The Magic School Bus

I made these costumes for my brother and I! I LOVE them and apparently others did too. We won a contest!

Rocket boosters with Fire coming out!

Oh hi Lizzie the Lizard.

Pillow Pouf Update

Winner!!!

She loves it!!

Happy 1st Birthday Kendall!

Fall is coming!!

In an effort to be a grown up I am trying to dress like a real person!  I love the sweater over the collared shirt loo for fall.

Here are some inspiration pictures! 

 ( pretty stems )

( tiny sailor )

Raleigh Lauren Sweater

( Skinny Shirt )

At $17.99 I am stocking up on these sweaters from Target.  They are SO soft!  Hopefully they go through the washing machine okay!

( Target ) $17.99



Let's Get Crafty: Popsicle Pouf

One of my old co-worker's daughter is turning one this week.  I wanted to make her something original and came across pillow poufs on Living with Punks blog.  These two pictures show what Kendall will hopefully look like with her new pouf!  I hope that Merideth and Kendall love the pouf and don't think it is silly.

There are detailed instructions of how to sew the pouf on the Living with Punks but here is my copy cat tutorial :).

Materials Needed:

- 1 yard of fabric, the home decorator kind that is thick and sturdy.  This is along the back wall at most JoAnn stores.

- 2 packages of 1/2 " premade piping, I used Wrights Bias Tape Maxi Piping, this is near the thread.  It is in a display with all sorts of quilt edging and rick rack, I missed it the first time and had to ask someone where it was :)

-Thread, Living with Punks suggests using contrasting thread but I just used what I had on hand.

- Polyfill, I got a 32 oz bag and I have a TON left.  

- Compass

- Math Skills

- Approximately 2-4 hours

I bought a compass at Office Depot for 1.97, the largest marker on the ruler says 6 inches but if you open it as wide as it goes you can get a 7 inches radius, therefore a 14 inch circle.  You will need a 17 inch circle for the top and bottom of the pouf.  I used my mad math skillz (thanks Mom :)) and measured 1.5 inches out from the circle to make a new 17 inch circle.  Man, I'm smart. 

 Here are my supplies, minus the fiber fill.  One yard of darling popsicle fabric, I loved this for a little girl.  My two packages of piping, and my paper circle!  Now its time to get serious! Let's start cutting the material, you will need:

-2 17 inch circles

- 9'" x 51.5" piece for the side.  My fabric was only 45 inches wide so I had to sew on another 6.5 inch section.

-2 3"x12" pieces for the handle

All materials cut!

Close up of the piping packaging so you will have an easier time finding it :)

 Pin the piping to the pretty side of your fabric.  The 'puffy' part of your piping should be closer to the middle of the fabric and the flat side should match up with the edge of your fabric.  

Overlap the piping where they meet.  

 Start sewing!Make sure to sew AS CLOSELY as you can to the puffy part of the piping, otherwise it will look funny when the project is done.  

 Make sure to sew over both piping sections where they overlap.  Once they are secure you can cut the excess piping off at an angle. 

Take one handle piece and set the piping the same way you did with first circle.  Puffy side in, flat side on the edge of your fabric. Pin and Sew. 

 Once you have the piping added to one piece of the fabric you are ready to complete the handle.  Turn the pretty sides of the fabric together and sew as CLOSE as you can to the edge of the fabric and along the puffy piping.  Do not sew the edges shut and flip the fabric back out so the pretty side is showing again.

Take your side material (if you have a 45" fabric go ahead and add the remaining 6.5 inches of fabric to it now).  Place the side fabric so the pretty side is facing the pretty side of one circle.  Start pinning this together; crease the fabric like in the picture below.

Once you get done pinning the fabric around the edges the height sides of you fabric should meet up perfectly, pin these and sew this edge.

Apparently I forgot to take pictures of the rest of this process! Check out the Living with Punks tutorial for more pictures :) 

Sew around the edge of the circle, make sure to sew closest to the edge and beside the piping.  For some reason I sewed on the other side ("left" of the piping if the "right" is the edge) and had to spend an hour seam ripping to undo my mistake.  I did have a little help with this from a trusty neighb. 

