Christmassy Snaps and some Cheers to a New Year

Christmas was a blast my darlings.  It went by so fast - but isn't that how all magical things go?  It was filled with a delightful German Christmas Eve dinner in honor of my grandmother - rouladen, spaeztles, cabbage, and Christmas soup followed by a night of snowy bliss and a homemade french toast breakfast with curded custard, sticky buns, and breakfast mimosas the next morning.  Of course the presents followed, but more important was the celebration of love, life, and faith during this beautiful season.  Of course above is just a small taste from my wee world.

Now the New Year comes and I can't wait to ring it in.  Here's a little taste of my favorite outfits from the past 12 months.  Nothing much has changed.  I'll always be a gal who loves vintage dresses, lots of bright color, and whimsical head dressings.  It's been one fine year of spending way less, thrifting more, and shopping my closet.  Now that's something I can give myself a pat on the back for :)

So now I bid you a great night, and a short farewell until we meet again in 2013.  Thank you so very much for following along, for lurking, for commenting, for being my far-away friends.  You darlings always brighten my day.  Wishing you sweet celebrations and many many cheers to a brand new year!  

Love Bunches,

Let's Hang Out in January

Hello Darlings, 

The Shades of Monet Chronicles is offering some new ad options for the New Year.  If you are interested in promoting your blog or business, hop on over THIS WAY or click on the Advertise button above to find out more.  You can purchase an ad HERE at anytime through Passionfruit, which is both easy and convenient.  Wanna chat?  Feel free to shoot me an email at Parkerlilyblvd@yahoo.com.

Wishing you one fantastic Friday!  I'm in the city of Philly today off to do a little good old fashioned after Christmas shopping :)

Love Bunches,

Santa Baby

Dress: Flock Together Secret Santa gift from Hannah

Floral Crown: DIY

Brooch: DIY

Tights: Gift from sister

Shoes: Modcloth

Hello there darlings!

I trust that each and every one of you had a magical Christmas and are stuffing yourself with plenty of goodies, enjoying your families and friends, and getting plenty of r&r.  I'm currently back in my hometown doing just that, so I'm making it quick today as breakfast is calling and so are those homemade sticky buns.  A little more from my Christmas later though...

Earlier this month, the gals from Flock Together held a Secret Santa gift swap where we each sent a piece of clothing to one another.  Of course I was just tickled when my packaged arrived and I was greeted by this little teal babydoll dress thrifted and altered for me by the very lovely Hannah, of The Braided Bandit.  I'd say she has my number down pretty well :)  You can view more from our Secret Santa exchange right here.

As you can see we got a sprinkling of snow and actually were laced with another round of the frosting on Christmas Eve, adorning my hometown in the prettiest white Christmas it's seen in a while.

So tell me darlings, was your Christmas snowy and white?

Talk soon!

Love Bunches,

The Road Before Us

Sweater: Vintage (in shop here)

Skirt: Swapped with Jessi, of Haircut & General Attitude

Floral Crown: Gift from sister

Tights: Modcloth

Socks: UO

Boots: Marshall's

Well the Christmas countdown has begun (if it hasn't already started) and it's pretty safe to say that since the world is obviously not ending today (I never once believe it was), I need to get on the ball with the baking and wrapping all in preparation for Christmas Eve back in my hometown.  These past few days have been chock full of peppermint tea and fleece blankets but I am now feeling better and ready to take on the holiday tasks that lie before me.  Looks like whipping up a couple batches of my grandmother's Pfefferkuchen are in my future - mmmm, I can smell the gingerbread and chocolate now.

The weather is cold as Vanilla Ice so I'm all about the comfy cozy, my cheeks are rosy kind of oversized sweaters that keep my nose from turning red as Rudolph and my phalanges from falling off.  As for the skirt - nope, it's not mine.  The very lovely Jessi of Haircut and General Attitude sent it my way to swap and I've already found numerous ways to remix it.  I just couldn't help myself as I'm a sucker for anything that resembles mint flavored ice cream.

Here's how she wore it:  

So that's just about all - I need to get started in the baking department, so wish me luck - I feel like a Keebler Elf.  Off, off and away I go!

Love Bunches, 

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Good Tidings and Great Sweaters

Hello, hello!

I'm rocking my way over to Flock Together today with a lovely little sweater swap and sharing some merriment from my band's performance out at our town Christmas tree lighting.  Follow me on over this way to see more...

