Pinterest contest: My Favorite Book

It's time we finally embrace Pinterest! We're kicking things off by hosting a Pinterest contest, combining our favorite clothing with old school literature! The prize is a $50 gift certificate on Emerging Thoughts, and the rules are pretty simple:

1. Create a Pinterest board inspired by your favorite book. Think of the characters, the setting, representative objects, but also dress style. Name the board "Emerging Thoughts: My Favorite Book". Make sure you mention the title of the book in the description of your board. 
2. Follow Emerging Thoughts on Pinterest.
3. Tag each pin with the hashtag #emergingthoughts. 
4. Make sure you include at least 3 items from emergingthoughts.com in your board.
5. Leave the link to your board as a comment below. 

Our favorite board will win the gift card! We'll consider the overall aesthetic and creativity of your board. You can submit your comment until May 20th, and the winner will be announced the next day, here on the blog.

If you don't have a Pinterest account and you need an invitation, email lauren@emergingthoughts.com and we'll send you one asap!

Dear Creatures & Coury Combs

Dear Creatures classic inspired line combines old with contemporary new, creating a unique staple. Their pieces are always timeless. Coury Combs of fancytreehouse is the perfect blogger to model the Spring line. Her doll like appearance and love for pretty clothing makes this the perfect collaboration.

Here's a little Q/A with Coury:

When did you start blogging? Why did you decide to start a blog? I have been blogging for over 10 years now. I've been on livejournal, myspace, xanga, and now blogspot. I only started style blogging almost 2 years ago, in September 2010. It felt like a natural way to document my life and I just have a lot of fun doing it.

How would you define style? Style is something that is inherently in us. I think we all have style, it just might be hard to find it sometimes. It takes some inspiration and a lot of confidence to wear exactly what you want to wear and feel comfortable in it.

Why do you like Dear Creatures? Dear Creatures always makes my favorite girlie pieces. Every single season. I just love the sweet details and how well made and well priced the line is. Dream line!

Which were your favorite pieces? So hard! There's definitely a lot to love about all of them but if I had to choose I would say the Bow back dress. I am just a big fat sucker for anything with a large bow on it! :)

Why do you think it's important to support independent designers? Independent designers put everything they have into their designs. It means more to them so the quality is usually better and one of the best things is that there aren't as many of these pieces in production so there is a better chance of being unique.

You also have your own online vintage shop. Yes, I have been selling vintage and reworked pieces for almost 4 years now. I get so much joy from it and it makes me so happy to see the new owner enjoying the piece that wouldn't have made it into their closet otherwise!

Dusen Dusen meets Fashion Pirate

I have been obsessed with Brooklyn based Dusen Dusen since the brand first launched. The prints are killer and the cuts are perfect. Who knew that bugs could look so cute? There's no better blogger to pair Dusen Dusen with than one of the coolest girls, Arabelle Sirardi, from fashionpirate.net.

Here's a little Q&A with Arabelle:

How long have you been blogging? Why did you decide to start a blog?
More than 4 years now, my 4th anniversary was this January. I started mine because I needed somewhere to record my fascination with fashion.

Are you surprised by the success and popularity of your blog?
Yeah it weirds me out sometimes. I'm lucky.

How would you define "style"?
Tangible personality.

What are you studying in college?

Gender Studies & Journalism.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I don't know, hopefully I'll be working in the beauty industry. I try not to think too far ahead because I get caught up. I'm just doing what I want right now and hopefully this stuff will lead to further opportunities.

Which are your favorite Dusen Dusen pieces?
The insect collared dress and the denim dress, definitely. BUGS EVERYWHERE.

Why do you think it's important to support independent designers?
Because the entire system is working against them. It's very easy to come out of Parsons or FIT or what have you and just get swept up into a larger house and never even set up your own brand even though that's what you may have worked for your entire college life at design school (if you even went). It's very cut throat and if you aren't lucky enough to get backing by a major magazine or picked up by the CFDA or what have you, you have so little chance of succeeding even though you may have the talent and vision that others who were luckier don't have.

Favorite music? Are you still K-POP's number 1 fan?
Yeah, right now I'm listening to Hot Clip and GDTOP and Block B like, religiously haha. My top plays on iTunes are Azealia Banks, Beyonce, and korean hip hop. Diva music.

Do you have any hidden talents? I can curse in 10 languages? Does that count? I'm pretty useless. I mean I can climb things really, really fast...I used to pretend I was an elf when I was little so I had a lot of practice climbing trees.

Blogger/Model collaboration

I am really excited about the new way that we are going to model the clothing in my boutique. Going forward, my favorite fashion bloggers will be modeling the pieces. This will be a great way to have an already close community supporting each other, and that is essentially the spirit of Emerging Thoughts To start things off, Beatrice Holloway will be modeled by Katie Shelton of skunkboycreatures.blogspot.com/

I chose Katie because her style represents Beatrice Holloway's sweet and feminine knit pieces.

Here's a little Q&A with Katie:

How long have you been blogging? Why did you decide to start a blog?
I have been blogging for about 4 years, but only seriously for a little over 2 years. I originally started blogging as a way to share different bits and pieces of my handmade business, but it has grown into something so much more. Now I share about my life, music I love, outfits I wear, my kids, and DIYs.

You also own your own small business Skunkboy Creatures. Why is it important to support small businesses like ours?
I'm all about supporting small businesses. As someone who runs their own handmade shop, I know what kind of work goes into starting, growing, and maintaining a business. It is a true labor of love and I want to help support others with the same dream.