Now it is time to attach the handle.  Flip the material back pretty side out (you will now see if you sewed properly, if you don't see your piping it is time to bust out the seam ripper -- it happens to the best of us).  I had a 45" fabric so I sewed on the opposite side of seam.  

I pinned the non-piped edges and made a clean seam on them.  Then I attached the handle by sewing over the edge seam and also adding a box with an 'X' to hold it down securely.  Make sure you don't sew this very taut so there is give to carry the handle. 

Almost done!  Flip the fabric back to the ugly side and pin on the remaining circle, pretty sides facing each other.  Leave a little pocket open so you can stuff the pillow.

Stuff the pillow with as much Polyfill as you think the pillow needs!

TaDa!

Hopefully I will have an updated picture soon of Kendall and her pouf :)

Bedding Bonanza, Target Edition

All of these are from the wonderful Target!

1.Bohemian Boutique Utopia      2.   Pinched Pleat- White            3. Andalucia

4. Pinched Pleat- Lavender 5. Interlocking Circles 6. Pinched Pleat- Elephant Gray

Curtain Update!

So I decided to go with the navy panel on the bottom.  With the cornflower blue walls and the gray and cream furniture I figured that a neutral like navy would be perfect.  Navy will also be the most versatile color and have the biggest probability of matching with future rooms.  I tend to get an idea and redo rooms on a whim, so navy it was!  Check them out.

Admittedly these aren't the greatest pictures but you can see how much bigger it makes the room look.  The curtains are my latest favorite thing....who knows for how long!

Raising the Curtains....

Lately I have been loving curtains that are ceiling length rather than just over the window, it just makes the room look so much bigger....and it looks a teeny bit schmancy which I happen to like.  All about trying to LOOK like a grown up!

My walls in the dining room are Cornflower Blue by Glidden.  I got a free sample of it from something on Slickdeals one day and decided it would be a good color for the dining room.

The coloring a bit off as this is just from my phone but here is a picture of my dining room on Thanksgiving.

This is after Daddy finished painting :) 

I fell in love with the Waverly print Birdsong in Cloud a while ago and ordered a few yards from from Mary Jo's.  When I made the curtains I didn't make them ceiling lenth so I am going to add a solid color panel to the bottom.

I think I have made my decision but what color do you think I should add to the bottom? Red? Navy? Coral? Another suggestion?

P.S. Here is the board I put together last September for the dining room :)

Semi-accurate of what came to life! From left to right and top to bottom:

1- Paint: Glidden Cornflower Blue- Check
2- I completed this project on Gray plates that say Sugar, Butter, Flour, and I can't remember the last word.  I didn't end up loving them so they are in a drawer for another day.- Semi Check
3- Waverly Birdsong in Cloud curtains - Check
4- Teacup candles- Check - DIY How to here
5- Tablecloth- Fail
6- Bench made from bed: Semi-check, it is in the den
7- Birdsong fabric in a different color- Fail, just stuck with the gray/white
8- DIY Wax Paper Chandelier - Fail.  I actually cut out TONS of those little circles but never got to the part where you sew them...maybe now that I pretend I know how to sew I will finish this project!



Who Done It: A Mystery!

Welp, I guess that is the end of that puppy bed!

Who looks guilty?  Dang camera phone -- their eyes look CRAZY!

Happy Birthday to ME!

WARNING: WORDS!!! Sorry, but my birthday is kind of a big deal :)


Last year I took an entire week off from work for my birthday.  I decided that I should make this a tradition and do it again this year. The only problem is that last year I had only taken one day of vacation before my ‘birthday week’ and this year I have been playing with friends too much 1 day in Columbia for St. Patrick’s day, 3 days at the beach, 2 days in Miami…..and now I have 3 days of vacation left for the rest of the year.  3 days for FIVE months.  Oh brother…what have I done to myself!

Anyways, I’m going to say at this point in time it was definitely worth it; when I am in a super slump at work and have no vacation days in October I might be mad at myself. 

