Necklaces Made By Me

I've been constructing necklaces for years. Sometimes I sell them but mostly I just wear them myself. But after seeing all the wonderful etsy sellers on flickr I'm wondering if I should setup my own little shop. It might be fun if I don't allow myself to be an hysteric over the admin side of things. 

The photo on the left is a close up of some of my 'raw materials'. You can see the largish brown pendant near my thumb features in the necklace on the far right in the photo on the right. 

I name all my creations; clockwise, from left: 'Wooden Heart', 'My Friend Flickr', 'Magic Medal', 'Dora the Explorer' 'High Priestess' & 'Carmen Miranda'. 

"Too Much Information"

broad sun
Originally uploaded by middleagedteacher

Yesterday was the school's Annual Swimming Carnival in a faraway suburb. I managed to sneak away at lunch time to check out the thrifting possibilities. I found a large St Vincent de Paul charity shop which initially didn't look too promising. But it's amazing (or perhaps not ) what you can find if you persist trawling through those racks!
I found this plaid skirt & patterned top. It's the sort of mish-mash that would have done my poor Mother's head in if she saw it. A while ago, I discovered the joys of mixing patterns & I've never looked back. It's so much fun to see what you can put together from seemingly unlikely combinations. It's kind of Deluxe Nerd Dressing.
But it's a look that's not for everybody. Recently, I posted a photo on wardrobe remix that combined ocelot footless tights with a brown patterned pleated skirt. One of my contacts, commented that the clashing patterns was "too much information". English is probably not her first language, but I understood what she meant. I may not be the channeller of conventional 'good taste' but at least I have a good time with my wardrobe!
Brown patterned 'Portmans' top
'Suzanne Grae' plaid skirt
Royal blue footless tights (forgot)
creme & red sandals thrifted from The Wayside Chapel
Matching cuffs from H&M
Homemade necklace.
Almost 100% Thrifted!

Scarves on the Incredible Journey

I've been on flickr's wardrobe remix for about three months. It's not only been this Incredible Journey Around My Wardrobe, but an Incredible Armchair Journey around the Globe, viewing & commenting on other people's daily outfits from all over the world (well, mainly the US) & being commented on  myself.

My friends & family have enjoyed it too, although one over-burdened work colleague, after briefly viewing my flickr site said that it was obvious that I didn't have enough to do. Yeah, it's really a shame that I'm wasting my time on this when I could be catching up with the latest episode of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!'

Like all Incredible Journeys, there's been a few small obstacles on the way. You'll notice my collection of scarf photos above. I love wearing scarves & have been collecting them on & off for over 30 years. It's a great way to change the look & mood of an outfit, even if you end up looking like a flight attendant at times. Little did I realise that of course, scarves are fetish items! For a while I was getting lots of comments from other flickr members who always seemed on hand to comment the minute I posted a scarf on WR: "I love love love the way you've tied your scarf!" or "Great tying!" they'd trill. When the penny finally dropped that I was just being sleazed on I was deflated. To paraphrase Sally Field's famously needy Oscar Acceptance speech - they didn't "really love me after all!"

 But then I discovered the "BLOCK" button & suddenly everything was sunshine & roses. If only Real Life was like that. For the moment, the sleaze artists have gone away, or at least they've cleverly disguised themselves.