Pinspiration to Reality: Shop Your Closet

I'm super excited to be starting a little series this week, obviously called "Pinspiration to Reality."  I've taken a two month hiatus from my dress clothes, and honestly I needed to do a little brushing up on how to dress up.  Where better to look than my friend Pinterest!  I started thinking about all the times I've tried looks and failed, so I thought it would be fun to share with you all some tips for pinspiration success.

The first tip is to shop your closet.  When I'm pinning things I often times think, oh, I have a gingham top like that, and pin the look. BUT what if I don't have any of the other pieces to complete the look?  That's where this tip comes in: think about what you have that's a similar shape or color in you closet before heading to the mall to recreate your new favorite pinned look.

Here's my inspiration today from Little Miss Fearless. I loved this look, but didn't have the exact pieces in my closet, so I improvised.  I decided to wear my striped tank dress as a skirt, and changed out the white tee for a button-up.  I had similar sandals, but wanted to wear my espadrilles instead.  I guess another tip would be: don't play dress up, make the look your own. Here's my take:

A tip to pulling off the dress to skirt idea is in the layering.  I put a white cami over the tank dress to cover up the stripes on top before adding the white button-down; this help makes a more clean and polished      look. I then tied the shirt in the front, which might be my favorite new trend.

What tips do you have for pinning success?

Jacket: The Limited (circa 2004ish?) similar

Button Down: ? (fashion swap) similar

Dress as skirt: Target $15  same

Necklace: ebay $10 same(ish)

Bracelets: Stella and Dot Triple Wrap, Renegade, Moxie

Shoes: JCrew (circa 2005ish?) similar

Linking up with:

What I Wore Wednesday

Get Your Pretty On

Also, have you entered to my jewelry giveaway here yet?