Missys' challenge

I got a challenge from my friend Missy the other day.  She gave me this picture...

 

...and asked me to recreate it!  Obviously, this just seemed fun to me, so I accepted with a smile and quite a bit of excitement.  I hit the Goodwill to find the two pieces I didn't have at home, the sweater and the scarf.

 

 

I found the sweater in the men's section, for $4.  The scarf is an infinity scarf which I love.  Want to know my fun little trick for getting these thrifted?  I buy a t-shirt or dress in the color I want and cut straight across under the arms...ta-da, infinity scarf!  This one was a dress, that I cut off at the waist.  It was $2.50.  I found a black pair of leggings for $2.50, but didn't buy them because I had black skinny jeans at home.  It wouldn't be thrifty to buy the leggings if I had something similar already would it?

 

 

The boots, bracelets, and clutch were in my wardrobe also. 

 

 

 

My black skinny jeans are from Target and I bought them for $28 they are a wardrobe staple for me.  The price for EVERYTHING I am wearing comes to about $46.50, but it would have been $21 had I bought and used the leggings I saw at the Goodwill.  I didn't use sunglasses because it is overcast today, but I have a great pair that I bought for $1 last year, that I would have used for this look!

 

In total, the two pieces that I purchased specifically for this outfit came up to $6.50.  Great price for a new fall look right?  How close do you all think I came to the inspiration picture?

 

Thank you Missy for the challenge, if you want the sweater I will mail it to you, it is Tommy Hilfiger!  I appreciate you making my life and hobby so fun, and always supporting me in it!

 

Of course, to my readers, thank you for reading, commenting, sharing, pinning, and enjoying my blog!

 

xoxo,

 

Monica



A thrifting adventure with Amy

Last weekend my friend Amy volunteered to be a test subject for me.  I have never dressed another person, well, one who I didn't give birth to!  Amy has a completely opposite body type to mine.  Where I am small on top and big on the bottom, she is well endowed on top, and has slim waist and hips (lucky!)  We went to our local Goodwill, and I had some ideas fresh in my head, and on my tablet computer. 

 

The boots Amy is wearing are tall like the picture, but because her jeans aren't skinny, we didn't like how they were bunching at the knee.  The total price for Amys' look is $19!  The jeans were her own, but she bought them thrifted for $2.50. 

 

 

I am in love with this brown leather jacket, why buy a new one for $295+, when you can get this one for $12.99?!  If anyone has a good answer for this, feel free to let me know.  I am guessing that the majority of people would choose to save $282.01. 

 

Total for this look is $18!  Jeans jackets are amazingly versatile, throw one over a work outfit to dress it down for happy hour.

 

 

I adore this skirt!  It is so girly and flowy, I put a cardigan on it for fall, but it could easily be worn with a short sleeve blouse or t-shirt for warmer weather.

 

 

 

We went with a black cardigan for this ruffled dress, where they wore leather in the original.  I couldn't be so lucky to find another leather jacket in the same store that fit our gorgeous model!  To balance it out, and make it more leather and lace like the inspiration look, we threw in some riding boots.

Note: I would add thick tights if available.

 



This is by FAR my favorite outfit of the day.  The high low skirt is at the top of my list for popular pieces right now.  I brought this one into fall by putting a warm belted jacket over it.  If we weren't at the store, I would have had her put closed toe shoes on with tights.  The cost for this look, including the jacket is $22.  I will be searching high and low *pun intended* for a skirt like this in my size! 

 

Thank you all as always for reading! 

 

I was contacted yesterday by another blogger who is doing the same thing we are here....I am thrilled to read her blog, she has amazing looks over there!  Check her out.  http://thriftthelook.blogspot.com

 

Please don't forget to share me, pin me, add me, or follow me!

 

xoxo

 

~Monica

 

 

 







Three piece white skirt copycat

The look I chose for today couldn't be more simple, only three pieces! I am telling you folks, anyone can do this.

 

The inspiration to finally use my white skirt came from my Mom, she bought one at a thrift store in her area lately and asked for a little advice from her blogger daughter.  She is my biggest fan!  I told her how I would wear it, with a basic t-shirt tucked in, that is classic and comfy for me. She went with a t-shirt un-tucked with a belt, I love it!  

