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Dublin, Ireland • Visit Website »

I like the historical buildings and stories behind them. Many cultural activities are free, unlike in other European cities. Most art galleries don't charge an entrance fee at all.



Visit Website »

This week Carly from Chic Steals recreates the unique look of actress Tilda Swinton:

Tilda Swinton is a true style icon: appearing in Haider Ackermann, Lanvin, and Christian Dior on red carpets the world over, she is also the face of avant-garde androgeny. With every role she takes on, she steps into her character effortlessly, transforming herself utterly and completely each and every time. Yet when she makes an appearance in real life, she is consistently true to her own minimalist style. Impeccably-tailored, minimal accessories, nude face, and gravity-defying coif, she truly marches to the beat of her own drummer.



Outfit details:

  • Crown - DIY (see below)
  • Dress - Tulle
  • Boots - Seychelles Footwear
  • Socks - Target
  • Lipstick - MAC's Love Forever!

DIY Flower Crown:

Recreate the look with Amy's DIY Flower Crown tutorial:


How would you describe your style?

My style is very retro/vintage.

What's your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

My cat sweater by Louche is my absolutely favorite, without a doubt!

Who are your style icons?

Personal style blogger, Keiko Lynn, was the gal who inspired me to break free of my stay-at-home-mom frump, and she continues to be my main inspiration today. I also fancy the styles of every female character in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, and pretty much any young lady pictured in vintage photographs.

Do you have any favourite designers?

I'm a huge fan of Bait Footwear, Seychelles Footwear, Dear Creatures, and small business, Bonne Chance Collections.

Where are your favourite places to shop for new clothes clothes?

ModCloth, ASOS, Etsy shops filled with beautiful vintage clothing, and thrift stores are my favorite places to shop for new and new-to-me clothes.

Do you make or customise your outfits?

I'm not very talented with a sewing machine, so I don't make any of my own outfits. We have this eternal war going on, my sewing machine and I.

Do you have any great tips for mixing up and personalising an outfit?   

Experiment with different accessories and find what works for you! For me, I usually always wear something on my head, whether it be a vintage silk scarf, a knitted, 1920s-inspired turban, or a hat.

Which other fashion blogs do you love to read?

 I've already mentioned Keiko Lynn, but also love The Soubrette Brunette, The Briar Rose Blog, The Photogramps, Scathingly Brilliant, and Skunkboy Blog.

Check out Amy's blog at A. Loo's Closet »

We head to Seattle to tour Amy's rainbow organized craft space:

"I love EVERYTHING about it!  I think if I had to pick a favorite though, it would be a tie between the 75 slot paper shelves, and the 14 linear-foot-long desk."




Tell us about your space?
My room is located in my house adjacent to my bedroom.  It was my daughter's bedroom when she was growing up.  I have some AMAZING neighbors that decided they wanted to barter a couple of years ago.  They have large dogs and like to vacation, so In exchange for me dog and house sitting for them, they built me a custom craft room!  They literally took everything out of the room down to the carpet and light fixtures and started all over from scratch.  We mixed paint until we found a shade I liked, and it just all fell into place from there.  They gave me new artist's lighting, new flooring, and custom-built shelving and cabinetry.  It's an 8 x 10 foot space, with a few extra feet added since we built the desk right into the space that used to be a closet.   Even though it's a small room, we were able to make it bright and airy, and I LOVE it!  The room is a dedicated craft space, all my own!  (My husband has his own Man Cave downstairs!)  An extra fun bit of trivia about the room...it cost us only $22 out of pocket for the entire space!  Well, plus some fun time with the neighbor's dogs! The space is where I work and hang out quite a bit.  I'm pretty much a dedicated paper-crafter and blogger, so there's a lot of writing and paper flying around that room on any given day!

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?
The whole space was custom-built for me and to my specifications, so everything about it is cozy, beautiful and inspiring to me.  I particularly love the Dutch doors so that I can keep my large dogs out of the room, but they can still hear me and be close-by in the hallway.

How do you keep organized?
There's so much organization built in to the room that it's pretty easy.  Above the paper shelves, there's a shallow shelf that is designed to hold spools of ribbon, and jars of embellishments.  I had some friends who saved baby food jars for me, and we spray painted the lids silver, and they're perfect for all sorts of brads and embellishments.

I made curtains to hang under the desks, so that I can store bulky and unsightly stuff out of sight.  I can keep an old file cabinet, shipping boxes, my computer printer, and all sorts of other goodies under there. 
 
Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?
Other than what I mentioned above,  I keep my flat embellishments and stickers in page protectors that are located inside a few thick three-ring binders.  I also mounted manila envelopes on the back of each of my patterned paper stacks, to keep all the like-scraps together.  My stacks stand upright in holders similar to Cropper Hopper paper holders, that I up-cycled used mailing boxes to make. 

