Under $10 Tuesday- #2

This is my first post since Friday...yikes! I've just been super busy because since Friday I've been visiting my boyfriend. He lives roughly 5 hours away, so its always a treat to go and see him :) His birthday was Sunday, so we've been doing lots of celebrating and visiting with his family, which is always fun, but also always hectic. Thankfully, I remembered to bring my computer to update you guys on everything, even if I've been kind of bad at it. Sorry! I promise I'll get better at updating, really! 

Dress, yard sale- $2

Shoes, Urban Outfitters Outlet- $5

Vest, Goodwill- $2

Cuffs, H&M- $1 each

I kind of feel like Full House threw up on me in his outfit with the light wash denim vest and the flower print dress. It came with shoulder pads that I cut out, because I have really wide shoulder to begin with anyway. I wish that the vest was a size or so smaller because I believe it's a size large, so it swamps me a little bit because of the men's sizing.

Also, has anyone else noticed the weird thumb-finger circle I make with my hand when I'm taking pictures? If my arm is hanging down, in just about every picture, there it is! Maybe I'm making some sort of unconscious gang sign...except for the last picture I'm doing some sort of peace sign throw up on the wall. Honestly, I really should pay more attention to what I'm doing with my hands while these pictures are being taken. I would make a terrible model, haha.

PS- If you haven't yet, make sure that you enter the giveaway! It's on the bottom of the post right below this one, and it's super easy. Hurry, because it ends on Friday :)

(Almost) Chambray Shirt + {GIVEAWAY}

It's offically 12:01 on July 27th, so that means happy one month anniversary to the duckling! *cue music and dancing* This seems like a pretty big milestone to me, and though I'm not sure if it really is in the blogging world, I feel like this first month is something crucial. It's the start of something new. It's the very beginning where everything is fresh and undiscovered. It's when all the ideas come climbing in through your window at night and plop into your dreams with a big loud crash. It's also a time when people become discouraged, lost, and unsure. Thoughts float around saying "this is pointless" or "give up before you look like an idiot". Thankfully, I have a very supportive family, boyfriend, and set of friends who are always encouraging me. I also have a very supportive group of readers! Small though you may be, you are really what makes me think I might have found something I'm good at after trying on dozens of different things (and taking a lot of time to figure them out).

So, I have an outfit before we get on to the giveaway!

Ralph Lauren denim button up, Goodwill Outlet- 25 cents

American Apparel Disco Pants, online- $75

Jewelry, H&M- cuff, $1  necklace, $5

Ring, yard sale- 25 cents

One big thing I've seen throughout the Spring/Summer is the reappearance of the "chambray" shirt, which is basically a denim shirt, haha. Now, most of the ones that I've seen around actually have two breast pockets. Mine doesn't (which is why I included "almost" in the title), but I snagged it at the Goodwill Outlet back in January or so. If it qualifies or not, I'm not entirely sure, but it's super comfortable and a really easy way to look casually cute. Throw on a pair of white shorts/pants, leggings, or even a pair of jeans if you're feeling daring. I've not been able to work up the courage to try out the double denim look yet, but I think that's because I'm secretly holding out to be able to try it with a pair of boyfriend jeans I've been eyeing lately...

The disco pants have made a reappearance! A testament to their versitility again. The loafers I have on have some studding on the front of them, and I love them to death, but they're just a wee bit too small so they keep rubbing the backs of my feet :( I've only been able to wear them twice. I might end up selling them, so if you're interested, shoot me an email. (Please oh please excuse my weird facial expression in the close up. For some reason I was having MAJOR issues keeping my eyes open whenever the camera went off. I looked so drugged up in half of the pictures that they were totally un-usable, haha)

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate our one month birthday, I've got two prizes to giveaway! The first is this super cool cocktail ring that is so unique, and I am jealous of whoever ends up getting it. Great conversation starter, and a really great way to add interest to an otherwise everyday outfit. The second is this pair of very pretty mint/blue feather earrings. I have a pair of dark pink ones that ended up matching perfectly to my pink shoes, so I can't wait to pair them together!

