Pre School Blues

So tomorrow morning, I am going to go to my first class at the University of Phoenix. I am finally starting work on my bachelors degree. I don't know whether to be excited or pissed that I'll be in school another two years, as most people my age got their degrees years ago. I do realize that I'm extremely fortunate to be able to get an education in the first place, and will do my best. I picked the University of Phoenix because if I had chosen a public school like a cal state, I'd be stuck trying to get a degree for at least twice the time it'll take me at Phoenix.

I also have one last class to take at PCC, MATH. :-( I start that at 7am Monday morning. OHH well.

I've made a couple of impulse buys over the last two days, which I'm about to share. I am going to try and ban myself from the EGL sales for the next two weeks, as I have absolutely no more money to spend on myself anyway. After I pay my last bill and put gas in my car, I'll have about $21 left over until the 10th. Which is OK, I can live off of that. I bring lunch to work, and make my own coffee at home. I have no other expenses throughout the week.

Now on to the fun shit.

IMPULSE BUYS

Impulse buy #1:
I saw these on a girl on Daily Lolita about a week ago. She was in OTT sweet, and was wearing her clip in the same pink x blue mix wig that I have. These came up last night and I jumped on the opportunity to buy them. Usually all you see from chocomint on egl are the star clips. These are pretty bitchin:

These look like balloons! I bought mine in blue. I can attach this to the middle bow on my Candy Treat JSK. So pretty!

Impulse buy #2:
Today I found this on EGL for a flat price. Meaning the price included shipping and paypal fees. Usually something like this would cost a lot more with all of the fees.

It's an Angelic Pretty donut necklace!! I'll be able to wear this with my casual black Soft Cream coord. I feel kind of bad, because there was another girl inquiring about it before me,  but I left my pay pal before she left hers. This is the second time  I've done that to that user in the last month.  Oh well. 

I also like this donut necklace because donuts were one of the first things that I tried making out of polymer clay two years ago. They came out lookin' like crap. To celebrate my purchase, I fixed up an old donut charm that I made 4 months ago. It's a huge mickey mouse donut, and I attached a marshmallow chain to it and turned it into a hair clip. I attached it to my purse for school tommorow. 

(Kind of) Impulse buy #3:
My black kawaii goods star. I don't really know if I can consider this impulsive, as I needed it for my casual coord anyway.

I'm thinking about pinning this on my melty chocolate bag to make it coordinate better with the rest of the outfit. 

I seriously can not wait for all of my stuff to get here. My casual coord is going to be so wonderful. I think I probably went a little over my $150 spending limit, but that's because I kept coming across stuff that would go perfectly with it! I LOVE planning out every detail. I would never wear anything out if just one of those details was missing. 

My plan for my next check: 

1. Get those damn mint shoes for my Milky Berry coord already. ($70)

2. Put away hopefully $150 for my next JSK. 

3. I need to buy my tickets for PMX, though I have all Sept. and Oct. to do that. Will wear Milky Berry to PMX most likely. 

Oh, and I also signed myself up for a lolita pen pal. I'm going to feel bad that I'm going to send my first letter on notebook paper and not cute stationary. She'll hopefully understand, once I explain what I spent all my money on :)

Goodnight!!

Angelic Pretty Lace

I attempted to blog about Angelic Pretty's lace in my last post, but decided that it is far too interesting a subject to only mention briefly. While lace may seem like something minuscule to outsiders, it is in fact what makes our lolita brand dresses special. It is the reason why I wear sweet lolita, and why I can justify spending the money on my dresses. 

Lace is also one of the reasons I decided to not wear replicas. While some of the replica brands do an OK job at replicating Angelic Pretty's lace, its just not the same. Additionally, replicas can be relatively expensive too, and I'd rather just save my money for the real thing. 

In this post, I am going to show five of Angelic Pretty's prints and their lace. Two of these prints are so loved and popular that they are somewhat difficult to find and incredibly more expensive than the others. This post is meant for outsiders to perhaps understand an aspect of this fashion that makes it so unique. 

 I found some of these photos from other fashion blogs, so if one of these is one your photos, I thank you for taking these pictures! Also, some of these pictures might be big, but it's so you can see the beautiful detail in the lace. 

