DIY Fishtail Maxi Dress

Alright, I'll admit it... I'm a self made fashionista. I do not have the room in our budget to adorn myself in the latest fashions, so I have to make do with what I've got! Don't we all? I am certainly not complaining, the opportunity to express my creativity is fulfilling!

I am not sure if it was last year or the year before but I spotted a dress I fell in love with when I was out shopping with friends. You know the one, the loose fitting slightly draped gathered waist dresses. I think I was at JCrew but I know I saw some at several of the outlet stores. 

Surely you've seen the type, these are from Revolve Clothing:

             

Anyway, I hardly ever shell out full price for anything and before I even dare go shopping I see if I can make do with what I've got. Well, let me tell you... I did it! I have this maxi dress, see... I bought it on sale for like $8 from ASOS (excellent site for sale shoppers, btw) and I wear it everywhere. I pulled it out while on vacation and it was hot so I wanted something shorter. I wanted a day dress. So I reached down and grabbed the sides of the dress right at my thighs and I hiked it up. I then took my most used fashion accessory, a men's belt I found at a thrift store that's about an XXL, and I did what I always do with it: I wrapped it around my waist to hold up the excess fabric. Then I untucked the dress a bit and VOILA! I got what I was looking for. I EVEN got the added surprise of the fishtail in the back!!! I couldn't believe it, a double whammy! I paired it with my brightest fuschia colored lace bra to add a pop of color and I could not have been happier with the look. Just between you and me, I wore this for like 3 days in a row.

Ugh! Terrible posture, eh? Whatev's... we were on vacay!

So that's that, my DIY Fishtail Maxi Dress. I would imagine any maxi dress would work and any type of waist belt would, too. I hope it works out for you!

I'm linking up with Julie at White Lights on Wednesdays for her Wednesday Whatsits. Check it: 

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The Covert Robin Gift Exchange

I was lucky enough to get to be a part of The Covert Robin Gift Exchange for March! I think so far, I've gotten the BEST gift out there! I wish I had a picture of my face when I opened it. I was thrilled! Check it:

Hi Chickadette readers, Kristin here from Australia.  I blog over at pritty tings and was assigned Ashley to make my (not so covert now) gift for!!!  As I hadn't come across Ashley's blog before I immediately checked her out.  Hmm what to make for Ashley??? After a week or so pondering this and checking out her posts and pinterest boards, I received some purse frames that I had ordered from Etsy and that was that, I was going to make her (my very first) framed clutch!  I used this U-Handbag - Straight Edge Purse Frame as a reference for making the clutch.  However I wanted a different shape to the one in the tutorial so I drew out my own pattern as the tutorial suggests, using the frame I had.

 

Once I had the template, I cut all the pieces I needed.

I used drill (yellow), fusible fleece (not suggested in tutorial but I added it for a bit of protection, iron on heavy woven interfacing (sew-in is suggested but I only had iron on and it worked) and a fabric placemat for the lining (blue and white patterned) they were already stiff so I didn't use a second lot of interfacing.

For the VW beetle, I just drew the VW picture onto some baking paper, re-drew over the pencil with permanent marker on top of paper (as you look at it now), marked where I wanted the beetle to sit with pins in the fabric then flipped it over and positioned the picture between the pins (marker side to the fabric).  I ironed the paper, this caused the image to be transferred to the back of the fabric so I had a guide to follow when stitching the beetle on.

Once I had it stitched on, I simply (or not so simply when it came to the tight corners) followed the tutorial to sew it up and glue it in to the frame.

So that's it, I hope you like your gift Ashley and thanks for having me on your blog.

Kindest regards

Kristin

Cork Board Make Over DIY

 I apologize in advance for not thinking through the fact that the craft blended so well into my carpet... it makes it a bit more difficult to see, but alas, it is the way it is!

My biggest problem with decorating is figuring out what to hang on my walls. I get SO nervous I usually live for months with empty blank walls. As usual though, I was sitting on my couch and an idea hit me. I have an excess of cork boards and some pretty amazing vintage fabric. Nearly 20 minutes laters, here is what I made for the blank wall above my desk:

These are the materials I used:

cork board
Loctite spray glue
vintage fabric
scissors
x-acto knife
acrylic paint/paintbrush

1. Measure and cut fabric to size of board.
2. Spray board with glue and affix fabric. (photo fail, sorry Peeps!)
3. Trim excess fabric by cutting along edge of cork board.
4. Paint frame of cork board.
5. VOILA!

