Day 7: Just Call Me "MacGyver"

          I haven't been very creative during this challenge at all. For those of you who know me from way back, I used to be very creative with my clothes. Leaning on the eccentric side. I once wore a petticoat as a poncho. To school. But as I grew up and entered the working world, I had to dumb down my creativity and could no longer tuck, fold, pin, and stitch as I pleased. NO MORE! Do you recognize my sweater? It used to be a boyfriend cardigan. Well, it technically still is, it just doesn't look like it anymore. Friends, I wrestled with this thing for a lot longer than I wanted to. First, I tried to wrap it around like a kimono. It wasn't long enough to tie behind my back, so I was going to need to use two safety pins. Years of experience with safety pinning has taught me that if you safety pin a garment once too often...it will get a big nasty hole right where you don't want one. And then you'll be sad that you've lost your favorite item. Eventually I just said "Screw it! I'm going to tie it in the front with a knot and I don't care how it looks!" Well, as I crossed the two ends over each other I kind of liked what I got. There were no odd bulges in the front or back, and the two tails in front hung in a nice drapey kind of way. ::lightning bolt to brain:: "I have an adorable brooch I can use to secure this thing!" and then I had one little flap that wouldn't fit in the pin, but it had a button hole on it, and there was a button right next to it! Ta-Da! And I'm happy with the outfit. :)

I want to tell you a little bit about my jewelry. Most of it is classified as "vintage" jewelry because the actual explanation is much longer than that. I've had the majority of my costume jewelry since the time I was about nine or ten years old. This was a time in my life when a lot of my older relatives were dying. I was sad of course, but the silver lining was that I inherited a lot of their "stuff". {My family has hoarders on both sides and I am most definitely a hoarder. Hubby helps to keep it under control by talking me out of keeping things I don't need or use.} It was mostly women who were dying and the stuff I ended up with fell into the range of clothes, shoes, and jewelry {and one really cute doll carriage from my great-grandmother}. I kept most of it for playing dress-up until I got older and realized that I could work them into my wardrobe. The clothes and shoes eventually fell apart, but the jewelry survived the journey. Friends, I had a TON of this cheap costume jewelry. I've lost or broken a lot of it over the past fifteen years {yikes, that's a long time!}, but I still have a LOT. And that's where most of the jewelry {like the necklace I'm wearing today} comes from.
          Actually, the necklace I'm wearing lost its clasp several years ago and is being fastened by the clasp of the silver chain I'm also wearing. The best craft investment I have ever made was a package of jump-rings. Those suckers will fix ANY piece of jewelry and they're super easy to put on and take off!

Oh, yeah. It's Valentine's Day!

  Hubby got me a gold-dipped and preserved rose. <3

Aint he sweet?

 

It took me a while to figure out what to do with the lovely thing, but I eventually settled on displaying it in one of the vases we got for our wedding. As much as I wanted to wear it in my hair, I'm pretty sure I would have broken it. And that would have been sad for many people.

Thanks baby! I love you! Can't wait to see you tonight!