Milky Berry

 As I mentioned in my earlier post, I don't particularly like this lace. I realize it's because it isn't the typical colorful mesh material. Since I posted my Milky Berry JSK in the last post, I'm going to put the lace in here only. You need to look closely to see the detail: 

Milky Berry's print is covered in strawberries. Note how the lace matches that theme. 

Sugary Carnival 

Sugary Carnival is one of Angelic Pretty's most popular prints. Used, Sugary Carnival costs one to two hundred dollars more than the original release price. It is detailed with carousel horses attached to marshmallow "poles". Pictured is a Sugary Carnival skirt: 

And now for Sugary Carnival's lace: 

Notice the carousel horses in the lace! How adorable is that? 

Milky Planet:

Milky Planet is also a relatively popular Angelic Pretty print. There is ice cream everywhere on this print, even little ice cream rocket ships.  I couldn't find a picture of a dress or skirt that had a good view of the print itself, so here is a swatch of it:

Now for Milky Planet's lace: 

Can you see the ice cream cones in the lace? Kind of makes you hungry doesn't it? 

Jewelry Jelly 

I like Jewelry Jelly because unlike the last two prints, it isn't as crazy in demand. It usually sells quickly when it's in the EGL sales, but it isn't as expensive as Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival. Since I have a Jewelry Jelly JSK in an earlier post, I'm going to use the swatch as an example of the print. Its somewhat hard to see, but there are jello molds on platters. 

                                  Look closely and see how the lace matches the print: 

Candy Treat

I thought I'd post Candy Treat's lace, as I blogged so much about this print. If you haven't noticed from earlier posts, Candy Treat is adorned with lolly pops and other candies.  Heres the print swatch: 

Now for the lace, which I can't get enough of: 

More lace to make your mouth water!

So now you see one of the reasons why I am obsessed with this fashion. Theres no way in hell you can find this kinda stuff at the mall! 

Milky Berry Coord

Today I purchased my second Angelic Pretty set. It isn't Jewelry Jelly like I had initially wanted, but it was my second choice. I've been saving up and living frugally to be able to afford more Angelic Pretty, and I'm happy that I found this dress in the colourway that I wanted! For anyone who doesn't know how Lolita sales work, we either have to buy directly from the stores, or buy used on EGL sales. EGL is a livejournal community devoted to gothic and lolita fashion. They have a sales portion where girls can put up their used clothes and accessories and sell them to others. This is a great tool for us, as brands usually only release a certain amount of items in a particular series. Anyway, I think Milky Berry was released a few years ago, so there is no way I'd be able to buy it direct from their site. I happened upon it this morning  in the EGL sales! I thought I'd share with you my plans for my Milky Berry Coord.

First, and most importantly, this is the set that I bought:

I lucked out and got the JSK and hairbow in one set. No socks though :-(

The one thing I do not like about Milky Berry is the lace. It has strawberries in the lace, but it's white and doesn't stand out as much as prints like Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival. I will post another entry about Angelic Pretty lace today. 

I will be able to wear this with the mocha latte wig that I already bought from GLW. Or perhaps my plan old boring brunette wig that is similar to the one in the photo of the bow. 

Now on to the things that I still have to buy! I'm hoping to get away with spending only about $100 more. 

To make my life a little easier, I am planning on buying Angelic Pretty's Berry Berry socks instead of their Milky Berry ones. The socks in the Milky Berry series might be a little difficult to find, as Angelic Pretty doesn't produce them anymore. However, Berry Berry socks are currently available on their website. I am going to buy them in white because it's one of the coordinating colors in the outfit. 

Next, I need to buy a bag. Angelic Pretty released a strawberry bag that would go perfectly with this coord. However, as I mentioned earlier, I don't want to spend more than another $100 on Milky Berry. Bodyline, Angelic Pretty's poor second cousin, released this bag.  I'm hoping and praying I'll be able to find it in EGL. 

                                                            

Next, I will need a red blouse to go under the JSK. I can probably find that for cheap either at a thrift store or Ross. 

