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Don’t call it a comeback…

by Kaylah Stroup March 26, 2015
If you’ve been following for some time you might remember when The Dainty Squid was a sewing business, and not just a blog. (Oh yeah, and you might have noticed that giant sewing machine tattoo on my chest!) Sewing was my life. Day and night, it’s nearly all I did. That lead to me getting burnt out. I didn’t touch my machine for a few years other than to sew a patch on my coat every once in a blue moon. I’ve mentioned a few times over the last few months how I’ve had the creative itch again. After a weird year or so I’m finally feeling like myself. I’m dabbling in a few other creative outlets, like embroidery and watercolors, but deep down I missed sewing a lot.
( top to bottom – 1, 2, 3 )
I really enjoyed making zipper pouches. It’s super relaxing to me, and as someone who loves organization – I love pouches. I still have a handful from my old sewing days that I use everyday to keep my camera bags tidy. It hit me a couple weeks back what I wanted to do! I could get fabrics printed with my photos on them and sew pouches with them. This would combine my favorite hobbies, photography and sewing, and that way I’d have something unique to offer. I wasn’t exactly sure how good the fabric would look so I just went ahead and got three photos that I had already taken for my society6 shop printed. I could barely contain my excitement when I opened the package. The fabric turned out even better than I expected. I immiedately set to work gathering the rest of my supplies, and got sewing. I’m so proud of how these babies ended up looking. I actually have them sitting on my desk beside me right now because I seriously just love seeing them!
I’d like to produce a new set of fabrics hopefully once every month or two. I think from here on out I’d like them to be a little bit more tied together with a theme, like I said these were just tests that turned out really well! I considered opening up the shop again full time but realized it would be a lot more fun for me creatively if I did it this way with little . I’ll definitely give more notice before the next one, hopefully with some sneak peaks before the release, as well as a date of when to expect them to go live but this batch really just came together so quickly I couldn’t hold off sharing them. 

They’re available for purchase. I only have a few of each of the three prints so if you’re interested I’d act quickly. I’m still undecided on whether or not I’ll be getting any fabrics, these or future collections, reprinted. So consider these babies limited edition!
xoxo

Update – In exactly one hour I sold out completely. I am blown away. You guys are the actual best. Due to overwhelming demand, I’ve made five more of each print available for pre-order. The fabric is ordered. I will sew, and ship as soon as it gets here. Please allow up to 2 weeks for shipment.

Ps. I’m curious to hear what else you’d like to see on pouches! What sorts of themes would you be interested in? I’m down to hear any suggestions.

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what I wore : little black dress

by Kaylah Stroup March 25, 2015
details
jacket – Playground of Applause Coat c/o Modcloth
cardigan – c/o Macy’s (no longer available)
dress – Birdie Dress c/o Unique Vintage
necklace – There’s a Map for That Necklace c/o Modcloth 
belt – Foxy Moxie Belt c/o Modcloth
tights – Kohls
boots – Palladium Boots
camera bag – Jo Totes

I’m a pretty colorful person but I’m sure it’s become quite apparent I have an immense love for all things black and white. I like the way it really makes my hair pop. This outfit isn’t my usual black and white striped ensemble but I’m pretty in love with it nonetheless. This dress is from Unique Vintage‘s house brand. It’s so incredibly cozy and something about the fit is just spot on. I’m not usually a huge fan of dresses that lay so flat against my stomach. I’m not sure if it’s how active I’ve been (heck yeah, bike rides!!), if it’s the dress or a combination of the two but I feel darn good in this little black number!

Hope you’re having an awesome week!
xoxo

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Blogging – a real job

by Kaylah Stroup March 24, 2015
I often get asked what I do for a living. My answer depends on who asks. If it’s an older person that I don’t know I might just say that I’m a photographer. It’s easier to explain than the real answer. If people in my own generation can’t seem to grasp it, how I can expect the generation before me, who grew up without computers to understand it? So what do I do for a living? I’m a blogger.

