Mama Style: Thrifted

This dress started out as a skirt that I got for one dollar when I was visiting Tahoe City years ago. I was not a fan of how it fit as a skirt, so I yanked that sucker up and put a belt on it, and voila! It was a cute dress. It has remained one of my favorite dresses for all of these years, and I get compliments on it every time I wear it.

The best thing about this dress is that it’s multi-purposed and also works as a maternity dress! Hooray! I just had to move the belt up a little and BAM! A maternity dress was made. I have a few skirts that I have turned into dresses, and I will say that you have to use the right material to make this work. Another skirt I have is made with a little thinner material, and bunches up too much when I made it into a dress and the belt also slips a lot, regardless of how tight I make it.

The posse is never far

I also like that it’s long enough that I’m not uncomfortable wearing it. I have a hard time with maxi dresses because they are too long and mama doesn’t wear heels – or any elevated shoes, for that matter. And most summer dresses I have tried on are too short, especially when the bump is increasing in size. So for me, this dress is perfect.

The next time you are at a thrift store and see some awesome skirts that are a little too long for your liking, try to hike them up and dress it up with a belt. It will work with maternity and beyond! Just make sure that the top is elastic and it’s flows, so you can twirl when you’re wearing it, of course.

What is your favorite thrifted item that works with and without your baby bump? Share it in the comments and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google + and Pinterest!

My Creative Business Journey

Since my blog is in the middle of being redesigned, it’s the perfect time for me to work on our Sweet Mariposa branding. We’re going to sponsor a booth at the the fundraiser I’m organizing, and since this will be our first time at something like this, we wanted to get everything together. I designed our first logo a little while ago, but it feels very generic and doesn’t really say anything about what we do. Now that I’m learning logo design in my Graphic Design class, I wanted to make something that I loved.

Here’s my Design Board:

Rose graphic can be found here

Hammer graphic from The Graphics Fairy

Paint splatter can be found here

Housegrind font by Mans Grebak on dafont.com

KG Two is Better by Kimberly Geswein on Fontscape

Lavanderia by James T. Edmondson on Lost Type Co-Op

Font inspiration found on A Subtle Revelry and Going Home to Roost. Design inspiration from Lauren Ledbetter

What do you think of my design board? Share your creative business journey with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google +

 

Respect Your Mother – An Update

Thrift shopping and furniture restoration go hand in hand. It’s not very often that you will pick up a piece of furniture at the thrift store and it’s the perfect color and style that you wanted. If you have ever landed on such a thing, then you need to praise the thrifting gods and consider yourself lucky.

Luckily for me, restoring furniture has become one of my favorite hobbies, and while I’m still new at it, I love to see how I can transform something unappealing to me into something beautiful. It’s pretty powerful to have that control over your furniture and it makes me appreciate what I have a whole lot more.

Knowing that I was not the only one who feels this way, I decided I wanted to start a furniture restoration program with a local nonprofit. We would have local artists and handymen work with kids to restore furniture and sell it, with the profits being donated to different local charities.

Then, we landed on Respect Your Mother – a fundraiser I’m putting together with Vox Sacramento and Sol Collective that will benefit our furniture restoration program we are hoping to open soon. Now that the event is a little over seven weeks away, I thought it would be the perfect time for an update and to spread the word some more!

Here are all the things we are hoping to have:

• Live auction with 10 pieces of furniture painted by local artists
• Raffle filled with prizes from local and small businesses
• 10 booths, all being run by different local businesses, makers and food providers
• Clothing drive
• Acoustic live music
• Bake sale

In order for this to happen, we need some help. Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Artists who want to donate their time and talent to painting a piece of furniture
• Donated furniture (we have three pieces already – need seven more!)
• Raffle items from local and small businesses
• Vendors who want to pay $25 for a booth space, which will be donated to Sol Collective
• Clothing driver partners who want to either donate a large bag of clothing/linens or hold a clothing drive
• A local acoustic musician
• Bakers who want to donate a dozen or two of baked goods for the fundraiser

So, if you live in the Sacramento area and want to volunteer and/or sponsor the event, please e-mail me! You can also sponsor from afar so if you want to donate to the raffle, e-mail me so we can set it up! And please help spread the word by sharing this post as much as you can. And you can find the event on Facebook! Thank you for your help!

