M O O R E A S E A L

Giveaway Winner!

2012-01-27T19:13:00.000-08:00

Congrats Stacey from Gray Skies! You've won the Evidence Jewelry giveaway! Please email me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to claim your prize :)

What I Wore // Bright as a Bumble Bee

2012-01-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

I'm trying my best to bring some color into my dark and neutral wardrobe. Every few years I look at my closet and it is all brights, so then the next few years I work towards toning down the color and then all of a sudden my closet is full of only black, white, grey, and neutrals. Right now it is in the black, white, grey and neutrals zone. And as much as I love my neutral tones, I need to spice it up at least a little! So while Modcloth was having their super 70% off sale, I grabbed this yellow coat and a red skirt. I really dig this coat. I was thinking that it might not work super well with a curvy figure but I was thankfully wrong. It is nice and elongating and fits just perfectly! It has a hint of military styling with the brass buttons down the front but for the most part stays heavily in the girly zone. Score. I also am in loooove with my new ring from Beginning Boutique. So badass. And I've been wearing these shoes from Blowfish shoes just about everyday since they arrived on my doorstep.

Coat // Modcloth

Glasses // c/o Glasses USA

Scarf // My grandmothers

Shoes // c/o Blowfish Shoes

Faux Leather Leggings // Asos

Ring // c/o Beginning Boutique

Lines, Stripes + Neon

2012-01-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

Asos Stripe Top // via Pinterest // Kubista // Bona Drag Swimsuit // Rugs USA // via F Yeah Cartography // Free People Dress // via Design Leaks // Claire Vivier // Neon Top from Tobi // Ace Hotel Packaging // Whit & Whistle

Guess what I am most excited about for Spring... Stripes and Lines and Stripes + neon!

Braids & Chevrons

2012-01-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

My ears usually don't like big earrings, but wow do they love these earrings from Evidence Jewelry. I'm totally obsessed. The brass and stainless steel go well with everything I own, clean, chic, kind of tribal, a little rough around the edges but still feminine, perfect.

Featured In // The Violet Online Magazine

2012-01-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

I'm really honored to be featured in the online magazine The Violet alongside my friend Molly from Vividot and Kelli Murray! I am lucky enough to be friends with Molly here in Seattle. Last year we lived just a few blocks away from each other! And I have been a fan of Kelli Murray's illustrations for a few years now. I feel so lucky when I get paired up next to women like this for articles having to do with art, craft, creativity, and small business. Thank you so much Ashlee for featuring us, our work, and our words in The Violet. Click the image above to start flipping through the pages of the magazine!

National Handwriting Day // My Scribble

2012-01-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

What does your handwriting look like? Post about it and leave a link in the comment section below!

Promote Yourself on Moorea-Seal.com in February

2012-01-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Would you like to be a sponsor in February? Shoot me an email at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com or just click here to get in contact! My blog currently receives an average of 2,000 hits a day with a high of 2,585 in last month. I love being able to promote small businesses, crafters, artists, makers, bloggers, musicians and more on my blog. I have 4 different sizes and prices available just click here to check out the sizes and rates!

Meet the January Sponsors

2012-01-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

Say hello to our January Sponsors! First up we have our Large spot sponsors. I LOVE these shops. I got my roommate some awesome leggings from Karina Manarin for Christmas. Ian Gill makes really rad wooden jewelry and I'm especially digging this necklace. I really want to grab a set of Chalkboard tags from Kate's Paper Goods. I think this ring from Erin Antiques is so very pretty. We all know I am a huge fan of Blowfish Shoes and right now I'm eying these amazing wedges for Spring. This necklace from Pink Lemonade would make such a pretty adornment for a rustic Spring wedding. And I'm so excited for this ring from Beginning Boutique to arrive in my mailbox any day now!

BLOG // SHOP

Click the images above to visit my medium sponsors' beautiful sites! Go on a treasure hunt to find some beautiful leather jewelry, a workbook to aid you in your wanderlust dreaming, a handmade t-shirt, a mama who makes some pretty rad illustrations, some fun and flirty adornments for your hair, meet a goody-goody with a rebellious spirit, visit a rad online shop that stocks my jewelry, and a photographer with a travelers spirit.

GIVEAWAY // Frida Kahlo Tassel Necklace from Evidence Jewelry

2012-01-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

I'm totally obsessed with the treasures found in the Evidence Jewelry shop. It's full of all of my favorite things, geometric shapes, a tribal feel, something a bit magical and mysterious, metallic tones, obsidian arrowheads, just a beautiful collection of jewelry! Katie, the owner and designer of Evidence Jewelry is giving one of you, my readers, the opportunity to win the necklace featured above called the Frida Kahlo Tassel Necklace. Say thanks to Katie for the awesome opportunity!

TO ENTER:

1. Visit her shop and leave a comment her letting me know your favorite piece.

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a 2nd comment here.

3. Follow Evidence Jewelry on Twitter and leave a 3rd comment here.
4. Mention this giveaway on Facebook and leave a 4th comment here.

This giveaway ends on January 24th, 2012.

BLACKOUT

2012-01-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Yikes you guys, have you read about SOPA and PIPA yet? In protest again SOPA, and instead of blacking out my blog for the day, I'm posting this video and giving you these links to learn more. Noticed how Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Mozilla, Wordpress, I Can Has Cheeseburger, Twitpic, Wired, Greenpeace, Vimeo, and many more major websites are protesting against SOPA? Have you thought about how SOPA could effect your blog personally for that one random time you forgot to credit that one photo you like, or that time you made a video of you singing a song you love, or when you added in a song in the background of a tutorial you made for your blog? Have you thought about how SOPA could really hurt the blogging community as a whole, how it could effect those of us who rely HEAVILY on Social Media sites to keep our businesses running? I'm freaked out about SOPA and PIPA. Click on any of the links above to find a petition to sign against SOPA, to email or tweet your congressmen and women, to support the freedom you currently have in blogging, posting on twitter, facebook, vimeo, youtube, the freedom you have in editing Wikipedia pages, and more. Ps, at O'Reilly.com they are having a free livestream of experts all day discussing ways to "improve your power in Washington from people who’ve been successful at moving it."

Also, here is a letter from some musicians, artists, and creators you may know who are standing against PIPA and SOPA.

For those of you who have started your business thanks to the internet, Etsy sellers, Professional Bloggers, and those of you who hope to start a small business, watch this.
Our Internet from Engine Advocacy on Vimeo.

Cardinal Warrior

2012-01-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

When I got my iphone last year, I just bought the brightest iphone case I could find in the Verizon store. There were like 10 options and I just picked the one that looked most durable (because I drop my phone all the time...) and the brightest (because I misplace my phone all the time.) I ended up with a bright pink phone case. And it wasn't a neon pink, because I kind of would have dug that, it was just a pink pink. I'm not really a pink girl. So every time I pulled out my phone, I would immediately say, "Don't judge, I'm not a pink girl. I just need a bright phone so I don't lose it."
Well, I got sick of the pink iphone case. And the nice folks at Sharp Shirter sent me this rad Cardinal Warrior Iphone case! Much more appropriate for me than a pink phone case. No hate on girls who love pink, I'm just a little more rough around the edges.

Shop Update // New Headpieces and Arrowhead Rings!

2012-01-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

I've been so very busy these past weeks that I haven't had any time to work on new pieces for the shop. But finally, last week I was able to whip out some new arrowhead rings and some new headpieces! The first round of headpieces are now in the shop! And I've added some more arrowhead rings today too!

Click here to visit my Etsy shop!

Sustainable Weddings & Events Fair

2012-01-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

Are you in the Seattle area and getting hitched sometime soon? Come visit me at the Sustainable Event Fair today from 12-4pm to explore some sustainable, affordable, creative ways to deck your wedding out! You can try on some of my jewelry too :)

Super Sweet Sick Tats // And by That I Mean, Tattoos

2012-01-13T01:01:00.000-08:00

Lately my lovely boyfriend has been daydreaming about tattoos. I have a feeling that boy will get one eventually and I think he'll end up picking something that will be a beautiful representation of an important moment in his life. And he wants to get a tattoo on that one spot on the lower inside arm section that I think is the sexiest place for dudes to have tattoos so... boyfriend, I approve ;) The only time I have daydreamed about getting a tattoo was when one of my best friends in college passed away from a bike accident. For a couple weeks after his passing, I would continue to illustrate an image with henna on my arm of a claddagh ring and a few little embellishments. My friend Patrick had big plans to get lots of amazing tattoos, one being a claddagh. A few people got tattoos in honor of him including a few of his family members. Aw, my friend Patrick. I didn't end up getting a tattoo at that time because I just wanted to hold the memory of him in other ways. And I didn't want to get a tattoo that was so meaningful and end up disliking the style of it. I'm just really really picky about graphics.

As you can see by the tattoo images I compiled together above, I personally like tattoos that are just black with a good balance of "white space", are geometric, sometimes abstracted, and have cool graphics that remind me of old botany books and occult mysterious symbols (I'm a little bit obsessed with researching Free Masonry.) The thing is, with the tattoos that I am really drawn to, I have yet to find ways of attaching much meaning to the images I like. And facts are, I enjoy experimenting with new trends because of their impermanence. Trends are fun and flighty, but I would never tattoo a trend onto my bod. I don't want to follow a random design/graphic/illustration trend whim, slap it up on my body in tattoo form, and then want to punch myself in the face for that bad decision making 6 months later. I guess if I got a tattoo, it would have to have some sort of meaning that could be cherished for the all the years ahead.

I am the sort of person who is very very serious about decision making and planning, and the idea of getting a tattoo kind of freaks me out simply because of it's permanence. Chances are, I probably wont get a tattoo ever either because I'll never decide on what I want and/or I'll never decide on where I want it. Or I might be like my dad and start getting tattoos in my mid fifties. He has always thought tattoos were really cool but he decided to wait until he was in his fifties so that they wouldn't have time to get super duper blurry before he died ( Watch out Dad, you're going to live till your 105 just because your skin wants to spite you in your bet against death and you'll be old and wrinkly and one big tattoo blur.) But on a more serious note, my Dad also knew for himself at least that when he reached his fifties, his tattoos would probably end up containing a lot more meaning for him than if he had gotten them at a younger age. I bet my dad will keep accumulating tattoos until he kicks the bucket one day because the dude loves them so much and he is one of those people who actually enjoys the feeling of getting tattooed. Every so often my dad will text me with a photo of a fresh new tattoo saying, "oh hey, I got a new tattoo today." He doesn't even prep anyone, he just does it. Who is that guy. Dad, I love you :)

Anyway, I compiled all of those rad tattoo images with the intention of just writing a quick post saying, "These tattoos are my style. I dig them." But look where I am now, 4 paragraphs later. I also wanted to mention that in college, most of my best friends had at least 1 tattoo each, so for me, being un-tattooed felt more unique than being tattooed. This is what happens when you are a 20 something living in the Northwest. Can I get an amen? Ok, but still, the images above do make me daydream abut getting a tattoo that somehow incorporates cool free masonry symbols, botany textbook illustration, cool mountain-like squiggly lines, some graphics taken from Harry Potter, geometric shapes aka mostly triangles and squares, a block of some sort of text that is meaningful to me...and on and on and on...cool things/no girly ish/nerd stuff/lines. See more tattoos I dig here.

Do you have a tattoo or multiple tattoos? What inspired you to get a tattoo? And if you don't have one, do you dream of getting one ever?

p.s. My middle sister almost got the word "panda" tattooed on the inside of her bottom lip. Actually, I think she might still be considering it. Zandra panda, you are the silliest. Do whatcha wanna do girl.

How I Style My Bedroom

2012-01-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

You know, my bedroom actually matches my current blog design pretty well! If you read my blog in google reader, you probably haven't noticed yet that I did a bit of tidying up around my blog, adding a new banner and re-organizing some sidebar elements. When it comes to styling my own blog, it is just so much harder for me than designing other folks' blogs because I am my own worst critic. But I'm really digging the look so far! I just need to update all the pages and fix some sidebar stuff...and and and...so many things to do all the time. :)
Anyway, back to the main purpose of this post: Here is a peek into my bedroom! In all honesty, I really am the worst at decorating. I attribute it to the fact that I am 25 and have moved every 4 months, 9 months, or at the most every year since I was 18. I've lived in 10 different places/houses/apartments/cabins/tents/yurts in the past 7 years (for reals, I lived in a yurt in the Redwoods of California for a month once. AMAZING) But ugh to moving so much. Therefor I don't hold on to many things because I hate having to move a bunch of stuff. And it really is just stuff.
I currently own just my bed, a dresser, a side table, a few lamps, my desk and all my work equipment which lives on one wall of our dining room, and some plates, a few bowls and a few cups. Plus clothes and a lot of scarves, shoes, and jewelry because hey, come on, I am an accessories designer...Fashion is my passion baby! My roommate already had the rest of the house fully furnished before I moved in which was obviously awesome since I don't have anything to furnish the rest of the house with and she already has amazing taste in everything!

