My Christmas Present from Sophia :)

I am leaving Colorado in a few days to return home to NC and be back with my family. So my friend, Sophia, and I decided to give presents early :) I decided to get her a present from her favorite store, Charlotte Russe... and apparently so did she for mine... lol. Unfortunately I can only find the link for the necklace I got her: http://www.charlotterusse.com .

I had gotten her a pair of earrings too, but I can't find them :'(

And here is my present from her:

Isn't it lovely?!?!

 Here's a close-up :D

Have you gotten any special presents yet this year?? Do you think you will?? :) 

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

My New "Holiday" Hairstyle

LOVE!!

In Color

In Black & White

I think my hair looks like Kate Winslet's... but without her gorgeous color ;)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Thank you .. Graphics Fairy?!?!

LOL... but seriously... Thank you Karen!! :D I found this silhouette on your blog and saved, shrunk, and played with it via picnik. I had a lot of fun, even if I didn't do much to change it.

Union Station Rocks...

My friend saw the HUGE RED PUMP and decided it was the perfect pic for to email me.

Union Station

The lovely HUGE red pump

Would make a great slide for fashion loving girls...

From across the way...

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Quoth the Raven Nevermore....

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -

Only this, and nothing more.' "

~Edgar Allen Poe

A trip (onto the patio), Muggish Days, and Opa's Cast

We've been having rather muggish, cold, and windy days here in the Springs. On Saturday, a nice bright day at the start, we decided to go out for breakfast since my cousin Austin was in town.

(Austin)

Walking out the door my Opa fell on the front porch by tripping over the itsy-bitsy door mat. We didn't know his foot was broken and we went about our day until he couldn't stand the pain :( It was rather muggish again in the end... When we came out of the commissary Pikes Peak was clouded by rain.

(Arrow points to the rain & clouds near Pikes Peak) 

We took Opa to the ER and got the X-rays in the afternoon. EARLY this morning he had surgery, the result being a screw in his foot, stitches, and a cast. But, he was feeling much better when he got home!

(Opa's cast with ILY in English and German.. plus plenty of other silly things)

(Opa in his chair downstairs)

(Cast Art)

(It's close to Halloween & Thanksgiving so I was in an artsy pumpkin-y mood and he only had 2 Sharpie pens... 

in 2 colors... Orange and Purple)

(Purple Cats are so much better than Black Ones :P )

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Simple Organization for Packing for a Trip

I have been in Colorado for the last few weeks visiting my Oma and Opa. I started working on several blog posts before I left and they have been in limbo waiting for me to get time to finish them up. I don't have a lot of computer time for blogging but I do hope to get a few of them up eventually!

When we were small children my momma chose and packed everything for everyone in the family, except my father. As my brothers and I got older, she would give us a list of the types of clothes she wanted to pack that we would need for the trip but left the choosing up to us. She has only recently let everyone pack their own bag, but she still hands out a list of requirements. I guess she wants to make sure my brothers don't end up in church somewhere away from home in cargo shorts and a white undershirt! LOL.

I have sort of taken the list one step further when I pack my bags. Let me show you what I mean:

This was taken so I could have an idea of what the outfit & jewelry might look like.

Have to look good, right?!

The dresses all spread out on the couch. I only ended up bringing 1/2 of what was actually all over the couch.

Everything on the floor and ready to be packed,

BEFORE I had the genius idea to use space bags!!

Here two outfits are drawn on the same paper, one on each side. This happened because I didn't have as much space to pack with on one of my trips to see Justin. And since I didn't want to re-draw one of them, I just packed both outfits!

Something sweet for church, work, or out to dinner, etc. If I change the skirt to my beaded pencil and it's perfect for a night at the Kennedy Center in DC!!

This one is actually from my outfit/fashion journal. I liked it when I wore it, and wanted to make sure I didn't forget it. As you can see from reading the scribbles all over, I wore this one a "Skype date" with Justin. :) This is one of the more detailed sketches.

When each and every outfit has been drawn up, I sit down and go through them to narrow downsize my bag. In this case I think I nixed between 7 and 12 outfits from the list. Including two I took out of my bag at the airport to check my bag without the extra fees. Each outfit is then packed away. Generally for a short trip I have about 6-10 outfits.

When I pack my bag, I set the outfit drawings between each outfit as they go in. Here though I think I had over 20 0outfits, not including all of my dresses, for a 3 month trip to Colorado. I changed they way I packed for this trip by using space bags, and placing the outfit sketches in my purse. (New since I'm more than a little OCD about packing.)

Each sketch includes a description of the outfit and alternative ideas for key pieces (like the Kennedy Center sketch above), an idea of when/where I might wear it, any possible jewelry options and combinations, shoes, coats, sweaters, etc. just to be sure I have all bases covered. And then it's off to catch my flight, or stow it away in the car.

