More...Carolyn Braden's May Inspirations

Here are my latest feelings.....

There is something about July. I don't know what, but something about the seventh month.

Ducks.

Pinecones. In fall decor maybe?

Sporto Waterproof Duck Shoes. Great to slip on and off this summer instead of the boots.

Google Eyes. They are funny.

The color blue.

Roses.

Rainbows. Again.

Balloons.

Of course this summer is all about the sun and the sand and everything that has to do with that. Such as.....mermaids, seashells, sand, sunscreen, sun hats, the beach, and whatever else that has to do with summer feelings.

New Thoughts by Carolyn Braden

Spring is here in a big way!!! Everyone is done hibernating and is out in full force. The rain is bringing on the beautiful green grass and things are starting to look good.

Here's my forecast for now:

Burberry. Something about it. I want a Burberry hat and I am searching for the perfect one. If you can't afford a Burberry hat, try any cute page-boy style hat. Baseball hats are fine, but try something with a little style if you want to turn heads.

The color white. You can wear it. Yes, if you are like me, you will probably get something on it (dirt, food, etc) by the end of the day, but it's fine. It happens to us all. :) Carry a Tide to Go pen with you just in case.

Buttons. Something about them is standing out in a big way.

Rainbows. Look for them everywhere. Rainbows are universal symbols for so much.

Water color. The water color look will show up in fashion and more.

Kangaroos and Austrailia. I don't know why, but they are standing out to me.

Pinecones? Just a thought.

---Carolyn Braden

What now?

As always, I never know how my ideas will be interpreted into the real world. All of my ideas come out in the world as fashion, in movies, on television, on commercials, in the stores. I don't know how, they just do.

Here is my latest knowledge:

Monkeys. They are showing up everywhere. Reminds me of that story/song "Monkey's Jumping on the Bed" and the game Barrel of Monkeys.

Patches are coming out. I am about to sew/iron on patches on my knockoff H&M Member's Only jacket I just found. Couldn't find a real vintage one, so this one will do. I am making it unique by putting the patches on it.

Something about the British right now. British comedy, food, or cars. It's something to ponder.

Bubbles. Real bubbles, glass bubbles, the form of the bubble is out there.

The sun. Can't wait for it to shine a light on my life.

The beach. My next vacation will involve one.

Cookies/baking. Try doing it with your kids. Let them experiment and mix some of their own ingredients in and see what happens.

Olive branches/doves. Maybe new symbols to represent what our world needs now more than ever....peace.

Reggae/tropics. I think this is happening in music. Love those steel drums. Just the sound reminds me of warm weather and the time I spent in Barbados.

Musicals. Try showing your children Annie. It is such a great one to see again and again.

Clovers. Could this be because they are green or because they are lucky?

Zippers. Try them in fashion. On hats/shirts.

Vintage tunes. Download some 80's or 90's songs to your Mp3 player and listen to them while you spring clean. Cleaning is always a little more enjoyable when you dance and sing.

Roller skating. Do it! It's great exercise.

Puppets. Use one at home with your kids when reading or telling stories. Kids love puppets.

Laughter. Try watching a funny comedy from the past. Watch some commercials instead of fast forwarding them because you DVR'd something. Some are really funny right now and people are talking about them. We all need to laugh a little more.

Knowing your brain. Are you right or left brained? Creativity, thinking, and intuition come from your right side and reading/writing/arithmetic (remember that saying), come from your left side. My right side is working double time right now. I just hope someone notices it.


Dreams. I love dreaming.

Signing off....

C

What's In Style for January 2009!!!!

Happy 2009!!!!!! Here is my first blog for style for 2009.
Here's what is up and coming in the style/television/music world:

The first two inspirations are some things I knew were going to be popular back in September 2008. Our local paper, The Courier Journal, did a quick little blurb about me and what I liked. I didn't know it quite then, but my style ideas were right on! I am starting to see these ideas in magazines right now.

Oils!
They are wonderful to mix in unscented lotions to make your own custom scent. I do this myself by picking some up at Whole Foods or go to Aveda and pick out a few scents for them to make for me there. It's actually really inexpensive and the all natural idea doesn't irritate my sensitive skin. I love the scent of clove mixed with Nivea Firming Body Lotion.