After I moved to my current home in September, I was at a total loss as to how I should/could decorate my bedroom. Since I have only been a full time artist for less than a year now, and I was trading nannying for rent for a few months last year, I really have to be super careful about my budget. Aka, I have no extra cash to put towards decorations. So I just didn't decorate my room for a few months. But in November I got the opportunity to test out a beautiful home decor piece courtesy of Soft Surroundings. I saw this awesome inspiration board and assumed it was probably about a foot tall and thought, oh that could be a fun way to display my necklaces. And then when it arrived in the mail I realized it was actually about 3 or 4 feet tall and would house all of my necklace, rings, bracelets and scarves!
I absolutely love the way it looks on my wall. I felt like it has a sort of store front display vibe so I used that as inspiration for my room decor. I decided to just decorate my room as if it were a beautiful store front using my favorite dresses and accessories as decorations for my walls. This way, I don't have to go out and buy wall decorations and I get to gaze at my most favorite accessories and dress as I fall asleep :) And hey, I figure, why not keep my bedroom girly since I'm not living with my boyfriend or married. I'm free to make my bedroom as girly as I want! Buahaha...maniacal laughter... Sheesh, I am goofy today. Anyway, I'm super pumped about this inspiration board used as an accessories display. It's my most favorite thing in my room by far.

I'll have to show you how I've styled the rest of the bedroom later. I've re-purposed some chevron material my roommate wasn't using as wallpaper, hung some of my craft show display elements in my room since it's too cold to do any outdoor fairs right now, and have some other tricks to share at a later date. But for now, what do you think of my earth toned woodsy but girly, but not pink and frilly girly, bedroom? And what do you think of the super rad inspiration board by Soft Surroundings?

Lots of Little Arrows...

2012-01-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hooray! The first shop update of 2012! I re-opened my shop from my Christmas "vacation" on January 1st and as of today, it's nice and fully stocked again plus you will find a few new things added in. I made some arrowhead rings a few months ago that sold out within a half an hour of listing them! So I finally found a great arrowhead source and made some more. Now there is a forest of arrowhead rings at my work desk, waiting to be sent out to some new ring loving friends :)

Here is a sneak peek at some of the goodies you will find in the shop right now! I've also added some other beautiful bling which you will have to go visit the shop to find!

Grey Sky Morning

2012-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

Another one of my New Years Resolutions is to start creating treasuries on Etsy. I've been an Etsy seller for about 2 years now and I've never made a treasury! Lame. I think I just expected it to be way more complicated than it actually is. It is actually really easy and simple to do, and fun as well. I am not one to keep a lot of knick knacks and collections around my home, but I do love looking at beautiful groupings of objects. I think this challenge to create a treasury a week will be really fun :)
Yesterday I created this treasury above inspired the dark grey mornings of the Northwest and specifically Seattle. Especially this time of year, when I look out my window I see lots of bare trees, rain soaked pavement, the hard edges of the fences rolling down the block, and a grey sky looming above. Sounds sort of gloomy right? It definitely can be, but it has its own dark beauty.

Click the image above to find links to all of the beautiful grey pieces in this treasury.

The Red Lipstick Challenge // Participate!

2012-01-08T23:40:00.000-08:00

One of my New Years Resolutions is to wear red lipstick every so often. I'm honestly so intimidated to wear red lipstick. I think, in my head it is much more dominant on my face than it actually is, aka I am actually a shy person in public and don't like to draw too much attention to myself when I am out and about. And for some reason, wearing lipstick just makes me feel like I am drawing too much attention to myself. Perhaps it's because I get to hide behind glasses everyday, using them as my safety blanket. I feel as though my eye makeup isn't very dominant on my face when hidden behind my glasses so I'm not drawing too much attention to myself. When I wear red lipstick, I can't really hide my lips behind anything like I can my eyes.
All of that being said, the challenge to wear red lipstick every so often is less about vanity and more about confidence building. There are many aspects of my life in which I am very confident, in my business and artistic endeavors, for example, in my desire to be kind, in wisdom, in thoughtfulness, in my strong will. But just like any other human being, I still have my insecurities. My glasses are definitely a safety blanket for me. And having had severe acne for almost 10 years, I came to feel safe from judgement of my face by hiding behind my glasses. I have avoided drawing much attention to my face for years and years, though it has been about a year and a half since my acne finally subsided and my face finally felt clear and free.
For those of you who have battled acne, who have acne scars or really anything on your face that you feel ashamed of or judged because of, I understand. The scars that I do have left on my face are not a big deal to me anymore, thank goodness. But I do have emotional scars that make me feel so naked and nervous, jittery and intimidated when I draw any attention to my face, be it wearing lipstick or wearing contacts instead of glasses. In reality, I know that it really isn't a big deal at all to wear lipstick or to take off my glasses. But my whole life I have always had this strange sensation of feeling like people can see into my mind and my heart, my spirit, my essence, by keeping close eye contact with me (I've mentioned this before as something strange I always felt, being someone with really light colored eyes. My eyes sometime feel like thin transparent sheets that reveal my inner thoughts. Anyone else with light blue or green eyes had this strange sensation?). And with years of battling acne, I have felt like my face just looks dirty and gross and gave off the false appearance of looking like I don't try to take care of myself, even though I do. So I would avoid eye contact, would tilt my head down when I walked, I just wouldn't hold my confidence in my face but would hide it away for many years when I was younger. I'm much better at holding my confidence in my face now, but I still see challenges I need to face, like being ok with drawing attention to my face.
This year, I am pursuing wearing my confidence in my actions, in my words, in my thoughts, and most importantly (because it is such a challenge for me) in and on my face. I will wear red lipstick as a visual reminder that having attention drawn to my face is not bad. I should not be afraid or ashamed of my face. I should not feel nervous when attention is on me. I am free from acne, but my beauty is no different when I do have acne and when I don't. My truest beauty is found in my confidence and how I let the world see the confidence in me. Lipstick, you will be my reminder of confidence. Let's do this :)

Coat // My great-grandmother's faux fur coat

Denim Dress // thrifted

Faux Leather Leggings // Asos

Wool Socks // A Christmas Gift

Boots // c/o Wanted Shoes

Would you like to join me in my challenge to wear red lipstick? It's all about gaining confidence in presenting yourself to the world, full of healthy pride with a nice red lipped smile on your face :) For me, 2012 is all about reaching new fronts in my in my goals, in my dreams, in relationships, in my health, every aspect of life, and doing it all with confidence built up inside of me and revealed on the outside. The red lipstick is a marker of that outward expression of confidence. Feel free to add the button below to your blog to join in my campaign to wear your confidence!

180x180 px

Somebody That I Used to Know...

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Somehow I missed out on the fact that this song is popular. I'm absolutely obsessed with it ...and now all of Gotye's music, and Kimbra's music. I suddenly regret giving up on a musical career so quickly after college. I'm going to have to record a cover of this song asap. Keep your eyes peeled and your eyes listening.

Blog Design // Floral Gravity

2012-01-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

Around Christmas, I finished up this blog design for Sanaa from Floral Gravity that I had been working on in the late Fall. This was a really fun project because it really challenged my normal color choices and encouraged me to find a way to make primary colors look less child like and more feminine and elegant. Sanaa is an architecture student who was interested in balancing her love for clean, structured design with a flare of whimsy and femininity. She loves florals, as is obvious by her blog name, and I wanted to incorporate a classic floral feel into her design while adding whimsical elements like the floating navigation buttons in the clusters of flowers to keep the overall vibe feeling dreamy and fresh, not getting too serious. We were inspired by the warmth and balance of textures in the movie Amelie and included a antique book cover texture in the background to bring that warm and cozy feeling into the blog. I think the design turned out so well and really reflects her personality: focused, well organized, whimsical, feminine, classic but with a little bit of something new, colorful, a little quirky, intelligent, a reflection of a dreamer and a thinker.

My favorite part of the design would have to be the painted flowers. It took us awhile to figure out exactly how to use florals in the design, and I ended up painting these flowers with gouache and then added them into the design. I think the hand painted look gives the blog that touch of warmth and detail that we were going for. What do you think?

Be sure to head over to Sanaa's blog Floral Gravity to welcome her to her new blog home!

Dawn Mitschele // Free Download

2012-01-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

Meet my new super musically talented friend Dawn. I met her recently through her equally talented boyfriend Kris Orlowski. I did Kri's last two album covers and I may be working on Dawn's new album design as well :) Dawn just released a free download that she'd love to share with you! Click here to download your free Dawn Mitschele single and stay posted for her upcoming new album release!

What I Wore // Asymmetry, Gold hardware, and Leather

2012-01-02T00:07:00.000-08:00

I think of any year of receiving gifts, this year my friends and family have been SO spot on with Christmas presents I would and do absolutely love. I LOVE giving gifts even more than receiving them. A huge part of the joy of running my own business is that I am able to give gifts of my jewelry whenever I want to. I just love gift giving. I think it is my love language. But it is a really special thing to me when those I love give me gifts that show they really know me, that they encourage me to be myself, and that they are thoughtful in communicating their love to me through their gift. The price isn't important, I just am so psyched when someone makes or gets me something that communicates thoughtfulness. My Dad and my boyfriend both got me antlers for Christmas and I can't even tell you how excited I was/am about them! That was so very thoughtful of both of them and just shows how well they know me. My boyfriend also got me a professional massage which I am SO excited about because I've never had one before and I'm always complaining about my back hurting. Thank you much Max <3
My sisters and Mom loved the Blowfish Shoes I bought for them. And I gave both of my sisters Tumbleweeds sunglasses. I got my dad a SUPER cool naturally shed Gemsbok horn from an amazing shop in San Francisco called Paxton Gate. That place is aaaaaamazing. It's filled to the brim with everything I love: butterfly specimens, tons of cool animal bones and specimens, whimsical taxidermy, amazing terrariums and plants, cool viles and glass jars, edgy and whimsical jewelry, they even had some of my most coveted after items on etsy, the porcelain beaver skull with gold painted teeth from Beetle & Flor.
I gave my roommate some awesome galaxy print leggings from Karina Manarin. I'm so in love with everything in her shop! And I also got my roommate a little terrarium necklace from a Fab sale. She gave me this awesome leather skirt which I am wearing in this outfit. Thank you Danielle! I love it!

My great uncle gave each of us in our family little gift certificates to Nortstrom from Christmas and I headed straight to Nordstrom Outlet with mine. I was on the hunt to get a nice warm winter coat and found the most amazing Miss Sixty coat on sale with beautiful gold colored hardware detailing. I love it so much. Thank you for the gifts my family and friends. I'm really really grateful. <3

Glasses // c/o Glasses USA

Coat // Nordstrom Outlet

Shirt // hand me down from a friend

Skirt // Christmas present from my roommate

Thigh High Socks // Sock Shop on Haight

Shoes // c/o of Blowfish Shoes

Tiny Triangle Rings // Stone & Honey

Ringing In the New Year with New Sight

2011-12-31T17:33:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Eve everyone! I'm ringing in the new year with some new glasses. All the better to see into the future with! I just flew back into Seattle yesterday and I was so super excited when I saw my new glasses from GlassesUSA.com sitting on my front step. They had arrived a few days go at my parents house in Northern California just hours after I had left to drive down to my grandpa's house in Long Beach, CA. So my dad was kind enough to send them up to Seattle. And here we are today, New Years Eve, with me wearing my new eyeglasses which I LOVE!
I'm very excited for tonight. I picked up one of my best friends from the airport this morning. I haven't seen her in a year and a half because she has been living in Guatemala, too far away! I am SO excited that she is here in Seattle for New Years and the next few days. I had kind of a rocky trip home in California with lots of highs and lows. So I am happy to be back in my current home of the past 6 or 7 years with one of my besties by my side. I'll be spending the evening with my favorite man, one of my best friends who is visiting, some of my dearest friends in Seattle, and I'll be seeing it all through the lenses of my new glasses. :)

I think what sold me on these particular glasses were the tiny triangles in the corners. I can't seem to kick my love of triangles and geometric shapes :) I love that they are a dark brown color as opposed to black. The dark brown works best with the warm tones of my skin and hair. And I super duper love the stripe of tortoise shell on the sides. Plus the kind of retro vibe is pretty rad. What do you think?
ps. I've worn prescription glasses everyday since I was 14 thanks to my poor eye sight and astigmatism in my right eye. How many of you rock glasses like a nerd champ? Nerdy girls with poor eye sight unite!

For those of you who would like to buy glasses from Glasses USA, here are some awesome coupons for your purchase!

>> Take 30% off any pair of eyeglasses and get FREE US shipping with the code: Holiday11

>> Take 10% off any order. Code: Blog10

Sparkle from Head to Toe...

2011-12-29T18:37:00.000-08:00

I love how Starr from A Thought is the Blossom styled the California Sunshine Headpiece with her new gold sparkle oxfords! I have the same shoes and I just gave away a pair on my blog. Starr has good taste ;)

Glitter Shoes Giveaway Winner!

2011-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

Congrats Connie from Daydream in Color! You've won the glitter oxfords giveaway! I'll be contacting you later today to get some sparkle sparkle shoes sent your way :)

Sponsor Moorea-Seal.com in 2012 // Plus, New Ad Sizes

2011-12-26T01:35:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the month again folks! Time for a call out for new sponsors. I am really looking forward to getting back into a more consistent rhythm of blogging in 2012. And I am excited to bring along some new sponsors for the journey ahead! Moorea-Seal.com is a blog focused in motivational words for women, fashion inspiration, DIY, my personal work including jewelry design, blog design and illustration, outfit posts, facts and advice on running a small business, music, and anything related to Northwestern style and living. I love being able to promote and introduce blogs and businesses to my readers through our sponsorship program. So if you are interested in reaching new audiences in 2012 for your blog, etsy shop, or other business, shoot me a message at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com before Dec 31st. Or just click here!

