As Seen on Pinterest - Ombre Nails

So I tried the ombre nails. Yep, I did something trendy. It worked ok. I followed this tutorial, and even used basically the same colors. I'm posting process pics to show how mine turned out, not because I did anything different than the tutorial in the link.

Starting with the base coat. I only did one coat. Maybe two would have been better.

 One tutorial said to use vaseline to keep the polish off your skin. I used some masking tape because it was handy. I tried without anything too, and it just takes longer to clean at the end.

 Here are my two polishes on the sponge. Some tutorials show you dipping into the paint on a plate, but that turned out terrible. Painting it directly on the sponge worked the best.

 I never could get that seamless ombre effect. The polish kept lifting off the fingernail if I messed with it too long.

 After a applying clear coat the bumpy look and texture goes away.

 My second color combo worked better:

 Toes! Yes, ew it's feet. But I kept staring at them for a couple of days because it turned out so cool!

So I guess it's kind of cool, but I need a little more practice. Has anyone else tried it?

Fall Bucket List

Have you seen the cute "Fall Bucket List" printables that are floating around? I think this one is super adorable AND our family is capable of doing almost everything on it! There was another one that I saw that said "visit a winery." Well, how about a wine festival?!!

This was actually the last weekend of the 2012 Stuttgarter Weindorf. We almost missed it!

 There was a lot of people. 

 And super yummy food. We ate zwiebelkuchen and flammkuchen. I called it our "ode to onions."

 And there was some wine.

So we checked off winery, one date, and of course Starbucks was involved, so we can check off fancy coffees too. I'm sure we'll put several check marks next to that one... eh hem. It was a lovely evening and a nice beginning to the fall season. 

First Day of School

We are now the proud parents of a High Schooler!

 (Mine is the one on the right, for those of you visiting my blog.)

I think her day was ok. She showed up at my office at lunch time to say "I'm in HIGH SCHOOL!" and get money for lunch, which she now doesn't have to consume in the cafeteria. 

And the boy started Third Grade. Our day started like this...

 This boy can whine better than any teenager girl. Ever. But he's mine and I love him. And by the time we reached school (we're walking now, remember) he was ok.

His teacher is one of the most popular in the school. I've been hearing about her for years, even before our kids went to school on the base, so I hope he'll have a great year!

 A military classroom would not be complete without a GIANT American flag on the wall. Right?

Our day ended like this:

Here's to an excellent school year!

We Moved!

Wow... Did you wonder what happened to us? Did you miss me? Well.... I have a reason for not blogging for months... WE MOVED!

So Rob got a new job with a German church and we found an apartment closer to base and to the church. It was a lot of work to move, but it was worth it! We had to renovate the old apartment, which is totally normal. We just had to paint and clean. But it had a lot of rooms, and a lot of nooks and crannies! But before we could move into the new place we had to paint the ceilings, wallpaper the whole apartment, install a kitchen, and hang all the lights. Did I mention it's BRAND NEW?! We're the first renters!

It's very normal here in Germany to buy your own kitchen, even when you're a renter. After ten years of living here, though, this was our first time to get a place that didn't come with a kitchen. It was really fun to design it myself! We had lots of friends from the church volunteer to help us build and install it, so it's all DIY! (Well, flat-packed from Ikea DIY) It's not completely finished, and we're still climbing over boxes to walk around the apartment, so no pictures to share yet. But eventually....

We were SOOOO incredibly blessed through this move! We've been going to a German church for over a year now, and then Rob started working for the daughter church. So it's like being members of two churches even though technically they are the same. It's like those satellite churches in America. Anyway, between these two congregations we must have had 30 different people helping us with all the different aspects of moving. It was so amazing and so overwhelming how everyone jumped in selflessly, some even taking time off of work to help us.

This is something so beautiful about the community we're in - they are ready to lend a hand to anyone in need. They all came in their "painting" clothes, which I can imagine they have worn to bless many families just like us.

It was exactly one month ago today that we moved in and today, exactly one month later, we received the gift of internet! Oh how I missed you... I am obviously incredibly behind in posting and hope to make up for that over the next few months. We're still slowly getting settled into the new place and not ready to take pictures yet, but I have several things I want to share with you, so I will do that eventually.

Mostly I just wanted to say "Hi" and "I'm back!!!"

Draping

I created this shirt by draping the fabric on my mannequin. The pants are my cropped Vogue 1051 that I never properly blogged. The shirt was an experiment and I think it turned out ok!

Prairie Girl Refashion

Does anyone remember when I made this dress? It's ok if you don't. 

I made this dress in 2010. I think I wore it once - for this photo shoot. I decided the length was awkward for me and the slip hung funny and clung to my body in a weird way. So it languished in my closet... lonely and forgotten. Until last night when I had pity on it.

WOW! Did I get OLD? I look like TWELVE in that first picture!

First I cut out the skirt lining. Then I just wacked off the bottom and hemmed. Took about 15 minutes and now I have a shirt that I LOVE! The pattern is called Prairie Girl by Favorite Things.

Vintage-esque Suit

When I found this fabric I knew it was destined for a suit of some kind. I was thinking something in the realm of classic Chanel, Mad Men, Pan Am or something Jackie O. would have worn. 

The skirt is my standard straight skirt pattern using my measurements, but this time I added a tailored back vent, which I am quite pleased with! The jacket is Butterick 5332, which I've made once before. I really love the way it turned out! I'm not exactly sure what kind of fabric it is. First I thought it was boucle, but that's not right. I looked up tweed, but it doesn't look like that either. It's a very loosely woven yarn over a less loosely woven base fabric. Hard to explain... It's a pale mint green and white. Whatever the fabric is I love it! It has a super drape to it so the bell sleeves aren't too stiff, but it has enough stability that the waistband stays put. 

I wore it to work for the first time yesterday and got lots of comments that it looked like the 60's and that it was really nice. I wish I had had little white gloves and a handbag for the photo shoot but oh well!

BTW, did you know that this is Me Made May? Thanks to Zoe and her "Me-Made" challenges I have almost a completely handmade wardrobe! I never would have dreamed I could do that. I decided not to be a participant in the challenge anymore since it's my way of life, but I encourage anyone out there to try it! It's easy to start out with simple things, like handmade jewelry, and then keep building your wardrobe. It's so rewarding!