venice beach

venice beach polaroids

I love Venice Beach. That is all. The poke bowl was amazing. If any of you love sashimi alone, then you will love poke, because that's just what it is. I got raw slices of spicy tuna mixed with kale, ginger, seaweed, sesame, and other things drenched in delicious magical sauce. Not to mention the acai bowl was heaven.. I had two bowls of that. It was just too perfect on the beach! And of course I came home with my body torched from too much love under the sun. And that's okay! It was worth it because being in the water is so healing. I'm definitely rejuvenated.

xx ss

fashionista tin box

If you didn't already know, my style of illustrating has multiple personalities. They change in size, medium, and character. Sometimes it's frustrating because it's inconsistent with the rest of my work, but then again I love that I'm flexible with my artwork because I discover new tricks and strategies as I continue to explore my style of illustrating. At the end of the day, I only share work that I'm proud of and love! Instead of taping these little fashion bloggers back into my sketchbook, I decided to stash them in my empty organic peppermint tin box. And how cute is this?! I can't wait to fill it up with more!

mini Willabelle's

mini fashion dolls stashed

organic peppermint tin box

I typically draw four of my favorite outfits of each fashion blogger. Today's muse is Willabelle of Pale Division. Her style is very classy, and she's such a doll. I love her play with pastel colors. She also takes amazing and mouth drooling photos of food. I can't handle it.

xx ss

muse: Christina Caradona

Christina of Trop Rouge instantly became an Instagram favorite of mine... First of all, I love her hair. If I wanted to keep my hair that short I would consider getting a perm to look exactly like hers! She's too cute. And I adore her style. Follow @troprouge !

xx ss

current mood

When you think, "at this point I should be so happy."  

xx ss

muse: Eugenie Grey

That dress... the color.. the design. Omg. I want it. You want it. Check out the full on photoshoot on Feral Creature!  This beautiful kimono dress is from Tularosa! Love, love, love...  

xx ss

bare & painted

Here's a new way to button up a dress shirt! It's a tad risque, but it can be done. It's a brand new trend so it'll be a while until this look is played out. And the painted denim continues.. it's a work of art!
 

Instagram photo cred: @yara_michels / @rialtojeanproject / @vivalamanika / @sundaysuppers / @_foodstories_ / @denimdoinggood

xx ss

muse: Angela Fink

Hellooo instacrush! I picked two of my favorite looks from Angela's Instagram. It's relaxed but sexy. Follow @thefashionsight!  
 

xx ss

silhouettes & details

Denim trends continued! Boyfriend jeans are very much the hype these days. It's the most comfortable fit and it's making its way into the new sexy versus the skinny jean. While there's many variations of the boyfriend - wrecked, distressed, baggy, skinny, relaxed, bleached, I feel that the "tailored" boyfriend will soon make its introduction. I can't predict that it will become a fad, but rather just an extension of the boyfriend jean which I feel the life span of its popularity will last a few more years. This doesn't only apply in the denim department but also the wovens as well. It's becoming a classic look. I actually don't even own a pair... ugh! I haven't found my perfect match just yet!

The boxy denim crop top is a new silhouette I've found that will probably emerge as a contemporary occasional look rather than a casual every day look. Not everyone can pull this look off however because it's denim, it's cropped, and it's a boxy fit. But who knows! I'd love to see how people style this up! It's super chic.. I can definitely see bloggers like Fashion Toast, Le Blog de Betty, A Fashion Nerd, and The Haute Pursuit pulling this off. I probably can.. maybe, not sure.. lol. Stay tuned for more trends I've discovered!
 

xx ss

mini vacay

After working hard these past few weeks, this was much needed. I'm so blessed to have spent this weekend with my amazing and loving family. Loved every moment of it..
 

color explosion

{ Splattered paint applications are returning once again on denim. In my illustration I incorporated it as a block piece (inner legs and jacket sleeves) denim contrast.. change it up ya know? } ---

