Heavy print for a happy new year

I have made so many new year resolutions to last me a life time. For a change I will make just one for this new year which goes as following...I will post an outfit for everyday of this year.
By the end of the year, I will be able to check on my style and see how it evolved....or not.

shirt fink- cardigan massimo dutti- pants no name-boots old ,very old-various necklaces compiled

I found  the shirt on a pile in the local market and I was immediately drawn to the colors and the print. It only cost me 1euro and I think it is silk. Just check the print at the back .It's so detailed and the yellow bordure around is also printed on the cloth which kind of gives away it's an expensive piece of cloth.

 Pile up all my necklaces to accessorise is new to me and the print is so heavy but the end result is not over the top.The colors echo the print and everybody is happy.

From the bottom of my heart I wish all fashion bloggers a happy new year full of inspiration!

Florals and dots

I wore florals and orange today as a reminder that no matter how dark or cold is at the moment , spring is coming closer and closer with each passing day.

white top zara - orange cardi zara- floral top given by a friend-pants thrifted and shortened-boots old ,very old-bracelet swapped.

True to my mixing patterns mania I tried to match dots with florals and I think it works. I might refine the combination in the future but for now all I can say is that I recieved a compliment by my husband on how nice I look today. Mission accomplished.

Lace and I

Lace and I were never good friends. Not that I hated lace I was mostly indifferent to its allures. Until today that is.
Today is the first day of my lace love affair and you are the first to take a glimpse. I hope you like it !If not don't let me know.I will perhaps get dissapointed and stop trying.

purple tshirt berska-lace top tailored by my aunt-skirt thrifted &shortened-animal print belt skondras

What do we have here? A scarf and... an animal print and... purple and... lace...and bracelets in one outfit. I'm not sure if they all fit but I will go to bed feeling happy tonight !

Practice makes perfect

strippes bluemarine-floral zara/-skirt berska

This week between Christmas and New Year is the soonest of the year . The days go by in a flash and with kids at home all day plus their friends real world outside the house is non -existant.
Living my fairytale and given the fact I'm on my third year of this blog I went a bit more daring with my outfits and took a dive into pattern mixing world.

 I'm not yet sure how it goes but I figure that if  the colors of the different patterns match then I have big  chances for a successful combination.

       If jewellery combines well it's a match made in heaven.

strippes bluemarine-tartan given to me-faux leather skirt no idea

I made a second attempt to mix patterns and to my amazement  even if the colors don't match the result can be good or even better. So rule of thumb <<   Always try on your chosen patterns>>. It might not look good on the hanger but great on you.

    Both blouses were given to me by a friend and were hiding in my closet .  The tartan was an unflattering tunic shape so I shortened it .

Successful or not I will keep on trying to mix fabrics. After all one thing I know for sure is that practice makes perfect.

Merry cozy Christmas

                                                               Merry Christmas to all !!!

This is how my cozy Christmas living room looked this year. It was the first Goldman Sacks Christmas we experienced in Greece and the christmas spirit was taken away in many ways.

However, the true meaning of Christmas found its way not in terms of possessions and materialism but in the warmth and physical presence of all members of the family , in the love and companionship we all felt and in the hope that something new will be born soon that will stop this nightmare.

strippes zara-tartan shirt no idea-skirt -given by friend -boots old in need of replacement

As for my outfit I felt a bit more daring and I mixed two different patterns , something I plan to do more often as I want to master remixing and combining different patterns. I feel my mixing of patterns is too basic but hey! it's a good start.I bet you will see this tartan and these strippes remixed quite often this winter.

Wearing this fake leather skirt is also a good start as I had it lying in my closet for a good 2 years and never dared to wear... now that I see it photographed I wonder why.
It's not as short or tight and it makes a good basic piece . However I have no idea how to clean it. How do you clean fake leather skirts??? Any tips , please?

