Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Mad Hatters


Here's a snap of the OG zombie supermodels at the tea party after party. How cute are these headband top hats? I wish I could say it was a DIY project but actually our talented friend made them for us a few years ago. Sadly, I don't think she makes them anymore BUT here's a DIY tutorial for you in case you get inspired. Halloween is just around the corner!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Alice In Wonderland Tea Party

Dear Readers,

I know I have been away for a long time but I thought I'd pop back in to share with you this awesome surprise tea party my housemates and I put together for one of our other housemate's birthday. We recently moved to an awesome house with the front porch of my dreams. The birthday girl happens to love Alice In Wonderland and we thought what better way to celebrate her birthday then with a little themed tea party on our porch!? We managed to pull this off with only 1 week of prep time. I largely credit our combined good taste because we already owned some things that worker perfectly as decorations but we did get crafty and we did make that dreaded trip to the craft store. I say dreaded because it's so hard to control one's self in those type of places and it's easy to go overboard buying things but we managed to pick up some last minute, carefully selected materials and not spend too much money.


One of our best buys I think was the paper lanterns you see here. That Martha Stewart is a true genius and what I love about them is that they can be folded up, easily stored and used again! Don't they add the perfect touch of whimsy?


Another thing we got at the craft store was paper lace place mats. They were only a dollar and worked out nicely. The tablecloth turned out to be perfect and looked great with the pink lanterns. We already had the tablecloth but for those of you tablecloth-less readers who are trying to throw an Alice themed party like this I would recommend searching for one with a bold but simple pattern. Polka-dots, zig-zags or stripes are ideal because they are playful but won't overwhelm the other items on your table, like these gorgeous tea cups! We decided we wanted to find some vintage bone china tea cups for a mismatched table setting. The cups doubled as our present to the birthday girl and she was thrilled. I hunted Etsy for cups that were different from one another but alike enough to look good together. (When selecting the cups I tried to balance the busyness of the patterns, the color schemes and the shape of the cups.) I got my favorite cup (the green one above) from Etsy seller PutzASmileOnMyFace. We originally planned to design our own 'Eat Me' 'Drink Me' tags but because of the time crunch searched for something pre-fab. Luckily, I came across a wonderful template that uses the original illustrations from the book! Another cheap decorating device we used was playing cards. They looked great fanned out around the place mats and also taped to the back of our chairs. 


Our birthday girl happens to look a lot like Alice and we managed to find her old Alice Halloween costume, which we made her wear for the festivities! Another tip to keep things on the thrifty side, try borrowing things from friends. We borrowed a cute cake stand and Hookah! We happened to have a variety of tea pots and mismatched silverware already but those are things you could easily borrow instead of going out an buying them. 


We bought some colored card stock at the craft store and made some helpful arrows for a bit of nonsense. We also had fun with these extra tall, trick candles. You can't tell from the pictures but the temperature during this tea party was above 90F! You may have noticed the pop-top glass bottles on the table top. They were filled with ice tea! We had rose, raspberry and black. We tried to keep the cakes light and refreshing so we made a carrot, a lemon with black tea frosting and a poppy seed lemon.


After tea we planned to walk to the park (we are lucky enough to live 3 blocks from Balboa Park) and play some croquet but it was just too hot. We opted out and watched Alice In Wonderland under the coolness of our ceiling fans instead. These blow up flamingos were a great way to decorate the mallets because they were cheap and easy... plus they make the game a little more challenging just like in Wonderland. We blew them up and attached them with tape and wire. We had great fun putting together this party. If I had had more time I would have liked to have had a "red" carpet made from astroturf and it would have been great to play with size and have some things that were very large and some that were small. I hope this inspires and helps anyone else out there who's looking to set up an Alice themed party! 


Monday, April 16, 2012

MIA

Dear Readers,

You may have noticed I have been MIA lately. I'm sorry to drop off the face of the earth as it were but I have been so busy lately. I am working on my graphic design skills and also starting my own business. Please excuse me. I won't have much time to post  for awhile but you can still get your fix by following my on Pintrest!