Weekly Wishes

Something happened last week that hasn’t happened in a long time. I sat down and methodically planned out my goals and I achieved each and every one of them. Come to think of it, I don’t think that has ever happened! And I know what was different. I kept it simple. I made simple and meaningful goals that I really hoped to conquer, and then I just did it. I gave myself time for my blogging, my crafting, my baking, and most of all…the house, my daughter and myself.

Last week’s wishes:

• Set up Heather as a partner on my blog (Ok, this one I’m still working on)
  
• Finish my cork board
• Write on my blog daily
• Start my coffee can planter project
• Make one recipe from scratch
• Practice yoga once 
• Update products on Sweet Mariposa

I was able to finish the cork board that I have seriously been kind of working on since Summer. It didn’t turn out perfect, but I still love it. And now that I have the hang of it, I see a lot more cork/chalkboards in my future! Even though it took a super long time, I loved working on it here and there and having a big project looming over me. Made it all the more wonderful when it was done.

All done!

I gave myself a couple hours to write out my blog daily when my daughter was napping. I’ve gotten in the habit of writing the next day’s post the night before, but since she has been staying up later, that has been difficult. I figure that if I give myself one or two hours of doing things I love, I’m much a more pleasant person to be around. So it’s for the good of my family that I do this.

And I started AND finished my coffee can planter today! I didn’t even know it was possible to start and finish something in one day anymore. Luckily, my daughter happens to have a loving and amazing grandpa who will spend any moment he can with her, so he entertained her while I got stuff done today. I’m really going to miss him when we move!

While I didn’t make all of the ingredients from scratch (ain’t nobody got time for that), I did make three – count that, THREE – recipes from scratch this week. I know! Crazy, right? I made some delicious cookies and coffee cake for the house and then some cookies for my friend’s birthday. I was kind of amazed by the Betty Crocker I was channeling this week.

And I finally practiced some yoga! It had been so long and I needed a good yoga session. I did some restorative yoga with Erin Motz and DoYouYoga.com right before bed, and my back popped the moment I got down to stretch. That’s when I was reminded of how much I needed it.

And finally, I got to listing Kandyce’s items on our Sweet Mariposa Etsy shop! I haven’t had much of a chance to promote our shop, but I’m hoping to do more of that in the future. We have 14 items right now, and we’re hoping to reach 20 soon! Now that I force myself to save a couple hours for myself, I should get a lot more done!

What I wish for this week:

• Set up Heather as a partner on my blog – Still need to work on this.
• Work on map tote – I joined a creative penpal collective but I suck at it. Really bad. So I still need to work on my gift that is long past due. I know, no more signing up for stuff for awhile.
• Write article for Childhood Magazine – Now that the coffee can planter is done, I need to write the article and attach the photos. I’m so excited!
• Make one dinner and one treat from scratch – As much from scratch as I can. We all have our limits.
• Practice yoga twice – I need to keep it going and do one practice at night and one in the morning. I miss getting up and doing yoga every morning and I would love to get back in that routine.
• Figure out a venue and date for the Vox fundraiser – I am planning a fundraiser for my favorite nonprofit, Vox. We are going to start restoring furniture with kiddos! We are in the works of planning a fundraiser/kickoff party so I need to work on the venue and date this week so I can start getting everything together. Hooray!
• Start promoting Sweet Mariposa – Start posting on my social media sites and getting people excited.

Do you set goals for the week? If so, what are they? Join the Weekly Wishes link-up at Nectar Collective and connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram and Pinterest to share and motivate each other!