Now, it's super easy to enter and there are up to 8 chances to enter! Just follow any or all of the instructions below, and bada-bing-bada-boom, you're entered! This will run until Friday, August 3rd, and two (random) winners will be chosen! The first will have their pick of the prize, and the second winner will get the second one. Best of luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#1 Under $10 Tuesday

Welcome to the first installment of Under $10 Tuesday! If you have ever been shopping with me, you know that I love to find deals. I love to get the most for my money, and I love to show it off when I do, haha. I'm a huge fan of Goodwill, thrift stores, and especially yard sales. Whenever I can, I love to go with my aunt who goes every Saturday and starts at the crack of dawn to find the best stuff. It's so much fun!

So that is what inspired this new weekly post idea. Every Tuesday I'm going to challenge myself to put together an outfit for $10 or less, and then show it to you guys! I saw another one of my favorite bloggers doing something very similar to this, and I fell in love with the idea (thanks so much, Kavita!). Some of the rules are:

1. There must be four items includes (bottoms, top, dress, jacket, bag, bracelets, etc.)

2. The total price of the outfit cannot exceed $10

3. Using items that were gifts is allowed from friends and family is allowed, but items given from companies is not.

High waisted Levi's- Goodwill- $2

Floral Spaghetti Strap Tank- $5

Flight Bag- Yard Sale- $1

Bracelets- Yards Sales- 25 cents a piece

Earrings- Gift 

I challenge you guys to try this too, because it really was fun to come up with different ideas and outfits! I'd love to see what you guys could come up with. Let me know what you guys think of this new idea, and hopefully *crosses fingers* I will be able to keep up with it!

Ivy League

Hey all, I know I made a post yesterday, but I just couldn't wait anymore to talk to everyone. I've got a couple things to say before I post a new outfit.

1) The Style Duckling now has a Facebook page! That's where I'm going to be making announcements in between posts (giveaway updates, shop updates, etc), so to be up-to-date you're going to want to go like that page.  Here's the lovely link, so click it!

2) I've been playing around with the idea of opening up an online shop (either on Etsy or eBay) of some pretty awesome things I've found, or even some things that I've made. Dyed, studded, ombré-d, laced, things like that. Let me know if you'd be interested, and I'll try and give you guys a look at some things later on this week. I've got to figure out a way to pay for gas during school when my summer job expires! Not much need for a lifeguard in the winter, haha

So just let me know by email or comments, and now on to the outfit!

 Shorts: Goodwill

Shoes: eBay

Necklace: Forever21

Ring: H&M

More great photos by Brooke! I'm being overly critical of myself because I think my legs look stubby in the first photo, and my hands look like monkey hands in the last one, but I'm trying to work on that, haha. The lighting was a little weird because it was so bright in some places and shaded in other, but I think they still managed to turn out pretty well. The shorts were a great find, because they're a pair of Ralph Lauren "Saturday Jeans". I honestly have no clue what that means but they're super comfy and I'm in love with the fit. The sweater I've had for a few years, because I found a picture of me in it all the way back in my sophomore year in high school. Of course you know how much I love my shoes ;)

Be on the lookout for a new "segment" that I'll be posting weekly. It will be on the same day each week (I'm not sure which day yet) and will be a "outfit on a budget" sort of post. Can't wait to get that going! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, even if tomorrow has to be Monday...yuck!

I've Got Chills, They're Multiplyin'!

Hey there! So if you're friends with me on Facebook you know that I've recently gotten the most amazing piece of clothing I've ever put on. That's right...disco pants! 

Now, I know that I'm  a little late on this trend in the blogging world, but I couldn't NOT have them. I ordered them from American Apparel, and even with the 15% discount code I found online, they put a pretty little dent in my bank account. However, I thought they could be justified because I can wear them all through the winter and their versatility factor is pretty high. Now that I have them, I completely agree with everyone else's reviews that rave about how wonderful they are. They're super stretchy and (as far as I can tell) they hold their shape remarkably well. No more weird gaps behind the knee! Speaking of their stretchy-ness, funny story. When I pulled them out of the package, I'm pretty sure my face dropped to the floor. They looked like little kid's pants with how short they were, and I was already apprehensive about ordering them online without being able to know if the inseam would be long enough. But these must have been meant to be, because they magically stretched perfectly to fit my height. Not sure how it happened, but I'm not going to question it!

