an end and a beginning

so the year is about to end and i figured we had better give it a proper tribute on this site as well. hmm, i'm not sure if this will be a worthy end-of-the-year post but here goes!

i did my financial accounting voodoo yesterday. mind you, i never took an accounting subject so i kept it pretty simple and just added and subtracted a few digits.  the verdict?

i went overbudget!!! by around 3k. considering all my expenses and my income (sidelines included), i saved just a little little less than half of my salary.  oh well, i'm still learning, you know? and some people might say that i was unnecessarily generous at several occasions, which isn't entirely a terrible thing, right? i'll just need to compensate for that.

this coming year, my contract will end at my current place of employment.  i have 2 months of (somewhat) predictably stable income before i have to get a new job, a better one!  and having decided that the compensation does not solely determine what constitutes as a great job, i am facing the possibility of earning even less (read: minimum wage), especially should i choose to work for an NGO or the like.  and what does this mean, exactly? new New Year financial resolutions!

now, i'm not doing this to try to compensate for some guilt of overspending.  i admit that i did overspend a bit during the past year but, guess what, it was worth it in one way or another.  i either helped someone or learned a lesson as a result.  money well-spent, if you ask me.  but for this year, it's time to apply what i've learned and what i believe in.  i believe it is possible to live contentedly, even with very little.  and i also believe that you are never too poor to help someone out. 

this year, after having analyzed my every expense, i'm resolving to:

1. buy less clothes and shoes.  and if i do buy, they have to be practical needs.

2. reuse and recycle even more.  that means more DIYs too, and more garage sales.

3. lessen my dependency on material objects.  even more garage sales then! and i'll be giving away "presents" to friends who want them, i guess :)

4. make my money work for me.  i'll be spending (both time and money), albeit still wisely, on three things: fostering relationships and helping those in need, further learning, pursuing my dream/mission

i'm really excited for the new year!!!! the possibilities will be even more exiting than they were in 2010, i just know it :D

btw, i made my first New Year/Bday/Dream purchase (yes, this will be placed in the 2011 report :P ) i sure hope to make the most out of this one.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Happy New Year to you all!

DIY: inspired by Alexander McQueen

(yet another overdue DIY post)

i receive a ton of email every day, maybe half of which are all related to fashion.  anyway, i remember receiving one about nail polish trends sometime in June.  one of the girls featured there was Drew Barrymore.  anyway, the nail color article was interesting enough, but what really caught my attention was Drew's Alexander McQueen dress:

i don't really go anywhere so I'd never really get a chance to wear something like this.  and even if i did have an event to attend, chances are that the McQueen brand people wouldn't be willing to just lend me this dress.  but i loved it so much that i knew i had just one option: DIY!!!

i've had this lace dress lying around for months.  one of my last purchases before i started Project 365.  i bought it at an ukay-ukay near BIR Intramuros for Php 50.  Btw, the owner of the place was Ilocano and they played Ilocano music in the store.  the ukay was also very decent--spacious, clean, well-ventilated. aaanyway, i bought it because i saw some potential in it.  i especially loved the crochet detail on the neckline.

however i try to pretend not to care what everyone else thinks about me, i'm still an insecure girl.  and whenever i'd try the dress on (after washing in boiling water and detergent, mind you), my ate cla would always say "yuck" or something along that line of thought.  so i knew i needed to do something to try to elicit a more favorable or at least neutral response from the people who would be seen with me while wearing it.

i decided to try to make my version of the McQueen dress.  first I carefully cut out the lining (too lazy to rip the seams), making sure not to snip the stitches so the dress would remain intact.

then i prepared a dye bath--using 4 packets of black Venus dye this time.  i figured it wouldn't matter so much if it was in a small basin. in the event that there would be unevenness in the color, it would look like the intended result, much like the intricately designed lace of the original dress.

unfortunately, i learned through this experience that color fastness is something better achieved, not just with quality dye, but also with a proper process.  but since i had neither, i ended up with gray lace.  the only thing that did turn black enough was the crochet trim on the neckline and at the hem of the dress.

i tried to see what it would look like with yellow fabric underneath, but gray doesn't make the color pop out as much.  so i decided to just use the crochet trim instead.  i had 1 1/4 yards yellow cotton voile lying around at home (i often have fabric-buying urges)--also one of my last purchases before Project 365--so i didn't even need to buy that.  i cut out a simple pattern for the bodice using a hybrid of the lining (which was more loose) and my bias dress pattern from FIP (more fit).  since cotton voile is pretty sheer, i used up all my fabric to make two layers (i'd suggest at least 1 1/2 yards next time, especially since bias uses up more fabric).  

with the help of my trusty portable Brother sewing machine (which we got several years ago from credit card points), i was able to make this top:

it's definitely one of my favorites :) it's dressy but i can also wear it with jeans.  i can belt it, tuck it in, or leave it as is. DIY rules!!!

DIY: pseudo chambray shirt

back when i made this a few months ago, i had been reading about the resurgence in popularity of the Chambray (a kind of cotton aka Cambric) shirt among the fashion crowd in the West.  Denim shirts of various washes were also a big craze (and i guess still are depending on the styling).

this was my inspiration:

not having the cheese to afford yet another item, and also having an abundance (okay 4 is not exactly that much) of white collared shirts, i decided to DIY instead.  here's what went on:

one of my white shirts was less traditional than the others.  it had a different kind of yoke and huge sleeves!  i liked it for a while but then i realized that i would sometimes look like i was swathed in hospital bedsheets.  this was the shirt i decided to dye, using the Venus dye available at National Book Store (i know, sorry but that's the only one i know of.  i'm searching for dyes online but it's gonna be real costly what with the $ and the shipping, etc.)

i used two packets but you can go darker if you want.  if you're not really sure, i suggest you go light first; you can always intensify the color later.  now, having limited resources and a slightly overbearing mother, i couldn't follow the instructions to the letter.  but i think it went ok. 

it would be a lot better if you use a bigger basin though, to keep the fabric from clumping.  mine did, and at the underarm area too! it's not that noticeable but if someone looks very closely, you'd think i had sweat stains even if i had just put the shirt on.

and voila! don't mind how i look though. haha.  you can belt it, tuck it in, leave it untucked, or unbutton it too :D hope you like!  DIY is pretty easy.  the first thing you need to do is just determine what project you want to make and i'm sure you'll find SOMETHING in your closet or somebody else's wardrobe that you can reconstruct.  it's so rewarding and pretty cool too.