I found some (better) examples on Pinterest... an idea is hardly ever original, eh?

Source: iheartorganizing.blogspot.com via Jess on Pinterest

Source: beachhouseinthecity.blogspot.com via Autumn on Pinterest

Source: live-beautifully.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: isabellaandmaxrooms.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

Pin It

Mama Got A New Blog Look

WHAT DO YOU THINK!?

I did it all by myself!

What do you think!?

In an effort to streamline my image I finally narrowed down a photo that best describes me. I have new buttons to show for it!

<a href="http://chickadette.blogspot.com/" style="border:none;"><img alt="Chickadette" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ah8lAPDg9Kc/TzdA8yoe32I/AAAAAAAAA8o/gF5V9hP-_eA/s800/Chickadette%2520200%2520x%2520200.png" style="width: 200px; height: 1oopx;"/></a>


<a href="http://chickadette.blogspot.com/" style="border:none;"><img alt="Chickadette" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LL_OQUMPf6s/TzdD3Hzmd-I/AAAAAAAAA84/avh1Q0BiZec/s800/Chickadette%2520200%2520x%2520100.png" style="width: 100px; height: 2oopx;"/></a>
OR
grab the 125 x 125 button off to the right column ------->
* I beg of you, if you have one of my old buttons please update it with this one! If you need a different size, let me know! I can send it via email! *
{ chickadette@gmail.com }

DIY Felt Flower Heart

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!

My heart ended up being approximately 12 x 12 inches. I used 10 sheets of red felt.

The circles I cut were 4 inches in diameter, except for five, 7 inch diameter circles to create the bigger roses.

Quote Book, literally

I have this little super awesome note book I got for hella cheap (like 2 bucks I think) at Pier One during Christmas a few years ago. 

I held on to it for a period of time before coming up with a perfect use for it: a quote book. The little forget me not elephant is just too cute and perfect for this purpose!

You see, I have the pleasure of being surrounded by some pretty hilarious people. You won't believe some of the words that come out of the mouths of my friends. I decided instead of reminiscing being the only way to remember them, I'd just log them. I also log quotes I find pertinent to my current state of mind and such, like this one:

Here's some of my fave's from the past 6 years gone by...
*names have been sorta changed to protect the guilty*

It all started with this one. We were sitting around the dining room table (partying, of course) and someone knocked at the front door. My confused girlfriend got up and answered it but seemed really nervous. She laughed after she let our (new) friend in and when we asked her about why she had been so nervous she replied,

"The only people who use the front door are people who don't know us that well. 
Like family." 

- Lizzbeth 11:39 PM February 25, 2005

"You melted my heart and tightened my jeans."

or better yet

"Daughter lock up your mothers. It's time for cookies and MILF."

-Brando March 2009

"You're like my straight friend who understands the power of a pretty boy."

-unclaimed 3/29/10

"Whatever happened to old America with the pitchforks and fire? I would SO be in that crowd!"

-Lizzbeth 3/20/10

"Today is the solar eclipse." -Christan
"Grand. Unless I have a virgin to sacrifice it's of no use to me."
-Sadie 11/25/11

and a funny convo between friendlies:

"I'm a nice person." -Robin
"No you're not." -Lori
"No. I'm not." -Robin
"You pretend to be a nice person around 
people who don't know you that well." -Lori
Girls Nite Out 1/22/10

DIY { Just Lovely } Banner (and lunch!)

You're certainly aware of those gorgeous banners displayed at most weddings now a days... well I want one! Seeing as how I'm not getting married for some time, I came up with something else to celebrate my current state of happiness and decorate my home. 

I used colored card stock for the flags, glitter & glue, heart shaped bracket pins, and hemp string. 

I used my printer to print the letters onto white index cards. I picked a font called "RIDDLE" that you can get for free online at a site called dafont.com.

I used a rectangle template I've had for years to zero in closer on the letters.

I picked out the colors I wanted to use (from Martha Stewart's 24 pack of glitter) & glittered them !

