Skinny Fabric Wreath Tutorial

When we bought our first house, in 2011, my bff Darci gave us a wreath to hang on our door. She had made it, and I was in love with it. I made one like it for Christmas, so now we have a Christmas themed wreath too (so festive, right?). When we moved into our townhouse, I hung up Darci's wreath once again. And then I finally realized I needed to redo it, since the sun had literally bleached all the colors out. It was a very sad day, because she had used such great fabrics and it was so perfect. I made a new one and posted it on instagram, and got a tutorial request. So, disclaimer, I didn't make up this wreath technique/style. Darci made my first one, and either she is a genius (which is true anyways), or she saw some sort of original tutorial.

Last week I decided to increase my holiday-festivity-ness and make a Halloween wreath. I didn't want it to be too in your face Halloween, so I just went with Halloween-themed colors. Here is how I made it:

Supplies needed:
Wire wreath
3+ Fabric choices (at least a fat quarters worth)
Scissors

I purchased my wire wreath at Michaels, where they are relatively cheap and come in different sizes. This one is a 12" wreath, and probably cost about $3 (I can't remember exactly, sorry).

Start with your fabric. I purchased three different fabrics from Joann's--two were fat quarters and the other I had cut a 1/4 yard off the bolt. Either way you purchase the fabric will be a good width (fat quarter, or a quarter yard). Fat quarters are the perfect size though, and they were on sale for $1.29.

You will need to make strips of fabric, which I made ~2" wide. I used the cut and tear method, for a shabby chic type of finish. So cut a small tear in your fabric, and rip it off into a strip.  I made 5 strips of each fabric.

Start anywhere on your wreath, and you are going to wrap the strip of fabric around the wreath. Place the strip of fabric so there will be enough left out to tie it in a knot (as seen above).

Wrap the strip around itself 2-3 times on the wreath.

On the back side of the wreath, tie the ends of the fabric strip into a secure knot.

Start with your second strip of fabric, and repeat the above steps. When you start wrapping, have the strip overlapping the other fabric a little, so there aren't any gaps.

As above, tie the ends together on the back of the wreath.

Continue this same method with all your strips of fabric. Your very last fabric strip will be placed in the last gap of your wreath, so it will overlap the fabric on either side.

And voila!! Easy peasy, and it looks so cute! If you make a larger wreath, you will of course need more fabric strips. And you can use as many different fabrics as you like! If you end up making your own, I would love to see a picture of it :)

Happy crafting!

diy: filing cabinet makeover

i have been wanting a filing cabinet since forever. well, since i started filing things.... so for the past 2 or 3 years. the problem is that filing cabinets are freakishly expensive. who knows why, but they are. everytime i go to ikea i get tempted to buy one from there, but their smallest and simplest one is like $70. tragic, right?

which is why i was so stoked to find this filing cabinet on this facebook group thats like a yardsale for our city. and best of all? it was FOR FREE! whaaaa?! yes, i was excited. i haven't done any big projects in a while, and i thought it seemed simple enough. i perused the beloved pinterest for some tips on spray painting metal, and went to work. here's the project in pictures:

the before

the supplies: 

-rustoleum primer

-krylon in blue ocean breeze and in black

-all purpose sanding sponge

-plastic drop cloth
-[not shown] surgical mask that probably didn't do anything, but made me feel better

i sanded the drawers and the main frame. there was some rust, and old crappy (probably lead-based!) paint

primed the main frame

primed the drawers

voila! ocean breeze....so dreamy

the finished product! all at home in my office space :)

i am so happy that i now have my very own filing cabinet, and that it's personalized. it also cost me less than 20 bucks total. i couldn't be more pleased :) have you guys done any fun spray-painting projects lately?

