Orange Tank Top Renovation

So one day last month, I decided to wear a shirt that I had gotten in middle school. Because some parts of it felt a bit juvenile, I decided to wear a scarf with it to cover up.

I took the scarf off for the picture, but it was orange and pink.

This is what the shirt looked like before I did anything to it:

I tried to rotate the picture, but my computer is being dumb and won't let me. I decided I want to get rid of the sleeve strings, the white insert, and the bottom "skirt."

So I cut them all off:

The remainders of my shirt

My shirt after I cut everything off

I ended up liking the shirt SO much better after I renovated it. It now feels much more age appropriate.

I put a black camisole underneath it to make the tank top more conservative.

What do you guys think?

Summertime Check List

The first day of my summer vacation, I made a post telling you all everything that I wanted to do this summer. Now that summer is over, let’s see how much I accomplished!

*Set up a vanity in my room so I can get good enough lighting to do makeup tutorials. (That’s why I haven’t done any, if you were wondering.)
I got my vanity set up in June, and I am loving it! I feel so much more organized now.
*Visit with family and hang out with friends
I didn’t get to hang out with my friends as much as I’d like, but I got to see a lot of my family. :)
*Film a ton of videos.
I didn’t film as many as I originally wanted to, but I got quite a lot filmed!
*Create four original accessories. (I’m going to try to start this next week!)
Honestly, I completely forgot about this. :/ Hopefully I’ll get it done sometime soon!
*Renovate some of my old clothing.
I also forgot about this one. :/ hah
*Finish some more Project Ten.
I have finished Project Ten Care, I am about halfway through Project Ten Random, and I am slowly working on Project Ten Pan. :)
*Get my license!
I accomplished this feat on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. :)
* Do many product reviews.
These are coming soon. :)
*Reorganize my closet, drawers, and bathroom.
My room is surprisingly clean.

Well, six out of nine isn’t bad! Hopefully I will accomplish the other three sometime in the near future.

Things that weren’t on my list that I accomplished:
*Get to 50 subscribers on YouTube! (What?! :D)
*Toured Syracuse University
*Toned up a little bit (still working on it)
*Reconnected with some old friends
*Made connections with a few penpals

Wedding Dresses….Out of Toilet Paper?

I just found this article on Yahoo, and I thought I would share it with you all. I’ve heard of people making prom attire out of duct tape, but I had never heard of this before. I am quite surprised at how great these dresses look. I never would have known that they were made of toilet paper!

Though it was hard to choose, I think this dress is my favorite from the bunch.

If you’re interested in seeing the rest of the dresses, check it out here.

Which one is your favorite?

New Dress A Day…Check it Out!

When I first got my laptop, back at the beginning of sophomore year, I discovered this website called New Dress A Day. Because I actually check this website quite often, I’m not sure why I have not mentioned it to you all before.

Day 45

Here is what the website is all about,
“So here’s the deal friends, I’m going to be spending the entire year without doing an ounce of traditional clothing shopping. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “this girl is outta her gourd”, and I completely agree with you.
I was having a personal creative-funk-crisis this year and needed a bit of inspiration. Maybe it was because I was in the midst of turning 30 or perhaps it came from being overworked in a job that I luckily got laid off from – but what was for sure was that I was in a rut.
And then a Saturday afternoon viewing of Julie & Julia changed everything.  Now I didn’t want to cook my way through Julia Child’s French cookbook – je parle un peu Francais, but coq au vin just isn’t my thing – however, I did want to do something that would get my creative juices flowing everyday. And then the aha moment came to me.
The thing that makes this girl happiest is scouring flea markets, vintage stores and garage sales for the perfect pieces to add to my wardrobe. I love finding vintage goodies that may not fit me perfectly or translate well with the current state of fashion and then make them work on me. (thank you Tim Gunn – “make it work” has become my mantra) I get out my trusty sewing machine to change hems, cut sleeves and tweak to transform a lowbudge piece that had its’ moment back in 1976 and give it another shot today, decades later.   I have to say that whenever I wear my handmade pieces, I always get complimented and the best part is that I get to tell everyone that I bought it for $1 and just shortened it, dyed it or cinched it to make it chic and current.
So, that’s where my ode to no traditional shopping begins.  This year, I will be foregoing trips to Bloomies and Nordstrom for brand new gear. Goodbye to H&M purchases and accessory grabbing at Forever 21. And seeing the “must have” French Connection dress inPeople’s Style Watch will just have to suffice as a cut out on my inspiration board.
Instead, the only shopping that I’ll be able to do is that of pieces that have been used and worn already.  So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places.  On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.
365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…“

