Lady in Red

One day, my friend in my beginning photography class wanted to take some pictures with a red umbrella. He had planned on taking pictures out in a field, but I told him I had a better idea. I was already planning on wearing a red dress I had found at a thrift store during its 4th of July-themed sale, and we made plans to meet during one of our breaks. I drove us to the top of a parking garage filled with white light, and the cotton red dress flamed against summer-burned skies...

 

 

We had a lot of fun trying out different ideas and creating pictures we both envisioned. I miss those days. That person has since stopped talking to me, but I still remember the blinding sun in our faces and the excitement of creating art.

Dress - Calven Klein (thrifted), shoes - thrifted

<3 The Magpie

On Wednesdays We Wear Black

I'm pretty sure Wednesday Addams is my spirit animal. 

<3 The Magpie

Full Regalia

 

I bought this landscape dress from Modcloth on a very good sale. I passed it up the first time I saw it, thinking to myself "I don't really need that... I need to save my money..." and then kept going back to it and kept going back to it, AND THEN IT WAS ON SALE. And it has been worth every penny since. I've started to call it my 'wedding dress', as I have worn it to 2 weddings already (with the exact same accessories!), and plan on wearing it to more. It's so beautiful in person, it makes me feel like a walking fairy tale, and other people adore it (who wouldn't, though, really). 

The flower crown was made by an old friend of mine who I reconnected with via Facebook after I saw she had made her own Etsy shop making and selling handmade flower crowns. I sent her a picture of my dress, and she picked a crown out for me. It ended up matching perfectly, and it looked amazing on, and was that dream little detail that made everything else that much better.

The necklace and the light blue cardigan were thrifted, while I found the shoes at DSW. The shoes actually have their own story. I went to DSW, searching for shoes to go along with this dress. They couldn't be heels, since I was actually the photographer for the first wedding I wore this to (these pictures are from the second wedding), but I wanted them to be pretty, as well as practical, and something I would wear with other outfits. Lots of requirements, I know. So after wandering up and down aisles for awhile, I finally saw them. Imagine: Gray flats. In the sale section. The only ones of that kind. The only ones in my size. It was simply meant to be. I took those pretty things home as fast as I could, and have loved them ever since. They have a distinct ballet vibe, which I love, and they are soft and so comfortable. They are so perfect. So is the dress and the flower crown. In other words, this is pretty much the perfect outfit. I've finally done it! I might as well never wear anything else - and when I wore it, I certainly didn't want to!

Dress - Modcloth, shoes - DSW, cardigan - thrifted, necklace - thrifted, earrings - Target,

flower crown - Etsy

 

I'm not very good at doing makeup in the technical sense. I don't know any proper techniques and I just buy it all from Walmart or a drugstore. I approach it more like a painting. I paint and blend and move colors here or there, until I feel like I'm done. I was rather proud of myself for how it turned out.

 

 My hair was so long here! I've cut off about 4-5 inches since. It's still wonderfully long though.

<3 The Magpie

Sometimes I'm a Werewolf

Don't be scared.

<3 The Magpie

Sunday Style

 

This is my first Sunday Style post documenting one of the first times I have used my new(er) tripod for the sole purpose of taking photos of myself. *Sigh* I'm really feeling the wannabe newbness here. We all gotta start somewhere though, amirite? 

Sundays I go to church with my family, so my outfits are usually more understated and simpler then my usual crazy concoctions - I don't want to scare any of the sweet old people at church with my get-up, AND it lets me sleep more. Laziness at its best, folks. I'll take what I can get.

I've taken photos with my tripod before, for motions shots, and a painting-with-light assignment, but I was still the one in control behind the lens. I have come to realize that setting up a camera to take shots of yourself is really hard! I set it on a 10-second timer, run around to the front, and hope for the best, but it's difficult to not know what you look like in the actual frame. I'm never quite sure how the pictures will turn out. I don't mind photos of myself, but I really wish I had a clone, and we could both work together on all kinds of photoshoots. I dream of that quite often. (Is it obvious I read a lot of sci-fi?)

