Watercolor Blues and Lush Textures

So now that my Falling into Autumn Dress is finally done, I'm starting to think about the sort of aesthetic I want to tackle in regards to a solid Christmas/Winter dress. I think I also really have to get better about stockpiling accessories and the things that make a lolita dress "complete". I've always somehow managed to be a seamstress that just focuses on the garment, accessories be damned!

Anyway, I've started a board on Pinterest for the dress so please feel free to follow it!

When I told an acquaintance that I wanted to do a blue/white color scheme the response I got was "That's very Jewish."-- and I get it- the colors are very Hanukkah. But that's not the blue I want to go with! I'm thinking something more like dark, deep blue, and like water color blue. If I could hand dye the fabric and make it look like sea salt and blue water color, it'd make me happy. Granted, I doubt I'll be able to do that for such a project and have it turn out well, the mental image is perfect.

There's really no snow in San Francisco... but I think cold, deep winter is the image I am striving for. And texture. Lots of texture. Gauze? Tea dyed eyelet lace? I don't want to go as so far as making it look too "period" or steampunk. But crisp white would be too "perfect". I want weathered and cold-- yet beautiful and delicate. This would also make the makeup fun to apply: a purple and blue toned ruby lip, like blood in snow. Silver grey eyes and a cold-kissed cheek with a pale touch.

Either way, I think I've decided on using Moi-meme-Moitie's general design from the Iron Gate OP. I'm not sure if I want full sleeves, but at the very least half sleeves. The more I think of it, the more the prospect of an off white, chiffon sleeved dress, with grey blue trim and ribbons sounds amazing. Blue lace tights and satin dark blue shoes and accessories.

Exciting!

They said pretzels on their noses were cool.

In an effort to revive my web presence in a consistent form, I've recently decided to go through the favorite forums I used to have and revamp them. While that in itself is tedious-- lots of links, profile info, avatars-- all needing to be changed, I find myself becoming re-inspired by previous interests. Upon browsing and revamping, I stumbled on this month's challenge at crafster.org. It has me all excited as the deadline coincides with my brother's wedding and the project guidelines sound like something up my alley--- and something I can easily fashion into a wedding gift!

Nevermind the prizes (they're lovely, I just don't need more tshirts in my life!), the deadline and rules are perfect constraints which I can comfortably thrive in. I'm looking forward to actually having a decent gift for such an occasion!

Also, I'm looking to do a photoshoot sometime soon. My reasoning behind something like this that can be considered "frivolous" is that I want to start shaping my image into something more professional. The more professional I present myself, the more people will take me as such and the better off I'll be in the long term. Its hard to explain- it just feels good to be able to present myself as a confident, purposefilled person who knows what she wants!

In that vain, I created an account at pinterest and am posting some ideas for photoshoots that might work for me and my little digital camera (lots of kudos to my loving boyfriend who will be behind the lens!)

They all have this yummy urban decay meets sweet meets romantic feeling that I think I'd like to go for. The idea of making props and actually using props in the shoot is also very exciting. What sort of props describe me? What sorts of settings represent me? I don't ask these things in a selfish, narcissistic way. I have to start looking at it in a marketing + branding way. How do the settings and props I chose for this shoot describe who I am?