“New, Old and the Newly Old”

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Oh, how FABULOUS is this 1952 Singer car??  We had the incredible opportunity to get to photograph with this beauty last week at H.R. Deacon, Enterprises, a Triumph and MG repair company in Granger.

When Brooke, our photographer, texted me a picture of it, I knew we had to do a Gatsby themed shoot and glam it up!

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The elegance of this car goes with the elegance that Morgan displays wearing this beautiful beaded dress by Yoana Baraschi!

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I can just feel the gentle breeze as we travel through the fields in this remarkable car!

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On the property there were rusted old cars that we needed to use some how some way.

Here we used a beaded leaf belt by Hoss Intropia for Morgan’s headband and Chan Luu Triple circle necklace and crystal circle chandelier earrings.  The black flowy scarf is by Lauren Vidal.

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This crystal chain bracelet added just the right amount of bling.

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The perfect sized sequined black clutch to go with her dress!!

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The glimmer of Gold is glorious on Sierra in this incredible beaded dress by Yoana Baraschi.

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We doubled up 2 gold necklaces by Bud to Rose by Diddi and gold mirrored earrings and a gold beaded bracelet by Hoss Intropia.

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McKenna looked so statuesque in this long black sheer bottom tank dress by Frank Lyman.

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It was all about the  BIG PEARLS in this look making her stand out among the 3 girls.  We layered 2 smaller pearl strands with the single BIG Pearl strand and and complimenting hoop pearl earrings by Chan Luu!

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A gorgeous crystal brooch clutch by Moyna and a BIG pearl bracelet ties it all together!

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I had a dream the night before about a photo in front of the corn and so this is the photo to fulfill my dream.

Thank you Brooke!!

I hope that we inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Thank you so much Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography, Roger Deacon of H.R. Deacon, Enterprises and

 to our gorgeous models Sierra Majors, Morgan Conley and McKenna Hummel!!

Miss Teen Illinois Visits Inspire Me!

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I was SO excited when Miss Illinois Teen USA 2014, Miranda Fenzau was visiting my home last week and she offered to model for Inspire Me!  I immediately got a hold of Brooke, my photographer to see if she could arrange her schedule to do the shoot.  The next day, we dropped everything to get this opportunity to work with Miranda.

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This dress by Weston Wear with the floral paisley and beaded detail along the neckline was so cool against this weathered looking door from the East Race Office Building.

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I added these AMAZING beaded chandelier earrings by Chan Luu to compliment the beading in the dress.

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The brown multi colored  5 wrap bracelet by Chan Luu matched the colors of the flowers in the dress perfectly and giving it an understated look.

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We absolutely loved how fun and flirty this outfit looked on Miranda!

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It is all about her and this colorful, neon gypsy skirt!

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A simple little crop top is just right for this skirt that we sell for just $9.00!

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A simple gold beaded heart bracelet by Chan Luu was just the right accessory for this playful look!

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Cool and chic is how I describe this look.  Let’s start with the awesome sleeveless scuba-like fabric dress from Red 23 that everyone is raving about.  The fabric is so stretchy and smooth and comfortable!!!  A HUGE trend right now!   The jacket from BB Dakota is this years vegan leather version that we sell out of every year.  We love the crinkle in the fabric and the draped front look it has when it is opened.

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Add a great statement necklace to any outfit like this one and you will surely get noticed!

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Another one of our scuba fabric pieces from Red 23 is this cute black mini skirt.  Again, so comfortable because the fabric stretches and feels amazing!

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We just received this sexy little lace crop top with black embroidery that has a key hole split in the back.

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The chandelier earrings and pearl and crystal wrap bracelet are both by Chan Luu.

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These black BCBG gladiator sandals, I found at DSW and I use them in almost every one of my photo shoots lately because they look great with almost everything!

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The cool mural behind Miranda is just being painted at the Purple Porch Co-op, our neighbor that connects consumers and local producers in a food cooperative with emphasis on sustainability.  It is coming along so nicely that we thought it would be a great background for this leather disc dress by Staples.  It comes with the slip underneath and is also available in a Gold color as well.

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We are all looking forward to watching Miranda compete for the Miss Teen USA crown on August 2nd at 8:00 pm!

This young, gorgeous lady was so sweet and kind to let us work with her last week.  We were in awe of your professionalism.  It was truly an honor!  THANK YOU MIRANDA!

I hope that we inspired you!!

xo

Jeanne

PHOTOGRAPHER-  Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography

MODEL- Miranda Fenzau

“Romantic Language of Summer”

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Can’t you just hear their laughter in this adorable picture of these darling girls standing in the beautiful Historic Oliver Gardens at the Center for History in South Bend?