I really like my Vaseline Cocoa Butter scented gel oil. It's really good because it is in gel form and not as messy as regular oil. I got it last year at Walgreen's, but I am sure they still carry it.

My mother in law got me Avon Skin So Soft Whipped Body oil and I really like it too! Not only is it not messy, but it has a lovely, clean, almost baby like scent.

Flowers.
Whether they are the print on a shirt, dress, or you just have a bunch in a vase at your house, they are so wonderful! Having some fresh greenery or flowers around the house really bring the outdoors in for me.

Tye Dye!!
The current designer at Target has it all over his collection right now. I will be featured on HGTV's show "That's Clever" doing Shibori (Japanese cloth dying). They filmed the episode back in 2006, and the 400 series (my series) is finally on the schedule! Check out http://www.hgtv.com/thats-clever/show/index.html to see when my episode will air. I must have been onto something back in 2006! Thanks to my Fiber Arts teacher, Lida Gordon, for showing me how to do Shibori while I was an art student at the University of Louisville! I just bought a really cool peace sign (blogged about that a while ago!) t-shirt at Target for 10 bucks. It's really cool!

Eating healthy is ALWAYS IN STYLE! Try organic.
The prices of organic foods have really fallen over the past year. I know because my husband and I really pay attention to this. Woman's Day magazine suggested taking a spinach wrap (try a low carb/calorie one...they usually have quite a few calories if you don't watch it) and spreading a little low fat cream cheese on it. Then take some fresh veggies like carrot sticks or peppers or whatever you like, and put them in the middle of the spread out cream cheese. Then roll it up, cut it up like pieces of sushi, and voila! You have a healthy snack or lunch meal that looks really cool too! Try giving this to picky kids who only will eat food if it looks fun!

Try painting your own shoes!
My agent told me about a leather spray that you can spray shoes with to change the color. I always knew you could have shoes dyed, but never thought to spray them myself. I found a website, www.shoehardware.com, that sells NuLife leather shoe spray. They also sell Angelus Acrylic Leather shoe paint. I bought some raspberry and pink sparkle spray to paint my vintage fab rollerskates (been looking for some cool ones forever and my husband finally found some!) and I bought some neon red, neon blue, and neon yellow paints to paint the white areas of my Adidas Samba shoes. Oh yeah....the Samba is back baby! I wanted mine to look different, and the paints will make this a reality. Dying shoes is a huge process, so I think I'll stick to having a shop dye my dream scarlet red toe shoes for me. I just love scarlet red shoes. SATIN scarlet red shes. Toe shoes in scarlet red are really rare and the girl who wears them in any ballet automatically becomes the star. I am seeing Revive's Rite of Spring in April and the star will be wearing scarlet red toe shoes. Just beautiful. I just want a pair to put on display in my closet.


Old School Children Television Shows!
Did you know the Electric Company is back???? I am so excited! I don't know much about it yet, but it is back. I also hope that Sesame Street really gets a good media pump up soon. I loved that show as a kid and would love to be on it now as an adult. Who knows, right? Teaching has prepared me for many things, so maybe a kids show could be one of them. I know Sesame Street airs still, but not in my hometown, Louisville, KY. What's up Louisville? Get Sesame Street back!

Last, but not least: Watch these two guys called Mysto and Pizzi.
They are a young producer duo that are up and coming. They remixed the song "Somebody's Watching Me" for the most recent Geico commercial, and it is really good. They have already done re-mixes for Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears, so they are going to do really well.

Wow...this was a long one! I had a lot of inspirations over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for reading!

Till next time,

Carolyn

Good Luck Charms

There is something about charm right now.

Whether it's your own personal charm or a good luck charm, it's in style.

My good luck charms consist of my "crystal" bouncy ball. I found it at Dick's Sporting Goods back in August or September. Now, these balls are everywhere. Mine is really big and has purple swirly, sparkly glitter in it.

