Have a pinteresting weekend

What I'm pinning for summer... 


A summer hair solution and enjoying an ice cream cone while wearing a bright summer dress.


A really sweet garland for a summertime kids' party and a neon DIY to keep you cool inside a la Martha.


Summer tastes like fruit-filled sangria and what a fun way to package a summer gift or display flowers, paintbrushes, etc. 


(links go to Pinterest where you can see original source:)

i love tiny cities

I saw this on the Shreveport Blog (Trudeau's) and had to mention it!
This guy on Flickr, Russian Sam (who is actually a Russian named Ilia Shvetsov), builds models of cities out of paper, and he made one of Shreveport. It really is pretty amazing, check it...



Here's a birdseye view of my old building - 


And how cute is the bus station?!


This is the one that's going to really blow your mind, look how small the entire model is!


Crazy how he was able to incorporate so much detail - like the Regions logo, yowza.  He's also done Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Midland (maybe a GW fan?). Check him out.

7 things...

1. neon-tipped sandals
2. lace tops with bright detailing
3. a delicate-but-not-too tiered tank
4. clean chaise lounges
5. tribal-y beaded sandals
6. Grecian-inspired metallic sandals
7. a sheer sleeveless top that ties at the bottom in a bird print

(as seen at TJ Maxx in Texarkana)

The Everywhere Project

Check out this cool project by designer and illustrator Adrian Walsh. Walsh commissioned artists to create a vintage luggage tag design for each of the places mentioned in the song "I've Been Everywhere" (you probably know the Johnny Cash version) - all 92 places! Including Texarkana...
 

...and Louisiana!
... and Little Rock!
... and a few cities in Texas including Amarillo!
And of course many more non Ark-La-Tex-ian locations as well, like one of my personal faves - Charleston. Check it out and pick your favorite.

(As seen on the blog Unruly Things) 

Street style: Justin

... or I guess more like shop style, since Justin was at work (at the Gap.)

 I've known Justin for a while and he's always good at combining simple men's classics with thrifted pieces to pull off a polished, but never boring, look.  His workwear this weekend was no exception with his grandpa chic vintage loafers paired with basics to add a little something special.

Who: Justin
Where: Gap @ Central Mall, Texarkana

party style: rainbow!

A few weeks ago my husband, baby and I attended the first birthday party of my friend Kristen's baby, Amelia. Kristen went all out to make Amelia's day special with a rainbow theme - I know I'm not the only one that thought it was really awesome! Way to go, Kris.

As you can see there was a rainbow streamer backdrop, rainbow cupcakes, candy canes & sprinkled pretzel sticks, a rainbow bunting banner for the smash cake and a rainbow fruit tray. Whew! 
A lot of Kristen's inspiration came from Pinterest, including the sandwich skewers!

The cake was seriously impressive, made by Amelia's sweet Aunt Chele.

There are so many cute birthday theme ideas out there, and Pinterest is an excellent resource for food, drink & decor. What are some of your favorites?

Have an idea for an Ark-La-Tex party you think should be featured on Party Style? Send pictures to arklatexfashion(at)gmail(dot)com and you could see them here!

eye spy polka dots

1. Polka-dotted party cups aren't just for kids
2. A cute pair of Forever 21 shorts
3. Garnet Hill has bedding in really fun color combos
4. A classic does dots
5. One of the easier DIY manicures out there floating around on Pinterest
6. Chambray with polka dots (!) by J Crew

Breakfast of champions

Would you believe me if I told you that this is not tasty, delicious breakfast food, it's soap? Goat's milk soap to be exact, from Grand Prairie Texas- based shop Soapopotamus.

Seriously, doesn't the toast one blow your mind? The crust looks so realistic. And the lemon poppyseed muffin?! Gah. They would make a cute and quirky housewarming or hostess gift.

Have you ever used goat's milk soap? I haven't but am interested in giving some a try.