How would you define your style?
My style is very girly and feminine. I love a great dress. Actually, there aren't a lot of things better than a really great/wearable dress. I'm totally smitten with and inspired by fashion from the 60s and some of the 70s.

Which are your favorite Beatrice Holloway pieces?
Easy: the Made in the Dark blouse, the Flounce Dress, and the Coltrane Dress.

Favorite bands? Which are your favorite records?
Three of my favorite bands/albums right now are Sam Roberts' Collider, Dr. Dog's Be the Void, and St. Vincent's Strange Mercy.

Where Is My Mind: Packing Orders

About 99% of the orders that we send out are perfect. I take so much pride in making sure my customers are taken care of. While it's rare, we've had a few cringe worthy moments where I ask myself, where is my mind? In no particular order here are a few of my favorite blunders that were too ridiculous not to share:


1. Yesterday, I inadvertently included my apartment keys in an order. I packed and sent out over a dozen orders, so it's tough to figure out who's going to receive them. Maybe you will be the lucky recipient!

2. Up until a year ago I co-owned an online children's department store and emergingthoughts was just a side business. I would work a 9am to 7pm job in the New Jersey department store, then come home to work on emergingthoughts. To better manage my time I started shipping the emergingthoughts orders from the New Jersey office. One day I received an email from a distraught mother. This is where things get weird. The package was addressed to her daughter and when she opened it she found baby bottles and pacifiers. The mother was freaking out because she assumed her teenage daughter was secretly pregnant. It took me about an hour to realize that I had commingled the emergingthoughts orders with the childrens' department store orders, and that her daughter actually ordered a Snoozer Loser dress. Yikes. Luckily we were both able to laugh it off.

3. 10 months ago I accidentally sent 5 separate orders to the same person. I’m not sure how this happened and I think it’s best left that way.

4. This one wasn't my fault but fits among the tales of emergingthoughts bloopers:

I used to also have all emergingthoughts packages be delivered to the New Jersey department store as I previously mentioned. So, after we were vendors at Chicago's Pitchfork Festival in 2010, I had all of the remaining merchandise shipped from Chicago to the New Jersey store. Apparently, no one at the department store knew about my side business, and even though the boxes were addressed to me, they opened them without my approval. One morning as I walked to my office, I passed by the sales floor and to my amazement an employee had priced and put out my entire collection of women's clothing on the sales floor, next to baby onesies. This is a children's department store mind you. I seriously can't remember the last time I felt so shocked.

I'm sure customers rarely wonder about the little problems that occur with small businesses. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a few embarrassing mishaps. Fear not, if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of a blunder extra goodies will be coming your way.

Sea of Bees Jewelry Guest Post

Hey everyone! Its such a pleasure to be a guest post on the Emerging Thoughts Blog! Let me introduce myself: My name is Stephanie, I'm an artist based in Orlando, Florida, but you may know me better as the lady behind Sea of Bees Jewelry. Before starting Sea of Bees I worked as graphic designer at a fast paced visual design firm where I felt like I was squandering my creative juices on projects with short turnarounds and limited imaginations. Having been a creative hands on artist since I was a child and wasn't happy until I was working or thinking up my next production. After a few years of working in fast paced design, going back to art was a natural migration. After creating small sculptures of birds and other woodland animals I could see in the woods of my back porch, I decided to subsequently incorporate the pieces into jewelry designs and create pieces that I've always longed to wear.

Biggest Inspirations for the Jewelry Lines:
Flora and fauna have always been one of my biggest inspirations as well as ornate realism and vintage kitsch. Personally, I have always been a big fan of Leonardo da Vinci's intricate futuristic pieces for that very reason; he took to nature as his artistic inspiration and developed a style uniquely his own. Another more modern artist I admire is Lindsey Carr, her art work is a very ornate modern interpretation of a very beautiful vintage style. I strive to combine woodland nature with ornate vintage flair, which was my how the idea for the woodland fantasy line got started.

The basis of the new Lux Frontier collection is a more evolutionary geometric / abstract style with a modern approach to elements found in nature and space. The new work under the Lux Frontier Line “galactic in nature” features hip, edgy and modern statement pieces that head into a new metaphysical direction, an appreciation for an interpretative study of and how these elements coexist happily in nature.

I am so happy to be apart of Emerging Thoughts because its an incredible online powerhouse that showcases whats amazing about up and coming talent and handmade work.

One of the newest pieces coming to the shop is the the “Day and Night” statement necklace. The necklace is intended to have dual wear, making it the most versatile piece in your wardrobe! The necklace features color on one side and full golden brass on the back, just flip to match your occasion whether fun or elegant- it's got you covered! To see whats in stock click here!

Stay tuned for pieces of our new collection in the shop soon!

2011: Best Year Yet

This has been emergingthoughts.com's most successful year. I finally quit my corporate job to focus full time on my little boutique, and it's amazing to watch it grow. I am still taking baby steps every day, but can't wait to show everyone what's to come.

Keiko is helping raise money for WIN. If you have a few bucks to spare, please help out.

Michelle Hartney has been helping with my jewelry photography, and a billion other things. We plan on doing several collaborations together. Follow her on twitter for her latest updates. Sign up for her giveaway here:

My web designer and photographer, Alan Kong, is the best. He is patient, even when I send him incoherent dum dum 4am emails like "I SAT HERE FOR OVER AN HOUR TRYING TO TAKE PHOTOS HELP ME I ONLY SEE BLACK" followed 2 hours later with "just realized the lens cap was still on the camera..."

Finally, thank you x's 500,000,000 to all of my customers. I know I have the best customers ever and I promise to continue to provide the best customer service!

Stay tuned for news on what's to come in 2012!