Bust Holiday Craftacular

I thought I was going to be one of the first 500 in line...I got to the event around ten, and the line was already wrapped around the block. I was hoping hoping hoping I could score one of the Craftactular gift bags, but I rolled out of bed a little to late. I knew I should have taken my scooter...and a bigger tote bag. Here are the goodie bags that I did not score: (
The Bust Holiday Craftacular was a big event of handmade product vendors with all sorts of cool gifts for the holidays. I love buying handmade gifts. I picked up a pair of earrings by Bonnie English for my Secret Santa game. Shhhh! Don't tell!

I'm so happy I got to see Keiko and Kim! They had a whole bunch of awesome items at their Postlapsaria booth.

Here are just few of my favorite vendors that I saw along the way:
Beacon Bookmarks has these great gifts from the Hudson Valley for your reader friend.
Resurface Design had these artsy lamps for sale. What a bright idea! Okay, I think I went too far with that pun, but seriously, you can find a lamp that would match any room.I'm on the stud bandwagon right now with the rest of fashion. I love the studs. I was so excited by these gloves that I forgot to grab a business card. I am such a bad blogger! I only remember them telling me that they had a booth at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene or the Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg. If you know which vendor this is, please let me know so I can update this info!
These Christmas ornaments are completely adorable by Kristen Bronson.
These earrings by Milkweed and Honey caught my eye. They are lightweight and they were drilled by hand. What sorts of handmade treasures did you find or make this holiday?

Running Around Kansas

Last week I completed my first half-marathon. It was tough, and I'm glad that I did it. Everyone was so accommodating in Kansas. Breakfast at the hotel is usually served at 7am, but the kitchen was nice enough to bring up our 12 slices of toast and 2 big bowls of oatmeal earlier for our big race. Our atletic director called this "the breakfast of champions".The team was pretty nervous, and when the gun went off, I thought, "Here we go, this is it. What the heck did I get myself into?!" I'm not going to go into all the details of the race...that would be boring, but it was a beautiful place to run, and I had a lot of time to enjoy it.
This is me 100 feet from the finishing line. I look happy don't I?

As Seen on TV

These past two weeks have been crazy. I've been able to experience so many wonderful new things, most of them being in the entertainment industry. I am so flipping happy and excited about the opportunities I was able to take advantage of.

For the past six weeks, I've been working as a wardrobe intern on an independent film called "Ceremony". I color sorted ties, checked in beautiful wardrobe pieces, and assisted a little bit with production. My first time being on set was a little overwhelming, especially because it was freezing cold outside, and I had the job of running through the sand gathering up and returning warming coats from all of the extras in record time. My second day was much less rough because we were in the studio, and there were only two actors to take care of. I was so nervous about bothering anyone trying to do their job that I just tried to stand quietly in the corner so I wouldn't get in their way. I did a lot of observing.

Everyone was so friendly and I was so appreciative because I'm sure that it isn't always like that. I hope to be part of another production one day. I had a great time.

Last week I also got to be an extra on the television show Mercy. It was pretty cool for the first time, and I hope that I will be able to do it again. Maybe you can spot me in the last scene on December 9! I'm wearing a gray cardigan and jeans, and my hair is curly. I was freaking out the day before about which wardrobe pieces to bring, so I brought 3 outfits and 3 pairs of shoes. The wardrobe lady told me to wear what I already had on. What a bunch of wasted energy by me...
Outfit:
Boots: Aerosoles
dress: LF
tights: no clue
black long sleeves: H&M
Headband: Claire's These pictures made possible by my friend, Charles. Thanks Charles!!!!!

Halloween Happiness

The Halloween costumes that I made this year turned out better than I had anticipated! That's what made my Halloween so great--and the fact that I didn't have to fight the Village Halloween Parade and subway chaos this year. Instead of going to the Village Parade, my friends and I decided to volunteer for the Halloween celebration at Prospect Park. We saw so many cute children and parents dressed up. It was such a nice change from being forced to stare at "adult"-style costumes every year. Lindsay wanted a picture with a 3-year old Max (Where the Wild Things Are), but we didn't think he could sit still long enough.

At the park we participated in the parade, holding and marching the big Mermaid down the street, her fin flipping and arms waving. I think it was a great idea to be in the parade because 1.) we could see everybody's costumes as we walked by, and 2) it was good exercise.
We were so lucky that the subway wasn't crowded, or else we would have been in trouble. The size of our wings was ridiculous (I just had to buy the awesome realistic ones!), but people were very courteous as we tried not to hit anybody. I think our cute costumes made it difficult for anyone to be annoyed with us. Who could get mad at a fairy?!!!

I was very impressed with Liz's Artemis costume because she threw together a toga using a curtain and some rope--no sewing involved! It didn't even fall off or need adjusting. Quite a few people easily pointed out who she was, while others thought she was Cupid and asked her to shoot them.
I made my costume using a romper pattern and Tinkerbell's costume using my own design knowledge, complete with a satchel, flowers for my hair, a ribbon for Tink's bun, and dandelion puffs for her shoes! I just can't believe that Halloween in over. Now what am I going to sew?!!!

Gone Tomorrow

It makes me so happy that the warmth came back, even if it is only for a week. I'm glad it came back to say goodbye, and fade out as a new chilly breeze comes in.