Finally, I need rmint shoes to complete this look. I'd like to try another type of shoe other than RHS, so I'd settle for tea party shoes or anything else lolita-esque: 

                                                      

These shoes are Antaina, which is the same ebay seller I bought my blue rocking horse shoes from. Their shoes average about $55 shipped, and I trust them because of the good experience I had with them last time. 

As for accessories, I've been planning them out for a while now. Perhaps I convinced myself to buy Milky Berry before Jewelry Jelly because of all the creative freedom I'll have. I am going to make giant strawberries for hair clips. And at dinner on Friday, I saw strawberry tarts and got inspired. I'm going to make a huge strawberry tart necklace. I also happened to pick up this Angelic Pretty gingham ring for a really good price on EGL: 

I hate gingham, but this will go so well with my coord!

As I mentioned earlier, after I shine my boots for work tomorrow, I'll post an entry about Angelic Pretty lace. It's much more exciting than you may think :0) 

Comic Con 2011

This Saturday I went to Comic Con in San Diego. It was quite an experience. I wore my candy treat coord, which turned out nicely. My sax RHS from ebay were much more comfortable than my pink ones from Bodyline.  I walked around in them for 12 hours and didn't get very tired. Comic Con was insanely huge, with so much crap to look at in the exhibition hall. We went to a PeeWee Herman panel, and a Dr Who meetup as well.
                                          
Here's Erica cosplaying as River Song from Dr Who. I really wish I had some pictures from their meetup. There was probably about 25 Dr Who cosplayers.

And now on to my CANDY TREAT COORD!

I brought three different dresses for comic con, but ended up wearing Candy Treat the entire time. On Thursday when we went to the actual con, I wore my wig without the pigtails.

That day I got invited to a photo shoot for Entertainment Weekly, and I got to take professional photographs with a bunch of other cosplayers. I only let them think I was wearing a costume. 

On Saturday, I went to a Lolita meetup at Seaport Village. which is right across the street from the convention center. That day I did end up wearing my pigtails, and I got mobbed by people taking pictures while walking through the outside of the convention. The pigtails really brought the look together, and although I fear they make my face look too round, I think I'd wear them again.

This is a photo from facebook.com/deliscousbuzz. I actually won a contest because of this photo, but the prize was to some weird party in San. Diego that I had no interest in.

 There must have been about 20 girls at the meetup. I have never seen so many girls dressed in lolita at once. The ones that I talked to were so nice, and everyone looked amazing. 

Heres a nice candid shot of us walking to the carousel 

Before we left for seaport village, this strange lady with a german accent made me and my friend Amy pose for weird photos. It turns out she was the wife of some famous german filmaker named Werner Herzog. I've never heard of him. Anyway, apparently he's quite famous. Here he is standing around some of the girls: 

His wife was really weird and wanted to take pictures of us holding hands and hugging as if we were little girls. Just because we dress like dolls doesn't mean we want to act like children! 

                                                  Anyway, heres a good shot of most of the group:

This is most of the group. I'm over on the far right. 

All in all, I had so much fun at Comic Con. It was a priceless experience and I hope to go again next year. 

Projects

This week I'm tearing my room apart. I donated a good majority of my clothes to the goodwill, and I'm going to destroy my old dresser to make room for another one. The one I currently have is wide, and I'd prefer one that's longer and not as wide. The one I'm going to take from the garage won't really match the rest of my room, but I don't really care. I'm going to make a lolita wardrobe out of a current bookshelf I have, so that will be fun.  I moved my bed around so I'll have the room to do it.

My Angelic Pretty purse came in the mail today! I'm so happy. It's in excellent condition too. Kawaii Goods is so awesome. Once my sax RHS come in the mail my candy treat coord will be complete!! They are currently clearing customs in San Francisco, so they should be here by tomorrow. I'm going to a tea party on Sunday in Glendora, so that will be my first time wearing everything. I'm really excited to wear Angelic Pretty for the first time. Then that Thursday will be comic con! Horay. Really stoked.


