With my last round of tests over until finals, life in San Diego is easy and fun once again. It's spring time and while the sun is out the wind is keeping me in coats and jeans, instead of the V-necks and skirts I prefer this time of year. Sitting inside looking outside at the pretty blue sky has me itching for all the things about summer I love. I am daydreaming about events that are sure to be mentioned in detail while they are happening. One of my favorite summer events is my annual 4th of July party. Everything about the party is a surprise until people arrive. I plan the menu and decorations way in advance. As in- I already have the main and side dishes planed, still working on desert and drinks! I have been working away on different ideas for a few weeks now and when I stumbled upon this dress, I knew that I would be wearing a version of it on the 4th!
Isn't it amazing? It is the perfect mix for nautical and patriotic, something I can wear all summer long! But there is no way I am paying over fifty dollars plus shipping for this dress. So here is my plan. Find a suitable tank top replacement and add it to a skirt in a similar cherry red. I will probably make the skirt myself. It is a fairly simple A-Line number with a little extra volume in the form of pleats/ruffles at the top. Sounds pretty easy and fun, I hope to keep the entire look under 20 dollars. I am currently debating between two different tanks, one about five dollars and the other ten. I might actually go into forever 21 and see what I can try on in person as well. But here is where the fun feature come in! I am defiantly not going to rock a huge bow on my waist, like some pretty package waiting to opened...UM ICKK! Bows are one trend I cannot get with! Instead I am going to make this...
Totally Awesome Rose Belt!
I think this belt would be the perfect topper for my tank dress. A fun detail at the waist, but not a huge bow like a bride's maids dress! The belt is simple to make, all you need is some fabric, interfacing and 2 D rings. Another positive about this over the bow, is that I can wear it with more than just my dress. Hop on over to Emily Spark's blog and browse the fun other fun tutorials she had. But don't forget the awesome rose belt!
In other news, I graduate in less than 30 days! 23 days and 19ish hours according to the senior tab on my school's website! Once I return home this blog is going to be SO MUCH MORE AWESOME!! I will actually be able to sew some projects! I will have all my craft items in one single place, instead of split between California and Washington. Needless to say I am very excited! But I will keep crafting and sharing and writing in the meantime. A big thanks to all the readers who have supported my baby blog, which is growing up everyday!
This week is going to suck. I realize that by making this statement, I
A. sound like a grade schooler via my use of the word suck, &
B am guaranteeing that the week will indeed suck.
Here is my week, and let me mention that I have literally have only 12 days of class left this semester. I have two tests tomorrow, one in operations management, and one in real estate finance. I have a paper due Tuesday, in my interpersonal relations class, I also have a business law test either on Wednesday or Friday, and I have an event about BEER I have to go to for my strategic management class on Thursday night, as well as the second to last round of the business simulation competition due on Thursday night. But I digress, even with the insane amount of work I have I still have pleanty to be happy about. Getting past all the complaining/venting here is my Sunday Five!
1. John Mayer- it seems that this amazing singer/songwriter/guitarist has had some bad press recently. I pretty much just ignore it and think what I want, the phrase I do what I want comes to mind... But I hadn't listened to my extensive collection of John in a while. I was in my roommate's car yesterday and Heartbreak Warfare came on the radio when she turned on the car. If you follow me on Twitter, you will know exactly how this made me feel. But since I have more the 140 characters to express it here let me tell you again. Hearing that song come on the radio was like running into someone you LOVE but haven't seen in a really long time at the grocery store. You didn't expect to see them but your heart just fills with joy and you want to run up to them in the middle of the store and hug them super hard. I have know idea why I reacted this way but it was the image that went along with my feelings right at that moment. I wish I could have hugged, John in the flesh, his music makes me so happy, reminds me of great times and some of my favorite people! Ok I will stop sounding like a crazy fan now. But In case you were wondering this is what I am listening to now...
2.The sunny weather seems to be making a reappearance, although weather.com says it's only temporary. Knowing my days in California are numbered, literally 28 until I graduate, seems to make every sunny day that much more precious. Seattle summers are gorgeous, but usually include more than enough rain. Every second I can be outside in the warm sun the happier I am.