23 weeks, and sneak peeks of henry's room!

saturday marked 23 weeks! it also was the day our new nephew cameron was born!! and we also had a fun dinner at red robin with some friends (i'm going to steal some of those pictures later from emily). this past week was good. my favorite foods of the week are twix and taco salad. i just told josh last night that ever since i've had my appetite back i am in LOVE with taco salad. he was like "umm...you always liked that," and i said "well duh, but now i want it ALL THE TIME!" haha. sometimes i try to get away with making it twice a week for dinner :)

on friday i got some maternity clothes i ordered (everything that was on sale at motherhood maternity was an extra 40% off and so i got lots of cute clothes for cheap cheap cheap!). so the shirt is new, and the pants are new. the pants were a risk, but they are skinny jeans so i figured it doesn't matter if skinny jeans are a little shorter on me, because i'll just be wearing them with flats. thankfully this pair is super cute, and also freakishly comfortable. i've been wearing them every single day since i got them in the mail haha.


so...about a month and a half ago i was at ikea looking for fabric for curtains for henry's room. they were all sold out of the fabric that i had wanted, so i was just browsing. in the kids section i spotted a duvet cover that i fell in love with. ta daaaa.... curtain fabric! so the duvet was red with white animals on one side, and then the colors were inverted on the other side (white with red animals). so i cut the duvet up and made curtains out of the red w/white animals side:

i didn't really measure anything, i sort of just cut and sewed it, and thankfully all the animals lined up, and the bottom of the curtains lined up. phew! because these were twin-sized duvet covers, i ended up buying two of them. so with each duvet i made one curtain panel. 1 duvet set was $20, and since i ended up using half of each duvet, the curtains were $20 total to make. considering curtains typically start at about $20, i considered it a good deal, especially since i got a pattern that i loved.

with the opposite side of the duvet, i figured i could make coordinating fitted crib sheets! at first i was worried it might be a little too much of the print going on in the room, but i decided to try it out anyway. i used THIS TUTORIAL to make a fitted crib sheet today, and it turned out great! it used up about 3/4 of one duvet panel, so the cost for the material was about $7.50. i got the elastic at hobby lobby for less than a dollar. to round up, we'll say the total cost for one crib sheet was $8.50.

it turned out really well, and it doesn't look too pattern crazy in the room. so overall i'm very pleased! i can make another fitted sheet out of the other duvet panel i have, and i'm also going to be making more out of other material i buy at the fabric store. it's a fun and easy project, and adds a lot of personalization to the room.

so there you have it, a sneak peek of henry's room! :) oh, also--thanks for everyones nice comments on my last post! you are all so sweet and encouraging, i really appreciate it! ♥

tutorial: how to make maternity pants

ok, so i am kind of tall. like 5'11" kind of tall. so i require a pants inseam of at least 35". the longer, the better. so i knew i wouldn't be able to find maternity pants that were not only long enough, but also didn't look frump-a-licious. soooo...i scoured the internet and looked at a lot of tutorials, and sort of combined a bunch of them. i think this is the best way to take an existing pair of normal pants, and convert them to maternity pants. these are a pair of my work pants, which i bought last summer for 10 bucks. here is my version on how to make your own maternity pants:

materials needed:
-pair of pants you can still at least sort of zip up (my pre-pregnancy pants worked just great, and i'm 22 weeks along right now. and i'm pretty sure they will fit for my whole pregnancy, unless my butt gets about 15x bigger)
-t-shirt (the smaller the better, even one that was pretty tight before your pregnancy)
-seam ripper
-scissors
-sewing machine
-fabric marker/pencil (a regular marker would be fine if you mark it where you won't be able to see it after you sew up the zipper flap)

instructions:
(click pictures to enlarge)

start with the pair of pants you want

do this for all the belt loops, and it will make cutting it up much easier

try them on and zip them up. mark where it feels comfortable. i marked this with a fabric marker. then later when i cut the front, i left a little extra fabric to allow for seam allowance.

most of the tutorials i found didn't have this step. but who needs a zipper for pants that will be zipper-less!? and who wants to sew over that? i cut that baby out asap!

remember, like i said before, leave some extra fabric above where you marked-- for seam allowance

then take your t-shirt you want to use:

i cut some extra off the bottom part of the tshirt, so it would fit smaller. i'm sure it would have been fine if i left it though.

i hope this makes sense. after i pinned the seams on the sides, then i stretched the shirt and pinned the front middle, and the back middle. then i stretched between pins and pinned the center of that area, and so on. [if you still don't get what i'm saying in this step, email me.]


i did the zig-zag stitch all the way around on the edges. i just forgot to take a picture afterwards.