I had SUCH a great time hanging out with my friends and family.  My birthday was on Monday and my sweet mom took off work to hang out with me.  She made me chocolate chip waffles with homemade strawberry jam – delicious! 

That night a few of my friends and I went to Sky High  in Pineville, NC.  We had a BLAST! I was EXHAUSTED after approximately 3 minutes….originally I wanted to jump for 2 hours, I’m glad Marisa talked me out of that.   We decided that it would be a better idea to eat supper AFTER we bounced rather than before so we went to my house and a few more friends joined me for spaghetti that Mommy made. She makes the BEST food.  After dinner I opened presents and ate birthday cake.  Yes, I had a LEGIT birthday party. (yes I’m aware I’m spoiled loved) 

I did lots of fun things during my birthday week—ate…a LOT…, sewed things, went to see Kaskade, hit the movies, and out with my friends.

Eating:

I’m almost positive that I consumed about a year’s worth of calories during my ‘birthday week’, I’m pretty sure I will not fit into the jeans I worked so hard to fit back into for the past 6 months but as I think about all the wonderful food I ate, I’m somehow okay with this.

Toast at Dilworth – Marisa and I shared an Avacado Omelet and Stuffed French Toast with Cream Cheese and Strawberries…I may or may not have been back later in the week with Casey to get the French Toast again.  It is AMAZING people, AMAZING.  They also have the French Toast with cream cheese, strawberries, and Nutella – how does that sound?  

American Roadside- A new burger place near Piedmont Row/SouthPark.  It was nothing special; I probably wouldn’t go there again. Oh, and they don’t serve liquor – make that definitely not going there again.

RuSans- Not even a question that I would be going to this place.  I gorged myself on sushi with Marisa and Bella. I do have to say I was HIGHLY disappointed because there were NO cream puffs.  Everyone knows that I eat until I can’t breathe  save room for cream puffs.  At least they had their amazing chocolate cake. 

Outback Steakhouse- Marisa and I have a tradition of going to get seared Ahi Tuna (OMG!) and strawberry sangria.  We switched it up a bit with margarita flights and we also got a crab appetizer – it didn’t hold a candle to the tuna! (Anyone seeing a theme – Marisa and I like to go out to eat J )


Playing:
Jump Sky High: I mentioned this earlier but I just wanted to throw out that you can burn 1,000 calories in an hour....yes, 1,000 calories in an hour!!!

Sewing: I came across refashionista.net and decided to do a little revamping of thrift store clothes on my own.  Marisa and I cruised down to Goodwill to find some treasure.  We found 2 skirts we thought would be perfect.

Elastic Waistband Skirt turned Belted Tube Dress.  This one didn’t even require any sewing, just pulled it up and threw a belt on it. TaDa. PS- I'm aware I look homeless. I'm not.

^^ Why in the world does my font have a white background?? How do I fix this?

This one took a little more work – more than I would care to talk about because Marisa and my sewing skills were a bit rusty.  We rekindled a friendship with our ol’ pal the seam ripper.  We sewed the pocket together and made a mess of the outside of the skirt with thread….allegedly.

 

Still looking homeless...and I can't find an after pic! Will have to update later!

I have been collecting fabrics for a while now and finally came up with enough to sew a quilt.  I’m making another zigzag (chevron) quilt and a swastika windmill quilt.  My little brother asked me why I had sewn a swastika quilt...crazy kid. I will write about these later because there are far too many words on this post!  But here is a sneak peak at the fabric strips!

Kaskade: On Wednesday I went to Kaskade with my old roommate Rebekah.  We danced around and acted wild.  It was SO much fun.  It was also SO hot and we were pouring sweat.  Check us out!

Savages: I adore Blake Lively. However, this movie was not my favorite.  I do NOT do blood and nasty stuff like that –this movie was FILLED with it.  I should have gone to see Channing….oh well, next time.

Well, that was a brief recap of my birthday! I'm thinking 24 is going to be a great year!

One last picture with our new friends we met at the show!