Last Day of French Club 2010-2011

Tomorrow is the last meeting of French club for this school year. I have greatly enjoyed the honor of being the president and only wish that we could have done more fun things! Tomorrow- for the last meeting- we are having a party! So, in honor of the French nature of our club, I decided that I should dress French-inspired tomorrow. I have a few french t-shirts that are really cute, but I feel like wearing something loose and flowy as I am going to my dad's house after and I don't want to walk to the river to forage while wearing a chic Parisienne getup. So, instead I am going to attempt to dress in a way inspired by french peasant girls. I don't know exactly how they differ from other peasant girls... but that's okay. It's the thought that counts!

This dress is Marc Jacobs and I love it quite a bit. I love the whole thing, actually! The hair isn't too weird (for a runway show), and I love the shoes and socks with the dress.

This dress is Free People and I, of course, love it as well!

My namesake- Belle- sitting among dandelions (just like me!) and wearing a cute blue peasant dress.

I kind of like how bored this peasant looks- very realistic!

This girl actually plays (or played, I'm not sure) a semi-crazed peasant in a Renaissance Faire.

I have some peasant blouses and peasant skirts and all that, I'm just not entirely sure how to make it seem French. Any suggestions?
Hope everyone had a top notch Memorial Day weekend! Thank you to everyone who has served, is serving, or has a loved one who has or is serving in the Armed forces or intelligence services of this fair country (and our allies!).
Love,
Belle
P.S.: My grandma dug out her old gunne and it fits perfectly! She refuses to give it to me until after she has washed and ironed it or I would just wear that tomorrow! When I get it from her, I'll put some pics of me wearing on this here blog!When I make a gunne I think I want it to look like this one (sold on Etsy) but with tank top straps instead of long sleeve and possibly just-under-the-knee length.

Long post script ended.

Springtime Creativity!

I have billions of ideas floating around in my head! The trouble is... actually acting on them. But there are some things that I'm already working on! Soon, I am going to make dandelion jelly (I have almost everything I need!) and in June I am making dandelion wine! I also have a recipe for stuffed grape leaves (click on picture for the recipe for this pic. It's not my recipe exactly but it looks good) that I'm going to make as soon as the grape leaves are all good and ready up on the hill. I have all of the things to make Hermione's beaded bag except the drawstring, so I'll make it once I find one.

If you've ever read my blog before, you know that I have an obsessive love for Gunne Sax dresses! This Summer, I'm going to make one (and my grandma is going to give me her old one!) for the first time! I've sewn a doll nightgown before (a gift for my younger cousin) but I've never sewn a full-size dress, so... wish me luck!
Love,
Belle

Lilacs, Flappers, and my Grandma's old Gunne Sax

Today was lovely... for the most part:) My mom and I went to the mall to try to find a swimsuit top with underwire (because I fall out of literally EVERYTHING else)... and failed miserably. Sad.
Thankfully, the day was uphill from there! Literally. Up. Hill. We drove up the hill to my grandparents' property and I stole a ton of lilacs from my uncle's abandoned home (my g-parents bought their property from their best friend [who we called our uncle], he passed away, and now his house is just sitting there because houses are not selling. It makes me very sad to see his beautiful garden fall apart). So, anyway, I gathered blooming lilacs and they are now gracing our house (sitting in a blender of water because we couldn't find a vase!) with their beauty.
On to Flappers... I was at Goodwill today and found a flapper dress for $6! When I was little I was obsessed with flapper dresses and was always trying to find one for a Halloween costume. Yay! Now I can be a flapper next Halloween! It's black and swingy.
While we were visiting my g-parents, I told my grandma (we call her Muncas) that I had been unsuccessfully looking for a Gunne Sax prairie dress ( that would actually fit me) and that I had decided to just make my own. I asked if she would help me with the sewing (she's a wonder with a needle and thread) and she told me that she actually had a pattern for a prairie dress... and she had a prairie dress that would fit me. I was like "I should have asked you sooner!" I have been searching for over a year, through thrift stores and on Etsy, for a dress that would fit me and I could afford! She even knows where in her storage building it is. I'm bloody excited!!! I'm so excited that I used a British slang term... that's how excited I am! Geez, I'm weird.
Tomorrow, Sadicus and I are going to bake disgusting cookies. At the high school, juniors are supposed to bake cookies for the seniors... and we're juniors... so we're going to make these nasty-ass barf cookies for the seniors, but we're going to make them look freaking delicious. I feel so insidious (thesaurus.com) for commiting this mischievous act.
Love,
Belle