I then took 5 pieces of card stock and cut 2 flags each. I started with one square piece 4 x 4 inches, found the middle mark on the bottom edge of the paper, drew a line from each corner to that mark and ended with perfect triangles.

  I  centered the letters on the card stock then used my teeny tiny hole puncher (the pink thing there in the background) and poked guide holes for the brackets.

 

I ran a piece of string along the back and taped the flags to it and hung up my banner!

(it took me about 2 hours but only due to the lunch break I had in the middle of step 3 and 4)

and since we're on a roll with the DIY...

I made a tomato sandwich using 2 slices of bread, 1 tomato, 4 slices of pepperjack cheese, and Duke's.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

A tomato sandwich garnished with Lay's Classic potato chips makes for a classic Southern Belle lunch!

DIY Entryway

I seriously have a problem with blank spaces. The space right when you walk into my apartment had that problem. You enter our apartment and it immediately opens to the right. There isn't a wall or anything to put a shelf on or place a mirror so we were in definite need of a wall mounted key holder.

I decided to make a collage of a few of my faves. I had a little wooden bird Sarah gave me last year, a wall mounted flower holder I found on clearance (wahoo!) this past spring, and a photo of two birds sitting on a telephone wire that I swapped a necklace with a local artist at a fair last fall for. It has written on the back in old man scroll: "Lovers Quarrel". I wish I could frame that part too! Then, I noticed... I DIDN'T HAVE A KEY HOLDER. Oooh, yeah. So I did what any self-respecting crafty girl would do, I made one!

I already knew from a few picture hanging projects that I had plenty of hooks. I tried first to twist them into the bottom of the birdie photo. No go. The wood that guy used was reclaimed and treated and hard! So then I got a brilliant idea... a stick! I went outside and in a few seconds found this little guy. I screwed the hooks into it, took some twine from a roll of hemp I had in my stash box, and voila! 

Here's a really crap photo of how I hung it on the wall:

*LAST DAY TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY! JUST GO HERE AND ENTER!*

LOOK WHAT { I } CAN DO!

When I was 'Pinning' (I just can't get over how stupid that sounds...) yesterday I ran across this awesome photo of a chickadette wearing a scarf. I'm not sure if the way she tied it or the vintage pin detail was my favorite part. Anyway, I totally DIY-ed it thanks to her super quick and easy instructions! I've linked to the actual pin on my Pinterest account (link to the left <----) and attached a copy of my attempt at the recreation:

Her instructions say: Fold scarf in half. Loop around neck. Pull only one strand of the scarf through the loop. Twist loop, then pull other strand through.

*via Samantha Foster on Pinterest

*original link to Basic Cravings

Me:

Scarf: gifted
Feather Pin: gifted from my bff Tambi (check out her Pinterest)
White T-Shirt: destroyed by me, bought from GAP
Grey Hoodie: J Crew
Darkest Wash Jeans: F21 (stretchy maternity lifesaver... worn them so far from month 3-4)
Black Patent Flats: JC Penney (I think, owned 'em forever)
Jewelry: The French Quarter

Regrets & Growing Closer to Family

I think it's silly to hold on to a load of regrets in life so I choose the ones I claim very carefully. I have little, not enough to count on my fingers, and I'm very grateful for that. I think a regret must be something classified as a mistake you made that you could have changed.

One of my regrets is not getting to know my family better. I've only lost a few, two to be exact. I lost my great grandmother in the spring of 2004 and my father in the summer of 2005. I am ashamed that I was old enough to know better than to ignore the final days before their passing and acknowledge how immature it was to hide behind my faux busy schedules.

*the left is Grandma Scruggs when she was 25 and the right is my favorite photo of my Dad & Me*

In an even bigger wash of self-hatred I admit that I have not been ashamed enough to change my relationship with my still breathing family members. I'm trying, but not hard enough.

Blame it on my emotional child parented by my need for immediate self-gratification and laziness but I've found something (I originally acquired years ago) that I have decided not to put off another year: A Personal History Questionnaire published by Real Simple Magazine in 2005.

I think I'm going to make a binder with pages for each question and room for selected family members to answer... OR maybe type out some of the questions for an e-mailed response and have a book printed from a website. I'll peruse my options and get back to you when I finally decide. I guess that would make this DIY post 1 of 2!