OOTDs: Festive White and Polka Dotted.

Happy New Year's Eve!  I am actually going to a party with some teacher friends, and I really hope to have a good time, but it's been forever since I have gone to a party like this, so I have a feeling I might feel out of place for at least a little while.  Thank goodness for champagne!

Before I begin, Boden is offering an additional 10% off clearance/sale styles.  I have a link for it in the sidebar and at the bottom of this post for those of you interested.  The affiliate program provided me with the link, which is awesome.  (Sometimes the affiliate doesn't get all the good ones.)

Day: Sunday, December 13, 2015.

Where:  Mass at our newly remodeled church.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) It was kind of hot that day, so the topper (which is an ancient spring coat from Anthropologie) was worn for a grand total of twenty minutes.  But overall, a very easy outfit considering we had a very long mass that day (all total around 1.5 hours). 

Outfit Details: Coat, Anthropologie; Dress, Boden; Shoes, Nine West; Scarf, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (here, they are the Meteor style).

Anecdote of the Day: The church looks lovely and bright now.  It used to be a touch dark in the space.  I was in the first Confirmation group to be confirmed in the original "remodeled" version of the church WAY BACK WHEN, so it is wonderful to know that my kids will be part of another group to enjoy their sacraments in the second remodeling of the church.  (Though Rex had his First Holy Communion in the old church design, and all the kids were baptized in the old design.)  They kept some of the original bits, including the ceiling, which was the one thing I didn't want them to touch.  So glad they kept that!

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Wednesday, December 16, 2015.

Where:  Christmas work party.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) This pretty sparkly polka-dotted dress by Boden is made of jersey, which is perfection for ease of wear.  I thought it was made with a woven jacquard fabric, so I ignored it as a possibility to wear, but by a stroke of buyer's luck, discovered it was a jersey stretchy material right around the Black Friday sales, so I was able to purchase it for a fairly decent price.  It had to pop back in my size, but once it did, I jumped on it, and was glad I did.  The sparkly shoes from last year are flat, so there was no pain there, either.

Outfit Details: Dress, (Sparkle Spot Jacquard Dress, here at Boden; my review of it here); Coat, Halston Heritage; Shoes, Boden; Necklace, Stella and Dot; Tights, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (here, they are the Meteor style).

Anecdote of the Day: I like my drinks hard and manly, so when offered a neat Scotch or Bourbon, I will happily drink it.  I had the pleasure of enjoying a really lovely Scotch that strongly tasted of peat, which if you have traveled to any bit of countryside in the UK, you have smelled burning in the air.  It tastes amazing, but I do understand that the taste may be an acquired one.  ;-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Wednesday, December 24, 2015.

Where:  Christmas Eve Dinner.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I originally planned on wearing this one only in the morning, but in the end decided I was fine with wearing it all day because 1) lazy and 2) need easy waistband for dinner gorging (ugh, must show more restraint in the future).

Outfit Details: Dress, Boden (Casual Weekend Dress, here; my original review here); Jacket, Boden (Boucle Jacket, here; original review here); Shoes, J. Crew; Necklace, gift from my dad; Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (here, they are the Meteor style).

Anecdote of the Day:  Dad brought Popeye's for dinner.  Popeye's.  I was appalled, Mr. Dina was thrilled (he loves Popeye's almost as much as he loves his white tennis shoes).

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Extra 10% off sale prices with code 2SAL plus free shipping and returns over $49 valid 12/31-1/3

OOTDs: Festive Sparkle. And Some Plaid!

Hey, all!  I finally finished some of the recent stuff I needed to get done, including a sewing project using stretch velvet, so I can get back to posting.  I am trying here!  Maybe one day I can get back to the more regular posting I did prior to 2015.  We'll see.  :-)

The velvet dress was sewn up for the Fabric Mart blog, and it is very timely for the festive season, so if you are a sewer, or like velvet, definitely check it out.  I feel a bit like a female Oscar statue wearing it.  (In other words, I love it!)

Onto some festive sparkle!

Day: Thursday, December 25, 2015.

Where:  Christmas Dinner.

Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The salt content alone would have filled an ocean (based on how fat my fingers and toes felt at the end of dinner), but dang if this outfit wasn't super easy to wear all night.  I love J. Crew for making this plaid skirt with an elastic waistband.  Now I will never tuck anything into it, but that bothers me not one bit.