The frustrating/strange/down right annoying thing is, I frequently hear things like “that’s not a real job”, “you can’t possibly make enough money doing that!”, “that’s only a temporary thing, right?” and “what are you going to do after this?” But what is a “real job”? I have thought so long and hard about this question. I still haven’t come to a conclusion. Maybe it means a doctor, or a lawyer or any number of careers that I have literally never even considered for myself. Is blogging not a real job because you can’t go to school for it or because you don’t need a resume to do it? Is it not a real job because you don’t need an interview to fill the position or because you don’t personally know anyone who does it? What makes something a “real job”?

Whatever your answer I assure you, blogging is a real job. I may not have to leave the house for days on end if I don’t want to (not that I recommend anyone ever does that, definitely not as fun as it sounds!) I can work in my PJs or without pants if I want, and no one cares if I come into work with morning breath. My co-workers may be two cats and a dog who enjoys sitting beside me and squeaking his tennis ball incessantly but this is a real job. I live alone and completely support myself. I pay all my own bills with the money I make blogging. There isn’t another job or person helping me out and I’m not living off credit cards. I’m no different than any other person with a conventional job.

The sad thing is that this bias of what is and isn’t a real job doesn’t stop at blogging. Many other millennials with unique careers experience the same thing. For example, Mickey travels the world teaching taxidermy. This girl is killing it. Did you see what I just said? TRAVELING. THE. WORLD.  Yet somehow, that’s not good enough to be considered a real job by some people either. She deals with the same questions.

It needs to be acknowledged that any way of supporting yourself even if it isn’t traditional, so long as you aren’t stealing or hurting anyone, is a real job. It seems awfully silly to criticize someone for making a living doing something they love and enjoy, doesn’t it? Blogging isn’t all that new of a career and despite what you may have heard, it isn’t going anywhere. There are tons of people out there making a living doing just this.

 Co-worker Klaus. Excels at distracting me.

_________________________
This is part one of a new series that will hopefully help explain and clear the confusing fog about blogging as a career. I’ll share tips, answer questions, and generally just share more information about what being a blogger really means. On that note, if you have any questions, or specific things you’d like me to talk about I’m all ears. Shoot me an email or leave a comment!
 xoxo

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bike style

by Kaylah Stroup March 23, 2015
 details 
 jacket – Target
shirt – TJ Maxx
jeans – High Waisted Button Up Jeans c/o Unique Vintage
boots – Palladium Boots
camera bag – Lowepro Fastpack 250
patch – Best Made Company
explorer pin – Explorer’s Press
good vibes only pin – Pintrill
bicycle – State Bicycle Co.

My bike is has become a huge part of my life, if you couldn’t tell. It has, without a doubt, changed my life. It’s my favorite possession – even ranked above my camera which is saying a lot. I try to find at least a little bit of time everyday to ride. It’s what makes me the happiest.

Last summer I shared my typical bike outfit. That was Kaylah who had only been on a bike for a few months, and was still figuring out what I liked to bike in. I was having issues with being comfortable on my saddle, and found that things without a seam in the crotch made all the difference. Cue me buying a million pairs of comfy yoga shorts and pants. They got me through but now I’m trying to expand what I wear on my bike. I could (and have) read a million articles about being stylish while biking but I need to figure out what’s comfortable for me.

Here’s where “bike style” comes in. These posts will be just like my outfit posts except they’ll be things I’m wearing on bike rides. It’s a way to challenge myself to wear something other than yoga pants and a cozy black tee. I love that, it does look cute, and I’m sure you’ll end up seeing me wearing it at some point but I want to expand so that doesn’t end up being what I wear all summer long.

Currently I’m just trying to get back into biking in jeans. It caused me so much pain over the summer that I swore them off completely. Now I’m figuring out it all depends on the jeans and how big the seam is. These jeans are super cozy to ride in the only downside is they’re turning blue saddle. Hah! Luckily it’s nothing some bleach wipes can’t fix!

xoxo

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Baltimore’s Graffiti Alley

by Kaylah Stroup March 22, 2015
Back at the end of February when Jeff and I took our little roadtrip to escape the cold but didn’t at all we made a quick stop in Baltimore. Jeff has a friend who lives there so we planned to meet up with him for dinner. It was the last big stop before heading home, and to tell you the truth I wasn’t too pumped about it. We’d only have a few hours in the city, and after getting dinner it would be SO late to drive six hours home. It just seemed silly to me.

