Rachel's NDAD Creation: Holiday Edition

It's holiday party time!!  Rachel just sent in her fantabulous costume she wore for a shindig last weekend and I had to share as there are still tons of festive events going on.

Hi Marisa, I LOVE your site and have been following you since the beginning.  I think my outfit was slightly influenced by your Goodwill finds and posts.  I decided to wear a red dress for our Xmas party.  One of our thrift stores runs a weekly sale - every Monday one color tag is on sale for .99 and starting on Tuesday a different color is half off.  The trick is that the prior weeks' leftovers go on sale for .99 on Monday.

I found this dress on a Monday at the thrift store and the price was $10. Being that my only intent was to wear it to our party, I decided to hold off on buying. I went back on Tuesday and lucky for me the dress was now half off!  A $5 dress is still a little more that I wanted to spend, but since I was running out of time I bit the bullet and went for it!

Let's see how Rachel's party dress turns out!

 As you can see the dress was nice except for the bleach spot towards the bottom.

I was in charge of baking sweets for the party but had class this week until 9pm, cutting down the time I had to tweak the dress. My intent was to cut and hem, but due to the lack of time, I pulled out the heating tape and some felt leftover from a no-sew blanket that never was. I first cut the dress and then applied the tape on both sides. I cut the collar, added more tape to the underside and voila! My Ms. Claus outfit was complete.

I say Ms. Claus because I don't feel like a Mrs. :) When asked if I was Mrs. Claus I stated, "No, consider me either the Ex-Mrs. Claus or the Sancha (Mistress)"! Ha!

Hope you have a Merry Christmas. Thank you for your inspiration.

You are one hot Claus!! The outfit turned out so great - what a perfect thing to wear to a holiday party!! The belt, the boots - really just making this "Santa" costume current and so cute! I hope you got copious amounts of compliments on it and found yourself underneath the mistletoe with a handsome Santa-lookalike! Your mistress comment totally made me think of one of the sketches on SNL with Paul Rudd playing a slimmed down Santa with a new, non-Mrs. Claus gal pal!

Hysterical.

Happy Holidays to you too, my dear!!

Giveaway: Rose Avenue Sweets

So, I am the BIGGEST sweet tooth.  I love everything from Reese's Pieces and 3 Musketeers to Haribo gummies and Sour Patch Kids.  It's not so hot for my teeth - cavities, you are not my friend -  but I really do enjoy them so much.  Like soooooo much.  My dear friend and crafting partner-in-crime Sonya Nimri has the most ridiculously delicious chocolate company, Rose Ave Sweets, and she was gracious enough to offer some of her sweet treats to two readers!

Not only are her treats insane (rose dusted sea salt chocolate covered caramels!!)...

...but her packaging is to die for!

She hosted a booth at a local craft event, so when I stopped by to support, I put on an apron and got to work!  The trade-off was getting to sample as much chocolate as I wanted.  That was the best payment a girl could ask for!

So back to giving away some chocolate!!  Two lucky readers are going to get an amazing little prize pack filled with a bag of vanilla caramels and an assortment box (Electric Mint bonbon - think York Peppermint Patty but 100 times better, rose dusted chocolate caramel, toasted coconut covered chocolate caramel) of Sonya's finest!

To enter, leave a comment below of your favorite sweet treat!  Perhaps it's candy or perhaps it's something more along the icing topped cake route?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Two lucky winners will be chosen on the 28th!  No new year resolutions until after the treats have been consumed!  I'm so excited for the winners of this giveaway...the chocolate is just insane.

DIY: Painted Kitchen Utensils

On the 3rd day of holiday DIY my true love gave to me, a bunch of kitchen utensils that will help to stir my tea. OK, I tried with something kitchen-y to rhyme with me...twas harder than I planned! After scouring Pinterest, like you do, I saw a bunch of kitchen utensils (serving spoons, spatulas) that were painted!  I thought that they would make an easy and practical gift that you can bring to your party hosts or to stick in stockings!!

DAY 3: Painted Kitchen Utensils

Here's what you'll need...

1. Kitchen utensils (I found these wooden and bamboo spoons at the 99 cent store)

2. Acrylic paint (go for holiday shades, or ones that match the kitchen of the recipient!)

3. Clear shellac (this Zinsser spray is genius - it's non-toxic so it works on things like these utensils or any other craft projects!)

4. Painter's tape (This Scotch blue roll works well or you can always use masking or duct tape that might be in your house already)

My first step was taping the utensils.  I chose how low I wanted the paint to go and put a piece around the area picked.

Next it was paint time!  I had some foam brushes that I used, but feel free to go at it with your fingers!  This is also a fun project that kids can get involved with too - nothing like some family finger painting!

With fun shades painted first...

...I finished up my last two utensils with a subtle shade of gold.

Once the paint is dry, spray the clear shellac on top of the painted areas and let dry for at least an hour.  After it dries, take off the painter's tape and your project is complete!

My mom is definitely not going to be surprised when she sees these popping out of her stocking next week.

This is a fab hostess gift year round too!  I should make a stash to have on hand...

More DIYs coming tomorrow!!