Outfit Details: Sweater, Boden; Skirt, J. Crew; Shoes, J. Crew; Necklace, Madewell (they still make it, find it here).

Anecdote of the Day: Does salt make any of you all swell up the way it does me?  Maybe it's because I try really hard not to eat too many items that have it in overabundance, but when I do eat it in copious amounts, I feel it.  I hate all those cooking show comments that say "there's not enough salt, wah wah wah."  I'm always like, "dude, really, do you want to be pickled from the inside out?"

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Monday, December 7, 2015.

Where:  Meetings and writing lesson plans.  Boring.

Ease of Wear: (5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Again, elastic waistbands to the rescue.  These Boden pants are in ridiculous deep discount, and because normally Boden pants are just crap on me, I figured these pair would be sent back.  But because they run large, and they have room for a booty, I find them ridiculously comfortable one size down from my normal Boden size.  Yes.

Outfit Details: Sweater, Boden; Pants, Boden (Jessica Jogger here, out of stock right now, but pops back); Shoes, Boden; Necklace, Boden; Sunglasses, Ray-Ban (here, they are the Meteor style).

Anecdote of the Day: I take so long to write lesson plans.  Secret--I never had to write lesson plans formally before this. I just had them written down so that the administrators could see them if they walked in the room.  I did finally write them down for a long-term sub when I was set to have CW, but that was during a frenzy of nesting, so I hardly remember it being a pain (and I did the full year for him, too, lol).  I think I may write too much, but my assistant principal seems to like it.

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Wednesday, December 23, 2015.

Where:  Picking up the turkey from Whole Foods.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The Oona skirt features an elastic waistband.  Really, I should just retitle this post "Elastic Festive."  That sounds like a song.  Hmmm.

Outfit Details: Top, J. Crew; Cardigan, Ann Taylor; Skirt, Boden (Oona Skirt here, but this color has long since sold out, but the Tamara Top features the same fabric); Shoes, J. Crew.

Anecdote of the Day: The turkey has to be ordered in advance, it costs way too much money, but man, it's a good bird.  I went in and heard people crowing that Whole Foods had sold out of the turkeys, so I felt good that I had ordered in advance, regardless of how silly my family thinks I am for doing so.  :-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Wednesday, December 2, 2015.

Where:  I don't remember!  Maybe Winesday since it was a Wednesday?  I know it was raining, lol.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Turner pants feature an elastic waistband.  And the Zoe coat is warm!  Hey!

Outfit Details: Top, J. Crew (here in stripe); Pants, J. Crew (no longer available in poly, but they have them in wool here); Coat, Boden (Zoe Coat here, review here); Scarf, J. Crew; Shoes, J. Crew.

Anecdote of the Day: Got nothing.  It was raining.  I was warm.  :-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Have a great day, everyone.  Glad I have some time to get some ootds here.  Now off to go visit some of my favorite blogs!  :-)

Boden Weekly Review Roundup: Sparkle in the Sale.

Hey, all!  I figured I should finish 2014 with a super sparkly edition of the Boden Weekly Review Roundup, especially considering that the sale entered its second cuts (which are really nice reductions overall) earlier this week.  I apologize for not updating the blog, but I did at least update the sidebar coupons to reflect the new cuts to the sale.  I definitely am springing back to life after a bit of a down December, so I feel a bit more like "me," and ready to get back into what I enjoy doing again.  :-)

UPDATE:  As I was writing this post, Boden was updating their site.  It is a MESS.  Nothing is where it is supposed to be and a lot of items are not showing up in searches.  Well, okay then.  I hope they fix it all up soon since without a fix, a lot of the items in these reviews will not be available to look at.  I guess they have decided to make their site all spring earlier than I thought (see the below paragraph).  Sigh.  

In addition to the further reductions, Boden also has had a "new and now" portion of their site for a few weeks.  These are a lot of newer arrivals (I received one, the wrap dress in the orange print*), but a few of the favorites from the fall and winter stuck around for new life in the spring.  I can tell you that there are no reductions on them right now.  I added a 20% off sidebar coupon below the current sale link and it *does NOT* work right now and will not until the 5th of January.  Hmm.  Well, I guess that is one way to run your business, but those of us who have been shopping with Boden for a (very long) while will know not to buy without a coupon (except in sale time), so I can't imagine any of the "new and now" items actually are selling all that well.