Ps, Did you notice that I have new sizes for the ads on my blog in 2012? They are now larger and more affordable than before!

Happy Holidays from My House to Yours

2011-12-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I know my blog has been very quiet for over a week now. Sheesh! I've just been so insanely busy this holiday season and have needed to just focus on work before I traveled back home to California. I'm home now and, as per usual, being home with family always has its drama and fun festivities. Time is occupied with many things when you are traveling and spending time with those you love. But don't worry, I'll be back soon.
Earlier in the week I was in San Francisco. I then drove up to Nevada City (in California) to be with my immediate family. And next we are off to LA, more specifically Long Beach, CA to be with our extended family. I'll be back in Seattle for New Years and I am excited to start 2012 off with a bang both in my normal everyday life and on my blog. I'll try to pop in over here when I can in the new few days but I'll be traveling a lot as well. So excuse my silence when it is a bit quiet over here. I'll see you soon and Happy Holidays!

A Gypsy Girl Photo Shoot

2011-12-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

How gorgeous are these photos!?! Gabby from En Route recently used one of my California Sunshine Headpieces in a gypsy themed photo shoot. I love her photography and the vivid colors and textures in these photos are just a dream. Thanks Gabby for featuring my jewelry in your photo shoot!

GIVEAWAY // Glitter Oxford Shoes!

2011-12-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

Ooooooh yes, this is for real. I get to giveaway a pair of my favorite shoes from Wanted Shoes to one of my wonderful blog readers! I recently received some amazing gold glitter oxfords from Wanted Shoes and I have been wearing them non stop ever since. I was so excited about them that I decided to give one of my readers the opportunity to pick out their own favorite pair of glitter oxfords! A huge thank you to Wanted Shoes for making this happen.

TO ENTER:

1st ENTRY // Visit Wanted Shoes.com and leave a comment here letting me know your favorite shoes on the site.

2nd ENTRY // Like Wanted Shoes on Facebook and leave a second comment here.

3rd ENTRY // Follow Wanted Shoes on Twitter and leave a third comment here.

4th ENTRY // Tweet about this giveaway and leave a fourth comment here.

This giveaway ends on Dec 20th, 2011 at midnight.

And the winner of the Mr. Lentz necklace giveaway is Top Hat! Please email me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to claim your prize!

A Dreamy Bohemian Wedding

2011-12-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

Aren't these photos beautiful? A lovely blog reader of mine named Zoe from Teaspoon of Wild Honey recently got married and wore one of my Sparkle and Shimmer Headpieces in her wedding! I love seeing how people style my jewelry for both everyday wear and for special occasions like weddings. Congrats Zoe on your marriage, your wedding photos are so dreamy! Photography by Thorson Photography.
Ps, I LOVE Zoe's wedding dress. It's so bohemian pretty!

An Etsy Christmas Wishlist // For the Home

2011-12-13T01:00:00.000-08:00

1. Triangle Wall Shelves Set, 2. Ikat Pillow, 3. Antler Chandelier, 4. Porcelain Beaver Skull, 5. Celestial Print, 6. Tumbling Es Eye Chart, 7. Birch Candle Holders, 8. Silver Moon Clock, 9. Paper Mache Bowl, 10. City Map Cut, 11. Shenandoah Desk, 12. Olive Branch Lamp

I thought it might be fun to share a few of my favorite items on Etsy right now with an Etsy Christmas Wishlist Series! First up, pieces for the home. My little home was already decorated by my roommate before I moved in with her. Thankfully, I love her taste and I basically own nothing other than my workspace necessities, a bed, a bedside table, and a dresser, some lamps, and some plates/bowls/cups. That is literally all I own besides clothing and basic necessities. So while most of my home is really rad-ly decorated by my roommate, my bedroom is totally barren and boring. I am desperate to get my hands on some decor for my bedroom and my inspiration is first and foremost a color palette of white/black/brown/gold. I love woodsy elements mixed with the perfect structure of mid century modern style. I am really inspired by the Bauhaus, blending art, craft, design and function into beautiful home objects. Graphic art pieces with clean lines. Interesting art objects that have pops of gold. Unique shelving. Celestial meets Forest meets Structured City. Can you feel me?

What I Wore: Black and White and Grey All Over

2011-12-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't done an outfit post in a month! Sorry about that folks, it has been dark, gloomy and super cold in Seattle which means standing outside to take photos is just miserable. I don't usually take outfit photos inside because my roommate is a night nurse and has to sleep all day so the sound of a camera beeping away is too loud and will wake her up. But my little Danielle is on a super fun trip to Costa Rica right now so I'm just going to go indoor photo crazy while I can! :)

OUTFIT:

Shirt // bought at a sample sale for $2!

Pants // bought as a sample sale for $2!

Sweater // Forever 21

Belt // My grandmothers

Rings // A gift from my dad and a hand me down from an elderly friend

Scarf // hand me down from a friend

Shoes // c/o Blowfish Shoes

So the story of the $2 shirt and $2 pants...

My boyfriend's friend has a lovely girlfriend who works for a clothing design company here in Seattle. Her company along with a few other companies who I guess are somehow linked had a sample sale this week in a random warehouse outside of Seattle. A sample sale is where a company sells all of the samples they have been working on in prepping for their next line. This means, a lot of the clothes have slight defects or have a stamp on them that says "Sample. Not for Resale in Stores." Or they have pieces of them cut out for color samples. But amidst all of this, I managed to find 8 pairs of pants that fit me really well, only one having a "Sample" stamp on it, 5 tops, and 3 shorts. I was AMAZED first because I found pants that fit me (I think everyone has a problem finding pants that fit. Am I right?) and second because everything was being sold for $2 each. Isn't that insane? I got one super glittery sweater for $2 which was originally $398 dollars. That is by far the most expensive thing to ever enter my closet...by hundreds of dollars more expensive. But I got it for $2. Say what?

I'm so glad I reminded myself all November and December so far that I shouldn't take advantage of any of the sales on clothing happening everywhere because my money belongs elsewhere: In my business and in my bills! I am extremely thrifty and am really against accruing debt beyond the college loans I am already paying off. So I just live a very frugal life and constantly have to tell myself, "Sorry buddy. Don't buy it even if it is the prettiest thing ever."

So being able to buy 8 pants, 5 tops, and 3 shorts for just $36 just made my life because I've been needing new pants so badly but haven't been willing to buy any! Now I don't need to buy any more pants for... forever? I'm still baffled this even happened because I didn't even know where we were going to buy these mysterious $2 pants. But it happened. And I am SO thankful.

Hue & Hum Christmas

2011-12-10T16:13:00.001-08:00

I just got this awesome Christmas album by Hue & Hum and I'm super pumped about it. If you play the Sufjan Stevens Christmas albums over and over and over every Christmas, I recommend spicing it up with the Hue & Hum album. It's Christmas music for the cool kids :) I've invited the lovely miss Hue to my blog to tell us a little about the album so scroll down to read all about it...

Let me introduce myself, my husband, and our blog to you. I'm an artist, Hum's a guitarist. I met (and fell for) Hum when we were awkward teenagers in high school way back before I knew I wanted to be a hue and before he knew he wanted to be a hum. We got married a couple years after that, and now that we're grown-ups (well, not really) we create art and music for a living. I (Hue) am the pen and brush (literally) behind the Hue & Hum blog. I paint for a living and am an aspiring artist. Hum plays the electric guitar like nobody's business. He plays in the band Fictionist who, believe it or not, recently got signed to Atlantic Records!... and yes, we were very excited.

A couple of months ago Hum and I were playing a christmas carol called, "Were You There On that Christmas Night?", ever heard of it? It's one of our favorites. We were working on it for a different project, but we had so much fun we thought, "Heck. We should record our own christmas album!". And so we did.

Hum oversaw the production of the album. He recorded guitars in our tiny bathroom at home, layered effects, and made sure everything sounded extra groovy. I oversaw the album art and production, and it would be easy to argue that I had a little too much fun. I felt like I was in 3rd grade again, I built a little diorama-like set up with fabric, cardboard, and ugly little plastic glittery snowflakes. Here is a music video showing the in-process album artwork with the third track from the album, "Angels We Have Heard on High". Enjoy.

Our blog is a place where I can document our art and music, talk about the creative process, show off our dog, and post rediculous things because I like to use and abuse the privilage of being able to publish anything I want to on the world wide web. We'd love to have you follow along with us, just don't say I didn't warn you.

>> You can pick up Hue & Hum Christmas via Hue's etsy shop.

Guess what!? Here's a giveaway you can all win!

>> Follow Hue & Hum on facebook for a free christmas download!

10 Simple DIYs for Your Shoes!

2011-12-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

I spotted some really cool color blocked neon oxfords on I Spy DIY today which lead me over to Jak & Jil. Since I was already in DIY mode in my mind, I started to see lots of inspiration for DIY altering your shoes to bring something new into your closet. My closet is full of simple neutral colored boots and shoes more than anything. So now that I have compiled a list of 10 ways to alter your shoes, some permanent, some not, I am ready to get to work giving some of my shoes a makeover!

Have fun spicing up the look of some of the shoes in your wardrobe!

Shoot me some pictures of your DIY shoe alterations if you test out any of these simple tricks. All photos in this post are from Jak & Jil.

Giltter City

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

I just received these AMAZING glitter gold shoes from Wanted Shoes and, snap, I love them. Love Love Love these shoes. I wore them today with some burnt umber colored pants, a cream colored sweater, some gold rings and my Autumn Chevron Necklace. Surprisingly, I think I can see myself wearing these shoes with a lot of different outfits! I was planning on trying to glitter-ize my one pair of leather oxfords but then I was a bit sad knowing I'd lose my one pair of oxford flats. I was so thrilled that these pretty shoes arrived in the mail yesterday so I don't have to potentially destroy my leather oxfords!

Are you going to jump on the glitter shoe bandwagon? I've been lusting after gold glitter shoes after seeing the glitter miu miu shoes gif back in July. Half a year later, I have my own pair sparkle-y shoes! Yippy!

A Call for Questions & Suggestions

2011-12-07T12:28:00.001-08:00

Hey there ladies and gents! I am working on a re-design of my blog right now and I'm looking for some suggestions and questions from you! Yes you! I would love to hear any questions that you have for me that I could perhaps answer in a FAQ section of my new blog design. And in addition to that, I would love to hear what you would like to see more of on my blog. Personal Style Posts? Book Reviews? Recipes? DIYs? Personal Stories? Motivation and Words of Encouragement? More Photography? More series? "My Style, My Space"? "Paint Your Love?" More music by me? What are some series you would be interested in seeing?

I'm excited to read your suggestions and questions! Simply post your thoughts in the comments below. :)

A Portrait for Anita

2011-12-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a new little portrait for Anita of Sew Vintage, So Fun! Anita has such a great bone structure, it was a breeze drawing her portrait. :) Check out her blog if you dig beautiful vintage images, stitching and sewing, and chit chat about living green, eating organic, and DIYs of some tasty snacks. Be sure to check out her etsy shop for some pretty vintage as well!

The Most Beautiful and Creative Engagement Video of All Time

2011-12-06T10:46:00.001-08:00

The best most non-traditional Engagement video of all time by Adam Sjoberg of Loose Luggage featuring my dear friend Jess and her love Josh.

One of my most favorite friends in the entire universe got engaged recently. Jess and I worked at a camp called Camp Hammer in Santa Cruz, Ca a few summers ago. It was possibly one of the hardest and most inspiring experiences of my life, having just lost a dear friend of mine 2 days before I left for camp. The people I worked with at that camp were some of the most genuine people I have ever met and Jess became my very best buddy while working there. She is one of the most intelligent, level headed, wise, creative, honest, straight forward, sweet, loving, positive, and accepting people I have ever met. She and I were leaders of the girls high school group along with another wonderful lady Rachelle. When it came down to it, we all worked incredibly well together because we were able to see each of our own strengths as areas where one person leaves off, another begins. Rachelle was the spirit and constant energy of our group, always lightening the mood and entertaining us. She brings healing through lightness and play. I was the emotional one of the three, the one who many of the young girls would come to spill all their hurts and pains, healing through emotional bonding. And Jess was the steady mind of the three of us, always full of important insight and wisdom, teaching and healing through thoughts and words, guiding our campers in their internal searching with her calm, rational, logical and empowering ruminations.

When it comes down to it, I just have never met anyone else like Jess. She is someone that you immediately know you can trust, someone who will listen and give the best reflections back to you, someone who you in turn want to listen to. She is such a rare kind of beauty amongst the world of catty girls and all those other stereotypes of the worst kinds of girls. Jess is the best kind of girl. She is completely herself, and her confidence in all that she is is true beauty. I love this girl so much and I can't even express all the ways that I admire her and respect her. Her smile is one of the most genuine smiles you can imagine. She is just magical. And I am so thrilled and she and Josh are getting married. As you can tell from the video above, Josh really matches Jess in that incredible level of thoughtfulness and love. I know these two are destined for a beautiful life together, full of adventures, thought provoking experiences, and lots of love.

Thank you to Adam Sjoberg for not only capturing their engagement day but for creating such an amazing video to hold and share their collective memories.

What's Been Happenin' ?

