Cherry Truffle

Usually when I dye my hair, I opt for Natural Instincts in Cinnaberry. My natural hair color is medium to dark brown with red highlights, and Cinnaberry gives those highlights a nice little boost without looking unnatural.

However, I needed to go a bit more red for my Halloween costume this year, so I went with a L'Oreal color called "cherry truffle."

Also, I switched brands without doing a patch test 48 hours before dyeing. I like to live dangerously.

My hair's still wet so I can't share the results just yet, but I'll definitely post photos of my new hair color (and my Halloween costume!) after this weekend.

Oh, and the craft show this past Saturday went pretty well! This one was well established and there was a decent crowd, so I made a pretty good profit for the day. And I processed my first credit card purchase! It's kind of silly how excited I was about it. My next show is November 11, so here's hoping I make lots more sales, credit card or otherwise! ;-)

UPDATE: While my hair is redder (more red?) than before,it's more mahogany than cherry truffle. I managed to take a quick picture between jobs tonight, and you can see that it's actually quite red where the light catches it.

I guess this means I'll have to spend a lot of time directly under bright lights during the party on Saturday?? ;-)

Pick My Hairstyle!

One of my best friends is getting married next week - yay!!!

And I'm in the bridal party! I get to wear this:


Gorgeous, right??

But the only guidance we have for our hair is that it has to be an updo of some sort. Right now my hair is on the shortish side (by my standards, at least - it's just below my shoulders). And it's got some layers in it, so anything that requires all hair to reach the nape of my neck is out.

I browsed around on The Knot and managed to narrow it down to 3 hairstyles that I think (hope!) my hais is long enough/thick enough to handle. Here they are:

Style #1:

Style #2:

Style #3

Which one do you think I should choose??

Before and After

Well, it took me way longer than I would have liked, but I finally have before an after photos of my hair!

Here it is before I chopped off nearly a foot of it:


I didn't realize how red my (natural!) highlights were until I looked at this picture. (Also, my hair is crazy messy here. It was a long day and I didn't have the energy to fix it up before taking this picture.)

Here's a picture of Glen and me, all dressed up at this past weekend's wedding:


And here's a close-up of the new do:


It's funny, every time I chop off a lot of hair, every thinks I dyed it because it looks SO much darker.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Elvis, all dressed up for Halloween:


He was a big hit with the trick-or-treaters, and hopefully he made up for the fact that neither of us humans got dressed up.

The next couple of weeks are going to be kind of insane. I'm doing a jewelry demonstration this Monday, I have craft shows on November 13 and 20, plus I've been getting requests to bring my jewelry into work so folks can do some holiday shopping.

Add to that two orders for bridal party jewelry for this spring and some custom orders for Christmas, and I'm going to be a very busy bee these next couple of months!

Fortunately, I don't have much going on this weekend, so I'm going to work on making more jewelry so I'll have a decent amount of inventory for my upcoming shows.

Specific goals for the end of this year, profit-wise, include being able to buy a laptop with my Mischievous Kitty earnings (not sure how much longer my current computer is going to last!), contribute to funding two microloans on Kiva in January, and send another donation to the Dear Jack Foundation.

Here's hoping I don't neglect my blog too much for the rest of the year. ;-)

Craft Shows and Haircuts and Weddings, Oh My!

So... The craft show on Saturday went well! It was at my grade school alma mater, Saints Philip and James School. (Except when I went there it was All Saints Regional!) I sold a decent amount of jewelry, and I got to see a bunch of folks I haven't seen in a long time. It was strange to realize that I can count on one hand the teachers who are still still there since I graduated.

The week before the craft show I decided to chop all my hair off. 10" of my hair is now on its way to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. This is the third time I've donated... I get bored easily with my hair, and this gives me the opportunity for a drastic change, plus I get to contribute to a good cause.

I'd love to say I have before and after pictures to show you... I do have a "before" picture, but I've been so busy for the past week and a half that I haven't taken an "after" picture yet.

However, Glen and I are in a wedding this weekend, so I should have an "after" picture by next week.

I do have a picture of my bridesmaid dress though!



Pretty, right?

I'm excited to wear it, but I have no idea what to do with my hair.

Guess I'd better stop writing and start looking for inspiration, huh? ;-)