you made it! try it on! the t-shirt i used won't fray when you cut it, so i left the edges raw. the t-shirt was tight enough that it stays up. you can always make a hem, or sew in some elastic on the top.

this is a weird picture, but i wanted to show how it looks with just the pants and the added t-shirt portion. you can fold the shirt down if you want to wear it under your belly.

long pants! with my shirt pulled up...awkward...

yay! they look normal! and fit well!

i wore these pants to work today, and was amazed with how comfortable they were!! and they didn't fall apart, so thats always good ;) no one even knew they were maternity pants (yes!). so thankfully this was a success, and now i have some more pants and t-shirts to rip up!

happy weekend!!

this week has been...interesting. a lot has gone down. thankfully yesterday and today i had some time to get away from all that and get crafty. i'm excited to show you what i've been up to! but we'll save that for another day, because i'm too lazy to take pictures and upload them right now and blah blah blah. sorry.

today i am 17 weeks. so i'm officially in the 5th month. weird. this week was the first time a semi-stranger asked how far along i was. isn't she lucky i'm actually pregnant, huh? yikes... also, someone at work had been out of the loop and just put 2 and 2 together the other day. she was like "i thought i saw a bump, but i didn't know if you'd just eaten a breakfast burrito or something...!" haha. speaking of eating, i'm still constantly stuffing my face. well, not really... i just eat a LOT for dinner usually. i'll feel full but food is so delicious i just keep eating. oops. i also still have a sugar problem. henry is going to have a sweet tooth for sure. oops again. oh well, not everyone can be perfect... right?

17 weeks

peace and love

well, i'm going back to crafting now. it's like a sweatshop up in here!! i'll take pictures soon to share the excitement. have a wonderful weekend!!

vintage-inspired tulip apron (...what?)

so a while ago i was at joann's and i saw this glorious tulip-patterned fabric. and by gorgeous i mean kind of ugly in a cute way, with a lot of potential. i wasn't quite sure what i was going to do with it (skirt, maybe?) and so it sat on my shelf for a little while. then, the other day when i was going through some of my craft stuff, i pulled out one of my old vintage finds and had a brilliant idea. i bought this adorable vintage tulip apron last year, and then sort of forgot about it. i fell in love with it when i bought it because: a) tulips are my favorite flower, b) yellow is one of my favorite colors, and c) the tulip style of the apron made it have built-in pockets. amaaazing.

so, this weekend when i had a little bit of crafty time, i used this vintage apron as a pattern and used my new tulip fabric! genius, i know... here are some pictures :)

the vintage tulip apron

close up of the cute tulip-y pattern

the new version!

they are bff.

what do you think? i would take pictures of me wearing them, but my resident photographer sarah is out of state right now :( but maybe i can convince josh to take some pictures of me sometime (when i'm actually looking semi-cute haha). i think my favorite part is the secret pockets. and its just perfect since i love tulips. basically, i couldn't be happier with my old and new tulip aprons ♥ and yes, i might be obsessed with tulips. whaturr.

ode to the weekend

tucanos on friday night
results in absolute delight
to my tummy
even though our waiter was crummy
he offended maine's pride and joy
i almost slapped the silly boy
he thought pacific lobster was better
i should write his manager a letter!
thankfully the food was so good
and our friends are so hood
that we still had a lovely time :)

on saturday we also had lots of fun
i even had time to craft a ton!
expect to see pretty pictures soon
of something i created that might make you swoon
think tulips!

we went to a baby blessing on sunday
[thats my fun day]
it was my cousins baby, talon
he's cuter than a young jimmy fallon
i loved seeing my awesome family
it was a great old jamboree
i also snuck in some more craft time
which was absolutely sublime
yayyyy!

thank you weekend, for being so great
too bad its over, what terrible fate
this week i'll be trying to blog more
i'll try not to be such a bore
did you have a good weekend? ♥

why indie biz is...

a waste of money.

there, i said it.

