A Northeast Ohio Visit

A little over a week ago, I visited NE OH with the intention of visiting my alma mater, Kent State, and attending one of my friend's birthday parties.  Long story short, the girl who I went there to visit ended up sick with the flu for the weekend, so I never made it to the party.  But I did get to visit my friend Stacey from Goodwill Huntingg!  We had a lot of fun reminiscing and sipping drinks  at a cute local bar.

When I visited her, I brought her a necklace I made for her, which is today's post.  I didn't want to post it before I gave it to her, because I wanted it to be a surprise!  I used as inspiration all the tassel and equestrian jewelry that is so hot right now, along with gold toned metal, which is also a big trend.  The necklace was actually created from vintage necklaces my aunt recently gave me (I can't wait to use more of them in my jewelry!)  I added beads to the tassel to give it a more unique feel, rather than just make another plain tassel.  I love the way it turned out!  So simple, yet detailed at the same time, easy to throw on with a tee and jeans, as well as with something dressier!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! :)

Lovin' the Leopard

I created this top from a dress that was thrifted, just like one of my favorite bloggers, Marisa  The original dress was a sleeveless leopard print sheath dress from Goodwill.  I kind of liked the original dress, but it was too big on me, and the front neckline had this wierd keyhole closure with a button....

 

So I made the neckline into a V-neck by tucking in the 'keyhole' pieces, and i shortened the dress into a top.  I also took it in a few inches on the sides to make it fit more snugly.  With the scraps from the shortened dress I created a double layer ruffle!  I am very proud of the ruffle because it definitely was a challenge to make!  After making the ruffle I struggled with where to put it on the top, I changed my mind a hundred times.  I had it diagonally across the top, straight up and down, around the bottom, and around the neckline.  I finally ended up placing it on the top....I cut my head out of the pics b/c my hair was atrocious! lol I did not want anyone seeing what it looked like.  but the top is cute!

This top was inspired by all these pretty leopard looks from Spring 2011


Francesco Scognamiglio      Givenchy            Bluemarine


Leopard and other animal prints are going to continue as a major trend into spring 2011, so this look could carry on through fall and winter and into next spring.

The wait is over!

For my newest post that is!  Lol.  I have been very bad about updating my blog lately, and I appologize!  I made a new necklace to post a week ago, but my life has been consumed with planning the menu and decor for my dinner party that will take place in a week!  Especially since I will be in NE Ohio this weekend, I spent a lot of time last weekend and this past week getting things made & ready.  I had a hard time with it, as most people who know me realize I am the "more the merrier" type....If I could invite 50 people to this party I would.  But the reality is I live in a tiny house, with a tiny table, and a relatively moderate sized kitchen.  So I had to do some chopping on the guest list, and I still feel bad about it.  I am inviting 12 people, but if I had my way my guest list would be at least double that!  There were so many people that we just could not invite, for lack of space.  :( It has been eating me up ever since.  We still need to procure more chairs....I have been stressed and anxious about mentioning the party on any social network, afraid people who were not invited would see it and become offended, but the fact is I can't please everyone, and sooner or later the news would surface anyway, so I am over it.  I am excited for the party and to see people!  And definitely excited for the food that I am going to both prepare, and eat!  And I will for sure be blogging my table, because I have the centerpieces and everything planned and it is going to be amazing!

Any way, enough about that.  Here is the necklace!  I was asked to create a very sparkly/shiny necklace, so here is what I came up with.  I was inspired by the colldddd temperatures we were having last Friday, and icy images they invoke, I even saw snow!  And of course, this week has been unbelieveably warm, near mid 70s, so it is completely opposite of the weather right now, but I know the cold weather will return.  Enjoy! :)

Think Pink

This necklace is one of my all time favorites, it is just simple pink glass beads spaced on a simple silver metal chain.  It pretty much goes with anything, from jeans and a T-shirt all the way up to a suit!  I have gotten a lot of wear out of this necklace, and I even wore it to the interview for the job I have now!  Is it safe to say I got the job because my necklace was well 'suited' to my attire? We will never know, but I would like to think so!  Haha.  The necklace was initially inspired by the Talbots Spring Catalog this year, and I got asked many times while wearing it at work if it in fact was the necklace out of the catalog!!  Hope you are having a good week! 