XOXO,
Hilary

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Flapper Finds!

Good morn, Zomblets!

I have some more flapper finds for you today. This time I focus on some very glamorous items. Actually, they are kind of bride themed but you could totally integrate some of them into a non-bridal wardrobe. These are the kind of items I want to buy always even though I know I probably will only wear them when I am alone in my room but I do sometimes brave it and wear them out in public. Take a peek!

Beaded Headpiece 1920s Flapper Art Deco Cap 

How gorgeous is this headdress? WOW. I really want it but I'm pretty sure it won't fit my big head. It would be great of 20's inspired wedding, no? I of course, would just wear it to parties. 

SALE 1930s/1940s Silver Fox Fur Stole Shawl - EXCELLENT Condition - Super PLUSH/Fully Lined 

I know it's fur and that is sad but my rule is if it's vintage, it's OK. Plus, this is such a pretty stole! This piece = instant glamour!

 

I die. Look at this amazing art deco engagement ring!

seychelles 

Seychelles, you've done it again! I love this modern take on 1920's style shoes. Brides aside, you could totally wear these with an Easter dress. 



Monday, March 12, 2012

Affordable Wedding Wear!

I have an exciting post today! Have you heard that Ruche is doing a wedding collection? They are unveiling it March 19th (pun intended)! If you shop at Ruche already, you know they have really great prices on really cute stuff and from what I have heard it sounds like that will apply to their wedding collection as well. The Bridesmaid dresses are supposed to be under $100 and the wedding dresses are supposed to be under $500. Wowza. Anyway, get ready to drool.

ruche wedding dresses

ruche wedding shoes

ruche pink bridesmaids dress 

ruche wedding dresses

Hello, affordable alternative to BHLDN! You can see even more over at Green Wedding Shoes!


Friday, March 2, 2012

It's Friday, I'm In Love!


I have been a very naughty blogger lately! Sorry, Z-land, I was at D-land! Yes, I went to Disneyland for 24hrs of madness and magic! It was ver, ver fun! My dad's birthday is February 29th so we couldn't resist. It was great running into other leaplings while we were there and he got many 'happy birthdays' and confused looks from wearing his Birthday button which said, "I'm 13 today". We made it until 4AM and ended our night we a lovely train ride around the park. I had completely forgotten about the Dinosaur dioramas! They are amazing! Remember my Disney Hunks post? While I was there I started thinking about all the Disney villains and I was trying to decide my favorite. I think it might be Ursula. Anyhoo, happy Friday!


Monday, February 27, 2012

Oscars 2012 Best Dressed

Did you watch the Oscars? I saw bits. I'm glad the Artist won so many!

Jean Dujardin gives his new best friend a kiss

Jean Dujardin cracks me up. I was so surprised and glad when he won. 

Meryl Streep is triumphant

I also, thought Meryl Streep's speech was hilarious. She looks pretty good in gold. I wasn't too excited about anyone on the best dressed list but there were a few who caught my eye. Check out Kate Bosworth in this sheer number and Jessica Chastain totally pulled of Alexander McQueen.

Kate Bosworth
chastain


Monday, February 20, 2012

Chelsea Crew Shoes

A new brand of shoes has captured my heart. Ruche has been selling Chelsea Crew Shoes like nobodies business and I have been seeing them crop up in all sorts of places lately. Check them out, I love all of them!




The best part is how reasonably priced they are for the unique designs. I actually just received my first pair in the mail and they are just as pictured. I was worried the quality might be lacking because of the price but they seem really well made. The foot-bed has some padding, too! If you need to update your shoe wardrobe definitely look into this brand! Oh, and for those of you who are wondering... I am an 8.5 normally. I ordered a size 40 (or a 9 as marked on Ruche) and the fit is great. 


Friday, February 17, 2012

It's Friday I'm In Love!


I saw The Artist last night. I thought it was very charming. I love the lead actor and actress. It was interesting to see a (mostly) silent movie and I thought it was really well done and definitely worth seeing in the theater. Any plans for this weekend? If not maybe you should go to the pictures! Happy Friday, everyone. 


