Ruffle Con: Tea Party, Heading Home, & Day 3!

Hi friends! <3

Sunday began somewhat slowly. I had breakfast, got dressed, and began packing. Since today was the big tea party, I would have no time to pack later. Room check out would be taking place during the tea party so I had to have everything ready for my boyfriend to put in the car. Luckily it didn't take too long.

I went to the consignment room for one last round and also to check out the reduced prices. Select items had colored tags that meant there was a discount of 25%, 50%, or even 75% off the regular ticket price. I happen to glance over at one clothes rack and came face to face with my top dream dress (Alice and the Pirates: Gloria jsk in navy)! It also happened to have a colored sale tag I happily  picked it up and continued browsing. When I had finished, I found an area off to the side to look it over more closely. It was gorgeous <3 Curious about the bust sizing I held it up to me and tried stretching the shirring to see if it would fit me. Despite my efforts, I had to acknowledge the fact that it would not fit me after all. I was heartbroken :-( I hung it up on a rack nearby and bid it farewell. Hopefully someone else would give it a good home. I ended up buying just a pair of wristcuffs and moved on to the vendor's room. A quick look around this time, but nothing caught my eye. 

 After that, it was time to get in line for the tea party. This year's theme was "The Alchemist's Tasting Room." I thought it sounded cool and was glad I decided to wear a gothic coord to go along with it. The stage had this display up on a screen when I walked in.

The table was set up real nice...

I had some green tea... <3

Scones with cream and jam...

There was a food and drink menu...

And six different little sandwiches! The salmon one was my favorite...

Feeling full after all the food, I wandered over to check out the raffle prizes. There were gift certificates, a couple bonnets, a blouse, tote bags, surprise bags, and more...

When I got back to my seat, I noticed that dessert had been brought out.

I helped myself to a little assortment of treats <3

I also got my picture taken with the designers of Triple Fortune :-)

There was a game we played that is similar to telephone. One person would be told a sentence and then that person would have to write down what they heard. They would pass the paper to the person next to them and then that person would have to read the sentence and draw a picture on the following slip of paper to represent the sentence. This would continue going all the way down one side of the table with people alternating between writing and drawing. The goal was to have the sentence at the start be the same as at the end. Some of the results were pretty funny. Then they started drawing for the various raffle prizes. I enjoyed some earl grey tea and hoped my number would be called. I didn't win anything though.

After the tea party ended, I went to pick up my items from the consignment room. I was happy to hear that more of my items had been sold that day. I gathered up what was left and packed them up to put in the car. My boyfriend had completed check out and was relaxing in the lobby. I chatted with my friends and waited for the final event to take place; con group pic. Everyone who attended the con assembled on the main stairs for a giant group pic. They also did two smaller group pics for  "light" and "dark" coords.

Then the con was over and we had to head back home. I changed into comfy clothes for driving and said good bye to my friends. It was a fun con and I hope to go back again next year!

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Wore a gothic coord in black x gold.

I wore my new headdress, veil, and headband I had bought instead of what I originally planned. I love how it ended up looking with the rest of my coord. I felt elegant and very gothic.

Jsk~ Moi Meme Moitie "Divine Cross Print" Sendai Special Edition

Otks~ Angelic Pretty "Holy Lacy Doll"

Headband~ Triple Fortune

Headdress, veil~ Sweet Mildred

Ring~ Automatic Honey "Dearly Departed"

Blouse, necklace, earrings~ vintage/thrifted

Shoes, bag~ offbrand

Makeup and details pic...

Ruffle Con: Preparing, Arrival, & Day 1!

Hi friends! <3

I'm super excited to be going to Ruffle Con again! Last year I went with my boyfriend and a bunch of fellow comm members. It was so much fun I had to go again this year. There was some prep work that had to be done first though...

Tickets

Went on sale in March I believe. There was a variety of different ones. You could choose from basic one day admission all the way up to premium weekend admission. Certain ones included a meal plan or bonus stuff like a swag bag or dinner with the brand designers/guests. Everything sold out fairly quickly at the higher levels. I went with the deluxe weekend ticket which included a tea party ticket and a swag bag.

Booking the room

My boyfriend was very helpful with this part as he's used to making the reservations when we travel. As soon as room reservations opened up, he booked a club level room which included breakfast and dinner. Later on, he got an additional basic room for our friends. Since we were sharing the rooms among a group of us, the cost per night wasn't too bad.

Planning the Coords

Since the con was running for 3 days, I decided to plan out and bring 4 coords. I wanted to have an extra one just in case. After picking out my dresses and blouses, I tried them on and chose matching accessories. I'm glad I did this beforehand since I ended up making a few adjustments/changes. I was also was feeling crafty, so I made a couple accessories to go with my coords. A cute honey bear brooch and a pair of bat wings for my shoes.

