This week it was super hard to choose, and since I haven't done this series in a while, decided to pick a few items that could work well together. I know some of the artists featured here have already been on this section, but I couldn't help it! They just make fantastic and out of the ordinary items =)

This week: Elastic Harness by iheartnorwegianwood


This thing couldn't be more fashionable!!! Seriously, it is what you need to make your outfit cool for an indie party. Out of the ordinary and fantastic! Will this become the new version of vests?

Why not combine this extenders with a great and super original skirt also by iheartnorwegianwood? And add a puffy nylon bag by alamodestuff (I love this bag!!). And for cold days, a pair wrist warmers by kraplap.

A Note about the last giveaway: Pink Quartz earrings by Obtp
Terri from Obtp is offering a 20% discount on their favourite item to everybody who participates (you still have until tonight to enter the giveaway) on it. So, if you like her jewelry, and entered the giveaway, don't hesitate! Buy a piece of her unique jewelry!! (a 20% discount!! YAY!). Just contact her on her shop before purchasing so she can apply the discount to your favourite piece.

First of all, Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays)!!!

And after weeks of working on this project, my gift for you guys this Christmas Eve is a new online fashion magazine! All focused in handmade / vintage / indie clothes, designers, etc. You will find info about new trends, designers, looks, and many more handmade related articles.
Hope you like it, it took me forever to finish lol =)

And the new magazine is: VivaLaModa
www.vivalamoda.co.cc

Click on the link to read it full size. here you have a small preview of all the goodies you will see in it!

Get your own - Open publication

I would love to read your feedback on it and what you would like to see in the next issue!

And, for those who want last minute gifts, I want to remind you of the gift guide we did about gift certificates. Buy one today and it will be emailed to you, you can print it tonight, place it under the tree and your friend will love you forever ;)

Hope you get a lot of great gifts tonight (or tomorrow) and that you have a lot of fun with your family! =)

Yesterday I hosted at the Etsy chats a fashion chat were we had quite a lot of fun! I showed some of my favourites in bags, clothes, accessories and jewelry.

So today I bring you a selection of my fav clothes, which I think would be great Christmas gifts for the women in your life, or your yourself! =)
There is a little of everything: dresses, shirts, coats, jackets, vest. The only things I didn't add is trousers and skirts. Mainly because I never buy a pair of jeans without trying them first, and I'm not a skirts girl :D LOL

Sellers, left to right, top to bottom: Ureshii, LittleHouses, sarahseven, katsai, yellowcake, missbrache, heirloom08, kaoriyatsumoto, kimenna, seedclothing, idea2lifestyle, joodito, lizarietz, hopee, replicca, isadoraclothing

Now if only I had a fancy party to go to so I could buy one of those dresses... ahh!

Hope you liked the selection!

Yup! I finally joined the gym next door and hopefully will be going every week morning (ehem)

So... just looked in my closet and I don't have any cool (or at all) sport clothes. See what I found in Etsy.

Sellers, left to right, top to bottom: phippsart, designsbyamber, InspiredByMe, gaiaconceptions, Ahpeele, HerbanDevi

Apart from that, I have been all week (and many more weeks) working on a web application to customize items (hey, I'm a bored Computer Science kid). What does this mean? Well, I created a sample page where customers can customze the colors of my silk earrings. For now this is all up for testing, and as soon as I finish the main page and shop pages, I will ask around to see if any other seller would like to have their items here to make their customers life easier =)


Please take a look at it here: http://customizer.zendfree.com

Play with it all you want, it is only a test page. What do you think? As a buyer: would you like to use it? As a seller: would it be useful for your business?
Thanks a lot! I need input/feedback on this tool to see if it has any future, if sellers are willing to use it, before I start building the administration part. (The graphic part still needs some improvement but I'm on it lol)

Oh, and also need a NAME for it! So far I named it customizer, but it doesn't sound cool enough :P - Help me!

And finally, one more thing. I love to design catalogs, covers, etc, so I thought I could transform the monthly newsletter into an online magazine to combine both my passions: design and fashion. I'm not interesting enough to write more than 2 - 3 pages so... anyone wants to collaborate with an article related to handmade and if possible: fashion? Anything could fit in: kids, decoration, fahsion, beauty, .... Contact me if you want to help!


*EDITED*

Ooops forgot one thing! If you live outside Europe and would like to get one of my items for Christmas, tomorrow is the last day I can ship it and assure you it will arrive on time. Please make your Christmas shopping by 4th December.

Well well! After taking a look at the fashion magazines I got last week, it seems there are tons of trends for this fall / winter season.

Today I want to start with one that will be very easy to achieve: leather skirts! I bet you have one at home, somewhere, hidden at the back of the closet. Or you can probably get one for fairly cheap in a thrift store =) That's the good thing about comeback fashion trends haha

But, if you want to purchase them on Etsy, what can you find? Here I have a selection of leather skirts I found:
Sellers, from left to right, top to bottom, are (link to the item): tialeyvintage, LuvLeeDayz, PertVintage, ObladiObladaVintage, LuvLeeDayz, emeraldvintage, valerieann, thecovetedshoppe, ObladiObladaVintage
I suppose the important thing about leather skirts is what to wear them with.
First of all, try any color! Not just black. The latest trend is to wear them in any color.
Wear tank tops, sweaters, tshirts.. almost anything!
For the shoes choose boots or ankle boots.

