christmas elfin

I was called in to work in my mum's department at work, helping them design floral arrangements while one of the regular designers was out with a broken arm (of course it would happen at the busiest time of year for them). Mum had talked to me the previous week about possibly helping out, but it wasn't until 10pm Thursday night that she actually called me and asked if I'd be willing to come in on Friday. Of course, I agreed :D

Afterwards, I went to see Scott Pilgrim (for the third time) with friends!

I realized while colouring this drawing that I'd forgotten to write in what all I was wearing, so I had to search my memory for the colour of the shirt and the rose earrings (I have two pairs of rose earrings, in pink and in red). That's the danger of getting behind on these. But I recalled the purple shirt that almost-matched the bandana, and I figured I would have worn red roses since I was dressing in Christmas colours (for which purple totally counts—it's an advent colour!)

moss forest

In my internet browsing and wandering, I came across a mention of "mori girl," one of many (manymany) fashion trends in Japan.  Mori means forest, so the trend aims for a natural, woodsy, fairy-ish look (or something like that).  I thought it sounded just lovely :D

This outfit doesn't exactly fit that image (the fairies I know prefer skirts), but it's got the forest part, anyway.  You can imagine I'm a moss-covered tree in the middle of deep woods. Maybe it's the morning of an early frost...

elegance

I had to start a new layer in Photoshop for nearly every item of clothing in this outfit, what with all the sheer layered items.  Gotta keep it exciting!

piratical

This is exciting, right!?  Look how awesome I am!!

In high school, or rather right after graduating high school, I went through a pirate phase (try and guess what year that was and what movie hit theaters that summer and it'll all make entirely too much sense).  But I suspect even before that I had a soft spot for them, as a fan of Peter Pan and his wonderful, exciting battles with Hook.  I asked my brother while wearing this outfit what he thought my theme was, and he was initially stumped.  Maybe the red-green christmas colour combo threw him off, but when I told him "I'm a pirate!" he said, "Oh yeah, Disney style with all the stripes."  I never really thought about Disney being the one to popularize stripes on pirates before... but they also seem to have established the "Alice is blonde and wears a blue dress" rule.  So apparently Disney's depiction of pirates have made lasting impressions on me.

bored nostyle

This is Bored Lys: "who cares if anything matches" edition (although maybe the socks and orange shirt are close). I was actually going to wear a red-white striped shirt with this too, but I changed my mind.

I can't be awesome every single day... but I'll try to make up for it with the next day's outfit.

un poco rococo

There! See, I have not abandoned you! An update... an outfit over a week old, but it's colourful and lacy and pretty, so you'll forgive me? :D

I have many more drawings of outfits to post, I just have to scan them and make them nice and colourful. But I will do that in the coming days! Maybe not tomorrow, as tomorrow is Thanksgiving (despite the date on this post—it's backdated to correspond to the day the outfit was worn, not the day I post) and I'll be spending it with my family.  But look for more soon!

In any case, I like wearing (and making) knit scarves, but dressy-type scarves can be nice too (in other words, I'm thinking I need to acquire a couple more for this winter). They keep my neck warm, which is good because most of my shirts have wider or more open necklines. And they can be worn so many different ways! When I wore this outfit, I seriously considered wrapping the scarf around my head in a piratesque-fashion... but I decided my neck needed the warmth more, and my hair was too cute to cover up. Next time, though...

slapjack happy

It's the night of the (annual?) Escanaba in da Moonlight-watching party at my friends' place!  I attempted to dress up like a Yooper, but I'm not sure anyone caught on without me pointing it out.  Oh well, it amused me anyway.

The plaid shirt and boots both came from my brother.  I felt like some kind of bizarre godzilla clomping around in the boots :D  But they stayed on as long as I kept the shoelaces tied tight!  And I discovered that flannel shirts are soooooooooo waaaaaaaaarm.  I think I want a couple (in my size, though).

stepping on pearls

So I put together this fancy monochromatic outfit and then was disappointed because I didn't have anywhere to go to show it off. But then I ended up going to the library and the grocery store after all. I'm sure they appreciated my snazzy hat and super-cute heels.


You appreciate them, right?

maize and blue plus green

Happy lucky 11-11 day!!  Somehow, whenever I decide to wear one yellow item, it turns into wearing a bunch of yellow.  I've also picked up a tendency to pair it with shades of blue.  Oh no!  Is it because they're the colours of my little brother's school?  My mum is always going on about "maize and blue" and I admit the colours do look quite nice together.  But I'm wearing green too, so I guess I'm still okay...