Vintage Gunne Sax Prom Dress

I should be doing homework right now. I'm such a procrastinator!!! I have to do an entire assignment for Philosophy, another huge one for Anthropology, a paper for Speech, and extra credit paper for Anth, a speech for... well, Speech, two extra credit projects for US History... AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! College sucks when you have debilitating mood swings!!! But yesterday I found a gorgeous vintage gunne sax prom dress for $32.50. Way to go bright side! I found a picture of the same dress on Etsy since I have no one to take a picture of me in mine (*sniffle*). So, to clarify, the lady in the picture is not me. After I bought my dress from MY FAVORITE THINGS, I went to WIGGETTS and found the same one in a smaller size. My friend can wear it so we can be twinsies! This would be weird if we had dates, but since none of us do... all of us should match! We could all go in a big group of pretty pink lacy princesses! ANYWAY... That dress much improved my mood yesterday, and playing Ray LaMontagne on my acoustic guitar improved my mood today.
Love,

BelleThis is the first time I've ever been able to wear a dress without a bra! Usually it doesn't work with my... ummm... boobs. I gave up trying to come up with a creative way to say that. I have huge jugs. There you go. But I'm going to be a vision in this princess-y dress!!

Gallant and Jubilant Inspiration!

I know: adorable, right? I love her Nordic-prairie-orphan style... (all the pictures until the first etsy socks are straight from prettysmartgirlart.blogspot.com [the object of my current obsession and adoration])
The above outfit was inspired by a documentary on the Roma! You may have noticed it on my Roma (Gypsy) style post. I stuck it on that post.
This is gorgeous! The fabrics are so pretty.

Lots of fair isle here... and I am unbelievably obsessed with fair isle.


The socks in the above picture are available on etsy. Just click on the picture, it's linked to etsy.
Same deal with these socks. Etsy.
Once again, etsy socks.
Feather earrings from... you guessed it! Etsy!
i wonder where this scarf is from...
This is such a brilliant picture. I adore everything about it. Her hair color is so beautiful!
Etsy!!!!!!
No way! Etsy again!!!!
Make it stop!!!!!!! It's all from Etsy!!!!!!
Holy crap!! This one isn't from etsy!
Neither is this!
Not etsy... another go to site for me: delias. Sadly I just learned that this is no longer available for purchase. Which is depressing because I really wanted it.
These boots are awesome and they had better be on my feet by February 27th! (That's my birthday) They look vintage... but sadly they are not. Alas my huge feet will rarely ever fit in vintage shoes! this is a cause of much depression for me.

I discovered that the blog prettysmartgirlart.blogspot.com is the greatest thing since sliced bread and am now following it devoutly. The lovely lady who is the blog's author always wears frocks and wonderful boots and gunne sax dresses and I just adore her clothes! I find myself inspired (fashionably) by posts on other blogs often enough but never before have I been inspired by the author herself! But after looking over her old posts I felt incredibly inspired! I was already obsessing over gunne sax dresses before I read this blog, but after I checked out her beautiful outfit pictures I exclaimed: "Aaahhhh! That truly is quite cute." Actually no I didn't; I just searched Etsy and begged my mommy to dig out her old gunne sax dress for me to try on. But alas! Her dress is in storage! Curse you.... gods of... storage...? Sadly, I couldn't find anyone to curse for that. Anyway... So, strangely enough, I am going to write a blog post inspired by a blog post. Well, inspired by a fashion blogger...
Love,
Belle