Monthly Archives: August 2012

Fashion Friday

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I’ve spoken with people about my post last week and what I keep hearing is “I can’t find an outfit to enter”. Now I am 99.9% sure this doesn’t mean they are not inspired, but that they are following the inspiration to exactly.

I don’t want you to be exact, I want to see what INSPIRES you.

Yes, my outfits were pretty close to the inspiration pictures, but that doesn’t mean YOURS have to be.

I want to see WHAT inspires you, even if it’s just one thing you saw somewhere, you were inspired and that’s what I want to hear about.

Don’t feel like the color has to be exact or the created outfit EXACTLY the same as your inspiration. It’s just a loose interpretation. Here are some ideas:

Maybe you’re more of a jeans wearer and you saw something or someone that inspired you to wear a dress or a big chunky necklace. Or you saw this pic with the cut of the dress and thought that would look flattering on your body type, so you tried to duplicate it.

Maybe you’ve never tried tucking your shirt in or wearing a maxi skirt.

Maybe you like the idea of a striped shirt with shorts.

Or a striped shirt with a skirt. Again, you don’t have to include a belt or you can make it chunky instead of a skinny belt.

Or you’ve always wanted to try wearing a hat or scarf (don’t feel like you have to wear a leather jacket since it’s so DANG hot!)

Or boots with a dress.

The thing I love about fashion is its ability to change. I look back on what I wore a couple years back and have grown and changed so much since then. What you choose  to wear reflects so much of where you are in life, but can also reflect where you want to be. It’s also about taking risks and making changes.

What have you always wanted to try to wear, but didn’t think you could pull off? What did you try to wear, loved and stuck with?

Go through your wardrobe, find an outfit and email it to me at

thegirlwiththesmileblog@gmail.com

along with a picture or even just a comment on what inspired you.

Because you know what? You just might inspire someone else. 😉

Happy Friday! 🙂

Favorites Party

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First, I made the invitation and emailed it out.

Here is how it works:

1) You pick one favorite thing that costs less than $6 (technically $5, but I didn’t want people to stress out about the amount after taxes). Then bring 5 of that item unwrapped to the party.

2.) At the party, everyone puts their names on five tickets. We used raffle tickets, but you could use any cut-up paper and throw it into a jar to be chosen from.

3.) Each person takes a turn presenting their item, describing why it’s their favorite, where they got it and what they do with it. (I brought Cookie Butter from Trader Joe’s and banana muffins to eat it with, although I could just eat it with a spoon. Addicting!!!)

4.) Then five tickets are chosen and those five people get that item, so at the end, everyone has five new “favorites” to take home.

Here are some things that I might change for next time:

-I wish I would have taken more pictures (I have the hardest time being at a party and remembering to take pictures. Boo.)

-I think it might be better to do 3 things under $10. A lot of people had a hard time finding something that was under $6, but could think of a lot of things that were in the $7-$9 range.

All in all though, it was an extremely easy party to throw (super LOW maintenance), especially since my friends ROCK at bringing yummy goodies and we had a lot of fun just hanging out. And I got to take home some pretty sweet new “favorite” things.

(P.S. That Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was gone in a day. Why do they make the containers so cute and easy to hold?! It makes it so much easier to eat quickly!)

I got this party idea from the wonderful Julie over at Joy’s Hope.

Next I want to have a Pioneer Woman Potluck. I’m salivating at the thought of it.

Fashion Friday

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Summer Inspiration

Often times, like I’ve said in previous posts, I rip pictures out of magazines that I like and store them in my “style” notebook. When I’m lacking inspiration and looking for a new outfit, I check out my notebook for ideas.

Here are some outfits that I came up with next to the picture that inspired me:

So, I’ve cooked up a little contest because a little competition is healthy, right? 😉

I want you to find inspiration and create a new outfit. Look in magazines (my faves are InStyle and Lucky Mag), Pinterest or people you see out and about. Your outfits don’t have to be exact because this is “inspiration” after all. Just look at the shapes of clothing (long baggy pants) or how it’s worn (shirt tucked in with belt) and then try to do similar with the clothing you presently have in your wardrobe.

After you’ve created a new outfit, email me two pictures, a pic of your inspiration and also a pic of your fabulous creation to thegirlwiththesmileblog@gmail.com.

All entries need to be in by 11:30 pm PST on August 22, 2012 to be entered.

***The five BEST outfits will be featured on Fashion Friday on August 24, 2012.***

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!