Goodies from Asia (Part 2)

So my mother came back from Asia yesterday and I have more goodies!

My parents got me a Tiffany & Co necklace and I heart heart HEART it . . . isn't it so lovely?













She also got my Chinese Dress & Evening Gown made in China. Originally we were going to have Van's Aunt make the dresses, but since they have just opened a restaurant the guilt of a Bridezilla set in :) ** PS, try ASIAN FUSION on 13823 - 127 Street! Very good food and very affordable! I myself like the meat on a stick, such tender meat ** Anyways after my dresses were complete, my mom showed her friend who is a tailor. (side note, I love love love elegant simple dresses) So her friend felt that my dress was not "bride worthy", that it was not glamorous enough for a dress and out of the kindness of her heart sewed some beads on. It was sweet of her to do that, but it literally looks like she took a handful of pearls and threw it at my dress! Thank goodness she only did it to one side of the dress, now I'm spending my friday night cutting out all the beading. Sigh, its so hard to be angry at someone when they were trying to help you! Here is a picture of the explosion of beads . . .

** update - 6 hours later . . .

So, I took off all the beads and lace and the dress now looks like the original inspiration! Apparently the beads must have been weighting down the fabric, cause before the dress hung on me like a potato sack. . . now since the weight is gone, the dress sits perfectly on me! I am now truly in love with this dress. . . . Here's a before & after picture of the dress!

The only sour point is that the dress material was fragile. . . the thread that sewed the beads in was to tight and actually created holes in my dress :( Now it's not noticeable unless you're up close . . . but its a bit frustrating cause the beads should never have been there in the first place. But whats done is done . . . and its hard to blame good intentions. Here's a picture of the puckering in the dress & the holes.

And here's a picture of all the beads that were taken out . . . Crazy hey!

If I was super talented I would use the pearls to make a bracelet like this one from DanaSaylorDesigns, her bracelets retail from $80-$150USD. . . I love them but would probably like a smaller brooch cause I'm really not into too much "bling". Maybe it's time to sign up for a Michael's Jewellery Class . . .