3. Glee! Have you seen the most recent episode? Well it was totally Madonna themed, and super amazing! Sue says that Madonna is empowering and well, the episode was just that. I mean its a musical TV show, so the stories are going to be exteme, but the message was clear! I love love love Glee, and adding Madonna to the mix just made it that much better!
4. I had a comment this morning on my blog on my dollar store post, the Zipped Cuff
"Michelle L. said... This is beautiful! Extra thank you for the no-sew part. Also (first time reader here) you are an amazing writer. If I'd been drinking milk it would have come out my nose."
What an amazing complement! I try SO HARD to be funny and most of the time I fail, so when people actually laugh it makes me feel incredible. In addition she said I am a great writer, which I always love to hear. Now if my teachers all saw it that way... But the comment really made my morning!
5. I had a wonderful relaxing walk this morning with my friend Denise, in Coronado. I love walking the boardwalk, and the beach. It was a great way to get the morning started, and since I have been so busy lately it was nice to catch up on the goings on here at USD. It was just what I needed to start this week off strong and kick butt on my tests (3) and paper (1).
Bonus #6. The Vampire Diaries was AMAZING this week. Only two episodes left!! I just watched it this morning and it totally rocked my TV world. I am always in such shock during the episodes. I even did the Home Alone Face...
Seriously, I do that, just ask my roommates! I know I say this all the time but I love the show so much, I am addicted. I spend so much time reacting to all the craziness, I am constantly caught off guard by what happens next. I never see anything coming. My only prediction is that Elena is going to become a vampire. But my guess is that won't happen this season. I can't wait for the next episode!
Okay party people, I have shared what is making me happy this week, its your turn!
I love saving money, it's no secret. Although I currently feed myself using gift cards from Trader Joe's, when I would shop for my whole family, I was always trying to break my max savings record of sixtyish percent. You know at the bottom of the receipt where the checker circles, you saved.... Well I love seeing how big I can get that number to be on a grocery trip. So when a new coupon website invited me to peruse their vast supply of coupons last week, I happily said yes!
Although I had never heard ofhttp://www.couponchief.com before, it is a large site with A LOT of coupons. It is the perfect place to go when you are buying something online and want to check around for a free shipping code, or a 10% off offer. The site itself is more efficient that just typing discount codes for The Gap into your search bar, which is what I had been doing previously. For example, I do a TON of shopping on Amazon. All you have to do is type the store into their search bar and up pop's forty four coupons!
Adding to my excitement, is the ability to rate the coupons. I love sites that let you rate the coupons, because then you can look at other people's ratings, to see if the codes even worked! They even have a page of coupons for Ebay, I didn't even know Ebay coupons existed! As if I need another reason to feed that addiction... Members add new codes all the time, and by becoming a member you can get alerts for stores that you shop at most! So if you are looking for coupon codes to keep that online shopping budget in check check out Coupon Chief!
You may remember from my last post I received quite a few zippers in the envelope of random sent from Heather at Dollar Store Crafts. These zippers have been keeping me up at night, what could I do that hasn't already been done a bazillion times by the other online crafty folks. I have seen zipper necklaces, and zipper flowers, exposed chunky zippers in place of invisible zippers on skirts and pants. Well last night inspiration struck. I didn't write down my idea, which usually means it will be forgotten by the morning, but when I woke up, I still remembered. It is craft destiny! Insert really epic music HERE!
The Zipper Cuff
Here is what you need
Cardboard roll- I used a paper towel roll
4 zippers, in coordinating colors- they need to be a few inches longer than it takes to go around your wrist
Ribbon- I used two colors but you could use one, use colors that go with your zippers
Hot glue
Elmer's glue
*** A note on supplies and colors. Everything I used I had on hand. However if I were to do this craft again, I would make some changes. I would use different color zippers. I would probably go toward neon, or more bad ass colors like gray, black or gold. One of my new years resolutions was to be more bad ass... I thought that yellow and the pink and teal would look good together but I think that the finished product looks slightly like an Easter egg. I might have used black or gray ribbon for the center stripe and the ends if I had some. I would also make the cuff a little less wide, I am not sure my little wrists can pull it off...
