Cheap Nerd Glasses and DIY polka dot tights

I think we all know that “styling” an outfit for a photo makes it look better.  I don’t always do it – cause I’m lazy – but sometimes I like to make the effort.  A super fun outfit photo prop these days is the Nerd Glasses.

Well, I knew I wanted to incorporate those in the photos for my Cotton Candy Skirt – and I go to buy fake glasses and they’re $10 – what?!  Not worth it.  But then a stroke of genius hit me and I wanted to share it with you:
The Dollar Store – glasses – bam.  Yep, the Dollar Store sells reading glasses for the whooping price of $1, which is my kind of price tag.  But – they’re reading glasses, not fake glasses.  So – I just carefully popped the lenses out.  Done and done.  They’re not quite as “nerdy” of frames as I pictured, but they still worked to bring a little fun to the pictures.

 Other fun props are always matching dolls – and since this skirt was called the “cotton candy skirt” I used cotton candy as a prop too (which the kids loved because they randomly got to eat cotton candy).  I even made a mini one for the doll.  Cuteness!

 Now, one other thing about this whole outfit – I thought I needed some bold tights and pictured giant polka dots.  I couldn’t find any so I did a quick DIY.  Here’s how:

Mix paint with fabric medium (I also mixed in glitter, but it ended up flaking off so I wouldn’t do that again).  Then you’ll have to put the tights on so that they’re stretched correctly when you paint them.  My model was at school so I had to use my own arm – which was a little tricky on the back side:

Then use a big round sponge to stencil onto the tights, trying to keep the circles consistent in size and paint saturation.  Let dry (yep, wait around with tights on your arms).  Then take off and do the other leg.

It’s a fun way to get exactly what you need for the outfit you envision in your mind!  I want to try stamping tights again with a smaller pattern – I think there’s lots of possibilities with this project.