I Had A Bit Of A Makeover: Another Funky Color!

Now that I blog (really inconsistently, I might add!!), I am able to keep better track of all the stuff I do to my hair pretty easily. Don't get me wrong; I know I like to change it up. I've been dyeing my hair all the (normal) colors of the hair rainbow for the better part of my life. But it's only within the last few years, because of the fact that I don't have a corporate dress code to adhere to, that I've really had the guts to go outside the norm.

If you recall last summer, I dyed my hair blue. I loved the crap out of my blue hair!! But, dang, if it wasn't the devil to keep up with! When I'd dye it, it would stain everything. I think I spent more time cleaning my shower/tub during the few months my hair was blue than the entirety of my life otherwise. And that's saying a lot because for about 10 yrs, it was my chore at my childhood home to clean the tub! 

Besides the cleaning aspect, there were several other negatives:

1. It faded very quickly.
2. When it faded, it faded to green and green is not my favorite hair color.
3. Because it faded so quickly, that meant dyeing it more often and that started getting expensive.
4. The blue photographed horribly. What looked great in real life, looked awful in pictures.

Even after all that, though, I still missed my funky hair. I spent the first few months of the year, dying my hair blonde, as it would need to be light so my next funky color would show up nicely. 

The color: Pink!

Right after Mother's Day, I bought a bottle of pink hair dye. I put it in my hair. I left it in for an hour. When I was done, I looked like this.

It's not awful, but not quite what I was looking for either!

So, that was a bust. My hair was only mildly pink; not full on blind your eyeballs pink like I'd hoped.

I waited a few days and dyed it again.

Hello, Perfect Hair!

Here we go. That's what I'm talking about. Scare-your-kids pink. You-must-give-me-dirty-looks-in-public pink. I-give-off-a-stripper-slash-druggie-vibe pink. I think I nailed it.

And when it fades, it's still oh so pretty.

It's been pink for about 4ish months now. I'm still working on the same $12 bottle of pink hair dye that I've been using since the get go. At this rate, I won't have to buy more dye for another 2ish years. 

I also got really into makeup in the last 8 months, hence my rockin' contour!

The pink is a lot easier to manage, considering it doesn't stain anything in the shower and when it fades, it fades to either light pink or a coral pink. Both of which I find very appealing. 

The one downside is that I have to dye my roots blonde before I can dye them pink. Otherwise, they won't pick up any dye. So,dyeing my hair is now a two step process. But..

What my hair looks like when the roots are freshly blonde, but not redone pink yet.

I actually really like the blonde to pink ombre that I get after dyeing my roots, that I tend to wait a week or two before I dye it pink. So, It's a constant style change back and forth with enjoyable results every time.

And I must say, the pink photographs a lot nicer than the blue.

I really do love my hair like this. I admit, I felt a little weird when I dropped my daughter, Quinn, off for her very first day of school (pictures and story for a future post!). I want to have my funky hair but I also want to be taken seriously, especially when it comes to anything involving my kids. 

It's been a few weeks since she's been in school and I no longer feel like the weird mom. It helps that there's a purple haired mom of a kid at the school. Funky haired moms unite!!

I'm thinking my hair will remain pink for a while, so don't hold your breath for another one of these makeovers... Well, unless I buy more wigs, but who'd want to cover up this awesome hair?!

DIY: Three Long Dresses Into Three Short Dresses!

The thrift store that I've been going to for the past year sells tons of great stuff in my size that doesn't need altering. And they sell it super cheap to boot! Because of that, I don't find too many clothing items to refashion for this blog. Lucky for you guys (and me, too, since I really missed the 3 of you!), I've actually found a couple dresses that needed some work before I could really love them. The only problem is that the dresses in question only needed to be hemmed, otherwise they were perfect. And cutting off some length and sewing a new hem is probably the most boring thing that I could possibly do.

Hmm.. How would I make this a tad more exciting and not bore you to death?!

I had an idea! I'd just put all three dresses on the same post because one hemmed dress per post = boring, but three hemmed dresses on one post = you guys will check back every couple of days to search for more of my awesomeness. I hope this turns out the way I'm hoping.