*Not loving it on me, though the print and material are exquisite.  A return, for sure, but I can see others loving it.

What the new date on the promo tells me, though, with near 100% certainty, is that they will likely unveil new arrivals on January 5th, which makes sense.  (Although we could argue about the smartness of unveiling spring items just after Christmas...but Boden isn't alone in this process, they were actually one of the holdouts who used to wait for more seasonable temps before unveiling the new wares.)

Okay, I guess that's it from me, now onto the IRL reviews!

CLEARANCE BODEN:

Jewelled Flats.  Size 40.5 or 9 1/4.  I fell in love with these during the preview, but I was really unsure if the 40.5 *now just called 9 1/4* would fit me, but I figured 40 is usually too short and 41 is usually long enough but too wide.  40.5 arrived and they were a touch short but the width was perfect, so I called it a success and carefully repackaged them after.  (Really important to pack them well in their original box since though secured well--at least mine are--if you are not careful, I could see wear and tear loosening up the jewels leading to jewel loss.)

Looking at them from this vantage point, they seem very in your face, but from far away, they look sparkly, but nothing especially over the top.  I think it is because the golden suede body with the golden gems are monochromatic and lend a more subtle appearance to the look.  The black and navy versions are contrast picks, with the jewels bright and light compared to the darker leather of the shoe itself.  I think for me the contrast would be too much, but I have seen them on others and it does look quite nice.

I wore this outfit to Christmas mass and I felt appropriately festive and pretty.  The shoes definitely made me smile.  At one point my brother brought down the kneeler and it nearly crushed the big jewel but I was quick and stopped him before it damaged the shoes.  He felt bad and looked so sorry!  They were fine.  The only jewel, in fact, that came off was at the very back of the shoe on the right one, and it was the tiniest jewel.  The only reason I know there was a jewel there was because it had a thread dangling from the spot where it had been.

I want to warn you, though, jewel loss is not uncommon.  Please visit this BWRR for a friend's experiences with these shoes and how much jewel loss she experienced.

The side view shows a bit more sparkle, but again, nothing excessive.  I really loved how well they paired with the (ancient) Banana Republic dress.  Remember when Banana Republic would have items like this on the regular?


Jewelled Flat.  Stocks are low, but makes sense since the price is really low, too.  If your size pops back and you like the price, you will have to grab it quick since others are likely to love the bling at the reduced price.  (OH, and good luck getting to the page for the jewelled flat, btw, with all the issues Boden's site is having today, you may not get there.  Grrr.  Let me know if you are successful, please!)


Hartland Dress.  I wore this to sub a couple of weeks ago.  The stocks are running low in this dress, as well, especially in the super reduced price colors.  (Boden's site is *also* having issues with this one.)





Beatrice Dress, Isla Dress, Eliza Coat, and Low Heeled Loafer.  I wore these two dresses, coat, and the pair of loafers for my go as a substitute teacher.  Both days required me to be more "dressy" so I chose these two as the best options for the outings.  Beatrice Dress is fully stocked, but good luck getting it in your bag with the site issues, however the Isla Dress and Low Heeled Loafers are definitely low in stock (if not completely out of stock).  That said, popbacks are a regular occurrence so be on the lookout for those items.  The coat seems to still be pretty well stocked.


Embellished Eliza Top.  Lou's cost her but a song, and she looks beautiful in it.  Good choice, Lou!  :-)


Sparkle Tee.  Lou chose to get this in navy and the sparkles really dress up the tee. 


Embellished Sweater.  Well, ha, not the Boden version (the photo link is to Boden), but rather the near perfect duplicate from Next.  Lou was near to buying the Boden version but found the Next one instead and for a better price.  My stepmother loves hers (the Boden one) from last year, so I can say if you can get a version, you will likely find yourself reaching for it on the regular.  I can't find the Next version anywhere online, so if you have a link, would you mind sharing?

Okay, I *think* that's it.  If I missed a blog post from you that you have published, do email me or link to it in the comments.  I hope I didn't, but you never know!

Good luck with all the site issues over at Boden.  That place is a hot mess right now.  You hear me, Boden people?  It's a pigsty.  LOL.

