Wow! You never thought this would be trendy, did you?
Right when we are waiting for warm temperatures, peeptoe shoes transform into booties! Why oh WHY?


I'm not a big peeptoe fan, but if I have to wear them, I rather have shoes than booties.
I made a small selection of what I could find in the net, because I could not find any in Etsy!

But, if you rather get some regular peeptoe shoes instead of booties, here is the handmade version, my Etsy picks:


(click ot view full size)

Sellers from top to bottom, left to right (link to the item): santokivintage, BulleMor, hippyofdoom, hippyofdoom, Nostalgia, bellemichou

Hope you like them! :)

What do you think of this trend? Will you evah wear something like this?

If this trend doesn't convince you, or want to try something different, I found in etsy a shop that sell handpainted shoes, and I just love them! Check them out: ndeurshoes


Read the full Fashiontribes article here.

Next spring trend: #8- High Waisted Trousers

This is all about skirts! Seems big designers decided to go back in time once more and show us that the new thing for this spring is an 'old' thing we all know: full skirts!


As the fashion tribe people say, the best you can do with a full skirt is wear a belt to minimize the waist. Also, print is fun, but black and navy skirts might be the best choice because you can combine them with anything =)

I think this trend I do really like! Full skirts have always been fun :)

About dressing with a full skirt. What else to add to the outfit? Well, the Fashion Tribe suggests this:

Now to the handmade version. What did I find in Etsy? Well, I was looking for full skirts (not the accessories, shoes or tops). And I was a little sad to find so few full skirts! Maybe I'm not too good searching but for sure I didn't have much luck with this style. Most skirts in Etsy are mini or pencil or regular skirts.
So yeah, it was hard to find these. Enjoy!


(click on the picture to view full size)
Sellers from top to bottom, left to right (link to the item): peoplescouture, twodustyboots, vintagestew, SkivvyLuLuVintage, zorya, fridaschoice

What do you think of this trend? Will you be wearing full skirts this spring? Or making some to sell in Etsy? (If so, let me know!)

Read the full Fashion Tribe article.

Next spring trend: Peeptoe booties!

I'm back with more trends! This time flowers are everywhere!!!
I'm the kind of girl that thought clothes with flowers were too girly for me. I was the kind of girl that thought flower accessories were 'kitsch'.
I was probably wrong. Or maybe not.
Or maybe I hate floral clothes because when I was a kid my mother would always make me wear clothes with flowers! I remember having a dress with green flowers, and saying all the time: "MOM! GREEN flowers don't exist!!!" I suppose I have a childhood trauma!


Looks pretty, right? This is a nice trend, but just not for me =) I'll stick to the bright colors and let other people wear this beautiful flowers. Let's be romantic this spring!

Big designers say flowers can be in any color, pattern, etc. Just look at the flowing look of those dresses, it really sends the romantic vibe.
Also, the FashionTribes article says: "To keep clear of grandma territory, an edgy shoe is mandatory .... look for crisp fabrics and more structured, figure-flattering silhouettes"
So there ya go ;)

However, what I am more used to find is the floral trend in pink colors:

So, once more, I tried my best to show you some of my favourite romantic floral Etsy picks. There are a lot of flower themed items in Etsy, however I was looking more for the 'romantic' look. This really made me embrace my floral side and stop hating flower clothes hehe: (click to see full size image)



Sellers, from top to bottom, right to left are (link to the item): owleyesvintage, EasterYu, nstylevintage, salvagelife, tulloolah, simonewalsh, sweetcharlotte, missbrache, BulleMor, MrsGibson, maybesomeday, mapetiteamy, fringe, artdi, JustVic, ndeurshoes, sweetcharlotte, tijusai, ladiesofleisure, ingermaaike

Hoping you have liked this trend review. Will you wear this spring some floral clothes? Will you be designing items with flowers? Let us know your opinions on this!! :)

And now, for a little promotion: I made a treasury in Etsy with some of the picks for the bright colors trend! See it here: Crayola Bright Colors at Etsy

Read the full FashionTribes article.