She certainly has better scenery for a background, I will have to do a blog there next time I visit to get some of those flowers in.  I tried to make her picture bigger, but since it came through text, this is the best I could do...sorry Mom!

In the look that I copied, I love the black button up top, it is very chic, great for fall (I don't follow the no white after labor day rule, I am a rebel) and would be very office appropriate.  I had considered throwing a belt into my look, (I have a strange obsession for them) but decided to keep this one very simple and straight forward.  Here is a second picture just in case you hadn't seen enough yet...

The cost for my look today was, $14!  The shirt is actually an old work shirt I had, but I did get it at a thrift store for $4. 

As always thank you for reading, I appreciate all of you! 

On another note, if you live in the El Paso TX area and would like to volunteer your time and body to me I would be very thankful!  I am starting a portfolio of thrift outfits, to display my talents, and I am in need of models of all shapes and sizes.  Please contact me through email or leave a comment with your email address and I will send you a short survey to get your sizes and preferences.  As always, don't forget to share me with your friends through Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest!

~Mon

I heart shorts!

Here in El Paso, we hold on to summer weather until nearly October.  So, thankfully we get to wear shorts quite a bit later than I was able to in Colorado.  No need to fear Colorado girls, you can still wear shorts year round by throwing some tights on under, one of my favorite evening out looks for winter!  Todays look comes to you without tights, and is more of a summer look due to the bright colors. 

Please excuse my strange facial expression, I am not sure what I was chatting about, but I'm sure it was something awesome and humorous.  I was going to cut my head off while editing the photo, but decided my readers must love me enough since they continue to return, so I left it! 

The shorts I am wearing are not from a thrift store *gasp*, I got them at Marshalls for $10!  Now, because I am the Thrifting Fashionista, I try to get the majority of my clothes at thrift stores, but I also LOVE getting great sales on new items.  I rarely buy anything that isn't clearance or sale priced, and I mean dirt cheap sale priced.  The only thing I will buy full priced is jeans, it is really hard to find tall sizes on sale or clearance and since they are staples that I will have for a long time, I can splurge on a couple great pairs.  Marshalls and Ross are great for finding cute, very low priced items, but Targets' clearance can't be beat! 

Ok, enough of my clearance rant, lets get down to my outfit price.  In total, including necklace, I spent $21!  Have I mentioned lately that I love thrifting?!  Not only is it fun, like a mini treasure hunt, but it is also inexpensive and great for the community and environment.  If you are still not convinced, and you live in my area, email me and I will meet up with you for a thrifting extravaganza! 

As always, I want to thank my readers for being so great!  Don't forget to share me by facebook, pinterest, or anyway you can!

~Monica

My J. Crew copy cat look

I know it has been a couple weeks since my last blog, but I have been SICK!  I mean sick like, I haven't gotten out of the house or bothered to get dressed sick.  So sadly, I have been clothed in sweat shorts and t-shirts, and I doubt any of you want pictures of that.  But my lovelies, I am back and ready to be fashionable once again! 

Todays look comes straight from the J. Crew catalog.  I loved the feel of this dress as soon as I saw it, and was thrilled to find a similar one for $6 at my local Goodwill! 

I also LOVE argyle, but lo and behold, I do not have an argyle sweater, but I do have a cute striped one!  You have to work with what you have, and if stripes is what you have, then stripes is what you use.  I lucked out and found these great yellow/grey shoes for $8, they were brand new!  The Target stores in our area donate their shoes that they can't sell, to Goodwill, yay me!  As you can see I took my look more into a 50's housewife direction with the hair and make-up, just goes to show how a little hairspray and red lipstick can change a look completely.  My total cost for this look is, $19!  I never found a price on the J. Crew outfit, I am betting it's a couple more dollars...wink wink.  If you are heading out to the thrift stores, yard sales, or estate sales soon, happy thrifting friends!

As always, please feel free to share my blog or pin me, I love new readers!

