Sponsored Giveaway!: $50 Ruche Credit

This week's giveaway is courtesy of the online shopping retailer, Ruche! They recently launched their "The Industry" lookbook and it's all about professional (yet fashionable) attire. You can definitely see that in the styling! I'm a stay-at-home graphic designer and (now!!!) small business owner so my days are typically spent in my pjs (and I'm not afraid to admit it). Even though I've never held a 9-to-5 (and never really hope to), I can get behind these looks. Especially that navy/white dress with the cardigan! Be still my heart! It's not just the clothes that get me though... it's the stellar styling of each and every page. Each shot is so whimsical! Without a doubt, Ruche lookbooks often top Anthropologie for me (and that's huge!). Promise I'm not saying that simply because they're a sponsor (I've had a mega photo/girl crush on the photog Stephanie Williams for evz!). I keep their lookbooks bookmarked so I can peruse for some inspiration now and then! Anyway, enough babble! Peep below on how you can win a $50 shop credit!

To be entered to win the $50 shop credit, check out Ruche's newest lookbook (HERE!) and choose your favorite item from the set! (You can click on the photos in the lookbook to be transported to the sale page!) Just leave a comment below with your favorite item and a way to contact you!

Only one entry per person. Multiples will be deleted. A winner will be drawn on Wednesday, September 7th and notified via email! Good luck!

Say Hello to Honeybean!

Today is the day, friends! We're so excited to finally unveil what all of our hard work and our dreams! We took the 'bean out for a spin today. It was the first time loading her up and towing her around by our lonesome. We ended up at Percy Warner Park in Belle Meade where we shot a few photos of her. Below I'll share those photos along with the before and afters! We don't have any current interior shots with her all stocked up (except the iPhone 4 ones I'll include) but we ripped out the garment rack she came with and built our own with industrial pipe and flanges. It now holds about 15x the weight and she's as sturdy as ever! (Sadly today we were on the interstate and a tractor trailer blew a tire and it hit Honeybean. We didn't think it did but we got home to find a hefty dent. Luckily it's nothing we can't probably fix ourselves and it doesn't have any effect on the tow or the inside!) We love her so!

Meet our 1968 Yellowstone camper... Bernadette!

To familiarize yourself with the transformation, here is what she started off looking like! And peep some in-progress shots and the final bits! Isn't she marvelous?!

(we got a new air conditioner too!)

(everything in the above two photos was thrifted by Sherry, the lovely woman who did the restorations! She had it stocked for me when we picked it up! Isn't that sweet?! Restorations were done by Fine Designs Camper Sales in Kentucky!)

(I think we're going to recover the cushions to a slightly more neutral color. Not sure what yet!)

We love Bernadette so so very much! Our hearts have never felt so full! We've been hard at work stocking her inside and out and we can't wait to find the perfect location to have the Grand Opening party! Thank you all SO much for being part of our dream! We couldn't do it without you!

To celebrate, we're offering 35% OFF OUR ENTIRE HIVE + HONEY LINE! Just use the code HONEYBEAN and you'll be good to go! Feel free to visit Hive + Honey to stock up on pretty handmade things! H+H will be stocked in Honeybean along with tons of other awesome things!

If you're awaiting a response from me about being a Honeybean designer, please hold tight! Hoping to filter through several of the 125+ emails in my inbox! You are all SO talented! I wish we could stock all of you!

What do you think!? Do you love her as much as we do?!

September Giveaway: Jensen Turntable!