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?
As far as paper-crafting tools go, my favorite, hands down, is my Silhouette Cameo.  I got it last November, and use it on almost every creation I make.  I absolutely love it!  I do have several creations on display that I'm particularly proud of!  One of them is a huge chalkboard-paper calendar that I put on one wall so that I can easily see and reference all the things I have to do for them month.  At the end of the month, I can erase it and start over!

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?
In my computer!  Actually, most of my inspiration and ideas come from ideas I see on blogs or Pinterest.  I do have a small collection of scrapbooking magazines, but I find I turn to the internet more often these days.

Where do you look for inspiration?
Same answer as above!

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream space?
That's a really hard question, because my room really is my dream space already.   I guess my one big wish would be for more space.  My room filled up so quickly!  My sweet husband has already found a way to easily expand the room!  Maybe one day!

Make sure to check out Amy's blog, Scrap This Save That »

This week Kara from Sprinkles In Springs recreates the sophisticated off-duty look of Australian model Miranda Kerr:

Miranda Kerr is known for her minimal and sophisticated style. She's often spotted wearing plain pieces and adding trendy details like studs to keep it modern.



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155 W Port, Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh EH3 9DP • Visit Website »

We head to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet the girls behind the adorable cafe Lovecrumbs and try a slice of their delicious carrot, cardamon and orange cake.



Outfit details:

  • Shirt - White Stuff
  • Collar Clips - DIY (see below)
  • Jumper - Vintage (The lady in the shop told me it dates back to a farmer’s son from World War Two! I love it when my clothes have a story behind them.)
  • Skirt - Joules
  • Tights - White Stuff
  • Boots - Jones Bootmaker

DIY Collar Clips

Recreate the look with Jojo's collar clips tutorial:


How would you describe your style?

I’d have to say quirky and brightly coloured! I love to express my personality through my clothes and have fun with it. Recently, I’ve fallen into a style rut by wearing the same things again and again. I’m blaming this on the cold weather – I’ve been living in hats. I’m also trying my best to make mittens ‘happen’ as I’m rarely seen without them.?

What's your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

I have a gorgeous skater dress I bought in the TopShop sale last year. It’s backless and it’s made entirely of sequins. How could I possibly resist it? It’s become one of those dresses that I hang on the wall of my bedroom as decoration and am saving for a particularly magical day. Aside from that, there will always be a special place in my heart for my lucky pinafore dress and my trusty red tights. If in doubt, I’ll wear that combination, probably paired with a beret. I love wearing my beret so much some of my friends first knew me as ‘Beret Girl’ – a title I was proud to live up to.

Who are your style icons?

Most of my ‘style inspiration’ comes from outfits on blogs or Pinterest. I, also, love to recreate outfits from in films, Luna Lovegood out of Harry Potter had the coolest sense of style. My obsession with coloured tights must have stemmed from her. I have been known to make myself a pair of spectrospecs and a cork necklace too!

I adore vintage style and I’m always collecting old photographs of film stars or family members. My grandma was so stylish! I’m forever complaining that I was born in the wrong era. I wish we still wore the kinds of dresses they were wearing in the fifties and I love nothing more than to wear an Audrey Hepburn style headscarf.

Do you have any favourite designers?

My favourites are Orla Kiely and Cath Kidston. I’m all about bright colours and bold patterns. I’ve recently fallen in love with Kate Spade, anyone who condones cake for breakfast is a hero in my book.

Where are your favourite places to shop for new clothes clothes?

I’m a high street girl, I find Internet shopping too overwhelming, as there is too much choice and I like being able to try on items. I can’t resist TopShop but a few firm favourites are Yumi, Joules and Joy the Store. I also like to go into independent shops as they offer more variety and you’re more likely to find a one-of-a-kind item in there. That or a top that has a Mean Girls quote on it.

Do you make or customise your outfits?

How I dream of being able to make my own clothes! I still haven’t quite mastered the sewing machine yet, but one day, I will, hopefully. There has been an odd time that I’ve shortened a skirt, fixed a hem or darned up the toe of a much-loved pair of tights. I usually only customize them with pieces of handmade jewellery, hair accessories or brooches. My first customized fashion piece was a pair of sunglasses adorned with buttons. They always brought a smile to people’s faces and I still wear them to this day.

Do you have any great tips for mixing up and personalising an outfit?   

I recommend layers to build up an outfit. I usually wear a patterned T-shirt underneath a dress, and then add a cardigan or jacket and some accessories on top. I find hand making something is the best way to personilise an outfit as it will make it entirely unique. There is no way anyone else will be wearing a crown made of pom poms, is there?

Which other fashion blogs do you love to read?

