A Blogger Picnic!

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I donned one of my favorite tunics...
Loaded up my arm with blogger bracelets...
And made my way to Griffith Park, for the 3rd Annual Two Point Oh LA picnic.

Upon arrival, I spied a table laden with British tea treats (I especially liked the scones):
There were myriad tents with goodies and services:

Hairroin Salon was braiding hair
(I did not have enough... hair, that is)

Sole Society offered shoes

Très chic!
Gigi and I chose the same sunglasses from Ditto (see below)

Ditto had a very popular tent. They were giving out sunglasses to Style Visionaries.
Stay tuned for more on that!

It being a blogger picnic, there was posing:

Elizabeth of A Keene Sense of Style

and photography:

Our hostess, Kelsi of Dedicated Follower of Fashion, is on the far right in the cupcake dress.

And it being the park, we had the paleta guy!

It was a lovely afternoon. I had a long chat with Amy of A Sunny Day in L.A., did some quick sketching (next post), and snagged fabulous sunglasses (next next post). Thank you Kelsi, for a wonderful event!

Oh no! It's Monday already! May I have another day of weekend? Please?
Visit with the Visible Monday flock here.

Quick Draw at the Blogger Picnic

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This is Tosha, of Bambi's Armoire.
She left the park before I finished the sketch or got her info.
Through the power of Twitter + Instagram (and her friend Sheryl of Walk in Wonderland),
I tracked her down and applied the finishing touches to the sketch.

Kelsi, of Dedicated Follower of Fashion, and Two Point Oh LA hosted the picnic.
She wore such a cunning (as my grandmother would have said) dress -- it had cupcakes on it!

These are my two Quick Draw sketches from Sunday's blogger picnic. I decided to try something new -- drawing on my iPad using the Brushes App. I want to get proficient with this so that I can do some decent sketches during my upcoming trip to the east coast in August. Last year I only had my iPhone, which resulted in minimalistic landscapes such as this one. I've returned to Danny Gregory's Every Day Matters drawing Challenge (the impetus for my first blog in 2008) to practice and improve my drawing skills. Drawing with one's finger vs a pen sure makes for some crude line work! (I also had a old school sketchbook, which I still find the best for fast sketching).

I've never been very good at drawing fashion figures from scratch and always used a croquis template when I was in school through to my Barbie designer days. On the iPad, Brushes has layers like Photoshop so I uploaded a figure that I offer my digital design students.

It's not my own figure and I didn't like using it as a template. Time to revise!

Quick Draw at the Republic of Pie

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Here are Ivan Pyzow and Anny Celsi, sketched while they performed last night at the Republic of Pie, in North Hollywood.

Here are some very bad, dark photos:

Anny is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I featured her album in a music list here.

Ivan is Anny's son, and very talented.
He sang a couple of his own compositions too.

"Where's the pie?" you ask.
Of course I had pie! How could I not?
First I had a savory - a mushroom and spinach quiche. Yummy!
I took home a couple of slices from the sweet category...
Coconut cream for The Mister (lower left row above), apple for me (no image).
Delicious!

The (Sun)Glasses Dossier: DITTO Giveaway [CLOSED]

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Hello world! I am a DITTO Style Visionary and am here to tell you about this new way to try on glasses.
This is a sponsored post.

I met the DITTO team at the Two Point Oh blogger picnic last Sunday.
They gave me this cool pair of Chloe sunglasses in exchange for a review.

Yes! Ivory with gold accents! C-R-A-Z-Y!!!Me likeeee.

DITTO is an ecommerce site that sells interesting designer eyewear. You create a DITTO avatar using your computer's webcam to "try" on the frames. It's super easy -- the hardest part is arranging your "set"!

"I'm sorry but, stripes? Did you not hear of moire?"

It helps to have some light shining in your face if your computer is in a dark cave, like mine.

I did a side by side comparison, modeling the same style of sunglasses.
On the left is my virtual DITTO. On the right is reality, using Photo Booth.
[Apologies for poor quality of video]
Here is my DITTO link, so you can see me bigger and better (and suggest other looks)!

"What about the giveaway?" you ask.
DITTO is offering a free $200 gift card to one lucky winner, US residents only. (International readers, you will have to find a US surrogate to receive your frames if you want to enter. DITTO only ships to the US at present).
You get 20 possible entries by using the Rafflecopter below. The giveaway will run from today (7/19) through midnight 7/28/12 EST. This will allow you time to take advantage of DITTO's "free Rx lenses" offer good until 8/2/12.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

How I Became a Pattern Mixer

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Pattern mixing is one of the big trends this year. Some of my blogging cohorts have written great "How To" posts on the subject (see links at end). I love to pattern mix (have you noticed?) and I got to thinking: what is MY method?

