Grand Opening Sale

I am so excited for my Etsy Shop to be open, that I am celebrating by having a Grand Opening Sale.  Head on over to see all of the new designs that are up and to save 20% on any purchase of $20 or more.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeacocksandLeopards?ref=si_shop

ETSY shop

I am so excited to have finally gotten my Etsy shop up and running for my Custom Boutique Bracelets!  I have been selling them privately for months now and have been doing really well with it, that I have now decided to take the plunge and get a shop open.  Most of my pieces are ONE-OF-A-KIND!  This means that you will not be walking down the street or the hall and run into someone wearing the same things as you ( I had an experience in high school where a girl was wearing the exact same sweater as me on the same day and it bothered me so much that I still remember it to this day..... one-of-a-kind is a big deal to me, hence why I refashion a big chunk of my clothes).

On occasion, I do find designs that I can repeat and because they do are so popular, I recreate them the same or similar.

So here is my shop!  https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeacocksandLeopards?ref=si_shop

I am still in the process of getting bracelets on there, so by the end of next week, I should have a LOT posted and you won't know I just opened :-)

I create both Women's (in 2 different sizes) and baby/Toddler ones that are SO adorable!

The only way this is going to work for me, is if people help spread the word!  So please share, follow me on there, <3 your favorite pieces, pin them on Pinterest, whatever you feel you can do.  I promise to post Giveaways and Sales and do post new, unique designs.

I am posting some pictures of bracelets that I have made in the past (most cannot be recreated at this time), just to show different styles that I create.  I really do try my best to cover every kind of person.  I take a lot into consideration when I create my pieces.

Here are some of my faves, but I have made WELL over a 100+ and they are all different.  No way of me sharing all of my designs.  I love them all and I truly hope that others will fall in love with them too.  Thanks to all of those that have supported me up to this point, I really, truly appreciate it!  You may just be seeing some outfit posts on here based entirely around some of my bracelet designs :-)

 This adorable pink, black and silver one is a baby/toddler one and is just precious!  I have 3 little girls and they all wear these and love them!

The #1 Question I get asked!

So who can guess what the #1 question is that I get asked?  I literally get asked this question almost daily........... if you guessed "How do you do your hair?" you get a big cyber High Five!  I get messaged this question multiple times a week, so instead of typing it out over and over and over... I decided that a blog post was in order explaining it step by step so that I can just direct people to this page and say "I have a simple answer for you!"  No more typing it out and trying to explain it, this will be my last.

 

So here we go!

 

After I get out of the shower, I put my hair in a towel and get my make-up on. 

This picture shows the "I just took a towel off my head" look.  Now, I don't know if I am the only one, but because I have wavy hair and go multiple days without washing/brushing my hair, I can sometimes get a massive rats nest in my hair, especially right under where my neck is.

 so I take a brush and brush all of my hair out completely to make sure that there are no knots when I start the process.... Yes brushing takes the curls out, that is why I do this next step.

 I find that working with sopping wet hair is best, so I always soak it up by sticking it in the tub and getting it dripping wet.

 

 At this point, take a towel and hand dry it to where it isn't dripping so much or at all.

 

 All of these products here are what I use on my hair.  There may be better products out there, but these are what I use and they seem to do the job that I want done.  The order in which I put it in my hair is as follows:

 

1. Curling Mousse-  I get a handful of this and scrunch it all over my head.
2. Curl Shaping Spray Gel-  I just spray this all over my head making sure I get underneath also.
3. Hi-Rise Root Booster- this get pumped at the roots all around my crown in various spots and massaged into my roots just a bit.
4. Hair Spray- I do a quick layer of hair spray to help it hold while it dries and gets diffused.



 A diffuser is a must!  If you don't have one, get one!  My blow dryer literally burned up and smoked up my whole upstairs, so this is a brand new one and my first time using it was here.  I scrunch and dry and move around my head doing that.

 

 It is getting closer to being dried!

 

 This is what it looks like after being diffused and where most people stop thinking that this is what their hair is going to look like.  I wasn't ok with that, so I kept trying different things and this is what I found that I love the end result. (My hair here is pretty much entirely dry, but it is ever so slightly damp which helps in this next step.) 

 Take the hair that is on the crown of your head like shown above and....

 twist it very tight

 into a twisted bun and clip it with a claw like shown.  At this point, I will go and get my bed made, clean house, take care of whatever the girls are screaming about, etc. while it stays in this position a while and can take the shape on.... OR  I will do my hair first and during this step, get my makeup on and get dressed, but doing that here would have meant that you would all see me without my makeup and (gasp), I can't have my face plastered online looking like that ;-), so I waited to do my hair until after the makeup was on.

 After it has been in this bun for at least 30 minutes or longer, take your blow dryer and help the process along by getting it all dried up.  You can see here that I take the clip off to dry it.

 Here the bun is taken out and I will admit that I didn't wait long enough, but I was on a time crunch and needed to get it done.  so I mess my hair up like crazy and spray it..... but we still aren't done.

 Since I didn't get the bun completely dried, I had to use the blow dryer to get it all the way dry.  The downside of me rushing it and not getting it fully dry in the bun was the volume on the top of my head.  this is where I get so much volume from, so it is worth getting it dried in the bun as best as you can.  After it is fully dried, I use a 3/4-1" curling iron on it in sporadic spots around my whole head to blend with my own natural curl.

 The curl that I use is started at the root of the hair and wrapped around the barrel with my other hand.  In this picture, my other hand was taking the picture, so it isn't twisted all the way.  *Be cautious not to burn your fingers on this part.

 After it is all curled, I squirt some of this frizz control and run my hands over all of my hair to tame down the flyaways that us curly girls tend to get.