Poetic, I know. That's all I've got.
Anyhow, on one of the colder days last week, I decided to wear the new jumper that my mother made me. I picked out the fabric at mood. When my mother came to visit last Thanksgiving, I circled a few spots on the map for her to check out. She went out to mood while I went to class, and when I called her 4 hours later, she was still browsing fabrics and neglected to follow the agenda that I had set for her. No worries...I got a new jumper out if the experience.
Halloween costumes are almost complete, and they look great. I actually picked up another project. My friend is dressing up as some chick from a video game (I don't recall her name). Anyway, I hemmed a cardigan, and I will be making a skirt today with some pink leopard print material.
Lindsay and I took a trip to the Museum of Natural History on the weekend, and we made sure to pick up some sugar crystal candy on the way out. I really have a weak spot for sugar.

Jacket: Dillard's
Jumper: Mom made it
Bag: Nine West
Boots: Aerosoles
Heather Tights: Dillard's
Shirt: Christmas

Take My Picture!!

I haven't been blogging as frequently as I should at this point in time, and its not because I don't have time. I simply don't have anyone to help me take photos of my outfits and activities. I've been busy with two Halloween costumes and I remember wearing lots of cute outfits in the past 2 weeks. I'm so lame that didn't get pictures to post. Hopefully I will be back to normal by next week.

I never say much about school, do I? Well, yeah, I'm still in school...

I just recently received an internship in the wardrobe department for an independent film production company. My second day is tomorrow. My first day pretty much consisted of sorting a sea of ties by color. That was fine with me. I love organizing.

I'll just leave it at that. I love organizing.

The Extent of my Rendering...and Photoshop

BEWARE: All of you designers out there are going to cringe at what I am about to show you. You may even throw up in your mouth a little.

I had a few ideas for my Halloween costume (I'm going to be a fairy), so I tried making a few designs so I could take it to the fabric store and decide what I wanted. I took and introductory art and design class (can't you tell?), but it didn't seen to help any. I am going to be honest: that isn't even my croquis. I traced it. I don't have any patience for rendering either. I just color the clothes like a 6-year old would color her Barbie Princess coloring book--very flat, no shading. I'm sure I didn't have to tell you this, since it is plain to see. However, it suited my purposes.For those of you with little girls (or are little girls at heart) you may recognize the orange fairy as "Fawn" from Disney's "Tinkerbell" movie. She is so awesome when she helps all of the little animals! Yeah, I wanted to be her for Halloween.

I settled on the fairy to the right on this set because she looked like an upside-down flower, only I decided on brown stretch velvet for the bodice and tie-dye red-orange for the skirt. I would like to resemble an autumn leaf.
Lindsay is the lucky girl who gets to be Tinkerbell (on the left). She bought some awesome green-yellow velvet fabric for it. I'm a little apprehensive because it doesn't stretch, and we bought the last of the yardage. I'm sure it will turn out fine.... : /

Late Summer

So, I'm still without a camera, but I do have a photo to share with you. I had made a summer skirt for Lindsay months ago, but there were some technical difficulties, and I did not receive the photo until last week. Here is Lindsay, modeling her skirt. Didn't she do a great job picking out the fabric?Today is Wednesday, and I am now trying to dedicate my Wednesdays to sewing. I was actually excited to thread my serger because I had accumulated so many projects since I got back to school. Aw man! I forgot to pack my serger needle! As much as I love shopping, the walk out to the notions store always seems so far, especially when I get back and realize that I bought the wrong needles...

After my second trip, I chopped off the bottom of one of my old jumpers, and used it to make a skirt. I serged some elastic around it! It's actually pretty cute. I think I am going to spray paint a design on it though. I just wish I had a picture that I could show you!

New Blog Name: Broken Style

Here's just a heads up that I changed my Blog name from "Catherine G" to "Broken Style" (still the same author and address). After looking at all of my past outfits, I realized that "Broken Style" (a play on "Broke in Style") would be most appropriate. Most, if not all, of my pieces come from some sort of second-hand, off-price, or discount store for budget consumers (yes, I actually find a thing or two at K Mart every once in a while, as much as I HATE to admit it...). Sometimes I'll score a major deal in one of the higher fashion markets.
Honestly, I'm a student on a very tight budget just trying to look good in NYC. I just wonder...if I attended any other college or university, would I be wearing jeans, a screen tee, and a college hoodie just like everyone else?

By the way, these are pictures that I took before my camera busted.

sweater: Old Navy
Dress, belt: American Apparel
Skirt: Thrift Store
Shoes: I got them so long ago that I can' even remember
Bag: Daffy's

Bad News First...

...my camera is broken. Here is a picture of it.

It keeps shutting on and off, on and off. When I turn it off it makes clicky noises while it flashes its lights. I don't know what to do. I don't want to buy another point and shoot, you know? I would like to invest in an SLR, but I don't really have that kind of money to invest! Perhaps eBay can help me out.My site may be down for a little while until I can resolve the matter.
Do you have a recommendation for an older, more affordable camera model?

The Good News: My serger arrived in the mail today! My plan is to dedicate my Wednesdays to sewing projects. I'd like to make my own pixie Halloween costume for October. I have so much fabric and supplies that I don't know what to do with all of it. The disaster in my room is driving me nuts because I am usually a very organized person. Everything has a place, and not knowing where to put anything frustrates me.
Would you consider yourself to be an organized or messy person?