Tiny Hat Fairies

My most favorite fantasy artist is Nene Thomas. Her work is beautiful, realisitc, and very moving. My second favorite artist is Amy Brown. Amy Brown's work is actually more popular than Nene's, and I think this is because her work is a bit more cartoonish than Nene's. But she has gotten much better over the years, especially since she stopped drwaing the long curley-cue toes on all her fairies. I actually own more Amy Brown art than Nene, though, because Amy's is much more affortable. And here are some of my most recent purchases:


Yes! A Tiny Hat Fairy! I would love to have this hat myself. Like all of Amy's work, the hat is very detailed in it's simplicity and, of course, is color-coordinated with her hair.
























I also recently purchased these two prints because they have hats and match the Fae Risque Tiny Hat print. They don't actually feature Tiny Hats, but they go with this post so I included them as well. All three prints can be purchased from Amy's online shop here.

Tiny Hats at DragonCon!

So last weekend was DragonCon! This year it was in Atlanta, GA. I have never been myself, but after seeing the pictures from just the parade, it is definately on my to-do list of life. A very comprehensive (though hardly complete) list of pictures from just the parade can be found here, but one of the highlights (for me anyway) were the Tiny Hats.

This couple was fabulous. The attention to detail is amazing. My husband and I both just love the Top Hat for the fellow. I wish her hat could be more clearly seen. I bet upclose it is phenomenal. But most of the costumes int he parade are really brilliant. They are all top-notch Hollywood quality. If you look through the parade pictures, it is hardly believable that they are all fan-made.





















I'm not sure what is going on in this pic exactly. They don't look like they are actually in the parade. And the Chick (?) in the red-stripped jacket looks really angry. How can you be angry? You're wearing a Tiny Hat! Anyway, it doesn't look like they have any particular theme going on except goth-lolita-angry-pop-culture-hot-topic-pop...something-something...look-at-us-we-are-sexy...something going on. But, a Tiny Hat is a Tiny Hat so you get in the blog ladies!
















If anyone out there was lucky enough to go to Dragon Con I hope you had fun and hopefully I'll see you there myself some day!

Earn a Master of Arts in Teaching Online

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

Many of my friends and readers know that I teach at the University of Phoenix. I do this mainly for the money because I am not a fan of the programs. The information is extremely basic and the degree is completely watered down.

However, going to school online is the wave of the future. It is just too easy to go to school online for the idea to just go away. Instead, many colleges and universities are looking at how they can take the idea of going to school online and make it better, make it actually work.

The University of Southern California is just such a school. As a leader in teaching the next generation of educators, it is only natural that they would take a step in utilising this new education tool. There are many benefits to going to school online (flexible class schedule, accelerated degree programs, less cost), but USC is going the extra mile by increasing the tuition reimbursement programs, highly interactive classes, and a chance to gain real-world experience in your own community. The best part is that since USC is a real school, no one has to know you earned your degree online like they would if you went to a school like University of Phoenix. You can find all the program information here.

Plus, when you graduate, you get to wear an awesome hat!

Tricorn Tiny Hats and More!

A friend turned me on to Retroscope Fashions, a Victorian/Gothic clothing site and it is amazing. The clothes are really detailed and very well made and, surprisingly, a reasonably priced. Victorian women's clothes usually come as sperates (tops and busteled skirts) and at this shop you can get both pieces for less than $200. You can even email them your measurements for a custom fit. But the best part is, of course, that they offer Tiny Hats! They do have some exquisite top hats, many with veils. This is probably my favorite one, but they are all amazing.







But what is really unique are the Tiny Tricorn Hats. I have not seen these any where else so I was very excited. Compared to how reasonable the prices are on their clothes, the hats are a little pricey ($50). But they are still fabulous and I can't wait to get one once I get a little ahead in my own finances. I will probably get this one since it has the peacock swords.

A Tiny Hat Wearing Burlesque Belly Dancer

So for our last night in America, we went with Delaney, Will, Juila, G, Eric, and April to see Twisted Trystan at the Red Lion Pub. He does this amazing freak show with drills, and sword swallowing, fire breathing, glass walking, and so on. And, if you tip him $5 you can staple it to his chest (I love doing that!). The last time we went, it was just Trystan. But since his awesome appreance on America's Got Tallent, the show has become a full on event with other performers. He had a Michael Jackson impersonator and a bellydancer. But this was no ordinary belly dancer. This one wore a Tiny Hat!!

From the neck up, she looked like a burlesque dancer with the pearls and the eye makeup and, of course, the Tiny Hat. She also wore killer red heels and fishnet stockings. But when she took her coat off, BAM! belly-dancer!

Her hat is one that I also own and was from Hot Topic.

She was a very good belly dancer. The Burlesque-Belly-Dancer theme was very unique. Everyone in Orlando should head out to the Red Lion Pub on Tuesday night for Twisted Tuesdays with Twisted Trystan at 9 pm.

The part I feel really bad about is I don't remember her name. If anyone knows what it is please reply and let me know!

Social Spark

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

So to help subsidise my new blogging hobby and to make some extra money while in China, a couple of friends turned me on to Social Spark. It is a really interesting opportunity. You can write reviews for companies and get paid for doing so. It was really easy to sign up and you can add as many blogs as you want (I added all 4 lmao). The posts generally just need to be 200 words long and need to have certain key words, phrases, pictures, or URLs included and you get paid for it. I am really excited to see just how this plays out and how much money I can make. Most opportunities are around $15 per post and you can make 2 posts per blog per day. But I have seen opportunities as high as $900! And I'm not kidding! Check it out at SocialSpark. Look at the opportunities and see if there are any you might be interested in writing about. Like right now there is an opportunity to write a post about Branson, MO. I could write a book about Branson, but I only have to write 200 words and will get $15.
To sign up just go to Sign up for SocialSpark.
If you do go an try it, send me a message and let me know what you think.