Here is what I did- 1. Cut the cardboard to size you want your cuff to be. I made mine quite wide, still not sure how I feel about my length. The skinnier yours is the closer the zippers will be, or you can use less zippers.
2. My cuff didn't quite go all the way around my wrist so I added a bit of extra cardboard the same width to make is a bit bigger. I glued on the extra with regular Elmer's glue.
3. Cut the tops off your zipper right below the metal part that holds them together. Take off the zipper pull and separate each zipper into two pieces.
4.Remember you have a lot of laundry to do, and go throw it in the washer. This step is optional...
5. Set your zipper design. I decided I wanted to do stripes with the pink and teal zippers I was sent from Heather. The pattern certainly doesn't have to be symmetrical like mine, it could be totally random. I set the pattern out on the floor, with the zipper part facing out and set my cuff base on top to check out the fit.
6. Next I glued a strip of yellow grosgrain ribbon down the middle. I would not do it this way again. In the end it looks better to have the ribbon down the middle cover your zipper sides, not the other way around.
7. Now I started gluing. Working from the outside in, glue the zippers down in the pattern you chose.
Leave the ends hanging off a bit. We will finish and trim them at the end.
As you begin to layer the zippers you might notice that the fabric sides are bubbling up a bit.
As you glue press firmly down and slide your finger to even out the zippers.
You can also add a tiny amount of glue to keep everything flat.
7. Go put your laundry in the dryer. Again this step is optional
8. Once you have all the zippers layered, add the ribbon over of the middle. Also trim the ends of the zippers and the ribbon to be flush with the edges of the cuff.
9. To finish the raw edges, I encased the edges with white ribbon. To do so, I put a line of hot glue on the very edge on the zipper side and placed the ribbon edge on it. Then I put a glue line down the inside of the cuff and folded the ribbon over and pressed the other edge of the ribbon into the glue.
10. Trim the edges of the white ribbon and burn quickly to seal them. Be careful not to catch the rest of your project on fire. Wait, I think you probably had figured out that you shouldn't burn up your bracelet...
11. Now depending on your cuff base, and how large you made it you could have a slight problem. The weight of the zippers and glue was causing my cuff to uncuff. As in it was getting less circly. So I glued a part of a rubber band to keep the cuff together.
12. Unveil you finished product to all your friends!!
As you may or may not know I recently received a package in the mail from Heather (great name!) over at Dollar Store Crafts. As a part of April Stash Bust month and in celebration of Earth Day, Heather sent out envelopes of random stuff from her crafty stash, to ten lucky crafters. I guess I got lucky! So here is a look at what I received.
So here is what I got
A really sweet letter from Heather
A large manila envelope
Five zippers
two pieces of red shiny paper
two red birds
A bag of blue buttons
A tattoo sleeve
a giant red bead
Some weird magnet things, Not sure I havn't opened them yet
A pair of really red long gloves
A really big plastic thing with snaps
So Heather said she sent me a bag of purely, random stuff because she thought I could make do with it. I am glad she believes in me. But seriously... I have no idea what I am going to do with all this stuff! I have a few ideas, zipper flowers, or some zipper jewelry/embellishment maybe? The real kicker is that tattoo sleeve, what the heck am I going to do with that?
Well look forward to some fun tutorials using these supplies with some of my own stash thrown in!
Just for fun, a few pictures of my day trip to Disneyland.
What a week! So much to be happy about in life right now! So lets get started
1. Disneyland- I spent yesterday with two great friends at the happiest place on earth! My current roommate and my former roommate headed out of San Diego yesterday at about 7AM and spent the day on rides; alternating between laughing and screaming! We had an amazing time!
2. I could probably write this every week, but the Vampire Diaries really really makes me happy. I don't watch too many TV shows regularly anymore, but I look forward to TVD every week and it just keeps getting better and better! Only 3 episodes left until the season finally!!!
3. I have a few things coming around the bend that are also making me giddy, just looking forward to them! One is my friend Jackie is coming to visit me in San Diego, and I am so excited to show her around, while I still call California home!
4. Another thing I am looking forward to is the NFL draft. I don't think many people are as insane as me, but I pretty much watch it for 48 hours straight. I am really nervous and excited to see who goes where. The draft is really exciting especially when you follow college and NFL football, its like you really know the players!