shop it: Altar'D State

Imagine my delight when I had a little time to kill in Shreveport before a dinner engagement and stumbled upon this store at the advice of one of my friends. The window display seriously gave me heart palpitations as I was driving up. It was sort of an Anthro/Urban hybrid with colorful clothes and a fabric scrap banner. Apparently it's been open since November, tsk tsk to my girlfriends for not telling me about it before [insert smiley face here. But then kind of a serious face]. The clothes are in color coordinated sectors, which I tell ya is very pleasing to the eye. I was seriously excited about the peach/persimmon/coral/tangerine-y area but found that those colors don't go so great with my skintone. They had a small section of basics but most of the clothes I would say are... borderline whimsical, for lack of a better word. For my style they would be more like special occasion clothes than everyday clothes - but really fun special occasion clothes! I tried on a culotte/tap pant hybrid, a couple of tops, and these coral jeans I reallllllly wanted to take home with me.. BUT, it's not as evident in the picture as it was in real life, they were like a second skin. I mean they were jeggings, but too close to a legging for my comfort. They have them in every color! Oh, the banana yellow... They also have an entire wall of TOMS, some cute ethically sourced scarves, and a lot of accessories. Really fun store, so happy that the Port city is getting places like this.
Where: Altar'D State, The Shoppes at Bellmead on Youree, Shreveport
What: Women's clothes, shoes, accessories

7 things I want for summer

1. Natural brown sandals - I dunno, I have gold, silver, coral, & a couple of other pairs of colored sandals, so something about a toned down pair is appealing to me this summer

2 Colored khakis - come on, these are just fun!

3. Summery pajamas - technically I guess you could wear this in public, maybe to a party at Hef's, but it's silk so let's call it what it is...sleepwear. Buying a new pajama to commemorate a season change makes bedtime funtime.

4. This will have to sub in right now for what I really want, a midi-length skirt. You know, mid-calf. I had my eye on one at Ruche but couldn't find it so... I do like this American Apparel one, but am looking for something just a tad longer. 

5. I kept reading about BB creams and finally had to google and see what was the what, and now I'd like to try one! This one had good reviews for it's sheer coverage, and the SPF that BB creams seem to feature is a bonus for summer. 

6. Alright so this one 's complicated. I really want a shorter-than-tankini-but-more-coverage-than-bikini top. I saw one in a magazine I swore was from Gap but can't locate it anywhere. This image came from some combination of googling "half tankini top, short tankini top, bustier top, corset top" or some combination of those words and I didn't save the link. It's from AE, but it's not on their site... bummer! So if you see anything similar, please let me know! 
(I did find this mid-kini - ha!- which I LOVE, but can't justify the cost. Talk me into it? Or not. But I love this shape for my next swimsuit top. Need.) 

7. Chambray shorts - feels a little more grown up/less spring break than a traditional jort and gives me the chambray I like but don't want to wear in a long sleeved shirt for summer.  


Other wants: 
- A romper that is not booty short on the bottom
- Maaaaybe try a pair of the high-waisted bikini bottoms? But not with my midkini top!
 - Patterned shorts
- Moccassins  

(all images are linked to original source)

iphone case love

If you're anything like me, then you see new iphone cases you MUST HAVE all the time, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty you agonize over where to drop your 25-ish (or more!) dollars on a case. Cause you need to love it. Cause you see it every day. And maybe it will go on sale? But then you see another you like and the process starts over and before you know it you've had your iphone for like 2 years and are still looking at a plain black case every day. Gulp.

Well look no further my friends!



If you have a job, and a hundred dollars... Kidding. But if you have a clear iphone case and a color printer (!!!!) - you can be rocking one of these awesome designs from the blog See That There. 



both images from See that there

I love them! And I don't have a clear case but guess what, I'm going to get one so that I can change up my phone's look whenever I want! These exclamation points mean I'm excited!


Meanwhile, here's an Etsy case I had been coveting.
And a custom Shutterfly one I would do with a pic of my little.
And a Kate Spade one.
And don't even get me started on this site filled with awesome artist-designed cases. How to decide?!?

DIY: wrapped bangles

Recently inspired by this embroidery floss napkin ring tutorial, I decided to use that idea to make some bangles. This would be a great way to give a facelift to some thrifted or unworn bangles, orrrrr you could do what I did and go buy some at the $1 jewelry store! Come on, I got 3 for $1, you can't beat that.

Here's how it went down:



1. Buy/find some bangles to use...
2. ...and some embroidery floss (I got mine at Hobby Lobby and it was a multi-pack of a zillion colors).
3. Start wrapping! I secured mine with a touch of mod podge (cause that was what I had) and wrapped and wrapped, then when I finished a color I mod-podged a tail down flat to wrap the next color over.. eh? See what I'm saying here?

Then I just kept on wrapping and changing colors as I felt like and at the end I mod-podged the tail on the inside again, and you can see the finished product, ta daa!

You could pick a color scheme, like I did, or just do random colors, hombre, rainbow, two color stripes... whatever you feel like!  Easy peasey japanesey, and kind of a zen-inducing activity if you like that sort of thing.

Here is another embroidery floss wrapping jewelry idea I saw recently that I may experiment with next.