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The line that I am highlighting this week is “Language”, the beautiful silk embroidered tops that the girls are wearing.  They have a romantic, bohemian feel to them and so I decided to mix it up with 3 different style girls.

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Gabby has a soft rocker vibe to her look in this outfit.  The hat is what really sets her apart from the others and it works great with the soft green color of this tank by Language and maxi slip/skirt by Chan Luu and pastel floral infinity scarf to add a little color to brighten things up.

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Chan Luu Silver beaded earrings

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Lenny and Eva “Always” bracelet and Love Heals pearl necklace and leaf charm wrapped as a bracelet.

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Hand beaded adjustable ring

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I love the different looks shown here!

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Sierra has a fragile “don’t break my heart” look that I love here.  These cool wedged shoes can say a lot especially in this outfit because of the contrast with the other colors.

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I mixed crystals and pearls and silver to give her a feminine gypsy vibe especially with these AMAZING sterling silver chandelier earrings by Chan Luu!

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I adore this photo of her “fragility” here in embroidered suspender jeans by Desigual, blush embroidered top by Language and floral scarf used as a sarong/wrap by Johnny Was.

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Leather snap cuff by Anna Sukardi

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The coral color of this top is such an amazing healthy color on everyone especially blondes like Emily paired with a white lace skirt by Chan Luu.  I love the sweetness that she radiates in these photos!

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Clear Crystal Earrings and Necklace by Chan Luu

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I requested some photos of flowers in the garden and so our photographer Brooke took pictures of sweet Emily twirling in the center of this garden patch.

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We currently have a collection of floral headbands like this sweet fuchsia one at the store now that everyone is going crazy for!

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Stretch pearl cross bracelet and pink beaded wrap bracelet from Gawdybobbles. Rings are models own.

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Young girls innocence, do we have to grow up?

No!!! we are coming back soon!!!

I hope that we inspired you!!

xo

Jeanne

Special THANK YOU to the amazing Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography  and our gorgeous and talented models Emily Nicole Sroda, Sierra Majors and Gabrielle Ravotto!!!

“Johnny Was Here”

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As many of you know, I have been in business for 20 years and I have accumulated a lot of things in the basement of the store.  Antiques, metal clothing racks, doilies, silk flowers, vases, holiday decorations galore and mannequins seem to keep taking over even when things seem to be pretty organized.  We had fun with the chaos last week, when the rain stopped our plan to go outside to do the photo shoot.

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In this setting, we chose this antique corner cabinet and 2 antique folding screens and hung 2 small chandeliers to give the bohemian feel of the clothing that Johnny Was portrays. Emily is wearing one of their beautiful embroidered ivory tunic dresses and a silk floral scarf as a headscarf.

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I was able to find soft willow branches in my menagerie of flowers.

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These beautiful gold triple hooped earrings by Mashka were the perfect compliment to this outfit.

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Our gorgeous model is Emily Sroda.

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Our photographer Brooke, chose all of the settings in the basement.  She is truly amazing at what she does!  Here she took metal clothing racks and layered them around and then laid Emily among them here.  Emily is wearing a Johnny Was peasant embroidered top and embroidered cutout pants.  She is also wearing multi colored chain jewelry by Lee Angel.

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Here you see a male and a female mannequin.  We used to carry Men’s clothes a few years ago.  We still have the mannequins so…… you never know, we may again.  Emily is wearing a sheer lace top by Johnny Was and white ruffled shorts.

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This is what we call ALOT of hangers!  Emily looking incredibly gorgeous in this blue and white striped embroidered blouse by Johnny Was and jeans by David Kahn and turquoise hoop earrings.

I hope that we inspired you!!

xo

Jeanne

A Special THANK YOU to Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography and our beautiful model Emily Sroda for their amazing spontaneity this week!! Magic happens if you just relax and let it be and we had a blast!

“High Beams”

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Last weeks photo shoot was on one of those gorgeous days that you just wanted to bottle up and keep forever!!

I had a catalog from one of my vendors that did a shoot in an old garage with a vintage car and such but……Brooke (my wonderful photographer) and I are still working on this one…..I thought we could still do a more contemporary version of it outside the store in our parking lot.  We used my car because the colors are of course Black and White (I have REALLY been trying to use color, I swear!)

Well, I will tell you, I was blown away when I saw how beautiful Emily looked in the above photo, after Brooke sent it to me!!  It was WAY better than the catalog shoot that I saw and I hope that you all like these pics as much as I do!!

She is wearing black chandelier earrings by Chan Luu and a double hook bracelet by Ambre Babzoe.