Anyway , I hope you all had a great Christmas time with friend and family and I wish that we all have a great new year 's celebration

Go global

jeans peackoks- tshirt zarra -coat burberries-scarf zarra-shoes all star-bag vogue-earrings diy

Kids play seek and hide with friends in the house while I try to write this post. They are noisy and full of life. That's exactly how I felt during the day and it had a lot to do with my new Convers All stars. It was a well planned addition and they look as good as they feel on my feet. On holidays , there is always a lot of running around involved.
With the addition of my coat and the stripes I think I have an all american -french outfit. Voila ! global in a good way !

Forgotten skills

What you see here is how a small addition can give new life to an outfit . I've already remixed all the parts of the outfit many times and I wanted a little lift. So I grabbed a piece of ribbon and added it to the necklace.
It's not rocket science it's just that lately I see so many jewelery or clothes that are sold and I think that I can make those myself.
I also think that there was a time , not long ago, that women made practically everything in their homes like food ,sweets ,clothes, carpets, embroidery, marmalades ,grew vegetables, fed and then killed and cooked little chickens or rabbits or pigs...... I know I take it too far but where did all these skills go? We buy practically everything and there is litlle space for us to be creative.
These were my thoughts while I put the ribbon on my necklace. Please share yours.
P.S Don't forget to check Visible Monday post over at Patty's. You will see many beautiful bloggers and read their thoughts.

How to revamp your earrings

Last evening I needed a pick me up thing to do and revamping my old earings seemed the right thing to do. I changed my old earrings into something festive and ...new.
So my outfit for today had to be as simple as possible so my red earrings and red nail polish  pop out.( the photo doesn't show the earrings clearly but you get the real thing in the tutorial that follows)

This is what you will need : Just old earrings ,colorful thread/string in any color you fancy and this simple gold chain or any other kind of chain you like .

You grab the thread and the chain and hold it together . See which way is easier for you to fold the thread around the chain and start.
Keep on folding...It gets easier and easier.

                                                     That's the end result in less than a quarter.

                                   I 'm so proud of the end result so I hope you don't mind another photo.


P.S If you feel inspired enough to revamp your earrings please send me a link to your blog to check and comment. Have a nice weekend to all.

What to wear today? Well, let's try Klimt

source :theviviennefiles

When it comes to inspiration you can litterally find it everywhere ! One of my favorite bloggers vivienne posted a collage which was inspired by the colors in the paintings of Klimt . This collage got me hooked and I put today's outfit together based on these colors.
Apart from this, I'm on the third month of not buying anything. It wasn't planned but there is a huge finantial  insecurity in Greece at the moment that buying anything else than the things that are really necessary is out of the question.
Waiting for better times to come I remix  , I refashion and I plan to sew a few new clothes from fabric I already have during Christmas holidays. Getting creative is the key word here and for that I'm sort of happy that I get a chance to explore my creative side.

Refashion sweater & necklace

When it comes to comfort ,jeans and a sweater is my top on the list . but how can I make an outfit like this seem a little more boring? That was the question on my mind today so I looked for inspiration on my files . And this is what I came up with.
I layered my sweater over a long black t shirt and I put on my favorite black necklace. By the way ,there is a story behind this sweater. My mum gave it to my husband last winter but he decided it wasn't his style. So, here I was with a men's sweater that was way too big for me. So, what can a smart smart girl do? Refashion it.
It took me an hour of trial and error on my sewing machine to make it tight to fit my body. 
The end result you see it here and I'm glad I gave life to an otherwise throw away sweater. Have you ever tried to refashion something? Was the end result to your liking?
Visit Patti's Visible Monday series for more beautiful everyday outfits. It's inspiring to see how other women dress for everyday!

Blog therapy

It's been a little or better say a lot crazy these few weeks in my country (Greece) so no much time to blog or better say no mood to blog. Fashion blogging seemed like a luxury but one I still love and indulged today to lift my spirit a little higher .
As you already know I'm once again in my pair down phase that i use what I already have but in a different styling concept.
Do you make sense? Well ...let's see ...I have the wool brown sweater for 5 years now ,the jeans for 3 years and the jacket for 2 years. However ,I've never put those together.
I like the result and enjoyed the outfit except for the sleeves. I shouldn't have rolled them like that.