I also feel like self-taken tripod shots often lack the spontaneity and warmth of photos taken by a friend, because when you can work together with someone else, it's a lot more fun and interesting. I did try to create some decent shots though. I'm sure I can only get better.

  

Green sweater and scarf - Target, Skirt - thrifted, boots - Modcloth,

hat - given to me by a friend, tights - unknown, earrings - Asian market

 The gray jacket is from Target too. I bought it right at the start of winter, and I swear I wear it almost every day. It's so warm! It also goes perfectly with my new boots. I'm sure you will see the gray jacket/gray boots combo way too often on this blog, and be sick of it long before I am!

 

I took so many silly pictures, just to have a handful of decent ones. I so wish I could see what I was doing.

 

 I wanted at least one good shot of my makeup. I loved how vibrantly green it was. Of course, I did it on purpose to match my earrings. :)

<3 The Magpie

And We're All Just Alice In Wonderland

One day I dressed in all white, slathered myself in pearls, gathered all the candles I could find, tucked them among the iris, and put my camera in sister's hand. 

<3 The Magpie

Do I Really Need A Reason?

I think one of the underlying desires to create a blog was not only because I wanted a creative outlet, but I also had a craving for a certain type of blog. I feel like a lot of the popular fashion/style/creative blogs are manned (womanned?) by ladies who wear fabulous outfits with designer brands daily while decked out in perfect makeup and hair. And I love those blogs. I love reading them, and looking at their wonderful pictures, and admiring the great outfits they wear. But it also seems so... out of reach. So unattainable. Not in a bad way. But while those stunningly stylish ladies knock it out of the park every time, I realized that I personally want to read more of those blogs that belong to people closer to my level of awkward. Does that that even make sense? I just want to meet more people like me! Is that such a bad thing? I just realized I'm a selfish blogger. I'M MAKING THIS BLOG FOR MYSELF.

Ah well. You do what you can. That reminds me of some quote I read once. Let me find it.

Ahhh, here it is. "If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. " ~Toni Morrison


I'm THAT person. The Quoter. (I feel a moral compulsion to attribute the source instead of just summarizing the idea! Thanks Moral Compass.)

Skirt twirl on a stair well

 (P.S. If you're one of those fashionable, designer-wearing ladies and you're reading this, I love you, never stop being you.)

<3 The Magpie

Butterflies and Birds

 I am a thrift store junkie. I admit it. It makes me feel like a pirate searching the high seas for treasure, sifting through racks of clothes for gold. I also like shiny things - that's why I named this blog after magpies, as they have a habit of collecting pretty things that catch my eye (although my favorite animals are dragons - who do the same thing!). Anyways, before I ramble on any longer, this outfit is made up almost exclusively of thrift store finds. The skirt, blue shirt, and short green cardigan worn as an undershirt are all from thrift stores, while my socks are from Target and my boots, an old buy from Macy's for a really good deal. I wore this outfit to school, and felt like a living rainbow.

I wanted to build an outfit around the skirt, which has this really great print made up of brightly colored butterflies and tropical-looking birds. It also has a rich orange background that I love. It took me a couple attempts to get the outfit right, but as soon as I saw the blue shirt with its colorful leaf/petal pattern hanging in a corner of my closet, I knew it would work. I added the green cardigan underneath for an extra edge of color, as I really wanted to layer bright colors in a subtle way, without looking too gaudy or clashing. It was pretty much the best color experiment ever.

Also, I had gold butterfly earrings to match - and light blue eyeliner! Might as well go all the way, no?

Gold rings and bright blue nails? Definitely a must.

 

I've had these boots for about 2 years now, but it feels like forever, because I wear them ALL THE TIME. 

These photos were really fun to take as I dragged a friend on an adventure through some park.

Just look at that water-frosted grass!!

I just loved this little cloud tuft. It was so smoky and cute. And it totally looks like a dragon.

 I too, am amazed at that face. 

  

 

 These berries were perfect.
 

 

<3 The Magpie