I jumped back into work after a week long {andmuch needed} vacay and to my surprise for my first big project at work I was asked to do trend research for a meeting on Monday. Heck yes! This is only what I've been wanting to get back into since I started working in the fashion industry! Omg I was excited, so excited. Boss lady asked me to incorporate my fashion illustrations as well which made me the happiest girl in the world that day. I was born for this! In case you all didn't know, I began my career as a trend forecaster where I was sketching garments and fashion illustrations all day every day. Not to mention the endless shopping I did that was part of the job which turned into an addiction earlier in life. It was my dream job. I got to work in Tokyo and Hong Kong.. and shop! It was an amazing experience that ended so soon. But at the same time I'm so very grateful for that experience and also the other experiences that followed after. Understanding the fashion industry, the way garments are made, constructed, processed, and most of all learning the balance of design has brought me here. Everything I've learned I can now pull together and fine tune and hone my talent. :) #nevergiveup
 

So for the long weekend this 4th of July, I've been working my heart and soul into this project and definitely wanted to share it with everyone.. I'm going to continue where I left off when I began this blog. It's a place for trend forecasting alongside my illustrations. So here's a looksy into Fall/Holiday 15 for denim...! There are 9 more fashion dolls next in line, so stay tuned for the next trending group!
 

xx ss

mental vacation

Yay vacation time! My contract with my most recent job expired last Friday where I worked full-time hours every day of the week for the past few months. Being back in the fashion industry wasn't that bad overall. I love that I learned some valuable lessons, made awesome new friends and connections, and had a great experience overall. But, some of it was starting to get to my head, just a little bit...!
 

What I hate about full-time positions is that it starts becomes a routine.  And I get bored.. which cuts off the creative flow. My day-to-day life was me sitting at my desk for several hours typing away on my computer and analyzing garments. My time was precious to me, so I would use my lunch break to work on new sketches and work towards my passion. I would also take some time off from doing my work to learn more about patterns by a very skilled and talented patternmaker, who I consider now my friend. I tried to change up my days as much as I could and see what valuable experiences I could take from it. An amazing opportunity was given to me which I'm so excited to do {stay tuned!} But within all that, being around the same people every day, hearing the gossip, politics, people's egos, and daily complaints has caused me to become a little irritable, negative, critical, and judgmental. In the beginning I was very good at blocking and draining all those nasty vibes, but over time it definitely built up again to the point where there wasn't enough of me to let it go. Next thing I know, I'm unable to think for myself or function correctly, and the most annoying part is me being unable to articulate my words... and get my point across.. ugh that sucks. I just find myself talking and talking without making any sense. There's just too much static noise in my head! And thankfully before it got louder, my contract was up! Even though I wanted to stay, feel safe, mostly to keep a steady paycheck, I knew deep down that my soul didn't want it. It was tired and needed a break. It was time to check in with myself again and get back to what I love doing the most.

So... basically my time is precious. The last two days I haven't gone out to see or talk to anybody. I can't talk without stuttering or stumbling over my words lol. My mind's a blur. But, it's the perfect time to unplug, get away, do things that make me happy. Like go to Disneyland, haha! My next plan is to try to land my dream job.. currently manifesting it.

In the next post I'm thinking of doing less words, and more imagery. My head space is just...

anyways, have a good week everyone!

xx ss

role model + muse: garance dore

When I started this blog 2 years ago, Garance was the only fashion illustrator I admired and looked up to. It was her success story of becoming a fashion illustrator and professional photographer that drove me further into my passion.. Garance never went to school to learn how to sketch, she was self taught. That alone was enough to keep me going because 2 years ago, I sucked! Lol. Even though I took fashion illustration classes at FIDM, I was still drawing stiff and unbalanced women. It was frustrating and tiring. But I remained consistent with my blogging and illustrating in hopes to improve and change that.

“Who to copy is easy. You copy your heroes - the people you love, the people you’re inspired by, the people you want to be. ”

— Austin Kleon, excerpt from Steal Like An Artist

When I took a whole year off from working last year to do some soul searching, I studied different styles of illustrations from other artists and practiced sketching every single day. I would spam my friends' and followers' feed on Instagram with my daily illustrations looking for positive feedback but it was a hit and miss each time. I couldn't find my own unique style for the life of me so I would always copy Garance's and my other favorite illustrators as well. Garance was always my number one favorite artist to try and emulate, but then I realized I could never achieve the quality of work that she does or any other artist. I've had to adapt to what I knew now and could do, and work with what I've got. Doing so has eventually helped me come out with my own unique style of illustrating! And it's never felt so right to make it my own.. I've even named it! - Intuitive illustrating :) ..