Up for grabs this month is a Jensen wooden turntable! Okay, so it's a bit different from the recent giveaways right? Well, Mike recently bought a record player and I was all skeptical and nay-saying, trying to talk him out of it. Honestly, vinyl and a record player just seemed like more things for us to collect, pile up, spend money on, etc. I was not having it. He ended up finding a refurbished turntable for a decent price, and went on to thrift some speakers and buy a receiver from Craigslist. Okay, well, at least he didn't spend a ton of money right?! All of my nay-saying aside, I love it. Maybe I'm just falling into that cliche vinyl-loving hipster rut or something but I like having records playing at home. It's nice to listen to music without it skipping (like my computer does when I'm trying to listen to music and design at the same time. No bueno!) So here I admit... I like having a record player. I like thrifting random records with funny covers and coming home to realize they're actually really great jazz records. I promise to never turn into one of those uppity vinyl types though. But onto the important bit... I thought it'd be fun to switch it up and offer a turntable for grabs! Finding a reasonably priced one with built in speakers was kind of tough. Mike's doesn't have speakers so he had to have a receiver and the whole nine yards. I didn't want to put the winner through any of that so when we found this Jensen via Urban Outfitters for under $100, we were stoked! (Click here if you want to check out the specs! Or buy it yourself!) And now it gets to be won by one of YOU! Hooray!

All you have to do to enter is:

Be a follower of this blog with Google Friend Connect! And tell me your favorite album that you'd love to play on vinyl! (Click "Follow" in the upper nav bar and follow with Google/Blogger, Twitter, Yahoo, or Aim!) Be sure to leave your email address (or Twitter username. This is just one entry!) You must do this entry first to be eligible for additional entries!



To gain additional entries you can: 
(1) blog (or Tumblr!) about the giveaway and include a link,
(2) tweet about the giveaway by using the tweet shown below,
*If you tweet about the giveaway, please use this tweet: Up for grabs on the @kaelahbee blog is a sweet Jensen record player! Enter to win here: http://tinyurl.com/3hf2wmo
(3) update your status on Facebook *with this link to the giveaway: http://tinyurl.com/3hf2wmo * 
(4) "Like" Little Chief Honeybee on Facebook!
(5) "Like" Honeybean Mobile Boutique on Facebook!



Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and leave the link to each one! Overall that's SIX ways to win! 

A winner will be announced at the end of the month! Good luck! (Don't worry, there will still be other sponsored giveaways going on in the time being!) And there are no location restrictions on this giveaway! You are free to enter from anywhere in the world!


Congratulations to Comment #14 Meg @ The Kissy Pearl for winning the Paper Mama portrait giveaway! And congratulations to Comment #998 Eleanor (Rigby) for winning the August Lomo "I Love U" Fisheye giveaway!

Wedding Wednesday: Elycia + Ivan

I've been excited about sharing this wedding for months now! Not only did I get to play a teensy-weensy little part (Hey Hive+Honey hair pieces!), but Elycia is one of my favorite blogger gals! Her wedding was nothing short of dreamy and I know you'll fee the same way! Peep the cake! SRSLY! Enjoy!

If you're on the homepage or reading through an RSS feed, click Read More to check out the little interview with Elycia on her big day! 

Hello gorgeous bride! Let's start from the beginning! Tell us how you met your Prince Charming and how he popped the question!

Ivan and I met way back in 1997 when I started taking guitar lessons. Although he is only 9 months older than I am he was actually my teacher! It was definitely not a love connection from the beginning. I was very immature and annoying and he was my weird guitar teacher with long hair. Later on in high school when I was no longer taking lessons I saw Ivan and things just seemed different. We ended up playing in a band together and a few months later I asked him to be my date to my Dad's wedding reception. Yes I asked him out! We officially started dating shortly after that and almost 9 years later he popped the question at our favourite sushi restaurant.  

When did you get engaged? How long did you plan before walking down the aisle?

We got engaged in late November 2010 and were married June 25th 2011. We didn't want to have a long engagement because I am such a procrastinator I would have ended up doing everything at the last minute anyways! Seven months was the perfect amount of time for us to get everything planned. 

Were you working with any certain budget constraints?

We didn't want to spend tons of money on the wedding. My dad actually helped out a lot and covered most of the cost which we are so thankful for. We saved money wherever we could and even did our own music by making a playlist in iTunes. I think that was the best decision we made because everyone absolutely loved the music at the wedding! 

Were you working with a certain theme or color scheme? How did you achieve this?

For the theme, I just wanted it to feel slightly vintage/retro. My dress and the bridesmaid's dresses felt very 50's/60's to me which I loved. I used old suitcases wherever I could for decor and we used records for the seating plan and the table numbers. Also, our hairdos were pretty retro if you ask me!

