Polka Dot Passion

Toward the beginning of this year  one of my favorite gals of Instagram, Dictiocanary, mentioned wearing polka dots a ton. Then she realized post hoc that maybe she didn't wear them as much as she though, so she challenged herself to embrace her love affair with polka dots more often.

This is my newest polka dot dress. It is handmade and came from the Goodwill for $4. It is PERFECT!

Well, this got me thinking about polka dots. At first I thought that I too need more polka dots in my life; I clearly was not wearing them as often as I would like. Nor did I own enough. 

Skirt and bag: Kate Spade

After musing on this for a few weeks and looking down at my Kate Spade Pavilion Dot bag and it's matching zipper pouch, I realized that I have a profuse amount of polkas in my life.

Here is a snap shot tour of some of my favorites. I tried to get as many items as possible and a variety of types.

My sheets: 

And, I just bought even newer polka dot sheets(SHHHH! FrenchBull $15 on clearance at Target)

Hair scarves in different colors, sizes, and shapes of polka dots:

Bracelets:

Jamberry Nail Wraps (This is an affiliate link to my business page):

 

CLOTHES:

Burgundy on Burgundy dot: Forever 21 , black and white polka dot: high school 15 years ago, and red and white dot: Alannah Hill (from eBay) SIMILAR

Cute Mint Summer Dress:

 With a little mint polka dot hair flower:

This background is the skirt of the dress above

 Swimwear:

Black&white: Target Green&white: Handmade by  me
Similar to Black&White Here

 Belts with polka dots:

 Storage bins in my closet with polka dots:

 Sleepwear (including slippers) Both from Target Christmas 2014:

 Scrapbook supplies:

I even tried some polka dots when I did my Gwynnie Bee free trial.

 There are so many more throughout my home: Shoes, cups, book marks, underwear, slips, and whatever else can be dotted.

Okay, so I think that it is clear that I may actually have enough polka dots in my life, or do I? I am sure that I will always buy more and more. I just cannot resist a good dot.

How about you? Do you have enough dots in your life? What are your favorite polka dot pieces?


Have a Rockin' Day

 

With the exception of my Jamberry link, there is no affiliation between me and any of the brands or people linked above. They are merely brand and style preferences.

Sunday Sermons

I love God! I mean I truly love God! He is the guiding force of my life, my protector, my hope. Although this may not always be apparent in every aspect of my life, especially when I break down and freak out at my husband or kiddos in that oh so human way, it is what I want the world to know.

Dress: vintage/thrifted ($7), shoes: Bakers (free/gift from mom), belt: Target, gloves:vintage (From yesterday's post), necklace: vintage, bracelet:Christmas gift from Cuban Cowboy, Jacket: Via Spiga (gift), clutch: Coach (I hear it's the Pantone color of 2014). PS: Don't hate on my MJ one glove. I had to take the pic, and I couldn't wear both.

One small, and seemingly frivolous, way that I demonstrate this love for God is dressing up for my weekly date with Him. Yep! I have an extra special date with him each Sunday. Just like the Cuban Cowboy, I hang out with God everyday, but Sundays are a bit extra special. 

For this week, I also included a special piece of Jewelery as the foundation of my ensemble. It is a super cool, vintage cross that I inherited from my Grandma Blanche. What makes this necklace so cool is that there is a teeny, tiny magnifying glass at its center. When one looks inside she sees a scroll with the Lord's Prayer. Super cool! However, I rarely wear it because it is gold, and I am not; nor have I ever been; a fan of gold.

It is perfect with this vintage dress though.

Making this Sunday extra special was another phenomenal sermon. This week talked about keeping ourselves focused on God so as to not drift away. I love the nautical theme, and it reminded me of the Plumb song Drifting.

 If you are not familiar with Plumb, I promise you will love her lyrics (even if you aren't Christian). She sings about life, and she is truly authentic. 

To wrap up the days thoughts: is God your anchor? Is he the shoreline you are aiming for? I pray, in earnest, that he blesses you this week.

Baby Friendly Necklaces

The Roly Poly is teething like CRAZY, and he is incredibly fascinated by my necklaces recently. 

The first necklace I made was a wood bead teething necklace (it's the shorter of the two in the photo). I used this wonderful tutorial from See Kate Sew.

Definitely check out her blog and ETSY shop. Plus look for her this week at Crafting with the Stars.

The second, longer, necklace is of my own design. I thought that while the Roly Poly was munching away on one necklace, he'd be fiddling with the other. Thus, a nice squishy but sorta crunchy sounding necklace came to mind, and the plastic bag necklace was born. Yes, this necklace has a plastic grocery bag inside in order to give it some poof and a little bit of sound. Babies like this sort of thing. 

Okay, so how do you make such a necklace?

Follow the simple directions below.

1. Cut and sew a 3 1/2 inch by 40 inch piece of fabric into a tube. Use the safety pin trick to turn right side out.

You should have this:

2. Tear a grocery bag in half. You will need both halves

 3. By photo

1. Twist one half of the bag completely.

2. Begin to push the twisted bag into the opening of the tube. The safety pin may come in handy here.

3. When you are at the end of the first half, tie the second half of the bag to the end (I found the handle to be helpful for this). Now twist the second half and push through.

4. If you have trouble toward the end of your completed bags, use something to aide you in pushing. I used this here lollipop stick, but I wasn't using the safety pin.

 4. Tie the ends. I actually tied one end before I began, but if you are using the safety pin trick, which I recommend, then you cannot do this.

5. Tie several knots evenly throughout the body of your necklace. This adds some dimension and helps with flexibility.

***Note: Do to the nature of the filling for this necklace it may be a little stiff***

6. Like in the wooden bead necklace tutorial, it is now time to add ribbon to the openings. Cut your ribbon in two 8 inch lengths. I angled the cuts that will remain outside. Then fold the side that will go in the tube opening in three like in the photo below.

7. Place it inside the tube. Pinning is always helpful. And stitch across, making sure to back stitch at the beginning and end.

This should be something like your result.

TADA!!!! You have a finished product. Fancy looking, no?

Now, strut your stuff with these two pieces and let your little guy or gal enjoy chewing and squishing your glamorous jewelry. They look great paired together or worn alone.

Ebony and Ivory Mini-Bib Necklace

Okay, so who doesn't love those wonderful little pom flowers that are roaming around all over blogland? I just adore them. I have been really wanting to make some. Ashley over at Little Miss Momma has a great tutorial to help you out. I finally got together some materials today and made my first poms. I strung them on a short pearl strand. You will see below why I have called this the Ebony and Ivory necklace, and why it is a mini-bib.

EBONY AND IVORY MINI-BIB NECKLACE

Here it is on

Close up and personal

Now some silly shots for LMM's self-portrait linky party

Sexy? no? Ignore arms!

This is how a two-year-old can make one feel

More campy behavior! MUAH!!!!

Okay, so that's what I have for you today!I hope you like it. I may be putting something similar in my ETSY shop.