Anne's NDAD Creation

Anne had a wedding to attend and she found just the perfect piece to remake.  Check it out...

You have inspired me!  I am going to a wedding at a winery in Temecula in a week and it is going to be HOT.  The colors in this Goodwill dress said "winery," so I bought it for less than $6.  When I tried it on, it was like  WOAH...Little Old Lady Time!  Even the girls were horrified...

Marisa says to remove shoulder pads, so I followed suit.

I didn't stop there...

I cut the underskirt off and turned it into a top.

I ended up making a b-i-g-g-g-g-g-g gather along the right side...

...and added a great suede skirt from a thrift shop to wear underneath, some new beaded sandals, and a Carlos Santana fringy purse to complete the look.

Ready to celebrate with a glass of wine!  Thanks for the inspiration!

PS, Anne sent in fab pics from her wine country wedding wearing her new piece and it's making me want to re-visit my little wine weekend getaway that I had last weekend!

Such a beautiful bunch of gals - nothing like a girls' weekend to enjoy some sips and celebrate good friends.

Thanks so much for sharing your piece, Anne!  I love that you saw vision in this dress - the fabric completely screams winery and it's so fantastic that you knew exactly what you wanted to do.  It looks like you had such a wonderful time.  Makes me smile :)  (And...awesome job removing those shoulder pads!!)

Giveaway: Black Vintage Cocktail Purse

In my organizational frenzy, I've been sorting through tons of things in my closet and jewelry box, clearing out shop.  It feels SO good to make edits on pieces that I just haven't used in a while. I have a few bags ready to drop off at Goodwill, a bunch of things that I'll put up on etsy, and a few things I thought I could pass along to you guys.  Like this...

I've had this lovely black vintage clutch for years!  It's one that I've brought to many a cocktail party and just need to retire.  I have another slightly larger black purse that has been my go-to lately, so I figured this would be part of the stash I'd offer to you guys!

It's got a lovely gold chain strap that's easily tuckable for when you want to just carry by hand.

To enter, leave a comment below of something that you've just retired.  Perhaps it's a summer beach chair, a swimsuit that has begun to fade, or maybe you've just retired!!  I'll sort through all the contest winners next week from the most recent giveaways and deem a random winner for this lovely piece as well!

Happy Weekend, everyone!  TGIF!

DIY: Hanging Bracelet Organizer

I'm super excited about today's DIY!!  I've been in crazy organization mode and today's project is one that is helping me continue down that track...

September is National Sewing Month (yay!) and it's Waverly's 90th anniversary, so Jo-Ann along with Waverly are hosting a "Waverize It" contest, to think outside the box and transform something everyday into something spectacular through sewing.

I took the challenge and they sent me two yards of fabric to work with.

I started thinking about the everyday items in my life that could use some spicing up, while playing around with organizational ideas and the light bulb went off.  Why not take those empty paper towel rolls, cover them with the Waverly fabric, and use them as a holder/display for all my clasped bracelets that are all tangled in a box??

Time to get my DIY on!

YOU'LL NEED...

* Fabric - You can pick a gorgeous fabric up at Jo-ann or use remnants from other projects.

*Rotary Cutter/scissors - I used my Fiskars rotary cutter because it was easier to cut multiple fabric patterns at once, but scissors do the trick as well!

*Empty paper towel rolls - Depending on how many rows you want is how many empty rolls you'll need.

*Jute/chain - This is going to be what connects the rolls to each other.  I went with more of a natural look, so I used the jute but feel free to go with chain/ribbon/string/etc.

*Mod Podge - This is what will keep the fabric panels attached to the rolls.

*Binder Clips - These were a last minute addition to the supplies list, as I grabbed them on the spot to use to keep the fabric attached to the paper towel rolls.

I gathered five rolls to use, because I want five hanging rows for my organizer.

I measured the length and circumference of the tubes to get a measurement of how much fabric I needed to trim.  (The length was 11" and the circumference was 6".)

I measured out an extra 1/2" for both to save for my new seam and placed my fabric down on a cutting mat.

I cut one fabric panel out and then used it as a pattern to cut out four more.

Once my fabric was trimmed, I ironed each piece flat as well as ironed under the saved 1/2".

I sewed my panels...

...and was left with cleanly sewn rectangles of fabric!

I placed the fabric around the paper towel rolls and used binder clips to keep them taut and in place.  Next I covered them all with Mod Podge.

When they were all coated in MP, I stood them up to let them dry.  (I let them stand up overnight to fully dry and harden.)

They looked so pretty when they were all dry!

Now it was time to connect the tubes.  I measured 10 lengths of the paper towel rolls (the jute is going to be woven/travel back and forth through the tubes) plus an extra two feet to use to hang the organizer.

I took the first roll, which is going to be the one at the bottom of the organizer, and pulled the jute through the center of the tube...

...until there was equal amount of jute hanging out on each side.

For the next roll, I took one end of the jute and pulled it through the center and then took the other end and did the same thing, leaving about two inches in-between the first roll.

I repeated this step until all five tubes were connected.

After the fifth was put on, I took the two ends of the jute, looped them, tied a knot, and then trimmed off the excess.

I hammered a nail into the wall of my vanity area, and hung the loop that I just tied onto the nail.  New organizer ready to have lots of bracelets hung from it?  Check!!

The beauty of this is that you can totally adjust the space between each tube to accomodate larger or smaller bracelets.  I began to hang my pieces by genre...costume on top, silver on the next rung, gold on the third, etc...

...until all my bracelets were hung!

I'm totally obsessed with this and the fabric looks perfect in my vanity area.  I'll have to shoot full pics of my dressing space as soon as all my organizational projects are complete!

Now that I've taken the "Waverize It" challenge, it's your turn!!  Waverly and Jo-Ann are hosting a Facebook contest that all of you can partake in to win $1,000 in Waverly fabric and a $250 gift card to Jo-Ann.  The winner of this contest is going to have a crafty field day with $1250 worth of goods!  I'd love to see NDAD-ers submit for this, so keep me posted if you end up entering.

Oh and this is only open to readers/consumers (I'm ineligible, y'all!) and you have until September 22nd to complete your project.  Check out the official rules and entry information HERE.

Three cheers for National Sewing Month!