I'm even more in love and proud of my work now. And at this point I don't look to my role model for help anymore! However, Garance will always be my hero and her work will never fail to inspire me.

Thank you for being true to you Garance! You are an inspiration.. I always look forward to more creations by you! <3

xx ss

muse: Wendy Nguyen

Today's tiny fashion muse is Wendy Nguyen! After last week's fun idea, I wanted to continue doing more cut outs of my illustrations.. Sometime last week I just pictured hanging my little sketches on the tiny clothespins I got myself from the Dollar Tree store last year, lol. I purchased these little clothespins on impulse because they were so cute! But didn't know what I would do with them. That's my problem.. I just buy cute things on impulse when I don't have any use for them. But I do now that I've shrunken my illustrations to like 1 1/2"-2" lol.

Happy Sunday!

xx ss

happy friday

Voila! Here it is! Happy Friday! The holiday every miserable full-time worker looks forward to every week {lol}! And since I've been working again, I've forgotten how often this greeting is used. I actually get annoyed of it because it's resetting my mind to think you can only enjoy the rest of your week only when it's Friday. But anyway, reality demands it and I hear it so much now that I had to create something relative to this! Since I've developed a habit of drawing on my paper tea cups at work, it's opened my mind to be even more creative with my illustrations. It started with this original drawing here:

Remember this video? It took 3 mugs and a duration of a month to perfect the look of this illustration! And finally.. it's finished!

And it was actually my friend at work who suggested the idea to put this on a mug. And that was perfect because who isn't a coffee / tea drinker in the morning? And who doesn't say "Happy Friday" on Fridays? Right? So, I pushed forward with the idea and here it is! Just know, you guys, that it doesn't have to be Friday for you to start enjoying your life! Take a day off once in a while in the middle of the week! I promise, it's worth it! But if Fridays are forever your favorite weekly holiday, then so be it :)

{celebrate.}

I hope you like it and use it every Friday! You can purchase it here where I also have my old works being sold there as well; and will add on new illustrations in the future.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

xx ss

muse: Keiko Lynn

The adorable, colorful, and stylish Keiko Lynn!

xx ss

a sabbatical

My day off part 2:

much needed.

I've been thrown into a funk a little bit because of my day job. It's gotten to the point where my head constantly worries if I'll be able to finish my work on time or who next in the room is going to lose it and go crazy for the day. Not to mention spread their nasty vibes. Eek, it's gross. Because of that I've been unable to fully check in with myself to see how I'm really doing. I've been tired, a little stressed, and functioning like a zombie. But since I've been doing some serious sketching every single day I've kept my sanity. This morning I woke up and my gut told me that I needed to just take today off while my head was screaming, "get up! You need a full week's paycheck!" Hearing that made everything my body constrict itself and even felt a little headache coming on. And when I checked in with my gut again, my body relaxed and I felt like I was expanding. I needed to walk away from work completely today. And then it was decided, I am taking the f*&%$#)^ day off!

I was excited. What to do? I even made a list this morning. Luckily my older sister was free today so I brought her along. I wanted to go to a restaurant I hadn't tried before, and discovered Gracias Madre in West Hollywood. They serve vegan and organic mexican food. The atmosphere is a bit hoity toity but the food is delicious. And my michelada drink was magical! It brought on good laughs and weird moments between me and my sister.. Most importantly I finally felt relaxed and I was able to feel grounded again. After the restaurant we rented a movie and just chilled for the rest of the day. I also made time to do mini sketches :). As much as I wanted take my weekly spiritual class at the end of the day, my body couldn't muster up the energy to do one more thing for the day. What it needed the most was rest. And rest it was! :D

It was so worth it.

xx ss

the Naked 3 experimento

Happy Weekend everyone!!

