Lolita Obsessions: Sailor Lolita

I mentioned Sailor Lolita back here. If you recall, it's not an extremely popular style. But Metamorphose Temps de Fille is bringing it back with their new summer(?) line. Why is it their summer line? I have no idea, since it's going to be done by April and that's hardly summer. No matter when this is coming out, it's adorable! Sailor style is terribly cute! Unfortunately, I hardly ever see it done. So maybe with this new line from Meta, there will be an influx of sailor Lolitas in the community.

This new collection contains one jumper skirt, two skirts, a blouse, a one piece, and three head pieces, two of which are hats! I love the jumper skirt because it's a unique kind of flexible piece. It's got this removable collar. So you can put the collar on and get away without wearing a blouse (like the model is), or you can take the collar off and you have a fairly blank slate to work with as far as the top half of your outfit goes. I'm not a fan of this one piece, I think it kind of looks too much like a Japanese school uniform. The rest of the pieces are great, and I can't wait to see the pieces in the other colors.

Here's the coordinate that I made. I used the three-tiered skirt from the set, along with a lot of off-brand stuff. I was going for a little bit of a decora thing. Now I know that this isn't true decora style, but it's got a couple of elements from it, like the layered socks and the jewelry.

Sailor Girl by Cat91151 on Polyvore.com

It's pretty casual, but you could switch the top out with any top in the general color scheme you're going for and it would work! I know right now Forever 21 has a ton of striped pieces, at least the one near me does. This skirt is a very flexible piece that would fit into almost any wardrobe.

The ordering period begins on March 10th at 17:00 in the Japanese time zone... so that's 14 hours ahead of the eastern standard time. Meaning if you live on the east coast and want to order, you'll need to do so at 3AM on March 10th. I'm sure they won't sell out that fast though, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting up to order.

Next Tuesday begins Alice month! You can send in your Alice themed coordinates to me at cat91151@gmail.com any time before Tuesday at noon and I'll put them on coordinate Tuesday! I hope to be able to put lots of reader coordinates up here next Tuesday! Let me know if you have any questions by checking out my Formspring account, and feel free to comment here!

My Not-so-Lucky Lucky Pack

This was my very first experience with buying a lucky pack. I got this one as a part of Baby the Stars Shine Bright's Valentine's Day event. As I’ve mentioned before, BABY is my absolute favorite Lolita brand, and so I really didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get a good deal on some clothes. This event was unlike previous lucky pack sales in that they had to be bought in person at the Baby the Stars Shine Bright shop in San Francisco. Having lucky pack sales that have to be bought in the store isn’t uncommon; it was simply unexpected for me. I never thought I'd have to hire a shopping service for a store in my own country. Nevertheless, I hired my first shopping service and began the wait.

Now what exactly is a Lucky Pack? Basically it's a pack of items coordinated to go together. Many brands sell them around New Years to clear out old stock, but sometimes they're sold in the summer. Many brands offer different types of lucky packs for different prices. There’s usually a “deluxe” pack that can have one-pieces, blouses, jumper skirts, accessories, headpieces, bags, and even jewelry inside.These are the most expensive packs and sometimes contain an original print. Also, the shop may let you choose a color or style. For example, you can indicate that you wear black or pink or blue most often, and they’ll give you that color of pack. Of course, you don’t know what's inside, so there’s still a surprise there.

Then they’ll have a “medium” pack or a casual pack. That’s what I got. It’s usually priced pretty well (for generally expensive Lolita clothing.

For example, in my pack, I got a jumper skirt, a blouse, a head bow, a pair of socks, a cell-phone strap/keychain, and a gym bag (why I would need a gym bag for Lolita, I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll use it for travel).It contains a complete outfit, but it’s not going to be as complete as the deluxe pack/it will lack something that the more expensive pack has.

The third pack that is usually sold is an accessory pack. This is the cheapest pack offered. It’ll have a headpiece, some socks, maybe some wrist cuffs, jewelry, a wallet; it just depends on what the brand offers. These are great deals if you’re in need of accessories, want to get a lot of little things for not a high price, or even to get the pack, split it up and give them as gifts. This pack also will usually come in different colors or styles. Sometimes they’ll let you choose, sometimes they won’t. It varies from sale to sale.