This is another outfit I worn recently and a new way to present it. I have to admit that cardigans together with scarves just make everyday dressing so much more fun.
If I learnt anything all the time I fashion blog is this one...just have a few basic pieces and play around with accessories. No one will notice even if you wear the same clothes for a week or two (cleaning is allowed).

How to edit your clothes for a versatile wardrobe

This autumn I came to the conclusion that I'm an edit wardrobe maniac if such a thing exists ! How else can I explain the fact that I edit and pair down my entire wardrobe every 3 months.

Well , that's how I paired down my clothes for this winter . As many of you know already I have zero money to spend in new clothes or accessories for the rest of the year and 2012.
This unfortunate fact makes it critical that I rediscover and make the best use of my clothes in the hopes that I enjoy wearing the same clothes.

What you see here is my entire winter collection . I did a lot of recearch on the net and realised that the best dressed women are the ones who spend more time on thinking carefully about and organising their clothes . Fortunately not the ones who shop frequently.
Another information that sort of put everything in place for me is that a versatile wardrobe consists of 40% of classic garments 35% of basics and 25% of more trendy items.

MY CLASSICS

I took the contents of my entire wardrobe out and put back only my classics . What I qualify as classics are the best quality and best tailored clothes I own that I will keep for many years to come :

• A little black dress
• 2 chanel like jackets
• A grey jacket
• A beige greatly tailored jacket
• A white button down 
• A pair of black pants 
• An A line skirt
• A pair of classic levis jeans

Despite the fact that I spent a lot of money on clothes the last couple of years I know now that it wasn't money well spend . My classics are very few and some not as good quality as I deserve . I feel a bit stupid because I have already spent the money but not on the clothes I should buy. The good thing is that now I know better.

MY BASIC SWEATERS

Then I put back my basics . It's the clothes that I wear often and the clothes that bridge the gaps between my classics and are mostly tops . They offer the maximum versatility so I feel that I have more clothes than I really have. I tend to replace them every couple of years. My simple sweater collection is :

• Black cardi
• grey cardi
• beige cardi
• black sweater
• grey sweater
• white sweater

It's nothing fancy but offer the canvas to use my patterned or colored pieces and they mix and match nicely with the classics so that I'm always decently dressed. I would like them to be a bit better quality but from now on , each one I will replace it will be with a new one of great quality and fit.

MY SHIRTS COLLECTION

 Then I put back in the closet my shirts . It came to me as a surprised when I realised that my shirt collection is mostly patterned . I hope they play along nicely with my basic  and classic pieces this winter and many winters to come as they are of good quality and show no signs of wear. It's a versatile collection as I have :

• A stripped grey&light blue stripes
• A stripped grey&black stripes
• Nautical themed
• Red tartan

I was sort of late to adopt shirts into my wardrobe but I assure you that a shirt can make a huge difference as it gives instant class to an outfit. I feel like I have to explore shirts more.

MY STRIPES

These are my favorite basic pieces and I have to admit that it was last year I wore stripes for the first time . I find they give instant class to my outfits and they are oh! so french. I know already I can mix and match them with both my classics and basics. As you can see I own:

• A white/red stripes
• A blue/white stripes
• A black/ white stripes tuttleneck

SOME MORE BASICS

These few pieces I don't exactly know how to classify . You see the jacket on the left is a classic design but the fit and fabric are not good , the fake leather skirt is too short ...you get the picture . But at this point I can make good use of them to strech my wardrobe .

THE MORE COLORFUL PIECES

In the selves above you can see my more colorful items be it tees ,cardis or skirts . Most of them aren't of excellent quality but they will do the job . What I plan to do is to wear my neutral colors more and when I become an expert at making outfits out of them only then will I start adding color . Hopefully. it will be around spring by that time. I also relay havily on my scarves collection to add color to my outfits.
It might sound frivolous or silly but I feel like I have to study what I have , put some thought on the planning of my outfits and have a strong knowledge of what I can accomplish with what I have. Only then will I be able to make a special addition that will stay with me for a long time and that I will enjoy everytime I wear I wear.

