Eco-Friendly Fashionista!

You can be an eco-friendly fashionista on Earth Day as well as everyday! Etsy has many shops that offer clothing and accessories that have been deconstructed, recreated, reconstructed, recrafted, reclaimed, and recycled. Many of these shops use organic fabrics such as cotton or raw silk. Natural or fabric reactive dyes are also used. These are just a small sample of the terrific items available from just a few of the many of the eco-etsy shops.

Gaia Conceptions Butterfly Shirt - $85
Jamie Keiles Reconstructed Plaid Skirt - $35
Mojo Trashion Recycled Earring $5.50
A Second Chance EcoFriendly-Shrug - $50
Skiing Weaver Hand Woven Bamboo Scarf - $75
FrouFrouagogo Groovey Recycled Red Leather Bag -$42
Easy Street Vintage - Reworked Lace Slingbacks - $38

Whimsey's Cloth Shopping Bag - $10

Fashionista #3 - Summer Mix & Match

Another fashion magazine feature I always love is the collection of basic pieces that can be mixed and matched to create a variety of looks for day and night; casual and dressy. All these pieces were found throughout Etsy. Here is the collection of etsy summer wardrobe essentials that will take you from day to evening. Happy Shopping!



Smoking Hot Red Soy Wrap Shirt from conscienceclothing - $60
Stove Pipe Gray Denim Pants from passionit - $89
Handmade Simple Fun Market Day Tote from Go Monkey Design - $25
Red Polka Dot Bandeau Bikini from Harajuku - $80
Pure White Cotton BOHO dress/skirt from Ma Petite Amy - $44
Brilliant Blue Leather Chic Flats from Ma Petite Amy - $16
Black/White Obi Belt from iamerica - $20
Colorful Seeds Necklace from Blue & White Wear - $15
Half & Half Bracelet from Blue & White Wear - $18
Striped Earrings from Blue & White Wear - $12



Red Demin Wide Brim Sunhat from Sookie - $39.95
Red Patent Leather Belt from VintageStyle 101 -$25
Blue & White Top from justvic - $34
White Skinny Military Pants from Stewwie - $120
Black Patent Leather Sandals from rumdoxy - $12
Plaid Hampton Vest from justvic - $30
White Disc Necklace from Blue & White Wear - $30
Blue Sodalite & Porcelain Necklace from Blue & White Wear - $30

Fashionista #2 - A Casual Look

All the pieces seen here are available from various shops on Etsy.
Here is a casual look for the weekend or any day:

href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10667698">themachinestops - $79
Chinese Food Box Purse by pursenalitybyletha - $25
Vintage Red Flats from shopambrosia - $14
Double Happiness Earrings by Blue & White Wear - $15
Double Happiness Necklace by Blue & White Wear - $28
Porcelain & Denim Bracelet by Blue & White Wear - $20

Happy shopping!

Fashionista! - The Vintage Look

I love how the fashion magazines put together clothes and assessories to create various styles. MarieClaire's "Splurge vs. Steal" is one of my favorites. Here is my attempt to coordinate a vintage look totally from Etsy shops.


Dragon Tail Necklace from Blue & White Wear - $35
Blue Sodalite Earrings from Blue & White Wear - $15
Vintage Polka Dot Dress form Owl Eyes Vintage - $42.00
Vintage Navy & white Pappagallo spectator shoes from Vintage Vogue - $11.99
White Straw Hat from Vanity Vintage - $9.00
Navy Leather Purse from Aurolac of Providence - $22.00

TOTAL $134.99

Camera Obsession

A few Saturdays ago while I was wandering the stalls of the weekend market, I found an awesome camera necklace - decided "to wait." Then I found a great vintage camera t-shirt - in 3 different styles. Didn't buy that either! Talked myself out of purchasing it. It is the kinda thing that I would buy and as much I like it, I would just never wear it. Well, I am still thinking about those things but I know I'll never find them again. In the meantime, I have searched through

etsy to appease this obsession and have discovered some terrific camera items. Now what to buy? So many choices! So hard to decide!

Looking for Love?

If you have been looking for love in all the wrong places, here is the place to visit to help you with your quest. Every Thursday night at 9:30 people give offerings of red roses and incense and pray at the Trimurti Shrine in front of Central World Plaza. The golden shrine represents Brahma, the source/Creator; Vishnu, the Preservre; and Shiva, Destroyer/Creator. According to an article in the Bangkok Post, one should wear red, present offerings, and pray for his/her true love. The article also had accounts from people who had finally met their loves after worshipping at the "Love Shrine."This seems to be popular with the local population, but not widely known among the expat community and tourists. A single/divorced friend visiting from Canada decided to give it a try - after several years of experiencing various dating scenes with no prospects- it couldn't hurt. She returned to Canada - three months later, she met her man. Coincidence??
Thursday night I brought another friend and my daughter to the shrine. I'll let you know when they find their loves.

