52 Pick-me-up: Cyclamen

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It's a flower week on 52 Pick-me-up, featuring the cyclamen.

Cyclamen persicum by Mauricio Mercadante [source] 

The pink in the photo above reminds me of my pink shawl. Here's an older picture from last February:

Link up your flower power!

52 Pick-me-up: Bejeweled

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I'm more of a silver rings on my fingers kind of a gal.
On my wrist, I've draped a rhinestone necklace that I got from my mom years and years ago.
Happy holidays to all!

Have something sparkly to share? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Frozen

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It's nowhere near freezing here in LA. It HAS become chilly, however.

"Let it GOOOOOOO"

I'm linking up with Visible Monday.

What are you wearing to keep warm? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Crazy Legs

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Time for some crazy on your legs. Crazy pants, crazy tights, crazy socks, crazy shoes.
I'm wearing the crazy tights that I had printed and rainbow socks that Ruth gave me.

How crazy will you go? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Morning Glory

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It's another flower themed week on 52 Pick-me-up. Let the Morning Glory be your inspiration.

Morning Glories by trekr on Flickr (source) 

Morning Glories come in a range of colors -- pinks, blues, and purples.
I opted for a look with purples:

My scarf is a gift from Bella of Citizen Rosebud. She gave it to me when we met last May during my US road trip.

I'm linking up with a special edition of Visible Monday.
Patti has a giveaway drawing for a Karina dress (until 12/7/2014 9:00am PST), in case you're interested.

Morning Glory or glorious morning?

Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Black

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Black is this week's 52 Pick-me-up theme. How to make black not so basic? I mixed textures:

I'm linking up with Patti's Visible Monday
and
Sacramento's Share in Style

52 Pick-me-up: Medieval

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Medieval brings to mind rich deep colors and gold:

thumbnails from Google Images 

Here's my version:

Have anything Medieval in your closet?
Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Cartoon

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This week's 52 Pick-me-up theme is Cartoon.
I'm wearing a cartoon smiley face from Newbury Comics.

I'll be linking up with Patti's Visible Monday later today.

52 Pick-me-up: Layers

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Pile it on! Layers week on 52 Pick-me-up.

52 Pick-me-up: Marigold

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Get inspired by marigolds this week on 52 Pick-me-up. I love their orangey yellow color.

Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Animal

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For animal week on 52 Pick-me-up, I'm mixing dalmatian and leopard. Grrrrrr!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.

Have any animal prints in your closet? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Inspired by a Toy

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Thank you everyone for your kind sentiments on last week's post. I appreciated them very much.

This week's challenge is to dress like a toy. It could be the colors of said toy or whatever. Or just a picture of the toy if that's all you can manage.

Some of my favorite toys as a young girl were my Barbie Dolls. I played out many melodramatic scenarios with them -- often Midge was in peril and Barbie always rescued her. I sewed outfits for them and I think even hand knit a sweater or two. Those artifacts have disappeared, which is probably just as well.
In 1989 I started working at Mattel as a Barbie fashion designer. It seemed like a fun job to have at the time and I lasted there full time for four years. Here I am at my going away party on my last day:

See my matching Barbie? It's a custom doll that my coworkers made for me. In this case, the outfit inspired the doll. Close enough for this week.

What was your favorite toy? Link and tell!

Goodbye Mr Chuey

Today I had to say goodbye to this guy:

Between congestive heart failure and weak kidneys, he couldn't pull through.

Too sad for 52 Pick-me-up. See you next week.

52 Pick-me-up: Plaid

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This coming Friday, October 3, is Plaidurday, a day to celebrate wearing plaid.
Why not wear it all week?
Here, I'm wearing a summer plaid, printed on cotton. It's still too hot in Southern CA to wear flannel or wool.

Have some plaid in your closet? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Hibiscus

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Another flower week on 52 Pick-me-up, this time featuring the hibiscus.

I found this shirt, which you've seen before.

You could also go for a hibiscus inspired color palette...

I'll be linking up with Patti's Visible Monday later today.

Your turn:

52 Pick-me-up: Grunge

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It's Grunge week on 52 Pick-me-up. Take the way back machine to Seattle, late 80s/early 90s.
Or not.
Here's my interpretation, without a speck of flannel in the equation:

Green grunge!

 Have you any grunge in your closet? Please share!

52 Pick-me-up: Back to School

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My semesters start late at Otis College of Art and Design, where I teach digital design in the Continuing Ed Department. This fall, my class is Digital Design for Fashion. I have eight students learning Photoshop and Illustrator.
I do a lot of leaning over desks while teaching, so I went with this easy tunic over leggings.

I'll be joining Patti's Visible Monday later today.

How does "Back to School" look to you? No pop quizzes, promise!

52 Pick-me-up: Sunflower

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The 52 Pick-me-up theme this week is sunflower.
I interpret it loosely again.

With my sort of sunflower patterned hat, I'm joining Judith's Hat Attack.

Come be a flower child too! Link and tell!

Plaid Ur Day

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My blogging friend Señora Allnut is hosting a plaid party today on her blog. Rather than me in one of my plaid outfits, I'm sharing a photo of my desk at work from earlier in the week:

Yes, I design plaids for mens underwear and lounge pants! Yes, it's fun!