Different sales will have different packs available. I’ve also seen packs with skirts and blouses, shoe packs, jewelry packs, and all sorts of other ones. If the brand offers it for normal sale, chances are, they will eventually offer it in a lucky pack. The only exception I can think of for this is for parasols. I’ve never seen a pack offering parasols. But if they did, I’d be all over getting one of those.

Anyhow, now you know more about lucky packs. Now for my lucky pack. I got that medium size pack, the one with the jumper skirt and blouse and accessories. It’s a complete outfit and it’s very well made.There are all sorts of little details on the different pieces, like the crown embroidery on the detachable bow, the BABY logo embroidery on the blouse, and the different types of lace used on the blouse. The jumper has shirring on it, but no corset lacing, which I found odd. The other problematic thing about the dress is that the straps are uncommonly short. This makes the dress sort of not make sense to me. In the photos provided by BABY on their San Francisco blog it looked like it would fit one way. However in real life, the dress does not fit this way at all, which is very disappointing. The pack came in three different color options: pink, brown, and black.

I was hoping for black, and I got brown. A friend of mine ordered two packs, and so she was hoping for a black so that we could trade, but she got two browns! So between the two of us, we ended up with three of the exact same pack. I ended up buying a black one on the sales community and selling my brown pack to my sister.

I wish I could have included pictures of my black lucky pack for you. However, I haven't been able to get all the wrinkles out of it. It has a bustle in the back, which makes ironing it tricky. I don't have a steam iron either. So when I am able to get all those pesky wrinkles out, I'll take some pictures and update this post. Is that alright? I'll be updating again on Saturday, so look forward to it!

Double Feature Coordinate Tuesday - Ariel and Tiana

These two princesses have infuriated me to no end. The dress that Disney has put on Ariel is pink and in my opinion, ugly. I love Tiana’s signature dress, but at the same time, green is not a wildly popular color to use in Lolita fashion. Nevertheless, I managed to get two coordinates that I am okay with putting up here.

Ariel

I made Ariel first. As I said before, I don’t like any of the dresses that she appears in on screen or in her merchandise. So I took a completely different approach.

Under the Sea! by Cat91151 featuring summer bags

I used the lavender color of her shell bikini top and made that the color of the body of the outfit. I then took the green from her tail, changed it to mint, and made that the secondary color. I used these same earrings from the Jasmine coordinate in the silvery-white color because they remind me of underwater flowers. I also stuck the lavender ones on there as an option. I tried to put as many shell-themed items in as I could. The pearly color of the bag reminds me of the mother-of-pearl shells that you can find on the beach. I actually used over-the-knee socks in this coordinate, something that I don’t normally do. I think it makes the coordinate have a more youthful appearance, and I’ve always thought of Ariel as the most childish of the princesses.

Tiana

Tiana was tricky as well. With Hello Lace’s wardrobe shots being down still, I have to use my backup site, lolibrary. I’m not as used to this site, and I find it more difficult to search. I wanted to make a green-based coordinate, but the only popular green shade is mint. Her dress is definitely not mint colored, so I needed to find a fresher green dress. Mary Magdalene and Victorian Maiden have made many green pieces, but their greens are usually darker and more elegant.

Frog Princess by Cat91151 featuring flower hair accessories

I wanted to keep the light and fresh feeling of Tiana’s outfit, so I searched and searched and finally found this Angelic Pretty dress. It’s not perfect, but it is the right shade of green and it's not locked into one style (it's not definitively classic or sweet or country). I really wanted to use more frog items in this coordinate, but everything I found was not working with the dress. So I just used the frog earrings. The cream color comes from the bottom part of her dress, where it's more yellow-ey. I decided to use that as the secondary color, since it fits very well into Lolita fashion. The flower hairpiece comes from the side of her dress, where the flower and vines are decorating the waist part. The bag was a last minute addition, and I couldn't find one that I liked more than this. The shoes! I could not decide between these two pairs. The ones on the left are from Bodyline and clearly made to go with Lolita fashion. The pair on the right are more suited to everyday wear. They have the cream color flower there, and they're cute and summery green flats. You decide which you like better!

