Hi everyone,
   A quick update this weekend going into the holidays! I went into the city today to scope out some places for my model shoot with Caitlyn Duffy next week! Make sure you checkout my sneak peeks of her next week on my FB Page. Stopped at Crema and had a little tea while editing the rest of Hannah & Brandon's Engagement shoot. All up to date on editing thus far, now looking forward to some creative ideas I have in store for this winter's shooting!

My Polaroid camera came in the mail with some film already in it. A lot of the film was damaged, but I managed to get a couple test shots of the Christmas Tree. Polaroid film is so expensive, but it's a fun and different way to express my creativity. Looking forward to playing around more with it. Chic Origins had a successful weekend in sales! Some of the pieces that sold are listed below. A lovely someone from Turkey purchased my favorite brown suede boots find! Be on the look out for more photojournalistic day blogs like this!

What I Wore

The outfit here was worn on my trip to the Brimfield Antique Shows. It was a breezy, summer outfit with lightweight cottons and polyester. The colors of the pieces together were my favorite.

top / Ali & Kris

sweater / Kirra

pants / forever.twenty.one

sandals / Steve Madden

necklace / Target

wallet / vintage Coach

perfume / Musk by Urban Outfitters

Brimfield Antique Shows

My mom and I had been dreaming of taking a trip to the Brimfield Antique shows in Mass. for a few years, and this year we finally made it due to our schedules! I promised all of you that I would make sure I posted about out weekend, so here it is!

It was similar to what we both expected. Mom and I both have Etsy shops and we had a feeling we wouldn't be finding much of anything to put in our shops assuming that the prices were already raised. That didn't stop us from browsing and buying a couple neat things for ourselves throughout the day! There were hundreds of vendors and we only made it to less than half of them.

My favorite vendor, seen in the picture above, was Swift & Faire Co. They sell vintage clothing and accessories in the Boston area. I happened to purchase a couple of pieces from them because I just couldn't walk away ;) visit Swift & Faire Co.'s facebook page! 

what I wore

 top / forever.twenty.one

jeans / Ireland topshop

boots / Marc Jacob

necklace / forever.twenty.one

A simpler look with the favorite Marc Jacob boots found on sale for only $60 after searching for 3 months! High waisted skinnies from TopShop on sale for $20 from Ireland trip in 2009. These have taken a beating and the holes are enlarging. All the better right? I get the most compliments on these jeans and boots than anything else in my wardrobe. Simple, but essential long sleeve slouchy brown top from Forever. Gold and Teal bundle necklace to give just a tint of color. This was the perfect outfit for browsing the Brimfield Antiques because of the breeze and muddy fields. Low maintenance and comfy.    

the pinterest revolution

As most of us all know, once you pin you cannot stop. Whether you have an account with Pinterest or not I am sure you have heard about the hype the website has taken on. 13 million users have been added in just a short 10 months. They have been driving more traffic to websites than many of the very common sites out there like Youtube, LinkedIn and
Google +. No wonder why there is a waiting list! My question is, "Is Pinterest just another social media trend, or will it stick?"

Clearly Pinterest is geared more towards the trendy women users out there at the moment, which makes it perfect for my marketing target range. So I figured I would try to invest a little bit more time in this area to see if I would really benefit. I purchased the Power of Pinning for businesses by Melanie Duncan. I am wondering if it will be a fluke or not, but I figured I would take a chance.

I love statistics so check this other blog out if you are interested in learning more about the Pinterest revolution - it is very interesting.    iQuariusMedia    I cannot deny the addiction that has formed to my Pinterest boards. I have posted some of my favorite pins thus far below...

So what about you guys, do you think Pinterest will become just another trend or last as Facebook has? 

What are your favorite things about Pinterest?

follow Chic Origins Pinterest : https://pinterest.com/chicorigins/

here we go!

hello all, it has been quite some time now, but here I am again for the good! A lot has happened since I last posted. I was very busy working full time and left my creative heart to the waist side for a bit. I started a job as a personal banker and after a year of working full time I then decided that I would give into my hearts pull to invest more time into my creative adventures again. I will start with an update on where my focus has been the past several months. 

Most of my energy goes into my shop on Etsy, Chic Origins. And my photography, KAngell Photography. I have 4 weddings coming up that I will be shooting at! It has been a big step for my work and I am honored to be the photographer for each wedding. It has been a journey finding my style and niche of work and capturing it with my photos. 

                  

It's also been a blast putting more time into my shop. I have been really trying to master the photos of my vintage pieces for the most part. My photos have always been the one thing that bothered me severely. I also have been purging my inventory and gearing up for a more concentrated line of handbags, dresses and shoes mostly. 

I will be going to the Brimfield antique shows with my mother next weekend. We have always wanted to attend them and this is the first year that we are able to see all of the beautiful vendors! I will be posting a blog of our weekend adventures soon after so keep your eyes peeled. 

This is all for now, hope everyone is having a splendid Spring and looking forward to Summer coming so soon! See you all back soon...

favorites...

Here are some pieces I am fond of from some of my favorite vintage shops!

Ethanollie

Brown Bag Vintage

Oiseau Vintage

Nullify Anew Vintage

Fine and Dandy Vintage

a new season

It's a new season! Not only for the weather, but in my journey and others I feel. It was about a month ago that I tried to pull myself together and write of the things that had been happening. I wanted to share my heart here and also things with Chic Origins. I got about 3 sentences in and deleted it all. I have been walking in a cloud I feel for the past three months, but things are starting to clear up and my mind can actually articulate thoughts!

For a while even in my small group, Epic, there was a lot going on where people were just lacking hope and heart for things. I have realized that we all are bound to go through seasons like these. And they are GOOD for us. Balance in life is hard. Of course we should not let ourselves sit and sulk, but there are times that come in life that it seems the hardest thing for us to pull our heads up through even the normalcy's of life. I know this has been the past few months for me, but I have learned so much through the struggle and I am glad.

