The Best Yard Sale Deal EVER!!! : Lorrie Deb Vintage Dress

Today Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is hosting a Frugal Fashionista Fashion Show! This is my first time to participate in anything like this so I'm super excited!

Well, I must say, this dress is the best yard sale deal I have EVER made!

This Lorrie Deb vintage dress was a whopping $0.25!

These Gianni Bini heels were $1

The necklace was a graduation gift from my brother :-)

So the grand total for this outfit is $1.25!

And it happens to be one of my favorite outfits too :-)

Prayers for the Heck Family

I met the Heck family at Roundhouse back in September of last year. While there, everytime we had announcements or prayer, Shauna Heck was mentioned (she was not attending RH). She is the sister-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Heck. She has 2 small children and is suffering from cancer. A couple of weeks ago I found out that Mrs. Debby Heck (part of the Heck family that was attending RH), might have cancer as well. To my understanding they are still doing tests to know for sure. Please lift up the entire Heck family in your prayers! They are faithful Christians going through some hard times right now, and they could really use the encouragement.

Thank You, Mrs. Judy!



Mrs. Judy, our preacher's wife, very generously gave this yarn to me :-)

Red Heart Light and Lofty



Red Heart Soft Baby with white undertones

Red Heart Soft Baby in pink undertones

I see some baby projects in my future :-) 

Etsy Goodies

I love Etsy! Seriously this site is so neat. I could can spend a lot of time just looking at all of the beautiful things available. For those of ya'll who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll fill you in :-) Etsy is a place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, or supplies to make all things handmade :-) Here is Etsy's "about" page. There is a little bit of everything on Etsy! The sellers range from amateur just wanting to sell a few things, to professionals who make their living from Etsy. Enough of my rambling. I want to share a few things on Etsy that I like :-)

These Sweet Cloth Baby Shoes are adorable and affordable at only $6.50! They can be found at the Hardy Party shop.

I LOVE this vintage top! So feminine and would look great with a pair of jeans or dressed up with a skirt. I would wear this with a tank top that is a bit higher, though. This top can be found at the Ande Mönster shop. At $20 this shirt is a good deal :-)

This floral crown was featured on Etsy's homepage a few months ago. I love the elegant simplicity of it! I think this would be lovely worn by a bride in place of a veil. This can be found at Whichgoose's shop and is $55.

These dolls are just precious! The actual dolls aren't for sale, but the patterns are. I think I might make one or two of these for my boyfriend's youngest sister's 8th birthday:-) And I'd love to have Belle for myself! These patterns can be found at KawaiiGurumi's shop. The cost is $30 for this set of 7 patterns. Patterns can also be bought individually for $5 each. Note: I don't like the "shells" that Ariel wears in her mermaid form. If I made these for myself or a friend I'd try to figure out a more modest top for her :-)

These are just a few things that I love on Etsy :-)

Unconventional: Dress With Pants?

A few days after Thanksgiving, I was out shopping with my Moma, Mamaw, Aunt Anita, and my little cousin Hannah. Browsing the sale rack Moma and I found the most adorable denim dress. I tried it on and it was too short, but we dedided to get it anyway, thinking we could get a little bit of fabric to lengthen it. Before leaving the dressing room I decided to try it on with my jeans, wearing it as a long shirt instead of a dress. I loved it! So, Moma bought it for me and saved it for Christmas:-)

In today's world, sometimes we have to be creative when it comes to being modest and still wearing what we like. Sometimes it means trying something that you wouldn't normally think of trying, i.e. wearing pants under a dress that is too short. I'm not saying that this works with everything. Sometimes I might LOVE something, but still put it back on the rack because I know that there isn't way to make it modest without looking tacky.

I really like experimenting with different outfits and wearing cute clothes, but modesty always comes first! As a Christian young lady, it is my responsibility to do my best to raise my Christian brothers up in my dress. In wearing immodest clothing, I am placing myself in front of my brothers in Christ as a stumbling block in their Christian walk! Yes, Christian guys have the responsibilty to control their thoughts and eyes, but we (Christian girls) have a responsibility to help them in their Christian walk, just as they have a responsibility to help us along.

Dressing modestly does not mean that you have to walk around wearing dresses that fit like sacks! But, it will mean that Christian girls will have to be mindful of anything that comes in our closets. I hope to give ya'll some ideas as well as learn from ya'll about being creative with our wardrobes while dressing modestly :-)






 

I just swept my hair back in a loose bun and pinned it with bobby pins, letting my bangs hang loose. I use Clinique makeup because it does well with my sensitive skin. For my eyes, I used a goldish brown neutral eyeshadow trio, black eyeliner and black mascara. I'm out of blush, so I used light pink lipstick on my cheek and just blended it for a natural look. My lipstick is a pink with a goldish tint. It looks best when worn with neutral eyeshadow. :-)







This outfit is also affordable! The dress (from Peebles) was on sale, I think it was $12, the long sleeve shirt (American Eagle) underneath is borrowed from my Moma, I think it was about $10, the jeans were $12 (WalMart), the scarf (Old Navy) was a gift, but the person who gave it to me is a bargain shopper, so I know it wasn't expensive ;-). The boots were a gift, I know that boots aren't cheep, but one could easily substitute a more affordable shoe choice :-) 

I hope this encourages you to try something new in your pursuit of modesty! :-)

Frugal Fashionista Fashion Show

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is having a Frugal Fashionista Fashion Show this Friday, January 28, 2011. For more info just click the links :-) I think this could be a lot of fun!

