jemmacolemanPHOTOGRAPHY: i {spy} - craft project! - the dress & the shoes for the {expo}

I was pretty excited about my outfit for the Gainesville Wedding Expo at the end of last month. After all it took me a ton of searching and trying on, returning, exchanging, and looking online and all over town to find what I wanted.

Because I was determined to match my branding, I was convinced I needed a yellow dress. And I wanted one with a poufy skirt. And I didn't want a lot of bare skin showing. I could thrill you with stories of my escapades, but I'll just get to the point. It had basically come down to me wearing a cute gray dress I'd found at Urban Thread with a bright yellow scarf and silver sandals or a JCrew halter dress I'd also found at Urban Thread and some cardigan I was desperately trying to find.

As I was taking one last look through the racks I came across a yellow dress that was definitely two sizes smaller than what I'm wearing these days. Even so, it looked a little larger than advertised, so I thought, what the heck, I'll see if I can squeeze into it. Just for giggles. And crazy enough it fit me!

I was so excited, I didn't even notice that I'd dropped a receipt in the dressing room for three cardigans I'd picked up from Ross - hoping to make them work with the halter dress. The sales ladies were happy for me and listened to me blather on about how I needed the dress for a wedding expo and yada yada yay yay yay! I gave them some of my cards!

After purchasing the dress and my fabulous shoes (I fell in love with them after having used them to try on everything at the store), I got in my car to find a parking ticket DOH! and headed to Butler Plaza. Aaaaand, I left my credit card on the counter. By the time I got to Ross across town, I realized I didn't have the receipt. Nice enough, the sweet girls at Urban Thread called me (they had my biz card) to tell me I left my credit card and so I finished up my shopping at Target and headed back to pick up my lost items. They even found my receipt! What customer service!

My fabulous JCrew shoes. So lovely, no?

Next, to complete my outfit, I thought I needed a little something extra. I'd been itching to do some crafting and saw this fabulous craft project on 100 layer cake and traced it back to Heart of Light for the details.

I printed out my instructions and got to work!

For my belt, I chose double-faced satin ribbon and picked up the fabric from the remnants bins. I chose a couple extra fabrics from the bolt to increase the diversity of textures.

I also bought some colorful fabric in case I changed my mind and wanted to do something a little different. I think I'll try this on my next craft date with a friend.