Remake: Orange Floral Muumuu

My final piece that I brought to Costa Rica with me... This MUUMUU!!!

I was obsessed with the colors - a little bit of orange, red, and pink??  Sign me up!!

I wanted something to wear as a beach coverup since I'm so fair.  I'm always wearing layers at the beach, so I thought this could work out perfectly as beachwear!

Time to get to work!!

I started by chopping off the sleeves.  I followed the seam and left about 1 1/2 inches.

I folded under the excess trim to make each armhole totally clean.

I stitched my new sleeves in place and my beach coverup was complete!

I'm going to take this piece a little further, come summer.  I think I want to really push the sundress route, but for trip purposes it was just right!

We went to a beach area that was filled with beach chairs, umbrellas, and these gorgeous crocheted hammocks!!  I immediately became obsessed because the details are spectacular.

I totally got on...

...and I totally passed out!

I loved wooden carved "private" signs the most.

The signs totally got me in a crafty mood, so when I found the perfect beach chair spot...

...I got to crafting!

I made a sunglasses neck holder! (I'm going with that because I'm just not quite sure what these thingamajigs are called.)  Before the trip, I went to the fabric district in downtown LA to grab some supplies -  I got some beads and the actual connectors for the sunglasses.  I added a jump ring to the connector and then added fishing line to string the beads (2).  Next I started beading away!  I came up with a fun pattern using some turquoise, red, and white beads (3), and then finished my holder by tying the cord to the other jump ring attached to the connector (4).

Love how this turned out!  I was using it all the time instead of putting them on my head when I went inside somewhere. Cute, eh?  I have a not-so-hot track record of losing (er, sitting on) my sunnies, so this was a practical little project to avoid such mini-disasters.

The beach was fully enjoyed...

... as was the most adorable pup ever!!

There were coconuts served by amazing machete-wielding beach dudes who cut the tops of them off right in front of us...

...and then I enjoyed my sweet, sweet, coconut water nectar in the sand!

I was in love with the beaded hangers at the boutique nearby...

...and all of the gorgeously colored wares...

It was tough to say goodbye to Tamarindo....

...and one last sunset was thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh, and that pina colada was thoroughly enjoyed as well!!

Such a dreamy time!!

Remake: Tropical 80s Pantsuit

What screams tropical more than this 80s pantsuit?  It's actually more like a caprisuit!!

It had to come home with me when I first saw it.  Pockets and that print!!!

This was going to be the PERFECT outfit to bring with me to Costa Rica.

I began with some cutting.  I cut both of the sleeves at the shoulder and took the capri length up to a shorts level.  Yep, I'm gonna have a shortsuit in no time!!

After all appropriate cutting was complete, I hemmed the bottom of each leg and gave a brand new seam to the new arms, or lack there of.

I put it in my suitcase and got it out for river tour day!!  I felt somewhat like a little ranger, especially with my straw hat.

We drove a bit through some rough terrain to make our way to the Palo Verde National Park...

...where we got on our boat to tour the Tempisque River.  Our captain, Miguel, was amazing.

There were iguanas everywhere.  I didn't realize how close I got to take this photo.  I was totally obsessed with the coloring.

We saw tons of these guys....

...and I think I was hoping that the crocs would stay under water.

We also got up close and personal with some bats.  The symmetry was incredible.

Oh, and I got put in charge for a few minutes. Big mistake. Big. Huge.

We saw more crocs and this one got injured, per our guide, so his mouth was almost permanently open.  I didn't see it shut the entire seven minutes we were parked.  (My photos never focused on the croc, however you can see it in my new boat pal's camera.)

We saw tons of monkeys which pretty much made the entire tour.

All sorts of macaws and herons were in the trees and this one had stunning (or deadly) red eyes.

The tour was such fun!  We stopped in Filadelfia on the way back too.  Love the spelling and couldn't stop singing the Bruce Springsteen song from the movie :)

I had to get a photo with our guide Fabricio, because he totally ruled!

More trip pics tomorrow!*

*Trip pics include a muumuu.  Couldn't go to Costa Rica without a muumuu...

Remake: White Cotton Beach Dress

Happy Tuesday!! How was everyone's Thanksgiving/weekend/Monday back at work?? I hope you all enjoyed a little R&R! I just got back from a little holiday retreat in Costa Rica where I had fish (!!!) on Thanksgiving! Such a welcomed break for a few days, but now it's back to business. I've got some fun holiday posts coming up soon, but in the interim we're going to have a few posts with some beachy retreat remakes! First up was this fab white cotton dress - my gal AA gave this one to me and it was perfect for summer! Lots of lace and layers...

...but also lots of spots! I knew that the spottage could be handled with a little assistance.

DYE! It's going to be a tie dye kind of day for this piece!

I wrapped rubber bands around the piece starting from the bottom corner of the dress all the way over to the other end. This is going to form a bullseye pattern!

I wet my dress completely and took a medley of pink and purple dyes to coat my dress.

After letting the dye saturate overnight and then rinsing it out with water, I packed this piece in my suitcase and toted it along with me to Costa Rica. We got in right around sunset, just in time to catch the last few minutes of sunlight.

Then came new dress time!

I loved the way the dress turned out. And the colors!! The pinks/purples made some awesome shades of magenta and lavender.

It's so comfortable too - I love the elastic on top! Totally perfect to wear over a swimsuit too.

Balmy 80 degree weather at night? I was totally on board from day one!

More vacaysh photos/remakes to come tomorrow!