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Ultimate Babe: Joseph Gordon Levitt

I'm not one to get celebrity crushes but have such a crush on Joseph Gordon Levitt. It's not just that he's cute, funny, a good actor, or that he seems like a nice guy in real life. It's mostly that every time I hear/read an interview with him he is so articulate and intelligent and he seems to have an incredible amount of compassion. I heard an interview with him and Terry Gross the other day and he was talking about his website hitrecord.org. The website is all about letting go of your sense of ownership in the things that you create and opening up your creative process to collaboration from other artists. I think it's lovely. He seems like a such a smart, cute, positive and interesting person. <3!





It's funny, I didn't even know when his birthday was (cause I'm not creepy like that) but it turns out it is tomorrow. Happy Birthday Joseph Gordon Levitt! 


Monday, February 13, 2012

Matt Wisniewski


Hello Z-land. Let's start the week with some awesome photography, shall we? Check out these gorgeous photos by Matt Wisniewski. I especially love this first one. 



I have on an old camera that sometimes does double exposures and I love the surprise. I never thought about trying to refine them in this way though. So lovely. You can see more on his website linked above. 


Friday, February 10, 2012

It's Friday I'm in Love!



My week sucked but at least it's Friday and at least I am still in love. Anyone have any exciting plans this weekend? I'm going to take the advice of this graph:


I think I need to change something and I am pretty sure that something is my job. It's so hard to escape a toxic environment when you get paid to be there. Plus, everyone has this attitude like you better hang on to what you have because there are people without jobs out there! Well, I happened to catch an episode of Freakonomics  on NPR a little while ago that talked about the value of being a quitter. Super interesting stuff. It made me realize that the only thing I have ever quit in my life was Girl Scouts and various boyfriends but I was unhappy for way too long before I finally quit them. Plus, there are lots of other things in  my life that I hated but didn't quit. I left them eventually but I always had an excuse, I was moving, I was going back to school etc. I didn't outright quit. Looking back I wish I had quit and I really wish I had quit some other things sooner than I did. I'm thinking it's time I learn how to be a quitter! 


Thursday, February 9, 2012

Flapper Finds!

I'm back with more flapper finds! This round I'm going to show you some new items that will give you the modern flapper edge. Especially if you mix them with vintage flapper finds! Click here to see last week round of vintage finds.


First up, check out this awesome Art Deco cuff. It's like wearing the Chrysler Building on your arm. I definitely thinking about dropping some bucks on this. You can pick it up over at Need Supply


Here's a fun flapper dress from Anthropologie. It's got a great skirt and an awesome pattern only thing your waist will get lost in this loose fitting number so if you are someone who need a defined waist you might want to steer clear. This is one of those dresses I really want to look good in but I just can't because my bust is too big. It's an awesome flapper silhouette though. 


Here's an adorable pair of heels from Seychelles that definitely the spot in terms of flapper finds for me. The T-strap, the low heel, the cut-out deco details-- it's all there! The best part is these shoes are so comfy you could just dance the night away (as the name suggests). In my opinion, these aren't just a flapper find, they are a flapper must!


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Texts From Avonlea

While researching for my latest A of GG posts, I stumbled across this tumblr: Texts From Avonlea. It essentially juxtaposes modern day text messaging with characters from Anne of Green Gables. I think the author puts it best when she says, "The more of these I do, the more I realize that these characters could totally be transplanted to a modern college dorm setting and not really have to change all that much." Some of these really made me laugh:

The more of these I do, the more I realize that these characters could totally be transplanted to a modern college dorm setting and not really have to change all that much. <3

WHAT UP, WHITE SAAAAAAAAAAAANDS?

Ah, Drinky Diana—how I’ve missed you.

Best of all she accepts submissions! So of course then, I got inspired to do some of my own! Check them out. 



I just realized that I sort of misunderstood how this works. I didn't know the texts were from TextsFromLastNight! Silly me. I invented my own texts and put them to the photos... but to be fair these are totally texts I would send to my BFF and in fact I did send the Titanic one. Here's a couple I did correctly though- it's never to late. Ha!














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