Alice

Oops! I didn't make an Alice! Oh well, I guess I'll just give Alice her very own monthly theme! I know it's quite early, but March's theme will be Alice in Wonderland! It's just too much content to put into one coordinate, since Alice seems to be the unofficial mascot of Lolita fashion. Look forward to lots of Alice themed content, and perhaps a giveaway! If you want to make an Alice coordinate for next week, based off of any character (lots of options for boystyle!), email them to me! My email is cat91151@gmail.com! If you have any suggestions or questions, let me know on my Formspring, and if you'd like to leave me a comment, you can do so below!

New Print from Alice and the Pirates!

I'm not the best at keeping up with what's new on the market. I'm getting better though! I saw this posted on the EGL livejournal, and felt that I needed to post it here. A brand new print from Alice in the Pirates, which if you remember, is a brand run by the same people as Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

Alice and the Pirates seems to make prints that everyone loves, no matter what style you tend to wear. This new one is no exception. It's called "Scent of Rapunzel" and it's just beautiful. It also fits in with my theme here! The print has scenes from the story in little frames, surrounded by roses and birds. It comes in four colorways (color combinations), off-white with lavender, red, navy, and black with pink. I personally adore the off-white and lavender! Usually I'd go for the black, but I'm not a fan of the pink. It comes in two different versions of jumper skirts, a one piece that sort of looks like a dress with a matching bolero over it (I don't think it's removable), socks, a bonnet, a bow, and some jewelry. I was hoping for a bag, but no such luck. The second jumper skirt version is pretty unique with the lacing up the sides. I don't think I've seen that on a dress before.

I may be ordering this in either the off-white or the navy. While I like the red, I don't think it'll look great on me. I'd also like to order some other things from Alice and the Pirates, but I certainly don't have the funds. In other news, I may be actually visiting the Baby the Stars Shine Bright/Alice and the Pirates shop in San Francisco! If I do get to go, then I'll also be going to Angelic Pretty, Harajuku Hearts, and Black Peace Now. If you know any other shops in the area that are worth visiting, please let me know in the comments section! If you have any suggestions for articles you'd like to see here, please let me know either via my formspring or in the comments here! I'm trying to get a regular posting schedule for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday going, but sometimes I can't think of what to write about. All of your suggestions will be taken under consideration!

Ball-Joint Dolls: A Lolita's Best Friend?

Dolls and Lolita go very well together. In part because the Lolita aesthetic can be described as “doll-like.” I consider myself a doll collector before a Lolita, and as a result, my dolls get preferential treatment over my personal wardrobe.

I’ve been collecting for about two years now, and I have seven dolls in my collection currently. “Ball-joint” refers to the actual jointing of the doll. Each part has a “ball” and a socket for that ball to go in. The pieces fit together like a puzzle, and the doll is held together with cord elastic that is strung throughout the doll.The result is a highly pose-able and customizable doll. The entire thing comes apart and can be modified, customized, and put back together.

I have seven dolls, but I’m only going to truly talk about one here. That’s because she is the only one that has a proper Lolita wardrobe. I’ve had her for about a year now, and I have slowly

built her wardrobe from both new and second-hand pieces. Her name is Rose, and she was made a part of a line of dolls by Volks (the first company to make BJDs) based off of the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo.In other words, they are made to be little Lolitas.My Rose came with an absolutely gorgeous dress set made by a team made up of staff from both Volks and Baby the Stars Shine Bright. Volks has worked with BABY before my doll was made, and they have since worked with them. They’ve also made collaboration dolls with h.Naoto and Alice and the Pirates.A different type of doll, called Pullip, has worked with Angelic Pretty and recently, Innocent World to make lovely Lolita dolls. You can see the result of their collaboration with Innocent World here to the right.

Ball-joint dolls are known for being very expensive. And that is true, they are not the price of an average Barbie. Why is this? Well, it's because they cannot be mass-produced like other dolls. Each one has to be finished, painted, and put together by hand. You must have a skilled worker to do all of this. So when you order a doll, it is made by hand and will have imperfections. These imperfections are why many doll owners come to love their dolls. But just because they are made this way doesn't mean you have to break the bank to own one. There are many affordable dolls on the market, such as ones made by the company Bobobie. They make a lovely doll for an affordable price. My first doll was actually a Bobobie. Pullip is another affordable doll. They are not quite the same as a ball-jointed doll, but they are quite lovely and somewhat pose able.