Um, sorry, I still can't verbalize it. [This is why I teach technical classes and not design or fine art].
Throwing like colored garments into heaps sometimes helps: 

Too bad these are all tops. They'd make a great mix.

What I HAVE figured out is how I acquired my skills -- I was the "go to" girl for jean patching in high school!
It was the early 70s. One patched one's jeans -- more patches = more cool. I inherited a pair from Allison, pre-patched (some by me). They required constant repairing.

Xmas, 1971

I went to a girls' boarding school and even though we were allowed to dress casually, there WERE some arbitrary dress code standards. Eventually, the above jeans were banned from the dining room (along with a camisole that I made -- more on that later). Since they were already loaded with so many patches, I figured they were a great start for a crazy quilt. I was crafty that way.

The quilt today -- every patch holds a memory.

The quilt itself has been through many permutations. I no longer have the original section with the jeans, that part went missing in Santa Barbara while I was working on an extension to it in upstate NY the summer of 75. It was in constant usage until about 2000, when I finally tired of repairing it. Oops, I've taken a detour down memory lane! Anyway, it was while working on this quilt that I developed my eye for pattern mixing. I still recall the joy I felt when I'd find "the right" scrap for an area that needed a new patch.

I imagine that starting a project such as this is WAY overwhelming. You just want to mix stripes and florals and not look like a clown, right? Click on one of the links below. These ladies explain it better than I ever will!

The Citizen Rosebud -- Pattern Play: 6 Simple Tips for Wearing Mixed Prints

Already Pretty -- Print Mixing for Beginners

Unusual Forum -- Pattern Mixing 101 (found through Already Pretty)

Suze Geeks Out -- How to: 8 simple rules for mixing patterns (found through Citizen Rosebud)

Is there another link that has helped you in your pattern mixing journey? Do tell in the comments!

Lil' Policeman

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Earlier this year, I blogged about C. Alexander's photo shoot for Spirit Halloween at their headquarters in New Jersey. They recently sent the final product for one of the costumes- The Lil' Policeman.
This was my favorite costume of the three he modeled for Spirit.
This is the shot that made the cover of the costume sold in stores. They simply worked some magic to add a police hat...
...and voila, this became the final product
You can find this costume (along with two more) at all of the Spirit Halloween stores in the U.S. & Canada. I hear there is another surprise in store for a certain little "duck." Stay tuned.

Rikki Ragland
the preppy debutante

Fashion's Night Out at Neiman Marcus

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2009 invitation to Neimans Northbrook Court
My sister, LeAnita, and I began our Fashion's Night Out celebrations several years ago at the Northbrook Court Neiman Marcus in Northfield, Illinois.


After my move back to Dallas, I waddled through Highland Park Village (Highland Park, TX) at nine months pregnant for the big night with my sister. With swollen ankles & fatigue, I was dedicated, but did not enjoy it as much. A year later, and with baby in tow, I took my little male fashion plate to the Fashion's Night Out at the Willow Bend Neimans in Plano, Texas.

It was a late evening for my little one, but it gave him a great appreciation for fashion at the tender age of 11-months-old. Given that he ended up in Neiman's kids' fashion show six months later, I think it was smart to cart him around Fashion's Night Out.
This year, I left C. Alexander at home and headed back to the Willow Bend Neiman Marcus for a much needed ladies night at this year's fashion extravaganza.
I opted for an Asian-inspired look this year, with a red jacket, black pants and a red Asian print handbag.
My cinnabar & onyx necklace was by LeAnita

Marcus Wyss, VP & General Manager of Neiman Marcus, Willow Bend

As usual, Neimans put on a stellar fashion show, featuring exquisite outfits.

Key looks this fall include: Green attire of every shade, brushed gold accessories, leather, tweed, brocade, fur vests and statement pieces. Most importantly, blue is the new black!

the "scene" at NM Willow Bend
Chuck Steelman, Neiman Marcus corporate public relations
enjoying a wonderful girls' night outmaking the night a family affair with my cousin
Fashion's Night Out is a worldwide event that was celebrated with more than 4,500 events in the U.S. last year. The event not only puts some fire under America's spending, it brings the consumer to the forefront of fall fashion.
an absolute FAVORITE of mine


Thanks to new ideas from the Neiman Marcus show, I foresee a green handbag in the near future (Happy Birthday to me!) It was a great way to kick-off the fashion season. The event calendar is filling up for most Dallas women, including another Neimans show on the horizon. Hold on tight, Fall is going to be a very swanky ride!

Rikki Ragland
the preppy debutante