So now that I've somehow filled this post with so much text already, I'll get to the pictures to show off my new babies!

Shirt- American Apparel

Pants- American Apparel

Necklace- Sheinside

Bracelet- H&M

Shoes- Urban Outfitters

Now, if you were paying attention you would have noticed the "BLucas Photography" stamp in the bottom of these pictures. That would be because one of my classmates that I graduated with is a business/photography major at school to own her own photography studio and so graciously offered to help me with photos for this blog. So, be a doll and be sure to shoot me an email to forward to her, or if you know her, tell her how amazing these are! I'm looking forward to work with her in the future, because I know it's going to be a blast!

Insta-Haul and Exciting Announcements!

So I know that it's a popular thing to do right now, but I thought that this would be a good little post to let you guys in on my life a little more and to make a couple of announcements! Most of these photos are from when Tyler visited me about a week ago, and then some random tidbits :)

Insta-Haul

First row (left to right): 1. Tyler and I got ice cream. He is just weird... 2. I can't get over Hot Pockets. I think I eat them every day 3. At the zoo!

Second row: 1. Tyler's dog, Sammy. She's so adorable! 2. Me, sporting my straight hair 3. My little fangirl moment when Kavita from She Wears Fashion liked my posts!

Third row: 1. The rows and rows of shoes I loved at the mall 2. Getting excited about my 4th of July post 3. Tyler and I hanging out on a hammock on the 4th :)

Fourth row: 1. My video attempt (disaster! haha) 2. My snacks from going to our outdoor theater 3. Tyler and I at fireworks

Fifth row: 1. My dog Daisy fell in love with him. So sweet! 2. My Vince Camuto heels I snagged at a thrift store for $6! 3. Our day out when we saw Spiderman and went to Red Lobster

I have a couple of announcements! The first being that we hit our first 1,000 page views! Thank you so much for everything. Seriously. I get so excited when I check my email and see that new comments have been added and I do my best to reply as fast as possible and to follow everyone that leaves a link. I'm always happy to check out other blogs! We've also almost hit 20 follows for which I am so grateful. The second announcement is that I have a giveaway planned for the one month anniversary of The Style Duckling coming up on the 27th. I'm not going to say what it is yet, but I will tell you guys that it's a really unique piece of jewelry! I'll make a post about that on the 27th of July, so be sure to check back then (and of course always check back for new posts!). Lastly, I was contacted by one of my classmates from high school who is a photography major, and she offered to help me by taking some outfit shots! We have that planned for Thursday, so that should be quite fun and a great opportunity for the blog. 

Sorry for the huge paragraph. I promise the next post will have some great pictures in it, because a HUGE shout-out needs to go to my daddy for allowing me the use of his amazing D5000 Nikon! The picture quality is amazing, and all of the colors are showing up fantastically.

Well, I do believe that's all for now. If there is anything you guys would like to see, just leave a comment or feel free to email me! Can't wait to hear from you all. Check back soon (probably tomorrow!) for a nail polish review post. I've gotten some feedback to do more nail/nail polish posts. Thanks again, everyone, and keep checking back!

DIY Ombre Shorts

Holy cow! It's twenty minutes before I leave for work and I just remembered that I had promised to post how to make those shorts I wore in my last post! It's actually very simple, and you could use just about any pair of shorts you like. I used a pair of high waisted Calvin Klein cut offs that I nicked from a thrift store a while back that I just didn't ever feel were snazzy enough. This spruced them up quite nicely :) So without further a-do, here are some instructions + pictures.

Materials:

1. Old jeans or cut offs

2. Hair tie

3. Something to hold your bleach/water (I used a milk jug)

4. Bleach

I literally just cut off the top of a milk jug and filled it about half full with hot water and just dumped bleach in. I have no idea how much other than I know the water turned a little bit green/yellow and it smelled! So just get a good amount in. More bleach = less color.

These are the shorts I used (plus a little corner of my knee ^^). 

Next, I gathered up my shorts in one spot and tied a hair band around them. Make sure that it's a pretty even line all the way around your shorts and that the bleach isn't going to be higher up on the back of your shorts. I had to even that out and play around with it until I felt like the line would wrap around evenly.