While this blog is not in anyway a commercial site, I will make some sponsored posts from time to time.

OMGLOL! Cats in Tiny Hats!

I'm not sure what these pictures are from, but they freakin cute! Here now for your amewsment: LOL Cats in Tiny Hats.

She who must be obeyed:
















Dingleberrydorf:
















Isis (obviously):

(names are mine, I have no idea what they really are)

Tiny Hat at Rivership Romance

So my hubby and I went on a Rivership Romance cruise tonight with his sister and parents (see my review of it here). It was on our list of things we really wanted to do before we left for China. The problem was that I have already pack the majority of my clothes so I had nothing to wear. I borrowed this bright purple dress from his sister and it looked really good. It seemed to be missing something though. I was doing my hair and I wondered, "do I have any hats that would go with this?" So I checked my stash and sure enough the purple feathers on this hat were the exact same color as the dress! I got so many complements on both the dress and the hat! We had a lot of fun and the Tiny Hat made me feel very pretty and sophisticated. Not bad for a hat from the Hot Topic clerence rack!

Couture Hats by Philip Treacy

Haute Couture hat designer Philip Treacy will be a guest judge on this season's Project Runway. While I really don;t care for most Haute Couture fashions because they are completely unwearable, he has done some beautiful pieces for people like Sarah Jessica Parker. He does all kinds of styles, big, small, masks, wearable, alien, but I thought I would share some of his best Tiny Hats here.

This black and white number is classic yet modern. It is a bit of a throwback to My Fair Lady.


















Apparently, many ladies of the British Royal Family, espeically Camilla Parker Bowles, are huge fans of Treacy hats.















This beautiful green garden is perhaps my favorite Treacy hat.



















This takes wearing Tiny Hats to the extreme! But wearing just any one of these hats would be a fashion statement in itself. Sometimes, Philip, less is more.

Tiny Hats that make a difference

Hi everyone,

I wanted to take a moment to talk about tiny hats that make a difference. I was browsing Instructables looking for some DIY Tiny Hats and came across a woman who makes tiny hats for needy infants. She is part of a charity called Carewear. Carewear "began in 1991 as a personal effort to provide much needed apparel for premature and low birthweight infants undergoing treatment in neonatal intensive care units of several children's hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area. Initial obstacles included the need to down-size patterns for infants as small as fifteen ounces and the task of contacting each hospital regarding sizes and quantities of garments needed. Because of the high demand for preemie-sized items, efforts began to recruit others to join the effort. As of December 2004, Care Wear had grown to more than 2400 active volunteers." (taken from the carewear website)

I personally have no sewing or craft skills at all, but anyone who can volunteer should certainly think about it. Even though these hats are not typical for this blog, they certainly are important Tiny Hats. If you are like me, though, and would not be able to contribute to this charity, there are countless opportunities available. I volunteer for various charities throughout the year and would encourage everyone to help those in need in your community.

This is not a hat

I know what you are thinking, "that isn't a hat." And maybe tecnically, you are right. But that doesn't mean I can't wear it like a hat. I love to be able to repurpose items into other things. Especially christmas ornaments. Why should they just be used on a tree? I have a really awesome Cinderella snowglobe Christmas ornament that I use as a fan pull. So when we were at the Christmas store in Epcot and they had a whole tree decorated with these pretty peacocks, I had to have one. As soon as I saw it, I thought "I could wear that as a hat." So, voila! I think it works. What do you think?

This is my favorite Tiny Hat. It was actually a gift from my sister-in-law when she found out I liked Tiny Hats. She got it from Stacy Williams in her online shop, the Aesthetik. Unfortunately, she has been having a going out of business sale. I got several hats from her cheap, but she doesn't have any left (at the time of this writing, feel free to check and see if there are any new ones there). She did still have some really nice hair clips left for $5 though last I checked. I wanted some, but I bought out all her Tiny Hats so I had to stop spending money :)

The first time I wore this hat I dressed as an Edwardian Era lady and got so many compliments. I kick myself to this day for not getting pictures that night. Oh well.

One of the things I love most about this hat (in addition to everything) is the peacock feather. I love peacocks. There will be later posts on that.

The only problem with this hat is that she has thoughtfully included clips on the brim, on both sides, to easily clip the hat to your hair for a stronger hold than with just the ribbon. But the problem is that you would have to have a really huge head for the clips to actually work. They are too far out to the sides. I tried using them, but they just made my hair stand way out. But they are hardly noticable when I just don't use them. The ribbon is enough to hold it in as long as I don't shake my head too much.

I like Tiny Hats!

Don't you hate it when you really like something for a long time, maybe your whole life, and then they become mainstream popular, are now everywhere, and everyone now thinks you like the thing because everyone else likes it?
That is what has happened to me with Tiny Hats. Tiny Hats are so cute and I have been collecting them for a while. But, low and behold, they are everywhere now. This is both a blessing and a curse. They are much easier to find now. Tiny Hats are very closely linked to Steampunk which, similarly, is also very popular right now. So Tiny Hats now can be found almost everywhere, even Claire's and Hot Topic. But the bad side is, they are everywhere, even Clarie's and Hot Topic.

What exactly is a Tiny Hat? A tiny Hat, to me, is a hat that is too small to sit atop one's head on it's own. It requires a strap, ribbon, or pin in order to be worn without falling off. Tiny Hats are generally Victorian (or Steampunk) in nature, but not always.

My purpose of this blog is to share my collection and pics of Tiny Hats and share places to find Tiny Hats.