Spectacles are spectacular.  I know that was lame, but it’s completely true.  When I was in 8th grade I bought my first pair of thick rimmed black glasses.  Back then it was the cool punk/emo accessory to have and since I really needed them for my poor eyesight, mine were actually funtional unlike those of others.  This was back when emo meant the style of indie music and it didn’t mean you had to be some depressed teenager who wasn’t understood by anyone in the world and had a permanent tear on your cheek.  Ahhh, kids these days.

Moving on -  a few years ago I decided I wanted to try thin framed “intelligent” looking glasses.  Big mistake.  It took me all of about 2 hours to realize they really weren’t me and I wanted my thick frames back.

In 2007, Marie Genevieve Cyr was in the top 3 contestants for Project Runway Canada season 1.  I was not only drawn to her style as a designer, but also her personal style.  After seeing her in the first season of Project Runway Canada, I spent weeks scouring the internet looking for glasses like hers.  Sadly, I have had no such luck.  While she may look like a big nerd to some, I think her glasses make her all the more beautiful and interesting.  To this day, it is still my mission in style to find glasses like hers.

I am not ashamed to admit that I love big, nerdy glasses.  Geek chic is in people.

I own 3 pairs of fake glasses in addition to my real glasses just because I love them so much.  They are the perfect accessory without wearing pounds of jewelry.  And please don’t wear tons of jewelry when you are wearing glasses.  Prescription or not, glasses ARE an accessory.

*Words to live by from the amazing Coco Chanel – “When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on.”*

Any guess as to which photo are my actual prescription glasses and which of these is my favorite pair of glasses from my collection?

The top two pairs are both from Urban Outfitters.  The bottom right photo is my prescription glasses from the Vogue brand at Target.  And these are my favorite pair of glasses from Forever 21:

I say the bigger the better.

(Marie Genevieve Cyr & a dress from her Project Runway collection, Textured glasses from Michael Kors, Luella glasses, 3.1 Phillip Lim glasses, Thick black rims from Givenchy, Glasses by Yigal Azrouel)

When I was very young, our claw foot tub scared me.  I didn’t like the feet.  Then when I was 8 years old, my Grandma showed me The Changling (1980) and I could only take really fast showers for weeks.  Now, I would gladly give up showers if I could bathe in one of these everyday:

I want to take care of this tub and nurse it back to health.

(red tub from Apartment Therapy, teal tub from Design Sponge, black tub from My Design Secrets, yellow tub from Country Living, matching black tubs from Apartment Therapy, red tub from Buffalo Rising, black tub from Tongue in Cheek, red tub from Design Sponge, white tub from Design Sponge)

Hello Monday.  Before you continue reading this post, look down at your shoes and ask yourself this:  ”Are my feet feeling special today?”, because this week’s Etsy.com picks are all about decorating your feet.

May’s Etsy picks:

Hand painted.

I desire to wear these while not working out.

These hand made heels are wondrous.  You are able to use ribbon to wrap through the shoe and around your foot to create endless looks.  Brilliant.

Hand painted.

(ruffle shoes from SoftSpoken, knitted flats by Broken Hallelujah, grey and gold boots by Crafttastrophe, halston pumps by deer heart vintage, red high tops by Cheeky Vintage Closet, grey bow boots by Prance and Swagger, fringe spats by BagavondBags, handmade ribbon heels by mohop, hand painted clock heels by Cocopunkz)

Dae’s Etsy picks:

These flats look so comfy.  I LOVE everything from HydraHeart, she makes awesome shoes!

I am seriously contemplating buying a pair of these

The bow in the back is definitely the best part about these cute shoes

The hand painted lace and stitching is so good it doesn’t look like paint at all

I want to wear these while I explore Europe on a vespa.

(Keyhole flats by HydraHeart, Faux Croc skin from Porcelain Rag, Zipper ruffle from The Tattered Flower, Woven bootie from Gracyani, Woven leather from In Her Nest, Dots and stripes from Repaperie, Leather and lace boots from Scholarly Articles, Shades of summer by Lucy Peach Slice, Oxford flats from Goldenponies)

Nails, nails, and more nails.  Painting ones nails can make you feel like a completely different person.  It can put you in a good mood and make you feel better about your day.  You can match it to your outfit or mood or wear a contrasting color.  You can paint the entire nail or just partial and the color combinations and choices are limitless.