2011-12-04T23:32:00.001-08:00

When life gets super busy, I end up using Instagram a lot more to document the goings on rather than running around with my actual camera snapping photos to edit for my blog. I thought I'd share some peeks into what has been happening around these parts over the past month via Instagram. Do you use Instagram? Feel free to follow me at @mooreaseal on Twitter and Instagram!

A huge portion of my time is spent working on jewelry, packaging, mailing, and all that other jazz that goes along with running your own business. I like posting pictures of what I'm currently working on to drop some hints and sneak peeks at new goodies coming to my shop soon.

My boyfriend was a baker for many years and enjoys cooking way more than me so you can often find me posting photos of his latest food creations. We are thinking about starting an every so often guest post by him teaching you how to make some of his delicious grub. Are you interested?

As some of you may know, for awhile I had a series on my blog called Paint Your Love. It was a weekly post all about self love and healing. And at the end of each post, I would encourage my readers to paint their nails a fresh new colors as a visual reminder that they made an effort that week to invest in themselves. I paint my nails every week despite the fact that making jewelry means my nails get messed up daily. Painting my nails is a weekly ritual for me that reminds me that I am valuable, worthy of being taken good care of, beautiful, and ever changing. Join in my weekly nail painting routine!

Every so often, I like to post little peeks into my home. My desk is usually a mess, candles are often burning, I'm usually sipping on hot chocolate, and I have an amazing foot tall fuzzy magenta Mother Mary piggy bank.

I have not been very inspired by my closet lately :( But on days where I somehow muster together an outfit I really like, I try and share it via Instagram. It helps me remember the outfits I like on the days that I don't feel particularly inspired by my wardrobe. Ps, my hair is most often in a high bun. A close second is down and straight (my hair is naturally stick straight.) And 3rd place would be in heidi braids.

Some of my favorite activities are going to shows, going for long walks, selling my jewelry at markets around Seattle, and playing games with my friends. In the past few weeks, I've suddenly gotten on this major game kick and I just want to play board games or cards or do puzzles with my friends when I have any moment to spare. Every so often I find myself doing something totally random like being an extra in a movie a few weeks ago. My friends Phil Peterson and David Drury are in a band called Tennis Pro. They are shooting a film called Big in Japan with the director of Outsourced and they asked me to be an extra for a scene they shot a few weeks ago. Pretty rad! I'm so excited to see how the film turns out!

There Is Magic in the Air

2011-12-02T12:09:00.001-08:00

A little something beautiful to make your Friday feel a little less like Friday and a little more like magic.

I almost cried it was so moving, simple, and overwhelming.

Winter Survival Guide - Blowfish Shoes

2011-12-01T09:13:00.001-08:00

I am super duper excited to share with you that I am featured in Blowfish Shoes' Winter Survival Guide online zine! Eek! When Elise from Blowfish contacted me letting me know she wanted to interview me for their Winter zine I was just so thrilled. We all know I am a major shoe lover and Blowfish Shoes is one of my favorite shoe companies. I've gotten to know a few of the ladies on staff and it just seems like such a great community of folks. I think a lot of blogger ladies can attest to the fact that their shoes are not only stylish but super comfortable and durable and their customer service reps are so friendly and helpful. I'm getting a few pairs of their shoes for my family members this Christmas. I come from a long line of shoes lovers :)

Some Oldies But Goodies

2011-11-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

I kind of forgot I had a youtube channel for awhile and just remembered I had one a few moments ago. I looked through some of my old videos of covers of songs I had done and, crazy, I have over 6,000 hits on one of them. God bless you sweet souls who sat through blurry old macbook video recordings with that horrible weird ringing noise in the background of all of them. I kind of just let these old things float into the depths of the deep dark interwebs. But hey, let's resurrect them again. I think the last video I recorded of me singing/playing a cover was over 2 years ago! I guess that when I am single (which I haven't been for almost 2 years now) I replace boyfriend with playing guitar and singing. Aka, I've been dating a wonderful dude for almost 2 years now and I haven't written a song in 2 years + I haven't performed anywhere since my band I called it quits almost 2 years ago. Most of the songs I used to write were pretty dang sad. I guess my life is too happy now to be writing sad songs ;)
Anyway, anyway, here is a little musical trip down memory lane. You'll get to see me in my "vintage, girly, zooey deschanel style, dark hair and thick bangs" phase which was circa 2009. I ditched the cutesy girl schtick pretty quickly. Not my style. And then there is the Moorea with a septum piercing and a huge stack of friendship bracelets in my sort of angsty hippy phase circa 2007. Having a septum ring actually was a really eye opening experience in recognizing how some people treat you so strangely if you just look kind of different. Just because someone has piercings or tattoos does not mean they are that different from you! Oh the styles I have tested, well at least my voice seems to sound the same no matter what I look like.
Check out some of my silly old musical videos. Goodness gracious, I was such a kid just 2+ years ago! Please pardon some of the long ridiculous talking intros.

Circa 2007 // Cover of "And I love Her" by the Beatles
(Good lord, I was so serious during this phase of life!)

Circa 2008 // Cover of "Our Own Pretty Ways" by First Aid Kit
(Oh...Timid little Moorea)

Circa 2009 // Cover of "Dance Me to the End of Love" by Leonard Cohen
(I was so dorky and nervous! Ai yi yi... The days of when I had first started my blog.
I feel like I'm 20 years older than this now.)

November Love

2011-11-28T19:22:00.001-08:00

BLOG
I'm Kelly Ann, a twenty-something designer and photographer from sunny California. I have a deep love for vinyl records, messy hair, vintage dresses, mexican food, and french films. I'm a firm believer in compassion, humour, and multiple cups of coffee. I started The Flowerchild Dwelling as a place to share my love for music, photography, design, film, and all the things that inspire my world.

BLOG // SHOP
Tumbleweeds is a itty bitty wooden veneered sunglasses company out of San Diego California run by Beca, Doug, and our long time friend and business partner, Shawn. We work out of our home studio and have a store front selling handmade + vintage goodness!

BLOG // SHOP
Hello! My name is Kate. I’m the workhorse behind the line Operation + Stitch. I started my line 3 years ago while I was in school finishing my BA in fashion design. My collections are currently sold on Etsy and in my hometown of Seattle at Velouria and Momo.

BLOG

I'm Alli, a graduate student and archaeologist who loves to sew, knit, cuddle, floss, embroider, take pictures, and eat pickles (not necessarily in that order). One Pearl Button is where I document my creative life and connect with creative friends. Stop by and say 'hello;' I'd love to get to know you!

BLOG // SHOP

Hi everyone! My name is Katrina, Torontonian residing in Seattle. Lover of food and fashion. To keep myself occupied during those times when I’m not panicking to pack all my belongings into two suitcases, I like to craft. I’ve been told that I enjoy the most granny-like hobbies of all time (knitting and sewing), but I also like to bust out the pliers every now and then to make jewelry for my line, anirtak.

BLOG // SHOP
Token is a clothing shop where 80% of the profits are donated to Charity: Water. I love all things vintage and do my best to stock the shop full of cute vintage or vintage inspired dresses, skirts, blouses and accessories.

BLOG // SHOP
I enjoy all things paper, love hand-written letters, and am happiest when I'm painting! I blog about random bits of my li including baking endeavors, weekend adventures, and my design work.

BLOG // SHOP
Blowfish shoes is one of my favorite shoe stores online. I've become friends with a few of the ladies on their staff and their genuine sweetness has only confirmed that this is one of the best companies ever. I love the shoes, love love love the shoes, and I love the people. I highly recommend snagging a pair of their boots for winter. I've got quite a few and they are the best, comfiest, and cutest :)

BLOG // SHOP
When I'm not making large scale sculptures for other artists I spend my time making small little jewelry pieces for my Etsy shop where I often use reclaimed and recycled materials. In the time spent between making art and jewelry I can be found exploring the city and mountains around me. I like to share a lot of my discoveries on my blog as well as show you the creative process that goes into making special individual items for my Etsy shop.

BLOG // SHOP
I have always loved natural stones and the feel of them in my hands. I remember as a child collecting stones every place I went and then giving them to my father for luck.As an artist I look for items to be added to my jewelry that can catch the light, provoke interest or make you smile. I am constantly on the lookout for inspiration even if it comes from a word or time of the day.

BLOG // SHOP
I'm Chelsey. A wife to my best friend, and a mommy to my sweet little girl, Laureli (a.k.a. Ruari). So far being a mama has been beautiful, surprising, and difficult all at once! On this path through mommy-hood I hope to enjoy life as much as I can (even when it seems impossible). I'm a photography lover, crafty crafter, blogger, finder of curious creative goods, and a mama!

BLOG // SHOP
Poster art prints inspired by Scandinavia, mid century modern design, Cathrineholm, Stig Lindberg etc. eychart & letterpress inspired prints and more...

BLOG
Hi! I'm Rae Veda and I pen the blog An Eclectic Heap. It is a lifestyle blog that focuses on vintage, handmade, and pretty things. My blog is full of recipes, diy projects, and cute outfits. Come say hello!

BLOG // SHOP
I'm Erika a twenty-something lady who loves vintage, handmade and all things creative. I live in Seattle with my husband and crazy puppy. During the day I work in a tall building downtown and in my free time I blog about pretty and creative things and fill my handmade shop with accessories for you and your home. I love thrifting, sleeping in and make a mean guacamole :)

BLOG
Jada is from the Garden State, currently studying English literature at a university based in Massachusetts. She enjoys black and white films, Rhodes pianos, Ernest Hemingway, and vegetarian dishes. She is also an avid reader of the New York Times and has an unhealthy obsession with chrysanthemum team.

BLOG // SHOP
Welcome to Roots and Feathers, a place where I have welcomed my soul to do the creating. Here you will find my collection of grassroot bohemian designs. This line is inspired by earthy native elements, a traveling gypsy soul & the feeling you get while walking around barefoot at a music festival.

There are a few small add spaces left for Dec. Email me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to reserve a space today!

CYBER MONDAY SPECIAL! Free earrings with every purchase today only!

2011-11-28T01:37:00.000-08:00

The Black Friday sale is over. But the good news is that today only, I am offering a Cyber Monday Special! With every purchase from my shop today, you will receive a pair of my Tiny Triangle Gold Earrings for free! Valued at $12, they are the perfect everyday wear sort of earrings that look great with any outfit. Keep them for yourself or gift them to a friend or family member for Christmas! Happy Shopping!

ps, this will be my last sale/special before Christmas so if you are look for the best value, now is the time to grab it! :)

Photo by Marissa Maharaj

Black Friday Sale Update: Take 25% off!!!

2011-11-25T01:36:00.001-08:00

Guess what folks... I am offering an even bigger discount in my shop for Black Friday than I had first decided! Please take 25% off of your entire order this weekend starting Friday 25th until Sunday the 27th! This offer is ONLY available this weekend so take advantage of it while you can! Happy Shopping :)

CLICK HERE TO VISIT MY SHOP!

photo by Marissa Maharaj

Black Friday Sale + Gift Certificates

2011-11-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

We now have gift certificates available in the shop just in time for the holidays! And starting on Black Friday until the end of Sunday night, I am going to be offering 25% off of everything in my shop with the code: BLACKFRIDAY

This holiday season, I am trying to buy most of my Christmas gifts from Etsy, from shops that support handmade and friends' businesses. And of course, I'll make a few Christmas gifts myself :) I encourage you to support handmade artists this holiday season. We so deeply appreciate every one of our customers. For small businesses like mine, a lot of us are running every single element of our business all by ourselves. I design and make my jewelry, package it, do all of the accounting, communication, and all the other stuff that goes along with running a small business alone. I love that I get to participate in creating something special for the people you love. Gift giving is my love language and it is a huge reason why I started my business. I love getting to create handmade goodies for you and your loved ones, infusing my love into each piece and each package I make.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to say an enormous thank you to all of you who have supported my shop over the past year. I am so excited when I see former customers returning to the shop to purchase more of my jewelry. It amazes me everyday that you keep coming back to say hello and support me! I appreciate you so very much. And just as much, it is so amazing to see new customers stopping by my shop. I love meeting new people through my shop and through my blog, people who feed me with constant inspiration and kindness. I really do love you guys in all sincerity and I hope you have a beautiful and heart warming Thanksgiving! I am thankful for you.

Sponsorship Available for December!

2011-11-22T15:43:00.001-08:00

Goodness gracious, the past month has flown by, don't you agree? It's time for the frantic Christmas shopping season to kick in which means a lot of hustle and bustle around these parts! If you are a small business, an etsy shop owner, a blogger, musician, anyone looking to get their name out there, now is the time to grab a sponsorship! Everyone is on the hunt to find their new favorite brand, presents for their loved ones, and blogs to browse while they shop online for holiday gifts!

Stats:
I currently have 1,294 google friend connect followers, 1,442 readers on google reader and 332 followers on Bloglovin. I get an average of 1,200 hits a day. And my readers are mostly women who love fashion, design, music, vintage a modern style, lifestyle blogs, crafting, DIY and How To's and they are a pretty nice bunch of folks too :)

Email me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com or just click here to contact me about reserving your ad space!

A Monochromatic Outfit // Plus Other Fun News!

2011-11-21T11:31:00.001-08:00

Kara from I just Might Explode invited me to do a Monochromatic outfit post with her on her blog today! Hop over to her blog to see how we styled a monochromatic outfit our own ways :) I went with army green because it was the only color that I could find in my closet that was in a shirt/skirt/shoes/scarf/jewelry combo. I mostly wear neutral colors and then just have a few colorful dressed and shirts. So green it was! I actually really like how it turned out. I would normally never put together an entirely monochromatic outfit to wear on a regular day but this surprisingly worked! And it suits my Northwestern girl style pretty well too!

