Resourcefulness

AKA, I'm-poor-so-if-I-want-new-stuff-I-need-to-be-creative.

This is what I'm wearing today. (please pardon the strange expression on my face) This is the first time I've worn any of these items, with the exception of my earrings (diamond studs that my mother in law gave me for Christmas a few years ago) and my bracelet (Tiffany Venetian Link - my favorite). Those pants? They're from the Gap. I found them at the bottom of my closet under a bag full of sorority tee shirts from college, along with another pair of pants that I bought several years ago and meant to get hemmed. Yeah, that never happened. So, last night, I busted out the sewing gauge thingy, a needle, some thread, and some pins, and I hemmed those mofos.

Verdict - I can hem a pair of pants, but I hate hemming pants. It took nearly three hours to sew them by hand. Of course, I was playing Sorority Life on Facebook (it's wrong how much fun it is to terminally depress someone) at the same time, so I'm sure that didn't help.

The top, believe it or not, is a plain old Fruit of the Loom white v-neck tee. I bought a six pack of them at Target a couple of weeks ago for nine bucks. I've been admiring these ruffly tee shirts that I'm seeing everywhere lately, but I just can't afford to drop $30 on a freaking TEE SHIRT right now. So, inspired by the j crew Tissue ruffle v-neck tee, I cut one of the shirts in my pack into strips, cut the collar off another one, and then sewed the strips onto the collar as ruffles. Not too bad for my first try, I think, but there is definitely room for improvement. For one, the ruffles are a bit more rufflier on one side of the neck than the other. Also, my stitching is a little wonky. I need to work on that. Luckily I still have 4 shirts left. HA!

My shoes I got at Payless for $12. They're bubblegum pink canvas peep toe wedges and are actually one of the zoe&zac ecologically friendly pairs. They're also pretty comfy so far. I've only worn them to the pediatrician though. They don't have that super cheap Payless look to them, if you know what I mean. And, they don't smell like plastic, which is always good!

Finally, there is the necklace. It is 39 inches of hand wire wrapped pink quartz and czech crystal goodness. I used a bunch of stuff that I already had in my jewelry making stash for years, and did it over two nights.

The lighting in this photo is bad, but you can see the detail. I ROCK the wire wrapping! I used non-tarnish wire too, so it should stay nice and shiny like this. It's very dainty and can be doubled for a shorter necklace or even wrapped around your wrist five times as a bracelet. The design of this one is loosely based on a j crew necklace.

Damn you j crew sending me emails of shiz I can't afford! So, so much pretty stuff. So expensive though, for reals. I try to make myself feel better by convincing myself that nothing in that store would fit me anyway. :) This is also my strategy for Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and White House, Black Market by the way.

So, even though the Lord has not seen fit to bless me with mucho moolah, He has given me the talent to make reasonably good looking stuff with my own too hands, which is more than a lot of people can say, so I am grateful!