Altering Thrift Store Clothes

This year I turned 30 and I wanted to do something fun and memorable to celebrate! I had this idea in my head for several months of exactly what I wanted to wear. I wanted to do a masquerade theme in all black. I had the perfect dress designed in my head, but knew I would never find it at the mall for the price I wanted to pay, plus I really do not enjoy going to the mall, it's just not for me. I LOVE thrift stores, and knew that was where I was going to find my dress!

First thrift store stop, I found this beauty below! It was exactly what I had designed in my head! I was so excited. There it was hanging on the rack for only $2... this made me even more excited. Of course it was two sizes too small... but that was okay. I figured I could find a different texture of fabric to alter it and with the help of my mom and grandma (excellent sewers) we would have no problem making it fit!

The detail was absolutely beautiful!

I had a couple old pleather belts in my closet that I wasn't using anymore and I thought they would be perfect in the alteration of the dress.

I cut the buckle off the belts. My grandma and I ripped the seams in the side of the dress and then my mom pinned the belts along the seams. Grandma sewed the belts in and it worked out perfect! Fit like a glove.

To add a little more flare to the dress... I bought four yards of tulle from the fabric store, cut it up and sewed it to an old belt I had.

I purchased these mask off Etsy for my boyfriend and I to wear for the evening.

I wanted to dress up a pair of pumps I had, so I went straight to the feather aisle in the craft store! I purchased a couple different types of black feathers, black elastic and velcro. I wanted to create a shoe cuff, something that wraps around your shoe to dress it up.

I measured out the elastic to fit my foot. Then sewed the velcro pieces to the elastic. I laid out the feathers between two pieces of the elastic and glued them together. Then ran them through the sewing machine.

The Finished product.

Earrings I've had for several years were perfect to go with this outfit!

I ended up only spending $6 total on my entire outfit and I loved it!

My boyfriend and I the night of the party and a few other photos of the night below :)

Making A Family Photo Tree...

I was lost on what to get my grandma for her birthday this year... since it is so close to Christmas I decided to make her a family photo Christmas tree.

My grandparents used to deck the halls every Christmas season from top to bottom. We always had an adult tree in the living room and a kids tree in the family room. For years my entire family would gather at my grandparents on Christmas Eve and stay the night to wake up the next day to celebrate Christmas morning. Over the years, as our family grew larger we outgrew my grandparents house. My grandparents stopped decking the halls from top to bottom and no longer put up the two trees.

We now celebrate the Christmas holiday at my house. My grandparents were nice enough to hand me down a lot of their old outdoor Christmas decor that they had handmade throughout the years when I asked them for it and I absolutely cherish it all.

I decided to make the tree because I wanted to give them something back in return, that they could enjoy throughout the Christmas season.

I used a wood M cutout for their last name and peacock feathers as a topper. The peacock feathers reminded me of the farm.

I purchased a 4' tree at Family Dollar, it was on sale for $10, and a box of 100 lights. I then picked up flocking in a can to add to the tree. I LOVE flocked trees. I stopped at my local art supply store and found burlap on sale for only $2 a yard and a yard was plenty. I cut the burlap into 3 - 4" strips and wrapped it around the tree like garland. I also added some country lace as garland.

I used scrapbooking paper, scrapbooking scissors and tags to create the frames for my photos.

Tacky Glue was the best thing for me to use to glue the paper pieces and photos together, although you don't want to use a lot of glue, a little goes a long way..

After I got all my pieces glued together I then coated them with Mod Podge using a sponge brush. This will seal all the pieces together and give it a texture.

I punched holes in the top of my paper frames with a hole punch and then threaded twine through to create a loop, then tied in a knot.

This is how they turned out. I made about 25-30 of them and that seemed to be enough to cover the 4' tree.

This was a pretty inexpensive project and I had a lot of fun making it... it brought back lots of family memories. <3