Chandelier Inspired

This necklace is one of my most recent creations.  I wanted to incorporate a lot of the beads that I purchased at the Gem Street Bead Show earlier this year.  All of the beads I bought there were so shiny and beautiful!  I guess blue is the color of the week, because this necklace is blue, too, just like Monday's post.  I was inspired by the chandelier earring look, and wanted the necklace to be glamorous with just the right amount of sparkle!  Enjoy!

It's Up To YOU!!!

It's definitely time for me to change around the old blogger design/layout that I've got going on right now.  I have had this same layout for a couple months, and I have never really loved it.  Today, I discovered Picasa, the best free photo editing software I have ever used!  It is free through google, and is extremely user friendly.  Picasa is just a quick, simple editor and collage creater, not much more than that, but it is great if you just want to change contrast on a photo quickly or something.  I wish I could download Picasa on my Mac!  (It's windows based).

Anyway, while messing around with Picasa, I created two potential sets of Headers/Small Ads for my blog, and I love them both so much, I can't decide which one I want to use!  This is where you come in!  I would like YOU to vote for which theme I end up using on my blog right now!  I love the way they both turned out so much, there is no way I could ever decide!

You can view the themes on the Frugalicious Style Facebook Fan Page!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Frugalicious-Style/151203388244246

While visiting the FB page, don't forget to Like Frugalicious Style if you haven't already!

To vote, leave a comment here or on the facebook page in the forum!!!  :) 

THANK YOU so much for your input! :)

Monday Blues

Well, it's that time again, when the weekend ends and the work week is about to begin.  I am definitely not feeling my best right now, and I am hoping that this is just short term and will be gone by morning, otherwise it will be even harder for me to get out of bed and go to work than usual!  But, I really wanted to post an update on here, since it has been awhile since I have taken the time to update!  I am not proud of that fact,  but hey, it happens.  :)

So anyway, tonight's post is a necklace based on the equestrian-related trends seen circulating the streets for Fall 2010.  Tassels are a huge part of the equestrian look, and this necklace takes the traditional tassel, and updates it for a more modern feel with blue crystallized beads.  The necklace would look great with a pair of skinny jeans, boots and a long tunic top for a casual night out.  And the necklace brings back memories, since I bought the main blue bead that I used in it at the Gem Street Bead Show back in the spring with my friends. 

Purple & Smokey "Quartz"

I wear this necklace all the time.  I made it during a time period when I was desperately in love with this smokey quartz necklace at Talbots.  Of course, that necklace cost around $60, and I did  not want to spend the money on it, so, I ventured out to the craft store nearest me to see what kind of beads I could find to make my own.  I ended up finding the smokey quartz color that I wanted, but of course, to make it cheaper, my beads are glass, not actual quartz.  And this necklace is extra special to me, because the purple iridescent beads that I used on the necklace alongside the smokey beads were beads that I purchased from an artist's studio show with my dad years ago when I was still in HS. 

Pink Floral Bib Necklace

Jewelry.com  says that, for Spring 2011, colors are inspired by exotic destinations, and as for their prediction for color.....Is pink the new black?  

When creating this necklace, I was inspired by bib necklaces that are seen everywhere in stores these days, but I wanted to incorporate a lot of ribbon flowers to make the necklace feel very fresh and feminine.  The extremely sad thing about this necklace is that it took me over 2 weeks to complete!  I started it, and it was such a pain to make I could never bring myself to work on it for more than like 20 minutes at a time, and I am so glad that it is finally done!  Although it did not quite turn out like I originally pictured it in my head, I still really like it!  The pink ribbons I used were sort of see through, and after the first few flowers were attached I kind of regretted using black felt for the background.  But that just meant i had to make more flowers to cover it up...Which is also the main reason that this necklace became a pain in the butt!  But I'm proud of myself for sticking it out and finishing it. haha.  Hope you enjoy!  

PS:  DONT FORGET to like Frugalicious Style on Facebook! :)

Long Pendant Necklace

We have been having a few days of summery weather lately, unseasonal, but it's not like I am complaining!  Haha.  I actually enjoy it...it takes me back to warm, summery memories.  So tonight I want to show you a pendant necklace I created in summer 2009.  I was working at Talbots back then, and our clothing shipment at the time was all blue and vacation-y, so I really wanted a necklace to wear to compliment those pieces.  I created this pendant, one of my all-time faves, out of a vintage bracelet and beachy necklace.  I ended up loving the pendant, and wear it all the time in the warmer months, and I get many compliments on it when I wear it too, which makes me love it even more!  It was so simple and easy to make, and the best part is, it was very inexpensive, as the vintage shell jewelry I used to create from it was free!!  :)  I hope you enjoy!

