St. Patty's Day Skirts

If I find a Leprechaun, can I get him to clean my house?  Guess I should probably have done that myself last night but instead I decided to finish making some skits for JuneBug and Tasha to wear to school today.  If I'm going to make clothes, they should have something festive for every holiday, especially one where I have scraps of fabric specifically for the occasion! 

Besides, if I'm using up some of my stash, that will eventually help get the house cleaned up... right?

One skirt is made from strips of fabric too narrow for much else and an old t-shirt for a yoga waist.  The other I used scraps to upcycle a {stashed} denim skirt.  Little scraps and ladybug buttons make great hair clips.  O-man wanted a hair clip too but he doesn't have enough hair to hold it in, so he got to wear a green shirt.

No one pinched my kids today!
Peace be with you,

What I Made to Wear Wednesday {with Tutorial}

This post has been updated and moved.  It can now be seen at the new Domestic Deadline or by clicking on the picture below:

Go Vote for Green!

Have you checked out my competition over at On Month to Win It?  I am seriously nervous this week (ok, Marj and I were both nervous last week too).  This contest has some wickedly tallented people!  I just hope I set myself apart enough to make it to week three.

What are you waiting for?  Figure out which one is your favorite (mine) and vote for it!

Peace be with you,

Sleeping Beauties

Tasha turned 7 last month and we were finally able to have her party this past weekend.  I gave her a few options but she kept asking for a sleep over.  When first asked who she'd invite she immediately said. "My best friend in Mrs. B's class that I play with everyday at recess!"  Conversation continued like this:

• Me, "Oh, what's her name?"
• T, "I don't know, but she's my best friend!"
• Me, "Then why don't you know her name?"
• T, "I never asked!"

Got to love how kids don't need to know names to play together.  We did finally decide she could have 3 friends (even numbers work best, I find) but I had to know their parents.  At first she was dissapointed, but then she quickly told me her "other" three best friends, all of whom I'm friends with their moms.  No surprise these are three of the girls she wants to get together with most outside of school.

We kept the party very low key, one of the girls had never slept over at a friend's before.  I often find when I plan all sorts of games and activities, they just want to play and are happy to entertain themselves.  I did however need to make a cake to fit the "Slumber Party" theme...

As usual, I didn't budget my time as well as I should have so I simplified my design, but I also simplified it due to not wanting to buy all kinds of things for the decorating that I only need a few of each (also known as the dinero factor).

Tasha was quite surprised, she had no idea what I was planning:

Four little girls in their sleeping bags!  I used 'Nilla Wafers for the faces, mini M&Ms for eyes, jelly beans for the shoes, cut jumbo marshmallows for the pillows and bodies and everything else was done with fruit roll-ups.  Here are the four girls in their jammies, in the order that they (think) they are on the cake.  I had no specific girl in mind, but they each thought one was them!

I'm pretty sure they all had a great time.  Of course, mine was the last one asleep and a bit grumpy the next day...


Peace be with you,

Trash to Treasure - OMTWI

So, did you guess which one was me?  My dress form, Marj, and I will be moving on to week two!  I'm really excited.  The way I see it, I won either way, I got a dress form that matches me and cost only $12, a small fraction of what a real one would cost.  Plus, I saved some things from a landfill. 

If you didn't get a chance to meet Marj, let me introduce you:

Meet Marj

Mannequin: All Re-purposed Junk

What do you get when you cross 4 feet of foam, 3 empty juice bottles, 2 toilet paper tubes and 1 broken floor lamp?

A pile of junk, but dress it all up in a snug denim shirt, an itchy bra and a worn out belt and MARJ is ready to party!

I really wanted a dress form but they are pretty cost prohibitive. The trash to treasure challenge provided me the opportunity to upcycle these cast offs into something useful.

Using the juice bottles as a core, I added layers of foam to match my dimensions. Next came her undergarments: a bra I can't stand (stuffed with floral foam and plastic shopping bags) and a past it's prime belt to cinch her waist.

One look at the stained and preshrunk gap shirt at the thrift store and I knew it would be snug and unflattering on me... in other words: perfect!  I altered it slightly to act as Marj's skin.  Her shoulders were shaped last using toilet paper tubes half covered in more foam.

Finally I pinned her shut (so I can adjust her size should I change slightly in the future). I removed the electrical wires from the lamp and converted the top portion into a finial by hot gluing it to one of the juice bottle caps. The lamp pole simply slides through the spouts of the juice bottles and the finial is attached at the neck to hold it in place.

In total she cost $12: $6 for the foam and $2 for the shirt at the thrift store. $3 for a roll of duct tape and $1 for the floral foam shapes that fill out the bra. The additional piece of denim was left over from a reupholstering project and the bottles and tubes were in my recycling bins.  The bra and belt had been on their way to the trash.

The biggest deal is I now have a pin-able dress form that is exactly my size!  Time to make myself a new wardrobe!

Sweater to Banana Republic Inspired Vest

I love making my own version of something, it's just so satisfying to see something you like and make it yourself, especially when it costs less!
It's still cool and rainy here on the East Coast and will be for a few more weeks.  Today was one of those days where it was warm enough to go without a winter coat, but wind and rain meant I still needed an extra layer.  Even though IronFish makes fun of the current belted fashions, I still sported it today.

A while back, I saw the Fringed zip vest on Banana Republic's website.  I love their clothes but just can't bring myself pay their regular prices (sometimes I find a great bargain on the clearance rack, with a coupon and a gift card, then I'll splurge there).  For that matter, I don't like to spend full price on clothes even at Wal-mart!

I found this sweater at the thrift store for $4 (I'm pretty sure it originally came from Wal-mart actually, Faded Glory):

A little chain saw scissor action and the sleeves and zipper were history (yes, BR's has a zipper, I didn't want one).  I ran my machine about 1 inch inside the new cut edges and got to work fraying that inch.  Around the arm holes was a different story.  The knit went the opposite way of what I needed so I frayed one of the cut off sleeves and hand sewed it back on to give it a fringy look (that's a technical term ;).

Here's the finished result:

 And another view, a bit closer:

Sorry I had to act as my own photographer and model, maybe one of these days someone will figure out how to make human clones (I'd like one to dedicate to housework, please!)

Recently I've been very inspired by Tiffany at Making the World Cuter to dress a bit more stylish and since I'd like to upcycle my wardrobe a bit, I'm going to challenge myself to make at least one item of clothing per week, thanks to Elizabeth at Sew Chatty for the Wardrobe Challenge idea.

It was super comfy and I got a few compliments on it, despite the teasing I got from IronFish...

Peace be with you,

Confessions of a Craft Hoarder

OK, here it goes... I am officially admitting to hoarding craft items (or items I think can be reused in something I create!)  This is why I will be participating in De-Stash Challenges, any and all of them.

Hidden behind the couch, the yarn I am currently working with 

At least the fabric is organized!

There are at least 6 of these boxes in my bedroom closet!

Yes, those boxes all have craft supplies.  Even more behind the closed doors!

I keep pushing things aside to work, not very inspiring...

This is my once cleared off work space...

There is a chair under all that... with the intention of it being a place for someone to sit and talk to me while I work...

More random boxes, containers, stuff with supplies and projects in the works...

It's going to take some serious determination, but I so want to get it back into order and under control.  Can I box it all up, stack it in my basement and create things box by box if I promise to only bring up one box at a time?

Peace be with you,

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