Love Bunches, 

Fox in Socks

 Outfit Details: Sweater: Target // Hat: UO // Brooch: Antique Mall // Skirt & Shoes: Thrifted // Tights: Modcloth

Oh hello there darlings, 

I trust your Tuesday is going as lovely as ever.  This past week has been nothing short of chaotic for me and unfortunately the little fam and I are just a tad under the weather at the moment.  No worries, it's nothing that modern day medicine and a little good old fashion rest can't cure, it's just a bit of a bummer that I am so behind in everything from sending Christmas cards out (which truthfully just won't happen this year) to catching up with things on here in le blogland.  However, I don't really feel there's much to complain about after the recent tragedies that unfolded in our country this week.  I'm just really thankful to be here and have my family around.  

Enough serious talk - these photos have been marinating in my draft folder for two months now, so it's about time that they make their debut.  Back in October, the Mr. and I went to see Ingrid Michaelson on her acoustic tour.  If you know me by now, you know that I have been quite the fan ever since the beginning and have seen her perform numerous times.  Well, the evening was everything I expected and more and I walked away feeling so sweetly inspired like I always do.  What more can I say?  I just adore nights like this with good music and the Mr. in hand.  

Wishing you a week full of gingerbread houses and lots of frosty snow.  Catch up with you soon!

Love Bunches, 

The Craft Room: Heart Back Dress (No Sew)

Happy Thursday Darlings!

It's DIY time again...

So the thing is - I had this lovely little ivory and plum dress from Modcloth that returned to me pretty badly stained in the back after I lent it out.  (It's ok, stuff happens).  Anyhow, as I only got several wears out of the dress myself and the stains covered a pretty large area and were stubborn as a moose and just wouldn't budge after numerous washes, treatments, and natural stain removal methods, my only hopes of salvaging the dress were to make a cute little cutout where the stained area was (not so bad, eh?).  Better yet, there's no sewing involved - so it's a pretty easy feat for anyone to take on :)

This is what I used to do just that:

First steps:

1.  Determine how large you want your heart to be and cut the shape out of your card-stock (I used a thick page from an old magazine)

2.  a.  Measure across the back of the dress and mark the center, and place your cut out heart accordingly.

     b.  Trace around the heart with your fabric pencil.

     c.  Cut that baby out.  (It's easiest to cut up the center and then around each of the sides.)

 Next steps:

3.  On the back of the dress, around the heart, place your HeatNBond and iron on.

4.  Place your bias tape directly over your HeatnBond and iron on.

 *** If you wish to leave the cutout open on your dress, you can stop right here.  I happened to have the perfect vintage floral material that matched the dress to a tee, so I decided to use that to fill in my heart and not leave my back exposed.  I'm quite a bosomy gal anyways, so an opened back is really not an option for me.  

Final steps:

5.  Turn the dress inside out and repeat step 3 with the HeatNBond around the heart on the inside of the dress.

6.  Iron on your material (measure it first to make sure you have enough to cover the cutout), then cut the excess around the edge of the heart.  (If you are super brave you can cut the heart shape out of the material first and then iron on, however I don't always trust my cutting skills, so I opted to do it the first way).  

Ta-Da - you are finished!  It's a million times cuter on - so I shall have to do a proper post with it once the weather warms.  My sad little hanger and less than flattering indoor lighting is just not doing this beauty any justice.  

That's all for now darlings!  Hope your holiday season of decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, and party going is simply as sweet as a sugar plum!  

Talk soon!

Love Bunches, 

Adventures in Tree Land

Outfit Details: Hat: Target // Cape & Gloves: Gift from mom // Top & Skirt: Gap // Brooch: Antique Mall // Boots: Thrifted

Hello there darlings,

It's just less than two weeks til Christmas and I can hardly believe how this month is flying by!   This past weekend was spent back in my hometown to visit my family and cut down a tree together which is a tradition we do most every year.  So off to the tree farm we headed in search of a perfect Christmas tree for my parent's house.  It was fun, it was muddy, and of course it wouldn't have been a trip unless we broke out into Christmas song - which my dad indeed did on a tractor full of strangers.  Good King Wenceslas, anyone?  Anyhow, the day was a success as a tree was found and no one lost an arm in the process :)  

So tell me, if you celebrate Christmas do you prefer to chop your tree down, get one from a lot, or go artificial?  

Have a loverly Tuesday darlings!

Love Bunches,