Oh, that reminds me!  I think it was in fourth grade; I had this navy blue cardigan/sweatshirt (with navy print sweatpants?? I can't quite remember) that I liked to wear with a mustard-gold turtleneck.  But then!  I found out my teacher was a State-fan, and bitterly opposed to those colours.  And he was like the awesomest teacher ever, so I trusted his judgement of college sports teams whole-heartedly.  I never wore that outfit again :(

Oh well.  It sounds like a kinda dorky outfit anyway, now that I think about it.

the princess swoons

My landlady said I looked like a princess when she saw me wearing this outfit!  Hee!!  I really, really (reallyreallyreally) love the red lace over yellow tights.  It's so lovely~  Also, I seem to have gotten stuck on the yellow-purple colour scheme.  But I love it, so...

The book in this drawing is the last volume of my favourite manga (世界でいちばん大嫌い, or I Hate You More Than Anyone), which I read last night.  It's a wonderful series :D  (and much more full of love and happy and adorableness than the title might imply!)

nice guy pose!

For this and the next day's drawing, I let a bit of my geekiness out.  Heh heh...

Here I drew myself sort-of like a certain character from a certain manga (Japanese comic) series, simply because I happened to be looking at a picture of him when I opened my sketchbook to start drawing. Sometimes I just need to draw in a different style than the usual.  If you don't know who the character is, don't worry about it :D  If you do... hurrah!

fancy girl

I have been waiting for the right moment to wear this necklace—I ordered it from Forever21's website a couple weeks ago and when it arrived it was even more glitzy than it looked online.  So it was a little harder to integrate into my everyday-wear...

My aunt's church put together an "Iron Chef"-style baking competition and had it filmed at a local TV studio.  My mum and I got to watch and cheer my aunt on!!  They called themselves "Dueling Divas" and the chefs all wore sparkly tiaras and crowns.  So my sparkle wasn't so out of place!  One of the teams even wore feather boas... until the competition started, of course.

winter patterns

So many patterns!  I love that about winter—I start piling on the layers and end up with a combination of all kinds of things I never would've thought to put together.  Makes me feel warm and happy!

Being a pattern-lover, of course I am also quite fond of ties.  I can't get enough of the paisley and the intricate designs and fancy colours!!  They're too delicious.  I am slowly building up a necktie collection from relatives who don't wear theirs and department store clearance/sale shelves.  I have been told thrift stores are another good source for ties, but I never remember to look when I am at one.

sweater and sundress

Catching up... I did something different for this drawing, can you tell?  I scanned in a section of my dress and warped it and ran it through a filter :D  Does it look okay?  I don't intend for it to perfectly match my usual simple colouring style, but I think a collage-y multimedia look is alright... and using the warp tool in Photoshop was pretty fun! Trying to replicate that pattern by myself would be rather tedious, and would keep me from working on more of these drawings!! So I might do something like this again with future pattern-heavy clothes :D

hurrah!

I'm getting behind on posting! Oh no! I tend to get busy on weekends, and I've been wearing outfits with a bunch of silly patterns (which take more time to colour)... and sometimes I just wanna be lazy. I'll try to get all caught up tomorrow!

In the meantime, I like this outfit and this drawing, so it can stay on top of the page for a while.  Purple and yellow are my faaaavourite complementary colour pair.  Throw in a tinge of pink and I'm in love-love. I knitted the scarf last winter and it's my current favourite.  It's so soft and warm!

reach for your dreams

I started this with the thought, "I want to do a drawing from behind..." It's really fun to draw feet from the back—that's the entire reason I like drawing people facing away.  But I didn't have anything specific in mind beyond the feet, so the rest was just whatever happened to happen on the paper.  And that was this.

I cheated on the light pink shirt and used Photoshop's butterfly brush to do the pattern.  But you can hardly see it anyway, under all that lace!

let's play!

Oh, this drawing happened so easily! That seems to be increasingly rare these days.

I help in my church's nursery every other week (on Wednesdays), and this was one of my nights.  I spent a good portion of the evening shielding myself with a giant stuffed (foam?) block as toddlers attacked me with more giant stuffed blocks.  One of the kids seemed to enjoy charging at me and then falling over dramatically as I pushed back lightly with my block.  I worked up a sweat battling the tiny people!

runnin' boots!

Boots!  Lys, how are you not tipping over, running like that?

