a little help

Many of you have commented, tweeted, and emailed me about my mom's homemade designs. Well, she and her friends are in the running to win a Chase Small Business Grant of $250,000. They maintain a sewing and quilting craftshop, and make amazing clothes, quilts, home decor, accessories, home linens and TONS of other goods. They hope to encourage others to save money and learn a new craft by sewing things themselves instead of buying EVERYTHING. For example, all my linens, bedding, curtains, and much my closet is homemade by my mom. It's really fantastic and they are so talented. They also hope to sell goods their customers make and help customers who like to sew/quilt/etc. start their own small businesses or Etsy shops. 


WE NEED YOUR VOTE, AND IT ONLY TAKES 5 CLICKS!


Please visit www.missionsmallbusiness.com and click "Log In & Support". You can log in through FB (and it will not post to your wall). From there, search "The Quilting Coop". Click "Support" to vote, then please share with your friends! 


Here's some creations that have stemmed from her talent:

my absence

I apologize for being a bad blogger! I've been on vacation. Can't wait to catch up - I have much to share! On that note, I'll share my new friends:

I found them to be both practical and perfect.

American Flag Love: A Nail Tutorial

Hello elle bow room readers! I am on vacation this week, and was lucky enough to have the ladies behind A Brunette Duet give you a special treat: since I am no beauty expert, here's is a beauty post! Get ready for the 4th with this awesome tutorial, and don't forget to show Stephanie & Laura some love. Enjoy, xox

Hi! My name is Laura, and my friend Stephanie and I write a beauty and style blog over at A Brunette Duet. I am so grateful Elle gave us this great opportunity to guest post for her! Make sure to comment below and tell her how sweet she is:)

So, without further ado, I love love love nail tutorials! In my opinion, having ten (actually twenty if we're counting toes) parts on my body that I can paint and experiment with designs is awesome! So since we are approaching our nation's Independence Day, let's celebrate with a tutorial! My two favorite words are "simple" and "easy", so this is something anyone can do. Also, I will list the exact polishes I used, but any red and blue polish, and white pen will do! So lets get started!


NOTE: I highly recommend using an art pen, but a toothpick dipped in white polish can be substituted.

SUPPLIES

Sally Hansen Super Shine base/top coat
China Glaze "Up All Night" blue polish
OPI "Vodka and Caviar" red polish
Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in "White"






                                                                                 






Step 1:
                                      Begin with applying a base coat to all nails

                                                                                Step 2:
                                        Apply red polish and allow nails to dry

  Step 3: 

             With blue polish, paint a small square in upper the left corner

  Step 4: 

   With white nail pen, draw lines/stripes across the nail. 

   Dot the pen in the blue square for the stars!

Yay! All done. Now enjoy and have a great day!

Thanks for reading, Laura

wedding weekend

Last Saturday we had an amazing time at the most exquisite wedding I have ever seen! Held at The Standard Club in downtown Chicago, Ryan's friends from college Max and Melissa threw a ridiculous{ly awesome} bash. For the black tie affair, I wore a dress my mom made in 1969. She wore this classic dress to her senior prom, and I loved wearing it this weekend! Here's some snapshots of our evening:

shoes: zara, clutch: akira

lattice love

I'm completely obsessed with this skirt. When I saw this fabric, I picked up the whole roll and handed it to my mom.

"Shorts or skirt?" I asked.

Skirt it became. I selected the vintage buttons from her humongous collection, and painted them to brighten them up.

I'll try to stop posting so many homemade pieces! Mom's exclusive with her creations.

dress {worn as blouse}: ASOS (similar) // skirt: homemade // wedges: Tory Burch // purse: Chanel // earrings: kate spade // watch: Michael Kors // bracelets: David Yurman (blue topaz & amethyst & gold buckle), Cartier,  Hermes, Derng // rings: David Yurman (rose quartz {smaller version} & stack & pave), Cartier, onyx class ring

spotted sorbet

 

jacket: Zara // blouse: Zara // capris: Express {old} // bag: Louis Vuitton Artsy // sunnies: House of Harlow // heels: Jimmy Choo // necklace: HRH // earrings: kate spade // watch: Michael Kors // bracelets: David Yurman (blue topaz & amethyst & gold buckle), Cartier,  Hermes, Derng // rings: David Yurman (rose quartz {smaller version} & stack & pave), Cartier, onyx class ring

homemade, far from home.

For those of you who have followed this blog/me on twitter/my instagram feed, you know that I recently moved halfway across the country. I've been in Chicago for 2 weeks now & am slowly adapting to using public transportation. It's nice that Ry and I are together everyday after being apart for the last year, but I miss my family and friends like crazy. The weather has been...interesting. If you didn't know, Chicago is windy 24/7/365. This means no flowy dresses. Last week, it monsooned and went from 97 degrees to 45.

Nonetheless, I am adjusting and missing the fiery hot South. I've blogged several times about some of my homemade pieces, the products of collaboration between my mom and I. She sewed these fantastic ruffled shorts for me a few days before I left, and I have actually been able to bust them out up here! I love the colors and quatrefoil print, goes great with half my closet.

Also, meet the other blonde girl in Ryan's life, Zoe.

blouse: unknown // shorts: homemade // wedges: bakers // bag: Louis Vuitton // sunnies:House of Harlow // necklace: J. Crew // earrings: kate spade // watch: Michael Kors // bracelets: David Yurman (blue topaz & amethyst & gold buckle), Cartier,  Hermes, Derng // rings: David Yurman (rose quartz {smaller version} & stack & pave), Cartier, onyx class ring


Here are some of the other homemade pieces by Mom:

 this chevron skirt

this tunic top

this shift dress