Do you like this trend? Will you be wearing it? I probably won't. I'm not much of a fan of skirts or dresses, even less in fall. From September to June I only wear pants hahaha =)

First of all,I hope you like the new look of the blog! For those who read this blog through RSS or Email, please come check it out and tell me what you think. =)

Charliemotel did the illustration for my blog banner. Exactly what I wanted, a fashion girl! =) I hope you like it too. After that I added the lovely illustration to a banner and a few more details and voilá! New blog.
Believe me, Meg (from charliemotel) makes stunning illustrations!!

Be sure to check her two shops if you want a print or custom illustration:

Well, back by popular demand, another product review! This time 2 items: short sleeved hoodie from angeldamico and earrings by iomiss. I have to say that I love both!!! =)


The hoodie from angeldamico is fabulous. It is the first short sleeved hoodie I have and I love wearing it! It's perfect for spring, summer and autumn =) I loved this print but it was on a shirt so I asked the seller if a hoodie could be made with the same print. Communication was great, and the final item is fabulous! Very well finished and the color is just great! It fits like a glove (I got a L size) and it looks very cute. The colors are vibrant and deep (yeah the photos I take are still pretty bad in that sense), it is white on the back and has 2 small pockets, lovely!



The earrings from iomiss were a birthday gift from my father. But don't think he has that good taste, I made a wish list for him :D I tell you, you should do the same for Christmas and Bdays, my father loves Etsy for this reason! He doesn't have to hunt the shops downtown anymore haha. I chose these earrings because I love green and purple, and this combination with black and silver looks great. And I wasn't disappointed, they are lovely! They hang perfectly and I highly recommend everybody to get a pair. I love them and wear them all the time.

These are the original photos of the items I bought:



I do totally recommend buying from both sellers: angeldamico (superb prints and top styles) and iomiss (fabulous earrings).

I give the hoodie a 5 out of 5 and the earrings also a 5/5 in seller's communication, product, finishing touch, and quality.




Hope this review was helpful for you! :) And yeah yeah I know! The quality of photos is really bad! ack =(

If you would like to review a handmade item you bought online (Etsy or not) please let me know!

This week: Halter top with black and yellow vintage scarf by tangente


I love her scarf tops, either this kind using the scarf to tie the top, or the full scarf tops! =)


If you think your items or someone elses could fit in this section, please post your pictures in the photo pool. Remember: Handmade / Vintage items only!

I realized last week I forgot to mention the fashion friendly item of the week, so this week I bring you two different items!

Adrienne necklace by thebline


I think this necklace is quite original! Don't forget to check some of her flower bracelets too!


And as second fashion item of the week: Cherry blossoms Kimono by Asianexpressions


I looove kimonos!!! Ok, I don't know where I'd wear a kimono and that's why I try to restrain myself from buying them, but they are so nice! And check her fabric origami ornaments!



Hope you liked this week's selection! :)

If you think your items or someone elses could fit in this section, please post your pictures in the photo pool. Remember: Handmade / Vintage items only!

I couldn't help it.... I bought a pair of shoes! I'm the kind of girl that always wears trainers/snickers :) But I have a couple nice sandals for summer and boots for winter. However, this is my first pair of nice SHOES.


I got them at Zara. Yeah, cheap shoes. And also, not the most comfortable ones evah (compared to trainers! haha) But I swear I will learn to walk on them and not die! :D After all, I'm not going to walk a lot on them. I suppose I'm just one more female victim of the addiction to shoes... argghh

Definitely I bought them just because I love them, not for any outfit or occasion. So now comes the very famous female say: "What do I wear this with?" And I have a very cute denim skirt that will go great with them, but decided I also wanted to know what could the handmade world offer me to wear with this awesome shoes, from clothes to accessories and jewelry.

So here are my Etsy picks for my new shoes, I hope you like them as much as I do!

Sellers, from left to right, top to bottom, are (link to the item): hollystalder, larimeloom, megamimoon, eninaj, VC2o, daniellejewelry, roselabiche, cocoirene, vaivanat, isadoraclothing, nervoussystem, thefaintinggoat, missbrache, laurenkroberts, flutter, ninu

From all these artists, I really love all the work of daniellejewelry, eninaj and nervoussystem! :)
(And my birthday is coming soooon)

Please let me know if you liked this post, and of course, if you have an item you don't know what to wear it with, I'd be more than happy to search Etsy for you! :) Just post a comment about it!
This was a lot of fun hehe

On another note, I finally decided on who would do my alchemy dress... so yeah, can't wait to get it! :) I will post pictures of the final product heh

I also got new silk handfans I will be adding to the etsy store soon...

Next post: Really no idea! Help!

And If I can ask you one favour... If you like the blog, please rate it :) It's here on the right column ------>

Hi! Remember last post I talked about how I placed an alchemy request? This week has been crazy so I didn't get time to take a close look at what the sellers previous work was. I hope to finish this this weekend :)

But, after all your comments, (thank you girls!) I decided to go for one of these two versions of the dress:


(the right side one is a frankestein composed by me like a collage! haha Wish I could draw sketches!)

Where the part that is not black would replaced by my silks. I think it will look really nice :)

I will keep you posted on how this goes! yay! AKA: A buyer's perspective of alchemy =)

On the other side, an etsy fellow requested me a custom item (this ones are handles by alchemy too) and this week I bid on another alchemy request and I got it! YAY! So two other views of the same thing: A personal sellers alchemy request, and a seller's bid in an alchemy accepted by buyer.
I'm still a little confused on the payment of these. It looks like I have to send the buyer a paypal invoice, but I wished Etsy would do it automatically, like when someone buys a regular item!

Will come back tomorrow with some fashion trend report, enough of boring things! hah! :)

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)