This is probably the most accurate drawing/colouring of these boots, of the three I've posted so far. Sometimes I refer to the original item of clothing as I'm colouring but sometimes I don't.  This time they were still sitting right behind me, but if they're in my closet or by the front door, you see what my brain thinks the boots (or any other item of clothing) look like when I'm not actually looking at them.  It's kind of fascinating, actually (at least I think so).

I also wore my pink fuzzy scarf for most of the day (indoors!) but I forgot to draw it!!  Too bad.

a million sweaters

Happy November!!

When I wake up on a wintery Michigan morning and I'm coldcoldcold, all I want to do is wear like a million sweaters.  And then I end up like this.  Warm and cozy all day long!!  Sweater dresses are pretty awesome. This one has big floppy pockets, which makes it the awesomest sweater dress ever♥

interpretive mermaid

Eheheh. And what happens when you eat candy and cookies and a caramel apple and stay up late? Sugar-zombie-death the next day, that's what. Let this be a lesson to you all. I'm sorry, mum. You taught me better than this!!

(but it was totally deliciously worth it... :D)

For actual-halloween, I didn't dress up too outrageously. I had a super cool idea, but Halloween fell on a Sunday and it would've been weird to wear to church. And I didn't have any plans for after church (beyond eating something vaguely healthy and taking a nap), so wearing it around the house by myself would've been a waste. So I'll have to save it for next year... or another time when I get the urge to dress up fabulously.

lolita dreaming sweet

I went to a Halloween-Reformation Day party at my friends' place , so I had to dress up!  Of course!!  And continuing with cute-boot week, I wore my fuzzy pink boots again.  They nearly matched the ones the bunnies on the dress were wearing!  Too perfect.

This is the second time I've worn this dress since buying it in San Francisco in August. Seeing a real Baby The Stars Shine Bright store was so amazing and dreamy~ I wanted to wear everything! I actually would've been sensible and gone home empty handed, but my family convinced me I really really wanted a dress, so I ended up getting a lucky pack with this outfit inside (the dress, under-dress and bonnet). Now I find myself wanting more opportunities to wear it, and dreaming of expanding my collection beyond just this one dress. Ahh, someday...!

shoes that sparkle

These shoes!! The shoes!!!!  They are amazing, fabulous, glittery sparkly magical high-top shoes. I found them at AJ Wright in the clearance section (never been in that store before, probably never will again...) and my first reaction was something like shock, disbelief, and a twinge of horror at the ridiculous shoes before me. But seconds later I'd fallen in love with the sparkle and bling and couldn't put them down. I think it was fate. (even though they're a size too big. but they lace up tight so it's okay!) Sooooooo awesome shoes!!!! I don't think this drawing does them justice.  But they are fantastic.

By the way! I added some more posts for past months—it may or may not be obvious, but I started this blog about a week and a half ago, and I've been filling in past daily fashions as I get them coloured.  I've been keeping a fashion journal sketchbook since mid-May, but most of the drawings were not originally coloured until recently.  So it's a work in progress.  Anyway, these posts are new:
4 july
12 july
21 august
22 august
12 september
13 september

cuddly cat

This is our Finny cat.  He had fleas, but we're getting rid of them.  That means we can let him inside now and then!!  And he can be all adorable and cuddly and floppy!  Hooray for cats :D

I think I need to buy some new skirts.  I haven't bought a new skirt since sometime this spring!! And I don't have quite enough wintery ones.  Plaid skirts are great in winter.

more winds

It's been very windy the last couple days—yesterday we had a few tornado sirens go off! Fall is a very windy season.

This poor jacket has been in my closet for years, ever since my first visit to Plato's Closet, and this can only be the first or second time I've worn it. I was so overwhelmed and in awe of all the STUFF they had there for so CHEAP, I picked up a couple of rather ridiculous things. Sometimes I know just what to do with a ridiculous piece of clothing,  but sometimes I end up with a floral corduroy jacket and I'm stumped. Today, though, I looked in my closet and that jacket just seemed so sad and unloved that I had to give it a try. Jacket, I do like you even though you are so strange.

The boots, on the other hand, have gotten plenty of wear in the years I've owned them. They were picked up on an impulse during a late-night Meijer run with dorm-mates (who of course only encouraged the purchase), and I've never regretted it. I love them, I love them, I love them! I only wish I had a pair of these boots in every colour of the rainbow!!

