worn - november 27, 2010

i realized this weekend that i have sold almost all of my vintage wardrobe in order to pay bills or start our business. there are still a few on the racks of pack rats, but my closets at home are looking pretty slim and this makes me pretty sad. this is one i'd taken up to the shop, but when a girl tried it on in the dressing room and contemplated purchasing it - i knew by my anxiousness that i'd have to take it back home if she didn't get it. luckily she didn't. there are a few more that haven't sold that i may reclaim, but this one is one of my very faves.



dress - vintage
black tee - ann taylor
black tights
brown boots - vintage

christmas ordering deadline for custom items!

to save myself from madness - the last day i will be taking "made to order" or custom item orders will be december 10th - which is next friday - so get your orders in quickly! after that i will only be offering ready made/ready to ship items through the end of the year. for all you last minute shoppers - will be putting softspoken gift certificates in shop, too!

xoxo,
rachael

for softspoken readers only!

i'm only advertising this here - for blog readers only!
though feel free to pass along and share if you wanna.

p.s. - thanks for the comments and emails and messages
'bout my last post. took a little break and trying to
stay on the up side of things.

and sorry for the bellyachin'.

yr never fully dressed without a...

i took these photos the other day and intended to write
a post about pop culture loves, BUT...

my dad's been in intensive care for six days now. i'm 12
hours away. mom says i don't need to come home, but... i worry.

havin' a hard time. bills. no money. the shop. no customers. no income.

it's all up in the air and gonna have to land somewhere soon.

but don't wanna be a downer - just tryin' to keep up appearances.

the benefits

after being here a few hours i decided i was very much NOT
happy with my outfit choice of the morning. actually i had gone
through the trouble to pick it out yesterday. ok, i'll be real, it
was what i wore yesterday. but i didn't get dressed till like 6pm.
anyway, it was not cuttin' it today. i'm never really all that comfy
in jeans and a tee - even if i do throw on a cardigan, accessories,
and cute shoes - "effortless" style just looks lazy and boring on me.
so i shopped our racks and took to the dressing room - much
better i think.



dress - vintage, pack rats
tights - vintage, pack rats
shoes - vintage, pack rats
locket - dollar general

mamushka marie giveaway!

softspoken giveaway #2 is up! claire of mamushka marie is giving away
one of the new softspoken lace wraps in camel. go leave a comment to enter!

go!

craft night @ pack rats!

THUNDER

THUNDER

My husband calls
from his month-long trip to California
still nursing the anger
he left me holding like a small child
in the dwindling window of the airport

and hears from my side of the continent
the crack of thunder.
And yes, yes
that is what he misses most
about South Carolina.

Not the dust rising
in red puffs above the corn.
Not the lakes of carp and catfish
turning deep
in their tentative dreams of flight.

But the way
when the land is long given up for dead
and farmers have disinherited the sky
for good this time
it breaks sudden and big as forgiveness.

They don't have that here, he says
as if he were speaking
of grits or Dixie Beer
or a woman
who would stand in a storm
holding the receiver to the sky.

© Cathy Smith Bowers, 1989, 1992.

from here.

worn - november 10, 2010

i s'pose if i were a really good blogger i'd only take my
photos in really scenic locales, but oh well. this is what
a tired shop owner looks like after a long day.

dress - erin fetherston for target
belt - vintage
tights - f21, which in hindsight i might switch for plain black
for this outfit
oxford heels - la redoute

softspoken giveaway at dear beatrice!

dear beatrice is hosting a giveaway for a softspoken floppy bow scarf here!

the winner can choose from the crimson (seen above), the mustard (as seen on beatrice!), black, or charcoal. international entries welcome.

go enter!

p.s. - two more winter giveaways coming soon <3

worn - november 9, 2010

i made these dresses for my etsy shop so long ago. i remember pouring over the fabrics and tweaking my pattern in hopes that it would be the thing to take me through the spring and summer months when noone's wanting to buy winter wear so much. i'm not sure why i stopped making them - they all sold from my shop. thinking of adding them back again at some point. i feel like i'm always saying that.

bow tunic dress - made by me
cardi - super old target
jeans - trendy mall shop
shoes - thrifted

xoxo

this month's issue of lucky magazine said braids were the only acceptable form of pigtails.

lucky magazine can kiss it.

(please excuse the yarn mess that is our living room. it's the busy time of year and this is where i work.)

dear beatrice

beatrice in her custom softspoken bow (others available here). geez, i love
how she styled it so so much. really, could it be any better?

no, no it could not.

her blog.
her shop.

unraveled

umm... do you want these? cause i want these. i really want these.

let's take a closer look...









just when i was starting to develop a thing for piles of bracelets and cuffs
i discover that shay of the ongoing project is making these beauties for
her etsy shop, unraveled. every time i go shopping for yarn i make a detour into
the bead and jewelry section. those little beading looms have been calling my
name but i just can't justify adding another crafty object to my pile of things
to learn when i'm busy enough as it is. so i think these will hold me off for
a while. lovin' the big jewel buttons, too. perfection.

the lady behind these gems:



read her blog.
visit her shop.
see her photos.

softspoken lace wrap

i've been working on this piece off and on for a few weeks now - and have had the yarn hidden away in a box in the attic for years. i never knew what to make of it - but this sweet and lacey wrap seems to have been just the thing.

going in shop.

spring rose

another new color option in shop. had such a hard time taking these photos yesterday. bad light and a naturally harsh expression.

pace change

stitched up this christmas stocking the other night with my scraps.
i dunno - gonna alter it some and try again.

prettiest halloween

ran across these photos on the miss tess blog and hot damn if these aren't amazingly tops then i don't know what is. best costume award 2010.

also, if you aren't checking out her flickr stream occasionally then you're missing such eye wonderment as this. and this. and this. and this. and this.

so get on that.

worn - november 6, 2010

i have taken to my unruly dirty hair - especially when it
means 15 more minutes in a warm bed on a chilly morn.

scarf - by me, softspoken.etsy.com
blazer - steve n barrys
dress - target clearance last year
tights - dunno
boots - thrifted @ goodwill bins

halloween by a church, accidentally

m and i were hungover and sleepy after our night out last saturday for halloween, so we decided to close pack rats for a day and drive round little mountain, sc on the actual holiday. driving along the lake on the way back we ran into this church on the water with trees and crosses and statues randomly placed. it felt like a sleepy half-tired ending of easy rider. it also felt like the last happy day i'd have in a while.