how to wear rouge & whimsy hair clips

One of my favorite things in my shop are not my hairbands, but my hairclips. Sometimes I feel like headbands make me look younger than I am (people always think I'm at least five years younger than I really am). Hair clips are a great way to add something to your hair in a variety of ways and unlike bobby pins which can slide out, alligator clips stay in quite well.

My favorite way to wear a clip is on the side with wavy hair:

 

My friend Sam wears hers pulling back her bangs 

And when my hair is dirty, I'll pull it back in a bun with a hair clip as an accent

live like a local-- the introduction

I haven't been too many places...
in fact I've never been farther east than Minnesota...(in the U.S. at least)
traveling is on my list of things to do but for now we can to live vicariously through everyone else.

Want to share what it's like to live in your hometown? Email me at rougeandwhimsy[at] gmail [dot] com with photos and answers to these questions:

Introduce yourself in a sentence or two:


Where do you live?


How do you spot a local?


Where, in your opinion, is the best local place to eat?


Where do locals hangout?


Why do love being a local in your hometown?

Please send up to 6 photos of yourself, and the fabulous local places in your town.

And check back Friday for the first location!

If you take part, please link back to rouge & whimsy. Thanks!






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rouge & whimsy at Derby Salon

My favorite hair salon, Derby Salon, is now carrying my hair bands and hair clips.

 

And by the way, I've gotten my hair cut there for over four years and recommend it 100 percent. They're located on Roosevelt Way and 63rd Avenue in Seattle.

saturday snapshot

 I'm linking up with the multi-talented Kim of Oh Sweet Joy! for Snapshot Saturday. If you haven't checked out her shop-- you should... really should especially because she has a sale going on now... :)

A lot of my friends are getting married and taking really cute engagement photos which, of course, makes me want to get engaged all over again-- even though I think my engagement photos are quite cute.

Here's one of my absolute favorites:

This was taken in the Suzallo Library at the University of Washington in Seattle (where we met!)

Luckily it was during spring break so no one was around studying and wondering what we were doing taking photos in a library!

The library was built in the 1920s and looks more like a cathedral than a place to study and is one of my absolute places on campus... even more after this photo was taken.

friday play list

 I hate to be that person on the bus-- headphones jammed firmly in my ears, but it's long ride to the ol' day job and I need something to listen too.

And as I sit at home, making headbands, I need a little something to get me going.

Life is better with a soundtrack, is it not?

Here are a few of my picks this Friday.

What's your favorite thing to listen to? I always always need music suggestions!

And why we're at it-- check out some of my favorites:

what to wear

It's what you think it is.

A dress hanging on my closet door, just waiting for early morning. A slightly fuzzy photo, taken late at night. 

So, yes, I lay out my clothes before I go to bed.

And I've done it for years, most likely since kindergarten when I began insisting on dressing myself. In high school I went to the extreme, laying out every accessory and undergarment so I could roll out of bed and, without making any decisions, put on a coordinated outfit.

I can't make decisions in the morning. Believe me, I've tried. If I don't lay out my clothes, I end up staring into the depths of my closet, contemplating whether orange goes with purple or whether a hot dog would be a good idea for lunch. Like I said, I can't make decisions in the morning. (For the longest time, my husband thought I was angry at him a lot-- turned out I'm just not the friendliest before I've had coffee.)

Do you lay out your clothes? Have you ever laid out your clothes? Or is this something that only junior high girls and night owls do? 

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a little love From the Aisle to Aloha

Today I'm featured over on the lovely blog From the Aisle to Aloha.

Check it out!

And thank you Lindsay for letting me be a sponsor!

And if you guys are wondering, the shop is a little bare because I'm frantically filling another wholesale order. (Details to come-- but I'm pretty excited about it!) Check back this weekend and I promise more things will be up!

welcome spring

Spring has finally come.
By that, I mean the sunshine has finally come.

And I'm feeling inspired to garden,

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(but not to weed)

to paint my toes

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read outside

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and hike!

My dog Nesby considers the view at Poo Poo Point

 Saturday was the first nice day we've had in awhile and the above photo is from the top of Poo Poo Point on my day hike. I know, Poo Poo Point (not made up! see here) is an odd name to be sure, but obviously very pictoresque. Apparently the name comes from a train that used to go up there, not, well, the other thing.

What is inspiring you lately?

Luck of the Irish (redhead)

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Although I am not Irish (I'm mostly Scandinavian, ya sure ya betcha) my red hair is one of the few things that I share with the Irish people. 

So rather than celebrate green, or beer, I've decided that today should be a day to celebrate redheads, the small, shrinking population of people who are blessed with pale skin, freckles and fiery locks. (And usually a fiery personality to match.)

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See? Now don't you wish you were an awkward gorgeous redhead?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

confession

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There's something about the Internet that calls for confessions.

Deep dark secrets. Anonymoity. You can post online what you would never ever say in person.

And so I am going to confess...

I don't wash my hair every day.

[gasp!]

In America, that's unheard of. In Europe and nearly every other country, that's the norm.

And I know that a lot of you are saying, "But I have to wash my hair everyday!"

No, that's just what you think. It's common knowledge that hair is better when you let natural oils, uh, moisturize it. You just gotta train it a bit.

My beauty secret?

Baby powder.

And I don't even use the Johnson & Johnson brand.

It's generic all the way baby.

Yeah, I know it's white, and it smells like it belongs in a nursery but honestly it's the cheapest best thing that works.