I'm also going to a sailor lolita meetup in August. I have this dress from bodyline:
I detest the color and the fabric of this dress. When I bought it, I assumed its color was navy blue. Instead, this dress is royal blue, and the fabric is similar to a sports jersey. I was initially planning on trying to sell it on EGL, but I think I'll just cut off the sleeves so it doesn't look as frumpy. I also need some white OTK socks. I have plain black mary jane shoes which will probably go nicely with this. I'm also planning on making my own royal blue hair bow, and using an old nautical looking bag from high school. I have an anchor polymer clay mold which will be good for my accessories.
Also, this wig re-stocked on the GLW website literally a day after I bought the mocha latte wig:


I think this would be perfect for a sailor coord, but my mocha latte wig will also suffice. If my anthropology book on amazon sells, I'll have enough to buy this.


Also, I'm going to try and sell my first lolita coord on EGL. It's the milky chan replica that I hate so much. I'm going to attempt to group everything together; the dress, the wig, the cuffs, the bow, the bloomers, and even the jewelry I made. I'm hoping to get $100 for everything. It will go straight into my jewelry jelly fund!
:
These are the accessories. I stupidly glued a cookie to the middle of the bow, and a barrette clip to it as well.

Until next time.

My first blog

Hello, though I don't know who I'm saying hello to as I have no readers.


My name is Sarah. Im in my mid twenties, and I got this blog because I stopped journal writing three years ago. I need some sort of outlet, and I think this could be it. I currently work as an administrator. I have two boxer dogs, one reverse brindle boy and one fawn girl. I love them both to death. I enjoy polymer clay art, and deco den. I am very interested in Lolita fashion, and my interest is border line obsession. I imagine that my blog will be mostly related to that. 


Over the last couple of weeks I've looked through many fashion blogs, and I find them quite interesting. My decision to start a blog like this was influenced by my fascination of looking at other girls blogging about their lives and their beautiful clothes. I have found a lot of lolita blogs very inspiring. I also find that a lot of Lolita's are deco artists, and their blogs give me new ideas for future projects. 


Before I even knew what Lolita was, I stumbled across The Gothic and Lolita bible at Vromans. I opened it up, by chance mind you, and liked what I saw. There were instructions for DIY chocolate covered strawberries, which I decided to try at home. They came out awful. That was two years ago. Ever since then, my creativity has expanded, and I now know how to bind jewelry and make hair pieces. I plan on opening an etsy shop this summer. 


My first actual attempt at Lolita was at Bats Day 2009, which is an annual event held at Disneyland. Looking back, I cringe at the thought of the outfit I wore. The dress I had on was a modified square dance dress. I wore only one petticoat, and knee socks over tights. I made clay donuts and ice cream cones to attach to my outfit. They were hand painted and awful. My wig was a terrible white Lady Gaga-ish thing. Thinking back, I have come to learn so much about the fashion just by reading other blogs.

This was my first ever attempt at Lolita, and I look terrible. Notice how I look ghostly with the wig.




My second attempt at Lolita wasn't all that great either. I bought a dress off of ebay, thinking I had found a great deal. It was $70 with shipping, and had a cute print on it. Later on, as I was researching Angelic Pretty's prints, I found out that I had a Milky Chan replica. I'm not a fan of replica's. Also, the dress didn't fit quite right on me, so my silhouette was off. I think I had too much poof.

 Here I am at a Japan LA event, where there were a few legit Lotias in attendance. I felt so out of place and uncomfortable, with my crappy Milky Chan replica. Once I learn how to use EGL comm sales I'm going to try and get rid of it.

This is the first meetup I ever went to, before I knew I was wearing a fake! This is why I think I'm too poofy. I was wearing one square dance petticoat and two cupcake petticoats. From now on I'm going to stick to one or two cupcakes.


I'm going to try and get rid of that wig also. It is too plain. I recently bought a wonderful wig from Gothic and Lolita wigs, which is so much better than the boring brunette one.


I am currently in the process of coordinating a mint Bodyline ensemble for Anime Expo. Bodyline is really wonderful for a girl like me. I don't particularly want to pay the high prices for Angelic Pretty and the other brands, and Bodyline has a few cute prints that can be worked with. However I am on the lookout for my dream AP print, Candy Treat. There was in the egl comm last week but by the time I saw it, it was too late.


Anyway, more to follow. Schools out next week, and I'm going to start preparing to open my Etsy shop. I'll post pictures of my jewelry then.