How to rediscover your clothes

dress i've made back in 2009 , camel cardigan , french scarf , my favorite riding boots , velvet bag

Things are getting tighter and tighter with the money here in Greece so I decided this is the year to really play around with what I have in my closet.
Like I have already mentioned in earlier posts there will be no new purchases this year , including 2012 , too.
So this afternoon I had the inspiration to play Polyvor with what I have and mix a few clothes to make new combinations.

burgundy chanel like jacket , light blue men's shirt , emerald  scarf ,denim trousers (not pictured here  ) , broques

I made a bit of recearch and got inspired by this great blog of the vivienne files and I came up with the following conclusion probably a no brainer to many of you but for me it hit home just this morning.
If I train my eyes to many different color combinations then I can have numerous new outfits without spending a dime. 

olive green tartan scarf  and denim dress , strong blue cardigan and camel bag & shoes

Only by playing around with color , scarves and accessories ( I plan to diy a few during this winter ) I can strech my existing wardrobe big time.
I love all the outfits I came up and evrything seems so new again just because I tried different color palettes.

olive green monochromatic cardi /tshirt /skirt and a puprle scarf on top , never have I tried that

If you want to do what I did you follow these steps:
hung your clothes roughly according to color (all black together ,all greys together next to blacks etc )
get inspiration from polyvor or numerous other collages 
Pay attention to color combinationsthere
 try to recreate a few with what you have.
make outfits around the scarves you own .

bag I made , scarf I love

Whatever you do just make sure you blessed the clothes you already have and buy nothing new. This will give you time and space to rediscover what you already own and give them the love they deserve . Clean them , iron them put some  perfume to them and they will become precious to you .
I greatly enjoyed playing around with my clothes. I hope you find my outfits well put together and I hope even more that  you  try some new combinations yourselves !

How to rediscover your jewelery

 I took all my jewels out yesterday to make an inventory and decide which ones I wear and which ones I could probably revamp and inject some new spirit into my otherwise same wardrobe.

What you see in the photos above is necklaces I joined together with a pair of my hoop earings. Very simple ,instant results.

 I want to up cycle many of my bracelets , as well .One thing I want to do is turn them a size or two smaller because when I shopped from them I made the mistake not to check carefully for their shape. I feel like I threw my money away since I don't enjoy to wear them if they slip all the time so I have to find a way to fix it.

The best way to do a jewllery clean up is :
take all your jewelery out and put on a large surface 
put all alike together hoops with hoops ,rings with rings etc.
 this way you will have a clear view of what you own.
make 3 piles one to keep  , the second to give away or throw or put somewhere out of sight to rediscover in the future and the third pile
to revamp or upcycle or tear apart to use in future projects.


Keep the third pile in a big box and throw a piece of paper inside and a pen. Each time you see on the net or in magazines something you like note down what materials you need in order to create new jewelery from your existing ones. 
After a while you will be able to know what you want to do exactly and what you need to shop. 

Now that you took all your jewelery out try to think of different ways to store what's left. The best way according to me is to keep somewhere you can see everything you own because that's the only way you can use it all. Try to make displays like in shops .I 'm sure we can all make a nice little corner to keep our jewels.
I'll keep you updated.

Take a different direction

It so happens in life that interests shift and at the moment my creativity forces me to put all my energy in decorating and transforming my house .

All my beautiful followers I'm sure have noticed already my falling in love with DIY projects and this time I'm not gonna walk away from what my instict  tells me to do.

I will keep my dressing style very simple and minimal involving a few basic pieces and I will be blogging about my diy and decoration adventures in my other blog angie's world.
I will be checking your wonderful blogs and occassionaly post my outfits probably on a weekly base but mostly I will dive the diy deep waters. Feel free to join me !!!