The list is getting longer every day. There are so many fab bloggers out there, now. Top of my list at the moment is Burkatron, What Olivia Did and Tolly Dolly Posh. I love Megan from Briar Rose’s style and could quite happily lose myself in her blog world for a day or two.

Check out Jojo's blog, Miss Jojangles »

Outfit details:

  • Boots - Village Merchants in Portland, Oregon
  • Layered tights - bottom yellow layer from Target, top circle-hole lace tights from Nordstrom Rack
  • Skirt - sewn from the sleeves of two button-down shirts 
  • Fingerless mitts - Color by Number Stripy Mitts in Malabrigo Sock yarn
  • Cardigan - DIY, reconstructed from a thrifted cardigan (see below)
  • T-shirt - thrifted and printed with a hand-carved linoleum block print of a camera
  • Glasses - Zenni Optical
  • Hat - Barry knit in Anzula For Better or Worsted

DIY Sweater Cuffs:

Recreate the look with Lee's Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs tutorial:


What's your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

 That's constantly changing, usually to the most recent piece I've made - so it's probably currently my travel sweater that I just finished knitting.  It was a super long-term project, striping between all the yarns I bought on a 3-week trip around the UK and Ireland in September 2012, which I started knitting while traveling on that trip.

Do you have any favourite designers?

I only pay attention to knitting pattern designers (and not nearly as much attention as I should pay) - a few of my favorites of those (off the top of my head) are Lynne Barr, Olga Buraya-Kefelian, Teva Durham, and Elizabeth Zimmermann, of course.

Where are your favourite places to shop for new clothes clothes?

I pretty much don't shop for new clothes, but I do occasionally buy something basic from H&M or Target.  My favorite place for socks is Sock Dreams, though I don't go there often because I don't have much budget for fancy socks.

Do you make or customise your outfits?

Yes; most of my accessories are knit by me, many of my skirts are sewn by me, and many of my other items are embellished in some way (printed on, embroidered, etc).

Do you have any great tips for mixing up and personalising an outfit?   

I love color, but I try to avoid looking like a clown by either keeping the main outfit items more neutral and accessorizing with bright colors (like I did with this outfit), or if I want to wear a bright main clothing item, then keeping accessories toned down, and/or making sure they match nicely instead of just throwing on ALL THE COLORS like I'm sometimes tempted to do!  As for personalizing, try adding small embellishments if you can't or don't want to make full items, like bits of embroidery, trimmings/edgings, freezer paper stencil printing, etc.

Check out Lee's blog, do stuff »


We head to San Francisco to tour Chloe's bright and organized craft space.

"I moved here from New York where there is notoriously not enough room for anything, so I think my favorite thing about my space, is literally all of the space."




Tell us about your space?
My craft room and I are located in my home right outside of San Francisco, CA. I moved here from New York where there is notoriously not enough room for anything, so I think my favorite thing about my space, is literally all of the space. The space has no doors, and is kind of an open area between the houses kitchen and living room. I imagine it was, at some point, a dining room. But since my boyfriend and I usually eat at the coffee table or at In n Out, it seemed like an unnecessary use of the room. The room isn't shared with anyone, but whatever I'm listening to throughout the day, is a sound that is shared through out the entire house.

The room is large enough to do the following things in:
+build a fort
+inflate an rather large air mattress in
+sprawl out on the floor in, and draw or paint while laying on my belly
+ set up photo lights and a backdrop, for shooting
+build IKEA furniture in (extra cardboard pieces and all)

It is NOT quite large enough to to the following thing in:
+ a cartwheel

I'm lucky enough to have my work sometimes involve crafting, so yeah. I guess you could call it both. I spend most of my time in there editing photos, assembling construction papers, and making dolls.

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?
I started by replacing the original brown carpet with a white one and painted the room from a dingy yellowish white, to a ultra bright white! Changing up an environment really inspires me to keep changing and creating, and I LOVE bright white places. I feel like the color white can turn a room into a blank piece of paper, just waiting to be colored and drawn on! 

I made one wall black and I keep only a few things there. Sometimes, having all of my pens and paints and colorful scraps surrounding me can be really exciting, but when life starts feeling overwhelming, so can my inspirational clutter. When I feel like that, it's nice to just turn my chair around and have a more minimal look come from the same room. 

I also have about 10 different light sources in my room. Most of them are strings of light because, to me, they make a place feel lively or calming depending on how you look at them. I like having lively things around for inspiration so I love when Harvey the pup hangs out on my lap, when my boyfriend walks through the room, and I've also given all of my plants eyes and named every one of them "Gus". 

How do you keep organized?
When I'm working on something, I usually form a mess and clean as much of it up at the end of the day, as I can. Even if what I'm working on isn't complete. Tucking fabrics back in drawers, taking photos off of my desktop and putting them into temporary folders, ect. Waking up to an organized room where I can find things, motivates me to keep it up. When I'm completely done with a project, is when I seriously fold up those fabrics and archive things onto the hard drive.