Talbots Inspiration....

After an amazing weekend visiting all my friends for Kent's Homecoming, it's time to gear up to go to work on yet another Monday...As usual, the weekend has gone by too soon, again.  But, getting to see all my friends was very inspiring!  I can't wait to create a new necklace this week from all the inspiration I gained!  Until then, I wanted to share yet another necklace I made earlier this year, that I still love, and often wear.  This necklace was inspired by another Talbots piece, one that I craved very badly while I worked at Talbots last February.  However, the original cost near $90!  So I crafted my own version.  I don't have a picture of the original necklace, but take my word for it that it looks the exact same as the one that I made! :)

New Necklace for the Weekend!

I made this necklace awhile ago, but I love it!  It really brings to mind all the Bohemian, Native American influence in fashion right now, but with a modern interpretation.  I wanted it to feel like "fringe" but made out of beads! I was inspired by necklaces like this:

 

and this:

But I wanted mine to have more bright colors!  So, I used green, turquiose, blue and purple beads in mine....what do you think? :)

Flowery Dress

I spent my rainy Saturday at home, waiting for my friends to arrive in the evening for dinner and creating a dress, once again inspired by Goodwill Huntingg and New Dress A Day.  This dress was originally a dress I bought for around $2 or $3 at Goodwill.  I thought it looked old fashioned, but fell in love with the big flowers, and knew it had some potential.  

the dress before i changed it, minus the view of the mock neck (my boyfriend can't take pics)

I ended up turning the back into the front, because I liked the placement of the flowers better, and I thought the dress could benefit more from a V-neck than a mock turtle neck.  

the top half of the dress (blurry, like I said my bf is no photographer lol)

I obviously removed the shoulder pads as well!!  I then shortened the length of the dress, since before it was kind of an awkward length....not quite long enough to be a maxi but not short enough to be knee length.  I shortened the dress to my knee, and cut a strip of the scrap fabric from the bottom to create a sash that I could cinch in my waist with!  I love the result!  I wore it with herringbone-textured black tights and gray short flat booties to a brunch on Sunday with Drew's family.  It was definitely a hit, and a great conversation piece!  I hope you enjoy it! :)  Have a great rest of the week!

The dress, and Zoe is in the background :)

Juicy Inspiration

Today's necklace was created with a Juicy Couture necklace in mind, that I had seen on Saks' website.  Although I did not make an exact copy necklace this time I wanted the necklace I created to have the fun and playful feel that all Juicy accessories have.  I loved how the necklace used different sized chains in different metals.....And of course, had very girly charms!  Here is the original:

adddd here is my version:

Wow, time flies!

I can't believe it has been a week since I last updated!  I never meant for it to be that long between posts! I can make all kinds of excuses, like my new work out routine, work, etc, but they don't really matter because I guess I could have made time if I had wanted to...so anyway, for pretty much the same lame excuse reasons I have not really had time or energy to make many necklaces this past week, so tonight's post actually relates to clothing instead.  

I am completely obsesseddddd (even though that doesn't really describe how I feel) with www.newdressaday.com and http://www.goodwillhuntingg.com/ ..... I have been reading these blogs for months.  I love how Marisa turns thrifted muumuus into amazing dresses with a few changed seams and hems, and how Stacey buys something at a thrift store that I would automatically ignore and styles it up into something that I would die to own!  In homage to these awesome blogs, I want to share a blouse that I made with inspiration from these thrifty ladies!  

On a trip to Goodwill over a month or so ago I purchased an old, 80's looking pirate shirt, that was 2 sizes to big for me at the time.  But, following in the footsteps of Marisa and Stacey I knew that I could make it look amazing with a few easy changes.  So I took it home, took off the sleeves, and took in the sides to make it fit more snugly.  Then I took the original "wrist ruffle" off and reattached it, (and re-ruffled it) on the arm hole to create a cap sleeve.  The blouse turned out so cute, I actually wore it to my recent interview with a high waisted black skirt and one of the necklaces I designed from an earlier post shown here I think it was definitely a hit!  Good night!