Prada knock-offs

When I saw these earrings

 [Image from: Honestly WTF]

I knew I had to have some of my own. I set about looking for some roses at the craft stores, and instead found these teal chrysanthemums:

I also found this earring-making kit in my stash. I bought it years ago at Target during my big-earring phase, but decided the pendants would look better with my chrysanthemums.

Since the flowers didn't have any type of hole for a head pin, I had to get creative with some E6000. (I didn't take any pictures because the back looks kind of wonky, but the front looks good, right?)

I think I might like my version better than the originals. They're a bit more appropriate for everyday wear, no? 

Stash busted:

• Pendants
• Head pins
• Earring posts

Bought new:

• Chrysanthemums: $1.75 on 1/2 off sale at Hobby Lobby

These earrings were just the start of an earring-filled day. Stay tuned for the rest of them! What kind of earrings do you guys like to wear or make?

Anthro knock-off

Another recent Pinterest find: this beautiful Anthropologie original and Jessica’s stunning replica:

[image from: the Morning Letters]

I had just been wondering what to do with these gorgeous turquoise beads I picked up at a bead show a while back when I stumbled across this pin. As much as I loved the original, I didn’t want to buy a bunch of new materials, so I decided to use what I had on hand and drew my inspiration from this design. 

Stash busted: 

• turquoise beads
• silver beads (I have no idea where these came from, but I found them lying around)
• thread and ribbon (I really like the matching ribbon in the original, but in the interest of not buying something new, I chose a neutral ivory. Plus, I'd imagine that might be a hard color to match)
• crimp beads (never used these before, but I'd picked them up at the same bead show a while back

Bought new:

• Nothing! Success! I made a great new necklace and a small dent in my stash.  

 Are you guys fans of knock-offs? What have you knocked off recently? 

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Sparkles!

Here's yet another "I've seen these around and then I saw a tutorial and just had to make it myself" posts. Are you guys noticing a theme? :)

Suzannah posted these great gold glitter pumps, inspired by Christian Louboutins:

[Image from: Adventures in Dressmaking]

So, I went out and picked up some plain black flats to make my own. 

Unfortunately, I was in such a rush to find some cheap flats that I picked out some that don't fit that well (they didn't have any half sizes). 

Because these shoes are cloth, I knew it'd be harder to get the glitter to stick and cover well, so I decided to spray paint these silver first. It took a few coats of paint, and then quite a few coats of the Mod Podge/glitter mixture, but I got these babies covered eventually! I might just have to make another pair of these that fit a bit better...

Stash busted:

• Silver spray paint (borrowed from my mom)
• Mod Podge

Bought new:

• Glitter (I know I have some somewhere, but, a) I couldn't find it and, b) I needed micro glitter to get the look I wanted - ~$3 on sale at Hobby Lobby)
• Black shoes ($5 at Wal-mart)

Hmm, looks like I need to get a little better about busting my stash, and stop buying so much new stuff for these projects! Have you guys jumped on the glitter bandwagon?What sparkly things have you made?

Two dresses from 1, part 1

With the warm summer weather we've been having lately, I've been seeing a lot of cute maxi dresses and skirts. They're adorable and comfy and make such easy outfits. I discovered Leanne's blog through Pinterest, and fell in love with the dress she made for this tutorial: 

[Image from: Elle Apparel]

I liked the "yoga" band, the comfort factor, and definitely the color, but didn't want to go out and buy new fabric when I already have so much to get rid of. Then it dawned on me - I bought a grey knit maxi dress on clearance at Wal-Mart over a year ago for only $3 - it would be perfect!

For good measure, I tried the dress on first (which I'd never done before) to make sure it wasn't fine as-is. 

Needless to say, I do not quite have the body that that dress required, so....I got to cutting! This was a lot more difficult in practice than it was in my head...mostly because my serger and I aren't quite seeing eye to eye yet. The fact that the knit kept rolling didn't help either, but I was glad I got to keep two original seams and the hem. 

Since I finished it, I've been wearing the heck out of it - and it is super comfortable! Although with temperatures skyrocketing, I might have to retire it until the fall. But wouldn't this make a cute teaching outfit? I do need to figure out what other shirts I could wear it with. I kind of hate most of my clothes right now, so I might just have to make something else to wear this with. Any suggestions? 

Stash busted:

• Grey maxi dress

Bought new:

• nothing! Success! 

Stay tuned to see what I did with the top of this dress - I couldn't let it go to waste!

Turquoise teardrops

I'm going to be honest here - I've never bought anything off of Etsy. Some of the artists show real creativity that I greatly admire, but I also often think "I could make that." And the things I know I couldn't make are (deservedly) out of my price range, so....

LaLaCrystal has some beautiful jewelry in her shop, and the teardrop bead she used reminded me of some I had in my stash. I looked high and low for something resembling the leaf she used, but never came that close. Eventually, I found something that I thought might work at, you guessed it, Hobby Lobby. 

I kind of cobbled it together through some trial and error, but isn't that half the fun?

Stash busted:

• One lonely little bead

Bought new: 

• Chain ($2.99 at Wal-mart (all of the stores in my town were seriously lacking in chain selection)
• Leaf (part of a decorative clasp set - something like $1.50 on sale at Hobby Lobby)
• Setting for the bead (again around $1.50, although I ended up buying two different kinds because one of them really did not fit the bead. Of course I hadn't come to the store prepared or anything...)

Total: $6-$7. Oops. That was more than I wanted to spend, but I think it turned out nicely, don't you?

(Yes, out of all of the photos my friend took at this "photo shoot," this was the one I liked the best. Crazy.)

Stay tuned to see what I did with more of these turquoise beads. I'm still putting the finishing touches on it, but I think it'll be great when it's done...