Teacher Clothes

Well, it sure has been a LONG time - what can I say? Life caught up with me, school, work, business, and GETTING ENGAGED! <3 So let's just say  I've had a lot on my plate! I'm going to try to get back to doing this regularly, but we'll see how the year progresses! So I am into my FINAL year of college (YAY!). As I've mentioned before, I'm an elementary education major, so at my college, I get to spend two days a week in an elementary school this semester and five days a week next semester, which I've been really excited about! I've been stocking up on clothes all summer long, so that I can look professional in my school! I was not, however, anticipating being in a school that is EXTREMELY conservative. My skirts and dresses can only be an inch from my knee, button up shirts have to be buttoned to the top button and here's the worst part - NO crop, skinny pants! In all of my searches for teacher clothes this summer, pants were the hardest thing for me to find. I've always loved skirts and dresses - I'd wear them every day if I could, however, I know that's not practical as a teacher. So, I FINALLY found professional looking pants that I liked and that I thought looked good on me, but guess what they are? Crop skinnies. When I read that rule on my teacher handbook I wanted to cry. But get this, I can't wear crop, skinny, professional looking pants, BUT I COULD WEAR FLIP FLOPS! I'm not a fan of flip flops in the first place - I much prefer sandals, and even those I don't have many of. But in what world do FLIP FLOPS look more professional than skinny crop pants? So - in light of all of this, I'm starting a new series called "How to not dress like a nun in a conservative work place".

So, this was my first day - the dress is sleeveless, which, of course is not allowed, so I paired it with a short black cardigan, skinny black belt, gold and black pointed toe flats, and of course, my "teacher bag" that will hold my life every time I go to school.

Dress - Target

Cardigan - Old Navy

Flats - Old Navy 

Bag - Big Buddha 

Okay - I think that's all I've got for today. Like I said, I'm going to try to be better about getting on here, but I make no promises! 

<3

Long Distance Love Mugs

Oh goodness gracious! It has been a tremendously long time! I always keep telling myself that I'm going to post here more often...and then I don't.. but, really, I promise this time I'm going to really try to make a concious effort! Okay, so what's new? There's only 3 weeks left of school! I literally could not be more ready for summer! (Even though I'm taking three summer classes and generally have a really busy summer) Also, I've started an Etsy where I'll be selling all of my crafts because I know from experience that we all lead very busy lives and just don't always have time to make the crafts we want to. So really, I'm trying to help ya'll out! So, I thought I'd tell you about my newest product, that's pretty near and dear to my heart.

 

So today, my boyfriend moved to Ohio for work, and I'm stuck here till I graduate. Boo. So I'd seen this idea for mugs and thought it was adorable, so I got to work. I was obsessed with how they turned out! So he got one, and I kept the other and now when we have our morning (or afternoon, we're both total coffee nuts) coffee, we can think about each other!

So, if you are interested in getting yourself one, check out my Etsy: Sparkle Shine Crafts, and while you're there, feel free to check everything else out! Help me buy some plane tickets! (;

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SparkleShineCrafts

Louise



Fashion!

Okay, so I've decided that I also want to start posting some of my favorite outfits on here to share, so that people can come up with similar, fun styles!

So this is one of my FAVORITE outfits! I saw this dress at Target the other day and just had to have it! So, if you have a fun striped dress, here are some things you could pair it with. I wore a black forever21 cardigan because it was still a little chilly here. Then I paired it with sparkly tights from American Eagle. Can I just say, I LOVE tights with dresses! They are such a great way to make dresses that might be a tiny bit too short look super classy! Then I also paired it with a pair of classic gray Anne Taylor pumps. To add a little fun and color, I added this awesome bracelet by Betsey Johnson

and also my favorite lilac cross body bag, also from Target!

Oh my goodness! It's been so long!

Well hey there! It has been a LONG time since I've gotten on here. With a busy Summer and my first semester of college out of the way, I'm ready to get back on track and post on this WAY more regularly! (I know I've probably said that before, but I promise I really mean it this time!)

Okay, So, these are some fun little initials that I made for two of the kindergarten teachers that I helped last year. They are super fun, easy little crafts and the ladie's seemed SO excited about them (they might have just been acting, but if so, they're really good actresses and should maybe give up the teaching thing?) So, if you want to make something like this, you will need :
A frame (I got these in a pack of two at Michael's for like 8 dollars, I love bargains!)
Foam board that fits in the frame
Aleene's clear gel tacky glue
buttons of assorted shapes and sizes
pencil

Okay, So I googled the initial I needed, found a bubble letter that I liked and then made it the right size before printing it off. Once it was printed, I cut out the letter and then traced it onto my foam board (if you're good at drawing bubble letters, you can totally skip this step, I've just always been super terrible at them). So then comes the long and kind of tedius part... although I guess it depends on how much of a perfectionist you are. I personally laid out all of the buttons how I thought I wanted them and then picked them up one by one and put glue on them before glueing them into place. So it kind of took forever, but if you've got good company or a good TV show going, it passes quickly. So once you have everything glued down, let it dry for a little bit and there you go! You have a super cute gift or wall decoration or whatever you want it for! :)

Christmas Wreath

Hey everyone!  Today, I'm going to talk about a Christmas project that I did. This was one of the kits that I got on clearance after Christmas day. It came with all the materials, so really all that I had to do was glue it all together, but it was so cute that I couldn't resist sharing it, and although it came in a kit, I'm pretty sure that you could pretty easily buy some felt and cut out the same shapes and things!

I would HIGHLY recommend putting the wire ring on a piece of newspaper or something before glueing the felt pieces down, because otherwise there will be glue, EVERYWHERE! That's it for today!(:

More Shoes!

I know, I know, it's been a long time! This summer has been CRAZY busy.
So today, I'm going to show you some more shoes I did. They are also fake Toms from Wet Seal, but they are done differently than the last ones.

So for these, I bought a yard of lace at Wal-Mart, and then a roll of lacy looking ribbon. I cut the ribbon and lace to fit the shoe and then attached it with fabric glue, and viola! Oh! and I painted underneath where I put the lace, just to give it a different look, otherwise it would have looked all red underneath the lace. I used silver paint, simply because it was the closest thing I had to white, and they turned out pretty well. (:

graduation, and shoes!

I am so excited! Graduation is three days away! The middle of my junior year, my best friend and I started a countdown to see how many days we had left. Back then, it was in the four hundreds and that seemed like it would never come, and now, here I am three days away from it, and I remember 400 like it was nothing! The year really has flown by! Last year, I decided that I was determined to find an AMAZING pair of shoes for graduation night, because that is all anyone really sees anyways. So in January of this year, I found my shoes. They are blue, yellow and white colorblock, platform pumps, and I love them! and they have been sitting in my closet since then, and I am SO excited to get to wear them out Friday night! Anyways, this isn't all about my graduation shoes. It is also about my favorite pair of every day shoes.

These are my "custom Toms". except they aren't Toms. Not because I don't think it's a great organization and idea, but mostly because I'm cheap, and I give to other charities as well. So anyways, these shoes were plain gray when I got them. I then painted on the turquoise with acrylic paint and wrote on it with a sharpie pen. They were so easy, are so comfortable, and I get So many compliments on them! I just love them!