Busy few weeks...

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This weekend was super busy and I am starting my Monday off on the same foot.

My 4 day work weeks at my day job slowly melded into 4 and a half... and now 5 days again. Right in the midst of the Christmas Rush and a Wholesale order. I'm really feeling like I could use an extra pair of hands or an extra few days in the week... or have the ability to not sleep or eat.

Though I do love the rush of being busy! I just wish I had more time to be busy with Ohhh Lulu...

This weekend Dan and I did some much needed clothes shopping for him, and I conned him into buying a cardigan. When we came home my poor pug, Oliver had an accident on the floor. I did my pug-motherly duty and cleaned it up... but noticed a bit of blood in it which was very shocking. So, we are off to the vet today to get things checked out. I am praying that nothing is wrong with my little guy. His 4th birthday is tomorrow, and he is the apple of my eye. I am hoping he is just reacting to the new food I bought him and I am over reacting to the whole thing.

Yesterday morning we decided to seal around all the windows with peel-off silicone... not knowing that it would emit a nausea-inducing, brain-cell-molesting odour. So, we had to be out of the apartment for the entire day.

Before the vet, I am going to try to sneak in to see our landlords - who are also conveniently mortgage brokers - to see about mortgage rates... busy, busy times. I'm already looking forward to Christmas Holidays!!!

Edwardian Fashion

Happy Halloween!

Elite Styles 1900

Thomson's Glove Fitting Corset - 1904

New Sleeves Waists, Elite Styles 1900

Wedding Photos are here...! The longest blog post in the history of Ohhh Lulu...

Dan and I got back from Quebec late last night. I felt very sad for not getting the chance to meet his Grandma, but through hearing so many stories about her, I feel like I knew her and I think she and I would have gotten along so well. I am glad we wrote back and forth to each other a few times...

Bromont, which is East of Montreal and very near Vermont, is a gorgeous little town. Dan's Grandma lived in a rural area on a beautiful lot with a tributary of the St. Lawrence river running through it (I think it was a tributary). It is surrounded by mountains that get lost in the clouds. The fall colours were gorgeous. Being in Quebec has very much inspired me to brush up on my French...

When we got home I was happy to find my wedding photos have arrived... It was perfect timing. Dan's grandmother had kept a diary, and had written at length on the day of our wedding about how excited and happy she was for us. Without further adieu, here they are...

When Dan and I got engaged, I knew I didn't want to have a "fussy" formal wedding. I wanted to have the kind of wedding our parents had; the kind of wedding that was about fun, and good times, and friends & family coming together. We made pretty much everything ourselves, from the programs, to the labels on the honey jars. Dan's Mom did all of the flowers, and she did an amazing job. She filled the mason jars with cedar boughs, and added carnations, and large white "pom pom" flowers along with some foliage. They turned out exactly how I wanted. We had our ceremony outside in a park and let the beautiful scenery be our décor. We held our reception in the local Legion, and had a traditional Roast Beef Buffet Dinner (with vegetarian options too!). The custom made stamp I bought from LovetoCreatStamps on Etsy came in handy for so many projects! It's a great stamp and I highly recommend them.

One of my bridesmaids is an aesthetician so we had pedicures the night before. My something "Blue" was my pedicure, and a blue streak in my hair. The girls all wore different shoes in a nude colour, which worked so nice with the black and white dresses. I bought shoe clips from FinkShop on Etsy to jazz up a pair of inexpensive shoes I had gotten at Spring. The "something old" that I wore was a necklace with a small pearl, owned by my grandmother, and my "something borrowed" was my veil, which my cousin wore in her wedding a few years back.

Our cupcakes were a steal. The Cake, Cupcakes and stand (for 100 people) cost us under $200 at a local bakery (including tax!). I never did end up eating one, but I heard they were delicious.

I bought our Guest Book from Red Otter on Etsy. She customized the ribbon colour and delivered promptly! I set up some jars with coloured pencils, stickers & pens for people to decorate their pages with. We wound up with some great portraits and cute drawings from our guests. We used a vintage white train case Dan's Mother had given me for our card box. My felt moustaches were a huge hit, and strangely enough I've found a few of them scattered across town since the wedding... Oops!

Our ceremony took place in a park right beside where our reception was. It is a busy park, and people were biking by and walking their dogs, snapping photos and wishing us much happiness. I thought I would feel funny having such a private moment in a very public place, but people were so respectful, and it was kind of nice to have strangers truly wish you well.

We had 2 adorable flower girls and a shy Ring Bearer who was bribed with lots of suckers and made our wedding extra memorable. The girls wore little linen dresses that I had made, and our ringbearer had a tie custom made to match the Grooms men. The ringbearer livened up after a few cupcakes, suckers, and who knows what else, and was king of the dance floor! That kid has some amazing moves for a 3 year old.