(also, because it might be confusing—that's half an apple in my hand, and a purse with a flower-topped pen on my shoulder. I was eating the other half of the apple while I drew this.)

winds and lace

What even is this pose? And it took me forever to draw. Ugh. Whatever. Lace lace lace!! I just got this pink lace top and was so excited, I had to wear it right away!

Now, I have to make a statement. I don't wish to offend anyone, but there is a form of footwear that I detest, and that is the ugg boot. I can only assume "ugg" is a pet name for "ugly," and I cannot fathom why anyone with a mind for fashion would want to wear something that is specifically made to be ugly. It was brought to my attention through facebook that this is apparently "ugg boot week"(?), and then at the mall today I saw an awful ad for the offending boots. So I've declared war and will be wearing cute boots this week (or however long). I like boots with shape and style. Fluff is nice and bright colours are even better! It's impossible to replicate the exact colour of these boots with computer colours, but I want you all to know they are blindingly turquoise.

nonsense girl

I tried out something new with my hair today—pigtails!!  They're so fun and bouncy.  I think I'll wear them again.  Kind of a mix and match, nonsensical outfit today.  I felt so happy with myself that I got motivated and pulled out some more of the jungly-mess that once might have been a garden.  Later I baked a butternut squash and made corn muffins.  Mmm, warm comfort foods♥

friend fashion!

This time you get two outfits!!  My friend told me I'd inspired her to wear more bright colours.  That made me super happy :D  The world can always use more colour!!  Hopefully I got the details mostly right—I took a couple notes on her outfit and otherwise just stored the colours in my brain.  She made the skirt and the armwarmers herself!!

puff puff

It is cold in our house.  This is because I am cheap and don't want to pay for heat.  But it's also because our house is abnormally cold—the last few days have been quite pleasant outdoors (with a couple layers on), but inside I have to huddle under blankets and wear a scarf to stay warm.  I'm giving serious consideration to a space heater.

all out!

Blogspot, why you gotta put a 200-character limit on my tags?? I had to leave out labels for my barrettes, rings, the floofy underskirt... ah, I didn't even get my earrings in there!

I also forgot to colour my newly painted nails, darn it. Maybe I'll post an updated version later. They're mostly orange, but two nails are purple and one is silver.

It makes me super extra happy to get all dressed up and fancy, even if there's no reason for it. I did laundry and went to a music "coffee house" event at my church in this outfit.

tom kitteny

Once upon a time when I was small, my mum made me earrings from a couple of buttons with tiny reproductions of Beatrix Potter's illustrations. I've got a Peter Rabbit pair and a Tom Kitten pair.  They make me happy :D  I was in a puppy/kitten-ish mood (whatever that might be) so I took inspiration from Tom's brown stripes and blue shirt.

autumn lilac

V-neck sweaters just seem like they were made for wearing over collared shirts. Maybe they actually were?

I just love tights.  Patterns and bright colours and lovely lacy designs... (...though I suppose I love those same qualities in shirts, skirts, and just about everything else!)

fashion improv

An emergency!  I had to stay an extra day at the place I was cat-sitting, and I hadn't packed an extra outfit!  Could I use the resources available to me (the past four days' outfits) to come up with something fresh and wonderful??

I was happy with the results.  And there were all kinds of other combinations I could've gone with too!  So many options.  Clothes are fun!

layering colours

This is an updated version of a colour-combination I like—here is the original (from January 2009).  It works better with a non-button-up shirt for the bottom layer.

cat crazy

Two and a half(?) days into cat-sitting—their hiding and glaring at me and general anti-social behaviour started to get to me.  It can put one on edge, spending hours in an empty house and your only company is cats who might possibly hate you.

(Don't) notice how the dot pattern gets slightly more sparse on the bottom half of my shirt.  Guess which part I did first!  Whoops.  The real shirt's pattern is probably twice as dense, but I was working quickly so I'd have an update to share with you, my kind viewers♥

c'mere cats

I cat-sat this weekend.  Don't worry, I didn't actually attempt holding two large furry beasts at once—I was trying to get them to like me, after all.  One accepted my love now and then, but the other spent almost the entire weekend camped out in the pool table.  By the last day he allowed me to pet him and even purred rather pleasantly (from inside the pool table).  But then I left, and he had to get used to a new cat-sitter (my brother) all over again.

friday frock

early christmas

pom poms!

kitty acquired

lazy lacy day

renfairing

artprize and gelato

wedding flower assistant

knit pumpkin

stripes and snowflakes

complementary-ish

triple skirt challenge

fuzzy butterfly

sayonara blue

delicious rhubarb sauce