My other good luck charm is a little elephant I found at Hobby Lobby the other night. Actually, one of my students gave me a sparkly elephant ornament for Christmas. I saw it as my cartoon character "Ed the Elephant". My student liked that idea. I bought a few of the little elephants at Hobby Lobby and I am going to give them to the people in my life that I feel may need a little good luck. I am keeping one for myself. :)

In going through some of Tommy's old toys, I found a little golden dragon. It is Dawn the Dragon. He is friends with Ed the Elephant and they sit together on the mantle in my bedroom. They sit next to my crystal ball.

I always have liked four leaf clovers. I used to find TONS of them in a patch outside my Fern Creek house when I was a kid. My mom and I would find them, then save them. I have a four leaf clover idea for my book.

I've loved ladybugs for a long time. I have a tiny ladybug tattoo on the inside of one of my ankles. Betty, my mother-in-law, buys me little ladybug things and gives them to me every once in a while. Therefore, she became Betty the Beetle in my book. She's a ladybug. :)

Charm bracelets. I found my old charm bracelet I started as a kid. There are many charms I haven't put on it yet, so I am going to be taking it soon to have all my charms put on so I can wear it.

Tiaras. I just found another tiara. It is beautiful. I didn't realized it until finding this most recent one, but I collect them. :) They seem to appear at big moments in my life. They have been around my whole life. They must be a good luck charm for me. Weird that I just figured that out.

That's all for now. Merry Christmas.

--C

December. More Inpirations.

Stars. All kinds of stars are standing out right now to me. Shooting stars, super stars, shining stars. Stars, stars, stars. I don't know why, but they are showing up everywhere.

Stripes. They are showing up in all styles.

Black and silver. Purple and silver. Anything plus silver will do.

Red-orange.

Japanese culture....kimonos, bamboo (again). Really, just anything to do with Japanese culture.

Natural rocks. I glued some Swarovski crystals to a few and put them on my vanity. It's because everything looks a little prettier with some sparkle. I glued some crystals to a seashell too. I gave it as a gift to someone who longed to go to Mexico. I told her she could put it on her desk and go to Mexico in her mind whenever she wished and looked at that shell.

I don't know if these things are going to be popular in fashion. I just seem to be inspired by these things right now.

December...Upcoming style!

Not much for today, but I was on a blogging roll.

Here's the latest inspirations I've had:

Bears and tigers. Don't know why, but I know they are about to hit big. Maybe for Christmas? Try getting your child a teddy bear. All kids have that "thing" they hold onto everywhere they go. Maybe it's a blanket or a stuffed animal. Try getting your child a teddy bear. The tigers....maybe the print is going to show up in fashion.

Hummingbirds. They will be in home decor and in jewelry. Try a hummingbird pin.

Sheer floral patterns. Pair them with very simple style. You want the emphasis to be on the print only.

Layered skirts. Try a 3 tired skirt. If it's dark with a floral pattern like the one I picked up at Target, try wearing it with dark tights and scrunched boots.

Try a sheer, billowy, dark floral pattern shirt. Brooke Shields had one on in the latest episode of Lipstick Jungle. She threw it on and went out and cooked her Thanksgiving meal. I thought it was beautiful and it looked so easy to wear. And comfortable! So, in my recent trip to IN, I picked one up for $10.00 in a little shop called Vintage. Although the store was called Vintage, it was brand new, with tags on it still! I will wear mine with skinny jeans and probably ballet flats. It has to have a black tank top on under it.

Spending time with old friends. You had a great time with them when you were younger, so why wouldn't you have a blast with them now? The second time around is always a charm when it comes to old friends. Give them a call this holiday season and invite them over for some food, for some Wii playing, or for a card game. No pressure for giving each other gifts, unless you want to. Let their gift to you be their presence.

Giving to those in need. Don't feel upset if the gift you gave was $100.00, but all you received was something that you don't even know what it is. Our world isn't in the best financial shape right now, so if someone can't afford to give you a gift that costs the same as yours, be thankful that they thought of you. Take what they gave you as an inspiration. Be thankful that you have the money to get someone you love something wonderful.