Quote of the week

“A style does not go out of style as long as it adapts itself to its period. When there is an incompatibility between the style and a certain state of mind, it is never the style that triumphs.”

Coco Chanel

Transformation - The Butterfly

credit: Samantha Hahn

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

"These pieces explore themes of transformation and recovery through the metamorphosis of crushed beer cans from the streets of New York into flocks of realistically crafted butterflies." - Paul Villinski

Cindee's sample of work

Hi guys. Sorry havent been posting. I've been working on putting some of my work together. The illustrations took 4 long days to complete. And I'm not talking a few hrs a day. I'm talking from 10am - midnight. The reason why is because 1) Im a perfectionist and 2) the process had many steps. First I drew up the sketches on paper, then scanned it onto the computer and from there, traced it with Adobe Illustrator and did the coloring and rendering on Photoshop. Even tho it took awhile to put together I enjoyed every bit of it & Im so happy of the outcome. Well, here are a few pages... enjoy!

Inspiration: Exhaustingly beautiful ballerinas with their structured poise and smooth and fluid movements.
Colors: Milky colors just like faded dreams
Season: Spring/Summer

Fashion Designing

credit: Samantha Hahn

This is only advice that I'm passing on through personal experience.
If any of you are thinking of going into the fashion design business, here are some things to consider:

Your dream shouldn’t be focused on being seen as a designer. It should be focused on BEING a designer. Don’t be in it for the wrong reasons….fame…popularity. You have no idea how much work is involved in designing. Its not just about coming up with ideas and sketching them out. It requires so much more than that. It requires hard work, discipline, sweat, blood and PASSION. These ingredients are all important. I’d have to say passion helps me the most when Im faced with obstacles and discouragement. When I was at Blanche we started off with about 20-some ppl and by the end, half the class dropped out or got kicked out bcos the work and stress wasnt that they expected.

You will live, eat & breathe your business. Designers work 7 days a week and work at LEAST 12 hrs a day with barely any time for anything else. It will be your lifestyle. and it demands self-discipline to follow your own structure, meet deadlines and stay focused on your daily goals.

As I said before, a designer takes on many roles. The reality is you’ll be designing only about 10% of the time. The rest of the time you spend is on paperwork, pattern making, sampling, sourcing, production of your garments, researching your target market, following up on emails…the list goes on.

If you’re not organized, learn to be. This is one of the biggest challenges I faced because I am such a scatterbrain. Its important to give yourself structure or else you’ll end up getting distracted & lose focus on your daily goals. You need to be able to handle things financially… keeping records of your expenses and all that stuff. If not hire a professional to help. If you dont, in the end you will lose money. This is my current challenge =P

Dont force your creativity. The more pressure you put on yourself the more frustrated you will become. Creativity is natural so let it come naturally. If you find yourself stuck, take a break and get inspired. Go to the art gallery, flip through magazines, click around on the internet. Dont just limit yourself to fashion…look for inspiration in nature, in architecture, in illustrations, paintings and other artists’ work.

Links of the Week - Love

credit: {mainemomma2007}

So this week's links are love related. Love is more than just romantic love.... it is the love we feel for friends, for family, for anything we are passionate about. So love your life... love the things you do and surround yourself with things that make you happy =) Cheers.... March is here.

credit: {Cinnamon}

♥ Buy a card for a friend and surprise her/him with it by writing why you are grateful for them
♥ Take a friend out for lunch...or even better, a fondue date. If you're in Calgary The Living Room has quite a delightful chocolate fondue platter with fruits & cookies to dip into chocolatey goodness
♥ Read this article on Understanding Human Relationships by Steve Pavlina and another good one from ThinkSimpleNow blog is: How to Build Intimacy in Any Relationship
♥ Stay in one wknd and rent Chick Flicks with your girlfriends

credit {lobsterandswan}

♥ Send a handwritten letter on pretty stationary or on postcards and snail mail it. I dont know anyone who really does this anymore but I also don't know anyone who doesn't love receiving mail the old fashion way.
♥ Learn to be a better listener. Yes, we know how to talk but do we know how to listen?
♥ Practice doing random acts of kindness to brighten up someone's day. Visit Operation NICE to read some cool stories on other's random acts of kindness
♥ Inspire other ppl to see the best in themselves

Credit: sorry im not sure

♥ Wear cute and pretty pj's to bed
♥ An article on How to Love Yourself and another on Building Confidence
♥ Start a little notebook full of quotes and words that inspire you
♥ Sit in your warm tub, fill it with bubbles and daydream
♥ Share your thoughts with others. I've noticed that I've been having a hard time doing this verbally to ppl. I have a huge dislike for talking on the phone and a strong hesitance to explain myself fully(verbally) without getting frustrated. I will save you the details but this is something I definitely need to work on.
♥ I love you more than..... and check out their cute totes

♥ Cute heart-shaped cutting board to help cook dinner for your bf/gf. Make it a day to just focus on each other.
♥ Notice & acknowledge the little things they do for you
♥ Daydream together while sipping on a glass of wine

♥ A great article on love and another on How to Find True Love
♥ Book recommendation: The Authentic Heart by John Amodeo. I first picked up this book at the library when I was around 16 and after reading it once I went to buy it. Since then I've read it 4 more times and each time I seem to take something different from it. I think this book was a good investment. You can read the book here.
♥ Be playful.