 It didn’t take long before we stumbled upon graffiti alley, and I was instantly in love with the city. We were just driving around when we both saw it out of the corner of our eyes. We rushed to find a parking spot and wandered on over. It’s the only legal spot for graffiti in the city. Paint covers every wall, door, window, and pipe. Even the ground is covered although due to the snow we couldn’t really get a good look. It was so incredibly colorful.

After that we drove around a bit more, making quick stops here and there to jump out and take photos. It was too cold to do much walking around but we still both thoroughly enjoyed our short time in the city. It felt a lot like home.

Baltimore, I hope to see you again reeeeeal soon!
xoxo

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what I wore : pattern clashing champ

by Kaylah Stroup March 18, 2015
 details
cardigan – Charter School Cardigan via Modcloth
crop top – Navy + Ivory Crop Top c/o Unique Vintage
skirt – Swing Skirt c/o Unique Vintage
pin – Tumbleweeds
necklace – c/o Shlomit Ofir
shoes – Melissa c/o Loly in the Sky
Perhaps I was kind of jumping the gun a little with this outfit but it was what I thought was the first day of spring (alas, I was actually a week early! Haha!) Showing some skin and wearing something bright and floral was kind of a necessity after the long winter. It was maaaaybe a little bit windier than I had anticipated but SPRING!  It’s funny how 50 degrees after winter is so warm, but at the end of summer it’s freezing. It felt so good to ditch some of the layers that had become necessity. I’m looking forward to many more days of bare legs.
Underneath this gorgeous skirt I’m wearing my first petticoat. I picked out this one from Unique Vintage. I’ve actually wanted one for a while but for one reason or another just never picked one up. First of all, this skirt looks so darn cute all fluffed up. It looked cute without it but with the extra volume it’s just perfect. Secondly, it is darn fun to twirl in a petticoat. I spent the majority of my day just swinging my hips back and forth. I actually took some really cute photos of me flashing the petticoat for this post but I was a little too good at flashing if you know what I mean. Haha. Oh well, I’m sure it’s not the last time I’ll be wearing it!
In the few days since my haircut I have come to love it, like super duper love it. Jeff described it as “your old hair version 2.0” which is pretty true. The hairdresser was a bit crass, putting down the photo I had come in with with such venom, but she apparently is pretty darn skilled and knew what would look awesome on my head.  It’s so darn pretty. I have pin straight hair, I come from pin straight hair. It’s rare my hair has an volume, and it’s pretty thin so it never really looks good long. But this haircut makes my hair do everything I want it to.  Seriously, that first photo of my hair that is my dream hair! I guess change is pretty good after all!Hope you have an excellent day!
xoxo

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land camera photos // bikes bikes bikes

by Kaylah Stroup March 17, 2015
Over the weekend we celebrated spring hard, except as I was sitting here scanning these photos I realized spring isn’t until this coming Friday. Haha, whoops! Regardless the weather was gorgeous and we did quite a bit of making up for the last few months spent indoors. Over three days, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we biked just over fifty miles which is pretty darn incredible considering that’s over twice what I had done so far this year total. I can’t even begin to tell you how great it felt to get out again. I missed my bike so very much.

One of my goals this year was to take daily life photos, things that were a little more natural that just a posed photos with friends. On Friday, and Saturday I took my land camera out with me and shot photos that perfectly fit what I was thinking of when I made that goal. Some are a little blurry, out of focus, and just plain crooked but I love them so much. I want more photos like these. It’s so easy to get caught up trying to take a beautiful photo that sometimes I end up missing a moment that means more than a perfect photo ever could.

 I’m so pumped for the weather to continue warming up. It was super nice over the weekend but there were definitely moments where I was cold.  I’m looking forward to shorts and tank top weather and all the rides we’ll be taking then!
xoxo

You can find land camera film here: black and white or color.
If you’re interested in buying a land camera check out your local
thrift store, but if you’re in a hurry there are always some floating
around on ebay. I bought mine from Film Photography Project on ebay a handful of years ago or so when they were having a sale. They do currently have a few in their webstore.
They’re slightly pricey compared to what you’d find at a thrift store
or estate sale but they have been tested and come with batteries. Plus
they have really great service that I can attest to! When I first got
the camera I had no idea what to do with but it actually came with an
instructional DVD and that’s pretty stinken awesome if you ask me.

