Christmas Slippers

Last year there was a chain-post going around on Facebook where people would write that the first 5 people to comment on the post would receive a creative gift from the poster. Needless to say, I reposted the chain message and got a response, but unlike other people, I intended to follow through. I wrote down the 5 names of the commenters and began to brainstorm what I would make.

One of the first commenters was the mom of my best friend that I've known since middle school. I used to spend a lot of time at my friend's house back-in-the-day so I had a pretty good idea on what her mom liked and disliked. When I saw that she had pinned a picture of some crocheted slippers on Pinterest I knew that I just had to make them.

link here

I ordered the exact pattern from TwoGirlsPatterns on Etsy and I was able to find the buttons and Bernats Super Saver yarn in Mulberry at my local craft store. I already had some brown yarn on hand from a previous project.

They arrived after the new year, but I think she likes them!

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The Wardrobe Architect

This month the folks at the sewing website, Coletterie, have started a series called The Wardrobe Architect  to help readers create a wardrobe that reflects their personal style through discussions, creative exercises and questionnaires. 

I often worry that my daily wardrobe does not reflect my personality, especially now that I'm working with small children and I tend to account for comfort and washablity over fashion and I feel like a lot of my closet barely gets used, so I'm open to this challenge.

The first worksheet in the series is available here and it focuses on how everyone is different and how that influences our style. The focus is on 7 categories: personal history, philosophy, culture, community, activities, location, and body. This categories that interested me the most were my personal history, location and body.

History- 

I grew up as the oldest of three children in the suburbs of Kansas. My mom was a power-suit wearing accountant in the 80s and 90s and my dad always wore a suit jacket, button down shirt and dress pants to work and jeans on casual Friday. I remember that my childhood interest in fashion came in spurts- sometimes I didn't care what I wore and would let my parents pick out my clothes for me, and other times I would get stuck dressing in one particular color (like all pink or black). When I was 6 or 7 years old, my favorite thing to wear was a short sleeved black button down dress with a knee length 3-tiered ruffle floral skirt.

My style really started to evolve in the 6th grade as I started to grow and swap out my collection of oversized Taz t-shirts with matching biker shorts and sweatpants to plaid baby-doll dresses and floral hats greatly inspired by the post-grunge era, My So Called Life, and Blossom. In the 7th and 8th grades I became influenced by teen fashion magazines like Seventeen and started wearing bell bottoms and anything with peace signs on them.

As I entered high school I liked to stay up on the latest trends, but continued to be heavily influenced by the skater/ grunge and goth scenes with oversized jeans and lots of black clothing. I pretty much kept this look up through art school in college adding some vintage 70s polyester shirts and dresses into the mix in college.

After finishing undergrad, I tossed out the baggy pants and concert tees and began adding more generic work attire/ classic pieces like twill pants and button up shirts and I injected color back into my clothes.

I still like to stay up with the latest trends to an extent as I read a lot of fashion blogs. I like to incorporate cute and quirky pieces into the mix to reflect my personality with some artistic flair, but I'm still trying to find the right combination to reflect my personality, and show some personal style without looking like I'm trying to hard.

Location- 

Last year I moved from Kansas to England, and I anticipated that it would be colder in England, but it seems that I brought a lot of the crazy weather with me...although it DOES get darker here earlier and it DOES rain a lot more.

Body- 

I am a pear-shape as my hips are the widest part of my body but my waist is small. I'm hesitant to buy pants online without trying them on first. I tend to shy away from clothes that reveal too much leg- I rarely wear shorts and have yet to find the perfect pair of skinny jeans that I can both a) pull on over my legs and hips and b) don't fall down from my waist. I feel self conscious in tight clothing so there are no body-con dresses in my closet and I don't like clothes that require too much laundry care.

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Are you following the Wardrobe Architect series? If so, I'd love to here from you. Let me know in the comments below.

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Vogue with Lena Dunham

Have you seen this super cute Vogue Original Short featuring Lena Dunham and Hamish Bowels? It's sure to get you over your hump day slump. 

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What's Making Me Laugh: Batman's Greatest Boner

My husband and I are huge comic book nerds (well, mostly my husband is) and this week we stumbled upon DIAL B for BLOG: The World's Greatest Comic Blogazine's post about the Batman comic #66 from August-September 1951 called "Batman's Greatest Boner!" I kid you not, that is actually the title of the comic!

