Old Jeans to A-line Skirt ReFashion

Yesterday was the first official get-together of a new sewing group I started.  I have a few friends who have sewing machines, but are not confident enough.

I wanted to help them learn, and become more confident in their abilities....so I started a sewing group.

For our first project we made an old pair of jeans into an A-line skirt.  I haven't made one of these in about 10+years.

It was tons of fun!

We laughed, we munched,

(b/c let's face it, a party is not a party without food!)

we sewed, we seam-ripped...

I know this is not a new project for most of us, but it was for my friends.  We all messed up, but they learned a lot(I hope) and gained some confidence(again, I hope).

I can't wait to wear my new skirt to my nephews birthday party today.  I might post a pic later.

 We are going to get together once a month and sew something.  Next month we are going to do a project with ruffles...I just love ruffles. 

And....I'm going to write up a tutorial for it!

Wish me luck!

:)

Here's the kitty "helper", he kept batting the pins out of our stuff!

Make Your Own!

It is very easy to make yourself one of these too.

Get a pair of jeans that still fit you in the waist.

Put them on and determine how long you want your skirt to be.

Make a mark about 2 inches longer, that is where you will cut.

Take off the pants and lay them out so you only have to make one cut.  Then, cut off the legs.

They will be sorta crooked, but that is OK

(that is what the extra 2 inches is for)

Cut open both of the cut off pant legs,

this is what you will be using to fill the triangles in your pants.

Then you need to cut out the crotch seam.

I had to cut quite a bit off, because I wanted the triangle to lay flat.

It makes a nicer skirt that way.  Very A-line and such.

I matched up the seams in my cut legs to the seam in the pants(skirt)

You can see that in the pictures above.

I sewed it under the triangle so there would be cute fraying of the denim.  After I sewed in the triangle, I trimmed the inside, and evened out the hem(the extra 2 inches) so it was straight across.

I also used a decorative stitch around the bottom so it wouldn't fray too, too much.

It is the perfect length and EXACTLY how I wanted it to look!

If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment and I'm sure I could help you!

Thanks for reading!

St Pats Tie Tee(and vintage osh kosh)

Here is what I made today.

It was super quick and super easy.

I used a Target tee(only available online)and I bought the tie iron on off a great etsy seller JellyPopChick .  I know I could have made it myself...but I love supporting other esty sellers and spreading the love!

Besides, she only charges $2 with $0.50 shipping.  For the time it would've taken me I considered it a deal!

I ironed on the tie, then I stitched around it with a small zigzag, and Voila!  Adorable tie shirt for $7.50!

Then,

I added his so cute and groovy vintage Osh Kosh Pants!  I LOVE vintage osh kosh!  No other kid at the parade will have any!

Along with my daughters cute tunic, and the dogs green hoodie, they will be the cutest kids at the parade!

It is my favorite part of St Patty's Day!

(Now that I've grown out of the green beer swilling!  HA!)

Don't hate me because I'm on the ball this year, remember that I got the Valentine's stuff done 3 days before I needed it! lol

Please share any green related things you've been working on!  I love to see others projects!

Sexy Me...maybe.

I hate to have my picture taken.

Really hate it.

I never like the way I look in anything.

So for me to do this for my husband for Valentine's Day took a lot of gumption, I almost needed a drink just to go.

I got some boudoir photos taken!

AND

They are actually something that I like.

I know I've got a lot of work to do with being comfortable with my body, and I still need to lose about 40 or 50 lbs, but overall I like the way they look. and,

Just because I think I need work doesn't mean my husband does.  He actually loves me just the way I am, and tells me everyday how beautiful and sexy I am. 

(it kind of embarrasses me...alot)

So I mostly did these for him.

They were taken by this super nice girl named Mandy of Mandy's View Photography.  She has her own studio and does a lovely job.  We are getting the family done this weekend.

She even does Boudoir Picture Parties, so you can grab your girls and some wine and get some hot, sexy photos taken for your hubbies!  How much fun would that be?

I'm going to share a couple (G-rated) photos of my shoot.

I actually got my hair and make-up done for it too, and that made all the difference in the world.

You gotta love the stove ones!

I feel like the Mona Lisa in this one.

(and I was fully clothed under the tulle)

So, for anyone who has been considering it, but wasn't sure..

If I can do it, you can do it!

Your hubby will love it too.

Tell Mandy I sent you!

:D



Getting it together(Behind the Scenes)

Do you remember when I shared those pretty pictures of my sewing/crafting area?

Well, it is never ever that clean.  I actually moved some stuff out of the way to take pictures and then put it back!  :)

So one of my favorite bloggers shared some pics of her house in a not so organized state (her blog is wonderful though)

she calls it Ideal vs. Real

She talks about how you only get to see the perfect part of a bloggers world.  The clean house, the beautiful finished projects, the clean, neatly dressed children...but usually that is totally not the case.  I know firsthand what it feels like.  So...

 I thought I should contribute to the fun!

So here is a picture of my craft area as it usually looks.