Thanks for inviting me to join in the monochromatic challenge with you Kara! It was fun putting together an outfit i would have never thought of putting together before :)

IN OTHER NEWS // I have two new interviews up on Smashion.com and on Drastic Plastic! Both interviews were really fun and I invite you guys to go check them out! Plus, remember the album art I did for a local and super talented musician Kris Orlowski about a month ago? Kris was on New Day Seattle this morning and I was so excited to see my album artwork on the show too! Congrats Kris! He is having an album release party on Wednesday night, Nov 23rd at the Tractor Tavern. I'm going to try to be there! Are you?

New Rings and A New Product Idea

2011-11-20T14:47:00.001-08:00

I just made this custom hand piece for one of my clients and I'm really diggin' it! I've been thinking about making hand pieces for awhile now and the custom order from Ariel couldn't have come at a better time! I'm thinking about making a line of these pretty little things, mixing metals and leather. Who is interested?

And yes... I have really pale hands plus the pale grey natural light of Seattle makes my fair skin look even more pale! On another note, I just made a few more rings for the etsy shop!

Come check them out!

Lucy Chadwick - Similarities

2011-11-19T00:38:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, I want to be Lucy Chadwick. I love her style. I love her glasses. I love her spaces. I love her job. Jealously becomes me!

Here are some reasons why I feel similar to her but she kind of wins:

1. She is British.
I grew up in England and feel British at heart, but we moved to the U.S. when I was 8 so most of my life I have lived in the U.S. (But I honestly think I have more memories of living in England than I do of 3rd grade - 8th grade in the U.S. When you love something or some place, you hold on to those memories with fervor. ) My parents are American, but they didn't move to England for government work or missionary work or anything. My dad just relates better to British culture so we moved there. We sadly had to move back to the U.S. because our family just couldn't survive off of the salary my dad was making in England.
I was raised in a village of 400 in the countryside about an hour outside of London. I was raised as a Brit and had no American friends until I moved to the U.S. But I'm not British. Can you tell that it is something that, even at 25, is hard for me to accept and understand? I've got to tell you, it was/is a very difficult thing to be raised in a certain culture AS a member of that society, but then moved to a new country where everyone in that new country tells you that you were never British. Yes, my parents were technically Americans living in England, but I grew up in a community of British people and I truly believed I was British. I was British but I'm not British. Still so hard to understand.

2. She wears glasses.
I wear glasses every single day. I've had to wear them since I was 14. At first I was so embarrassed but I quickly came to think of them as figurative...and almost literal... windows to my soul. I feel like peoples' eyes are so powerful. When I was little, my eyes were very pale blue and I thought that people could see into my soul through my eyes because my eyes were too pale. I still honestly have a hard time keeping eye contact sometimes because peoples' eyes just feel really powerful to me and I still get that weird feeling sometimes like people can see into me through my eyes. Having glasses since I was 14 has almost become a safety blanket for me. They feel like comfort and protection on my face. I think Lucy's glasses are especially cool, modern but still with a hint of retro in the best possible way.

3. Her style is amazing.
The facts on this are that if I had a similar body type as her and if I had the salary that she probably has... I would wear everything that she wears. Oh my gosh she has amazing style.

4. Her living spaces are perfection.
I have the most impossible time trying to decorate spaces. I don't like a lot of interior design stuff that I find on the web. I'm not really into a lot of patterns in my space. I don't like a lot of color in the space. I'm really not into florals. Even too much geometric stuff just drives me insane. If I could have the perfect space, no joke, it would be either of her spaces in this video above. The first space was the peeeerfect minimalist space. I was OBSESSED with minimalism when I was 12 (I know, quite precocious...I honestly stopped feeling like a child and felt more like an adult as soon as we moved to the U.S. at age 8.) and I painted my room white, got 2 simple white cabinets and put everything I owned in them, and all that was left in my room were the 2 cabinets, white walls, a big window, and my bed with just a simply navy bed spread. It was the most calming space to me.
I love minimalist spaces, mostly white and clean with maybe just a few art pieces that make the space feel almost museum like. Or I like throwing in a little bit of rustic woodsy feeling elements. I love the second space in the video because I've always lived in extremely small towns (besides living in Seattle for the past 6 years) and I love the closeness to nature, the natural simplicity, beauty, and a touch of roughness entering in to the living space. Ah, I just adore her spaces! Dang, I love her taste in everything!

5. She runs a contemporary art gallery.
Ever since I was a tiny little girl, I have been so in love with art, especially fine art. Making art, looking at art, collecting art, studying art, you name it. One of my most precious memories of being a little girl in England is when my dad took me to, I believe it was... The National Gallery. I was 6 years old, and my dad let me pick out a poster of my favorite piece in the museum to take home and frame on my wall. It is still hanging in my bedroom in my parents house. It is a portrait of a woman with strawberry blonde hair painted probably around the 1600-1700s. I've been obsessed with portraits ever since I was teeny tiny. Every time I see it I remember that this love and reverence for art just runs so deep in me.
When I was in junior high I used to read art books for fun, flipping through pages over and over, marking my favorite pieces, dreaming of having my own gallery one day. From the age of 11 until I was a freshman in college, I had my mind set on being a museum curator. I wanted it SO badly. I wanted to be surrounded by art all the time, adopting museums as my home, curating shows, memorizing everything there is to know about every art piece ever.
I entered college as an Art History major but soon realized that I just don't have the memorization skills to be a museum curator. Having wanted to be a museum curator for almost half of my life, and then realizing I just didn't have the brain power to do it was just devastating. For many reasons, my freshman year of college was the hardest year of my life and having to say goodbye to that dream was probably a major part of that hardship. I honestly still wish that could be my life. But I am thankful that I do recognize the areas of the art world where I do have potential to succeed. My mind was not made to memorize. But I know that I was made to create create create new ideas that my hands could translate into reality. I am forgetful but I have a constant surplus of new ideas :)

I do wish I could run a gallery like Lucy Chadwick and just be as all around amazingly awesome as she seems to be. But I am thankful for what I have and for what I can do. Perspective perspective. Her life seems amazing. But I think I've had a pretty incredible life thus far too, just in a different way :)

Mr. Lentz Interview + Giveaway of a Moss Necklace

2011-11-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

Meet Mr. Lentz, aka Evan Lentz. He makes the most awesome nature inspired jewelry, belts, home goods and more and sells them both on his website and on Etsy. I have a pretty amazing Mr. Lentz necklace that is made from a piece of antler! So cool. Scroll down to learn more about Evan, his beautiful creations, and enter to win one of his natural wood and moss necklaces!

Evan:
"I am a modern cowboy of wood design, jewelry concoction, and creation of devices and inspiration meant to share with others. My goal is to inspire others to inspire others and my journey began 7 months ago while on a road trip through the Redwood Forests of the Pacific Northwest. I realized that I was working 12 hours a day in front of a computer screen with nothing physical or tangible to show for it at the end of the day. Walking amongst the mossy giants in the forest lead me on a path of realization...one that has in turn completely reshaped my life. I now spend most days dreaming up new jewelry designs, concocting a new bike device, and challenging my abilities by constantly learning new things. Right now I am studying the craft of leather working. I plan to continue my self-inspiring nature and moss theme throughout my work. I think the best part of what I am doing right now is knowing that I am making things that are putting smiles on my customers faces as far away as Russia, Japan, Australia and even North Dakota ;)"

1. When did photography become a passion for you, and how did it turn into a profession?
While I have always loved photography, I realized about two years ago that I really enjoyed photographing people awash in light. Show me the most beautiful landscape in the world, and I will instead search out someone to get a few candid shots of. Photography never really turned into a profession for me. I dabbled in weddings...blechhh! Now I use this skill solely for myself and my designs. I love photographing models wearing my jewelry!

2. When did you start wood working and why do you enjoy working with wood?
I started working with wood completely on accident in the winter of 2010. I had a photography showing in town and I needed to come up with about 30 frames in less than two weeks. I spent day and night in the freezing garage surrounded by large snow banks...and when I was all done - just in time for the show - I realized that I used the wrong type of glue and had to re-do everything a different way. That was a wonderful lesson to learn early on. You are going to make mistakes, that is a given - it's how you deal with them that will show your true character. I love working with wood and the only reason I have is that it just makes sense to me.

3. What was the inspiration for your jewelry line?
The Redwood Forests of Northern California inspired the majority of my mossy jewelry line. The Beast Series came about after several trips to San Francisco and checking out the local 'hip' taxidermy shops that were selling all kinds of incredible art.

4. Are there any artistic mediums that you haven't tried yet that you are eager to get into?
Right now I am Gung-ho about leatherworking, specifically over the shoulder bags and different purse designs. I recently invested in a bunch of leather tools...so pumped!

5. Anything else you'd like to tell us?
If you ever read anywhere online that I am a rabbit breeder, it was true...by accident when I was 5 years old. I had rabbits as pets, and as rabbits do - they bred. At first it wasn't a big deal, around 8 babies a month. I would catch them all, take care of them - then sell them in front of the local grocery store for $5. After a few months though, I noticed that I wasn't quite catching all of them and they had started to interbreed and create separate colonies throughout my backyard. By a certain point it kinda got out of hand and I would spend hours after school trying to round them up. There were too many to sell, so I had to make weekly visits to a local golf course and dump them over the fence!

Mr. Lentz is giving away this beautiful natural wood and moss pedant necklace to one lucky winner on my blog! I kind of wish I could keep this for myself :)

TO ENTER:

1st entry: visit the Mr. Lentz shop and leave a comment here letting me know your favorite item!

2nd entry: follow Mr. Lentz on Facebook and leave a second comment here.

3rd entry: sign up for Mr. Lentz's bi-monthy newsletter and leave a 3rd comment here.

This giveaway ends on Nov 25th.

And the winner of the Shredded Scarf Giveaway is Amelia from Sweet Disposition!

Photoshoot with Marissa Maharaj

2011-11-17T01:00:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to share with you a photo shoot I did recently with Marissa Maharaj of Maharaj Photography. Marissa is a photographer based out of LA. She and I went to college together, never had any classes together, but we were connected through a creative network of friends. I always admired her style in college and really just became a huge fan of her beyond our friendship once I saw her incredible photography skills and heard her beautiful music.
I was so excited when we started chatting this past summer about an artistic trade of sorts. I illustrated and designed her graduation announcements from college this past year and on my end it resulted in getting to do a shoot with Marissa while she was visiting Seattle recently! I was so excited for this opportunity and I think the photos turned out so beautifully! She also shot the photos for my upcoming lookbook which I am putting together this week to show you! Thank you so much Marissa for your hard work and for sharing your talent with me and my blog readers. I always feel so awkward having others photograph me but the experience was so fun and I feel so pretty seeing these photos!

Thank you so much Marissa! The photos turned out amazing despite my natural incline to be so totally awkward in photos :) If you are looking for a lifestyle and wedding photographer, be sure to check out Marissa's website.

Popping Up Places + Moorea Seal Jewelry Giveaway

2011-11-16T13:27:00.001-08:00

I have lots of awesome things to share with you today! Think of it as an exciting adventure around the interwebs :) First up, The ever so beautiful Veronkia from Girl and Closet is hosting a giveaway of my jewelry on her blog! You can win any piece from my shop worth up to $50!!! That's right, you get to choose your prize :) Head over to her blog to sign up!

Next up we have an interview that I did for Pie N' The Sky. Melisa runs a series of interviews of women in the blogging world that she digs and I was so honored to participate. Thank you Melisa! In this interview, I talk a lot about the women who have inspired me, the things I am proud of in my own life, my deepest fear, and who I would be if I could be anyone for a day! Come get to know me in a new way!

Last but not least, Lo from Little Somethings asked me about what inspired me to start my Etsy shop. I explained a little about the process of figuring out exactly what I wanted to do with my etsy shop. And I even dropped hints about another Etsy shop I am hoping to open up in the next couple of months! Want to get the dish? Head over to her blog to find out! Ps, thank you for your kind and thoughtful words Lo!

The Amethyst Rings are Back!

2011-11-14T20:57:00.001-08:00

Hooray hooray! Amethyst rings are now back in the shop! I know quite a few of you have been asking about them. Well, here they are! I have a few pieces in each style: circle cut, raw cut, double ring, and heart shaped. This is a perfect Christmas present for someone special in your life. A few of the rings are even at a discounted price! Be sure to snatch yours up while they are still available :)

More amethyst rings available here.

Giveaway // Shredded Scarf by Urban Revisions

2011-11-11T01:38:00.001-08:00

It's time for a giveaway from one of my favorite Etsy shops Urban Revisions! I have a shredded t-shirt from Arlie's shop and it is a go to staple in my closet, the type of tshirt that is both a basic for everyday wear and unique in it's shredded style that it takes the everyday t shirt to a stylish level. Today and through the rest of this week, Arlie is going to be offering one Shredded Scarf #5 to one of my blog readers in the color of their choice! Don't you think this scarf would look awesome paired with some of my chevron dangle earrings or a golden head piece?

TO ENTER:

1st entry: visit her shop and leave a comment here letting me know which item in her shop is your favorite!