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The beautiful model is Emily Sroda who will graduate from Penn High School this weekend!  She is wearing a black and ivory striped top by Lauren Vidal and snakeskin print pants by Simon Chang.

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I chose to belt this top with a soft taupe leather belt by Hoss Intropia to give a little contrast from the black and white plus it cinched the waist so that it wasn’t so baggy looking.

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Giving the top a little more elegance, this long chiffon skirt by Lauren Vidal was perfect.

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Until next week!!

I hope that we inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Special thanks to the amazing Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography and beautiful Emily Sroda for modeling!

Congratulations on your Graduation Emily!!!

“Downtown Laughter”

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We HAD to spend this afternoon last Friday downtown because of our LOVE for our city of SOUTH BEND.  It was graduation weekend for Notre Dame and St.Mary’s College and the night before, there was a underground fire that caused a power outage throughout the city forcing businesses to close or moving in huge generators to help run their electricity for this extremely busy weekend until the power was able to get restored Sunday afternoon.

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Sierra was all smiles in this gorgeous white lace jacket by Yoana Baraschi.  This piece is truly a favorite of all of ours!  The big dangle hoop earrings and delicate drop necklace are both by Chan Luu!

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The State Theatre marquee is the perfect place to say something special to someone for everyone to see!  The rose colored chiffon skirt by Lauren Vidal that our beautiful model Sierra, a junior at Granger Christian School is wearing, is the perfect compliment to the jacket and this color is so on trend right now.

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Can you find the matching shoes???

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Yoana Baraschi’s dresses are absolutely stunning and her attention to detail is so apparent in her designs like this beautiful black crosshatch pattern dress that Emily is wearing here!  Gorgeous Emily, a junior at Penn High School, is wearing chandelier earring by Chan Luu, an amazing 7.25″ cross pearl bracelet by Love Heals,  and a delicate cross drop necklace by a local jewelry designer.

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BFF’s, Emily and Peyton are both wearing Yoana Baraschi!  Peyton, on the right, also a junior from Penn High School, is wearing a beautiful lace rose dress that works perfectly with the tweed shoes!

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Strolling through our little quiet town this chilly afternoon is darling Madi, yet another junior from Penn High School, also wearing head to toe Yoana Baraschi.  She is wearing a sheer lace sleeveless top and lace rose ankle pants.

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Accessories always add so much to any outfit!  Here, I added 2 crystal stretch bracelets, a little embellished headband and a simple black clutch with a crystal closure to Madi’s outfit and to Peyton’s a soft flowy wrap and……..

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Chan Luu pearl earrings…..

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a delicate long handmade necklace by Harper Belle….

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 a metallic black evening clutch and a pink flower bangle bracelet by XOVO.

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How cool is this photo that our amazing photographer Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography took in front of this bookstore?

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The beautiful smile of Jennifer, a freshman at St Joseph High School, is the best accessory for this outfit consisting of a black netted sweater by Lauren Vidal and white jeans by David Kahn.  Her lavender and sterling silver chandelier earrings are by Chan Luu and she has matching black crystal cuff bracelets.

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Most of the girls that we photographed today knew each other and they were adorable together!  Like Jane, a junior from St Joseph High School and Sierra.  Jane is wearing a white sleeveless lace tunic top as a dress because she is a little shorter with a white slip from Only Hearts underneath.  AND matching sandals….

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gold and pearl hoop earrings

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a statement necklace

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and a must-have wrap bracelet from Chan Luu!

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Have a Safe and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope that we Inspired You!

xo

Jeanne

A special thank you to our amazing photographer Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography and to our beautiful models, Emily Sroda, Sierra Majors, Peyton Jaques, Jane Henry, Jennifer Cromartie and Madi Scott!  You were all such a joy to work with!

“Down The Rabbit Hole”

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Happy Spring everyone!  We are really ready to get outside and shoot but the weather still isn’t cooperating for us.  We decided to enjoy our time indoors and play some more in the store!  It isn’t a time to be too serious is it????

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When you get a really creative, passionate fashion guru (is that what I am?) and artistic, funky photographer together and an easy, fun loving model that doesn’t question our spontaneity , some crazy stuff happens!

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So, as you can see, our theme here is an Alice in Wonderland interpretation taking place in the kitchen of our store.  The black and white tile floors work perfectly for this theme and the pink walls just make everything POP!

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This cute little polka dot sundress will be so cute to wear when to finally warms up with the darling tie in the back but in the meantime we layered it up with this sheer white polka dot tee by Comfy USA and lace skirt and slip by Chan Luu. I added the cuffs and collar and striped tights from different costumes to complete her look.

