Studded Shorts

Inspiration:

via a pair and a spare

My version:

Supplies:

This is one of the easiest projects I've ever done!  All I did was take an old pair of jeans, cut off legs to the length that I want, and then apply the studs.  I found them in the leather craft section at Hobby Lobby and applied them with the needle nose pliers.  And not only was it simple but it cost me under $2 to make.

Over-dyed Rugs

Confession: I have a recent obsession with dye.  I've never dyed anything before but with all of the recent DIY's popping up everywhere I suddenly have the urge to over-dye everything in my house.  After seeing this I am about 10 seconds from trying this one.  The only thing stopping me is my husband will be home before I can have it completed.  Knowing him he will try to get me to be rational, which of course is no fun at all, although sometimes necessary.

Click for Tutorial

  I also LOVE this one.

Spotted Here; Available for purchase Here

what we've been up to

Last weekend my hubby and I went to my 10 year high school reunion.  This officially made me feel like a grown up. 

It wasn't as bad as I expected, not that I know what I really expected.  It was great to spend time with my lovely friend Catherine back from California.  She's amazing and these days I try to live vicariously through her.  I miss her so much!  The red lipstick was fun, but I probably wouldn't do it again.  I'm not known for wearing very much makeup and I felt a little like I was on drill team.  It kind of ages me (not something you want to happen for your reunion), and seems to smear really easily.  I'm sure there are ways to avoid this but as I said, I'm no pro.  I was kind of going for a modern take on the 1940's, the era that I'm so sad I don't live in, that and the 1960's.  The shirt was my own design.  It has a few flaws but as long as I don't look to close I'm pretty proud of it.

      
I made these cake batter truffles...

recipe here

They were soo good!  Found (of course) via Pinterest.  The bottom of the bowl looked pretty in the sink after I was done so I just had to sneak in a picture.

Made new drawer pulls for Gidget's armoire...

Her armoire was a neighborhood find.  Someone put it in their driveway with a sign that said $50.  So, needless to say, we brought it home.  In true form, I've changed everything about it, and am still not done but am pretty happy with it so far.  The pulls have definately been a challenge.  The original ones were not screwed in.  I don't even know how to describe it, I've never seen anything like it, they were attached with wire and braided into the wood on the inside.  I cut them off (not an easy task) only to realize they were also made in a size that does not come standard.  I spent about two weeks searching every earthly place trying to find something that would work.  Finally I remembered I had bookmarked this tutorial awhile back and it worked perfect.  In the end I'm happy nothing else worked because I love these agate pulls.  I ordered the bases the same place that she did in the tutorial and ordered the agate off of eBay.  It was so cheap to do and it looks pretty high end.  (My husband rolls his eyes when I tell him this, but I love him for it).

I have been trying to get Gidget to color since the day she was born and this week she finally is interested, and in full force.  This makes me so excited!  And so proud! 

I don't know about you, but I think she is quite the artiste. 

In honor of her newfound love I made her this...

This has been all over Pinterest for a very long time and I finally decided to make my own.  It wasn't as easy as I had expected.  It took a lot longer that I thought it would and my hands are a little beat up from the process but I like it.  Mine has quite a few flaws but I think this is supposed to have a lot of imperfections.  That's what I love about dripping wax.  So, between that and my love for all things Rainbow Brite/Lisa Frank lately, this works perfect.  There are several ways on Pinterest that this is being done, I used the hot glue gun version.  Personally I didn't want the crayon wrappers on mine and a glue gun is only $2 so you're not heartbroken when you destroy it.  If you're hands are as shaky as mine are be prepared for random splatters, i.e. the bottom of the canvas and all over my kitchen.

I drink this all year round but this just tastes like fall to me and makes me happy...

Love it!

I just found this and can't understand why they have it priced so high.  After all, I don't think you will love it as much as I do if it doesn't have your last name on it...

via eBay

I think it would look perfect in my home, don't you?

I think this has been my longest post ever.  I have a lot more coming but I will save that for later.


PS if anyone knows of someone who would like to model vintage clothes for free let me know, please!!!  It would be pretty fun if you like to play dress up and I may be able to actually pay someone for it at a later date but my little business is just getting started so that, as well as a professional photographer, will just have to wait.  We did a "shoot" with several items for the store yesterday and I'm just not cutting it as a model.  Being borderline albino just doesn't make for great pictures.  I'll let you know when I get all of my new items listed in the store.  I love them all so much I am going to have a hard time parting with them. 

Until then,

 

alfred hitchcock

Birdie will be three months old this week and I think we are all finally becoming accustomed to our completed family and the new lifestyle that goes along with having a toddler and an infant.  I am finally starting to find time to do a few little crafts around the house.  (Note to self: quit saying things like that, you always jinx yourself when you do!).  I finally got tired of only being able to watch Mickey Mouse or Sesame Street while I feed Birdie so I have started reading books or playing on Pinterest while she eats.  I downloaded the Pinterest app on my iPhone and let me warn you, I love it so much!  I waste way too much time there.  There are just so many great ideas.  Forget Google, if I want to look something up these days I always start there.

First, I made silhouettes of the girls.  I love Gidget's but poor little Birdie's looks like Alfred Hitchcock.  I will redo hers when her profile becomes a little more defined.  I also need to make labels with their names underneath of the silhouettes but that will have to wait until the next time someone decides they want to borrow my children for a little while and let me go in public by myself like a grown up.  Ahh, the things you take for granted.  By the way, please ignore the mustard yellow walls.  I loathe them.  My husband has been happy with them and didn't want me to change them but he has finally decided he wants something else.  It's not that I don't like yellow walls, I just don't like them to look like a cheap bottle of mustard. 

