We're not in Kansas anymore (Dorothy's dress)

Whenever you think about "The Wizard of Oz" many key elements might come to your mind... Emerald City, the yellow brick road, "I'm melting, I'm melting!", the red slippers, flying monkeys, and of course Dorothy's iconic blue gingham pinafore dress.

Here's a short story: when I was a little girl my mother made me a Dorothy costume to dress up like her for Halloween, and she made my brother a Tin Man costume to match. I adored that dress, but eventually outgrew it. Many, many years later, as my interest for sewing was developing, the first big sewing project that I planned for myself was replicating Dorothy's dress for myself. I remember going to a fabric store and buying 2 or 3 meters of blue gingham/vichy. That was the first time I ever bought fabric for me to sew.

Back then I was on vacations, so I went a few days a week to my grandmother's house, who was teaching me how to trace, edit and cut patterns, as well as helping me out to make my dress possible. Sadly I have no pictures of the process, which took a lot of patience, work and my grandmother sewing the zipper because I was no good at it. However, I have the beautiful outcome to remember those wonderful moments.

                 

This is not a replica of Dorothy's dress. I designed it to look more modern, but keeping the essence of her original dress. Here I am pairing it with blue bracelets, blue-and-white earrings, a heart-shaped cookie cutter necklace (from the book The Queen of Hearts), and yellow and khaki wedge sandals (by Naturale'z).

 Get ready for more fashion posts! 

Restoring a pair of heels - an unnecessary oddisey

A long time ago I bought some really unexpensive purple heels from a shoe store. I really loved the velvety fringe on the back of the shoes, and I most certainly needed a pair of purple heels.

A couple of months went by without me wearing the shoes. One day, as I took them out of the box, I realized they were peeling and had some stains on them  -and they were still brand new!    I was horrified about this and failed to plan what to do with them. I thought about covering them with purple fabric, but it didn't seem as such a good idea. Meanwhile, the pair rested on its box waiting for me to find a solution.

Some time later I came across a small business that sold glitter heels and sandals. That gave me the idea of covering the peeled parts of my shoes with purple glitter, saving them in a brilliant -pun intended- way. In the meantime, I peeled everything off and gave them a skimpy coat of purple paint.

My search for packs of purple glitter began, only to find out that apparently every craft shop, stationary store and other school supply businesses in town had ran out of purple glitter. Perfect. Just perfect. I kept looking for purple glitter occasionally, failing to succeed in my quest. I eventually found one or two places that had purple glitter, but frankly it was a hideous shade of color.

About one month ago I finally found the cherished packs of purple glitter. I went ahead and bought four of them just to make sure I would have enough to cover the whole pair. When I got home I decided to give a paint job to the heels first. I proceeded to prepare a mix using one part of shiny magenta fabric paint, one part of metallic blue acrylic paint, and a bit of black fabric paint.

I could not believe the amazing purple color that now rested on the cup after blending in all the colors. It was so dreamy, reminiscent of galaxy shades of purple. I started painting the shoes with a small brush and immediately fell in love with how they looked. I was even feeling the need of not coating them with glitter after they had dried. So I finished painting them and left them to dry for a whole day.

The heels looked so fabulous that I finally decided to skip the glitter. I gave them two coats of hairspray and left them outside to dry. That day, it rained. I got really sad because I thought all my work was probably damaged, only to discover that the shoes had survived epically and the paint remained as good as ever.

So if you have a pair of peeling or worn-off pleather shoes, I would definitely recommend taking off all the damaged material and finding a nice paint blend to restore them. You can also DIY them with glitter, but make sure to paint them with a base coat before covering them completely in sparkles.

 More posts will be coming up next week! 

Crazy about stripes

There are few times when I can resist striped clothing items. I have a clear weakness for them, and you will see that recurringly in my wardrobe. Since some time ago I've thought that I must have been a zebra in my past life, because I'm crazy about stripes.

This is a white and violet striped tee that I purchased at a very small shop near my home. I remember I'd been eyeing it for a couple of weeks, until one day it was gone from the display window. About a month later I was running some errands nearby and remembered about the shirt. I decided to pass by the shop and try my luck with the tee. Bingo!  They still had it; so I quickly tried it on and fell more in love with it. I obviously got it on the spot!

In the pictures I am pairing the tee (it is brandless -only says "made in Peru"-) with a black gathered skirt made by yours truly, black sunglasses, a heart-shaped necklace and black sandal wedges (by Vic Matie). The skirt is made of black stretch gabardine. Later on I will post a tutorial on how to make one like this.

 Stay tuned for more fashion posts! 

Tiki Oasis 2016 will bring a party to Monster Island

The 16th anniversary of Tiki Oasis is right around the corner, so put on your best Hawaiian outfit, sip on an ice-cold Mai Tai and relax to the beat of Polynesian Pop!

Did you know Tiki Oasis was originally conceived as a fundraiser to help out on the refurbishment of Palm Springs "Caliente Tropics Motel"? The main idea was to conduct an extreme makeover on the already Hawaiian-themed hotel in order to attract hundreds of Tiki lovers as a great vacation site.

Year by year, Tiki Oasis has been adding more features, booths, acts and performances, accommodating more guests and growing in popularity. For each event, Tiki Oasis features guest bartenders, artists, musicians, DJ's and other personalities to entertain the audience, who also have the chance to enjoy wonderful meals and appetizers at tiki restaurants, or delight themselves with eye-catching cocktails straight from the bars of experienced mixologists.

Be prepared to receive all the 86 special guests that will be coming this year to Tiki Oasis 2016. The planned musical lineup includes King Kukulele, The Sonics, Sid Presley, Jimmy Psycho Experiment, The Wogglers, Jason Lee & Riptides, Howie Pyro and Cali Kid. The event will also introduce a roundup of over 20 burlesque shows, and 29 educators will bring exhibits and presentations, including Vaudeville Vixens, El Vez, Mike Skinner and Kelly Patterson. 

Other important shows at Tiki Oasis include car showcases, educational seminars and merchandise stalls who display their stands around the magically decorated hotel following a chosen party theme. Previous editions of Tiki Oasis have included Tiki Surf City, Hulabilly, Exotic Espionage & Polynesian Pulp, Hawaii-a-Go-Go, and many other well-thought ideas. This year's theme is "Party on Monster Island". 

Tiki Oasis has become the largest and longest-running festival worldwide to celebrate island and tropical lifestyles, and to gather tiki lovers from around the globe. Get ready to experience four days of Hawaiian splendor every day from Thursday, August 18 through Sunday, August 21 at San Diego, California.

Don't forget to get your tickets and book your reservations on the event's official webpage:

http://www.tikioasis.com/

Relaunching the blog: Goodbye to the old, welcome "Joy's Paradise Cove"!

After almost two years of blog barrenness and over a week of lots of hard work and redesign, I'm happy to announce that the blog is back on air! Going through refurbishments, concept changes, style modifications and guideline redefining has definitely produced a better, stronger and more structured blog.

This was the old layout... Maybe we'll meet again someday.

I'm so glad to have started my blogging experience with the original name, layout and concept; but it's time to say farewell and embark on this new challenge.

All that's left to say is... 

I officially welcome you to "Joy's Paradise Cove".

Feel free to follow my social media channels to keep yourself updated.