Just dab some in your hair at night, concentrating on your roots and where your greasies show up, and I promise tomorrow morning your hair will be baby fresh and any evidence of white powder will be gone.

What is your beauty confession secret?

what I wore

For this "what I wore" post, I'm not showing off my cute outfit, but a cute hairstyle I stole from Elsie of A Beautiful Mess and Red Velvet Shop.

I'm desperately trying to grow out my hair.

It used to look like this:

Chicago, August 2010

And now it's in that awkward in-between length and every day I'm tempted to just hack it all off again or find someway to make it cute.

Which is why I was so excited to find this tutorial on maiden braids from A Beautiful Mess:

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I don't look quite as polished, but it was a nice change:

yes I'm in my kitchen... I know, not so glam

blame the blurryness on the husband...

surprisingly not too long to do either...

Perhaps with this tutorial I can stand the grow-out process a little longer.

home sick... again

I was sick maybe three weeks ago so it doesn't seem fair to be stuck on the couch again fighting a nasty bug. (I'll spare you the details.)

Here's a little Etsy collection in honor of being home sick. (Anyone else out there?)

Vintage sheet blanket	Organic Cold and Flu Comfort Tea
Tea love mug cozy	Orange Tissue Monster

easy baby blanket [tutorial]

I've wanted to make something with minky fabric forever.  For one thing it's so soft-- something like  bunny fur crossed with the lining of a new sweatshirt, and I love those little bumpies on the fabric.
But it seems a little more suited for a baby blanket than for an adult throw.

Lucky me, one of my cousins is having a baby boy this spring. I know that she loves minky fabric, so when Joann's was having a sale (50% off? Yes please) I ran down and got a few yards to make her baby blanket.

This project only takes a few hours and even with basic sewing skills, (ahem, me), it turns out pretty well.

 I bought 1 yard and 1/2 of flannel and 1 and 1/2 yard of minky fabric.

I prewashed and ironed the flannel (not the minky!!) before I laid it out, flannel to minky, undersides up and pinned all the way around the edges.

 

someone always gets in the way. good thing he's cute

I then sewed all the way around, leaving a few inches open so I could turn the blanket inside out. (What was great was that the flannel had a grid pattern-- it's always easier to stitch following a straight line.)

I turned the blanket inside out and reironed it, paying close attention to the edges.

Rather than just stitch the few inches left open, I chose to stitch all the way around the edges, about 1/2 an inch in to give it a finished look. If I had time, I would have done a double stitch, or perhaps a binding. (But I'm flying to California tomorrow-- so no time for that.)

like my sewing machine? $40 on Craigslist! I'll tell you that story another time

 It turned out pretty well and I'm thinking about making another blanket this way. There's always adorable vintage flat sheets at Goodwill-- I think it would be great sewn with a fleece underside. 

keeping my legs warm

I love tights, the pop of color, the chic and sophisticated look it gives nearly all dresses.

Wedding cake dress from the Velvet Shop

I didn't always used to be this way. In junior high (and probably most of high school) there was a point that no matter what the weather was, I refused to wear tights or nylons.

"They're for old people!" I cry to my mom when she'd thrust a pair of nude nylons at me. "And nylons always look fake!" She would just shake her head.

"You are going to be cold," she'd say.

And I usually was. (Why are Moms always right?)

As I entered college, and now several years out, I've embraced tights fully. (I'm wearing them right now.) I love the different patterns, colors, textures-- I could go on and on!

My only problem, and it's a big one, is how to keep from ripping them. From the moment I pull them on I'm at a risk for snagging and running each pair. In large part it has to do with the fact that I never sit still, but I also wonder if it has to do with the fact that most of my tights are cheap... really cheap.

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Do you think if I sprung for a pair of $$$$ tights I would fare better? At this point it may be worth it-- I go through tights like a Starbucks addict goes through skinny mochas.


p.s. Apparently people like Miley Cyrus wear ripped tights on purpose. I don't think I'm that cool yet. (or that 80's)

busy weekend

This weekend I got a lot done for my shop...

How can I tell?

The office/guest/craft room is a mess:

I pretty much take over every surface.

to market, to market

A year-round farmer's market sounds like it wouldn't happen in Seattle.

Especially when it looks like this outside:

 

yuck.

But Seattle has multiple farmer's markets that continue all year, including two only a few miles from my house. The one I have my eye on is the Fremont Market and the past few weekends I've been doing my best to collect things to put together a display for my accessories.

I've got a shelf and now a cute little box.

the shelf is a little beat up...

the jewelry box has two drawers-- perfect to display hair clips

the fabric on the inside will need to be replaced

The only thing left is a tent. It's required for sellers at the Fremont Market and I can only say it makes sense here.

thrift and antique

There's a difference between thrift shops and antique shops.

Thrift shops are full of castoffs that determined to be cheap, affordable and perhaps in good quality.

Antique shops are full of castoffs that are determined to be worth something, in good quality and not usually affordable.

But there are always exceptions, and this one lay thirty miles north of Seattle. Two adorable antique shops that were filled to the brim with affordable, perfect treasures.

Did you have days of the week underwear? How about days of the week dishtowels?

 

I could barely resist the piles of vintage buttons

or the child's tea set:

I almost bought this:

but I didn't need it and I'm we're trying to save money.

And I justified that I needed some displays for summer farmers markets this summer so I picked up a shelf and and a jewelery box. With a little love they'll be perfect. :)