I thought a little pick-me-up would be nice for this Wednesday and decided that nothing is better than some pretty baubles to drape yourself in!  Up for grabs are two beaded pieces – a fab Guatemalan minty-iridescent cuff and a silver beaded necklace with jade stones.

Win Me!

This totally reminds me of something I would have made in camp!!  I spent summers beading and weaving and friendship bracelet-ing!!  To win these goodies, leave a comment below with something you love doing during the summer!  A winner will randomly get chosen on the 30th when winners from both of the current giveaways of $100 Visa Gift cards HERE and HERE will get chosen as well!  June is popping with goodies and cash money to snag!

PS – Congrats to the latest contest winners – Ashley (Leah Duncan sketchbook), Callicam (floral studs), LeighZ (coral necklace)!  Emails were sent out this morning to gather details

I found this white collared dress with black buttons and immediately saw the potential for color!!

BEFORE

I loved the weird pockets up top!  Not quite sure what I’d put up there, especially when the dress is white and see-through in this area.  Also, who wants a bulky bosom??

BEFORE

I got together with a few friends and had a dye night, using a mix of the bottom three for our batch of goodies!

Dye Party!

Time to get dyeing!!

We set up the machine for a hot water bath and tossed our wet pieces in.  (You always want to make sure your pieces are fully saturated so that the dye blends evenly onto the fabric.)

Spin Cycle!

Post wash, we added our goodies into the dryer and got to working!

I loved the lines at the top of the dress so in staying true to the original structure of the piece, I began to remove the sleeves.  I followed the seam that went along the upper pockets on a diagonal and removed the stitches.

Time to take off the sleeves!

Little by little, I got my sleeves off!

One almost off!

After both sleeves came off, I pinned down all my edges and sewed everything in place.  I also took in about an inch right under each of the armholes to make the bust area less billowy.

Tweaking all the edges!

After all my dyeing and sewing, my dress was ready to go!  I wanted to streamline the black from the buttons so I grabbed my black Betsey Johnson heels, a skinny black patent leather belt, a patent Trina Turk clutch, and a pair of slightly vintage Fendi sunglasses that have been in my collection since college, to complete the look.  Those are considered vintage, right?

AFTER

I also paired the dress with a black camisole so I could keep most of the buttons open.

Black & Blue

I’m loving the light shade of the blue paired with the black too.  It’s a nice mix of soft with edge.  The pairing of black gives the dress less of a daytime feel too!

M’accessories!

I wish I had somewhere more fun to wear this to today instead of a stop to Target for face wash and Trader Joe’s for some groceries!!

Toodeloo!

I think a round two will be happening this coming weekend!

I slept all weekend and was popping NyQuil like crazy to help with the congestion and head throbbing.  I’m finally beginning to see the light at the end of the healthy tunnel – the tissue consumption is lessening and the coughing is a bit more frequent, however it’s more because of throat tickles.  I uploaded all my photos from the trip and will get a full post up this afternoon – in the interim, here’s a fun teaser with a few of my favorite moments.

This happened…

I held a Tony!

I fell in love with Eric Winterling’s amazing costume studio…

Forms, Forms, and More Forms!

…and had an Abby Lee from Dance Moms moment when she was taking pics with fans on the street!

Dance Moms 4eva!!

Thanks for being patient with me!!  Check back this afternoon for a full rundown and a brand new outfit will be on display tomorrow for your viewing/sewing pleasure!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!!

I found this 80s dress and loved the permanent pleating below the waist. I didn’t love how high the neckline was, or the sleeves with shoulder pads.

Pam – Before

Anything with permanent pleating wins in my book!  Let’s see how Pam made this work!

Both of those came off.  I took one of the sleeves and made some bias to bind the armhole for a sundress.  

Sleeve Removal!

For the neckline, I decided to just follow the line of bottom of the existing facing – 5/8″ from the edge. Then I just trimmed, folded it over, and top stitched it to finish it off.

Pleat Party!!

 This made the neckline less choking on me – yay!  I thought of raising the hem, but decided I like the length with the way the neckline came out so I would keep it conservative.

