What I Wore...more thrifting

This is an outfit post that my sister put together for me the last time I was in CA.
I never had a chance to post it, but I thought of it the other day because I am on my way to CA right now... 

My sister Brooke is home from BYU Hawaii for a few more days and we are heading down for a quick trip to see her.  Since I'm not sure I'll ever be able to afford to go to Hawaii to see her, we have to take advantage of her being within driving distance. 

Shirt - Thifted

Pants - hand-me-down

Shoes - borrowed from Brooke

Jewelry - borrowed from Brooke

Doesn't everyone need a Brookie in their lives?

I wish she was around to pick out my clothes everyday LOL.

My Retro-Momma Makeover

Since we were down to our last few days together, my sister Brooke and I decided to re-make one more thrift store dress.  This is the before:

(you may not notice, but it has this fancy matching belt :) and it's a little big.  It's a size 14.  Brooke says not to look at sizes because you can always make it work).

So...here we go...

First we chopped it off.
All of you seamstresses out there might cringe, but we didn't even use sewing scissors.  We just grabbed out kitchen scissors and chopped away.
Notice the mismatched buttons...ha ha.
We cut the dress off right in between a set of buttons so that we didn't end up with a button in a weird place (like too close to the top or bottom).

And the after:
Dress: thrifted $1.95
Cardigan: thrifted from Buffalo Exchange $7
Shoes: "Wanted" from Marshall's $15
Jewelry: downtown L.A.

belt: thrifted $3

Brooke had to convince me to buy the dress because I thought it was so ugly.

Once you pair it with a few cute pieces, it turns into something completely different.

The waistline of the dress is actually really low, but Brooke said you would never notice, so we belted it up high anyway.  And, the orange in the cardigan is a different orange than the dress, but it all still works.

Brooke spent only about 5 minutes on my hair and made it look so cute!

She put a little braid on each side and scooped it up into a messy bun, then curled the stray pieces that hung down.  Super easy and cute.  I love having ideas to pull my hair up and get it out of the way, but still look like my hair is "done."  I'm always pulling my hair up in the summer.

Check out this ring of Brooke's that I borrowed...

It's from a store called "Girl Talk" and it was $2 for 3 rings.

Such a great deal!

This little one was dying to be held, so here I am with my baby :)

We matched in orange.

Thrift Store Dress re-make Tutorial

Here's the before:

notice the matching belt, shoulder pads, and awkward length?

First we cut out the shoulder pads, took off the belt (Brooke is saving it to go with a different outfit), and Brooke measured where we wanted the length to be.  We left a little extra so I can hem it when I get back to Utah.

Brooke laid the dress on the floor and just cut straight across.

Then I tried it on and Brooke evened it up and cut the loose strings.

Next, measure the length you want the sleeve...

Then lay it out and cut, cut, cut...

And here's how it turned out:

dress: thrifted $2.95

jewelry: all Brookie's (including a Harry Potter time turner)

shoes: swap meet $10

belt: American Vintage $5

That's it.

Easy, right?

I can't wait to wear this somewhere!

I have a second dress that we're about to alter later this week :)

Beauty and the Budget

Once upon a time there was a girl named Beauty (Brooke).

Since she had to contend with her budget, this is what she did:

hat: thrift store $5

cardigan: delia's

vest: thrift $3

leggings: walmart $6

shoes: Macys clearance

dress: Target $15

boots: thrift store $8

necklace: Forever 21

scarf: thrift store $1

shirt: urban outfitters sale $10

skirt: hand-me-down from mom "free" :)

shoes: thrift store $5

cardigan: thrifted 95 cents

dress: thrifted $4

And that's how Beauty, fell in love with her budget, and lived happily ever after...

I loved all of these outfits and just wanted to share with you some fun, modern ideas, that  don't cost very much.

Now, go give it a try :)

You'll see my first attempt later this week...

Thrift Store Shopping

On Saturday morning, I went with my mom, my sister Brooke, and her friend Kayla to the thrift stores in Ventura.  I've been wanting to branch out in fashion a little but don't have money to buy a whole new wardrobe.  So, Brooke and Kayla helped me out and I have some really interesting finds to show you that I'll be posting over the next few days...

We ate lunch at the most amazing little restaurant, RICE.

Every table had fresh red roses and the food was to die for.

I got massaman curry with brown rice.

My sweet baby was such a trooper in and out of thrift stores all day.

It was a little chilly out there by the beach so we got him his own little "Edward Cullen" jacket for 95 cents.

And finally, bags and bags of clothes!

I think I spent $30 on all of this.

I have to admit, I bought a lot of ugly Grandma dresses, but Brooke said she knows exactly how we're going to make it work, so I'm trusting her :)

Brooke's guide to fashion:

Hey guys! Okay so I have taken quite an interest in thrift store shopping within the past couple years and let me just tell you how life saving it has been to my wallet! I didn't grow up in a wealthy family, my mom was never one to buy me true religion jeans or even abercrombie and fitch clothes because it was always too expensive! But I learned to manage on my own. Once I started getting a paycheck I realized why my parents never bought me pricey "brand name" things because money is gold! Especially in today's economy. So, I learned how to thrift store shop and decided I would pass along some of my ideas to my sister Cait :) 

First of all when you walk into a thrift store it is always overwhelming, things are disorganized and it always has the funky smell of used clothing. This is where you pick a rack and start searching. Just dig and dig and dig. 

My number one rule is to look for something I would NEVER wear and try it on. This way, if you like it then you have something new! And if you don't then oh well, no harm done! 

Number two, find a pattern you like because you can always alter it to how you want and then you still have a cool pattern! 

Third, never look at sizes, because chances are you can throw a belt on it and vwa-la! Good as new. I convinced my sister to get a size 30-something shirt but once she put it on, belted it and rolled the sleeves it was super cute on her! These are my tips for thrift store shopping, hope you enjoy! :)