Crafty Upcycling 2

So yesterday I was taking some old wilted flowers out to the green waste bin and I found something that looked like it could be useful. Some great long green grasses and a lot of them.

As I've said before, I love for things to get a second chance with a new life as something else. Enter the soup cans.

A little hot glue and some scissors to cut off the feathery end of the grasses.

And hot glued them all around.

Since there were a lot of them, I decided to make two, but try out a different method. I tried it with mod podge and some spray adhesive.

It didn't hold on quite so well. So I decided to cover the rest with fabric and secure it with rubber bands while it dried.

Then I finished it off with some cute tied raffia.

As for the first one I did, I felt that there was a bit too much hot glue showing to be pretty. So I decided to cover it with the same raffia and some hot glue.

 Trimmed the ends, add some pens, and we're done! All for the price of free- I had all the items on hand already and got to repurpose the cans and grasses. The only downside- I forgot how pleasant hot glue burns can be.  Lovely lol  :)



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Je Peux Coudre 3

Translation: I can sew.

I've been meaning to make this dress for a while now. I've had the pattern. I've had the fabric. But I just haven't gotten around to making it. I finally cut it out the last time I was over at my brother and his girlfriend's house. I think cutting out the pattern and fabric is so tedious, and not as gratifying as the sewing part, where you actually get to see it come together. Perhaps that's why it's hard to get started on sewing projects sometimes.

But, I was there. The table was cleared. And we were cutting out a bunch of other sewing projects. So I started this one. And this is how it turned out.

Love it when I get a natural wind machine... aka wind.

Such a fun spring/summer dress! Definitely will get a lot of wear out of this. And I love the pockets! Although I definitely spent some time looking at the pattern and pinning the pieces together, hoping I was sewing on the right parts. Luckily, I did :)

I'm wearing this pair of gorgeous emerald green dangly earrings that I just so happen to sell in my etsy shop.  Don't worry though, I changed out the ear wires before showing them off- earrings sold are never worn :)

This is the pattern I used from Butterick. Obviously I made view A. It was my first time sewing set-in sleeves. They're short sleeves, but still. And like I said, I figured out the pockets eventually. I learned how to make the bubble hem line- lots of gathers! ... Pretty much a lot of gathers on the whole garment. Also, the entire thing, except for the sleeves, is lined- so it was like 3 yards of fabric. All in all though, I think it turned out well and I'd definitely make it again :)

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Stampin Up party with Melissa

On Sunday I went with my aunt, my mom, and my brother's girlfriend Melissa to a Stampin' Up party. Basically they sell scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies like stamps (obviously), ink pads/markers, paper punches, and scrapbooking paper.  To demonstrate the items we all made two cards and followed along with the steps. All in all it was fun and of course I couldn't resist purchasing a few items- I'll show you those when I receive them and get to play!

Here's the first card we made:

It opens up with brads- pretty cool!

And here's the second card- perfect for my mom! She loves tea. Especially since her mother was from Birmingham, England- have to love tea :)

They even let us pick a tea bag. The stamp on the inside says: "If wishes could make you well... you'd be better already!"

And here Melissa and I are with our cards back at her place.

And her cat and dog, Humphrey and Sierra respectively. I'll get to hang out a lot with them when I'm watching them next month. Sierra likes to think she can be friends with Humphrey... the cat does not agree.

Afterwards Melissa and I went to Joann's to get some fabric and jewelry goodies (I'm sure I'll be posting about some of our projects from that excursion) and saw this amazing rainbow! Had to stop to take a picture :)

Crafty Upcycling 1

If you know me, you know I'm one of those people who hates for things to go to waste. I always imagine that random objects can have second lives where they are useful and loved. Hence people tend to save lots of stuff for me to make over. Sometimes this stuff tends to pile up... but I get to it eventually... hopefully :)

A while back, my mom gave me an old yellowed plastic lazy susan she was no longer using. Actually she gave me two, but I've only made over one so far. Anyways, add a coat of paint, some pretty scrapbook paper and a made over glass jar... don't forget a pretty flower... and voilà, a new gorgeous useful second life to otherwise passed over objects destined for a landfill somewhere :)

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Mother's Day a little early...

This year we had a Mother's Day dinner a little early. My brother and his girlfriend, Melissa, invited my parents and I, as well as Melissa's mom and her friend, over tonight for a little early celebration and some yummy food. Side note: look how good I am posting on the same night :).

I decided to wear a shirt Melissa had given me (one girl's donate bin is another girl's wardrobe right?) and try out something new with my hair- pinning both sides back while trying to create some volume. I'm still figuring out new things to do with my hair being this long. I know, I know, for most people my hair isn't long... but I haven't had my hair this long in let's say six years. Before I let my hair grow for the past year (no haircut= free) this is how short it was:

Wow, looking at that makes me want to chop it off right now. Short hair is so much easier. But anyways, I didn't intend this to be a whole post about hair.

Instead here's a picture from tonight... apparently upon inspecting my brother's photography skills in this shot.. not so great. Maybe it didn't show up when he took the shot, but I asked him if it looked good (because he only took one) and he said "yeah".

I'm not even sure what happened with that light in front of my face... but apart from that I'd say it's a good  picture. My alternative was one taken while I was talking mid-sentence. Or there's always a picture taken by holding one's hand out.

So this is Melissa, my brother's girlfriend... or as I just call her, my sister :). We're both quite crafty- she made the super cute vest she's wearing and I made my necklace. She definitely getting much more skilled with sewing than I am, but I got to teach her how to make some earrings for her mom's gift. Like I mentioned before we tend to pick up a skill and teach each other- ie knitting and crochet :)

And this one laid right down for her close-up...

This would be my brother's dog Sierra... as in Sierra Nevada beer. My brother likes beer. He even brews his own and I'm told it's quite good. I wouldn't really know. I don't drink, but when I taste it to be polite (because afterall, my brother did make it himself), I make a lovely expression. Sometimes people have me taste things just to laugh at said lovely expression.

Oh, and since this is a post about Mother's Day, you'd think I'd post a picture of me with my mother. Well, like a lot of mothers, mine puts her hands up in front of her face and doesn't allow pictures. Not for the blog specifically, just in general... so her fancy turquoise rhinestoned sandal in the top left of the last picture is all you'll see of her. But no matter what she says, she's beautiful and I intend to make her feel that way this Mother's Day  :)

Easter Outfit

On Easter I tried to recreate the hairstyle they did for the Fashion Show I was in earlier this month. Basically a French Braid from a deep side part across the front to the other side, teasing at the back, and the rest of the hair pinned up in curls.

I wore a new pair of pants I got for my birthday, some black pumps, and a necklace I made myself (I love an opportunity to say, "Thank you I made it myself" :) ). Throw in some Easter pastels and I was ready to go.

I felt comfortable yet very put together. My cousin said I looked "elegant". She's two years older than me and has always been kinda the older cousin that I looked up to and wanted to be like... so that made me feel special :)