You see, back in 1951 the comics referred to the Joker's pranks as "boners", but of course now we think of boners as something different, so as you read  the panels you'll channel your inner 12 year old and hilarity will ensue. Check out exhibit A) and B)

A) 

B)

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What I'm Listening To: Robbie Williams- Swings Both Ways

Lately the husband and I have been on a Robbie Williams kick ever since we saw him give a performance on the BBC. For those of you in The States, you might remember Robbie as one of the members of 90's British boy band, Take That, or you might remember his early 2000s hit, "Rock DJ". Well, Robbie's fame didn't really fade in Europe and his current album, Swings Both Ways,  has more of a swing, crooner sound but still contains his tounge-in-cheek humor with collaborations from Michael Buble, Rufus Wainwright, Lily Allen and Kelly Clarkson. Check out two songs from the album below.

"Dream a Little Dream"

"Go Gentle"

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Happy Belated Christmas to Me!

This Christmas as I was celebrating the holiday with just me and the husband I noticed that we both have acquired various ornaments: he has a set of re-purposed stuffed animals turned ornaments to represent members of his family; and I have acquired some kitschy ornaments that have been gifted to me, but we didn't have any ornaments that represented us together. I started looking on-line and found several picture frame ornaments and places that would print photographs on paper, plastic or metal ornaments, but I wanted something more custom and personalized and turned to Etsy where I found Bones' Baubles by KatiebonesX. Not only does Bones' Baubles sell hand painted ready-to-sell ornaments, but she offers custom painted portrait and landscape and pet portrait ornaments at a very reasonable price. I e-mailed a picture of my husband and I from our wedding and got a response within a few days. The portrait was completed in about 2 week and I couldn't be happier! Now my husband and I have our very own custom Christmas ornament that we'll treasure for years to come.

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Previously on Project Runway All Stars: Season 3, Episode 10

Aka. The Finale

Well if you ever wondered why the UN took so long in making global decisions, now you know. Previously on Project Runway All Stars the final 3 designers were given four days to create a six look collection that would determine who is the season winner of Project Runway All Stars season 3. The inspiration for their collections was to come from the designers countries of origin: Elena from the Ukraine, Seth Aaron from Spain, and Korto from Liberia. Each of the designers got to meet with UN members of their origin countries and sketch inside of the UN building. In addition, the designers were asked to create a seventh look made from scarves. The designers also got one day's worth of assistance from an eliminated cast member. Let's take a look at the collections.

Elena

Elena was the only finalist that did not get to present a final collection on her original season. All the more reason to cheer her on! Elena made her dream collection with lots of wool structured jackets and futuristic flair. Alyssa noted that Elena spent lots of time constructing the top halves of her outfits, but the bottoms seemed like afterthoughts. She also noted that Elena's collection stuck to one basic silhouette and didn't show the judges anything new. Elena came in third, but she was just happy to have presented.

scarf outfit

Korto

Korto's collection used lots of bright yellow prints inspired by Liberia. Her collection appeared more 'ready-to-wear' than the other designers and her pieces seemed the most versatile and could be worn by many different women. At first the judges didn't have many criticisms of the collection, but Georgina though the design and construction was "a bit of a mess" and the other's agreed that Korto needs to perfect her tailoring. Korto was the runner-up, again!

scarf outfit

Seth Aaron

Seth Aaron's collection seemed the most runway ready and was full of his high impact, modern, clean style. Everyone loved his red coat look and Seth Aaron was the only designer who chose to use his scarf on 2 outfits. Seth Aaron's collection was my favorite of the designers, and while I didn't cheer for him as much this season as in his past season, I was glad to see him declared the winner.

scarf outfit

scarf outfit

What did you think of this season of Project Runway All Stars? Did you like the new host, Alyssa Milano? Did you agree with the judges final decisions? What was your favorite look from the finale? Let me know in the comments below.

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SAG Awards 2014 Best and Worst Dressed

I feel like the overall key to a great gown at the SAG Awards was to "keep it simple, stupid!" Check out my picks for the best and worst dressed below to see my point.

Best

Jennifer Lawrence wore another great Dior gown, this time in a sparkle print.

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior

Lupita looked great in this tuquoise blue Gucci gown. Both Lupita and the gown really popped on the red carpet.

Lupita Nyong'o in Gucci

Anna Gunn wowed in a sparkley blue gown. And her custom Breaking Bad clutch made her outfit even better.

Anna Gunn in Monique Lhuillier

Elizabeth Moss looked radiant in red. I want her gown in my closet.

Elizabeth Moss in Michael Kors

Jennifer Garner's MAX MARA gown let Jennifer shine on the red carpet.

Jennifer Garner in MAX MARA

Worst

I'm sure it can be difficult to dress a baby bump for awards season. But, Kerry Washington had such a great look at the Golden Globes and this just wasn't great.

Kerry Washington in Prada

Sandra Bullock looked like she was going to a 1980's prom.

Sandra Bullock in Lanvin

There's too much going on in this look.

Rita Moreno

The print and cut of the gown weren't flattering.

Edie Falco

This gown looked like it belonged in a theater costume department rather than on the red carpet. Not good!

