Spring Photo Shoot

                                   

 I caved... I bought some fabric from Walmart.... I hate shopping there!  I would much prefer to shop local and buy fabric at the quaint little fabric store here in town.  Remember their prices though?  Not so quaint!  I had some projects in mind and I just had to get started. 

My first project was to re-purpose this light blue button down that my sister-in-law gave me.  I wanted to turn it into a preppy cardigan. 

I bought half a yard of navy fabric and some buttons. The rest of the material I had at home. Check out the crest patch I added to the top! 

 My next project was this tank top.  It was a bright blue tank with ruffles on the top.  It had a drawstring at the bottom that I didn't like, so I cut that off.  Then I took more of that navy walmart fabric and added more ruffles!  So cute and summery!

I still had a little bit of navy fabric left over and it was exactly enough to make my 3rd project!  Like the necklace I'm wearing with both outfits?  Me too!

I made it by sewing a tube of fabric, turning it inside out, and stuffing it with Styrofoam balls.  Then I tied the balls in place and sewed up the ends so they would tie nicely. 

SO, in the end it was worth it.  I bought half a yard of walmart fabric and I got 3 new additions to my wardrobe!  Not too shabby!  :)

 

 My next Spring Break project was cloth napkins.  Nick and I registered for some green cloth napkins on our wedding registry and we absolutely love them!  However, the more I looked at them, the more I realized I could make them myself!  Having a sewing machine now made this project a reality.  I took off with it.


I was able to use scrap fabric I had

 around the house for two different sets of cloth napkins.  Both the red plaid and the blue plaid were just chunks of fabric I had lying around waiting for a purpose.


























These napkins were different.  I did have to buy
 the fabric for them but it was so worth it!  Easter is my absolute favorite holiday and these carrot napkins will be perfect for Easter dinner!  I made two different sizes.  Dinner napkins and cocktail/luncheon napkins.  I am in love with these napkins! :)


















 

 I had an amazingly productive Spring Break and I have been dying to share my progress with my readers!  So I hope you enjoy looking.  Let me know what you think!

Until Tomorrow,

~Elise

News Flash

I am loving this Spring Break thing! I have gotten so much accomplished! Even my blog hasn't quite done my list of projects justice. This is partly due to the fact that I haven't been able to take any good pictures of my new clothes! It is very hard to take good pictures of yourself, which means I need Nick's help. And, my camera only takes good outdoor pictures, which means I have to wait until tomorrow when Nick has the afternoon off. I have a picnic/photo shoot in the park planned so the weather had better cooperate!

So, no super exciting, beautiful, inspiring blog post today. However, if you didn't notice, I did a little remodeling on the old blog. I added this new feature on the right side so that you can follow me by email. If you sign up, every time I post on my blog, you get an email update. Pretty cool huh? Then you don't have to check my blog every day to see if I have posted something new. You will be automatically informed! Another thing I added in my renovation was a tag list. I still have a lot of work to do on it, but it will be pretty handy when I have it all uniform. You will be able to search my blog by tag! This will be nice when you are looking for a specific source of inspiration, such as DIY Entertaining or DIY Re-Purposed Clothing. I promise I will get it all sorted out soon!

The tags I will be featuring will be:

DIY Entertaining
DIY Recipes
DIY Knitting
DIY Cards and Invitations
DIY Tacky but True Saying of the Day *NEW*
DIY Re-Purposed Clothing
DIY Sewing
DIY Household
DIY Wedding Magazine
DIY Holidays
DIY Misc. Crafts

 Let me know if you think I need anymore ;)

 In other news.... I have decided to start another blog! Due to both my conversation with Aryn, the Inspire(d) editor, and the fact that this blog has become more of my personal DIY project blog, I will be launching a new blog solely for DIY wedding projects. I encourage you to check it out! :) http://bitbytheweddingbug.wordpress.com/ I am just starting it so bare with me for a few days while I get it up and running. But, I just had to share it with you because I am so excited about the name, starting a new blog, and testing out a new blog site! I love feedback, good or bad, so let me know what you think about both of my blogs! :) In the meantime... Keep checking out the blogs, comment lots, become a follower, and follow by email! Thanks!