If you can get the site to work, the below link will get you to the newly reduced second cuts.  Hopefully.
Shop Boden's Winter Sale with Up to 70% Off EVERYTHING

OOTD/Made by Me File: Frozen Festivities...In Superfluity.

If you recall, right before I was slated to start competing in the Fabric Mart Fashion Challenge Sewing Competition, I sewed up most of my little girl's "Elsa" dress based on McCall's 7000 sewing pattern.  I was nearly done at the point I wrote up that blog post, but because of how much time and energy was spent in September and half of October on sewing for the Fashion Challenge, I never did get around to showing off the final project and all of the festivities that surrounded her costume creation.

In addition to this sewing based post, I am also throwing in outfit of the day shots (my daughter is in all of them, though, since the main focus of these days was her, after all).  I am also including some Frozen-themed birthday party things that we did for her on her big day.  And at the end, I included some photos from when we went to see Disney's Frozen on Ice.  (We surprised her with that one, too!)

I realize that there is a real hodgepodge of things going on here, but hopefully if you are here, and are looking for Frozen/Elsa things, what I have here can help you.  And since it is three days before Halloween, I know some of you probably are doing what I do every year, a little bit of procrastination.  You may be just starting your Elsa costume, so seeing a final product might make the work go a little better.

(I am not out of the woods this year, btw--I have to make a PIZZA costume for Rex--no pattern--by Friday.  Have I started it...erm, no.)


BIRTHDAY PARTY DETAILS:

Right before her party, CW and I posed with one of her birthday gifts/party decorations, the life-sized cardboard cutouts of the Frozen sisters, Elsa and Anna.  Of course CW squealed with delight after seeing the life-sized Queen and Princess, but both Mr. Dina and I squealed with delight (well, not really, lol) after we realized that for $35 we could have both a present AND a party "favor."  The guests at the party would receive a sparkly crown (like CW's--$1 at Joanns, btw) and they, too, could pose with Anna and Elsa and I would send the photo to their parents after the party.

OOTD: Dress, Anthropologie; Shoes, Target.

My daughter looks so beautiful in her Elsa gown!  Worth all the hours of sewing I did.

Since we had only invited a handful of girls and their parents to the mid-afternoon party, we knew we wouldn't need much in the way of food, but we know that kids get hungry and thirsty, so we made sure to set up the table in a way that they could have easy access to the food and drinks.  This is the shot before I had put all the food out. 

I happen to own a lot of aqua blue colored dishes/serving pieces, so we had zero costs there.  (I guess I was onto something thirteen years ago when I put all these things on my registry.)

Again, not much in the way of food and snacks, just apples/carrots/some juice (on the glass platter just outside the frame of the photo) and some gumballs. 

There were other food items, but they were part of the festivities of the birthday party.

Originally I was going to have a "Frozen" yogurt bar, but when we saw the Blue Bunny Birthday Ice Cream flavor, we *knew* that had to be the dessert for the treat.  It's good, you all.  Mmm.

Anyhow, the girls were invited, one at a time, to get some ice cream from me, and then put their favorite decorations/yummies on top of it.  We used pearl colored balls, silver balls, aqua blue sanding sugar, marshmallows, and sno-caps (get it, ha!). 

The ice cream bar was a huge hit, and the expenditure was very little.  Some of those girls, though, man, they poured on those candies and treats.  Sorry, parents!!!

Because it was a birthday party, of course we had a cake.  More sugar, hey!  Anyhow, Harris Teeter had this cake as one of their options, so even though there was no specific Frozen birthday cake licensed by Disney, this sheet cake with blue icing and snowflake decorations was available.  We added the 6 candle and the Elsa mini doll (she's in her coronation outfit in this one).

Over the summer I made quite a few "Elsa" skirts for little girls, and for one version (given to CW's cousin), I used some sparkly poly organza.  I had some left over, so I knew that I could use it for something.  And that something was as a wrapping for the party favors the girls went home with (in addition to the crowns they received at the beginning of the party). 

Each was cut using pinking shears, but that still didn't keep the fabric from fraying, however, since these were only meant to last for a little while, I wasn't that worried about it.  I enclosed some blue and white gumballs, some snowflake stickers, and a Frozen ring in each girl's favor.  (I also made sure to have a few boy versions available--they received the Kristoff rings.)  I then tied the favors using some Frozen ribbon I found at Joanns. 