Pam – After

Pam, what a cute, summery dress you’ve got going!!  I loved that you removed those sleeves and tweaked that neckline to make it perfect for you!  I think this is a piece you’ll get away with wearing all summer long!  Thanks so much for sharing!

I have a fun girl’s night planned with one of my besties to celebrate her birthday.  I was out of town for her actual day, so we’re doing a little belated sips and snacks evening. I’m working with Malibu Island Spiced for this post, so I wanted an outfit totally vacation-feeling.  So, why not go with a muumuu, right?

BEFORE

I loved the color and the white embroidered detail, but the rest of it was definitely not feeling like a holiday.

Just a smidge big

There’s work to be done to make this GNO-worthy…

Howdy, muumuu!

…and I’m ready to take on the challenge!

I LOVED the white embroidery at the collar so I wanted to make that the key element.  I decided to cut and remove the area all around the white leaves on the neckline.

Follow the lines!

I took off the sleeves to make the straps a bit thinner…

Using the leaves as my guide…

…and was left with these glorious leftovers.  I’ll find a new use for these down the line!

Sleeves Off!!

My new, killer straps were complete!  Doesn’t this scream summer/luau-Tiki party?

New Straps!

I took off the weirdly placed pocket from the front of the piece…

Later, pocket!

…and then cut off about a foot and a half from the bottom to turn this muumuu into a top!

Fabric remnants!

I pinned my new hem…

New Hem!

…stitched everything in place…

Sewing machine time!

…and then rocked my new tropical-feeling top!

AFTER

I just love how the embroidery pops!

From the back!

By day I paired the piece with black flats…

Flats for daytime!

…but by night, we were getting the heels out!!

New top love, ready for a night out!

My gal TT headed over to have a little “get ready party” which is always so much fun to do with girlfriends.  We pumped the jams (I may or may not have totally rocked out to the new Daft Punk album) put on our makeup…

Makeshift makeup counter!

…fixed our hair…

Perfecting the sock bun!

…picked our shoes (I went with the black sparkly T-straps)…

Decisions, decisions?!

…and zipped them up while waiting for our Uber driver to come snag us.

Zip those boots!

We arrived to the bar…

I love backlit bars!

…grabbed our seats, and ordered our Malibu Island Spiced cocktails.  We both went with the Malibu Spiced and Diet Cola, which is a 1:2 parts combo…

Malibu Spiced and Diet Cola

…and sipped away which totally made us feel like we should be on a beach somewhere!  Anyone in for a quick jaunt to the Caribbean?

TT & her cocktail!

This new version of Malibu is sweetened with Truvia®, so it’s naturally sweetened while also being lower in calories. It’s awesome for those wanting sweeter drinks while keeping their eyes on their sugar intake and also awesome for me and TT tonight because…

ML’s matching cocktail

…we used those saved cals to feast on some gourmet pizzas.  Hello truffle oil and ricotta!

Late night snacks!

We danced to the DJ spinning hip hop, got other bar-goers to chime in on “Happy Birthday,” and even got shots handed to us by shot girls.  We felt like we were in college again!

…and then there were birthday shots, passed out by shot girls!

Such a fun catch up/dance our faces off/cocktail/belated birthday celebration/get blisters on my toes from my heels night with one of my favorite people.

Chandelier or halo??

We’ve already put our next girl’s night in the books!

I’m hosting a rad contest if you want to join in on the summery fun! Just tell me in the comments below what you would pair with Malibu Island Spiced for your chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Malibu via BlogHer. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Malibu.

Sweepstakes Rules:
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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner  will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/13/13 – 6/30/13.

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SIP EASY. ENJOY MALIBU RESPONSIBLY.

MALIBU ® Caribbean Rum with Coconut Liqueur & Natural Spices, with Truvia® Sweetener. 30% Alc./Vol. (60 Proof) ©2013 Imported by Pernod Ricard USA, Purchase, NY

Truvia® and the Truvia®  logo are registered trademarks of the Truvia Company LLC.

PER 1.5 FL. OZ. SERVING. AVERAGE ANALYSIS: CALORIES 70; CARBOHYDRATES less than 1 gram; PROTEIN 0 grams; FAT 0 grams.

*when mixed with your favorite zero calorie mixer. Limes and other garnishes may add calories