I also have started organizing my mind by writing out all of my daily/ weekly tasks on individual post-it notes and leaving them on the window in front of my desk. It feels so good to finish something, pluck that post it from the window, and have a better view of whats going on outside!
 
Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?
Instead of shopping around for office supplies, I like browsing through the kitchen section of places. I use bright cookie tins or cans with appealing packaging to store my pens and markers. If my eye is drawn to it, I find that I'm more likely to use whatever's in it, then if I were to tuck it away in a drawer. 

I also keep a lot of things in travel bags. I turned one of my old hard shelled cosmetic cases into my camera storage. Fold up cosmetic cases with clear pouches are perfect for holding my little watercolor and gauche tubes. 
For things that do end up going into drawers, I keep them from sliding around with the help of some paper plates and string! I made a tutorial for Whole Foods on how to make a fruit basket with these supplies, and have been using these little baskets to help separate little things in big drawers, instead!


Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?
I don't keep anything in my room that I don't love having around but a couple of my favorite things are:
+My old radio that I adapted to be a speaker for my iPad tv
+Yoshimoto Nara clock that has a different Nara drawing flipping through every minute
+Twinkle lights that scale my black wall and make it look like outer space
+My Grandmas old passport photo. She's so elegant.
+My SD card reader, because I would be lost without it

I have things I've made scattered all though out my room. I think having your own work around helps remind you why you're unique. A couple of my favorite things of mine in the room are:
+A polaroid of Mickey Mouse that I took while I got to hang out with him on a Disney cruise
+The Gross Ghost mask that doubles as a photo light stand, pretty nicely
+My doll named Litter Lee. He's litter-lee the cutest! He comes on adventures with me, and collects scraps that we find along the way for me to take photos of, at the end of the day. 

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?
I try using my Pintrest but it sometimes just feels like the internets version of shoving things into a closet and saying "eh..I'll deal with this later". Instead, I make tons of ongoing lists. If I have a title for a list, I find myself subconsciously thinking up things to fill up that list page, through out the day. 

Where do you look for inspiration?
I find a lot of inspiration by watching documentaries about people who never stopped doing what the love. I'll turn them on while I'm working and find that by the end of it, I'm smiling and inspired to keep doing what I love. A couple of my favorites that are on Netflix now are:

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream space?
+ an office chair that was sleek and colorful AND good for my back 
+ a separate spot for a photo studio
+it would always smell like gardenias 

Make sure to check out Chloe's blog »

Outfit details:

  • Dress - Thrifted, DIY'd
  • Jacket - BB Dakota
  • Belt - Thrifted
  • Shoes - PacSun
  • Hat - Hand made by my sister
  • Tights - Urban Outfitters

Hem Vintage Finds:

Recreate the look with Jessica's How To Easily Hem Vintage Finds tutorial:


How would you describe your style?

My style is whimsical and colorful while also being edgy and girly.

What's your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

My favorite piece is probably my spiked + floral headband. I wear it with just about every outfit I can. It's so comfortable and adds the perfect amount of flair to every outfit. 

Who are your style icons?

I have a hard time admiring celebrities and people that are possibly professionally styled. Though I am incredibly inspired by my real life friends and all of the incredible fashion bloggers that I know. I think I am most inspired by Keiko Lynn and Southern (California) Belle. 

Do you have any favourite designers?

I am not much of a designer person, but I am always inspired by Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, and Rachel Antonoff. 

Where are your favourite places to shop for new clothes clothes?

I like to shop anywhere that has a sale rack. 

Do you make or customise your outfits?

I am a very petite girl (under 5'0) so I usually have to hem my dresses and skirts. I like buying long thrifted skirts and making them minis -- I always have something unique. There is immense power in the art of chopping and hemming pieces!

Do you have any great tips for mixing up and personalising an outfit?   

Accessorize! Accessories take an outfit from blah to wow in a matter of seconds. If your dress is shapeless, grab a sparkly belt. If you hair looks boring, grab a big bowed headband or a hat. As far as mixing it up, the easiest way is to maximize your wardrobe. Have a favorite dress? Wear it as a skirt, with different blazers, swap out the shoes, do your hair differently. Find an accessory and make it your signature thing. For me, the spiked headband and hats are my go to items and they always help mix up an outfit and also make it very me.

Which other fashion blogs do you love to read?

I  love Ashley of http://southerncabelle.com, Elana of http://room-334.blogspot.com, Samantha of http://thebangedblonde.blogspot.com/., Jen of http://www.jennifhsieh.com/. Honestly, I could list favorite bloggers all day! 

Check out Jessica's blog at Midwest Muse »

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