Hello!! It's so good to be back. Penelope & I had such a blast playing around & exploring Myrtle Beach last week. I'm proud to say, not one of us lilly white Esplins got burned the entire trip. This is a HUGE feat for us. Chris and I are both so white, we got sunburned on our honeymoon in Cancun while in the shade with sunscreen on. Unfortunately, Penelope doesn't fall too far from the tree as she got second degree sunburns on her cheeks at two months old (while in the shade, too). Since then we've vowed to be crazy diligent about using sunscreen even at a very young age. This vacation was great in so many ways. I was able to spend some quality one-on-one time with my folks, take naps everyday & recharge my creative batteries. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've not been feeling very inspired lately. This trip cured that. I'm just swimming with all sorts of ideas now. One of those ideas was to modify a sweater that I've had for a while. I bought this sweater from DownEast Basics the beginning of summer. I thought it was really sweet; the knitted lace really caught my eye. After getting it I think I wore it once or twice & let it filter to the back of my cardigan stash. For some reason we didn't mesh well. I've not really been able to put my finger on it. Maybe it was the length, maybe it was the sleeve. MEH. It just wasn't doing anything for me. I had this crazy brain wave the other day when I thought about chopping the sleeves & making it a sweater vest. Maybe I was channeling some Project Runway or something. So I chopped off the sleeves. Outfit details:

• Top - Ann Taylor Loft
• Cardigan - DownEast Basics
• Belt - D.I.
• Corduroys - Gap
• Moccasins - D.I.

I was going to cut a seam allowance & then tuck & hem the edges, but then I realized if I cut the fabric close to the seam, I wouldn't have to go through all that and it would still look finished. I wouldn't have to hem it at all! What started out as a semi daunting refashion (hems are my least favorite), turned into a 30 second face-lift. I'm glad I went for it! I feel like the sweater gives off more of a stylish vibe now that the sleeves are gone. It was a bit of a risk to modify this garment because I typically LOVE this length of sleeve & this cardigan wasn't a $3 thrift store find. I think I paid $30 for it. I kept thinking to myself, how much am I getting out of this sweater now? Practically nothing. How much could I potentially get out of this sweater after I modify it? A lot more than nothing. I think it's a big improvement. What do you think?