Everyday

All the time

Unless I'm expecting company!

So not perfect.

:)

i can't live without food

Well, lately I haven't posted much about....

well....anything to do with being healthy.

It's hard to not want to blog about all the pretty stuff that I make.  It's almost the only thing that makes me happy right now.

The working out thing is still working for me, so is the drinking water thing, but again, the eating thing is sad.  :(

I just can't seem to get it under control.

I eat, therefore I am.

I guess maybe I should get some professional help.  I don't eat because I'm bored, I eat because I want to, because I'm stressed out, because I just gotta sometimes.

It truly is my addiction, the worst one to have.

I wish I was a drug user, or an alcoholic.

Then I could get help, and go to meetings and never drink or do those drugs again.

but i can't live without food

I think it is called anorexia, and I could possibly die from it...

of course, I could die by eating too much food too.

For me, it's a lose/lose situation...

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I need to find some OA meetings in my area, maybe that would help me to focus on my life, not my food.

That about sums it up...

Shepard's Pie, it's what's for dinner...

This is my Shepard's pie.  It is very yummy.

Everyone in the family enjoys it.

I tried a few different recipes until I concocted my own.

It also a very easy supper.

You could make it ahead of time, then reheat it in the oven.

All the recipes said that it should be made in a pie pan, but that is just not enough food for my growing family.

We seem to eat a lot!

Here's the recipe.

1 lb ground beef (or turkey), browned

1 can sweet corn, drained

1 can cut green beans, drained

1.5 cups shredded cheese(any kind)

6 serving of mashed potatoes, prepared

1 cup sour cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

This recipe will fill a 9x11 glass pan, so if you are making less you can adjust the recipe accordingly.

1. Place the meat, corn and green beans on the bottom.

2. Sprinkle the cheese on top evenly.

3. Mix the sour cream into the prepared potatoes

4. Smooth the mashed potatoes across the top of it all and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Bake for 20 min at 350 degrees.

Voila!  Dinner!

That's it!  It's super easy and is super good.

Doesn't it make you want some?

It's also not terrible for the "healthy eating plan".

It's got meat, and veggies and cheese...

Cheese is dairy, right?

Dig in!

I'm not a hoarder, really.

Does anybody ever watch Hoarders ?

It is relatively new on my Netflix, and I am addicted!

I can't tear my eyes away.

Every episode gets worse and worse.

They found about 75 dead cats in these peoples house.

How do you not know you have 75 dead cats!!!

This show makes me want to get rid of everything.

Seriously.
There are days that I feel like a fabric/clothes hoarder.
Lately a furniture hoarder.  I keep buying dressers, but the problem is that we all already have one.  I plan to refinish them, and put them....well, somewhere.
Do you know that we all have enough clothes to not do laundry for about a month.  It's crazy.  I told my daughter that we needed to cut down on her clothes, so she gave me 2 pairs of jeans and one shirt.  That means she still has too much.  Maybe stuff will just disappear into the black hole of the basement...Sad to say that even when I give stuff away we have too much, still.  She just looks cute in everything.
So, I'm not a Hoarder, really....

I have come to terms with my shopping addiction, but I also have a "Give it all to Goodwill" mentality.

The more I buy, the more I get rid of.  And now that I have an etsy shop, where I specialize in upcycling stuff I have even more reason to go thrifting, right?  :)

Well, according to my husband, wrong.  He just doesn't understand.  I made my daughter a St Patty Day dress today for about $5.  I upcycled a tee shirt that she loves, with some cheap fabric I got at the devil. (really Wal-Mart, but I can't stand that place for lots of reasons)

She is so excited to wear this to school!

And it was the easiest thing ever to make!

Hooray for easy(and Fast!)

And I can't believe that I'm so motivated this year!

I also upcycled a woman's skirt into a skirt for her.

I'll post pics tomorrow.

So, dinner is ready, Shepard's pie, a version of my own creation(not the healthiest, but it does have veggies). Yum!  Maybe I'll share that tomorrow too.

