Love me, love me, say that you love me! Give Away!

Today I am posting my second look on lookbook, and because all of the people I have talked to on lookbook.nu have been so sweet to me I am offering a give-away to spread the love! If you follow the instructions below, you could win this Valentine's Day gift bag from DJC Existence . DJC Existence has partnered up with Anastomose to create this cute and fashionable gift!

Here is what you need to do enter for a chance to win this gift:

1. Become a fan on the DJC Existence Facebook page

2. Become a fan of the Anastomose Facebook Page

3. Become a follower on this blog

4. Post a link on your Facebook page about to this give-away

5. Leave a comment on this post with the link to your Facebook post and your email address

That's it! Not too difficult, right?

About today's Look:

This whole look cost me about $40 including the shoes, being broke doesn't have to cramp your style! I got the sweater and the pants at the Salvation Army for $13. The shorts were originally Anne Taylor dress pants. The pants were too short for me, a little too big, and too dressy for my everyday life so I spiced them up!

First I had to take them in (unless you have a good amount of experience sewing I wouldn't recommend you try alterations yourself. Try to find something that is already your size). Then I cut them off and added a cuff to the bottom.

The next step was distressing them. Once the fit and cut was right I still wasn't in love with the color. So I cut some test swatches from the extra fabric (If you can you really want to test out your dying technique before doing it on your final garment. It's hard to tell before hand how it is going to come out and you don't want to ruin the garment). First you need to mordant the fabric (a process that strips the fibers of the fabric so that it will accept the dye better), I used tannic acid and soda ash. Then go to town with different dyes  and dye combinations! I used all natural dye from Blue Castle Fiber Arts. Another tip: if you want the dye job to come  out a little uneven like mine, let the dye bath come to a boil and then turn off the fire before you put the garment in. This way it doesn't move around and the dye won't be as saturated in the folds of the fabric (I let mine sit in the dye bath for 2hrs).

Here is the transformation!

For the shoes:

The left shoe (my good side)

The right shoe (my bad side)

Someone pointed out one day that if you change one letter in my name then it spells "devil", I though it was funny so I decided to decorate my converses so that they represented my good side and my bad side. I drew out the design with pencil first and then painted it with acrylic paint (always mix it with a little water), and fabric paint. Tip: Once the paint is dry, put a piece of fabric over fabric of the shoes. Turn the iron on the the highest setting, and then hold the iron down into the shoe for a few seconds (only the fabric part not the rubber). Make sure you do this over all the parts you painted. This will set the paint and prevent it from running or bleeding if the shoes get wet.

Now go hit that thrift store and get creative!