2nd entry: follow Urban Revisions on Twitter and leave a second comment here letting me know!

3rd entry: follow the Urban Revisions Blog and leave a third comment here.

4th entry: follow Me on twitter and leave a fourth comment here letting me know.

This giveaway ends on Nov 17th, 2011

PLUS: Use the coupon code SECRETSALE11 for 20% off everything in the Urban Revisions shop!

A Big Thank You + A Link Round-Up

2011-11-10T01:48:00.000-08:00

A million thank yous to all of you folks, blogs, magazines, publications and more who have supported my jewelry business and everything else I have juggled over the past year. I stopped nannying less than a year ago to pursue art full time and, with your support, I have been able to continue on and succeed thus far in my journey as a self employed artist! I so deeply appreciate those of you who have supported my jewelry shop and have purchased pretty things for yourselves and those you love over the past year, those of you who have wanted to work with me on redesigning your blog through Freckled Nest, those of you who have employed me as a freelance illustrator/designer, and those who have wanted me to illustrate portraits for you. I truly love my work and I really do throw my all into everything I do. But no matter how hard I work, I wouldn't be where I am at if it weren't for the support of you friends out there. Thank you a million times over.

I'd love to highlight some recent customers & friends who have taken photos of their new jewelry I designed:

Laura is such a supportive and encouraging friend. Plus I love how she styles my jewelry. Perfection.

Mervi is such a sweetheart. The perfect shimmering smile paired with the sparkling amethyst ring and necklace.

I just got to meet Savannah this past Sunday when she visited Seattle! So honored that she purchased these earrings when she found me at the Fremont market.

Amy is super duper rad. I'm so excited that she is now working for one of my favorite companies, Blowfish Shoes. She is a funky retro champion and I love how she rocks my chevron earrings.

Thank you to Laura, Mervi, Savannah, Amy, Diana, Kelly Ann, Liz, Tabatha, & Shelley for your support of my jewelry shop! It's always so incredibly encouraging for me to see photos of my customers happy with the jewelry I've made.

An Update of Sorts:

Customer Love: Oh So Cute Vintage, Violet bella, My Best Friend Jules, I am a Song Bird, Srsly Liz, The Flowerchild Dwelling, A is for Ampersand, Our City Lights, Maie Dae
Feature Love: A Cup of Subtle Tea, Pulchritude Fest, Bubby & Bean, Little Red Bird, Mama Loves Papa, An Eclectic Heap, The Demure Muse, Walk With Me Darling, Time Out Chicago magazine
Recent Interviews: Response Magazine, Indie Biz talk on Create Hype, My top 10 on Orange Juice Etc, A Little Biz & A Little Fun on Turning Sideways.
Interviews Coming Soon: fashion & me on Smashion Nov 21st, Get to know my heart on Pie N' the Sky, What Indie means to me on Vianza

If you have featured my jewelry on your blog or have purchased one of my jewelry pieces and have taken a photo with it recently, send me a link because it would be my honor to say hello and thank you to those who support me :)

My Living Room & I

2011-11-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

I pulled myself together yesterday and walked into the living room only to realize that I could easily mix and match the patterns and textures in my outfit with the ones in my living room. Everything in our living room is decorated by my roommate who had already been living here for two years before I moved in. Of any girl I have ever met, I think I like her taste the best. She pairs woodsy inspired pieces with things that hold a little more edginess so well in both her decor and her outfits. I'll have to get her to do a guest appearance on my blog sometime. I swear, every time she walks out of her room at the start of her day, her outfits get even more amazing than the ones previous. Danielle has the best style.

OUTFIT:

Scarf // a gift from my Dad in high school

Dress // Tobi.com

Tights // Nordstrom Rack

Boots // c/o Wanted Shoes

Leg Warmers // Urban Outfitters, bought while in college

Rings // Etsy & My shop

Earrings // By my friend in Seattle

The Hidden World of Girls

2011-11-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

Today's agenda begins with listening to Tina Fey host the NPR special "The Hidden World of Girls." I absolutely love Tina Fey. Maybe because I relate to her "awkward girl with glasses who really likes to gorge on snacks and make weird faces and has dorky catch phrases" persona, but I also think she is an incredibly smart and creative woman, someone I want to be like. I love her shows, movies, her book, just about everything she does is awesome. So, after giving myself a much needed relaxed morning, I'm now starting my workday with a little story time from Tina about The Hidden World of Girls. Listen along with me while we work!

What I Wore // Chevrons and Leather

2011-11-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got some leather (fake leather) leggings guys!! I am obsessed with them. I think they will be replacing my tights as my go to warmth under my dresses this winter. I love them a million times over. I got mine from Asos and I think they are perfect because they are nice and long. I'm 5'9" and I wanted them to kind of wrinkle up at the bottom with some extra length and these were just what I had hoped for! I also got this pretty chevron dress from Tobi while it was on sale for 30% off. I bought it with the plan to wear it to my friend Molly's (owner of Vivi Dot) wedding that's taking place tomorrow! It's pretty short on me since I'm a bit curvier than the model on the Tobi website so I'll either pair it with the leather leggings or some tights for sure.

ps. I joined Lookbook recently and I've started posting my outfits there too!

Go check it out to see past What I Wore outfits!

OUTFIT:
Chevron dress // Tobi.com
Belt // my grandmothers

Leather leggings // Asos.com

Bag // c/o handbag heaven.com
Shoes // Nordstrom outlet

Earrings // Moorea Seal Jewelry

Necklace // Thrifted/Upcycled

Sweater // Forever 21

Glasses // Sears

Rings // Gifts

Tribal Turquoise

2011-11-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

I added lots of beautiful new pieces to my Etsy shop last night! Come check them out!

What I've Been Up To Lately...

2011-11-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

Are you on instagram? Follow my daily photos here.

Quartz Necklace City

2011-11-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

I just added a few new quartz necklaces to my shop!

Head over to my Etsy shop to check them out!

Necklaces available here.

A Halloween True Tale

2011-10-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I dressed up as Professor Trelawney for Halloween. My friend was throwing a Harry Potter themed party and everyone was dressed to the nines as their favorite character. One person had an amaaaazing Golden Snitch costume. Winner.
In the middle of the party, my bestie decided she wanted to go home so we drove home and she let me drive her car back to the party. We were only about a 15-20 min walk from the party but I just wanted to get back there quickly and I was fine to drive because I hadn't been drinking.
Well, as I was making a left turn into a side street to find parking, a car came from behind me around a corner at a really fast speed and crashed into the drivers side door... it was my first car crash and I can't even tell you how awful I felt since it was my best friend's car. I didn't get hurt but the poor old car did.
As I look back on it now, I am sure it must have been pretty funny for the cops who came to the crash to see me acting so frazzled in such a silly costume. I held character, albeit unintentionally, very well. I was so jittery and freaked out in the moment, but at least now I can look back on it and kind of giggle at the fact that the situation must have seemed kind of hilarious when the other driver got out of their car and saw me in costume, looking like a deer/Trelawney in the headlights.

All that being said, I hope you have a wonderful Halloween! Be safe, and have fun. And rather than driving to and from your destination tonight, try taking a cab or a bus just to be safe. The streets are spooky scary on Halloween!

October Sponsor Love

2011-10-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

BLOG
Tick Tock Vintage is one of my favorite fashion blogs. I absolutely love Veronika's style. She does a lot of altering of vintage pieces and all of her outfits end up looking perfectly tailored to her body, whether she tailored them herself or not. I find a lot of inspiration from her mixing and matching of vintage and new pieces. Each outfit always looks unique!

BLOG // SHOP
Hi, I'm Mandy! I blog over at Harper's Happenings (also known by readers as The Haps). It's a mom blog about my daughter, my style, thrifting, DIY, and a few of my obsessions - Pinterest, americanos, wine and Anderson Cooper. Weird, right? Come on over.

BLOG & SHOP
Blowfish shoes is one of my favorite shoe companies. I have a few pairs of Blowfish shoes and that are some of my most comfortable and good lookin' shoes :) I live in Seattle which means long cold, rainy, wintery months. I prefer to wear lots of leather/fake leather boots to stay warm and Blowfish has a copious amount of warm edgy and cute fall/winter boots!

BLOG & SHOP
My head is a constant jumble of dreams and ideas and I am inspired by anything from fabric to nature, or just by enjoying other creative people. Dove Tree Design blog is an outlet for me to share my projects, goals and inspirations.

BLOG
I'm Alli, a graduate student and archaeologist who loves to sew, knit, cuddle, floss, embroider, take pictures, and eat pickles (not necessarily in that order). One Pearl Button is where I document my creative life and connect with creative friends. Stop by and say 'hello;' I'd love to get to know you!

BLOG & SHOP
My name is Krystin. I'm pleased as punch to be a new wife and mama. In my blog you will find a little more about my life, the people I love, and the things I find peachy. Updates about my little Esty shop pop up every now and then too. During my "spare time" I feed my need to create by making pretty things that might ask nicely to come home with you;) My creations are inspired mostly by nature and simpler times, along with an effort to find balance in the juxtaposition of textures, beauty and function, old and new, etc.
...but mostly, it's just fun.

BLOG & SHOP
I am a pragmatic romantic and a classy dame living in Providence, Rhode Island. With Care helps me engineer my own accolades as well as gives me an excuse to hoard as many antique jewelry findings as I can!

BLOG
Hi! My name is Lauren! I run an active lifestyle blog called ActiveforFashion. I am a 28 year old Apparel and Graphic Designer. I love my soon to be Husband, Dave and our little Yorkie, Skiba. I love all things DIY and I love snapping pictures. I hope you head on over so I can get to know you better.

WEBSITE & SHOP
I'm an independent artist who is particularly fascinated by color + pattern found in nature, in jewelry, in art... After graduating with a degree in Studio Art- Painting, I began exploring and incorporating everything I love about painting, crocheting, metalsmithing, and history into new works. I adore working in the company of my extra-long dachshund Mr. Fu and blogging under the guidance of Misha-mat Artist-cat (pop by & say hi!). My favorite materials are time, humor, and love.

BLOG & SHOP
With Lavender and Lace is my vintage shop filled with dainty daily wear for the fashion conscious lady. It has become my fulltime personal project along with my blog where I share film moments, inspiration, ideas, and a daily journal of my life after art school.

BLOG & SHOP
I'm a busy Oregon girl who recently decided to stop running 2 out of my 3 businesses, to focus on my blog & shop full time.
If you read between the lines you will know it means I basically am quitting my jobs to craft & blogstalk all day long! I hope this is a good decision!
Come follow along as I attempt to make things I find from pinterest, share recipes (i'm not a good cook!) and possibly get knocked up by my traveling helicopter mechanic husband.

BLOG // SHOP
My name is Casey Wiegand, I am a freelance artist, wife and mama. I love painting and sharing our life through my blog...where you can expect pieces of my perspective on life, faith, kids, marriage, with touches of art, creative inspiration, projects and things I love along the way. I have two little ones in the hopes of lots more and am married to the love of my life :).

BLOG // SHOP
Studio MME mixes old-fashioned fairy tales with modern fun! From antlered girls to magical fish, you'll find only quirky illustrations in this pen and ink shop.

BLOG
I live in a quaint ocean-side town with my hubby, our beloved dog, and our chubby orange cat. I work as a freelance photographer, and spend my free time working on my fashion & lifestyle blog -of course!

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Today is the last day to request ad spaces on my blog for November!

Shoot me an email at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to book your spot. I have a few medium and small spots left!

Allen Stone on Conan!!

2011-10-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Did you see my friend Allen Stone performing on Conan last night? Mind-blowing as always. Watch the video and prepare to drop to the floor in amazement in the last 1/4 of the video...

Testing Out Different Hair Colors...

2011-10-27T01:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so after posting yesterday's blog post featuring the beautiful Claire from De Lune, I got a little curious as to how I would look with her amazing red hair color. So I hopped into photoshop and went a little crazy testing out different hair colors! I went from exploring different shades of red, then all different natural colors to the brightest rainbow shades possible. And after all the fun, I decided that I should probably just stick to my natural brown. It suits me best anyway. But then again... the purple is kind of rad :) In high school and college, I dyed my hair every natural shade possible, from blonde blonde to red to almost black. I kinda wish I had experimented with rainbow colors, as I look back on those days of dying my hair a new shade every 2 months.
Two ladies who really rock the brightly colored hair are The Dainty Squid and Love, Elycia. They both have AMAZING purple hair right now. And I may have become even more jealous of their hair now that I've photoshopped it on to myself! But I'll go ahead and leave the amazing technicolor hair coloring to Elycia and Kaylah. They are definitely masters of the art of rainbow hair.

What color have you daydreamed of dying your hair to?

Falling Into Fall Fashion

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

I have loved Claire's blog De Lune for quite sometime and have always thought that she would look awesome wearing my jewelry. So I contacted her recently about collaborating. I was so humbled to hear that she had seen my jewelry before and honored that she was interested in styling one of my pieces. She just posted a beautiful outfit post this week wearing my triple chevron necklace and I just love how she styled it. I'd totally wear this outfit!