5. Even though they always make me happy, I just want to throw a shout out to my roommates! They make me so happy and we just have a great time together. We watch movies, play card games, and even do insane workout DVD's together! I am so lucky to have great roommates, it make school SO SO SO much better!
So far in my pursuit of gathering the fun and easy fashion projects out on the internet I have focused on actual clothing. But everyone knows accessories are a girl's best friend. So today I am happy to feature a great, easy, beginning project that can go with so many different outfits.
For minimal effort you get an amazing professional looking versatile piece of jewelry. This project is perfect for beginners, grab a some jersey, some scissors and your sewing kit, that's all it takes! Another theme of the projects I feature, customization! She makes these out of T shirts, imagine all the different possibility, you could even braid in something sparkly for a more after five look. Anyway, use your imagination, and before you cut up that shirt, pick something that will go with your most worn outfits and tops!
Onto the fashion...finally! I have been an avid reader of Adventures in Dressmaking for quite a while now. The blog features great tee shirt make overs and drool worthy home dec pictures for inspiration. I totally admire the great woman who runs the blog, she makes something new practically every day, I would be exhausted! One thing you must check out if you click on over to her site? Her Amazon Store in the top section of links, she has a great selection of books for the sewing and craft minded person.
So back to project! Have you seen the rolled cuff slightly longer than normal jean shorts out there?
Via Adventures in Dressmaking
Seems like a trend for only the super fashionista, right? WRONG! That short is amazing, the inseam is a bit longer so its age appropriate for people who have are past the booty shorts age, and a great weekend look for any young lady on the go! Sometimes picking up a trend piece is just not worth the money, especially for artificially destroyed jeans, but this is a great way to add a fun spring and summer trend piece from something you already own. Grab a pair of jeans that still fit, but you might not wear so much any more and click on over to the amazing step by step tutorial and hack away. Come the warm days of summer, you'll be glad you did. A great variation to this trend? have the cuffs lined in a soft plaid so the rolls contract the jeans a bit. I have seen some great ones in the April/May fashion magazines! If I make the lined version I will be sure to let you all know how I did it!
For the last week or so I have been reliving a lot of things from my 16th year. Not on purpose, but I have the craving to watch How to Deal, which I saw in theaters when I was sixteen, I have even been listening to the soundtrack. This yesterday I listened to my birthday mix, which I was given when I turned sixteen. Once I started noticing this, I saw that for some reasons I have been doing a lot of 16ish things. I am having a huge garage sale this June, probably the biggest since the one I had when I was 16, it was also the first year I had my friends from high school come help. One still helps, a lot!! I even started drinking soda again. I am re-reading the Sloppy Firsts series. It is just really weird that 16 is coming back to haunt me. While that time in my life was very fun most of the time, it is also marred with somethings I would rather forget. Birthday, they seem to serve as reminders.
Take a listen to my favorite song from How to Deal
I decided to postpone the Sunday five for one day. Two reasons: 1. its my birthday so its the best day to celebrate all the stuff that makes me happy, and 2. I was really tired yesterday. Driving in the dark is a major energy suck! So what is making me happy on my 22nd birthday? Read on to find out...Hint, its more than five less than a million!
My new Whirley Pop popcorn popper. If you know me personally or have been reading the blog for a while you probably know how much I love bacon, but my love for popcorn is a close second place. A while back I read an awesome post about kettle corn over at Chica and Jo. Well for my birthday I asked for the popper and my parents came through. I already tried the movie theater mix that came with, AWESOME!! I love it!!
My Birthday play list, which I tried SOOO hard to upload here for you guys to listen to, but I will just had to add some links so you all can listen! This is just a 5 song sample from the birthday mix I got when I turned 16! I am very lucky to still have the giver in my life! Song 1Song 2Song 3Song 4Song 5. Happy listening!
Vampire Diaries. Are you following me on twitter? Well if you are you know I am totally obsessed. The last episode literally drove me insane. I can hardly wait for the next episode, the show is just so good, I can't put it into words.
Palm Springs. Over Easter and this past weekend I was visiting my parents in Palm Springs that is where I have been with no internet access. But it was super relaxing and a great way to celebrate with my parents.