Until Tomorrow,

~Elise

Improvised Inspiration

I am sorry for not posting sooner, but I have had an exciting week! Plus, this week is my spring break so I have been crafting up a storm! So, to re-cap from my last blog post.... The interview with the editor of Inspire(d) went very well. We got to talk for about an hour and a half about all things magazines! She did very well at laying out the process of starting a magazine and definitely opened my eyes to some of the flaws in my own future plans. Which is great, because I would much rather figure them out now than later! :) Tuesday was also great, if you remember my last post, because I got to go see the ballet with my family. The ballet was cute and I enjoyed it very much! Seeing my family was great! My mom gave me a cutting board, so now I can cut fabric! I had a meeting downtown on Thursday, so I took a lovely little walk that afternoon. After the meeting was over I walked over to the fabric store that was a block away. I knew I had to get a rotary cutter for my new cutting board and I wanted to look at fabric too. I did get the rotary cutter, $20 for the small one! Plus I bought a $9 pattern! Nick and I are trying to live within our means so splurging on fabric on top of those purchases wasn't an option. Fabric at real fabric stores (not walmart) is expensive! The cheapest I found was like $8 a yard! It is quality fabric and well worth it, but still not in my budget. I had some scrap fabric at home that I figured I would start with first anyways. I did however, find this awesome deal. They had a scrap bucket that you could look through and grab as many scraps as you could fit into a quart plastic bag for $2. It just so happens that there were scraps of fabric in the very same collection that I had been eyeballing in the first place. I filled my bag and came home with some pretty decent sized scraps. They will make a nice little quilt top someday! The scrap quilt was not going to be my first project though. It will involve too much math and I still have to figure out what pattern I want to use for it. I decided to start with the scrap fabric I had at home. I had two plaids that I had been planning on making some clothes out of, but I hate matching up prints and plaids are the worst! I have been toying around with the idea of making some cloth napkins for awhile. We got some for our wedding and I love them! They are machine washable and we therefore don't have to buy paper napkins all the time. Environmentally conscious too! :) It was settled. I would turn the two plain fabrics into cloth napkins! Great idea! Except.... I had the cutting board and I had the rotary cutter... but no ruler! Oh no! I looked around the apartment for something to use for the time being. I was so excited to get the napkins done there was no way I was going to walk all the way back to the fabric store to get a ruler. Improvisation won the day. I pulled this picture off of my wall that was actually a wedding present and used it as a ruler for the day. It worked great! (For the time being....) So, I cut all the napkins out first. I was able to get 10 napkins out of the red plaid and 6 out of the blue plaid (pictured above). Then I pinned the sides and stitched them right up! The results were some pretty sweet cloth napkins! They remind me of picnics, which reminds me of spring, which reminds me that good weather is right around the corner! :) See! Aren't they cute! :) I will be adding some applique to the red plaid ones, but I think the blue ones are done. Like I said, I have been crafting up a storm because I am really trying to enjoy my spring break so some good blog posts to come! :) Until Tomorrow, ~Elise

Terrific Tuesday

I suffer from a bad case of the Mondays. I usually trudge through them like I'm walking through mud. Not good. Today is no exception. Thankfully, I have tomorrow to look forward to! Tuesday is going to be TERRIFIC! For three reasons... 1. I'm going on a networking opportunity/adventure! I am meeting with the editor of Inspire(d) magazine, Aryn, for an interview! She is going to let me pick her brain about everything magazine! I can't wait to find out all the nitty-gritty details about running a spectacular little periodical. They just went through a redesign and the new product is awesome! Check out the website. http://theinspiredmedia.com/ Ooh the best part is... this seasons edition of Inspire(d) has a DIY project for May baskets! So cute! Turn to page 13 for the instructions. Here is the link for the online magazine. http://issuu.com/inspired_media/docs/spring11_inspiredbook_online Aryn has agreed to let me tape the interview so that I can practice transcribing interviews. Which, as fun as that sounds... it will be good for me. Plus, you as my blog readers, will get the chance to read the transcribed interview! Yay! 2. I am getting my hair cut again! If you remember in one of my earlier blog posts (way back in January), I got my hair cut to a medium length, dyed back to my natural dirty-blonde color, and I got BANGS! Turns out I miss my blondey-blonde hair and I can't stand having straight bangs on my forehead... So, I'm going back to blonde and getting my hair all chopped off! Super exciting stuff! 3. I'm going to see the New York Ballet perform Alice in Wonderland! I love the ballet and it will be nice to see my two sisters and my parents again. We are all meeting up to watch the wonderful performance. Such a great opportunity! :) See! Pretty sweet stuff! Maybe I will get through this Monday funk after all! More on the interview, hair cut, and ballet to come! Until Tomorrow, ~Elise

