Second hand shopping for a good cause!

Ok, going on a little tangent here with this "fashion" post, but if you know me you know I love fashion and see it as part of my artistic personality. I'm not into high fashion, though, or "haute couture" as it is called, but simply enjoy finding a deal and turning something "kinda weird" into a fun outfit that nobody else saw potential in...

Here are 5 dresses/outfits that I picked up on Saturday with my Aunt at a local charity event for the YWCA. It was a brunch and fashion show with tons of tops, skirts, dresses, and jackets at discount second hand prices!! I spent from $15 to $25 max on each dress. Plus, the proceeds were going to help the women at the YWCA (can't get any better than that!)

1. Striped maxi dress. It's a little big at size 16, but cut on the bias it fits close to the body no matter what shape you are. A wide black belt was all it needed to look more "fitted". This dress was brand new with tag still attached priced at $200!! I got it for $25.

2. Nude crochet dress with fringe. This dress fits fine, but the shoulder pads need to go and possibly the sleeves as well. This one was labelled as "vintage" and I spent $20 on it - yay!

3. Polka-dot dress. This dress looked super silly on the hanger. It was all lopsided and scrunched up, but I have learned, especially with second hand clothing, that if it looks weird on the hanger it just might look fantastic on! This dress has shoulder pads that need to go as well, but over all the dress fits great. I have a red belt that looks awesome with it and of course my red heels :)

4. 100% silk tie dyed top and skirt. (Ok, I don't always look happy in these pictures - but believe me I am!! I just don't like taking pictures of myself...)

This set was another one that looked weird and artsy (in the wrong way) on the hanger. But I loved the feel of the fabric and the fact that it was hand made really made me want to give it a chance. Thank goodness I had a belt on with me at the event because this set looks great cinched in at the waist but absolutely terrible as a shapeless tie dyed mess. 
 I love it now and only paid $15 for it!!

5. Black velvet dress with faux fur collar. Ok, this was my last purchase and the grand finale. I call it the Russian Princess dress. Again, on the hanger, people were passing this baby up! It looked a little weird...but I had to try it on (I mean how could you not!) I love the faux fur neckline and was planning on making a cute winter tunic out of it. The velvet is super thick and luxurious but the fit is a little off. This dress will need the most adjustments, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. At only $25 I couldn't even buy the fabric for that! So, I've decided to keep it a dress, as after I tried it on everyone oohed and awwed at me... I will shorten the sleeves to 3/4 length and shorten the skirt to the knee so it's not quite as formal. Also need to take it in quite a bit and maybe find a fun belt to go with it!

So what do you think?! I haven't had such super fun shopping for quite a while. And I need to blow the dust off my trusty sewing machine and get down to some summer projects!! I can't wait, and maybe I'll even post the final results!!

:)

DIY Homemade Wedding Invitations!

List of Supplies:

-  Card Stock: Use "cover" weight for card base (I used PZ facets paper in "Pebble")

-  Various other card stock: Use "text" weight and "cover" weight for different parts of the invite  (I used a shimmery aqua in cover weight for the main wording and map base, a darker sapphire blue in text weight for the accent color, a light blue vellum for the map, a recycled brown paper-bag paper for the pocket and envelope, a dark brown woodgrain embossed paper for the outer sleeve, and some greens in different colors for the leaves.)

- A good paper cutter! This is very important...

- Sharp pair of scissors

- Scoring tool:  (I used a Score-It-All template - the pink thing shown in the pictures below)

-  Adhesives: (I used Tombow Mono Adhesive roller tape thingies in permanent and removable - I am now addicted to these!  And of course my trusty UHU stic)

-  Stamps and Ink:  (I used a Hero Arts dandelion stamp and Tombow acid free brush pens in two shades of turquoise and a green)

-  Various Marvy Punches for interest and shapes

-  Get photo "save the date" magnets (if so desired - I ordered mine from Vistaprint)

First lay everything out on a big table and do lots of research on the internet for inspiration!

Cut 8x10 card stock down to desired size.

Use Score-It-All or other scoring tool to place fold lines where planned.

I created two different folds here for a trifold card base.

Very straight and precise folds...

Even out score lines and fold card.

Cut out a small rectangle for pocket. Make sure to measure so that it will fit just right. I utilized a half inch fold on each side for adhering - see below...

Score around three edges to create pocket.

Cut little wedges at the two bottom corners - this allows the fold to be less bulky.

Use the nifty Marvy 1" circle punch to create a half circle cutout on pocket.