My Projects: Baby Fun!

I've been on a baby item kick lately. Probably due to the fact that 3 of my cousins and 2 of my friends are having babies within the next few months! Also, I love simple projects that are easy to personalize and are fast to make. These hats and bibs definitely fit in that category :-)

Believe it or not, all three of these hats came from the same pattern! The pattern is the Best Baby Cloche from Aesthetic Nest. I used Peaches and Cream 100% cotton yarn. All of these hats are size 0-3 months. On the first hat, I followed the pattern exactly, only omitting the flower and threading the ribbon through the eyelet edge. On the second hat, I followed the pattern exactly. On the last hat, I followed the pattern exactly up to Round 11. On rounds 12 and 13, I just hdc in each stitch around. These hats were SUPER easy to make and took an hour to an hour and a half to make.



I made these bibs using this pattern from the Bernat website. I also used Peaches and Cream 100% cotton yarn for both of these. On the first one, I used a denim blue yarn and a yellow yarn. I changed colors every two rows. On the second bib, I used the same multicolored yarn as with the multicolored baby hat. The third bib is one of my favorites! The eyes of the duckie are very simple. I ch 2 and then did 6 sc in the second chain from the hook, join with a sl st to the first st. Join white yarn, 2 sc in each sc around, 12 sc. Fasten off leaving a long enough tail for sewing the eyes in place. On the bill I used a burnt orange color from Red Heart. I just made the pattern up for the bill, but I don't remember off the top of my head how I did it! On the last bib I used a denim blue yarn and used the surface slip stitch to stitch to free hand the "R" on the front. All of the buttons came from my Moma's or from my button stash. I believe some of them are vintage but I'm not sure.

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti

   Occasionally, we like to watch the Rachel Ray show. I really like the last half of the show better because that's when she cooks the meal :-) Anyway, a few weeks ago she made Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti; ya'll, this is good!!! Moma and I were saying that the smell and taste of canned spaghetti sauce just isn't appealing to us anymore, now that we've tasted this!

Ingredients

• 3 leeks (we've substituted green onions when we didn't have leeks on hand; I haven't tried it, but I think celery would be tasty in this recipe as well) 
• 2 tablespoons EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 slices center-cut bacon, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced or chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 28-ounce can Italian whole tomatoes in purée (fresh tomatoes work well too)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 pound spaghetti (we use Gluten Free)
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• A handful of fresh basil, thinly sliced or chopped

Yields: Serves 4

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Preparation

Trim tough tops and root ends of the leeks. Halve them lengthwise and thinly slice. Fill sink or large bowl with water and wash leeks, separating layers and swishing them around in water. Dry in a salad spinner or on kitchen towel and reserve.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add bacon and crisp. Add reserved leeks and garlic, cook 2-3 minutes to soften. Season liberally with black pepper.

Add tomatoes and purée to pan and mash up tomatoes. Bring up to a simmer and let thicken over low heat while you cook pasta. Stir in parsley.

Salt pasta water and cook pasta to al dente. Drain pasta and toss with sauce for a minute or so. Serve in shallow bowls with cheese and basil on top.

Here's the link to the recipe on Rachel Ray's website

Best Baby Cloche

   Recently I was looking online for a simple baby hat. Nothing fancy, just a simple cloche. In that search I stumbled on the blog Aesthetic Nest. This blog is is absolutely lovely! Check it out! Also, here's the link for the Best Baby Cloche pattern :-)

Some of My Favorites

I haven't been doing a whole lot of crocheting the past few weeks. It seems like I've done it non stop since this summer, so I guess I'm just a little burnt out :) This will not last for long! I've yet to photograph all the things that are in the plastic bin in my room :-/ So, instead of showcasing my things today, I've decided to share with ya'll some of my favorite crochet publications!

I have been subscribing to Crochet Today magazine since the July/August 2009 issue. I had been looking at it online for a while and finally decided to subscribe. I wish I had decided to subscribe a few years earlier! I can honestly say that this has been the best investment I've made in my crochet adventure! It is a bi-monthly publication that usually has around 20 patterns per issue. Most of the patterns are begginer friendly, but they also feature some more advanced patterns as well. All of the patterns are stylish and up-to-date. I would definitely reccomend this to any of my friends who crochet. A picture of all their patterns are up on the website. Check it out!

Another one of my favorites would have to be The Chicks With Sticks Guide to Crochet: Learn to Crochet with More Than 30 Cool, Easy Patterns by Nancy Queen and Mary Ellen O'Connell.  In the past a lot of books geared towards begginers were... well... boring. But not in this book! The projects in this book are classic and chic! The level of this book ranges from beginner to advanced begginer. Chicks With Sticks is written in a very conversational style. When I read it, it feels like the authors are sitting next to me telling me how to make my project. These projects also build upon each other. The patterns at the beggining of the book are geared toward the early begginer, progressively getting a bit more challenging as the book goes on. This book is perfect for learning how to crochet. I wish it had been around when I was learning!

These are just two of my favorites. I hope this encourages you to pick up a crochet hook and some yarn and start stitching!