DIY Re-purposed Cardigan

My parents came to visit me this weekend, which was super nice! I haven't seen them since Christmas! It was fun to see them and they brought Nick and I some good treats! My mom made me some throw pillows to match the quilt she made for our wedding, they gave us some candy, and my dad brought us some show-and-tell wood carving projects that he is making. One of which is a sign for our apartment/future house! :) (I'm sure I will be blogging about his endeavors soon, but he is just getting started.)

The SLANT-O-MATIC! :)

One of the most exciting things of the whole trip was that my mom and dad helped me get my sewing machine working! I was given the sewing machine by my mother-in-law who has no daughters. It is a family heirloom, and as I am the daughter-in-law who is most interested in sewing/crafting, I got it! I have been wanting to get the sewing machine working since I got it over a month ago, but I haven't had the hours and hours to devote to reading the manual and figuring everything out. Enter Mom and Dad. My Mother happens to know an extraordinary amount about sewing machines. She is super-woman! She can make you anything you could ever imagine! My mom can sew, decorate cakes, and scrapbook, plus any other craft you could probably put in front of her. My sisters and I grew up with a lot of craft supplies within easy access. My dad is Mr. Mechanical. He can fix anything or make anything. For our wedding present he made us a bed!! It is complete with a headboard, foot board, and the ability to turn it into a canopy bed when we move into a bigger house! This was the first bed he had ever made and it looks awesome! I will post pictures some day. Needless to say, I was in pretty good hands as soon as my parents walked through my door. My mom helped me figure out how to thread the machine and she taught me what all the different gauges meant and did. My dad finagled with the wheel until he got it to sew! Then, he oiled it all up for me until it was as good as new! So now, I can finally SEW!!! My first attempt was to fix a pair of jeans that I had ripped. Now, if you know anything about sewing and holes in jeans you know that you can't just sew up the hole. Sometimes you can save a pair of jeans by patching them, which I didn't want to do. So, I attempted to just sew it right up, in hopes that the stretch of the fabric would just tolerate being a little bit tighter on me. Unfortunately, just like I suspected, it didn't work. As soon as I put them on they ripped again! It was a dumb idea anyways... I just wanted those jeans back! ON to the next project though! My mother-in-law had given me these two shirts from GAP. I love the shirts cause they are nice and long and very comfortable. However, every time I tried to wear them I felt as though they were unflattering to my body type... Not wanting to give them away, because I really do like them, I decided to re-purpose them into cardigans! Cardigans are ultra sheek right now and I already knew I wanted more of them. Might as well make them out of something I already have, instead of spending money to buy new clothes! Cha-ching! Here is the shirt, with a scarf I knit, before re-purposing... This is the chunk I cut out of the middle! Then I edge stitched up the sides. Super easy! :) I did make a slight miscalculation on the cutting though... so I had to improvise on the shoulder. I decided to add a little tuck to the shoulder, which actually turned out really nice. It gives the cardigan even more personality! Plus, it gives my shoulders more oomph, which is good. My flag coach in high school told me I had the smallest shoulders she had ever seen, so enhancing them is always good! I'm still deciding if I want to add little copper studs to the shoulders to give the cardigan a more military/army feel (it is, after all, the ugly army green!), or if I want to add some chunky buttons to the tucks... Either way, this project is not finished. Tomorrow is the debut though! Can't wait to wear my new re-purposed Cardigan! Plus, it goes with my green scarf I knit! Two new wardrobe additions made from things I already add! Cha-Ching! Until Tomorrow, ~Elise