Center the punch so it creates a nice uniform notch like here.

Fold the three edges and glue corners with adhesive tape.

Using my Tombow adhesive tape around the pocket edges.

Center and adhere pocket to left side (or whichever side) of card base.

And Voila!  Looking super cute already...

Time to create the map!  I traced the roads from a printed google map of the area and added small clipart for the church, reception, and compass.  I drew the scroll and added info in a font I found on the internet that was decided to be the main font for the entire invite.  A bunch of cutting and pasting later and I scanned the entire map and resized (now if you have nifty photo editing software like Photoshop this can all be done on the computer - but I made due with what I got)  I recommend a decent scanner if you are going this route - I used an Epson Perfection V500 PHOTO scanner.

(This was the most frustrating part for me and took the longest)  Resize and lay out map so that it prints two maps side by side on a piece of vellum (again I guess if you had Photoshop this would be way easier).  I couldn't get the printer to print two on a page at the correct size for almost a whole day!  Oh my!  But I finally came up with the perfect result - with the help of my computer savvy brother - Persistence pays!

Cut vellum map to desired size so that it will fit in pocket when added to backing paper.

Cut map backing out of cover weight card stock to make it sturdy (I used a pretty shimmery aqua paper).  Attach vellum to card stock with Tombow adhesive.

Print out, cut, and glue together the center main wording for the invitation.  I found a nice font online and researched a few wording samples to come up with my own for a simple, casual looking invite.  Cut out a larger rectangle (about 1/4" larger on all sides) than the wording page to use as an accent color.  The wording here was printed on a cover weight shimmery aqua paper I used throughout and the accent was cut out of a text weight sapphire paper (you could reverse the weights here as either way would work).

I'm a little OCD (can you tell?) so I had to lay everything out in piles of 10 to make sure I made enough of each element for the invitation.  I love me some organization!

(Not pictured - sorry forgot to take pics)  I went through and hand colored the dandelion stamp with Tombow acid free brush pens (really quite easy!) and stamped each individual invitation.  Each one came out a little different and it was a tad time consuming, but I loved the unique awesomeness of the final result!
I also adhered the main wording to the center of card and slipped the map into it's pocket.  I used both my UHU glue stick and the Tombow adhesive for the center wording because it was a little thick and needed double duty stick.  I certainly didn't want the cards to fall apart as soon as someone opened it!

A much loved friend's assistance and caffeine is always beneficial.  Here my best friend Brad is helping me put the final invitations together... 

Stuffing pockets!

Adhere the photo "save-the-date" magnets to pocket.  I used Tombow Removable adhesive for the magnet so that it could be easily taken off and put elsewhere when received.  I discovered that the permanent stuff I was using for the rest of the invite left goobery residue to the back of the magnet - no thank you.  We ordered the magnets from Vistaprint.  This was much less expensive than using a typical wedding photo site (we just ordered typical business card sized magnets - I designed them using the easy to use website and bam!)  Plus we saved by buying in bulk which we needed anyway - win win.  All in all, it was a perfect idea and really made the invitations more personal with the added bonus of a forever keepsake for friends and family.

Almost done!  (Again, not pictured - silly me).  A box of card sleeves.  These were super simple to make.  Cut an 8x10 piece of woodgrain dark brown paper into 2" strips so that they are 2x10.  Use scoring tool to create two folding joints for a cleaner fold that will fit the card perfectly.  Fold together and glue edges together to create a "sleeve" (kind of like a Starbucks sleeve for a hot coffee cut - here I go using Starbucks references).  I then used a Marvy punch shaped like an oak leaf and punched out a bunch of those in green card stock.  Glue one leaf to the front of the sleeve and tie a knot (get it "knot" - i crack myself up).  I used natural twine for a rustic vibe, but ribbon would be pretty too.  And Voila! an easy way to play up the front of the card! (I found out later that a lot of the guests thought they were supposed to untie the knot to open the card... but it's supposed to just slide off - oh well).

And Done!
Revel in your handiwork... This looks great!  A super personal and unique wedding invitation that will be cherished by everyone.

So many invitations...

My brother and his fiancée LOVED the way these invitations turned out.

And the final result is pretty darn cute if you ask me!

I hope this gives you a little glimpse into what it takes to make your own invitations.  It's a little time consuming but worth it in every respect.

These will be mailed out soon and I can't wait for the big day!

There will be, of course, more DIY wedding inspired posts, I am sure, as I want to help out in whatever ways they need me...

           I love you Tom and Dorothy!