Friday, June 17, 2011

Something New and Sparkly Part 1: Corsage Craze

Dress: Kohl's


Bag: Loop, Marshalls; Shoes: Chinese Laundry, Marshalls

Top: JCPenney; Skirt: SugarPop Clothing, Etsy


Bag: PINK, Victoria's Secret; Sandals: Boscov's




T
Take-out Corsage Necklace





To quote fellow blogger and jewelry artist Jewel Diva, I made "an absolute pile of jewelry" recently. Sometimes you just start creating, get in the zone, and don't want to stop (even to blog). So, I'm reporting about my pieces in two separate posts so as not to overwhelm.

I'm particularly excited about this new crop of corsages. You may notice that they're a good deal daintier than my usual go big or go home variety. Yet at the same time, they're more intricate. I had a ball playing with the veritable buffet of dollhouse miniatures I purchased from Consumer Crafts. Likewise, the beads and rose cabochons from Etsy's own PenGwynneBeads, were just the right accents for framing the corsages. Most of what you see here has been added to the fray of frivolous fancies in my Etsy shop. (That phrase brings to mind the old writer's tenet "murder your darlings." Meaning, of course, that writers need to be strong enough to delete seemingly inspired descriptions that they know, deep down, to be rubbish.) The two necklaces photographed with outfits are the ones I didn't list (i.e. and am keeping for myself). Speaking of which, the pink and green ensemble makes me want to go out and get a fabulously frilly sundae, whereas the cherry print dress seems made for dinner at a sidewalk cafe. That's what I love about clothes, their power to ignite the imagination. I think that's what makes catalogue shopping so appealing. You see a model wearing a great dress, posed on a sunny sidewalk, and you think, "I love that dress but I have no where to wear it" before quickly switching over to, "Wait, I can wear it on a vacation somewhere sunny or maybe even just to walk around the neighborhood. I mean, that's probably what she (the model) is doing, right?" This is all well and good until you buy the dress, realize you haven't planned a vacation, and slip it on to walk to the corner store only to see every other pedestrian wearing sweats. And looking at you a little oddly. Which sounds like a bit of a downer. But then you think about how your new dress is transforming an otherwise humdrum errand into something to ponder, into an adventure of sorts. And it makes you smile and remember why you love dresses in the first place.

2 comments:

Jewel Divas Style said...

ha ha ha I got quoted!

The Tote Trove said...

I wondered if you'd pick up on that :)