Free Song + Album Design Preview for Kris Orlowski

2011-10-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

I recently designed the newest album for the ever so talented Seattle based musician Kris Orlowski. I designed his last album and I felt so honored when he wanted to work with me again on this album design! Thanks Kris! With the last album, we went with a Spring inspired theme and for this one, obviously it is more of a Fall/Winter vibe. His music has such an earthy and honest feel, I think sticking with a nature theme for this album was the right choice. I took the photos used in the design last Christmas in the mountains of my hometown in Northern California.
I think the vibe of Kris' music really goes well with the peaceful but powerful scenes of my snowy wooded hometown. His music has that same feel, natural and raw, peaceful but strong, moving in the most sincere way.

Kris' newest single, "Warsaw" debuted on the global internet charts at #14! So excited for him! He is giving away the single for free on his website right now so hurry over there and download it! He'll be having 4 different cd release shows throughout Washington in mid November so if you are in the Washington area, be sure to come celebrate the release of his beautiful new album!

The Prettiest Coats I've Ever Seen...

2011-10-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

My friend Molly must really know my taste. She just sent me a link to this coat and I just died a little. It's SO beautiful. Of course once I saw it, I ended up on a scavenger hunt for the most gorgeous coats in Modcloth's stock of treasures. I found quite a few that I wouldn't mind owning, particularly the 3 above. And I found a few others too...

Oh if only everything in the world cost a $1. A girl can dream! I think all of these coats would look Amaaaazing with a pair of leather leggings and brown boots. Hello my wardrobe.

hint hint to my family: If you guys all wanna go in on one Christmas present for me, I'll take one of the top 3 coats in a size small :)

What I Wore // Sparkle Scarf

2011-10-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Most days look like this. Neutral colors...Aka, black, grey, beige or brown usually. Billowy top and skinny jeans, some sort of boot, a scarf, and my hair up in a bun. Easy peasy! It's basically comfort clothes without looking too frumpy :) Finding the right pair of skinny jeans is tricky for me because I hate really low waist-ed pants, I don't have much curve in the hips so they feel like they are constantly sliding off me. I prefer high waist-ed pants but the boyfriend thinks high waist-ed pants are kinda grandma-y. So finding a happy height of pants that aren't falling off but aren't reaching into the old lady pants territory is a tricky tricky navigation. I'm on the hunt for some new pants for the cold months ahead. Any one have recommendations for stores that carry affordable pants with not too high, not too low waist band?

WHAT I WORE:

Scarf: Forever 21

Bracelets: available in my shop

Top: H&M

Pants: Forever 21

Purse: c/o Handbag Heaven

Belt: vintage (my grandmothers)

Booties: c/o Big Buddha

Shop Update // Autumn Inspired Earrings and Necklaces

2011-10-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to create a special Autumn inspired set of chevron earrings and a necklace for my shop! I have yet to decide whether these will be available for just the Fall or not so if you'd like one of these items, I'd recommend snagging one before it's too late! These pieces are available as individual items and as a set. When purchasing the earrings and necklace as a set you will receive $9 off of your total price. That's almost a 15% discount!

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I've also added a few other goodies to my shop. Some of these are one of a kind pieces so if you are eye-ing one, I'd recommend grabbing it before the holiday shopping season madness hits!

Visit my Etsy Shop for more jewelry browsing :)

Illustrated Portrait Discount + Nicola's Portrait

2011-10-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished this rad portrait for one of my lovely clients Nicola! It was so fun to draw someone with an edgy style. I tend to have a soft hand when I draw which means my lines tend to be soft, smooth and curved. So it is really exciting for me to get to draw someone with a darker, edgier look because it challenges my hand to create something a little more angsty in particular elements like the leather jacket. But since I naturally tend to make my portraits look soft and feminine, my natural hand movements are made for creating soft facial features like Nicolas, a perfect balance to the edgy vibe of the portrait. She has such a beautiful, soft and feminine face. I absolutely love how she contrasts her naturally pretty look with a tough twist.
Did you know I used to have a septum piercing just like hers? I got it in 2007 and I loved it but it accidentally fell out a year later. Definitely one of the most empowering things I've ever done. I'll have to tell you about it sometime :)

Are you interested in a having me illustrate a portrait for you? I'm offering a discounted price for the month of October as a special pre-holiday sale! Normally, shoulder-up/headshot portraits like the one above are $85 but just for October, they are available for $75! Shoot me an email at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to get started with your new portrait!

Included in the Headshot Portrait Package:

You will receive 3 different sizes of the digital image to use however you like.
I will send you the actual hand drawn portrait to your home or work address.
You will receive an entire post on my blog dedicated to your portrait with links to your social media sites of choice.
I have a few payment options for those of you who need to pay in installments :)

Holiday Sponsorship Opportunities

2011-10-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hey hey everyone! The busy holiday season is upon us! November, December and January are the busiest months on my blog, the months where lots of new readers suddenly appear and say hello. That means lots of extra hits on the blog which in turn means lots of extra hits for my sponsors during those months! If you would like to sponsor my blog in November, or would like to purchase ad space for 3 months at a discounted price, contact me by either simply clicking here or emailing me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com!

DIY // Vampire Nails!

2011-10-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

To get into the Halloween spirit, I thought I'd share a little nail polish tutorial. I call this the Vampire Nails because it reminds me of shiny white vampire teeth :) The steps are super simple and easy for anyone to do and all you will need are 2 nail polish colors and your everyday tape that is hidden somewhere in your junk drawer. I used black and white nail polish but to make it even more halloween creepy, you could add a dash of red on top to look like blood! Heehee. You can also reverse the chevron like Liz from Srsly Liz did with her nails.

Written Steps:

1. pick your colors

2. paint your base color. this will be the color of tip of your nail (the teeth)

3. tape the tips of your nails. (wait for the first layer to dry before applying the tape.) cut a square of tape and place it on the tip of your nail at an angle.

4. paint your second color over the top of the first layer and over the tape to create a crisp edge when you peel off the tape.

5. Let the second color dry completely and then slowly peel off the tape.

6. If there are any little mess ups, just apply a little paint touch up where needed.

7. You are finished!

Introducting... The Glitz Necklace

2011-10-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

There's a new style of necklace in my shop! I realized that my jewelry line was majorly lacking in the sparkle and shine department so I created these glitzy fun necklaces. The Swarovski Crystals catch the light in such a magical way. I think these will be the perfect accessory for holiday parties, don't you think so too?

Snatch up your sparkly necklace now in my Etsy shop!

Through My Sister's Lense

2011-10-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Most of the photos that I post of myself on my blog are photos that are the 1-3 top photos out of a stream of like 30 photos taken of me. Aka, it takes a while to get a good photo usually :) And most of the time they look like a good version of me, but not totally me. Do you know what I mean? Everyone has those one or two photos of themselves where they go, "See in that photo I look good. Thought it doesn't actually look like the real me."
Well, the photo above was taken by my middle sister Alexandra on her film camera. When you shoot with film you don't have that luxury of digital where you can take a bajillion photos and then sort through them later to find the one good one. With film, you have to either set up the shot perfectly or just hope to capture the perfect moment. In this photo, I think my sister just captured the most sincere moment. Out of all of the photos I've seen of myself recently, this truly feels like me. Just sitting there, with my hands held together, looking at my sister who I love dearly after having a great conversation with her, i felt so comfortable, self assured and contented. Thank you for capturing the moment sister. It feels special knowing you are one of the rare people who can capture me at a moment of me feeling my most comfortable. Remember how I kinda wish that the 2 dominant freckles on my cheek formed a constellation? :) I'm hoping the bear constellation will show up on my cheek as I grow older, heehee.

Blog Design // D.Mae Clothing

2011-10-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ta-da! Another new blog design. I created this one for Naimah of D.Mae Clothing. It was such a pleasure with work with Naimah. We totally clicked when it came to figuring out exactly what she wanted for the look of her blog. Something simple and mostly black and white but with pops of bright rich colors in the details of the illustrations. Naimah has a clothing company which she named after her grandmother D Mae. She hand paints all of the images on her apparel so I recreated images that she uses in her own designs throughout the site. I think it turned out just swell :)

If you are interested in working with me on a new blog design for your blog, please email hello{at}frecklednest.com. Our wonderful ladies at our headquarters can give you all the info you'll need to get started! I currently have a wait list of clients that is backed up until the end of the year. But the lovely ladies at Freckled Nest can give you info on when my wait list will next open up and can connect you with another designer if you'd like to start your blog makeover sooner.

I also create an illustrated portrait for Naimah to match the style of the blog. I love getting to do full body illustrations because they have such a fashion inspired styling. I think these are great for fashion bloggers and anyone looking to amp up their blog design with something really special.

If you'd like to contact me about having your portrait done, or the portrait of someone you love, please check out my portrait info page which will give you everything you need to know about options and prices. From there, just email me at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com or just click here!
I just finished up the last portrait on my portrait wait list so if you would like to hop to the front of the line, email me asap so we can get started!

Brights! Fashion's Most Fun Colors

2011-10-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

I am queen of the natural, neutral shoe. My closet is stocked full with brown, black and other simple leather shoes. Don't believe me? Check this out. It's at a point now where I just really really don't need anymore brown leather shoes. I've got heels, flats, lace ups, booties, tall boots, sandals, blablabla lots of leather shoes. So I'm official putting myself on a "No More Brown/Black/Neutral Colored Leather Shoes" diet.
If I so happen to find some good looking, brightly colored, patterned, or sparklie shoes though...we can probably work something out. :) I need more happy colors and patterns in my life/wardrobe. And the shoes above are ones that I am really lusting after. Yum yum.

shoes found on: Wanted Shoes, Modcloth, Urban Outfitters, Steve Madden

I LOVE how Nicole from Gary Pepper Vintage styles her brightly colored shoes. She isn't afraid of pairing bright colors together from head to toe and I think she pulls of the look brilliantly. Here is another look she rocked with all bright colors. So, one of my fall fashion goals is to get my hands on some brightly colored, or sparklie, or patterned shoes and pair them with a brightly colored outfit...on a very tight budget :) I'll keep you posted if I find anything fabulous at an affordable price!

The New Bracelet Collection!

2011-10-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming, and finally bracelets have hit my Etsy Shop! I have been ruminating and planning, trying to come up with some bracelets that suit my shop and also push my jewelry's styling in a more edgy but still everyday wearable direction. So here it is! My new studded leather bracelet collection!

I decided to name each style of bracelet after one of my blog buddies.

The sweet Laura of Violet Bella named a necklace after me in her shop so I decided to return the love :) Can you figure out which bloggers I am sending a little love to? Check out each of the bracelets in the shop to figure out which bracelets are named after which bloggers!

I chose a variety of stud sizes and shapes and a wide range of leathers to compliment the tastes of all sorts of ladies (and even a few gents too!) You'll find the classic colors of natural leathers, autumnal inspired tones, and even some shimmer and sparkle with gold, silver and bronze leathers! Each bracelet style is customizable with your choice of your favorite leather color. So head over to my Etsy Shop to start pairing your favorite styles with your favorite leather colors!

There are even some discounts for purchasing in sets! I made myself a copy of each style of bracelet so I can stack them up both of my wrists. I love the look of stacked bracelets right now and I decided to give my customers an added discount for each additional bracelet they purchase in sets. Every set has a discount and the discount increases with the amount of bracelets in a set. If you buy 4, the 5th is free if you purchase the set of 5!

Head over to my shop to snatch up your customizable bracelets now!

Comfortable Me, How I Learned Self Love.

2011-10-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

I'd say that on 5 out of 7 days a week, my outfits are all about comfort. If all 4 inch heels and fancy dresses were super duper comfy, I'd wear them all day everyday. I prefer a little fancy in my day. But the facts are that I work from home, am alone for 75% percent of my days, spend many many many hours at my desk either doing design, illustration, or jewelry work, and if I'm not wearing comfy clothes, I get fidgety and grumpy. And though 60% of me reaaaaally love fancy, glamorous, feminine dress up, there is still 40% of me that is just a mountain girl homebody who finds putting on make up and and shaving her legs to be such annoying tasks.

Most days, I don't wear make up. I battled many many years with severe cystic acne and, ugh, I can't even tell you how physically and emotionally painful it was to have to deal with severe and scaring acne for all of junior high, all of high school, all of college, up until recently. I felt absolutely hideous for years. It wasn't just that the acne looked gross to me but it seriously hurt and throbbed constantly. If my hand even lightly brushed a cyst on my face it would sting and throb so bad that my eyes would water. When you have cystic acne, you feel your skin in such a more intense way than when you don't have it. It's impossible to not be constantly aware of the physical and emotional pain of the cysts and pock marks on your face.

It took me a long time to believe I was beautiful despite my acne. My acne started slowly when I was 12 and reached it's peak when I was 19 & 20. I had tried every acne medication available from the ages of 12-19 and nothing worked so I finally, and cautiously, decided to take Acutane. Thankfully, I received none of the scary side effects other than super chapped lips and dry skin. And for the 6 months I took it at age 20, my skin purged itself of all of its acne drama and I was completely cyst free for a year after. It was amazing and SO freeing to just not feel pain in my face for the first time in years, to look in the mirror and not see ruddy hills and valleys but a clear soft landscape. It was SO freeing to finally not feel my face that way so intensely, to not feel pain when I touched my face. I was finally able to just forget about my face and focus on the me that isn't the outside. It was a year of obvious outward healing but more importantly deeper and more meaningful inward healing. The acne did come back though after a year, just not as painfully and dramatically as before. And thankfully, having that years break of face pain, when the acne did come back I didn't let it effect me as intensely emotionally before, even when I did get a lot of scaring after the acne came back. And about a year and a half ago (when I was 24) it did finally calm down. Now it only blesses me with the occasional one or two zits at a time that keep a girl humble :)

I sometimes don't wear make-up because I'm just feeling lazy, but others times I don't wear make-up because I want to remind myself that I am thankful for my years battling with really severe cystic acne. It taught me so much. I still have scars along my jawline and cheeks, though you can't really tell in the photo below. I have a freckly face so a lot of the little pock marks blend in with the freckles. But I still can see them.