:)

~~~Happy Heart Day~~~

See how cute they looked for pictures?

I'm going to try to do this for every shoot from now on!

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

I'm off to attempt to not eat a whole box of chocolates

(that I got for my mom, but opened anyway)

I'm a sucker for a chocolate caramel.

Much love.

oxox

I. Am. Out. Of. Control.

Really.

I am.

I guess the stress of my life is finally catching up to me.  And I've seriously developed an Internet addiction.

It's very debilitating.

I spend all day online, doing nothing.

NOTHING.

I just can't seem to figure it out right now.

I'm letting the laundry pile up

I ignore the dishes,

the grocery shopping,

the house cleaning,

my kids...

and here I am, up in the middle of the night, after my daughter puked all over everything...everywhere.  The bathroom is nasty.  :(

And I can't sleep.

I've been ignoring the gym because of the Internet. I only made it there 12 times last month. That's pathetic. In Dec, I joined on the 10th, and I was there more times. :(

Is it stress?

You betcha.

After I took over all the household finances I thought it was going to be easy, but then stuff creeps up on you, and you overspend, and voila!  No money=stress=overeating and sleeplessness.  It really blows.

Literally(my daughter, not me).

On a lighter note, I'm doing well at not drinking soda.  I got some of those water enhancers from Aldi(like Mio, but waaay cheaper) and it has been pretty easy to use at work.  It fits in my pocket and I can add it to any cup of water I get.

Which, at a hospital is plentiful.

The Aldi's has the berry pomegranate and also a strawberry watermelon flavor.  It's pretty good, since I hate the taste of plain water.

Soooooooo,

starting tomorrow I will be different.  I'm setting up an Internet restriction/limit for myself.

I get to check my email and fb and esty in the morning, with my coffee.  Then I have to stay off til I get at least one chore done.

(Hopefully once I start chores I won't be able to stop, right?)

Then I get more time online.

Sounds reasonable right?

Let's hope it really works, because if not, I need to get some professional help,

really.

Story of my life....

Damask Valentine's Dress

Here is the dress/tunic I made for my daughter to wear for pictures.  This is a pattern of my own design.  I've been sewing dresses like this for more years than I care to admit!

I haven't shown it to her yet, but she will love it!

It's super simple to make, and only took me about 2.5 hours! Yay!

(I can post a simple tutorial if you want)

Just leave me a comment!

Here's a picture of it with a flower hair clip between the straps...looks so stinkin cute!

Sometimes I wish she was still smaller, so I could dress her like this all the time.  Now she has an opinion...

But I like it, she's very original and colorful.

Here's the shirt and tie side-by-side.

They're wearing them with jeans and bare feet!

I can't wait to see how cutie patootie they look together.

She could always wear them as a set?

Maybe not...

Thanks for reading!

Valentine's Damask Tie

I got started on my kids Valentine's outfits.  They are getting their pictures taken on Saturday morning, and yesterday I came up with the great idea of making them matching "somethings" for their pictures.

The problem with that is there is such a big age gap.

2 and 9. Boy and Girl.

What do you make for a boy and a girl?

Well...

I had this very pretty damask fabric.  It's not super girly, right?  I actually have it in pink and red!

Yay for preparedness!

So I was trying to decide if I wanted to do a tie shirt, or a tie itself...I decided on a real tie. 

How handsome.

I found this super great tutorial at

The Purl Bee

I printed it out and got started.  And then I figured out that I'm not much of a hand sewer.  :(

In fact...

I kinda dislike it intensely.

Good thing I don't have to make a bunch of these ties!

Maybe Easter...and Christmas

(I could always re-use this one)

I put the pink on the inside...looks pretty cute if you ask me! (I know you didn't, and I'm not sure if I care.)  :P

He's going to look super cute in his pictures.

Mohawk and all!  He looks like Puck on Glee

(my favorite character)

Shhh, don't tell anyone.  :)

Tomorrow I will post my daughters shirt

After I finish it...  :)

Sparkly Valentine's Garland

This year I decided I needed to actually decorate for Valentin'e Day again.  I haven't for a few years now, either because by the time I thought about it I was too late, or I was just too lazy to bother.  :)

So I got these felt hearts with grommets on clearance last year.  They were like a buck or less at Hobby Lobby

(gotta love Hobby Lobby)

Anyway, I had no idea what to do with them...then I found these glitter glues that someone had given me (free, yay!)

So I preceded to slop a whole lot of glitter glue on the middle of each felt heart, I spread it around, strung it on some pink satin ribbon I had on hand, and TaDa!

Sparkly Valentine Banner!!

It looks great in my living room, and is the perfect length.

Almost like it was meant to be. See...

 My husband only barely hits his head on it...sometimes.

You can make one too!  Here's what you need.

• felt hearts(you can cut them out of any color)
• glitter glue(or glue and glitter of any kind)
• ribbon(on hand)

That's it!

Have fun making your own banner, the kids could even help you paint the glue on the hearts.

Have fun!

:)

Hooray for Small Victories

Here's to small victories!

Hooray!

A couple of days ago I made a decision to stop drinking soda.

I am sad, because I truly love soda.

Truly and deeply...

So for me to tell you this is inspiring to me.

2 days...

without soda.

This has been the hardest 2 days of this war so far.  The true test of time is work.  I usually drink a 20 oz when I first get there, then I get a 32 oz fountain soda that lasts me until I get off.  Last night I went for 4 hours without drinking anything.  It was torture.  My mouth was so dry.

Like the desert.

First thing I did, was hit the gas station for some Propel Zero.  It's not very good though, so I don't recommend it.  It has a nasty aftertaste.  But I drank it all, then had the other one...

Today will be the true test, an 8 hour shift.

I will let you know how I do.

Tomorrow e are going to our favorite indoor water park, for some much needed family time.

All of us, in the car together, the small hotel room together, eating meals together...maybe I didn't think this through all the way. (Oh well.)

It'll be fun anyway.  Grizzly Jack's here we come!