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Lake Erie Fog

by Kaylah Stroup March 16, 2015
Last week as I was sitting in my office, pecking away at the keyboard I happened to look up and notice it looked kind of weird outside – either there was a huge fire or it was insanely foggy. I live just around a mile, as the crow flies, away from the lake and even though that’s super close I normally don’t see any fog up here. I immediately packed up my camera bag, jumped in the car and headed to the lake. As soon as I got to the first cross street I hit the wall of fog. Just the densest, craziest fog I’ve ever seen. The closer I got to the lake the thicker it was. It was beautiful. I was in heaven. Maybe it’s because we don’t get enough of it up here but I swear it never loses it’s charm for me. Must not for everyone else either because for the first time since the end of summer the park was full of people. Everyone was out photographing the fog.

After leaving the park I drove around Cleveland to see how far the fog reached. I found a few other spots to pull over and jump out for photos but my favorite of the day has to be the one below! Plus I met a cat a few feet away so win/win!

Even if it kind of stresses me out to have to rush around before the fog disappears, I really enjoy the adventure of it. It’s like being a storm chaser – except WAY less dangerous. Okay, it’s nothing like a storm chaser but it does involve weather and a camera so that’s fun. Fingers crossed there are lots more foggy days for me to run around like a nut trying to photograph.
xoxo


You can find photos from the last time I photographed fog at the lake here.

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36 degrees + 8.9 miles

by Kaylah Stroup March 9, 2015

Last week we had a few pretty nice days, a sure sign spring is on it’s way…finally. On Wednesday it was nearly 40 degrees which almost feels tropical compared to the weather we’ve been having. I set out to take outfit photos but after driving around for around fifteen minutes decided I’d rather be on my bike. I ran some errands (upgraded my phone! woot woot!) and then scurried back home to layer up.

My new apartment is only fifteen minutes away by car from my old one but that difference when it comes to biking is HUGE. I never did like biking in Lakewood, I prefer it around downtown and in all the little neighborhoods surrounding. I used to drive from my apartment to Jeffs, park and then bike from there. It was such a time suck to have to do that, and it stopped me from going out a lot of the time. From my new apartment all of these places are a hop, skip, and jump away. It’s awesome. I still haven’t gotten over the fact I live in such an awesome little neighborhood. I finally feel like a city girl. I know that has to sound so silly to people are more accustomed to city life, or at least didn’t live in the middle of nowhere for the majority of their life but THIS. IS. SO. AWESOME! It’s so great that at any time I can just hop on my bike and so explore Cleveland.
Sadly, it’s been way too cold for me. I want to try to come up with a really good excuse on why I took a little accidental one month hiatus from my bike but I just hate riding in the cold, plain and simple. Maybe I was ill prepared? I know next year, or rather when winter comes around again at the end of the year, I plan on buying better winter biking clothing. But really, I don’t enjoy layering or being outside when it’s freezing. It just doesn’t excite me like it did when I was a kid.
It was so cold out that my banana was a tiny bit frozen when I finally stopped to eat it… and it was literally one of the best bananas I’ve ever eaten. Guess I prefer them cold. Who knew!

The cold weather, and my great distaste for it has really thrown a wrench in my mileage these last three months. I set a goal for the end of the year of one thousand miles and right now I’m sitting at 19.84. Haha. Am I worried I’m not going to reach my goal? Not one bit. I got this, you just wait until it warms up a bit!
xoxo

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I'm Kaylah! Renovating a 150-year-old home in Northeast Ohio. Likely found in my garden.

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THE DAINTY SQUID
  • blog
    • all the posts!
    • stroup mansion
    • some of my favorite posts
    • plants + gardening
    • beauty, fashion + hair
    • reviews
    • window shopping
    • explore everywhere
  • about me
  • contact
  • shop