[disclaimer: if you are not associated with crafty blogs or etsy, etc--you can skip this post. if you are a craft blogger, dont hate me, and please hear me out. thank you]

last year, as some of you may know, darci and i started our partnership of our etsy shops [here and here]. i had heard about indie biz on the blogs and whatnot, and i looked into it some. i thought it could be helpful to us, since we were just starting our business together, and i thought additional help/guidance could be beneficial. so i paid the money ($75) and started getting excited about it.

as the weeks went along and the lessons came out, i started realizing that maybe this was a mistake. instead of business lessons, they seemed to be "lets try to make you creative" lessons. instead of lessons on how to do your taxes or obtaining business licenses or EINs, they were how to craft a "business card keeper", how to make an "office inspiration board", and embracing trends. EVERYTHING they "taught" us is either common sense, can be found for free on the etsy forums, or is present in blog land.

i will say i got one good thing out of indie biz, and that was the networking. i met a lot of cool people. HOWEVER, if i were more involved in blogging, etsy threads, twitter, flickr, etc... i would get that exact same amount of networking (or more).

that is why i feel indie biz is a waste of money. thankfully i was able to write it off on my taxes this year (since i took an actual entrepreneurship class and learned how to do that).

ps: indie biz also spammed me recently to let me know theyre doing indie biz 3, and that they would give me a discounted rate if i wanted to do it again! instead of the new price of $90, it's available to me (an alumn!) at only $50. what a deal!!! what did i do? i promptly deleted the email and rolled my eyes.

pps: dont hate me :) thanks!

weekend adventures

the bijou market was awesome. thanks to everyone who stopped by! here are some pictures that darci took of our setup:

adorable blankets. i want them all!

bows and flower clips

our sign. i made it, and jeff made the frame. he also made stands for us that are amazing!!

skirts, pillowcase dresses, onesies

bibs!

the market was really fun and there were a lot of amazing artists there. we felt very privileged to be accepted to participate. we will be updating our shops soon, so stay tuned! (hair accessories shop, baby items shop).

also, yesterday i left work early and went to the hospital. i was in a lot of pain in my kidney area, and i was having difficulty peeing. gross? tmi? oh well... anyways, so i went to the ER and they did a cat scan. turns out i *might* have a kidney stone. when they first found out the results of the scan the doctor came in and told me they didn't see anything wrong w/my kidneys, no infection, etc. he said it could be a back problem, and that i should follow up with a doctor, and then told me to get dressed so i could home. i get all dressed and ready to go, and then the nurse comes in and tells me that the radiologist just called and i might actually have a small kidney stone, but they weren't positive. and then they told me to go home anyway. so i'm on pain meds and drinking like a fish. fun, huh?

well, that pretty much sums up my weekend. has yours been fun? oh and yay for thanksgiving being this week! i can't wait! anyone else as excited as i am? ♥

REMINDER:

this weekend we will be selling at the Bijou Market, a lovely craft fair. Come see us!!!

November 19th & 20th, 2010
November 19th: 10 am to 8 pm
November 20th: 9 am to 6 pm

Historic Southworth Hall
116 West Center Street Provo, UT 84606

we'll keep you posted with pictures and whatnot. this is the biggest craft fair we've ever done, hopefully it goes well! eeps!! wish us luck ♥

you know you want to come see us...

guess who will be at the bijou market?? WE WILL! oh, and so will all these other people. we're very excited, and really looking forward to this craft fair. we are working on bringing some new goodies, along with variations of existing items, to bijou. please come see us!!! ♥

the list

4 simple goals before 2011
a blog / life movement by elsie flannigan
ps: that's me calling it a blog/life movement. not her. she isn't one to be self-important like that. it's just what i named it haha.

1. start making dinner again. incorporate more [at this point...any] veggies. lets face it, i need to eat better. i can't blame my not eating vegetables on juji's hatred of vegetables.


2. shop less, make more. this is for clothing and accessories mostly. i have a shopping problem and with all the medical bills we will be facing in the near future i need to squash it asap.


3. make more time for things. i always think or say "oh, i didn't have time to do this or do that." when really, it's i didn't make time for things. activities, friends, spending more time with juji, crafting, lets face it...showering, etc


4. stop feeling like i'm fat. stop comparing my weight to my husbands (i weigh 4 pounds less, thus the complex). work on the pooch...or accept the pooch. stop complaining about it. try to do my workout dvd at least once a week.

[all images via we heart it]

those are my goals. they are honest, i want to do them, and i think they will improve my life. lets hope i can stick with them and have some self control. are you participating in this? what are your goals?