February: Fairytale Friday - Red Riding Hood

This is my very first post doing Fairytale Friday. I will post one every month. I have this obsession with the world of fairytales. They are so fascinating and enticing....yes I like to day dream a lot so enjoy what I've created. Once again, these sets were created at Polyvore. This week we've got little Red Riding Hood.

...there was a little lady named Red Riding hood. Every Sunday she would make her way to her grandmother's house to bring her some yummy cherries because her grandmother loved cherry martinis. Yes, her grandmother was a wild one which could explain Little Red's free-spirited nature. She loved living on the edge. Her life was impulse driven which made her quite reckless. Her overspending on Chanel...Givenchy(oooh gotta love them multi-strand necklaces) Gucci left her wallet in poor condition. She didnt care though because she would rely on the handsome Woodsman to support her lifestyle. They shared a secret love affair. It all began years ago when he saved her life and also the life of her grandmother. And because her grandmother is the only family she's got, she felt in debt to the Woodsman. This turned very quickly into lust. They couldn't keep their hands of each other. The only problem was that The Woodsman was married. But Lil Red didnt mind. She loved the excitment and wild desire it created.

Years ago when she was a baby, her parents were attacked brutally by Mr. Wolf. This gave birth to a revengeful passion deep inside her heart. Even when the Woodsman killed Mr. Wolf that one frosty afternoon her Grandmother was attacked, she couldnt rid herself of the wild desire of vengeance. This turned into her career... her fashion career...designing fur jackets and accessories. The Woodsman would do her dirty work of hunting wolf while she sewed and worked on her creations.

Lil Red painting the town Red with her girlfriends

Me: So Red, what do you like to do when you are out with your girls?
Red: This isnt going to take long is it? (she looks impatiently at her watch)
Me: No, just a few questions... so tell me about girls night out
Red: Dancing. Im usually the one who gets up on the dance floor first(she winks). For some reason I always end up on tabletops. I love the attention. I love everyone's eyes on ME! (she scowls coyly)

Me: What is your choice of poison?
Red: I love my cherry martinis... BUT (she raises one of her perfectly polished fingers) only a splash of cherry flavor. I like my drinks strong!
Me: (laughs) to match your personality?
Red: No! Id rather see myself as a passionate individual (she flicks her lighter and puts a cigg between her dangerously red lips) I live on impulse

Me: Im sure you get alot of attention from the opposite sex.
Red: (blows out a swirling cloud of smoke through her lips as she looks at me with her black rimmed eyes) of course ( she grins. This question seems to excite her. Maybe its perfect timing to move on to questions about The Woodsman)

Lil Red on a secret rendezvous

Me: So tell me about The Woodsman? How did you first meet?
Red: He came to my rescue a few years ago while I was about to be ripped up my Mr. Wolf. It was such an exciting experience to he rescued.
Me: (chuckles) you kids.
Red: If it wasnt for The Woodsman my grandma and I wouldn't be here today.
Me: im glad that he got to you 2 in time. Where do you guys usually meet when you get him all to yourself?
Red: (chuckles) oh, my, wouldnt you like to know? Its called a secret for a reason. I love secrets. It's like we are living in our own little world. A world that only exists to us. If I told you it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it?

Lil Red goes shopping

Me: Describe your style
Red: I love accents of red. Sexy Louboutin heels... my red gucci Satchel, lace lingerie (winks) and wearing accents of gold too. I love girlie silhouette like skirts, dresses, ruffles, lace... but paring it with grown up colors and texutres.
Me: What about your spending habits?
Red: I am a dangerous spender
Me: Any fashion advice?
Red: Find a signature style. Something simple but that you can call your own. Chanel's signature was a Gardenia, 2 toned spectator heels, hardware and quilted details on her accessories. My signature would be accents of red.

Links of the Week - Lessons

The theme of this week's Links of the Day are Lessons...so let's begin.

♥ Not a very good time for our economy. So many ppl have been losing jobs. If any of you have experience this here's an article from Style Amor you should take a read: 5 tips on How to Move on With our Career

♥ Size Guide to help you when you are shopping online

♥ I workout a lot since this year started. In the beginning on Feb I worked out 3 hrs a day, 5 times a week. Felt gooood. Still going at it but I think I overdid it because so I just go ever other day now and do some yoga in between. I found this article entertaining. 10 Fashion Tips for the Gym

♥ YouTube tutorial: Mac Simple Smokey eye from fanfinettex3

♥ I cant stop Shopping. Help Me! I think this article from galadarling would help a lot especially during times like this.

♥ Productivity tips and to go along with this I have found a very useful website on Self Motivation.

♥ Come on, get inspired: How to Design Your Ideal Life and Creating your Own Happiness

♥ 10 Reasons You should Never Get a Job from Steve Pavlina and a related article: How I quit my Day Job from ThinkSimpleNow

♥ DIY Eco-friendly notebooks. Good to carry around with you to jot down notes, sketches...anything that inspires you

♥ DIY Shredded Tee

Quote of the week

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous" - Coco Chanel