52 Pick-me-up: Rococo

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It's Rococo week on 52 Pick-me-up.

Some inspiration for you:

François Boucher Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour, 1756 

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767 

My outfit is less frothy than the two paintings above. 

I thought the print on the skirt had a rococo vibe:

It's a Leon Max skirt that I purchased in the early 90s.

Did you go rococo this week? Link and tell!

I'm linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.

52 Pick-me-up: Goddess

I couldn't find my inner goddess in my closet this week.
Instead, she's on my living room wall, in a painting by Leslie A. Brown.

Leslie paints many modern goddesses. Go take a look over on her website.

Did you find your inner goddess? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Woodstock Nation

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This week on 52 Pick-me-up, let your inner hippie shine.

If no further than your back yard, it's cool.

Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Dessert

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Dress like your favorite dessert this week!
My interpretation is very loose:

I'm supposed to representing blueberry pie.
Here's a slice that Connie treated me to last March:

Mmmmmmm. Pie...

What's your favorite dessert? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Orchid

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This week, get inspired by orchids.

I was thinking of this Oncidium:

source 

When I wore this:

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday

52 Pick-me-up: Disco Diva

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It's disco week at 52 Pick-me-up.
Here are some divas to inspire you.

And silent disco balls:

Link and boogie!

52 Pick-me-up: Fairy Tale

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Once upon a time there was a blogger named SpyGirl.
She found her muse under a bush.

Funny sketches of outfits resulted.

 She started taking outfit photos

Found a good corner for posing

Joined a fun group of Visible Monday friends, who she started sketching

Created her own link up party

And lived happily ever after!
[Until she was faced with the challenge for this week].
This week's prompt is Fairy Tale. Interpret as you see fit. Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Transport!

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It's 52 Pick-me-up time again. This week, an unusual challenge -- dress like your transport. Your car, the subway, your footwear, your imaginary time machine -- how do you get around town?

I use a Prius:

It did a great job getting me around the US and is now back into commuting mode.

The outfit:

Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Minimalism

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Are you ready for a new round of 52 Pick-me-up? I've listed the 52 prompts (some new, some have returned) on the 52 Pick-me-up page. Every Sunday, I'll post the week's prompt and the link-up remains live until the following Sunday, 5:30am Pacific time.

This week's theme is Minimalism!

Donald Judd, 15 Untitled Works in Concrete, Marfa, TX
See more of my photos here
Read more about Judd's project here

How does the above piece by Donald Judd relate to clothing?
This dress that I sewed is made from rectangles!

With the summer's heat, I'm wearing my loose tunics. Maybe this plain navy linen-blend one is borderline hospital gownish, I don't care. I made it during my road trip -- I needed a dark, non-patterned tunic that wouldn't reflect off the car windows so that I could shoot photos.

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.

Have you gone minimal? Link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Greatest Hits and Some Misses

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We did it. A full year of ways to remix from your closet. Did you miss a week? Feel like relinking one of your better efforts? Anything goes for the rest of the month. Got a good idea for a new prompt? Please add it in the comments! A second round of 52 Pick-me-up will start Sunday, June 29. Me, I need to catch up on my sketching. I'm not yet playing with a full deck!

All the prompts from the past year:

  1. Boyfriend/girlfriend 
  2. Complementary colors
  3. Red/white/blue/black
  4. Floral bouquet: mix your florals with…
  5. Go with the flow: long, loose, and drapey
  6. Choose your shoes first. Then get dressed.
  7. 70s Flashback
  8. Fruit salad: peach/orange/lemon/lime
  9. Wear the same garment 3 ways during the week. Will anyone notice?
10. Stripes
11. 80s
12. White it out
13. Fill your favorite mug (or tea cup) with your morning brew. Now dress to coordinate.
14. International relations: wear garments from two different countries
15. 90s
16. Texture salad
17. Tone poem: mix a bright and a berry tone
18. Put your accessories on first. Now get dressed.
19. MROW! Leopard/cheetah/tiger
20. [Paint it] black
21. Graphic tee and girly bottom
22. Analogous colors
23. Trend salad -- wear as many trends as you can IN ONE OUTFIT.
24. Blue hues
25. Get Layered
26. Plaids -- two or three or...
27. Royal purple flush

28. Mixed metallics -- shine like an ornament.
29. You have not worn it for a year. Now is the time.
30. Pantone color of the year [any year]
31. 10s – 1910s or 2010s
32. Choose a scarf. Wear those colors.
33. Short over long

34. Lots of dots

35. In the pink
36. 20s
37. Dress like your favorite cocktail
38. Locate your craziest socks. Now build an outfit.
39. Get green

40. 30s 

41. Geometrics 

42. I pity the [April] fool: Mr T is your fashion muse

43. Wear something back to front
44. Dress like a tree

45. Yellow fever 

46. Something that was/is your Mom’s 

47. 50s 

48. Uptight/alright: wear that thing that’s a little too small
49. Pattern max -- how many can you wear at the same time? 
50. Long over short
51. 60s

52. Greatest Hits -- recap your favorite 52 Pick-me-up or add one or two or...

Link and tell!
And don't forget, if you have any good ideas for prompts, please include them in your comments.