Then I repainted this little chair.  It belonged to my mom's stepfather but had no significant value and is a little wobbly but Gidget loves it so we kept it.  I painted it pink with a red union jack on the seat.  I had put her name on the back part of the seat but didn't like the way I had painted it so I painted over it.  It already is starting to look very aged in parts because she is so rough on it that I think before long the union jack will look like its always been a part of the chair.  The second picture I included because Gidget wanted to show everyone how she sits in the chair.  What can I say, she knows she's beautiful.

Finally, I gave Birdie's little floor lamp a makeover.  I hot glued black bias tape to the top and bottom and painted on her monogram.  In the future I would probably have just used a sharpie or a paint pen for the monogram.  My hands are too unsteady to paint something that symmetrical.  We'll say that's the only reason why I could never be a surgeon.

Thanks to Pinterest I have a million more projects to complete so hopefully I will get to share some more soon.

On a completely unrelated note, would someone like to potty train my child?  If you would I promise to bake you a batch of cookies every week for a year.  It would make my life so much easier.

   

 

birdie's nursery

FINALLY!...last nite I finally got Birdie's nursery done.  I'm sure I will add more treasures as I see them but at least for now it is finished.  Note: when you are pregnant and you tell yourself you will have time to finish projects that need to be done after the baby gets here, it takes 8 times as long to finish the project after you have the baby, in my experience anyways.  And apparently I didn't learn the first time.  Let me start with my original storyboard.  My husband was honestly very worried when I first started showing him ideas for the nursery and so I made this to show him where I planned to go with it. My hubbys only request was he wanted it to have a theme.  Since we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl this made things a little challenging (of course none of the pink would have been used if we were having a boy but we had a pretty good hunch it was a girl).  I personally think horses are so beautiful and work for either gender and my husband loves the nostalgia of horse races so I decided to run with it.  After all, equestrian chic is so cool!  I also wanted it very funky and bright.  I don't think I really ever got over my desire to be Punky Brewster.  

 

1: Crib Skirt: Phillip Jacobs Fabric Glory Rose in Westminster
2: Drapes: Premier Prints Fabric Chaz in True Turquoise
3: Print: Found this on ebay and it has since become one of my favorite pictures ever
4: Crib Bumper: Discontinued Pottery Barn, found brand new still in package on ebay
5: Rug: Charcoal and white chevron print
 

(I'm sorry that the pictures are not the greatest, unfortunately I am not a photographer but will try my hardest to improve).  Of course, there are some areas that need more work or something added to give it a little something, i.e. the dressers need a little tlc and the lampshade next to the crib needs something added to it.  The horse picture above the crib is 24 x 30 and for EVERYTHING it cost me $4!  When I say I can make something for cheaper I mean it!  The frame was brown & gold that my mom had picked up at a local thrift store for $2 and I painted it a metallic silver.  The horse picture was a regular royalty free picture that I altered pink on my computer.  I printed it a certain plotter that I may or may not have access to :) and planned to just stick it in the frame.  Well of course it wouldn't be a project of mine if I didn't do something wrong, I had miscalculated the measurements somehow by about 1/2 an inch all the way around, since the frame doesn't have any glass I used some old black ribbon that I have and hot glued it to hide the exposed area between the picture and the frame.

The two shadow boxes above the dresser I had lying around.  I painted them black and marbelized some paper for the background.  The horseshoe was a rusty horseshoe I found at my moms which I painted.  The horse was a $2-3 toy horse I bought at Michael's.  I just used some spray glue and covered that baby in glitter.  So both of these were extremely cheap as well. 

I think that about covers it.  If you are still reading this I'm amazed.  Thanks for sticking with me!

ruffled feathers

In the last week or so I came across a great new-to-me blog, abode love which I am really enjoying.  If you haven't seen it I would definately recommend adding it to your list.  Since reading it I have been thinking constantly of a feather chandelier she recently made.  It is honestly probably the most beautiful, well made, professional looking diy project I have ever seen.  And ever since I laid eyes on it I have been dreaming of this chandelier, (well as much dreaming as you can possibly do with a 3 week old baby in your house!)  I just figured it was too great not to share and I may have to tackle it myself if I can convince my husband to let me replace one of our current light fixtures with this beautiful feathered baby!  Can you tell how much I love it?!  You can read all about it how she did it here.
   

nursery

I am finally almost finished with our baby's nursery!  Nothing like waiting till the last minute right?  I'll have more pictures soon but I wanted to at least post the rug I just completed.  It wasn't difficult, just time consuming because of the design I decided to do, and because when you are 8+ months pregnant you would be amazed how difficult it is to get up and down from the floor!  I found a tutorial here via design sponge and made my rug in a gray and white chevron pattern.  I made mine just the way she described and didn't have any problems with it along the way or see anything I would recommend doing differently.  I bought two packages of foam mats at Ross Dress for Less just because I was looking for the cheapest mats possible.  Since I was painting them it really didn't make a difference what they looked like.  I decided to make the rug 4 x 6 and threw the extra tiles away.  And on the final step I did two really thick coats of poly to make sure it can hold up to my 19 month old and so far so good.  I really love it and you couldn't find a great contemporary rug like this any cheaper anywhere else, believe me I've looked...and it's so comfy to boot!