I feel like one lucky lady! I was recently selected to participate in the Old Navy Style Council’s spring dress sampling event! What this means is that I was one of 250 ladies (I believe) across the country that received a coupon for myself, and three coupons for my friends for A FREE Old Navy dress! Pretty Cool, Huh?! This is actually my second time of being selected, the first was for the Old Navy ankle jean sampling event in February! To be selected twice, has been such a gift for which I am truly grateful!! I don’t share this to brag, but I want to tell you about the amazing experience! And if you’re interested, at the end I’ll tell you how you can sign up, with NO STRINGS ATTACHED, for Crowdtap and the Old Navy Style Council! And you might even get the chance to apply like I have for future sample share opportunities!
To give you a little background, the first part of February, I was sent an email from Old Navy with an invitation to join an online community called Crowdtap. You have probably seen me post about it on Facebook. I hadn’t heard of it prior to this invitation so I did a little research and it seemed legit. I didn’t have to pay anything, and they even gave me a $1 for signing up! Another aspect that I thought was really neat, is you can choose from a number of non-profit organizations to align yourself with and when you “cash out” your earnings, an automatic % is donated to your charity. As a member of Crowdtap, I get to answer a variety of “Quick Hits” questions, as they are called which include a variety of questions pertaining to different products, media, and life in general. And as a member of the Old Navy Style Council, I actively participate in different discussions the latest one being about the Old Navy Spring Dress selection. We talked about what we liked, disliked, or LOVED about the new dresses, what we would pair with them, what kind of occasions you could wear them to, etc.
Now, back to the DRESSES! Last week, my sisters Melissa, Mindy & myself had a girl’s day out where we left the kids at home and headed up to the mall where the closest Old Navy is, which is close to an hour away from where I live. We were so excited! When I had emailed them letting them know the good news that I had been selected and that they were going to be the recipients of my “share” coupons, I had also included a link to the dresses at oldnavy.com so they could kind of get an idea of what they would have to choose from and maybe narrow down ahead of time which styles and dresses they would like to try on! And in spite of already having a few dress choices in mind, when we headed to the dressing room, for Round #1, we each had an armful of dresses to try on! There were so many cute ones to choose from, I already knew from looking online, that it was going to be hard narrowing it down to just ONE!
I Love Old Navy!!!! :)
Just outside the store anticipating finding our
FREE Dresses!!!
(You can click on any of my photos to
make them larger!)
The closest Old Navy is in a college town called
Moscow, Idaho home of the University of Idaho!
Moscow, Idaho home of the University of Idaho!
It was Mom's Weekend so they had the Supermodelquins dressed up in the U of I's colors.
My oldest sister who was on our little shopping trip is
an alumni. Pretty fun!
Here are some of the displays! There were dresses sprinkled throughout the store like an English Country garden! There were beautiful bright florals, soft cotton jersey dresses, sweet pink prints, sexy little black dresses, drop waist, babydoll, gauze, ruffles, tiered, black, white, pink, blue, yellow!!! After seeing and talking about so many of these dresses in the online discussions, I literally felt a bit like I was in a dream. It was so COOL!!!!
The dress that I fell in love with was the first dress I picked off the rack, the first dress I tried on and literally kept on for like 15 minutes in the dressing room before I proceeded to try on the other choices I had brought back with me. It is the Women's Tie-Shoulder Tiered Sundresses in White Ikat Print. (Photo Below) This is the link (http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=15292&vid=1&pid=839441&scid=839441072). The nice Old Navy attendant in the dressing room, ran and grabbed me a couple different boleros to try on with it – one in yellow which was too small and the other was a complementary taupe color. I was glad that she brought one to me because I had looked at them and since the day prior was the big $8 blowout cardigan sale that we missed, they were pretty much sold out of my usual size Large. She brought me a size Small and at first I thought, there’s no way it’ll fit me. BUT, it was a PERFECT fit and looked so cute with my dress!!I tried on several other dresses including several in the photos above - a cute pink floral print ruffled dress but it just didn’t look right on my body shape. I tried on a babydoll style in a cool blue floral print which was really cute, but not quite what I was looking for once I had it on. I tried on the blue lace-trim jersey maxi dress but again the waist line wasn’t complimentary and a purple tie-front dress but they didn’t have any left in my size. All of these are great dresses, but I kept coming back to the first one. I already had purchased a couple jersey knit dresses online, otherwise I would have tried some of those on as well.