Stay tuned for spring trend #6: Full Skirts!

This one must be the most fun trend this spring!
So what is this about? Just find that HUGE piece of jewelry you bought years ago and start wearing it again. The bigger the better baby!


Of course, we need to be very careful with this trend. Too many of those and we will look like clowns!
There is only one rule: focus on one item. If you wear a huge necklace, please no earrings! Huge ring, no cuff. Huge earrings, no necklace. And so on.

It was a bit harder to find such huge jewelry in Etsy, but I tried my best. Here are my handmade picks for this trend. Enjoy! (click to view full size image)

Sellers from top to bottom, left to right (link to the item): topsyturvydesign, designsbyamber, stoopidgerl, rlee, lovinganvil, gingerlady, Madreterra, DesignedbyRJ, kankalinhats, melaniefavreau, thelovelyteaspoon, speechlessbubble

So, is this your trend? Do you love to wear something HUGE to grab people's attention?

Read the full fashiontribes article here

Stay tuned for next trend review - #5: Romantic Florals

This will lighten your spring for sure! After a dark fall, what we needed was some really bright colors in our wardrobe. So here they are! What do the designers say?:


This is a very fun trend! But what if this is too much color for us? What if we mix and match so many colors that it is definitely too much? What if we end up looking like a carrot from head to toe? Well, the tip is to wear one item (dress, top, skirt or trousers) in a fun bright color, and the rest of accessories (shoes, sandals, jewelry, bag) in brown colors (chocolate, cafe au lait, etc)

So, how to be colorful and still wear handmade? After searching through Etsy (this time it really took me a looong time, and most items are vintage!), this is what I found: (click on the image to see full size)

Back with more! Today I researched a bit about this tribal trend. This is what the big designers tell us to wear:


I have to say I like this trend better than the safari one. The prints are really nice! But since I can't afford any of these dresses, I'll tell you how to get more or less the tribal look:
First of all you need a nice dress / skirt with a bold & tribal print. This part has to rock, because it is the most important item in the look.
To complete, add some tribal accessories (or, as they say in Fashiontribes, earthy but eyecatching). They say perfect jewelry for the outfit is wooden jewelry. Then, for the finishing touch, a big leather bag, and leather sandals (it seems roman/gladiator sandals are the thing this season).

After looking for a while in Etsy, I found this awesome items that totally give the Tribal Beat.
I hope you like them! (click on the image to see it full size)



Combine some of this lovely items to achieve the tribal look :)

From top to bottom, left to right, the sellers are (with links to the item): nstylevintage, rubistarr, naturalezanica, valhallabrooklyn, jroadman, phunkyphamily, ArtHappens, ileana, kangas, jenkahn, shopgoodgrace, plumdust, seekseekseek, revivalhouse, iheartnorwegianwood, brass, naturalezanica, CMEdesign, raghouseinternational, VenniCaprice

The most difficult thing to find were the sandals! Couldn't find any roman/gladiator ones :(

Well, I hope you like this! Tell me what do you think about the picks, etc, I love to have feedback!

Stay tuned for Fashion trend #3: Crayola Bright Colors

Read the whole FashionTribes article here.

I am trying to get more into fashion these days. I have to say that for me it is hard to know what is "fashionable" each season, and in my case I see fashion being forced on me when I go buy normal clothes and all I find are really weird things. The same styles in all the shops. So then I think, well, maybe this is the trend for this season, right?

Maybe I need to change the way I see fashion. So from now on I will do a series on the Top 10 trends for this season, seeing what handmade items can be found in Etsy that relate to each trend. This way we will all be able to be fashionable and buy handmade! yay!

Searching in the web, found this awesome blog that explains all about the fashion trends, and what you can wear to follow each trend - FashionTribes

Also, if you need some cool looks, take a look at their FT Editor Picks. Some really nice things here, seriously!

