Smoke & Shadows

Happy Halloween! In honor of the spooky holiday my dear friends Ale Vidal, Stephanie Neiheisel and I decided to create a shoot around the idea of smoke and shadows featuring this to DIE for dress by Fame & Partners.

The most glamorous ghoul of them all is a vampire. They are always depicted as wealthy - living in castles, wearing intricate jewelry and sporting bad ass black hair. With the golden details of this unique top over a slim, satin black dress - Stephanie portrayed a vampire living among the smoke and shadows of darkness.

Rarely as a stylist and art director do I get to be theatrical with my concepts. Instead it's always creating to sell something or someone. In some ways what I do with commercial styling can be see more as smoke and mirrors over something like this. Obviously, thought and planning went into the concept, outfit and makeup for this shoot. Sometimes with "lifestyle" shoots they can appear "effortless," but in reality they are just the same amount of effort - sometimes it's even MORE planning. Doing that as a profession day in and day out can take a tole on your perception of reality causing high expectations of myself and for others.

The world of content creation and Pinterest is a world of smoke and mirrors. Though a lot of the imagery can be achieved on your own much of it can't. My advice is to always remember that a lot of the content is purely inspirational and creates a dream world like television. Take it with a grain of salt. Don't let it kill you! (mwahahahahaaa). But seriously...don't let it suck the life out of you like a vampire.

Photography by Ale Vidal Styling and concept by A.V.E. Styles Makeup, hair and modeling by Stephanie Neiheisel Dress from Fame & Partners

Boho Chic with Faux Fur

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I've been on the hunt for a fabulous faux fur vest for years, and I've finally found one. This gray "Kya fur vest" from Tart Collections was just what I was looking for. It looks and feels expensive, and it's affordable. Cha-ching! The color creates enough contrast against my hair ensuring I don't look like a lion when I wear it. I love that this vest stops past the natural waist but doesn't cover my bottom; thus elongating my body and not letting me lose my shape completely.

Of course, this vest looks great with a simple long-sleeve top like this one above from Adea and jeans, but why not embrace the 70's bohemian chic fall trend and punch up the style with a maxi dress, maxi skirt or long gaucho pants? Top your outfit off with a great carpet bag like this one from Anthropologie.

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If that's too wild for you, try wearing your faux fur vest with a long-sleeve shift dress such as this one from ZARA. The slight pattern on the dress resembles a paisley pattern you would have seen in the 70's, but the modern color palette and pairing with black booties keeps the outfit current.

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What do you think of this boho chic fall trend? Do you dig it? Will you be buying a faux fur vest?

Photos by Michelle Herrick

*The post was sponsored by Tart Collections and Adea Everyday Luxury.*

How to Look Web-Cam Ready

In one week I'll be presenting about Pinterest strategies for hundreds of stylish bloggers and business owners for Alt on Topic. I couldn't be more excited to share my Pinterest knowledge, but I'm so nervous about giving a talk online. I've never done it before, and I am just praying I don't have any technical difficulties. One thing that has crossed my mind is what I should wear and how I should dress for my talk. Let's be honest, web cameras make everyone look terrible. Whenever I see my face using Skype and Facetime I just try to look away because I feel like the wide angle distorts my face a bit. After thinking about what to wear and how to impress for my presentation, I decided I needed some help in the makeup department. I asked my dear friend, Stephanie Neieheisel, to show me how to create a face that is web-cam ready, and we thought this would be great advice for all of you too! You can check out the video below, and don't forget to subscribe to her YouTube channel for more makeup tips!

Of course, makeup isn't the only thing that can help you make a great impression. Check out my latest eBay guide sharing accessory tips to help you look great for an online date. And, if you're interested in attending this one day webinar head on over to Instagram to win a ticket to Alt on Topic.

DIY Credenza & Chalk Art

For three years I've known I wanted to build a "fauxdenza" in our kitchen. When I saw the DIY originally on The Brick House, I knew it was the perfect solution for our insanely long wall in the kitchen. We have a 1950's ranch home that lacks storage, and this credenza would not only serve as a decorative bar, but as a place to store placemats, napkins, vases and other nicknacks that you collect over the years.

We started with Ikea kitchen cabinets. We bought four of them to span 10 feet. We chose the matte white doors (your cheapest option) and followed the shopping list on The Brick House's blog (below). We followed the installation instructions and asked my father-in-law to help Ryan since the cabinets are pretty heavy and the process is time consuming.

FAUXDENZA (from The Brick House)

Dimensions: 10′ long x 13-1/2″ deep x 33″ tall

Materials from Ikea:

8  -  Applad Doors (15 x 18″) 4  -  Akurum Wall Cabinets (30 x 18″) 8  -  Integral Hinge (2 pack) 2  -  Akurum Suspension Rail

The wood we chose to float on the top and sides of the cabinets is poplar from The Home Depot. The top is one continuous piece of wood that was cut to size by the lovely people at Home Depot. It was stained with Minwax's golden oak and sealed with Minwax's clear satin finish (also found at The Home Depot).

We had our friend Mason install the wood because he is a professional handyman, and we had one shot at fitting the wood.

Such a long piece of furniture calls for a large piece of art work. We decided chalk art would complement the rustic quality of the wood. Chasing Paper makes a stickable chalk paper that was easily to apply. You can see the process in the photos below.

We simply measured the area, cut the paper and stuck it to the wall.

For the chalk art I asked my friend Katie Sterbenz to create a custom drawing of the verse in Acts that says, "They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." I thought it was the perfect message for the kitchen because that's what Ryan and I really want our home to be all about - a place to enjoy community and celebrate the great things God has done.

Katie used a transparency and overhead projector to help her. She used several different sized chalk pens to draw everything. You can purchase this print (in a smaller size) for your home and others when you visit her Etsy shop.

You can see how incomplete everything was without the wood on the shelves and the wood around the art. We had Mason create a frame for Katie's piece with the same poplar wood. We stained it with the golden oak color to match the credenza.

My Go-To Outfit

*This article is in partnership with Ebay and Alixandra Collections*

This outfit is my go-to standard - blazer, t-shirt, jeans and a necklace. You can't go wrong with this combination. No woman can! You can express your personality with pattern, color, accessories and adjust the silhouette of the jacket to accommodate your shape. The pattern that I added into the mix is stripes.

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I don't think I'll ever get sick of stripes. It's the one print that I have a lot of in my closet, and I love how it breaks up the monotony of wearing solid colors. The stripes on this Lulu*s blazer (currently sold out) are especially great because they aren't too bold. The soft gray and white color mute the pattern keeping this jacket appropriate for a casual Friday at the office. (If you could use more tips on how to wear stripes well, check out this article I wrote for Ebay).

Boyfriend blazers work well for me because I'm very tall and lanky. I have long legs, and the length of this jacket gives the appearance of a longer torso. The shoulder pads also give me a wider frame, which helps me avoid looking like a string bean all of the time. If you wanted to disguise your hips this would also be a great shape to wear.

If there weren't enough reasons already for me to love this jacket, it's machine washable! Because it's cotton and unstructured, I don't have to worry about dry cleaning it. Wahoo!

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I've mentioned before that I'm not much of an accessory person. I'll maybe wear one piece a jewelry a day, but sometimes I don't wear anything at all. This Gauge bubble letter necklace is a new favorite of mine that I haven't taken off since I got it from Alixandra Collections. I chose an 'E' for my last name and for Elle. It would be the perfect gift for a friend!

Photography by Michelle Herrick