The tier design of my sundress is perfect for my body shape. It is modestly cut straight across at the top, which is hugely important bending over and picking up my two little boys! And it is just the right length hitting just below the knee. I have a fairly high waist line and larger chest and have a hard time finding clothing that isn’t too tight in the chest and too loose everywhere else! I feel like this dress is just the right combination for me, accentuating my waist and floating away from my problem tummy area after having two children! It’s nice to actually feel pretty in a dress again!!
A few key things that I love about my dress:
#1 - it was FREE!
#2 – it fits me perfectly!
#3 – it is soft and comfortable!
#4 - I love the color & print!
#5 – easy care, just wash & hang. No Dry Cleaning!!!
#6 – I can dress it up or down! It’ll be perfect for a variety of occasions!
One thing I was looking for in a dress was it's versatility. Being a stay at home and living on a budget, I have learned that finding clothing items that are kid friendly, easily washable and can be worn for a variety of occasions by dressing it up or down depending on what I pair with it are all hugely important! I found that in this dress. And I am so excited to share some of the outfit combinations that I have come up with for my dress. And a disclaimer that I do not own all of the items featured because these are all items listed on oldnavy.com, but I do own most of them or something very similar already in my closet!
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| Another option I thought of is wearing a basic white or yellow t-shirt under the dress for another casual look! Oh, the possibilities!! |
I've already had a chance to wear this dress for Easter on Sunday. Here are a couple photos!!
And, Thank goodness Old Navy was having an amazing sale that weekend because I also purchased this dress, the Women's Ruffled Linen-Blend Sundresses in the Blue Floral Print. Another Great Dress!!
Now enough about me! On to my sister’s choices!!!!
Miranda - She wasn’t able to go shopping with us, but after having a pretty stressful week, George (as I call her) was able to take a fun shopping trip to her local Old Navy and she chose the Women's Flutter-Sleeve Dresses in Buff Clay (http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=15292&vid=1&pid=839439). When I saw this dress in my store, I actually thought of her! She was very happy to have something to look forward to and help get her through her crazy week at work!
Melissa – The funny thing when we first walked in the store and started looking through the dresses was that Melissa said “I don’t do white!” Isn’t it funny how we eat our own words! Because when it came down to it, she was debating between a sexy little black dress, which did look stunning on her, OR the Women's Ruffled Linen-Blend Sundresses in White, she went with the White dress! We both agreed that she would be able to get a lot more uses including church, dates, and other special occasions verses a date night once in a great while. Both were great, but white one out in the end! It looked so cute on her! (http://oldnavy.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=15292&vid=1&pid=808879)
Mindy – My sister Mindy is such a thoughtful person. She had been debating on finding a dress for herself or choosing a dress for her 14 year old daughter. And she started looking for dresses for her daughter after trying on several dresses, and the panic of getting a dress stuck –which in her defense, she thought she was trying on a size Medium but managed to get an XS on which looked adorable but just didn’t want to come back up over her shoulders and I had to come to her rescue. It made for a good laugh on the car ride home when I told her “Well, if I could get into an XS, I’d be happy even if it did get stuck coming off!” She hadn’t realized the sizing error. It made her feel better! But when she found the Women's Cross-Front Jersey Tank Dresses in the Black Floral Print, her search was over! She paired it with a black bolero sweater which was nicely priced as well! That dress was made for her!
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| Melissa, Megan (ME!) & Mindy in our FREE Old Navy Dresses!! |
Another thing I’d like to mention was the great revisions Old Navy made I think due to all of the member's feedback in discussions on ways to improve the entire sample share experience. There were definite improvements between the jeans sample share and the dress sample share. A few of the big ones - I received the coupons a few days before the redemption time period so that was great! And the time frame to use the coupons was lengthened for this sample share to redeem April 8-22. And there was absolutely no confusion or problem redeeming our coupons. All the employees were incredibly helpful and friendly. It was a very memorable and positive experience! My sisters & I are all so excited and thankful for our FREE Dresses!
Thanks so much for reading this!! And as promised, if you or your friends would like to sign up for Crowdtap and have an opportunity to earn amazon.com cash (I’ve earned over $80 so far!) and have a chance to apply for future sampling opportunities from Old Navy and other well known brands/companies, click the link below and get $1 just for signing up! No pressure! No string attached!! Let me know if you have any questions and comments are really appreciated!
P.S. I just found out a few hours ago, that I have been selected for the first ever Old Navy Spring Accessory Party where I will be sent a kit of goodies and get to invite five friends to tell them about Crowdtap and the Old Navy Style Council. They will get chances to win from a variety of spring accessories thanks to Old Navy! So Excited!