Anyhow, this is my doll. As I said before, her name is Rose. I got her last year in March from collector. I am at least her third owner, there may have been more owners before. She was made in 2008 and sold in Kyoto at a doll event. She is very beautiful in my opinion, and very suited to wearing Lolita fashion. Her style tends toward a very classic aesthetic, and her favorite pieces are ones with roses on them (because that is her name). Ball joint doll owners tend to give their dolls back stories, personalities, preferences, original names, and even family members. Rose here has a younger sister named April. She also wears lolita from time to time, and likes the sweeter prints. Right now, she has a dress covered in cakes, though she has no shoes to wear with it. Rose was the seventh doll I'd ever purchased, and has been the most expensive one yet. Even though she has had many owners, she is in very good condition and thus has retained her value. Her clothes were made as a collaboration between Volks (the doll company) and Baby the Stars Shine Bright, as I said before. This resulted in an extremely well-made and detailed ensemble that fits her perfectly. At one point, I believe this dress was also sold for human sizes, but I haven't been able to find proof of that ever happening. A more recent collaboration resulted in this doll, named Lieselotte, and this dress for the human owner. They aren't exact matches, but you get the idea.

If you would like to see more of Rose, you can see the whole shoot I did with her here. My camera had died, so I took these pictures using my iPhone. Please excuse the questionable quality. If you would like to learn more about Ball-joint dolls in general, Den of Angels is a fabulous forum with all the information, photos, and answers you could want. And if there is something you can't find, you can ask on there and people will help you! If you'd like to ask me questions about Rose, my other dolls, where to get Lolita clothing for dolls, or really anything else, you can ask away on my formspring. Until next time!

Coordinate Tuesday: Glass Slippers

Cinderella is probably the most popular princess, with Belle and Ariel coming in close behind. When I was little, she was my favorite. I especially loved those little mice that help her out. One of my favorite scenes was when she’s scrubbing the floors and she’s singing and there are the bubbles with her reflections in them. That doesn’t have much to do with this coordinate though.

Cinderella by Cat91151 featuring peacock tights

The idea I went for behind this coordinate is a sweet-classic combo. Baby the Stars Shine Bright makes this phenomenal print that’s actually called Cinderella Jewelry. The lower left corner has a detail of this print in the cream colorway. Each panel has a different scene from the story! This dress is something that I very much would like to own in both this cream color and in black. The cream color I used for a few reasons. Firstly, because Cinderella’s signature dress is the light blue color found in this dress. Second, because it reminds me of antique blue willow china. I wanted to use the matching head bow for this to get a look of perfect continuity. I picked ivory tights with silver accents to pick up on the silvery grey color in the print, and also to transition into the “glass slippers.” Of course, if they were actually made from glass they would be impractical. So I chose some sparkly silver heels. This type of heel isn’t usually found in Lolita fashion, but for this coordinate, it really requires something especially fancy. Her glass slippers in the movie are heels similar to these. For the bag, I chose something appropriate for a party yet still feels vintage. Finally, the jewelry. The print has something that looks like pearls in it, so I decided on pearls. The pendant is Cinderella's pumpkin coach, from the collage at the beginning of the month.

I had a lot of fun making this coordinate. I've only got Tiana, Ariel, and Alice left. Yet only one more Tuesday. Hmm, what am I going to do? If you'd like to submit a coordinate and see it here, just email me a link to it! And if you have any questions for me, you can let me know by commenting here or asking on my Formspring.

Formula for Casual Lolita

Many people think that casual Lolita is easy to pull off. And indeed it is. Casual Lolita is a great way to work the Lolita aesthetic into your everyday wardrobe. It can be cheaper than a more formal outfit, and is a great way to experiment with different styles and really make the fashion fit in with your own tastes.

To make a casual outfit, you need just a few things. If you want to go with separates, then you need a skirt and a top. The great thing about casual Lolita is that tops are easy to find! You can go to your local mall and look for things there. Sanrio shirts, t-shirts with cute images or prints, and casual blouses are all very good things to look for. My personal favorite place to look for this type of top is Forever 21. If you’re going for more of a punk style, Hot Topic carries tops in all manner of motifs. Casual bottoms aren’t any different from other styles of Lolita. In fact, most skirts can be dressed down or dressed up depending on the top you wear and how you accessorize.