If you don’t want to look through all the posts, check out her Before and After Gallery. I suggest you click-through several of the pictures because you are bound to find something you like. :)

Day 59

She has already finished the year, but she still does create outfits with items she has found or that people have sent her. I still check her website regularly because she is really great at what she does.

In fact, she inspired me so much that I was going to model my senior project on her website. I was going to calculate how much I spent on fashion in one month. Then, the next month I would remodel something every day and wear it. The idea was to see how much I saved and to see what my creativity could come with. However, because I am doing dual enrollment for the next two years, I will not have to do a senior project.

I hope you guys check out her website because I really enjoy it. :)

Summertime! ♥

Today was the last day of school! I’m so glad that it’s over, and now I can relax. :)

My plans so far for this summer:
*Set up a vanity in my room so I can get good enough lighting to do makeup tutorials. (That’s why I haven’t done any, if you were wondering.)
*Visit with family and hang out with friends
*Film a ton of videos.
*Create four original accessories. (I’m going to try to start this next week!)
*Renovate some of my old clothing.
*Finish some more Project Ten Pan.
*Get my license!
* Do many product reviews.
*Reorganize my closet, drawers, and bathroom.

If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Prom Week: Day Four (March 23, 2011)

So today I wore this skirt

With a bright blue cami and this white lace coverup

At the beginning of the day, I was wearing this black beaded necklace.

However, in fourth period, the string broke. I still wanted to wear it, so I just tied it above where the beads began. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I actually kinda liked it.

While I was wearing it, instead of the beads being side by side, the longer side was in front of the shorter.

Today I’ll be talking about the prom color scheme of red. I know not many people wear short dresses to prom, but I don’t have any other long dresses. I wore this dress to two homecomings this year: my boyfriend’s homecoming at another school and the homecoming at my  school.

Here’s how it looks when I’m standing:

With this look, I wore these heels,

Carried this clutch (the same one that I showed for Day Two),

And wore my mom’s black jeweled bracelet and earrings.

I curled my hair with a Jose Eber curling iron, and I absolutely LOVE it. This curling iron is the only thing that will give my hair spiral curls. I highly recommend it.:) The only glitch is it gets extremely hot, and the gloves don’t protect your hands very well.

For my makeup, I just wore a neutral brown look.

Tip of the day: Make sure you do a trial run for both your makeup and your hair. You don’t want to find out that it doesn’t work the day of prom. Also, make sure to schedule your nail appointment about three days before and waxing, if that’s what you want, for about four days before the dance.

Wearing a Shirt as a Dress

Today was kind of an off day for me, so I’m using Kristen as a model again.

Instead of making a skirt into a dress for her, I decided to use one of my old shirts. I wasn’t sure if it’d be long enough, but it fit almost perfectly; all I had to do was add a belt to make it form fitting.

Next time I have Kristen wear a shirt as a dress, I think I may have her wear tights. I was going to today, but we didn’t have enough time. Next week I’m going to try and start doing more creative things, like wearing my clothes in ways you normally wouldn’t see. I’m also going to start trying new things with my makeup and hair. Hopefully things will start to get a little more interesting.

First Renovation: Let’s Make a Skirt a Dress

In fifth grade, I bought about five really long skirts that I do not wear anymore. (It’s sad that they still fit me five years later.)

So I decided to try and make them into a more stylish outfit. Since they’d look like a shirt on me, I decided to use my sister, Kristen, as a model.

This outfit did not take a lot of work. We took the skirt and pulled it up to her chest. Then we added her lace cover-up, a headband, sunglasses, blingy bracelet, and shoes.

It came out looking a lot better than I thought:) I like how the tie on the skirt turned into a slight focal detail on the top of the dress; it kind of makes it look like it was made to be a dress.

First Renovation-Skirt as a Dress!