Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Fearless Fashion

Reason #8453 why I love thrifting: it makes me brave to try new trends.

Check out this intense floral embroidery that started becoming popular around 2017:


You saw this happen, right? It's everywhere... on everything:


I've always been a little intimidated by bold pants, instead opting for plain denim or black pants, and saving my experimentation for say, earrings.

But then I found these embellished jeans at Goodwill, and it was an easy sell. Not only are they subtly adventurous with their monchromatic embroidery, but thrifting means I'm not out much if I change my mind.


Check out that giant embroidery! 


Pair it with a floral top and my orange Rothy's, and I have a chic, sustainable outfit. If I change my mind? Donate them back to the thrift store, and at least they've gotten a few more wears out of them.

Kut From the Cloth jeans new: $89
Thrifted: $14
Savings: $75


Sunday, February 17, 2019

Birthday Treat with a Vintage Twist

My dear friend, Tatiana, celebrated a birthday this week. She is a mushroom hobbyist, taking awesome photos of mushrooms on her daily walks in the fall, including the famed red "Mario" mushrooms.

So when I saw a recipe for a yule log with meringue mushrooms growing on it, I just knew I needed to make it for her birthday. Something I didn't have was any way to transport a cake. I'm not much of a baker, so I just don't have these things.

Fortunately, the Value Village near me has a quite a good selection of housewares, and I found a vintage Tupperware cake taker for just $4.99. And since blue tags were half off that day, it came home with me for $2.50.


If you are newer to thrift shopping, most of the larger chains like Value Village and Goodwill have a color system for their tags which helps them rotate their inventory. They have 4 or 5 colors of tags, and one color each week is at a steep discount. Over the course of a month, all of their inventory has been offered at a sale, and whatever isn't sold moves on to outlet stores or recycling.

Similar cake carriers go for about $40, for either the vintage Tupperware or the new model, so this felt like an awesome deal!

Now to bake the cake. Fortunately, my mom is a more experienced baker than I am and was available for a baking date. Yule logs are a fair amount of effort to make so we settled on a "stump" instead of a log, using frosting to make a bark-like texture and tree rings. This also fit perfectly on the base of the cake taker.


We finished off the cake with "mushrooms" made from meringue and dusted with cocoa powder, and "moss" which was actually a sprinkling of matcha powder. 



This cake taker ended up being the perfect solution, with the sturdy base, and the lid providing enough room for the mushrooms. I was able to transport the cake around town safely, with no frosting smudging. 

Happy Birthday, Tatiana!