Don't you feel like the seasons in weather almost resemble where you are at in person at times? Or even spiritually I see that they can relate to where God is taking me or the church. We have had a very rainy spring. All I can say is that I don't love rain, and I know few people that do. Every where I turn the weather is what people all have in common, it's what we always resort back to, especially when it is gloomy. It is like we all have something to share in, whether it's something to look forward to or not. A lady at my church said something to the extent of this recently, "why will we complain about rain when in the bible rain resembles God's presence flooding hearts?" I do think of this often when it rains. Haven't you seen those movies where at the climax they choose a rainy scene to portray the emotion of passion to the core? It is something so intimate if you think about it. Just like the season I feel I, and the church, is about to walk into. We have fought all spring to pick our heads up and I believe it is time that the Lord wants to renew our strength and put a new heart in us.

The key thing I have learned from this past gloom is that this world is so stale. There is nothing that lasts forever, nothing that will not die, nothing that does not loose it's excitement, nothing that will keep giving us satisfaction. I posted a lot of verses from Ecclesiastes in my first blog post and here is a perfect time to reiterate them. I feel before God wants me to walk into the season of rain and passion again I needed to see what it was like without him. Of course He is always here with us, but EVERYONE has times where they cannot see, hear or feel him. In these moments where I feel these things I know it is heightened because there is so much more that I have had a glimpse of, and in comparison to the life without God that I see at times it is so empty when you know the life with God. Once you get a taste of the intimate heart of the Father, nothing is the same. The things of the world seem so mundane. And I am so ready for more. I have heard so many times, even from my friends who do not believe in necessarily one religion and God, that they have always felt that there was something more to them they could not explain. I believe it's the heart of God nudging them.

So to conclude this blog post, I wanted to share something that was inspiring and moving. I have lately been falling in love with creams, golds and whites. It is so soothing and pure and restful which is what I have needed. I am inspired by many things, home decor being one of them. I was thumbing through some random pictures of rooms with beautiful settings and started dreaming of having my own place one day again. The time will come just like my new season is coming. When I do have my own place expect it to look a little like this - on a lower scale, unless miraculously one day Chic Origins makes me a millionaire...

may brings florals

May brings florals! and spring showers... We have one month until June and I have to get out my binoculars to see if the sun is coming any time soon here in Maine. I want to celebrate making it to 150 pieces in my shop! My goal is 200 pieces listed by June so I have to get on working! I found these adorable chic floral 80s heels thrifting last week and was so excited to post them up. Also this extremely 80's floral romper! Lots of flower patterns in style this year!

I also put together a treasury with a floral theme : check it out!

I will be participating in a Clothing Swap as Chic Origins on saturday the 21st. It is the first Portland Swap so far and lots of people will be showing up. For more details and information on the swap check it out here : SWAPMAINE . They have created their own blog for updates and such. A group of bloggers and fashionistas from Portland came up with the idea and pulled it all together and their all so creative! If your interested in going to the Swap let me know and we can carpool together.

I was also featured in the Portland Forefront Fashion Blog : check it here.

some beauties

Lately I have been falling in love with the romanticism era. It all started by watching Pride and Prejudice a good 5 times in a row and now I can't get my hands on enough of the romantics of old. The culture was so different and the women had to take any man that would even show an interest in her in hopes that she could actually be something of greater importance to society. So when there came a man that she actually loved it was like an explosion of beautiful dreams and affections. It was all about reading, studying, and practicing the art of the piano and instruments. They wrote letters back and forth to each other for communication. Language and speech was an art form for them. Yes the society was a hard one to live in, but it was so beautiful. Quotes from the movie go through my mind daily. "you have bewitched me body and soul"

I have been very fond of illustrations from unique artists. I have bee

n finding some neat drawings from some beautiful people and I just have to share them! I wish in my heart that I could draw like this. I think it's so sweet and I would draw all of the time if I was able. Here are some blogs and shops I have found that I love the style of :

Nevertheless

Oh My Cavalier

Kerri Ann Hulme (picture of Mr. Darcy to the right)

Tabitha Emma (she is the one who designed my blog!)

Tabitha did such a great job putting together exactly what I desired. Her rates are great and you can't find another illustrator with such an enchanting and unique style. Take a peak at her portfolio it's divine!

Check out Kris Atomic's Blog she has so many amazing entries not just of illustrations, but fashion, fo-

od, decor and inspirations! My favorite recent find :) I think soon I am going to try to draw up a piece of my own just for inspiration. Maybe a girl, or some kind of cute little animal in a thicket. Wish me luck!

< Kris Atomic illustration

Last weekend I found an article of an estate sale that was happening with some vintage clothing. I had never been to an estate sale yet, but I did know that it was either hit or miss with any type of article like this. So mother and I got ready saturday morning and ventured out to see what we could find when low and behold the house was literally a treasure straight out of the 60s! Room to room there were walls of decorations, furniture, nick knacks, all priced to sell. I couldn't get enough! Eventually when I got to the fourth room I couldn't believe what I saw, but none other than racks upon racks of vintage clothing straight out of the 50s - 60s. It was such a neat day. I got to talk with the three sisters that were doing inventory of the house and apparently all the clothes were from their mother who recently passed away and their father who just turned 100 was moving away to a smaller home! It was a bitter sweet experience, part sadness, part appreciation. I am glad that I came across them all for they were oh so nice to be acquainted with. I am going to post up some of the pieces I purchased from them. I have a 1930's honey moon gown all cream light cotton with lace and buttons at the collar it's beautiful. I am excited to put them all up in the shop! So stay tuned...