of Reckless Ones 'Dead and Gone'

Retro Sewing: The Dress

This is the pattern I started with. I have been sort of dreaming of a wrap dress like this for awhile now. I wanted to do the contrast style (like the black and white one on pattern). I was looking for a cool print or a bright color for the inside and then black for the outside. It needed to look awesome because I was planning on wearing it to the Rockabilly Hootenanny in just a few days.

This is how it turned out:

I wouldn't call it perfect (Project Runway material I am not...yet...) but i was still pleased with the overall look of it. I made it out of a lightweight cotton because it has been sooooo hot here recently.

This inside fabric is this badass red with blackbirds. Far away it looks like a pretty delicate pattern, up close it looks like Edgar Allen Poe tried his had at fabric design! I think it gave it just enough of a pretty goth edge to work for me.

Sadly I wimped out when it came to the day of the concert for wearing it. I will probably break it out soon though. Also now that I see where I had some evenness issues I will probably make more. I want to find a sweet Halloween print for the inside to wear as my hostess dress for my party this year. A really kitschy red and green dress would be sweet for Christmas as well. Oh the possibilities!!

What do we think? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Etsy Update

Couple new pieces for the shop today. Slowly working on some new designs that I want to add to the shop.

'Noir' is a super long layered black necklace. I wanted to make some really big statement necklaces and although these have a lot of look to them the are not heavy or overly fussy.

'Sandstorm' is long and layered and is less dramatic than the all black of 'Noir'.

Both can be found over at the shop!

Retro Sewing.

I have a penchant for retro things. I have sort of always had it but I am finally embracing it full on and letting it become more and more of who I am on an everyday basis. I grew up watching black and white films, I love all things to do with the '50s, I have a slightly odd obsession with vintage pin-ups and I am now moving towards a more retro inspired wardrobe.

To get my retro fix I like browsing the Rockabilly flickr group and contemplating how I can make my hair do that. For help with that I have Lauren Rennell's fabulous book "Vintage Hairstyling". If you are going for the retro look at all you NEED this book! I also read her great blog. I lust after outfits here and here. I have recently started hanging out online at Sew Retro which inspired me to head to the thrift store to get some old sewing patterns.

From a vintage slip pattern to tennis shorts to an 'cowboy' shirt I got quite the variety! And hopefully I will be sharing projects that coincide soon.

I also got this little gem:

How could I not? I was OBSESSED with catwoman as a child. I even had a catwoman themed birthday party. It was sweet.

But then I had a moment of weakness and I headed to the fabric store next to the thrift store and I bought two 'new' retro patterns!

One is a wrap dress and the other is a '40s style robe. Super excited to make both of these. I am hoping to make the wrap dress this week because I have a Rockabilly Hootenanny to attend this weekend!!!