Celebrating Spring With Eshakti

Yay, our Spring weather is here to stay!!  And what better way to celebrate than by pulling out the warm weather attire.  After all nothing screams Spring more than a cute, light sundress.   Luckily for me, the lovely people over at eSkakti reached out to me a while back and asked if I'd like to try an item from their new Spring collection.  Of course, I said yes.

Haven't heard of eShakti?  Well, they offer ready-to-wear clothing in sizes 0-36W that you can customize to be tailored to your height and body type.  For example, on many of their dresses you can choose what neckline, skirt length or sleeve style you'd like to have.  They also have you enter in your height to make sure that the waist falls correctly.  Now on the dresses I chose.

Now, I love the whole nautical/sailor look.  So, when I saw this dress, I just had to have it.  And it does wonders for slimming you in the midsection area!  I still have a little stubborn belly fat but in this dress you can't tell.  I'm not usually a fan of dresses that fall below the knee unless it's a maxi dress, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone with this one and didn't alter the skirt length.

Now, I loved, loved, loved this dress when I saw it.  While I love the fit of this dress, it's not as forgiving as I as saw after my sister took this photo.  I was bloated (thanks Aunt Flo) and well....   You just really have to make sure everything in the midsection is sucked in good if you wear this dress.  I did use the customize options to have this altered to fall above knees.  I was going originally get it in a mini, but am glad I didn't because it has a split in the back.

With Mother's Day coming up, I've already prepared a wishlist that includes a few more dresses from eShakti.

Love the print!

I have to have this!

Be sure to hop on over to eShakti and check out their selection.  They have skirts, tops and more!  Plus, they have a pretty good Mother's Day offer going on right now too.

Disclaimer:  This post is sponsored by eShakti.  All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Springing into Action

While, the first official day of Spring has come and gone on the calendar, weather wise I can truly say that Spring has sprung.  After weeks of rainy, windy and just plain horrible weather it's finally time to pull out the grills and hit up the pools.  Also, this means that it's time for me to spring into action.  Yes, summer is on it's way and most people are getting into relaxation mode but I am getting into full on planning mode.

No rest for the weary right?  Anyways, I have to say that Mother's Day was great!!  The hubby surprised me with the most amazing and heartfelt Mother's Day card this year.   He's not really a card person but I have to admit that each year he gets better and better with his card and gift selection. Just goes to show how well he knows me and takes note of the things I actually like.

So, what's on my to do list before summer gets into full effect?  Well, for starters I have to still send out thank you cards for my baby shower gifts.  I know, I am so behind on doing that.  However, in my defense the weeks following the baby shower were rough.  We all remember about my bad car accident.  And then after that I got caught up in focusing on scheduling my induction.

And if you've been following me on Twitter then you know that my baby sister is graduating this spring.  Needless to say, our family has been knee deep in sending out graduation announcements, making party plans and finalizing college stuff.  I'm telling you that time has flown by.  It seems like just yesterday my mom was bringing her home from the hospital and now she's already been to her senior prom.  I am sure that I will be shedding tears of joys on her big day.

Also, on my spring to do list is helping my mom pick out birthday invitations for my niece.  Her birthday is right around the corner.  And this year, she wants to do the big girl thing and sent out invites.  How cute right?!!  Following her birthday we're planning on taking a family trip to Disney World.  

I'm excited to be going.  However, a huge part of me is worried because I'll have two small kids to look out for. The hubby says I should wait until both Moo and JJ will be older to remember the trip and will both be able to get on rides but I haven't decided yet.  So, as you can see spring is proving to be a very busy time time for me planning and decision making wise. 

What tasks do you still need to spring into action on?

*This post was sponsored by Shutterfly.com.  However, all opinions expressed are original and solely my own.  Are you a blogger? Sign up for a chance to receive 50 FREE cards from Shutterfly.*

What I'm Making Monday: Decorative Spring Tote Bags

So, I'm new to this whole 'What I'm Making Monday' thing, but when I saw the idea on Baby Makin(g) Machine's page, I felt inspired to join.  Not to mention, I've always been a super crafty and creative person.  Plus, I was a Fashion Merchandising major.  I thought this is a good way to network and share a different side of myself with my readers.  By the way, I'm sure that I have some silent blog stalkers out there. I just want to say that I appreciate you all checking out my blog, but feel free to leave comments and follow.

Anyways, this past Christmas I was looking for a way to avoid spending a small fortune on gifts because we have such a large family.  My mom comes from a family of 13 and my dad from a family of 8.  Then you add on their children and the grandchildren and it's well over of 50 people right there.   So, I decided to make gifts instead for all of my aunts.  Well, the lapel pins that I made for them were such a hit, that I was motivated to try my hands at making other projects as well.

At first  I was a little cautious because my skills had gotten kinda rusty. But standing in the Arts & Crafts section of our local Wally World aka WalMart, a pack of canvas totes caught my eye. Immediately, the fashion designer in me started to see all kinds of possibilities.  So, I bought a few, then a few more and now I have my own Etsy shop.  And now that I've booked my first public selling event, I've been busy making tons of them.  People really seem to be taken with my spring totes and they're not that hard to make.

All you need is:

A canvas tote

 

Some decorative fabric

Iron on adhesive

An Iron

Ribbon/Trimmings (optional)

1-You want to iron your decorative fabric to your iron on adhesive.  Make sure your iron is nice and hot.  Otherwise the fabric will not stick.

2-Once the adhesive has cooled down for about 30 seconds, trim out the pieces you would like to use and then arrange them on your bag.

3-Once, you have placed the pieces where you want them remove the wax paper from the other side of the adhesive and iron the pieces permanently into place.

4-You can finish off your bag/tote by adding some ribbon around the opening.  You can either use iron adhesive or hand sew the ribbon on.

Your finished product should look something like mine below:

These little totes will make perfect gifts and you can personalize them any way that you want to.  Check out the my Etsy store on the right to see (and hopefully purchase) some of my other one of a kind totes.