~Mon

The scarf print blouse

Has anyone heard of a scarf print shirt?  If you have, you are way ahead of me in the area of fashion.  I just learned last night what it was called.  I had seen a great picture of one a few months back, and then was thrilled to find and purchase one in the Goodwill shortly after.  It is basically an amazing, silky blouse that looks like the print should be on a scarf!  There are tons of them in thrift shops, as they were very popular in the 80's.  (Hint: you might have to take out some serious shoulder pads!)  I like them so much right now, I am considering starting a collection. 

The look on the left was my original inspiration, but as I got to searching, I found more and more looks, these blouses are really versatile.  I chose to go with a red shoe like the great lady in the photo below!

And then to show another look, I wore some dark skinnies like my other inspiration photo.  You can't see her shoes so I had to go with my gut, which always tells me to get fancy!  Living in the town I do, it is ALWAYS ok to dress up a bit, so I do!  

I also saw it pictured with shorts, but decided you all had seen enough of my white legs yesterday!  The blouse that all of the models are wearing is by the brand Zara and I have seen it priced around $70.  Mine was.....drum roll please.......$4!!!  My outfit with white pants in total cost me $20, and the dark jeans one cost me $19!  Both of those prices include the jewelry!  Those spectacular boots are shoe dazzle, they were brand new when I got them and I spent $1.99 on them.  Do I have to profess my love for them, or can you already tell how I feel?!  

As always, thank you all SO much for reading, don't forget to pin me!

Feeling girly

It has been a week since I started the Thrifting Fashionista Blog, and I must say it has been a blast so far!  I find myself really having to use my imagination when putting together outfits, which will only make me more helpful to you all in the long run.  Todays outfit is a fun girly one, yet simple enough for anyone to try.

There are a few differences between the inspiration look and mine, starting with the skirt, both striped, but mine is flower print, which I love simply because it's very feminine.  Hers is also much shorter, which looks great, but wouldn't work for me or my hips!  Always dress for YOUR body, not anyone elses.  I wore red ballet flats with mine, I do have black ones similar to the original picture, but I chose to get a bit more color into the look, I think it worked well.  My whole look only cost me $16 and made me feel extra girly and summery today!  Enjoy the last few hours of your weekend!

I want to thank everyone for reading, I am grateful to have people in my life who enjoy my passions with me!

Don't forget to pin me, the "pin it" button is right below!

Thinking out of the thrifty box

I have been meaning to bring this up in the last few blogs because I think it's an important part of thrifting....keeping an open mind!  I was telling my friend Tonya yesterday, who is fairly shorter than myself, that if we had the same waist size and tried on the same skirt, it would look completely different on each of us.  Now this may seem like common sense, but this idea comes in handy when looking for "new" looks at thrift stores.  Take for example Laylahs' outfit from a couple days ago, the purple velvet blouse with the peter pan collar.

Laylah is 6 and usually wears 5-6 size clothing, this top is 3t.  It fits her like a cropped 3/4 length top which looks great for her.  I like to buy oversized sweaters for the winter, worn with skinny jeans and boots it's a warm, comfy, yet still cute outfit. 

I have a pair of pants that I have no idea where they came from honestly.  They are uniform pants of some sort, I assume the probability of them being military is fairly high.  I tried them on one day, they fit me as high waisted crop trousers...aren't I lucky?  Here is an example of how I like to wear them.

I dressed them down with a screen halter because I like the dress casual look a lot.  This outfit cost me less than $6, considering the pants were free! The maxi skirt I posted yesterday...

This was meant to be a strapless maxi dress, I just brought it lower to be a skirt.  Trying things on is a must, you can shift it around on your body to see if it can be a multi purpose item.  When I was in college I would shop in the boys section to find cute screen print t-shirts for just a couple of dollars.  Now I look in mens shoes because I am desperately hoping to find a pair of wing tipped dress shoes that fit me!  Don't let sections of the store define where to look, you never know what you might come across thinking out of the box.

Don't forget to share me on Pinterest, the button is right below this post!

The versatile maxi skirt on the cheap!