When I looked at them when I was younger, it was in disgust and shame. I thought I looked like a monster and my lack of self pride was obvious in how I carried myself. But as I look at my face now with occasional zits, acne scars and no make-up, I am thankful I can say to myself, "Dude, it took a tumultuous 10 years to learn to love yourself with and without acne and scars. But I am proud of you. You learned to love yourself and find beauty in you whether your skin is completely clear, whether there are zits all over your face or scars scattered across your jaw. Whether your skin was constantly throbbing in pain or whether you didn't even notice the feel of your skin at all, you found self love. The scars that are left and the occasional zit visitors now are just reminders that true beauty isn't found in a perfectly smooth flawless face. Beauty is found in how a person wears their self love and confidence."

Most days I wear no make-up or just a little on my eyes. Most often, I let my hair air dry because I'm lazy about hair fancy-ness and blow drying it feels like a time waster. Plus, I am lucky to have pretty straight smooth hair that rarely needs to be brushed. I wear glasses every single day, all day because contacts are really irritating on my eyes when I am doing work at my desk all day, and I don't want to pay for them, and putting them in and taking them out freaks me out every time. Haha. I do feel a little prettier when I wear contacts, but feeling just a tiny bit prettier doesn't change my level of self love. And since I work work work all day everyday, being practical and feeling everyday pretty totally wins over feeling that extra dash of no-glasses pretty/irritated eyes.

Now, just because I often don't wear very much make-up, or none at all...just because I wear glasses and don't really do my hair often... doesn't mean "Oh, I am so humble, I don't need all this fancy stuff to feel beautiful." False. It's a challenge for me! Part of me is lazy when it comes to dolling myself up and I just don't want to put in the effort most days. Sometimes I need to challenge myself by dressing up, wearing make-up, and gussying up my hair because it is a visual remind that I need to invest in all of me, love all of me, artistically celebrate me. It can be a confidence boost to get all glammed up for sure, and for some girls that means glamming it up everyday. Go you for making the effort! But for me, a balance of relaxed days with fancy days mixed in is what keeps me feeling good about myself. It's a challenge of self love to accept yourself on your most simple of days. It can be difficult! And it is a challenge of self love to invest the time in creating a visual expression of your love of self in how you style yourself too!

There's no one perfect way to find your self love and comfort in who you are. But exploring loving yourself as your most visually simple you AND loving yourself as your most glamorous you is a great exercise in recognizing you are beautiful & worthy of being loved at your most simple and comfortable moments AND at your most visually expressive moments. If you have battled with acne as a child or an adult, I soooo feel you. And if you don't love yourself yet, I promise you, creating your own way to find your self love is a challenge but so worth it. What you may not like about yourself, like acne, may come and go for your whole life. So make the choice to seek your own compassionate understanding of beauty so that you can find the beauty in you whether it is your unwashed, messy you in the morning or your fancy dress-up you in the evening. At every moment, I believe you are beautiful. Let your self confidence be the glowing reflection of your beauty, rooted in self love.

OUTFIT

Vintage 70's Vest // was my Mom's

Vintage 70's Plaid shirt // was my Grandma's

Jeans // Forever 21

Bag // Thrifted

Shoes // c/o Blowfish Shoes

Earrings // handmade by a friend

Glasses // Sears Optical

What in your life has challenged you to teach yourself self-love?

And The Winner Is...

2011-10-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

Congrats Elisha Lynn of My Black Tongue! You've won a seat in the Onward and Upward online class by Amy T. Schubert! Amy will be contacting you shortly :)

Oxford Wedges // Fueling my Shoe Addiction

2011-10-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

I am a brown leather boots addict. It's official. What are the reasons why I am so totally in love with these shoes from WantedShoes.com? #1. Fake brown suede and the rubber soles mean they will be super durable in the next 9 months of Seattle rain. #2. I love the oxford wedged shoe look. #3. The height of the wedge is so comfortable for my high arched feet. #4. They've got a heel but they are super easy to walk in thanks to the support of a squishy rubber wedge. #5. The are great for everyday wear. #6. They are perfect for fall and add a little style to my outfits on frumpy days, and they keep my nicer outfits from looking too froo froo fancy.

I think with the addition of these little oxford booties, I'm official closing the door on my leather boot collecting habits to make room for more colorful shoes in my closet. My brown leather shoe collection is now officially complete! ...until I find another pair of awesome leather shoes...

What I've Been Up To Lately // Instagram

2011-10-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

Do you have Instagram? I have to admit, when I used a Droid phone, I would get kinda sick of seeing so many Instagram photos popping up all over the web. But when I get an Iphone last month I got sucked into the Instagram madness too :) It's so easy to pair with twitter and the filters are pretty fun. Plus, it makes it much more easy for me to document the everyday things that I normally wouldn't haul out my fancy camera for.

Giveaway to the Onward & Upward Class!

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Amy from Lemon and Raspberry is offering 1 free seat in her Onward & Upward class! To learn more about the class, click here.

TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY:

1st Way to Enter: leave a comment here letting me know why you'd like to take this class!

2nd: tweet about this giveaway and leave a second comment here letting me know

3rd: Follow the Lemon & Raspberry blog and leave a comment here letting me know

4th: Follow the Moorea Seal blog and leave a comment here letting me know

This Giveaway runs only from Oct 7 - Oct 8, winner announced on Oct 9th. So hurry and sign up!

original photo by Thought Process Seven.

Onward & Upward // Amy

2011-10-07T01:00:00.001-07:00

Meet Amy from Lemon & Raspberry! She recently created an amazing class called Onward & Upward that is all about getting you out of that rut you've been dragging yourself through, helping you brainstorm about your true passions, and then helping you create plans to pursue your dreams!

Wife, sister, daughter, cousin, friend, wedding photographer, scrapbooker, reader, writer,editor, planner, blogger, traveler, singer, crocheter, cook, Netflix subscriber, podcastlover, aspiring linchpin, English literature M.A., procrastinator, encourager…
I am a writer and a photographer offering tips and inspiration for small business ownersand bloggers. I want etsy sellers to improve their product images, I want teachers toimprove their sales copy, I want bloggers to grow their audience. Any thing I can do tohelp you achieve your dream with your blog or small creative business, I am happyto help you with. At LandR, I blog tips and inspiration for creative people – including photographyresources, blogging resources, and photos of my messy workspace. I want to encourageeveryone to do their best work and accomplish their goals. I believe everyone has bigthings to accomplish and I want to help them break out of their daily rut and do it!
I really want to do GREAT WORK and help others do the same – That is the heart ofmy blog and the goal of Onward and Upward.

Once, not long ago, someone close to me made a crack about my ‘day job.’
Now, I’m definitely a sarcastic person and 99 times out of 100 I can totallytake whatever I dish out. But this time was different. This time it hurt. Not just because it was true. This little jab from someone close to me hurt because it was something I hadbeen thinking myself and was kind of ashamed of. She was joking about how what I do for work doesn’t make a difference toanyone. Which is exactly what I was thinking when I started working on this classmaterial. We all have work we were put on this earth to do – and it’s time to r eallydiscover what that is. And act on it.

Onward and Upward is a 6-week online workshop that will help you get outof your rut and take things to the next level.

Through this workshop we will work together and work through:
• recognizing the details of your life that make you most happy
• recognizing what your GREAT WORK is
• working through any fear or hesitation in giving ourselves permissionto do that GREAT WORK
• encouraging each other how to best seek and do that GREAT WORK
• gathering the action steps to make it happen
• … and more!

Who is this workshop for ?
• anyone who knows she is not doing her best
• anyone who knows she has something more to give
• anyone who might feel like she is floundering
• anyone who is not sure what she wants to do in life.

Onward and Upward 2011 will include, in addition to the schedule workshop material:

weekly reads – extra links and resources to supplement the class
exclusive interviews
private forum just for workshop attendees
sidebar column of blog buttons for each attendee’s site

This is really going to be a community where you can be open, be honest, and maybe even be vulnerable.

Onward and Upward is really for someone who are just starting to realize that the responsible career they planned out for themselves is not going to be fulfilling long-term. Or for someone who has risked their family's ridicule and possible financial stress to pursue an nontraditional line of work and just need a support system through the rough beginnings. For anyone who knows she is not doing her best, for anyone who knows she has something more to give, for anyone who is not sure what she wants to do in life.

By the end of the course participants should have a solid start on identifying their passion, committing to thinking bigger and a plan moving forward for how to bring more of their GREAT WORK into their lives.

Portrait // Hannah from Petaline Prints

2011-10-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

I finished up this portrait for Hannah from Petaline Prints this week! Isn't it so pretty? She wanted to include her newest favorite headband so I illustrated it over the photograph background. I used a photograph I took while visiting the town I was born in with my Dad this summer. It's a beautiful mountain town deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California, 2 hours up from where my family lives now. Hannah said that it surprisingly looks exactly like where she lives! I guess this photo was just destined to become a part of her portrait :)

Are you interested in having your portrait done or perhaps interested in having a portrait created for someone you love? Check out my portrait portfolio here to see samples and rates of my portrait work. And shoot me an email at mooreaseal{at}gmail.com to get the ball rolling. :)

What I Wore // A Gold Pony Scarf!

2011-10-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing this creamy orange color a lot this fall. I'm a warm skin-toned girl so gold, orange and brown suit my skin-tone best. What sorts of colors look best with your skin tone? Today I wore one of my favorite dresses which I've had since forever. It's just simple, fits my curves, and the blue color compliments the warm colors I like to wear. I paired it with my favorite boots right now which I received from Wanted. Oh my Gosh, I love these boots. I a leather boots-a-holic.

I received this awesome antler necklace from Mr. Lentz the other day. I'm trying to turn my wardrobe in a more edgy/badass direction while maintaining my love for the woodsy girl look (Ok, and comfort factors in there too.) But I think this necklace suits a badass/woodsy style just perfectly, don't you?

Left ring: purchased in a little shop in my hometown, Middle: A gift from my dad, bought on Etsy. Right: I made it!

Since I have been selling at the Fremont Market in Seattle every Sunday (well, minus this past Sunday) I've met some awesome Seattle artisans. One of these rad folks is the owner and designer of Tuesday, a scarf shop on Etsy! Since we really dug each other's stuff, we traded a necklace for a scarf! This scarf is my new go to scarf. I mean, gold ponies? Rad.

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Dress: Nordstrom Rack

Necklace: Mr. Lentz

Sweater: Forever 21

Belt: Was my grandmas / vintage

Scarf: Tuesday

Tights & socks: Nordstrom Rack

Boots: Wanted

Ring 1. from my hometown

Ring 2. a gift from my Dad bought on Etsy

Ring 3. made by me

What is Your Morning Motivation?

2011-10-04T01:00:00.000-07:00

As Fall hits Seattle every year, I always feel a sudden drop in energy, especially in the mornings. As someone who is completely reliant on herself to get motivated, get up in the morning, get to work, and power through the day, I need a good reason to push through those groggy grey Seattle mornings. In the summer I feel much more inspired to get to work early since the sun is out and the air is warm. But in the Fall and Winter, I have to build new routines to get myself motivated early in the morning.
I do live just 2 blocks from a coffeeshop and a donuts shop so I could turn my early morning routine into a coffee and baked goods run. But, I don't like building habits that equal spending a little money consistently that adds up to a lot of money in the long run. If I bought a latte every morning at $4 a cup, 4 x 7 = that's $28 a week and $112 a month! I can't justify that since I am very cautious with where I put my money (running a small business, you've got to be very purposeful with where you place your money!) So I'm looking for a super affordable way to get going in the mornings. Maybe an exercise routine? Maybe making coffee every morning at home? The Holiday season is upon us and I've got to get amped up to work long days until New years!

Blog Design: Graceful Swan

2011-10-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

I recently designed a beautiful new website for the wonderful mother-daughter event planning duo Sandra and Evelyn Pratt of Graceful Swan! We wanted to create a site that both looked professional and fun, showing a peek into their pretty party imaginations. Our inspiration started with their logo design and shot off from there!

They are are big fans of pink and grey, can you tell? :) Sandra loves the rough texture of burlap and Evelyn likes the softer detail of lace, so we took both as inspiration and added hints of both in the overall design. Can you guess where the burlap and lace inspirations show up?

I can help with that :) I am a designer for Freckled Nest Design and we offer a wide variety of packages to update or completely revamp your blog or website! We also offer some pretty fantastic services for Etsy shop owners, bloggers, small biz owners and more! Head over to Freckled Nest Design to check out how we can work together to create a one of a kind design just for you!

A Ferry Ride

2011-10-02T01:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, my boyfriend and I took a ferry to Victoria, B.C. for a day trip. We ended up spending most of the day on the ferry because it had engine problems on the morning trip out and had to turn back. We only spent a few hours in Victoria. But, tt was ok though because we both hadn't been feeling very well this week and need some rest time on the ferry. And resting on a ferry offers way more beautiful views than just resting in your home :)