I woke up this morning with this wild idea to color my little illustrations using Urban Decay's Naked3 palette. I love the way it turned out, but maybe the next time I use make-up as my medium I'll use colors that pop! I totally forgot how subtle the Naked3 palette was, lol. I love this brand anyhow. They have the best metallic colors.

The muse I used {in this little made up project I did for myself} is Cosette Munch of crackcosette.com. I felt her outfits worked perfectly with the Naked3 aesthetic.. And I also like her simple and graceful poses!

This was super fun to do overall.. Did you catch my process on my instagram? :)

xx ss

the daily grind

Everything has been so fast paced since I jumped back into the fashion industry. The workload is piling, the stress level is increasing, and it's starting to suck the good energy out of me. Thankfully I have those few people at work who are more grounded than the others who can't handle pressure very well. They help keep me sane. Come around lunchtime I mentally check out and spend 30 minutes doing quick intuitive illustrations of any fashion blogger that catches my eye. Then I take a photo of it and post it on my instagram. And I do that every single day. It's a must. It makes me happy to see the results of my work and progress every day. I love creating something new every day!

While I try to keep up with that daily, I also do my best to squeeze in time with friends after work, as well as keeping up with my weekly classes. Omg, it's tiring, but I love it, - don't get me wrong. Every moment is just so precious. And I love meeting new people! You just never know what you can get out of meeting a person.

As much as I want to stay at home all day and sketch and do projects, I always try to pull away from the temptation and instead engage myself in something new after every couple of hours. And whenever I do that, I actually find new inspiration! It's something I'm still trying to adjust to, because once I have the wheels going in my brain, - like any artist, I can't stop creating until it's finished. But sometimes I've learned it's good to just take a step back, re-evaluate your work, start over {if you have to, -I HATE that}, and then share it. Since I've been doing intuitive illustrating I've learned to slow down and enjoy the process of sketching blindly {meaning no erasing, 100% ink}. It's like doing handstands and having no wall to fall back on. That's the beauty of trust. Before you find your ground, you'll screw up a lot. And my sketches aren't always perfect; but at the same time I enjoy the flaws too. I just have so much I want to do and accomplish in the small amount of time I have in a day or in a week. But I realize that before I do accomplish my dreams I need to just take one step at a time, slow it down, learn, and enjoy the process. And within that, enjoy what life has to offer. So far I've been enjoying the new people I meet every week.

Everyday you find something new.. if you pay attention!

xx ss

muse: Alix

This parisienne girl is my new favorite fashion blogger. I find myself more attracted to fashion bloggers who a.) has a unique personalized and chic sense of style, and b.) can pose elegantly & have fun! I've found a lot of the popular fashion bloggers to be stiff, and are afraid of movement. And to me, that doesn't make their outfits look great. I just love Alix's looks and photos! Check her out here!

http://www.thecherryblossomgirl.com/

xx ss

the yoga situation

Om.. I've been obsessed with stretching ever since I was a kid. And I love seeing the different transformations I could play with in my body. In my early teens, I discovered yoga in my dance classes where it was incorporated into our routines. And for the first time I was introduced to the deeper part of yoga.. I'm talking about the odd zen behavior and state that you needed to get into in order to feel that "oneness" with yourself they say. Which I get, because I have a different way of tuning into that, but it just never really worked with me to use with yoga. And to be honest, I didn't like it all too much.. it reminded me of church, lol. But I did enjoy the challenging stretches and poses that definitely put my flexibility to test! And I still do...! And with all the dance classes I've taken over the years, yoga has stuck with me since.

Nowadays I still take dance classes, mainly ballet and bellydance, and Bollywood sometimes. But I don't take any yoga classes. I like do my yoga at home. The atmosphere in a yoga classroom just never really.. resonated with me. So I teach myself, which is doable by the way! :) I remember there was a girl who recommended I should do teacher training and register as a yoga teacher. I was like... ommm, no. Not for me! Lol. And, that's expensivo, so no thanks. Also another reason why I don't take yoga classes, they cost more than my dance classes!

But I still love yoga. And lately I've been focused on toning my stick arms. And I'm so enjoying the process!

I used to be able to do handstands all the time {and walk on my hands!!} when I was a kid.. I'm currently re-teaching myself again.

xx ss