  

Consignment

I also decided to bring stuff for the consignment room. I went through the sales items in my closet, submitted them online, and packed them up to bring along.

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Thursday morning, we packed up the car and headed over to pick up a local lolita friend who was joining us. After loading up their stuff, we headed out for Ruffle Con. The trip took about 7 hours plus stops for food/gas/rest stops. My boyfriend and I took turns driving every few hours. It worked out pretty well. There was a bit of traffic once we got into the city, so going was slow for a while. Eventually we arrived at the hotel, checked in, picked up our badges, and made it upstairs just in time for dinner. Later on, we unloaded the car and admired the room. It was nice with plenty of space for us to share. I unpacked a bit so I could find things in the morning, and looked at the event schedule trying to plan out the next day. I had some hot tea to help me relax before calling it a night.

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Day 1

I started the day off early with breakfast and getting dressed in my first coord. Consignment intake began at 9am and I didn't want to get caught up in a crowd. When I got there it was already looking fairly busy. You picked up your pre-made info/price tags at the front desk, attached them to your items, and then got in line for everything to be scanned in. Then a staff member would sort the items onto display racks to be sent to the consignment room upstairs. Aside from the scanning machine being a bit slow, there weren't any issues.

Once that was done, I ran upstairs to get in line for the consignment room to start shopping! While I had waited in line downstairs, I had been checking out the stuff that others had brought in. The door opened up and I went in. First thing I checked out were the socks and small accessories. I didn't plan to buy any clothes or large items so I figured socks and accessories would be a good place to start. I found a couple items and went downstairs to where the vendors were. I headed for the Triple Fortune Booth first. Made a couple purchases there and made my way around the rest of the vendors browsing the goods for sale. A few purchases later, I was done with buying and headed back to the room to drop off my bags and chill.

I returned to the vendors and went around again in case I had missed anything. Nope, all set. I went to the Triple Fortune fashion show which was also a concert. The designers were also singers! How cool is that? :-)

 When it finished, I had dinner, and relaxed in the room with my friends having some drinks. I then transformed from a lolita into a panda. It felt to nice to be out of all those layers. I was indeed one happy panda. Off to a panel I went; Dramatic Readings from Behind the Bows. People read old posts from this gossip type blog on stage in silly voices. I enjoyed it a lot. It was late when I tucked in for the night.

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Wore a classic/gothic coord in green x ivory x black.

Jsk~ Metamorphose "Secret Laboratory Ribbon Shirred" 

Necklace~ Metamorphose "Crystal Lantern"

Otks~ Alice and the Pirates "Merry Making in the Ghost Town"
Purse~ Innocent World "Rose Lace Book"
Ring~ Automatic Honey "Dearly Departed"
Blouse, jabot, earrings~ vintage/thrifted
Shoes~ offbrand (with handmade bat wings)
Hat, other ring~ offbrand

Makeup and details closeup pic...

Dearly Departed Ring Opening!

Hi friends! <3

I am so excited about this package! :-) I had just gotten the divine cross print jsk and was wondering what accessories would go with it, and then happened to see previews for Automatic Honey's upcoming Halloween collection. Once I saw this coffin ring in black, I just had to have it.

Stock Pic

Automatic Honey: Dearly Departed Ring (black)

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The package...

Opening it up...

Inside...

Ring all wrapped up (front and back views)...

Unwrapping it...

Unwrapped (front and back views)...

Try-on pic...

With divine cross...

Thoughts:

The release for the Halloween collection was crazy! As soon as the postings went up online, you could click to add items to your cart. You then had 10 minutes to get through check-out. Otherwise items would vanish from your cart and someone else could click to add it to their cart. Within a minute of being able to click on the ring, it said unavailable to add to cart. I was frustrated because the coffin ring in black was the only thing I wanted. I sat at my computer refreshing the page for 10 minutes hoping it would become available. During that time, I debated getting a different color or style even, but didn't really like anything else as much. After 11 minutes into the release I was able to click and add the black one to my cart and proceeded to check out right away. Luckily I made it through just in time. Shortly after I had my order confirmation, it was marked sold out online. It was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me. I haven't experienced such emotions in a long time for a new release.

I love this ring! The details are lovely, especially that bear face with the cute little fangs. It's elegant and goes well with my divine cross jsk. The quality is great, but I did notice a couple issues. The coffin part seems to have been attached to the ring band a bit sideways. Like it's not straight up and down but instead tilted towards the right ever so slightly. It's more noticeable when I wear the ring on my left hand, but not as much if I wear it on my right. Also, the ring band itself has a bit of a black smudge on the one side. Possibly from the enamel/paint process. Neither issue is that bad though. Further, I was hoping the coffin part would be a little wider as well. It seems kinda... narrow? I don't know if that was designed that way or what. Oh well. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase and am looking forward to including it in a future coord.