Friday Remake

I'm a total cardigan girl.  I love pairing them with my outfits for a little color pop as well as a little pop of warmth.  You know, the Southern California weather might not get too frigid that often, however the nights cool down like the Dickens and a cardi is a girl's best friend. (My BFF, fo sho!  My car is like a cardigan factory)

I have a handful of ones with patterns and a bunch of just solid colors, so I thought I'd take one of those solid ones and zhuzh it up a bit!

Here's what it looked like before...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

It didn't seem to get much love, so I thought a little face lift would do the trick.  Instead of needles and anesthesia, we're going the glue and gems route.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

Mmm, gems!

I took my flat-backed gems that I procured at one of those hole in the wall craft spots in downtown LA and began to test some patterns.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

Anytime I'm using rhinestones, I always test out locations before actually affixing.  It's like going to a party...you always make the rounds and take some laps to check out the crowd before settling on a location.  (Am I right, girls?)

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

I came up with this fun triangle motif, and made a little faux collar at the neck...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

...and continued the triangles in-between each button.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

All my gems got placed and then I grabbed my Aleene's Glitter & Gem glue...

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

...and started tacking down!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

I let my piece dry overnight and then had a new (and improved) cardi ready for the town!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

I paired this piece with a vintage tie neck blouse, leather braided belt, and a fab pair of red clip-on earrings that I scored at the flea market!

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

To bring out the colors in the blouse, I grabbed my Trina Turk clutch and Michael Antonio platform heels.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

Those heels are no joke!  I got them at a sample sale in December because A, I felt like I needed a pair of crazy platforms, and B, who doesn't need a hot pair of red shoes??

I just love how the gems glisten in the light.  It's the perfect amount of glam to add to any outfit.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

This is something totally work appropriate and would also look darling over a dress.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

This shot just happened to catch me trying to punch out the camera from afar with my clutch.  Yep, pretending to be Mike Tyson, sans eye tat.

New Dress A Day - DIY - Upcycled Sweater

Cardigan, BP (from my closet) // Blouse, Vintage // Jeans, Levis (they were $23!) // Clutch, Trina Turk // Earrings, vintage // Sunnies, Urban Outfitters // Heels, Michael Antonio // Belt, Vintage

And speaking of TKO, don't mess with me (or my family/friends/blog readers/acquaintances) or I will cut you with my fierce shoes.  Just giving you an FYI.  I will take you down with these heels, so step back.

(Little side note, they almost took me out because of their weight, but now I'm feeling way more confident after our little talk.  Yeah, we had a little talk and I asked them to be nice.  They didn't say anything back, however I took that as a silent, "fine.")

Happy Friday, friends!