Go Urbn

I did some jewelry shopping at Urban Outfitters recently. I couldn't find the necklace I bought online (it's silver, with a tiny heart locket and a shell dove hanging off it as small charms), but I got this ring($16), and I love it. I really adore Urban Outfitter's jewlery, especially a lot of their recent necklaces. It's all just so funky.

Kailo Chic (pt 2)

I've posted about this before, but it was a long time ago and I think it deserves another mention.

So, my friend Kara Whitten (who's a style genius) has come up with this line of handbags and accessories named Kailo Chic. Her stuff is BRILLIANT! She makes it all by hand, it's all incredibly adorable, and great quality. She custom-made me this great little bag (mentioned in this post) that I use all the time when I don't want a bukly purse hanging on my shoulder, and most recently I got a pair of her acrylic earrings ($18, pictured left) and some of her headbands ($12). I've been incredibly happy with all of them. I may need to buy up a bunch of her stuff as christmas presents this year. ; )

Definitely go check out her site and see what she has to offer. If you have any questions, or get inspired and want her to custom make something for you, you can email her at KaraJade@kailochic.com.

Who Knew?

Several years ago my dad gave me a very cute jewelry box, with space for rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. It was a great jewelry box... except I had trouble fitting all my jewelry in it.

In the years following I've struggled with the best ways to store my jewelry to keep it looking nice, tangle-free, and easy to get to. I think I finally came upon a solution a few monthds ago. I was at Michael's and for some reason was in the beading section of the store, and looked at some of the bead organizers they had... and as I looked at them I thought, "Huh. You know, I bet I could put earrings in there."

Now I have most of my jewelry stored inside various bead organizers (like the one at right, $2.89). Most of them are like little tray with different sized compartments and a lid that closes the whole thing. They come in all shapes and sizes, so you can find small ones or big ones to store various amounts and sizes of jewelry items. I keep small earrings in a yellow set with square compartments, longer earrings in a red set with rectangular compartments, and bigger/bulkier items like broaches in a purple box that's undivided. I got a cylindrical organizer that has sections that stack on top of each other (so one container is the lid of the container below it) that's perfect for hoops. The only thing this system doesn't work well for is long necklaces, which I keep on a bulletin board with thumbtacks puched in, and my necklaces hanging off the thumbtacks.

I love this bead organizer system, for several reasons: a) it keeps my jewelry from getting all tangled together, b) the separate boxes stack on top of each other so they don't take up tons of room, c) the tops are clear plastic so I can see them easily, and d) everything's already compact enough and compartmentalized so all I have to do when travelling is toss the containers themselves into my suitcase when travelling (occasionally shifting items from one box to another depending on what I want to bring).

The best part? These bead organizers usually cost just a few dollars, so they're an awesome bargain, and you can always go buy more when you need more storage. So go check out your local craft store and see what kind of a selection they have-- you may feel inspired. ; )

Great Deals at Delia's

There's some sweet clearance deals over at Delias.com right now. I've always viewed Delia's aa a bit more of a teenybopper trend store, but they're still worth checking out from time to time b/c they'll have some really cute items and their prices aren't bad. They almost always have very cute and unique shoes, that's one thing that's drawn me to them in the past.

Anyway... so I was browsing their website and looking through the sale items and found several very cute things! For example:


I LOVE skirts just like this one (Yasmin Knit Skirt, $14.99). It's flowly, it's flirty, it's long enough so you don't have to be all paranoid always about what you may accidentally be showing off to the world... basically, skirts like these are a perfect alternative for girls like me, who normally live in jeans or pants. And the color is fairly neutral, so it can be paired with some fun colored tops.



I also really like this top (Nora Tank, $12.99). I'm liking the trend toward longer-length tops, and this one looks nice and light and flowy. You could probably use it as a layering piece, layering a tighter-fitting light tank top underneath it (perhaps one with a shelf bra so you don't have to worry about a strapless one). This would actually probably look very cute with the above skirt.


These shell earrings ($5.99) are fabulous! I love love love them! They're the perfect fun earring to wear when you want some stand-out jewelry but still want to keep your look low-key and casual.


These printed ballet flats ($14.99) are just too fun. To be honest I'm not entirely sure how or when I'd wear them, but they'd definitely add a bit of pizzazz to any outfit!

There's lots more to check out, including some fun printed t-shirts, and LOTS of jeans (most for about $20). Happy browsing! =)

NEWSFLASH!

I was perusing www.oldnavy.com to see what sorts of new summertime goodies they had available, and I noticed that they now sell JEWELRY! I'm not sure if this is online only or if it's in stores as well, but this is HUGE! I'm so excited. There can never be too many places to buy fun, inexpensive jewelry. Old Navy already happens to be one of my favorite places for bargain clothing and bag shopping, now I can add jewelry to the list!! =) Here's a few of my favorites so far:

Hmmm... I may have to make a trip to my nearest Old Navy store to check this out for myself... ; )

Yippie Fashions

Urban Outfitters has always puzzled me as a store. It caters to "hippie" type fashions, the retro-hip crowd, those too busy living freely to worry about things like jobs or money. However, Urban Outfitters gear is actually fairly pricey. Therefore, those who actually shop there are really what I like to call "yippies." They are the young hippies who come from good families and go to good schools and will eventually become tomorrow's yuppies. It's the people who are willing to pay $40 for a shirt looks like it should've cost $1 at that thrift store. Except you can actually find that cool shirt in your size.

Now, this may seem like I'm ragging on Urban Outfitters a bit, and I guess I am. Does that astop me from shopping there? Of course not. They have the softest-feeling t-shirts ever! My current favorite t-shirt ("I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees!") was purchased lovingly from UO by my husband, when I was too cheap to buy it for myself. And, most recently, I found a whole barrage of fantabulous necklaces there that I'm very much in love with.



This adorable angel wings necklace is available in gold- and silver-tone. I'm normally not a gold jewelry person, but it just didn't look right to me in silver so I got the gold-toned version. Unfortunately the links on this necklace aren't closed very well and scratch at your neck a bit (if you're gonna charge $18 for a necklace at least make sure it's gonna be comfortable!). This dissappointed me greatly when I tried to wear it this morning but decided I could not deal with the discomfort. However before taking it back I will try to see if I can maybe attach it to a different gold chain (a jewelry-making friend might be able to assist me in this endeavor). I also got a similar necklace in silver-tone with lighting bolts as the charms, which I wore yesterday and didn't seem to bother me as much. There are also, of course, matching angel wing and lighting bolt earrings. For more cute necklaces, click here.

I also adored each of these earrings:



The keepsake drop earrings are just too precious, while the blue-and-green marble filligree hoops are very ethnic chic.

And then there's this:

They call it the spiffy spot ring, which I think is pretty appropriate. I just now found it online, it seems to be a web exclusive, and I just adore it. I guess I'm just into the whole obnoxiously-huge-ring thing. ; )

(All photos courtesy of Urbn.com)