Ever have one of those days where it is hot as Channing Tatum outside, you want to look cute, but don't feel like shaving your legs, because frankly, it's an evil task?  I am living that day today, watch out world!  Thankfully fashion has your back at the moment, it is known as the maxi skirt!  It is one of my staple pieces of clothing, along with black skinny jeans, my chambray (you remember the jean shirt), a camisol, wedge sandals, jean shorts and boyfriend jeans.  There are a million and five looks you can put together with a maxi skirt, put it with a tank and chambray tied, a black top with a cute stretchy belt, I like doing that to go out, the fancier the top the fancier the outfit, or even a band screen t-shirt tucked into it.  I'm only going to show one today, but it's one I love!

The vest I am wearing is....a repurposed 3/4 sleeve t-shirt!  I will be using the sleeves that I cut off as boot socks next season, be on the look out for them peaking out of some of my boots.  There is no need for a tutorial on this one, just cut off the sleeves, maybe trim them up a bit to get the width you want on the shoulders.  It is no sew, which I love and best thing is, it cost $1. 

My whole outfit costed me $9, I am not wearing shoes, but if I did, I would have put on a pair of Old Navy flip flops, taking my total to $11.50.  The only thing I am jealous of in the "inspiration photo" is her coffee, I have saved a lot on clothing lately, maybe I deserve one too! 

Don't forget to use my pin it button down there! I also want to thank all my friends for inspiring new ideas for blog entries, keep them coming!

Vegas baby!

A friend of mine asked me to find her some Vegas looks the other night.  I started googling and looking on Pinterest, I mostly found pictures of showgirls, um, not exactly what I was going for!  I started thinking about what I would wear in Vegas, loud colors, sequin, frilly, also looks I could take from day to night, just in case we didn't have time to hit the hotel before we went out for the evening.  My initial ideas were, a sun dress, a maxi dress and shorts with a cute top.

I love the middle one

This is my take that cost me $8, the belt was $1 at the Jewelry box, a great accessory store where everything is a dollar!  Add great earrings and a necklace for the evening, something sparkly.

I picked this because of the frill at the bottom and the loud colors.  Low and behold I have something similar!

I am wearing heels in this picture, but I could easily wear flip flops with it during the day and have my heels in my purse.  I don't know about you, but I can't be in heels long, especially not while walking up and down the strip!  My look costed me $10!

I don't have my own example of this one, but I will be looking for an oversized black shirt to cut and paint to make my own version for sure!  If you want to take this look from day to night, put tights under the shorts, add some fancy jewelry, throw on some platform wedges and make your hair BIG, hairspray and a comb can do wonders for an evening look, it's Vegas baby, do it BIG! 

That's at least a good start for packing, once you get on  roll, like I do when I pack, you will wind up with 2 suitcases for 4 days....my husband LOVES this.  Hey, I bet they have amazing thrift stores off the strip in Vegas, I might need to take a little trip....happy thrifting friends!

Oops almost forgot to mention, yet again, I added a "pin it" button under my posts, so feel free to pin me, I would love more readers!

A short super model lives in my house

Busy day so far, last week I won a contest through my local Goodwill, for answering a question about what I thought the purpose of Goodwill was.  I won $25 in Goodwill gift certificates, perfect for me huh?!  Today was the day I picked them up, I already had a mini plan for the certificates, Laylah clothes.  For those of you who don't know, Laylah is my 6 year old daughter.  I hadn't tried to style my kids from thrift shops yet, so that was the mission of the day.

This is me happily pickng up my certificates, sorry about the weird smile, I was excited!  The outfit I am wearing is appropriately, ENTIRELY thrifted!  You can't see my shoes, but they are my favorite brown platform wedge sandals, and I am also wearing a brown belt.  The whole look, including the purse and jewelry costed me $18! 

Now onto the fun stuff, I took my prize to one of my favorite Goodwills in town, which happens price all clothing at $1 for each piece!  If you are squinting and rubbing your eyes making sure you read that right, stop it, yes all clothing is priced at $1.  I believe shoes are $1.99.  Because of the awesome prices, you often have to dig a bit more due to a lot of the great stuff having been already snapped up by other savvy shoppers.  Here is a little hint when shopping for clothes at a thrift store for your kiddo, take the kid.  I can't tell you how many times I have bought things in size 6 thinking they would fit, and they are way too big or too small.  I know that it's only a few dollars lost, but the point of this is to be thrifty, not lose money right? 