Chanel Jade, gorgeous.  Matching it to the outfit-brilliant.

Moon manicure

Although I am not a fan of pink at all, this ombre technique is very cool

Neutral nail polish has been on the scene for awhile now but the look is expanding to more than just creams and french manicures.  Neutral now means brilliant white, cream, taupe, and non-metallic golds.

The neutral color that is just making it’s way into that category and that makes me very happy is grey.

Now this may be news to some, but black is no longer just for punks, goths, and rock n’ rollers.  Black has been the nail polish color of choice to the rebellious for a long time but in recent years it has made it’s way onto the runway.  Black nail polish is now en vogue.

Another current trend for nail polish is metallic.  I have never been a big fan of metallic nail polish because metallic always meant gold or silver with small specs of sparkle in it.  Metallic these days means bright and shiny, like a new car.  You should be able to see your face in it, like a mirror.  I now crave metallic, go figure.

Although I love all sorts, by far my favorite style of nail polish is the matte finish.  It is simple and smooth and though it may seem dull, it will turn heads and makes nail polish casual and elegant at the same time.  Some of the colors may be dark, but it remains soft and feminine somehow.

Now that you desperately want to paint your nails, OPI has a HUGE selection of every color under the sun in shiny and matte finishes.  I also own many different beautiful and fun colors from Forever 21…and they are only $2.80, can’t beat that.  Enjoy your nail painting time because the options are limitless and you will feel more beautiful just by putting it on.  Please also remember that contrary to popular belief, your toes DO NOT have to be the same color as your fingers!  Mix and match, it’s more fun that way.

(Jade by Chanel, Moon manicure by Dior, Ombre from Calgel, Dior white nails, Chanel white, Particuliere by Chanel, Taylor Momsen with OPI Golden Rules, Zoya gray polish, Black nails from 3.1 Phillip Lim, Rodarte black, Lady Gaga Minx Gold, Metallics from Alexander McQueen, Minx Nails silver, OPI purple matte, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in KO Knockout black matte, Russian Navy by OPI)

*As a side note, Maydae would also like to welcome to the world our new niece, Amelie Belle.  Amelie, you are gorgeous and we can’t wait to paint our nails together!  We love you beautiful baby girl!

Some of you may think that you don’t have the face for it, but I say All for Bangs and Bangs for All.

Dear Taylor Momsen, please go back to this short layered hair – your new hairstyle is not cute.

(Zooey Deschanel via Instyle, “Military Issue” Vogue, Rachel Marie I. via LookBook, Taylor Momsen in Nylon, Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in An Education, H&M ad featuring Tao Okamoto, Lisa Mettier via LookBook, Meghan Collison, Mary Elizabeth Winstead)

I know you have been on the edge of your seats waiting to see the rest of the decor, so alas…here it is.  As you probably noticed in some of the pictures, our centerpieces were made of wire.  We knew that we wanted to use wire because it gives great structure without weighing everything down.  It also transfers the Rodarte style that we love into decor elements.  In addition to the tissue paper poms from Anthropologie, another inspiration that came from the brilliant store was using chicken wire as they did in their honey displays last year.

We wanted to start with a stable structure to add to so the centerpieces would be easy to carry in and set on the tables without any type of assembly required.  Small 32″ high tomato cages turned out to be our starting point.  I cut off the tops to make them a little shorter so people would be able to see over them and attached small pieces of chicken wire to one side.  Once the chicken wire was in place, I covered the remaining empty space with 14 gauge baling wire in a haphazard design.  Next the centerpieces were wrapped with embroidery floss and the entire wire sculpture was spray painted white.  We added 3 tissue paper and dress pattern poms to each one and our textured yet simple centerpieces were finished.