Enough promoting already! (And they di dn't pay me for this haha) Just to let you know I'm taking he fashion ideas from that blog, and also some photos :) And giving full credit!

Today: Trend #1: Safari Warrior

This is not my favourite trend.... but I'm sure a lot of people like it.
Basically, it's about khaki and army green colors. Shirtdresses, dresses, and overall the safari look.





As promised, I searched Etsy for items that could help us obtain this look and still wear handmade. And here are my results:




Sellers, from left to right, top to bottom: chictree, chickything, enigmavintage, annedarlene, ladiesofleisure, shopgoodgrace, shopgoodgrace, themachinestops, hollystalder

This definetly helped me out learning a bit about fashion trends and taken them to reality. Did it help you too?

You can find the whole fashiontribe article here.

I just found a new cool way of fun promoting lol!
Who doesn't want to have her designs be in a magazine cover! :)

I can now announce that my tops are in my etsy shop! at last!!! :)
I listed the first one yesterday, here it is:


You can find it here: Racer Back Black Women Top size L - with silk accents
I have this kind of shirt in sizes M and L and in colors: blue/green, purple/pink, red/orange
I really hope people start wearing these! hehe

See what I found out in the etsy forums. How to make your own 30 sec video with music and your photos! It definetly is nice change for a more dynamic promotion.

Wow! So I finally finished the summer collection catalog! :)


It took me a looong time, but here it is at least!
http://www.gilbea.com/Files/GilBeaSummer2008.pdf


GilBea's summer collection for 2008:

• Silk skinny scarves
• Silk small bags
• Hobo bags with silk accents
• Tops with silk accents
• Silk Brooches and Necklaces

I hope you like it!!! :) Feedback is welcome!

I made the catalogue for my wholesale customers. Sadly I don't have that many. I would like my business to grow and start selling in other cities and countries, but so far it has been quite difficult.

Let's talk about painting!
I have been making silk paintings for a few years now, but I only sell them at exhibitions. For the last year I totally dropped that line of my work and focused on silk accessories. I plan now on painting again now that I finished the summer collection. For now, I listed yesterday in Etsy this beauty that I saved from last year's work:


Soon more to come!

Skinny silk scarves are part of my 2008 spring collection. I decided to add them because I love the look they give, so hip and modern =)
So I found out a couple articles about them and silk scarves in general that mark them as fashion trends for spring:
"Skinny belts and silk scarves are two must-have fashion accessories for spring and summer. No longer just wardrobe staples, these two are predicted to be massive in 2008."

And definetly there must be an uncountable number of ways to wear a skinny scarf!
I saw you some I use sometimes and others that found in an article:



1.- Around your neck 2.- Ponytail


3.- Headband 4.- Belt

5.- Around your wrist in a bracelet look (sorry, no pic for this one

I hope you enjoyed this ideas! But add yours too. How do you wear your scarves? Any new ways? I'm thinking on making a pdf or video on different ways to wear a scarf / skinny scarf. Share yours! =)

And if you would like to own a handpainted silk skinny scarf, look here!:
My etsy shop

More tips here: how to wear a long skinny scarf

You can find much more information about this trend here:
Scarves and belts for spring 2008
It's a Wrap: The Skinny Scarf Is Hot This

So I finnaly took photos of the finished tops. Take a look here and tell me what do you think, improvements that could be done, if you would ever wear something similar, etc
There are 3 types:

1. Short sleeves and not tight. White color. 2 silk tulips in the center
   
2. No sleeves, tight and black. 1 big silk flower in the center with 2 leaves.
   
3. X on the back (we call that swimmer back, but I don't know the appropiate name in english) and black. 3 big silk circles
   

Yesterday went to some shops in my town and they bought 12 of these!! I only have 30 (so 10 of each type). I'm afraid I will have to order more if I ever want to list them in etsy! =)

Which one you like better?