My new favorite drink! Diet Mug Root beer with some no sugar added vanilla ice cream. SO amazing low sugar and low cal root beer float! Tasty!
Living at the beach. Sometimes San Diego feels just like any other city. But 80% of the time the air has a hint of salt. The morning starts with a hint of onshore flow and some pretty white clouds keeping the spring just cool enough. I love everything about the beach, except sunburns.
LIMES!!! My roommates and I are totally obsessed with anything hint of lime. Hint of lime chips, popcorn and beer have all been approved here! SO SO SO tasty, cannot even convey! We are currently in search of a lime salt so we can give a hint of lime to even more foods!
Get ready for some awesome posts this week, and some fun pictures of my trip and some of the trinkets I acquired along the way!
Even though I missed quite a few days blogging I am going to make it up to you all. Soon, I promise. I have so many fashion projects just waiting to be featured! I have fun sunglasses postes and knitting posts. But they all will have to wait. I am heading back to Palm Springs again this weekend which means no internet again. But I promise you all a great Sunday 5 once I get back on Sunday evening. It maybe even 5+!! So don't give up on me yet, fair readers, I promise to return to blog life once my internet conncetion is secure and pictures are uploaded. Once I start uploading the posts again, keep hitting refresh, I'll be writing as fast as I can!
Spring has sprung in the hearts of fashionistas around the globe. Anything and everything from television adds to magazines spreads, even bloggers are sharing the latest spring pieces. But as most know, spring can be a difficult time to dress, one second its sunny and the next it is blowing rain in your face, and messing up your hair, uggg! Pieces that are just a bit on the warm side are perfect for spring and summer evenings. A perfect transition into summer is a knit dress, good with tights, leggings, or even jeans now, and great for summer evenings later. Enter on of my favorite free knitting pattern blogs out there Pickles. This is the third Pickle's pattern I have featured, so you know I must visit the site often, I do. When I am there I usually stop over at the store to droll over the yarns too. Someday when the amount of yarn I own can fit in just one SMALL box, I will buy from the store. I really recommend their yarns, as buying the yarn helps support the free pattens, plus they are reasonable in price and the colors are amazing!
But back to the dress...
Is is a sweater, or is it a dress? It can be anything you want. Since your are knitting it you can control the length, a little longer if you want to wear it as a dress alone, a little shorter if you are short like me, or super confident, or plan to wear it as a tunic style sweater. Another great way to make this fun dress perfect for spring, knit it up in the nudes and pinks that seem to be everywhere. One tip when choosing colors, if you are fair stick with pinks, roses and warmer colors, if you have tan or olive skin the lighter cooler colors work like gray, and if you have dark skin think bronze when choosing yarns or any nude pieces for that matter. Knitting the trim in a black or navy would be a great way to get a pop of dark in the dress! Another idea, you could knit it in two colors, color block style, with the change at your waist and then belt it to exaggerate the color block style. The possibilities are endless. Have I convinced you yet? Simple stated this dress is quick and simple to make and sure to become a spring favorite! Click here to visit Pickles and the sweater pattern!
Today's Fashion Forward post comes from a blogger who's style I have admired since I stumbled upon her blog once upon a time. I encourage everyone to go take a peak at Alisa Burke's blog, she is totally unique, unlike anything I have seen on the web, and I mean that in the best way possible. She is so creative and I am sure I will be featuring her in future posts! Today I am showcasing a project that involves no sewing or knitting, just the willingness to let your creativity go nuts, with paint!
If you head over to the amazing tutorial to create this dress, you will find that with a few tools and some fabric paint you can turn a plain target dress, into your own custom work of art. Like most of the other projects I have featured, you can customize the final product with different dress choice, she shows a gray and green dress, and different paint colors. Another perk of this project, you start with a fairly cheap dress, and end up with something totally fabulous looking, so much craft bang! Once you have tried her method out you could even expand the technique to tee shirts or skirts. Let your imagine run wild! Check out her awesome tutorial here! As the artist said both the dresses are "simple, graphic and a little edgy" a perfect addition to you spring wardrobe and sure to become a dress you will love to wear!