Jasmine by Cat91151 featuring lucite jewelry

This is Jasmine! I wanted her pet tiger to be represented in the coordinate, hence the tiger print shirt and the tiger print shoes. The earrings are jasmine flowers. I chose that mint/turquoise color to be reminiscent of Jasmine's outfit. I think that the lamp necklace speaks for itself.

Jumper skirts are a little trickier. Casual style using a jumper is quite popular in the summer because you don’t always need to wear a blouse. Shocking, I know. But it’s true. Jumper skirts look fantastic with a bolero or a cardigan over them, and without a blouse. This is especially nice for summer, because boleros are usually lighter than blouses, and are easily removed. Boleros are available usually in the fall from major retailers, but many brand and off-brand shops sell boleros specifically made to coordinate with Lolita outfits.

Belle by Cat91151 featuring tie shoes

This is my version of Belle. I used a cardigan instead of a bolero for a more "librarian" feel. I wanted to play up her book-loving side. Incidentally, Innocent World makes this gorgeous print, featuring books. I wanted a different book-themed bag, but this one matched the outfit so perfectly. The gold color of this dress also reminded me of her trademark ball gown.

Casual style is perfect for staying at home, doing everyday activities like grocery shopping or going to school, or going to a more casual themed meet-up. If you are going somewhere very formal like a nice restaurant, a ballet, or a symphony, then you might want to avoid casual style. If you still want to go casual, then go with a jumper skirt version of casual. It tends to look more formal and conservative compared to the separates version.

I've now covered Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine, and Belle. I'm looking forward to making my next princess coordinate for next Tuesday. I wonder which princess it will be?

Coordinate Tuesday: Once Upon a Dream

I know it's Wednesday. This was written up yesterday, and I could not seem to get it posted. It won't be a regular occurrence.

Today’s coordinate is loosely based off of Sleeping Beauty. This was not one of my favorite movies as a child, and as a result, all I really remember about Aurora is the last scene where she is dancing with the prince. The fairies keep changing her dress from pink to blue and back. This is honestly all I remember of the movie.

I went back and watched this scene again, and I was astounded by the realism of the movement of her gown. It swishes around the dance floor so gracefully, and so I went for this type of movement in the dress I chose.

Aurora by Cat91151 featuring nylon stockings

This dress is from Innocent World. It’s a light and summery type of dress. I had a hard time deciding what to put with this dress because of its light appearance. I finally settled on a cutsew, but I would have liked to see a lace shawl or something lighter. This coordinate is loosely made as a hime style coordinate, although I don’t know much about it. I wanted to keep it very simple. The shoes are to balance out the top with the bottom and weigh the outfit down. The bag is a pochette from Innocent World. I wanted something small and fairly plain. This one actually doubles as a hand warmer. For the headpiece, I looked for a tiara that was vaguely the same shape as the one that Aurora wears. However, this is apparently not a popular shape in tiara making, and so I decided on this “hair corsage” as I call them. The butterfly ring is the perfect shade of blue to match the dress, and it harkens back to the scene in the forest.

What do you think? Any suggestions on the next princess? Submit your princess-themed coordinates and see them here next week! You can email them to me, my email is cat91151@gmail.com or you can post a link in the comments section. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments or on my formspring.

Con Report: Ohayocon

Last weekend I went to Ohayocon in Columbus, OH. This was my first time going to this convention and Columbus in general. I got up super early on Friday and put on my favorite Metamorphose skirt and a cutsew. It’s tough to pack a petticoat into a suitcase unless you either have one of those Space Bags that you suck all the air out of, or you take a bigger suitcase. There was absolutely no room for a bigger suitcase and I don’t have a Space Bag, so I put my whole outfit, petticoat, bloomers and all, and drove 2.5 hours. And on the way back, I did the same thing in my Baby the Stars Shine Bright jumper skirt. It’s not too tough, just something to get used to. I wore flat shoes for this exact reason. Which turned out to be good because there weren’t a ton of non-floor places to sit down in the convention.

So on Friday, after a lot of difficulties, we got our hotel room and got to the con. I only had one panel on Friday and it was an absolute disaster. It was Japanese Crafts for Kids. If you were there and now you’re reading this, I’m truly sorry. We severely underestimated the number of people that we would get, and we had an issue with our crayons being in the hotel room. Long story short, we ran out of materials pretty quickly. Overall, Friday was not a busy day for lolitas at the con, as I didn’t actually see any. I did, however, discover that the dealers room had an h.Naoto booth! I didn’t buy anything there, but I was happy to see it.