 

And here is the final result when everything is finished.  NOW, since I didn't wait the full time and didn't get the volume I usually do, here are some photos showing what it normally looks like after doing it properly.

 

The look can change depending on how much you use the curling iron.  The bottom picture has more curling iron curls on it where the top has just some with mostly my natural wave in it.

 

So there you go!  Hopefully I answered everyone's questions and that this whole process makes sense.  Let me know if you try it and if it worked for you.  I have very thick hair that is more on the courser side, so it may not work on all hair types.



An update & a few random show-&-tell items.

Life this time of year has been flying past me.  I have had a ton of orders for bracelets this holiday season, kids that have been sick, Christmas shopping of course and a husband that is heading out of town & leaving me with 3 little girls & then comes home and the next day goes into surgery on his shoulder.  It may be a struggle of a month for me here on out as I frantically finish orders & taking care of 3 toddlers on my own, but I have a lot of refashion projects that have been waiting to get done!  I have boots to paint, an awesome necklace refashion, a painted (yes painted) skirt that I have been dying to attempt & as always, some shoe projects & sewing projects.  After the new year when everything returns to semi-normal, I will be back with these projects.  For now, I thought I would share a few random things, like my jewelry station.

I made this jewelry station a while ago & I absolutely LOVE having everything out & collected together.  The earring holders are just thrift picture frames painted black with burlap glued & stapled to the back.  The bracelet holder is dowel rods on screwed in hooks.  The snap ones go in the center for easy on & off.  Necklaces on screw hooks & this mirror was a thrift find for $5. 

This whole station is set up in my closet behind the door.  It is all right there as I get my clothes on & makes for easy, quick throw on.  I do need to expand on it & will get to that in the new year.

Another thing I just did was I cut my hair & had red peek-a-boo chunks put in.

I love it so much!  I needed a change, but my husband likes my hair longer (still cut off about 4-5"), so a funky color was in order.  Here is a close up.

I worried about my husband hating it, but I think he agrees that it works for me & my style.... But not his thing at all.

The necklace in the picture above was a glorious find at the hair salon for a steal at $12.

Here I paired it with a second necklace to give the chain around the neck more of  a substantial look.  If I haven't said it before, I am OBSESSED with triangles!  Even my wedding ring is a triangle diamond.

And the last total random thing, I added some Peacock & Leopard ornaments to my Christmas tree this year.

 

I hope your holidays are Merry & Bright!  Now to finish all of these gorgeous bracelet orders before my husband leaves this week (and of course get some made for my own little girls for Christmas to match the outfits they are getting) and enjoy this season with my girls!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

You're wearing a what!? Shirt to skirt & back again.

Who out there has their 1 absolute favorite clothing item that you just adore & it screams your name?  I have a top that is just that for me, you may actually recognize it.

This amazing top is my favorite article of clothing.  When I saw it, I had to have it!  I didn't care that the smallest size available was a 1x.  I was going to buy it & I was going to figure out how to make it work for me.... And that I did!  If you aren't sure what I am talking about with recognizing it, maybe this will spark it for you.

This shirt is also my logo!  BUT, not only is it a shirt & the whole inspiration for the name of my blog & business, but it is also a skirt for me.  And that is what I am going to share with you today.

I take these 3 items, & turn them into a skirt.....

WHY do I do this?  When you love something so much, you want to wear it often, but how fun is it to wear the same combination over & over again?  I personally do not like wearing the exact same combo really ever.  I always have to mix it up.

Here is a pretty basic way to wear this top.

Now excuse the boots.  I normally wear my more casual knee high boots with this, but I wanted to change it up, but I am seeing clearly here that these do not work nearly as well as my other boots, so I will stick to the other ones.  The common more casual way to wear this is with leggings or skinny jeans.

The dressier way is with a pencil skirt & chunky belt!

But back earlier this year, I had a Photoshoot with a professional photographer through Dressing Your Truth & I needed to bring my favorite outfit.  Now, I had already worn my favorite tank in a video recording with the Dressing Your Truth creator Carol Tuttle,(you can see that video in the link) http://thecarolblog.com/new-dressing-your-truth-journey-before-and-after-video/ so I didn't want to wear the same thing, but that outfit represents me so well, so I came up with the idea to wear the tank as a skirt & give the outfit a whole new look.

Here is the shirt as a skirt for the Photoshoot.

And here I mixed it up again for a Dressing Your Truth Event (picture with one of my DYT friends that I finally got to meet in person, Jenny Collins.  Check out her fab outfit!)

So here is how I do it, it is real rocket science ;-)

I start out with a little short slip.  (I normally don't wear leggings, but for modesty purposes, I am wearing them here.). The reason for the slip is because the back of the tank is lace & sheer.  The slip acts as a liner & another thing to tick under.

Now here I decided to add another tank underneath it to add depth & length.  All you do is tuck it into the slip, your underwear or even a Spanx type underclothing to help hold the straps in.

Do the exact same thing with the second tank & tuck it in nice & tight.

You can see on the sides here how you can see the arm holes.  All you do is pull your shirt down over it or

Add a belt over it.  The belt is great because it holds it all in place, but I do like to have my belt a bit higher

which is what I am showing here in this last picture.

So there you have it, my deepest, darkest secrets of how I look at my clothes in different ways to create numerous different outfits.  My favorite thing is when people tell me how much they love my skirt & I get to see their jaw drop when I tell them it is 2 tank tops tucked in to create a skirt.

Now I dare you to not step into your closet & start trying on your tops as skirts to see if they work ;-)

I heart this tank top & all of the amazing outfits I have been able to create with it by mixing it up.  Go try it out, I dare you ;-)