Next was the easy part. I just stuck the jeans inside of the jug and let them sit. Make sure your bleach/water mixture comes up as far as your hair band does, otherwise the "ombré" effect wont be as apparent. I let these sit for about 45 mins. They were a fairly light wash denim, however, so I would leave it sit longer if you are using a dark wash. 

Voila! Now you have your very own custom pair of ombre denim shorts. They were pretty easy to make, wouldn't you say? Make sure that when you wash them afterwards that you wash them alone, even if you rinse them out before hand, because you don't want any residual bleach messing up the rest of your clothes. Next time I think I'll use a darker wash denim and let the line a little bit down so it's more half/half in terms of coloring, but these still look great! Well, now I'm pretty sure that I'm officially going to be late for work, and I can't let those little kiddies down! Happy bleaching, guys :)

PS- Ignore the gross, brown, crunchy grass in the pictures. It has been so awful hot here, and combined with no rain for weeks now, so the poor grass is suffering. Maybe I should do a rain dance later on...

I'm on the Edge

 Whew! As I'm writing this I'm eating some cherries and thinking "This might be the first time I've had time to sit down this week". I've been picking up shifts at work like crazy, and I actually had to get sent home yesterday because I was going to go over 40 hours and they can't pay us overtime, haha. So here I am to update you on all that's been going on since I last posted at the beginning of the week! 

Tuesday I got this necklace in the mail (finally!). I'd been waiting on it for three weeks, but we've been getting our house painted and a new roof, so the mailman hadn't been able to deliver mail in a long time. And then the very next day, BAM! I get my shoes in the mail! It only took them a week and a half to ship all the way from the UK, and I absolutely adore them.

This outfit is just one big ball of stardom. These shorts are a pair that I bleach ombré-d on Wednesday, and I must say I quite like them! I think that next time I do them, I'll make the line a little lower so there is more of the denim color left, but I think they turned out pretty great for a first try. I took pictures too, so I'm going to put a tutorial pretty soon.

I know that a couple of shots are kind of fuzzy, and it wasn't until I got them loaded on to my computer that I found out there was a smudge on the lens and I'd already dropped my sister off at driver's ed (gah!). So sorry for any of them looking funny. I'll be sure to tell Hannah not to put her fingers on the lens next time...

The Lust List

1. "The Disco Pant" -American Apparel

2. Gold collar necklace

3. Light wash distressed boyfriend crop jeans

4. Skinny black belt (rectangular buckle)

5. Hot pink lipstick

6. Frilly white socks

7. Red long sleeved chiffon button-up

8. Straw fedora

9. Chunky colorful sandals

These are all items that I've been lusting after, be it for a long time or just a short period. The first and most important item on the list is the disco pant in black from American Apparel. I've already signed up to work a double shift on Thursday just to pay for these pants. I realize that I'm kind of behind on the trend of getting these, but better late than never! I can just imagine so many wonderful outfits with them on that my mind is going crazy without them...

The same goes for most of these items. I'm just coming up with outfits in my head that involve all of these and I just haven't been able to find the perfect item yet (or they are out of my price range at the moment). I'm so particular about items being exactly what I have in my head once I get so stuck on them, so sometimes I will go months and months searching for the perfect piece, even when similar items have been found. I know I can't be the only one who does this right?! Because I've been on the lookout fot the perfect red chiffon button up for a few months now. If anyone knows where to get a great one (or would like to gift one to me ;) ), just shoot me an email! My contact is listed on my about page, but just in case you don't want to click up there, here it is:

thestyleduckling@hotmail.com

So now that we all know my Lust List, what are some of the items on your's?

Apricot Florals

And now I must come down from the high *sigh* Tyler left earlier today and I'm fairly certain I haven't left my bed except for once. The one time that I did get up was because I knew I would need something to occupy my time while he was at football practice this evening so I was able to corral my sister into taking some photos for me to work on later. And so, this blog post was born!