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Our darling model and stylist from Salon Rouge this week is Nicole Biggerstaff.

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It is ALL about the photography this week!  Our photographer Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography totally showed her AMAZING talent in these shots.  Many times, we improvise along the way because both of our minds go a mile a minute coming up with different ideas.  It is so much FUN!

I hope we inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Many thanks to our beautiful model Nicole Biggerstaff from Salon Rouge for modeling and Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography!!!

Whimsical Fever

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There is nothing more elegant than pearls, lace and crystal.  Coco Chanel was quoted saying, “A woman needs ropes and ropes of pearls.”

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In the photo shoot this week with the beautiful Rachel Thimlar of Salon Rouge, I chose a large statement necklace in cascading pearls, a triple knuckle pearl ring and a tiny crystal bow ring on her other hand.

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I was so amazed how our photographer Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography shot these pictures!  Each and every week she gets more and more creative!  I love her!  These shots were taken in the “french room” of my store.  We loved the soft blue color of the walls and the hardwood floors for this shoot.

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Here is a shot of Rachel’s hair where she softly pinned it back at the top and a picture of the pearl stretch bracelet with crystal brooch.

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Another one of Coco Chanel’s quotes that I have always loved is, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.”  That is why I have never worn head to toe in one designer.  Here is this blog, I chose a beautiful chiffon sleeve and detachable bow blouse by Zelda and darling embroidered skirt by Chan Luu and a cute, little, silver cross body metallic bag.

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Lastly,  I was in DSW looking for shoes the week before for the previous photo shoot and saw these and knew these were the PERFECT shoes for this shoot!  I love when that happens!

I hope that I inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Modeling,Hair and Makeup – Rachel Thimlar of Salon Rouge

Photography – Brooke of Ashley Beige Photography

“Dream of Spring”

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We are all just waiting for glimpses of Spring outside right now, but we know it is just around the corner.  And soon the flowers will begin to bloom, the birds will start chirping away and the butterflies will start soaring through the air.

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We decided to bring a little of that Spring thought indoors last week with a play with butterflies.  You can’t help but smile and dance while dreaming of Spring!

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Our simply ADORABLE model is Lyra Tirotta of  Salon Rouge.

She is wearing shimmering pink earrings and ring from the Contessa Collection of Brighton.

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Lyra is also wearing a sheer polka dot top by Comfy USA, a tube top underneath by Free People, a black swing skirt by Only Hearts and thigh high socks by Plush.

Be playful and Smile!

I hope that we inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Photography:  Brooke from Ashley Beige Photography

Model/Hair/Makeup:  Lyra Tirotta from Salon Rouge

“Balloons in Motion”

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The snow that has fallen makes everything so incredibly beautiful.  Doesn’t it make you feel like jumping for joy and appreciating this beauty all around us?

So we decided to go outside and take advantage of it!

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Last week, I talked about going back to my roots. Part of what I meant was bringing back COLOR!  Right now my store is filled with lots of BLACK.  Trust me, I love it and it isn’t all going away but I am bringing a lot of color back in!

Our beautiful model Ashley Houser from Salon Rouge is wearing a colorful scarf from Cejon, pink crystal earrings from Chan Luu, and a darling pink flower beret and belt by Hoss Intropia.

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Even though it wasn’t too cold out last Wednesday, the wind wasn’t cooperating like we wanted, but Ashley was such a trooper and held on to those balloons tight!

White acrylic gloves

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This amazingly colorful dress is by Johnny Was.   I have fallen in love with this line all over again.  It has been awhile since I have ordered it for the store and some of my favorite pieces in my closet are from them, so I decided to look at it again when I was a market a few months ago.  I stepped into the showroom after looking at the same old stuff and I was SOOOOO excited!!!! So needless to say, I have lots of great styles from Johnny Was, Biya, and For Love and Liberty.  All divisions of Johnny Was.  Because it was a bit chilly out, I put a white polka dot tee shirt by Comfy USA underneath the dress to give a little arm coverage for Ashley.

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In this weather, we definitely need boots.  I did not have any in my store that would work for this dress, so I hunted for the right color and found these by GUESS at DSW.

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It was so beautiful out by the river that day even the geese seemed to be enjoying it.  One particular one decided to creep up to us and check out what we were up to.  Ashley decided to have a little fun with him.

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Keep on smiling!  Enjoy the beauty that this season offers because Spring will be here before you know it!

I hope that we inspired you!

xo

Jeanne

Photography:  Brooke- Ashley Beige Photography

Model-Hair-Makeup: Ashley Houser- Salon Rouge