What To Do With My Little White Dress...

I have been meaning to post this up, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I scored a tea length Jessica McClintock wedding dress off of EBay for $29.00! It was new with tags, and pretty adorable. Well, now to make it look not so much like a wedding dress. This is going to be used on our Alaska cruise next May, so I have plenty of time to anti-wedding it up. Here are some ideas I have in mind...


or...



The second of the two is actually a Stephanie James Couture dress similar to one I tried on when I was buying my wedding dress. I would be using black ribbon instead of the green that's featured (that's not actually real ribbon on there anyways), and adding a black tea length crinolin petticoat to either style.

Here is a picture (horrible as it may be) of the dress. It has enough fabric in the skirt to accomidate a petticoat. It's also a bit more flattering when I'm not in that stance, but it was necessary to take the picture.



Updates to come once I make a style decision.

Inspiration for the future...

A fellow Nestie posted this as inspiration. I LOVED it, and needed to keep the picture.

Vintage Vogue Recreation Project...

When I saw this online, I about died. I was in love with this idea.



I looked on E-Bay to see how much these magazines would cost so I could make my own wall. Well, as it turns out it costs an arm and a leg. Some of them are $49.99! It really makes me tempted to buy the new ones now, and save them until I'm 80 and go on a nice vacation with all that money.

Well, being as buying them was not an option I figured I would just recreate them! I draw almost as well as the original artist, so why not!? This is what I have so far...







I originally was going to do a grouping of four, but I keep finding more that I like! We will see how many I end up drawing. I will frame the best ones (I'm not too happy with my lettering on that first one), and just see where it goes. Either way, I'm super excited.

New-To-Me Patio Set Re-do

My patio has really been the last thing on my list of things to do. I have found myself wanting to have a place to sit outside lately, so I figured I should break down and do something about it. So far, it's had one basil plant and one empty flower pot. Great decor, right? It's minimalist to the extreme. So anyways, last time I was at my Mother's house, I was eyeing all of the extra patio furniture she has.

Now admittedly, I'm not normally one to actually ask for free stuff. I love a bargain, but I won't come out and ask. But she just had some much extra patio furniture! I decided to break down and see if she would donate some to the "Make My Porch Look Pretty" foundation. Luckily, it worked! I inherited two chairs and a glass table; all of which needed a face lift.

Three cans of Rustoleum Satin Finish in Black later, here's what we have.

Before-

After-

Before (notice the rust...)

A close up....

And after-

Reinventing My Serviceware

So my Mother gave me this neat tiered serving piece from my Grandmother's estate. It's not really my style, but it was pretty none the less. A while back, I was inspired by another blog to use serviceware for everyday household items. I loved this idea, because I don't have a use for my serving pieces otherwise. I decided to put this one on my bathroom vanity to organize and display my everyday jewelry.

So I fell off the blogging wagon...

Time to get back on I suppose. Sometimes, I just don't have anything worth talking about. I have had a few decorating breakthroughs in the past few months though. I would like to share them, late as they may be.

First, my chair. I was very excited to have found this chair. I was at a consignment shop with my Mother looking for a 1950's era formal dress. Instead, I came home with a chair. I needed a chair (when don't we need a chair, afterall?), but I figured Jeff wouldn't be too thrilled about me spending money. I called him, and luckily I caught him in the middle of playing a video game with his brother. I have a feeling I could have been buying a car and he would have said "ok" to get me off of the phone. Oh well, his loss. Upon falling in love with this chair, I did not realize it's imperfections.

Once to honemoon period was over and I got the chair back to my Mother's house, I realized that I will eventually need to replace the legs. They're ok for now, but one day. It also needed new covering on the underside. Out came the staple gun and a white sheet. An hour or so, and a few iced teas later, it had a fresh underside and was vacuumed and febreezed!

Here's the chair right after giving it a facelift-



And here it is in the apartment. I loved this pillow on it. I wanted something to give it a modern edge; an Anthropologie meets Pottery Barn feel. The colors in the pillow match all the colors in the chair, so I felt it worked in an odd way.

S'mores pie...

So I made another lemon meringue pie on Friday, because we were having friends over for dinner. It got me thinking, what would happen if I used other flavors of pudding besides lemon? Then it occurred to me, if I use the graham cracker crust, chocolate pudding, and toast the meringue it would make a s'more pie! I cant lie, I'm very excited.

I have no idea how this will taste yet, but I figured it's worth a try. I'll try it this weekend.