MCCALL'S 7000 DETAILS:

I wrote up a review of this pattern at Pattern Review, so definitely take a look if you want more info on it.

The dress turned out quite well, but I personally did not want to make the whole thing from woven fabric.  Instead I decided to make the bodice bit from knit fabric (extra stretchy for growth spurts, plus easier on her to wear), and use some gorgeous sparkly metallic linen (from Fabric Mart, hey!) for the skirt portion.  Fabric.com had some great sparkly tulle, and although the stuff drives me crazy (not the sewing of it, but the way it is always getting caught on things bugs me!), I knew this dress wouldn't be complete without it.

I wish the pattern had included directions for using knit fabrics, but in the end I figured out how to make it all work. 

One way I had to "make it work" was to figure out how to get the super sheer white power mesh fabric to lay flat and down into the seam where it joined the knit sparkly aqua fabric.  Nothing was working (pressing that mesh--not an option), so in the end, I just carefully topstitched the mesh fabric down with the aqua sparkly knit fabric.  You can see the topstitching detail at the sweetheart neckline.

(You can also see the zip in the back, though the front bodice was completely knit, the back fabric was partial metallic linen, so I just followed the pattern directions exactly for that bit.  I did not, however, add a keyhole opening in the power mesh above the zip, there is PLENTY of stretch there and in the neckline to get over my daughter's head.)

Since a traditional facing or binding at the neckline wouldn't have worked, I needed to figure that out, too.  I added a stretchy ribbon lace that I found at G Street fabrics there instead.  Let me tell you, though, adding that ribbon to the neckline was a pain in the patookus.  I had to pin like a madwoman and then carefully stretch the ribbon (which was smaller than the power mesh opening by about two inches) to fit the neckline.  I thought I had attached it fully only to discover that it had only been stitched on fully about halfway.  Somehow in the process of attaching and stretching the ribbon, I had lost contact with the neckline.  Grrr.  But I took a deep breath and started over, and fortunately the second time's attempt was more successful.  I am actually insanely pleased with how well it turned out.  This is ice skating dance costume worthy, people.  :-)  Plus on my daughter it fits perfectly, and looks really lovely!

On the hem I used a "snowflake" stitch that I found on my machine.  Since I have a 9 mm opening on the plate, but used a 5.5 mm foot to stitch the flakes, it does look a bit smooshed, but the effect is still there.  I didn't do this the whole way round, though, instead switching to a traditional stitch on the back.  Heck, you can't even see it unless you are up close, but I figured that is what makes home sewing so special, these little details.

Back of the garment features an invisible zip that is accessed by a slit in the tulle.  If you are using an organza or something very frayable, you will need to hem the opening of the fabric, but the tulle does not fray so I saved myself some work there.  Plus, you can barely tell there is even an opening there. 

Here is the back of the garment on her.  If I could have lengthened the tulle a bit, I would have for a better effect, but ultimately, I worked with what I had.  I think the shorter length works better for her age, though, much less possible to ruin the hem that way.

FROZEN ON ICE DETAILS:

Her outfit here is nearly identical to the one she wore at her party, but since I knew we would be doing a lot of walking (I took her for a tour of my college beforehand since the show was at the Patriot Center), I insisted she wear her aqua blue sandals instead of her special plastic Frozen heeled mules.  She did bring her "Elsa" purse with her.

OOTD: Jacket and Jeans, J. Crew; Top, Hunter Dixon; Boots, Boden; Sunglasses, Anthropologie.

If you ever wonder what little girls are doing when they put their hand out the way CW has in this photo, it is *this* Elsa moment they are trying to emulate.

Right before we headed to our seats, we stopped to grab this photo of the "stage."  I bought one thing, that crazy snowflake wand, with the caveat she had to promise to lead us on Halloween night with it.  She said it would be her pleasure.  Yes, she is wearing this costume on Halloween.  Like every other little girl out there this year.  :-)

Definitely a low-definition photo, but I managed to get this photo of Elsa from the production.  Thankfully CW has not asked for me to make her a shorter gown to look like Elsa from the show.  ;-)

Okay, that's all.  I'll be back later this week with other things, I am sure.  But only after I get that pizza costume started!