We took photos after the ceremony (which was a total of 15 minutes long) in the park for about an hour, then we all took half an hour off to rest. It was really important to us that we didn't have a big break between the ceremony and wedding. I know as a guest how boring it can be to be waiting for hours while the bride and groom take photos...

Before the wedding, the photographer met us at my parents house for some pictures with me, my dog, my bridesmaids, my brother and my parents. My parents have a beautiful field full of wild flowers behind their house where we took photos. The photographer was so amazing, she was calm and relaxed and really helped make our day extra special.

I really loved our wedding, I wouldn't change a thing. It was simple and fun an everyone had such a great time. The food was fantastic, the dancing was fun, everyone looked great, Oliver even sat down on command! Wedding planning for me had some frustrating moments... It is hard to plan a wedding like our parents would have had nowadays. But, for the most part, I had a blast (a craftacular blast!). I was happy to learn, after the wedding, that our guests really appreciated the simplicity of it. Everyone really had such a great time, which is what a wedding should be about. <3

Hen Costume for Young Girls... December 1910

I have these french magazines... La Mode Illustrée. This one is from December 1910, which describes "Hen" costumes for young girls. I thought it was fitting, with Halloween right around the corner. This is perhaps the most elegant "chicken" costume I've ever seen!

Now... if only my French were not so rusty, I might actually be able to read about it!

Styles for October 1900

I picked up this antique fashion magazine a month or so ago. This was what was en vogue one hundred and eleven years ago.

FREE Ad Space!

Not too long ago, The Vintage Wife offered free ad space on her blog. I was lucky enough to take advantage of this offer and now I'd like to pay it forward. I loved having a few new visitors stroll through Ohhh Lulu. So... the first 5 people to comment on this post will receive 1 month of free ad space (200x125) on the right hand side of my blog! Please comment with your email address so I cant contact you to discuss the specifics.

Thanks everyone!

Off to Quebec...

Ohhh Lulu has been very busy lately, and for that I am so grateful. Life has also been very busy. Dan's grandmother passed away over the weekend, so we will be making a trip to Quebec at the end of the week. It is an eight hour drive, so we will be gone for a few days. It's sad to lose another grandmother, but I am glad that she didn't suffer through her old age and was able to live most of her life independently. She lived to the age of 97, and only just over the last few months has been living in a home. That's perseverance!

Day-job gets increasingly tedious by the day. What was supposed to be a PR position slowly melded into a general office position and I'm back to being a Disgruntled Secretary again. Disgruntled Secretaries Unite! All jokes aside, I am grateful for a job that pays me decently, but there are days (like today) where the thought of walking out my front door, down the street, and stepping foot in that office makes me want to break down in tears. I just know, the minute I get there I will find out about some silly mistake I made that will lead to the uncovering of a dozen other silly mistakes I have made. I feel like more often than not, I am making mistakes (or maybe more often that not I am hearing about the mistakes I've made). Does anyone else feel like this about their job?

It is really getting hard to juggle the demands of a growing business with a day job. More so mentally than physically.

Between sewing and life, Dan and I are out house hunting again. Our prospects are much more depressing this time. Yesterday we went to an open house in a very nice house, in an ok neighbourhood. However, the total square footage of the house was the same as our apartment. Though it was technically a 1 bedroom house, the current owner had set up a master bedroom in what would have better been used as a living room. Currently the couches, tv, and dining table all reside in the kitchen. Cramped. Also expensive. If Dan and I had no intention on having kids it would have been a great house.

It is very frustrating because no house seems to compare with the one we nearly had. All of the houses have some kind of glaring flaw, either the ceilings in the upstairs aren't high enough to stand up in (seriously), the property backs onto a lumber yard, is as small as our apartment, or is 30 minutes out of town... It is definitely not a great time to be looking for houses, so I have a feeling we will be holding out until the summer here in our tiny and freezing little apartment downtown. We were really hoping to avoid another winter here with our electric baseboard heat...

Get on Over to Selective Potential and Win some Bloomers!

The Give Away of a pair of ruffle bloomers is on, head on over to Selective Potential to get your chance to win!

Phew... What a day!

My productivity impressed myself today.

I woke up at 7. Drank Coffee and read emails until 8. Took Photos until 8:45. Put on mascara and walked to work for 9. Worked my butt off until 12:30. Edited photos for Ohhh Lulu, post Lavender Sugar Bustle Bloomers on Etsy and prepared my Give Away for tomorrow. Drank Soy Milk. Back to work from 1-5. Bought Dog food downtown, got greeted by a parrot, and resisted the temptation to browse make-up at the Pharmacy. Home to post custom listings, and my Sleepy Hollow Inspired Bustle Panties.

Yet to cut and paste sample cards... Am REALLY negotiating my first real wholesale order! All that will happen tomorrow though.

