Featured Store: Bella Vita

From now on I will be sharing with you some of the great little boutiques that carry my line. I have a personal relationship with each of these boutiques and I'm so proud of the work they do and the support they give me.
Today I will tell you a little bit about Bella Vita:

Bella Vita is a unique boutique located in the Rockridge Shopping district of Oakland, CA.  Jennifer is the owner, she has wonderful taste and her store is a great mix of new and vintage finds. She is proud to feature local and independent designers and merchandise made in the USA.

handmade bambis

laser cut wood jewelry from local designer orange slice

a pretty headband

Alejandra Kearl Fall 2009

Handmade Shrug

Alejandra Kearl Spring 2010

Bird Necklaces

Bella Vita is located at 5407 college Ave, Oakland, CA 94618 - 510.653.1639

You can also shop online here

and see Jennifer's wonderful blog at bellavitahome.blogspot.com

Take a look at her great store when you get a chance and tell her I sent you, have a great day!

How to tie a Scarf

Scarves are such fun accessory, they are an inexpensive and quick way to update any look.
Tying them right is the tricky part. I saw these video tutorials a few days ago and I loved all the different ways I learned to tie a scarf, that I thought I should share with you. I don't think a scarf has to be expensive to look beautiful and chic. I found these great ones at Nordstrom, they start at only $10, the ones shown below are about $35.

If you watch these 3 short videos you'll be a pro at tying scarves.

 

 

P.S I think I want her glasses :)

Anna Sui and Elie Tahari Fall 2011

Here are two more designers that I enjoyed from Fashion week.
I really liked Anna Sui's tops and dresses, they are colorful, whimsical and flattering.
Here are few of my favorites:

Bohemian-Chic

Granny-Chic

Baby-Chic :)

I just realized I might like Anna Sui's collection so much because it's similar to my own aesthetic.


From Elie Tahari's collection I loved most of the coats, my favorite one is the white coat (see min 1:14), the collar is incredible, so elegant! I couldn't find pictures, but here is the video:

Pretty Lists

Do you like making lists? I do, I do!!
It makes me feel accomplished when I can cross things off my lists, I just found these pretty lists at Christa's blog Baca Creative, you can download them on her blog for Free.
I really like her Healthy Goal list, too cute. What do you think?

Happy Valentines!

Here are some cute things I found for you today, enjoy!

 These little cookies are made by Sunshine Bakes you can find them on her etsy shop, I can't wait till my next party to order some cookies from her, she has the cutest things and at very reasonable prices, plus great feedback from her customers.

I had told my husband no gifts this year, but I just found this necklace and bought it as his gift to me, don't laugh you are going to buy one too, at $13 who can resist?! Grigio makes them here in the US and sells them on etsy, her shop if full of affordable and beautiful jewelry.

Last Minute DIY Valentines

I  don't know about you, but I usually find myself making Valentines last minute for my kids' classes. I don't like to buy the store ready Valentines, but I also don't have a ton of time to make them.  Each of my kids have to bring 24 Valentines and I've found a few cute/easy ideas I'd like to share with you.

We made these last year, the idea and photo came from Martha Stewart,

I just printed these cute cards for Joey's class from InkTree Press she has a great blog. You can dowload them here.

I've been wanting to make these for a while, they are so clever! The idea came from the talented Allison, check them out here.

Nico decided he wants to draw a picture and have me make copies for his friends, if he does it I will share them on an update, we'll see.

Let me know if you make any of these :)

Do you have any easy Valentines ideas?


UPDATE: This is what Nico drew and gave his friends today, we just taped a chocolate candy to the back,  he's so funny!

I think he saw this in one of his Diary of the Whimpy kid books.

Christian Siriano Fall 2011

Christian Siriano did not disappoint! A dark collection, with a wide range of textures, lengths and styles. I specially enjoyed how wearable so many of his pieces were, the tops, pants and skirts are just beautiful. I was not a big fan of the last look (it looked to me like she was wearing a comforter). I'm also not loving his shoe collection, I like platform shoes and I also like that he actually designed them for Payless, which makes them very affordable, but the platforms are just way to big and over the top for my taste. I think these shoes must be very hard to walk on, one of the models actually fell during the show, I'm sure she agrees with me.

I've loved Christian's designs since he first appeared in Project Runway. He is not only a talented designer, but an accomplished sewer, pattern maker, tailor. He was always the first to be finished during the Project runway challenges and he always had extra pieces to top it off, so great!
It's hard to believe he is only 25 and already known worldwide for his amazing designs.

My favorite outfit from his new collection is this one one:

you can see more of the collection on the video below:



Raul Melgoza for Luca Luca had such a vibrant color palette for Fall it was very refreshing, the berry pink he used is so pretty and it works in most of the pieces he used it in. I enjoyed the silky prints on flowing tops and dresses, very feminine. There was a little weird mix of color on a few of the designs and I didn't like the "skirt/belt thingy" some of the models had over the skirts of pants. But I have to say I'm a little partial to Raul's designs because he is from LA, so good job Raul!

This one is my favorites:

More on the video below:



What's your favorite?