I am so indecisive on colours (I love them all!) so it was kind of hard to pick a colour scheme. We ended up choosing yellow, teal, grey and ivory. It was really the pretty bridesmaid's dresses that dictated the blue colour. All of the girls looked so pretty in that colour and I liked how bright and fun it was. Other than the dresses, I preferred to use pops of colour mixed with lots of white or ivory. 

  

Did you do any special DIY projects for your wedding day? If so, what did you do?

I did tons of DIY projects! We/I made the bouquets, ties, the card box, invitations, centrepieces for the tables, the seating plan, buttons for the guests, programs, and just some random decorations and props. The week leading up to the wedding was a pretty busy one and if you had have asked me that week if I recommend doing a DIY wedding I would have said "NO!". However, I am so glad I did. It was really worth it and people appreciated all the special touches. We got so many compliments that the wedding felt really personal and that it was one of the best that a lot of people had been to. So, I would definitely say that the hard work was worth it. (Just make sure you have at least one good helper for that last week! I sure did!) 

Did anything go awry on your big day or leading up to it? How did you handle the stress? Did it end up being okay in the end?

I forgot to wear blush on the day of the wedding. Haha! I didn't even realize it until I was in bed that evening though so it didn't cause any problems. Of course timelines didn't go exactly as expected, we forgot to set up the projector for the slideshow, we had to shuffle a few dinner settings but all of these things were not big deals at all. Ivan and I were both super calm about any minor mishaps on the day of the wedding. We were just so happy and we knew that every minor problem had an easy solution. Nothing to stress about! 

Any special and small details you'd like to share?

One small detail that I haven't mentioned is that all of the food at the wedding was vegan! Both Ivan and I are vegans so it was very important to us that all of the food be animal free. The caterer, Pepperwood's, was very accommodating and the meal was amazing. The best part was that almost every single person at the wedding loved the food. Of course there are some picky eaters that don't like to try anything different, vegan or not, but overall we got a very positive response! The cupcakes from Cake & Loaf (www.cakeandloaf.ca) were completely vegan as well as all of the other random desserts at the dessert bar, and let me tell you, absolutely no one complained about the cupcakes! They were a hit! 

If you could give any advice to a Bride-To-Be, what would you say?

Nothing ever goes exactly as planned and you can't control everything. You can however control how you react to any less than perfect situations. Keep a positive, laid back attitude and your wedding day will feel perfect! 

Venue - The Burlington Art Centre

Catering - Pepperwood's

Cake and Cupcakes - Cake & Loaf Bakery www.cakeandloaf.ca

Photography - Kara Lodder Photography www.karalodderphotography.com 
 

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Such a beautiful day! Congratulations to the two newlyweds! Thanks for sharing your story!

Want to be part of the 'Bean?!

I'm excited to announce that we will be taking on a select number of indie designers via consignment and wholesale! I didn't intend on getting others involved so soon but the truth lies in the fact that I can't do it all myself if I want to get it rollin' super soon! That's where you come in! 

Are you a crafty maven with an Etsy shop or Big Cartel full your handmade goodness? The 'bean is looking to stock lots of awesome items from other indie designers and entrepreneurs! 

If you'd like to be considered as a Honeybean designer and you want to talk shop, shoot me an email at honeybeanboutique@gmail.com and be sure to include a little bit about yourself, your items and a link to your shop (or some photographic examples of your work!). I hope to hear from you soon! xo

PS; If you design jewelry or other awesome accessories/wearables, we'd really love to hear from you!

Sunbaked Clay

This outfit is from about two months ago (don't hate me!) but I never got around to posting it. It was a Kaelah's Closet dress that I had never worn before so I decided to give it a little twirl. The title of the outfit isn't so much related to the outfit itself, but instead to my obviously melting face! Gah, makeup is so not Southern-summer appropriate! Oh well, at least I can have a sense of humor about it I guess!