Waiting for Dan to come home so I can cook Dinner... I plan on spending the rest of the night immersed in an X-Files marathon.

I love productive days like this.

Give Away Tomorrow!

I am giving away a pair of Ruffle Bloomers on Selective Potential Tomorrow! Be sure to check out Tieka's blog tomorrow for details on how to enter.

Good Luck everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving

This weekend was Thanksgiving weekend, one of my favourite holidays of the year. Despite my annoying (and at times, painful) cold, we fit a lot into our weekend. I finished this custom order for a customer...

On Saturday evening we went to an outdoor art show, and met up with a few friends we don't get to see very often. We didn't stay long, I was sick and delirious on cold medicine, but it was pretty fun. On Sunday we had dinner at my parents house. It was so nice, we ate outside and enjoyed a bon fire later in the evening (the second bon fire of the weekend!). Today we had Thanksgiving lunch with Dan's family. We had a great time, chatting and eating too much pumpkin pie...

In between family visits, I tried to get some sewing in. I have 2 stores I am trying to get stock prepared for, as well as Christmas stock for Etsy, and finishing up the few orders I have. I am also preparing for a give away very soon, and will post more information on Wednesday!

In the mean time, here is a sneak peak of a few new ruffle bloomers and bustle panties. I also have been trying to come up with ways to use all my bits and pieces of fabric... I contemplated a quilt, but I just don't have the patience for that kind of undertaking, so... I decided to sew together strips of fabric, log-cabin quilt style, and use that to make undies. I think they turned out pretty cute... They remind me of the sensibility of the '30's.

I hate throwing out fabric. What do you do with your left over scraps?

Should be in bed...

I have a cold and I should be in bed, but instead I got up at 6:30, made a pot of coffee and checked on the Provincial Election results... you might not know this about me, but I am a junkie for politics and news. While my party of choice, the NDP did not win, they did gain 7 seats in the House of Parliament, and we avoided a Conservative government, so I'm pretty satisfied... despite my stuffed up nose.

Dan and I have finished our week of looking after my "nephews" (not technically nephews, as they are my cousins kids, but her and I are kind of like sisters so it's close enough...). The kids were pretty sweet and cooperative and gave me lots of giggles, like when I asked the oldest boy what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he responded, "A Pumpkin," and watching Dan painstakingly try to explain the plot of Star Wars to a 3 year old was priceless. So many, "But why... But Why Uncle Dan?"'s.

It was a busy week, but I was happy to help and get to spend more time with the boys... And I think I have decided that while a house in the country may be pretty and quiet, I am like the convenience of "in town" living. When I say "in town" (which is a term only country people use), I mean Orillia, a town of 30 000 people, most of them over the age of 75.

My wedding photographer is sending me our wedding photos this week. I am so excited to get them! She has been tempting me with photos on her facebook page. I love this shot of the bouquet and Dan's boutonniere. Dan's mom did such an amazing job, with so little help from me... I sent her a few pictures, and basically gave her the instructions that I did not want "matchy matchy," nothing too stuffy, loose and rustic. She did the bouquets absolutely perfectly, mums and sweet peas in burgundy, purple and a little pink...

Experiments with weaving, braids and bows

I've been braiding fabric, trying to figure out a way to incorporate braids into my clothing... I tried cutting long strips of fabric, braiding them, and applying the braid with a long straight stitch, but I always found the braid to be too bulky for any thing other than a neckline.

So, I took my standard bikini panties pattern, added about 6" down the centre front, and made it into a two-piece pattern, as opposed to a "cut on fold." I staggered slices horizontally down the pattern, following the curve of the leg opening. I then started folding and weaving and pinning on to my dressform until I would up with a large "braid" down the front. I trimmed off the excess, and basted the loose ends. I am in love with how it turned out. When on, it is a very low cut panties that follows the curves of the body. The lose weaving adds additional stretch to the bias cut woven cotton. I am obsessed with this now and am going excited to be trying different slashing techniques.

I used a plain elastic along the waist and legs, because I didnt' want to detract from the weaving detail in the front. I have plans on using this technique along the back of a thong style panty...

Before the wedding I bought a few yards of black and white printed lace that I was going to use to make clutches... that was a passing fancy and now I have tons of the fabric. I started this cropped cami and long-line panties set yesterday. They were so plain and.... "modern" so I added a million bows. I have yet to find anything that a million bows can't make better.

Tonight we are off to my cousins house for nearly a week of house & child sitting. We will be looking after two of the funniest little boys until Thursday, and enjoying my cousins beautiful house. I am very excited to make use of their bath tub, as I only have a coffin-sized stand up shower in my apartment.

In response to my last, frustrated post. I broke the bank and bought a new camera and tripod. The tripod is amazing, and I have no idea how I functioned without it. Hurray!