Wednesday Giveaway!

Happy midweek, friends!  I'm finally on the road to recovery.  I'm whisper-cheering my excitement as my throat is still kind of scratchy.  And the crowd goes wild, ahhh!! 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.

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 :)

Tuesday Remake: White Dress with Black Buttons

A new remake in the bag for today!! I found this white collared dress with black buttons and immediately saw the potential for color!!

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??

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

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.)

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.

Little by little, I got my sleeves 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.

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? :)

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

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!

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!!

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

Au Revoir, NY!

Hey friends!  I'm back in LA but got super sick upon return.  Basically, "I (he) had it coming, I (he) only had myself (himself) to blame"...cue the "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago since I'm still in B'way mode.  By the time I left NY, I could feel the extreme exhaustion building from the lack of sleep/constant activity/work days full of crazy call times (3am, anyone), and knew I was going to get something.  And alas, that something arrived just as my plane touched down in California. 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 fell in love with Eric Winterling's amazing costume studio...

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

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!!