We've gone out to take outfit pictures for the past few days but the mosquitos are insane in our yard and we haven't found time to venture elsewhere. I'm going to reshoot an outfit that I've been wearing *all* weekend and then share it on here. Style blogging is weird, isn't it?!

Not much to report from my end of the world. We tore out Honeybean's garment rack and built a new one (much like the one in our loft! Sans the chains). We're very happy with it. Yesterday we painted the shelf above it and now it's finished! Just gotta clean it up and finish putting everything in it. I want to take some good styled photos of it before I share it but I just don't know if/when we'll have time! Mike works a lot this week and we just found out that my (second) favorite band in the whole wide world, Pearl and the Beard, is playing at 3rd and Lindsley Thursday night so we'll be out for that. Life never wants to slow down!

We're so happy to have her home and we even got some "thumbs up" on the interstate driving home! She's fancy and we love her! Honeybean is now on Facebook, too! (I'm working on designing a website/blog for her!) Would you mind popping over and clicking "Like" to stay updated on her adventures and events?! I'd really appreciate it! CLICK HERE to "Like" her! Happy Tuesday!

Target dress
Forever 21 cardigan
Charlotte Russe shoes via Goodwill

Music Monday: Kate York

This week's Music Monday is fellow Nashvillian, Kate York! Kate's "radio station" on Last.FM is one of my absolute favorites so imagine my embarrassing ignorance when she came on stage with Rosi Golan last week at 3rd and Lindsley to sing. I had no idea she lived in Nashville! Such a happy surprise as this town is full of wonderful musicians. If you like my kind of music then you'll love Kate. For some reason listening to her music makes me think of sitting on the porch with some cider on a breezy Autumn day! Maybe because I'm desperately looking forward to that. Enjoy! xo

What have you been singing along to lately?

Spectator.

I got some glasses the other day. Yep. (Interesting fact: I'm blind in my left eye. Prescription lenses don't help but I couldn't pass these cute frames up!) They're Derek Cardigan frames and they're brown but fade to pink. How perfect! My two favorite colors! Susannah blogged about hers (which are exactly the same, except black. I like to jock her style.) and I wanted them badly! They're from Coastal Contacts and they regularly do a deal where they give away thousands of free glasses if you 'Like' them on Facebook or whatever. Seriously. (In fact, we ordered Mike a pair and I also ordered my second pair!). Kind of awesome! 

They're silly and perfect in every way! I've always thought glasses were awesome.

Do you wear glasses?(Another fun fact: I used to have some *serious* coke bottle glasses when I was younger. I also used to have to wear an eye patch several hours a day! Okay, fun fact sharing time is over :P)

PS; Honeybean is home! We're doing some revamping on her (read: tearing out the current garment rack and installing our own) but she'll be ready to share soon!

Shoe Maniaaa!

I like ugly shoes. There's really no way around that one. Many of you were readers back in February when I finally threw caution to the wind and bought some wedges. Yep. Wedges! I had jumped ship on my "black flats only! I hate all otha shoez!" kick and I never looked back. Now my shoe collection is slightly embarrassing (and it's only growing!). Maybe my fascination with Jeffrey Campbell shoes is because they're ~sew hip right now or something, but even if 99% of the population finds them positively nauseating, I can't help but love them. Thus my collection of Litas grew to four today, and I added a pair of pink and red polka dot El Carmens just this week. (don't count my Hamilton wedges or Daisy D platforms! Srsly, I love me some JC.) I also snagged some cute Betsey Johnson flats on Ideeli the other day (like 70% off!). And when I saw a pair of red/maroon platforms on LuLu*s, I added them to my basket and voila! Mine they shall be!

I'd like to think I've just become more mature with my footwear choices but when you're talking about 5-6" heels and sky high platforms, you don't exactly think of mature ladies. No matter how you spin it I've just decided to have fun with my shoes and hope that I can pull them off! I'm going to share a few of my most recent (and favorite!) shoe additions!

♥ Jeffrey Campbell Kitty Litas via LuLu*s ♥ 

I bought these earlier today because I simply couldn't say no. I have the matching tapestry bag so it kind of felt like fate. I know you're thinking they're the most god awful things you've ever seen. I'd be crazy to say otherwise. I'm totally into them though!