Saturday was a bit better. We were hired by the Lolita Crush event to help out with the food service. It was a lot of work, but hopefully some people saw our fliers and will come to our convention. We all did one dance together, and then three of our members learned a few others to perform. Anyhow, I saw some super cute lolitas there (you’d hope I would at an event called Lolita Crush). The rest of the day was all promotional stuff, maid café panel and lots of booth work. I must have cut out a thousand quarter-sheet fliers and passed out at least 300. All in all, we passed out 2500 fliers!

Sunday was also pretty quiet. We were out of fliers, so we closed up our industry booth early. I got some jewelry in Artist’s Ally, because the kitty looks just like Vanilla-chan from Angelic Pretty, which I am in the process of getting. We played some Disney music for the attendees from our table, which was a whole lot of fun. I got to wear my BTSSB dress, and my feet didn't hurt too badly.

I did two panels on Lolita fashion, Lolita or Not and The Elegant Wardrobe! Lolita or Not was my friend Jen's panel to run, and of course, The Elegant Wardrobe was mine. It was pretty late in the day when my panel was scheduled, an as a result, I didn't get the size of audience that I was hoping for. Still, it was my first time doing that specific presentation. I'll be doing that panel again at Tekkoshocon, so if you wanted to see it and couldn't make it, you still have plenty of chances!

I saw a whole lot of cosplayers over the weekend, some of which were very impressive. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but the ones I did take are scattered throughout this post.

If you were also at Ohayocon, I hope you had a lot of fun too! If you weren't and need your convention fix, check out Tekkoshocon!

Coordinate Tuesday is coming up again! If you want your coordinate featured here, please either email me at cat91151@gmail.com, or post a link to the picture in the comments section of this post. As always, you can let me know what you think either via commenting here, or on my formspring. Hope to see you all at Tekkoshocon!

Hosting a Meet-up at your House

I thought that this was worthy of it's own article, as it's a bigger undertaking than hosting a meet-up somewhere else. However, hosting a meet-up in your home allows for more freedom of activity and can be really fun! I'm planning one for later this spring, maybe as a spring garden party with an easter egg hunt or something.

If you've decided to host a meet-up in your home, then there are a few steps to take. The first of which is inviting people. I personally think that it's absolutely fine to send out private invitations for this type of meet-up. After all, you are inviting people into your home, and you might not want to have absolutely everyone in your area show up. For instance, I live in a very small apartment. If I were to have a meet-up there, I could really only accommodate for about 7 to 10 people at most. If I were to open the invitation to everyone, I could end up with 13 to 15 people, which will not fit into my house. So invitations are perfectly fine. If you are going to mail actual invitations, don't just print off a blank paper with the information. Decorate them around the theme, handwrite them on some stationary, or even hand-make the whole thing using scrapbooking supplies. If you don't want to go this route, send out e-vites! There are hundreds of templates here, as well as party planning ideas, recipes, and decoration suggestions all on this site. E-vites can be great, especially if you don't know the addresses of the people you've invited. Just make sure to have people RSVP if they are going to be able to come.

That's the easy part. Now comes the harder parts. You need to decide what kinds of food you will have available. If someone has a serious allergy, then they need to tell you before they get there (as with any meet-up involving any kind of food). As a rule of thumb, I try to have at least one vegetarian/vegan option for anything I host. You could have it be a pot-luck style meet-up where everyone brings something that they like. This can be easier if you're having a big party or you don't want to cook a whole lot. If it's a more casual type meet-up, like a movie night or something, then you can either make or buy typical snacks. *Tip! Water bottles are much easier than using cups if you're having something more casual. If you're having some sort of formal meal, then cups are much more elegant and preferable. If you're going to have a meal, then you are probably going to be cooking it yourself. Try to choose things that can be prepared ahead of time and either served cold or reheated. You don't want to be messing around with cooking in your lolita best. In addition to that, make sure that you have enough plates, cups, napkins, silverware, etc. so that you aren't scrambling at the last minute. If you need trays, then make sure they're washed/purchased and ready to go.