We also finger knit 2500 feet of cotton twine(with the help of our sister, Tredessa) to use between the mason jars on the table to add more texture.  MayDae are huge fans of finger knitting and we take any and every opportunity to use it.  It is especially nice to do while watching movies(which we did) because it goes fast and you don’t have to watch what you are doing after awhile.

We made a larger version of the centerpieces to put on the stage.

(photo by Lilac Photography)

For the buffet table, I used a 48″ high tomato cage and wrapped chicken wire around the entire thing to create a cylinder.  I then attached 90+ tissue paper and dress pattern poms to the chicken wire, cutting up and scraping my arms in the process(pain is beauty, right?).  Lights were placed inside to create the glowing effect.

On the opposite side of the entrance from the fabulous drapes, we had around 15 tree stumps of varying widths and heights where we placed mason jars of candles(Thanks Dave for cutting those for us!).  The result was a warm and welcoming glow to bring people in and help create the mood from the second they stepped through the doors.

(photo by Lilac Photography)

And that is it my friends.  These are the things MayDae spent many hours working on over the last few weeks.  We absolutely love how everything turned out and are excited to now focus our efforts on getting our Etsy.com shop up and running!

The team of MayDae has had an exceptionally busy month.  On top of starting this blog, and getting ready to open our Etsy.com shop, we have also been creating all of the decor for the Heaven Fest Fundraisers.  The fundraisers were held over the past two weekends, and had about 450 people in attendance over the four nights.  They were held at the Stonebrook Manor in a very large neutral colored room, but instead of trying to fight against the calm expanse, we decided to go with it, and keep things light, airy, natural, and fresh, while giving some glow and sparkle to the space.

One of our inspirations for the color scheme and texture was the Rodarte spring 2009 line.  I love the different types of fabric and the layering effect:

(Photos via Style.com)

Another major inspiration of ours was Anthropologie.  Creativity is bursting out of every corner of that store, and we could spend days in there wishing it was our home.  This photo is of my daughters in front of a huge tissue paper pom wall in the Cherry Creek Anthropologie:

After finding our inspirations, and getting somewhat of a game plan, we decided to create some fabric drapes to hang in the back of the room where the guests entered, and another drape in the front of the room on the stage.  We used different neutral colored fabrics, and cut thousands of squares that I then proceeded to sew onto bed sheets for hours and hours and hours to create these:

This is the back drape – 15 ft wide by 7 ft tall.  We wanted a haphazard look to the squares, and wanted them to be plentiful.  The focal point in the middle was made up of sewing a piece of embroidered fabric in the middle, and attaching finger knitted garlands and large poms made of tissue paper and old sewing patterns.  We back-lit the drape for a glowing effect.

(photo by the talented Lilac Photography)

This is the fabric drape that we placed in the front of the room on the stage.  This one was 10 ft wide by 4 ft tall and was also back-lit.

(photo by the wonderful Lilac Photography)

I absolutely LOVED how these drapes turned out, but if anyone asked me to do these again, I would most surely decline!  I sat at my sewing machine for longer than I ever had before, and it was murder trying to stuff all that fabric through the small opening.  Needless to say, my sewing machine and I are taking a break from each other over the next couple weeks.

My next big project was to find the mason jars.  We absolutely adore the look of mason jars with candles in them and we wanted to have lots and lots of these.  We needed almost 300 and didn’t have the budget (or the will) to buy new, which meant for 7 weeks straight, I was scouring Craigslist, the flea market, and thrift stores to find these for no more than $.25/jar.  Impossible you say?  In the beginning, I thought so too, but I am ecstatic to say that I actually got them for less!  The mason jars looked beautiful and made the tables sparkle and glow in the dim room.

You might be wondering about some of the other decor elements in the photos, don’t worry, because we are not finished!  Come back tomorrow to hear all about the wire centerpieces, tissue paper and sewing pattern poms, finger knitting garlands, and candle-lit tree stumps.  Are you excited?  You absolutely should be.

(*Happy Birthday to our wonderful Dad – MayDae loves you)

Since MayDae is expecting our new little niece (or possibly nephew) on the scene at any moment, our Etsy.com picks for this week are all about BABY.  *Also, check back tomorrow for some photos of our event decor from the past two weekends.