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Pink/Red Dot El Carmens via Karmaloop ♥ 

I had some store credit left over at KL and I wasn't convinced on the Astral Litas so Mike and I decided these were a nice middle ground on "crazy/out there" and "totally normal". I like that they have a subtle pin-up vibe. I'm really hoping to get my hands on the red/white dots but I want to make sure they're comfortable first!

♥  Qupid Bikini Red Velvet Wedges via LuLu*s ♥ 

I saw these yesterday while browsing for the cat Litas and I loved the color combination too much to say no. I own a ton of Qupid shoes and while they're not always the best quality, they're cheap enough that you can afford to expriment with them. I've only ever had 1 pair of Qupid's crap out on me so I don't mind the $30 price tag.

♥  Gee WaWa Flora Wedges in Black and Olive via Karmaloop ♥ 

I first saw these shoes on our visit to Chicago back at the end of June. We went into Akira downtown and I was in love. I didn't like the price tag and I wouldn't have been able to buy them at the time anyway, so I left empty handed. Upon arriving back in Nashville I saw the black ones on sale at Karmaloop for half off. They had one pair left. And it was my size. Um, fate anybody?! I tried snagging them but something went wrong and I thought they were gone forever. Cue me to buy the olive ones instead (also the last pair... and in my size! Oh the shoe gods were smiling that day!). Come to find out I actually had purchased the black ones, but my payment hadn't gone through yet. And cut to the end where I became the owner of two pairs of Floras, and no, I wouldn't trade them for anything. They're like moon shoes!

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Waffle Weave Brown Litas via LuLu*s ♥ 

I received these as a gift from LuLu*s for doing a guest post series on their blog and I was overjoyed. I had wanted the Waffle Weave since buying the Stars & Stripes Litas because they're so neutral and can be worn year round. Believe me when I say: Litas are so incredibly comfortable! Don't let that giant heel fool you!

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Pink Pony Hair Litas via Karmaloop ♥ 

These were a quick last minute grab too because they were on sale. I'm such a sucker for sales! I went a half size down (to what I normally wear) and they're a bit snug. I still love them and the pink heel is my favorite! Everyone said Litas run large but I definitely didn't find that to be true.

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While all of the above are officially mine, here are a few that I'm totally coveting! 

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Lita Spikes ♥ 

These are the perfect blend of awesome and badass. Not that those two things are all that different. They're really appropriate for colder months and I've been trying to buy them for days! I gave myself 24 hours to make sure I really wanted them and as soon as I decided "DUH!", they were sold out of my size! I'm working on it though! 

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Red/White Dot El Carmens ♥ 

These just scream 1950's pinup! They'd look classic with a white dress or even black! Or take it full on nautical! These are definitely shoes to usher in Summer, not quite so much to say goodbye!

♥  Jeffrey Campbell Cuffed Red Nubuck Platforms ♥ 

These are the perfect shoe for Autumn! They'd look fabulous with brown, purple, orange, yellow, khaki, you name it! All of the perfect colors for Fall. The deep red and the suede couldn't be more perfect. And those cutouts! Ooh la la! 

♥  Chinese Laundry Suede Peep Toe Wedges ♥ 

These are a lot less "Oh hey! Look at me!" and a little more conservative. The color is still unbelievable. Flouncy dresses and straw hats galore please! Maybe they'd make the perfect picnic shoes!

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I could probably go on for days but I'll leave it there for now. That was a little bit of a shoe overload but I like what I like, okay?! I never thought that I'd be this girl in a mere 6 months! It's kind of fun! 

I don't want to shill things to you all day long but if you get the hankerin' to buy something on Karmaloop, you can get 20% off with the coupon code KAELAH. :) I always do a quick Google Shopping search for everything I want to buy though and I try to buy it on the cheap! I don't like to spend more money than I have to haha.

Are you a shoe person? Love or hate the "ugly is awesome" trend?

Trendy or not, I like loud shoes. Mike hates them (but he humors me!).