Guest Post at Cuddly Cacti

I've known Dus through blogging for awhile, and she is sweet as can be! She just did a interview with me about my art, so go check it out!

Guest Post at Some Girl

I was so super busy this past week that I completely forgot about my guest post that went up on Emily's blog on Wednesday! To see the process work behind this piece, check it out here, and be sure to follow her lovely blog while you're at it!

Guest Post: DIY Bloody Oxfords

Hey guys! Today I've got a cute and creepy Halloween guest post by Skye of My Kingdom for a Hat for you. She's got a weird and fearless sense of style, and I really admire her guts (lololol). Enjoy!

Hey y'all! I'm the mistress of absurdity over at My Kingdom for a Hat. I live for Halloween, and I'm delighted to spread my passion for plague and pestilence all over the blogosphere. Today I'll be teaching you how to stain and style your very own bloody oxfords. 

You will need...

1 pair of shoes (white is best, obviously. Other colors might work, but I can't promise the red will interact with them as well as it does with white.)

1 box of Borax 

1 cup of water (adjust amount for preference, and make sure to use a cup you don't care about ruining)

1 teaspoon

Red and blue food coloring 

Oh yeah, and a towel. Can you tell I do this a lot? 

Add Borax to water by the teaspoon. The amount is up to you. I used about 6 teaspoons to about a cup and a half of water to get a nice slimy, not-too-viscous consistency. If you're going more for guts than blood, use more Borax. Keep stirring until you reach your desired texture. 

Add red and blue food coloring. Again, the specific amounts depend on personal preference. Just make sure to use much more red than blue. Stir until blended.

Dip your fingertips in the mixture and flick drops onto the shoes. The blood will bead up, but don't be tempted to smear it; it'll start to run on its own soon enough.

If you so desire, squirt a few more drops of red food coloring over the shoes. This will create a nice layered color. 

Give them ten or so minutes to dry, and there you have it! A super-quick way to give any outfit a touch of the macabre. 

It might be fun to work these into a subtler look, wherein the shoes were the only real pop of absurdity. But I'm me, so I went all out with my Hell Bunny dress and Spirit Halloween headband. I got the jacket for $5 at a thrift store, and it's one of the best-worn items in my closet.

 

Happy Halloween! Be sure to check my blog over the next few days for more holiday finery. 

Guest Post with Room 334

Today I've got a guest post for you from Elana of Room 334! She is such a cutie, and today she's styling one of my dresses! Be sure to check out her blog.

Hello all! I'm Elana from Room 334 and I'm so excited to be guest posting for Rachel while she's on vacation! I'm spending my spring break sitting on a couch all week in the town where I attend college in Illinois, so it's safe to say that I'm pretty jealous of Rachel right now.

For my guest post, I thought it would be fun to show how I wore one of Rachel's dresses that I borrowed from her via Flock Together. This is actually a little different than a usual look of mine, if only because it feels slightly more casual I suppose. I absolutely loved this dress on Rachel, but it ended up being slightly skimpy on me once I put on it. I experimented with a few different layers, and I finally decided on tying up this sheer polka dot button down over it. I love wearing shirts like this over dresses and I thought that being able to see the mustard hue under the top was a cool touch. Not that I know anything about being cool, but I like to pretend I do. 

Thanks so much to Rachel for having me and I hope some of you will come visit me over at my blog! I can promise that you'll find no shortage of sarcasm and polka dots there as well. It's kind of a package deal with me.

Dress: Borrowed from Rachel

Shirt: Forever 21

Shoes: Pacsun

Ring: Jewelmint

Guest Post with Butterfly Loves Snapdragons

Hey guys! Today I'm out of town, so I arranged to have a guest post from the lovely Katie of Butterfly Loves Snapdragons! She is basically the vintage queen, and she's going to share a few tips for you on secondhand shopping!

Enjoy!

Why hello there dears! My name is Katie and I blog on my little space of the web called Butterfly Loves Snapdragons. I am so very delighted to be blogging for the lovely Rachel today. She has such darling and unique style and I never come away without inspiration. 

I am quite the vintage loving gal and so (much like Rachel) I buy most of my clothing secondhand. I also have quite the collection of clothing from various grandparents :) I just love when one's clothing has a story or two behind it! It gives the clothes a bit more depth and character, don't you think?

I was just thinking lately of some tips to shopping secondhand, would you care to know? :)

The first tip I have is to check your favorite spots often. Many shops get inventory in every week and so you have a better chance at finding items you like if you go in more frequently. You can also ask the owners what days they put out new merchandise so you can check right away if you're antsy ;)

 Secondly, when you go in-have an idea of how much you are willing to spend and bring only that much with you in cash. I've overspent a few too many times before I figured this one out. Sometimes I get a bit too enthusiastic at the cheap prices and come home with a bag of expensive junk.

My third tip is to shop all around the store! I've found things in the little kid's sections, men's sections, and DEFINITELY the old lady's section ;). Also,  don't look only in your size range. Many items have such varied sizes that the tags usually don't mean much anyway.

I figured out the last tip just recently. Make friends with the owners of the shops you like to frequent! I chatted with the lady of one of my favorite antique shops the other day and I happen to mention how much I love vintage hats (as I was buying two of them...what a coincidence...). She then gave me a tip that the following week in her store she was putting in a recently found vintage Christian Dior hat and that she'd give me a deal on it! Well, that just had me tickled pink. It's a mutually beneficial relationship-I get tipped off to the better merchandise, and she gets to (hopefully) make a sale! Can't beat that :)

Hope you can enjoy using some of these tips! Visit me at my blog for more daily outfits and ramblings of mine. I love to meet new readers and discover more blogs!

God Bless all, 

KJA

Wearing:
Hat- Vintage, Antiques on 18th
Sweater- Vintage, Nu2U Upscale Thrift
Blazer, Oxfords- Vintage- Y's Buys
Bag- Vintage Coach, thrifted
Skirt- Grandmother's