OK.. on to the dresses!

Dress One:

It's black with little white donut shapes on it.

Here's a closeup of the fabric.

Typical 90's style dress that buttons all the way down the front, has an awkward length, and a business casual-type collar. I was drawn to this dress because it would be perfect (once it was shorter) for the summer months and could be layered with a sweater or cardigan in the winter months. I love clothes that aren't automatically relegated to one season. Especially dresses! So, I grabbed it. It cost me $0.50.

Three little side notes:

1. In the interest of not taking a thousand years to blog this, I took all the before/after pictures in my mirror. I'm sorry for the horrible quality, but had I set up a tripod it would have taken me a million times longer to get the pictures and I probably would've given up.
2. In the interest of only mentioning it once, I cut between 10-12 inches off of each dress. They were all about the same length to start and I wanted them all about the same length when I was done.
3. I had to iron all the dresses. For some reason, they were all wrinkly even though they were hung up in the closet right out of the dryer. 

I'm pretty sure that the last time I used this iron was for this blog several months ago. I hate ironing.

I didn't take any picture of the process. If you would, please imagine that I cut off a portion of the bottom of the dress, folded the edges over, pinned, sewed, and then cut off excess thread. Easy?! Easy.

After all that, I ended up with this:

I cut off a few inches and welcomed this dress to this century!

It never ceases to amaze me that small changes to clothing can make a big difference. Just taking off a good portion of the length and belting it with a wide black belt, took this look from kinda frumpy and outdated, to cute, flirty, and in style. It's too bad that the summer months are coming to an end, but I plan to wear this at least once this fall. 

I probably should've used black thread but I'm too lazy.

Before                                                                                  After

Dress Two:

I'm embarrassed about how crappy this picture is.

Close up. The fabric kind of looks like a quilt.

This dress, as you can see, has a lot in common with the first dress in regards to fit and style. Although, I can't button the top two buttons on this one. Also, the fabric is not as cool as the first dress. I'm not even sure what attracted me to the dress other than the fact that it was $0.50. 

I've had this dress a lot longer than the other dresses. So long, in fact, that I've actually worn it out of my house as is. Crazy, I know!

Anyway, I worked my magic on it and after a little styling, ended up with this:

That quilty fabric made me feel country, like a cowgirl.

I always feel a bit like a bad ass though. Here's my bad ass pose.

I admit, I look a lot cooler and trendier in the dress now than I did the last time I wore it. This dress, styled this way, is perfect for the fall. The greatest part is that these refashions take almost no time at all! I was really looking forward to the third dress though!

Before                                                                     After

Dress Three:

I took this picture before I ironed the dress that's why it looks horrible.

The perfect pattern for spring!

The ugly lace collar.

Another $0.50 dress. When I was thumbing through the clothes in the thrift store, I was immediately drawn to this fabric. I love the large flower pattern on the muted sea green. It reminded me of spring wedding or Easter. It had a very feminine feel to it. I couldn't believe it when, after I tried it on, found out that it fit me perfectly!  I had to have it. And I had to get rid of some length and take that lace collar do-hickey off!

Once that was taken care of, I was left with the dress I'd imagined:

No idea why I look so upset. I was very pleased with the outcome of this dress.

Oohhh Summer!! Please come back for just one day so I can wear this dress!

Look at this cuteness!

This is my favorite of the three and the one I'm most thrilled about. I love the fit and the shape (and the length!). I think babydoll/skater dresses are pretty flattering on my body shape (which is slightly apple shaped, I guess), as well as very comfortable to wear. 

Before                                                                                   After

So, that's the end for this post. I hope you all enjoyed the minor fixes I made to a couple dresses in my collection. I know I say it all the time, but even though I'm not making huge changes to these clothing items, I am still pretty proud of my end results! Now if I could just will myself to pull something else out of my laundry basket of clothes to refashion/upcycle in the next few weeks. I'm really hoping to get into blogging on the regular again!