May’s Etsy picks:

I am not a fan of pink and I didn’t realize until now, that it definitely shows in my picks this week…

There are several Owl themed mobiles on Etsy, but this is my favorite.  I love that it focuses on how the baby will be viewing it.

Fringe blanket.

Perfect little shoes.

I love this antique baby pram.

Totoro!

*sigh.  If only they made these in my size.

(“Beat it” creeper by Cantaloupe Corner, owl mobile by Bebe Dulce Design, fringe baby blanket by Cricket’s Creations, blue flower shoes by Gracious May, hardwood stacking rings by The Wood Garden, reversible birdie jumper by All the Numbers, baby pram by Johnny Vintage, Totoro shirt by micielomicielo, striped boots by Lil Green Beans)

Dae’s Etsy picks:

Because I just made my niece an owl pillow for Christmas, I can’t help but think these are so cute right now

Natural wood is gorgeous

I wish there was one of these for adults, I would totally take a nap in it

The colors of this adorable blanket make me happy and this looks so comfy

(Owl pillow by Cuore, Mary Jane booties by Joyful Threads, Wood ring rattle by Woman Woodworker, Baby balm from Betula Organic, Bird Parade mobile by Gifts Define, Owl onesie from Eight Baby Legs, Kanoe Hammock by Studio Leroux, Giraffe rattle teether from Bundled, Sun and sand blanket from Benoit Designs)

The bib necklace.  I have an interesting relationship with these in that I stinkin’ love bib necklaces, but I only own one and I don’t fancy it all that much.  My problem is that everytime I see one, I think, “I could make that.”  And I could…but I don’t.  One of these days I am going suck it up and make myself one…or break down and buy one.

A bib AND fringe?  Why, yes, thank-you!

Grey and yellow are my favorite colors, so Anthro couldn’t go wrong with this one

I would own this entire outfit if I could, but if I had to pick one thing, it would be the necklace for sure

Vera knows how to do bib necklaces, no question

This is what I call a statement necklace

And the statement is: I am amazing.

(Soho by Cloverbelle, Foxglove necklace by Anthropologie, Risotto bib necklace from Anthro, Princess bib from Being of Love, Chains by Donna Karan, Curly bib by Valentino, Squares necklace by Burberry, Long and jeweled necklaces by Vera Wang)

Most of my favorite possessions are from thrift stores or flea markets.  I get this rush of adrenaline when I find something that I know is worth a lot more money than I paid for it.  Digging through bins of junk to find something beautiful, perfect, and unique is a passion of mine.  I don’t see why anyone would want to go to the mall to shop for ordinary mass produced pieces when there are so many treasures to be found at the flea market.

When I found my Eames reproduction chairs at a thrift store last year, my heart started beating wildly.  They were sitting out in front of the thrift store – 4 of them, all lined up.  They were black, with Eiffel stands and covered in dust.  I immediately figured that they would be around $20 each(at least), but as I got closer, my eyes bulged out of my head as I saw the handwritten price tags randomly stuck to each – $4.  That’s right.  $4.  I was overcome with excitement, but also tried to look uninterested so as not to draw attention to my precious finds.  I hurried into the thrift store and waited impatiently as the cashier finished ringing up the customer at the counter.

Me – “I want to buy that set of black chairs out front.” (shoving my debit card at her)

Cashier – “Which ones?  Oh, those four?  Okay, but they are $4 each – not $4 for the set.”

Me – “Yes, I’ll take them – right now.”

Cashier – “Okay.  Do you want to get them now or after you are done shopping?”

Me – “I will definitely take them now.”

As soon as I paid, I bolted back outside and snagged two of the chairs hurrying to put them in my car.  After placing them safely in the trunk, I practically ran back to get the other two.  I had them.  They were now in my possession, and I was never letting them go.

I would really like to paint mine a different color, but haven’t been able to decide….

My Eames reproduction chairs are all black – even the Eiffel bases.  I think that they were originally white with silver bases.

I love the geometric print on the back of these.  By Mike Perry via Design*Sponge

A silhouette of an Eames Eiffel side chair on pine wood by The Bees Knees Designs.