Finally, you have to clean your house. I know it's a pain, but if you are going to have people in your home, you want it to look its best. If you have an animal, it might be best to enclose it somewhere where it can't escape outside (if you'll have the door open for a garden party) or bother your guests (some may be allergic or afraid of certain animals). Run the vacuum, dust, do all your dishes, air out your house, mop, whatever you need to do to make things look great for your guests. Take a minute to get rid of old magazines and/or newspapers by recycling or throwing them out. Close off any doors that you don't want your guests going through and make sure you don't forget the bathroom! If you don't have a powder room, remember to put your personal effects away, like your toothbrush, make-up, and any medications. Empty all the trash cans. Put fresh towels out and maybe a candle. Fresh flowers are always a good idea, especially if you grow your own.

The very last things you should do are preparing the food to be served and decorating. At this point, everything should already be cooked, all you'll need to do is heat it up and put it on the plate(s). The goal here is not to make a big mess. Any dishes should be in the dishwasher or washed by hand, especially if you don't have a dishwasher. You don't want your guests to see a pile of dirty dishes in the sink! After the food is done and the mess is cleaned up, you can decorate! It's hard to clean around decorations, so make sure you're putting them in places you've already cleaned. Themes are great, but don't be afraid to customize or even make your own decorations. If you don't want to do anything major with decorating, flowers in vases scattered throughout the party space is always great. If you're having a movie night type of party, don't worry about decorating. After all, your guests will mostly be looking at the movie, not your house!

After your meet-up is over, make sure to clean up properly, especially if you live with parents, siblings, some other family member, or room mates. They will appreciate this greatly! I hope you throw some awesome meet-ups in your home using my little guide. A lot of these things are common sense, but you'd be surprised at how often some things can get forgotten. Let me know if you have any questions on my formspring, and please become a follower of my blog!

February Inspiration + Coordinate Tuesday

First of all, I wanted to apologize for not posting for a whole week. As you all know, I was at Ohayocon this past weekend working on four panels, one special event, and one AMAZING industry table. My Ohayocon con report will be up as soon as I can get my pictures together. I didn't have my camera, so getting them off of my phone is proving difficult.

So this month’s theme is completely different from January’s. While January was all about vintage and steam punk and generally a classic style, February is going to go in a completely opposite way.

I'm a Princess! by Cat91151 featuring tea jewelry

This set is all about bright and airy elegance. It's much sweeter than last month, for a few reasons. The first is that I’m so excited about seeing Disney Princesses on Ice this month that I decided to make the theme of the month be Disney Princesses too. I know that there are supposed to be ten princesses: Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Tiana, Rapunzel, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Jasmine. However, I don’t really consider Pocahontas and Mulan to really be princesses, and in Kingdom Hearts calls Alice a princess. So my list includes her, as she is the most important one to Lolita (which some people actually call “Alice Style”). Second, I've been drawn to the sweet style more recently, and so I thought it'd be nice to try and mix my more simple classic aesthetic with some sweet colors and pieces. Each item on this collage fits in with a different princess. Some are very obvious, like the Belle watch, carriage necklace, and the frog hair clips. Some aren't, like the flower earrings. The flower is actually a jasmine flower, for Jasmine. I’m really excited to be doing this theme, and I’ll be making coordinates based off of each princess! As always, feel free to email me your coordinates if you’d like to see them featured on here.

The very first coordinate for this month is all about Snow White. I got lucky in that Baby the Stars Shine Bright made a really cute print featuring Snow White back in 2004. It's such a cute print!

The print is very detailed and lovely. My favorite is this cream/white colorway, because the colors are so vibrant and it looks most like the movie version of the story. The little bunnies scattered throughout the forest are so adorable!

Snow White by Cat91151 featuring a shoulder sling bag

And this is the coordinate! The bag is really what made me want to start with Snow White. The existence of this print was a bonus! I used a bolero instead of a blouse to sort of act like her cape. Obviously it's not a cape, but it gives a pop of red to the top of the outfit. All of the apple jewelry isn't too sweet, so that the coordinate doesn't get bogged down by red and apples. The shoes are a pair from Bodyline, and one of my personal favorites. Finally, the mirror necklace is a working mirror, which I think is pretty neat. It's simple and in my opinion, reminiscent of Snow White.

I hope you're as excited about February as I am! Also, look forward to the Ohayocon report, hopefully tomorrow or Thursday. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or requests for me by commenting here or letting me know on my Formspring!