Family Tree

My family history has always fascinated me so I was quite excited when my cousin Pat emailed me to tell me that another cousin, Bill, has created a family tree. I have never met Bill as far as I can ever remember. So I emailed him to introduce myself and we have since become good friends. He is full of stories and info about our family! Not only that, he lives about 20 minutes away from our house in NY. My cousin Cynthia has done tons of research on our family which has helped him in organizing the tree. According to Bill, we are at least 12th cousins to Celine Dion, Madonna, and Hillary Clinton. Our earliest ancestors on record date back to 1500 in France.

The photo posted is one that I have had for many years. It is the only complete family photo that I know of. My dad is the little boy in the seated in the middle of the bottom row - he just celebrated his 86th birthday.

Brass Jewelry

A new category has been added to my ecrater shop - Brass Jewelry. Solid brass nuggets are used to make the necklace and bracelet. The multi-colored brass bracelet is very light weight.

Plug Boards & Buttons!!

In reading the forums on Etsy, I came across a thread on using plug boards to advertise. Never heard of plug boards - so continued reading and looking at blogs to figure it out. Easy enough - I quickly downloaded my free plug board. Now - how difficult could making a button be?? After spending about 20 or more hours of my weekend trying to find out how to create the button, I bought one from bittymoose at Etsy. Bitty is great - she happened to be online when I convoed her - after a few messages back & forth, I had my new button. Please scroll down to the bottom of my blog and check out the plug board.

Bead Shopping

Bangkok is a fantastic place for shopping; especially for those who love to wear, make, and buy jewelry! I spend a lot of time wandering the markets. My favorite is Chattuchuk Market; aka the Weekend Market; JJ Market. - 8000 stalls of everything imaginable to buy - from pets, fish, art work, handicrafts, school uniforms, jeans, food, etc! There are many wholesale bead and silver shops. Everytime I go - new ones seem to crop up. I do have my favorites but love to explore to discover new ones. You never know what you 'll find!

Silver Pendants & Earrings!

Visit http://bluewhitewear.eCrater.com

Silver Pendants & Earrings Posted!

I finally have posted most of my new silver pendants and earrings for sale on my online shops: http://bluewhitewear.ecrater.com/ and http://www.freewebs.com/bluewhitewear. I love these and hope you too will want to own one, two, or more of them. I'll be adding more as soon as I can. So please check back. Thanks!

Silver Jewelry!

I am so excited! Here's a preview of my new silver collection!!! These gorgeous pieces will be posted on my freewebs site..so stay tuned...(I have to admit that photographing silver is a pain in the butt! It's so hard to get the jewelry to look clear and shiny. To make matters worse, I have a crappy camera and the battery does not last very long, it's almost dead again. If anyone has any tips for photographing silver - PLEASE let me know.)

There are more earrings and pendants, but I need to work on those pics. These photos do not do really show how stunning the jewelry actually is. I am working on improving the quality of all of the pics before I officially post them.

Sunflowers

No, we are not in Kansas! This is Lopburi, Thailand, located about 154 km north of Bangkok, in one of the central provinces on the east side of the Chao Phraya River. There are over 5000 sunflower fields in this area which are in full bloom during the month of December. Little stalls sell all kinds of sunflower related products and souveniers; sunflower seeds to umbrellas! This little trip took us off the tourist track.

Chinese New Year - Gong Xi Fa Cai!

The Year of the Rat begins on February 7, 2008. The rat is the first of the animal calendar cycle. Legend is that the Emperor was hosting a party for the first twelve animals to arrive. The rat rode upon the ox's back. Once across the river, the rat jumped off and arrived first; followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

People born in the Year of the Rat (1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996) are often perfectionists who work hard, have big ambitions, and are successful. They are charming and attract the opposite sex.

During the last few days of the last lunar month, the Chinese begin getting ready to welcome the New Year. Debts are paid, hair is cut, and new clothes are purchased. Homes are thoroughly cleaned to sweep away any ill fortune and to make way for the incoming good luck. Doors and windows are decorated with paper cut-outs with the themes of happiness, wealth and longevity. Incense is turned in homes and temples to pay respect to ancestors and ask the good for good health in the coming year. Families gather to feast in celebration. The young pay homage to the elderly and all unmarried children receive the lucky red packet with money. Red, orange, and gold are auspicious colors. Everyone loves the lion and dragon dances!