How do you pack for long trips?! Do have fun with it, are you SUPER organized like me, or do you just kinda toss it all in and hope your hotel has an iron when you get there?

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

There are prettier gardens at Tryon Palace...

but this one is my favorite!!!

--A Victorian Cowgirl ♥

A Vote for Kate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please stop by Kate's blog, see her stuff, fall in love, and vote here for her :D It's so worth the trip!! She will definitely appreciate the votes I'm sure....

(photo courtesy of Kate's blog)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Giveaway at my mom's blog :)

My momma is giving away an organization ebook over at her blog so I thought I would share with my friends over here. Hop on over and leave a comment at her post to enter to win :)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Hand Sewing & Weekend Plans

Folkwear Sewing Patterns, Edwardian Underthings

I have been wanting to practice my hand sewing for a while. I found this pattern in a box in my closet along with a huge stash of patterns that a friend from church had given me. I had completely forgotten that I had them :) I thought the Edwardian underthings pattern was the perfect thing to practice with because the fabric is lightweight and the stitching is delicate.

My first day of sewing did not go so well, even though I sewed for about 9 hours straight. I am OK at keeping my stitches small, but I have a problem with keeping them straight. And, to top it all off, I discovered at the end of the evening that I had actually sewed the lace insets into two right sides instead of a left and a right. I have to very carefully detach the lace from the second piece because I do not have enough of it to make two sets! 

I am spending the next few days with my mom at a démodé fashion weekend sponsored by one of our favorite local historic sites, Tryon Palace. The weekend will be full of 18th century fashion!! I met the young lady, Laura Poppe, who is the seamstress for the Palace, this past weekend at another event. She is very sweet and knowledgeable, plus I learned she is a fellow homeschool graduate! I can't wait to take part in all the activities this weekend and learn more! I hope to take lots of pictures to share with you next week.

J'espère que vous avez un bon week-end!

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Hats, Hats...

"If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat." ~ George Bernard Shaw


"We just know inside that we're queens. And these are the crowns we wear." ~ Felecia McMillan

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Hurricane Earl is Coming

The calm before the storm...

Noah and Jesse being their normal happily silly selves, and playing in the sand.

Jesse and the dolphin statue at the park.

Mom and Dad

Random beach-goers. Apparently it was a good day to go surfing :P

...making waves...

There weren't a ton of clouds in the sky, and the ones that were there were more whispy than cloud-like.

More of those crashing waves

Caleb looking out at the waves

Daddy

Just walking' along, and enjoying our time.

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Silly boy....

This... is Jesse. It looks like he was having fun over the July 4th holidays. Heck, We all were :D

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Oops! (Well, better late than never...)

I can't believe how much I forget :P Okay so, I meant to post these pictures the day after my pincurls post, and TOTALLY forgot... yipes!!

This is how it all turned out the next day :)

This is right outside my house. I am wearing a Vintage strapless dress w/ floral hem, and my favorite navy blue cardigan.

The sun was in my eyes & I just couldn't keep them open long enough. But, this turned out to be a cute pic :P

And, this one was taken inside our lovely home!

Do you find blogposts or tutorials that inspire you?? How'd they turn out??

Have a blessed week,

-- A Victorian Cowgirl

Sweet Little Dress Photo's

Here is the process of making my little dress. The lighting wasn't super fantastic because I took them in the morning, and it has been raining all week:

The pattern drawn out on the shirt. Now, I don't have a daughter to borrow a dress from for a pattern, but I do have dresses of mine that my momma saved.

So, I used one of my pink easter dresses.

Detached Pocket



Goodbye sleeve...



And, there went the other one.

Close-up of the back, right before I cut the neckline for the dress.

From this photo you can't really tell but, I cut the neckline directly under the two buttons shown in the photo before this.

Side seam sewing :)

Belt loops, which I made from bits of the sleeve.

Attaching the belt loops

As you can see, I kept the pocket. I had plans for it!! I took more fabric from one of the sleeves, folded it in 1/2 and gathered it up, then attached it in a sprial to the pocket.

Ta-da!! It's a flower :D

It's almost finished.

I re-attached the pocket to the front of the dress where I felt a little girl could easily use it for hiding all her dainty little things, like a flower for mommy, or a card for dad.

Then I hand-stiched a button from my sewing box to the center of the flower, making sure not to catch the dress. Turns out, the button I chose was a larger version of the buttons already attached to the shirt.

Close-up of the flower on the pocket.

C'est Fini!!

(This photo was taken by momma later in the evening, hence the color difference.)

-- A Victorian Cowgirl