Mayim Bialik

Did you watch the SAG awards? Who did you think was the best/worst dressed? Let me know in the comments below.

Images borrowed from the Huffington Post

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Golden Globes 2014 Best and Worst Dressed

This is the first year that I wasn't able to watch the Golden Globes on TV because it's not available on-line, but that didn't stop me from checking out the fashions afterwards. Here are my picks for the best and worst from the Golden Globes red carpet 2014.

Best

I loved Emma Watson's tangerine dress with black skinny pants. I thought the combination was fun, fresh and totally original on the red carpet.

Emma Watson in Dior

Talk about drama! This caped dress was the stunner of the night.

 Lupita Nyong'o in Ralph Lauren

This is the dress I've been dreaming about since the Golden Globes. Not everyone could pull of this Dior dress, but Jennifer Lawrence sure did!

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior

I used to think that red-heads in red dresses were a fashion faux pas, but after seeing Amy Adams in this Valentino gown, I think it's safe to throw that idea out the window. Hubba hubba!

Amy Adams in Valentino

Worst

I was not a fan of the purple/pink color combination on Aubrey Plaza's dress. I thought it made her look like a child.

Aubrey Plaza in Oscar de la Renta

I like Berenice in red, but the ruffles were a bit much.

Berenice Bejo in Giambattista Valli

I like Zoe Saldana and Prabal Gurung (I even have a Prabal Gurung for target skirt in a similar black and floral print) but this dress just had too much going on.

Zoe Saldana in Prabal Gurung

What is up with those sleeves!?

Megan Mullally

Images borrowed from the Huffington Post.

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What's Making Me Laugh: 'GIRLS' parody with Cats

If you regularly follow my blog, you know that I'm a fan of HBO's show 'Girls' and parodies of the show (see Tina Fey's spoof here). So when I recently saw the latest 'Girls' parody with four six-week-old foster kittens, I knew I had to share it. I mean, what could be better than kitten's and 'Girls'!?

BTW, season 3 of Girls' is available in the States on HBO on Sundays and season 3 premiers in the UK next week. I've already watched episode 1 and I loved it- so far it's much better than the Debbie Downer of Season 2.

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What I'm Listening To: "Summertime Sadness"

I'm still stuck on listening to the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge 2013 album that's filled with cover songs- many of them better than the original. This week I've had the song, "Summertime Sadness", stuck in my head. Check out the original version by Lana Del Rey and the cover by the Rizzle Kicks below. Right now I prefer the one by the Rizzle Kicks. Which do you prefer?

Lana Del Rey "Summertime Sadness"

Rizzle Kicks "Sumertime Sadness"

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What I Got for Christmas 2013

Now that Christmas is over and the decorations have been put away, I thought I would show you some of the things I got for Christmas. If you want, you can compare this to my 2013 Christmas wish list.

What I Got For Christmas 2013 by chickface featuring flat shoes

Mossimo sweater, £13 / Opaque tight, £8.23 / I got tea kettle socks, but these are similar: HOT SOX crew socks, £1.82 / Flat shoes, £23 / TOMS black boots, £69 / Isotoner leather glove / Mossimo Supply Co. Junior's Legging - Assorted Colors, £7.31 / Mine came from the KC Plaza here. Similar: Box Of Chocolate Candles, £13 / Mine were home-made. Similar: Pretty Snowflake Cookies, £22

• Although the temperatures haven't been too low and the snow has yet to fall in England, my husband got me the Toms boots, the black tights, and the leather gloves so that I could be prepared.
• My mom sent me the fair isle sweater dress and grey leggings. I practically lived in this outfit for most of my Christmas Break.
• My Aunt and Uncle sent me a box of chocolates from Chip's Chocolate Factory on the Kansas City Plaza. They also sent me some home-made ginger snap cookies all the way from Kansas. They were still good.
• After Christmas I decided to take advantage of some of the post-Christmas sales. I bought myself the flat shoes from Modcloth to wear to work and I bought the Project Life starter kit to start documenting my life in England this year.

What did you get for Christmas?

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My Life on Instagram: Christmas Break

One of the perks of working at a school is that I get all of the holidays off, but even though I had 2 weeks off I opted to stay at home for the holidays. So this year was my first holiday with just me and the husband.

This year we counted down the days to Christmas with our very own Lego Star Wars advent calender.

Jango Fett

I attempted to make a mulled wine for Christmas, but it was a little too spicy for our tastes. Next year I'll stick to egg nog.

Christmas mulled wine FAIL

I did make a nice pumpkin bread for Christmas that was a success.

Pumpkin bread for the win!

My uncle and (nearly) aunt sent us some home-made ginger snap cookies for Christmas all the way from Kansas. They were still good!

Cookies from Kansas

How did you celebrate the holidays?

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