Now, if you are a loyal reader of this blog (don't burst my bubble by telling me no one is!), you'll recognize this outfit from the video that I posted on Friday. Since my necklace I ordered almost three weeks ago and my new shoes still haven't arrived, the creative part of my brain has been on strike, complete with picket signs and the always clever "What do we want? Accessories! When do we want 'em? Now!" (ok, maybe my chanting brain isn't as clever as it thinks it is). Regardless, it seemed silly to let the perfectly good outfit go to waste on such a poorly done video. Next time I pluck up the courage to do another one of those, I'll be much more aware of what could (and probably will) go wrong.

It was so sunny outside today! It did not match my mood at all. Unless I looked down at the ground or covered my eyes, I couldn't see. The sun was just burning through them. So if the faces I'm making in a couple of these seem strange, you've been warned.

Top: Gift

Shorts: Goodwill

Bracelets/Watch: Thrifted

Loafers: Kohl's

Bag: For Love

Nail Polish: OPI "Mermaid Tears"

Cute little gif right?! I just slipped this in here for fun:)

This tragic mood that I'm in is giving me plenty of fuel to keep myself busy and what better way than to create blog posts! So this week expect to see some updates. My work schedule has been pretty packed lately, however, but I know that I'll be preferring this over that ;)

First Vlog Attempt- Oh geez

Star Spangled Banner

Happy almost 4th of July everyone! I know it's only the 3rd, but this is going to be a really busy week for me. My boyfriend, Tyler, is coming into town until next Monday and we have all kind of fun stuff planned; the zoo, Six Flags, fireworks. I can't wait :) So in addition to posting this to show off my 4th of July outfit that I love, I'm also just giving you guys a heads up that posting might slow down a little bit. It depends on how tolerate he is about me spending time on the computer, haha.

Now moving on to the outfit, I was very excited to show you all this outfit because my shorts are those DIY Star Spangled Banner shorts that I showed you a couple posts back! I absolutely the love them. The only problem is that all of the jeans that I have made into cuff-offs and then cuffed have been very tight around my thighs, even though they were loose when I left them un-cuffed. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a way to fix it?

The tank top that I tied off here has these very large breast pocket on the right side. You can see it in some of the pictures, and I've never quite known what it's for. It's too loose to stick anything in it, but sometimes it doesn't even look like a pocket! It's really just a strange addition to the shirt but I wanted a loose tank and this was the best one I found. I actually bought it about 2 years ago I think, and it's still holding up quite well.

One last commentary is the belt that I have on. I bought it at a garage sale and I love it., absolutely love it. It's just a brown skinny belt with a single row of gold studs on it, but I've found that it goes with most anything. Definitely worth the $.50 I spend on it!

 Tank: Charlotte Russe  Boots: Urban Outfitters  Bracelet: Vintage

Hopefully I'll still be able to find time to post again later this week. Don't forget to comment on the posts and let me know what you like/dislike/want to see more of. I always want to hear what you guys have to say :)

Cat Eyes and Contrast

Sunglasses, sunnies, shades, spekkies...no matter what you call them, they will be a summer fashion accessory until the sun burns out. And there are no shortage of styles. Big, small, round, square, Ray Bans, Oakley's, the list goes on. For this summer, I've been looking at a pair of black large cat eye glasses for a while now but I haven't been able to find a pair that weren't way out of my price range :( Something similar to these:

These are by Tom Ford. Are they not just utterly fabulous? It's too bad that they're $390

But since those are so far out of my price-range that I can't even see them on the imaginary line of prices, I'll have to just continue dreaming. I've got 4 pairs right now, but I don't own a classic black or brown pair. I've been on the look out, but I just haven't found the right pair yet. What kind of sunglasses you guys have or want? What kinds do you find beyond hideous?

Side Note: I just purchased the most amazing shoes on Ebay. They are dark pink and light pink contrast imitation Lita boots *drool*. Since it'll be a while until I can purchase the real thing on a college budget, I found these lovelies from a link on She Wears Fashion, one of my most favorite fashion blogs. They were only $20! They're shipping from the UK though, so they ended up being $34, but considering the actual Litas would have cost me $160+, I thought it was a pretty good steal. I'll be sure to let you guys know when they come in, and I can't wait to be able to do an outfit post with them on!

Until then, xoxo