So we shopped and shopped and tried on clothing, did a little crying (the kids not me) though I sure did feel like I needed to!  In the end, I got Laylah:

2 Sweaters, 2 pairs of leggings, 2 collared dresses, 4 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of cropped slacks, a blouse with peter pan collar, a purple tank top, a striped sweater dress, green crop jeans, high waisted corduroy shorts, a winter jacket, hello kitty boots, and a belt.

I had to use up the certificates so I also got myself a purple blazer, a fancy wind breaker, and a beaded wristlet.  All of that came to $25.97, thank you local Goodwill!

Now, you don't think I would just list the clothing I got for my girl without showing you some examples of looks I put together with it, did you?  I could just not possibly be that mean.  Here you are!

Every thing in the pictures was from our haul today except Laylahs white shoes.  Aren't I blessed to have a miniature super model living in my house?  She even has the face down, and is great at taking directions.  The last outfit is one I reached on, I love all those little hipster kid outfits. Why should things have to match, put some black glasses on that kid and have them tell people they mismatched their clothes before it was cool;)   

Thank you Ashley Olsen

I have been searching all day for the perfect outfit for a community play audition that I have this evening.  My idea of "searching" is perusing Pinterest for hours, then pick and choose with what I have.  Todays outfit comes to us courtesy of Ashley Olsen.  I chose my black skinny jeans as the base, then searched google for tops that look good with it, and her outfit with a chambray top, was the winner!  Congrats Ashley, I'm sure she would be flattered right?!

I bought my chambray top in January, but I had been hunting for it for a long time!  It is a major thrill to FINALLY find the piece you have been searching months for.  As you can see, there are differences in our attire, jewelry, shoes, belt and my exceptional hair bow which I threw in there because I needed something to keep the hair out of my eyes and love a pop of color.  I chose the black ballet flats because I am inspired by the classic Audrey Hepburn style, and black skinnies with flats screams Audrey.  The black skinny jeans are the ONLY thing not thrifted in this outfit, we all have our staple pieces right?  They are from Target though, $27.99 baby.  The ballet flats, belt, chambray shirt and jewelry costed me a whopping $14.  Not bad, I wonder how much Ashley spent?  Wish me some big "break a legs," on my audition, it has been 11 years since my last one!  Happy thrifting friends!

My Thrifty Passion

Welcome to my Blog, it has been a long time coming, and I am thrilled to finally have it up and running!  I never in my life thought I would be writing a fashion blog.  When I say fashion, I do not mean runway style. I mean everyday, classy, fashionable, gorgeous looks. You know it when you see it, the woman at the grocery store, or your kids school. She is looking flawlessly put together and chic...yes its ok to hate her!  I am learning to be this woman, and let me tell you friends, I am far from creative or stylish, but I am GREAT at copying!   I was the lady running around in jeans and black Fox Racing t-shirts.  It was my Mommy uniform, that is when I came across the women's apparel section on Pinterest.  I poured over hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures of fashionable outfits.  I kept saying in my head, "I could find that same lace top at a thrift store," I was probably saying it out loud too, if the looks my husband gave me were any indication. 


I finally did make it to a Goodwill down the street from me, just to see if in fact, I could find similar pieces of clothing.  I made a mental list of what the main styles were.  Lace, sequin, boots, boot socks, bangles, statement necklaces, chambray shirts, tights, belts and a few other winter pieces were what I was on the look out for.  I also noted the colors that were pictured for the season.  My first trip was a success, I found tall biker type black boots and a black sequin top!  When the spring pictures came out, I was looking for skirts and heels. 

There have been many times that I found an outfit and started searching for similar pieces to complete it, possibly my favorite hobby now.

 I can copy a high priced outfit for less that $20 head to toe!  Who wouldn't want to take a twenty dollar bill and get a complete outfit?!  It started as a way to get some cute outfits put together, and in 8 months has become an obsession.  I have so much clothes I am sure I will need to convert our garage into a closet. Hey, a girl can dream right?