Haute To Sew

{How Pinteresting} #2

2012-02-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome, Welcome

Time for week 2!

The lovely inspiration for the week...

So pretty.

If you read this tutorial, it says to use waxed linen cord??? Ok maybe I'm a tard, but I don't know what that is or where to get it....probably Hobby Lobby but I don't feel good so I improvised with what is in my house. No shopping for me.

I used:
*leather cord
*embroidery floss
*a hex nut {I couldn't decide which one to use, but I went with the smaller one}
*silver ball chain

And here's mine!

I think I finished mine off a little differently, oh well, who cares. And I gotta tell ya, I really wanted one that was pretty long that I could wrap around my wrist multiple times, like 5, but making one of these is super duper tedious and I got bored with it. tehe Plus, this is all I could complete in one episode of the Bachelor. Do you watch that show? Do you despise Courtney like everyone else? I do. She's fake and I totally hate how she bites her lip all the time and talks like a baby. Oh Ben, I sure hope your brain kicks in soon...

{Sewing Tip Tuesday} #4

2012-02-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Another week, another tip!

This week I have a tip from Sew4Home. I haven't tried this out specifically, but I have done something very similar that I will tell you about.

When sewing with vinyl or leather or faux leather you are supposed to use a teflon foot on your machine to prevent the fabric from sticking. But lets get real here people, are you going to buy a special foot to use on a fabric you probably rarely sew with?? Yeah, I thought not. I've seen people put tape on the bottom of their regular presser foot to glide over the material easier. I tried this once. It didn't work out so great. My tape kept getting pulled off. It just wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. It might work for you, but it didn't for me. Maybe I used the wrong tape, I don't know. So anyway, here's another alternative...

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...add some wax paper to your material and sew away!

So like I said, I haven't done this specifically, but I have done something similar. I used tissue paper. Worked beautifully!

When you are done, just tear the paper away :)

{How Pinteresting} #1

2012-02-16T16:32:00.001-06:00

NEW SERIES!!!! WOOT!!

I'm so excited about this because I think it will make me feel more productive. Now I won't have this amazing board of "To Do" projects, but an UH-MAZING collection of DONE projects :)

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So first week....here's the pin I decided to make.

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That image is super small. Wow. Sorry. This is as big as I can make it. Look at the source I pulled this from to see it bigger.

Anyway, isn't it awesome?!? A basket made from paper sacks. So cute!

I don't exactly have a million paper sacks laying around, so I used a lawn bag. Probably a better idea to use a lawn bag anyway because they are double layered and I feel it made my basket SUPER sturdy.

I'm not going to show you all the steps I took since the inspiration picture explains it pretty well. But I will tell you that I modified it a bit. I only did 3 rows instead of 4. I also didn't use all those paper clips to hold my rows in place...it was seriously difficult for me. I wanted a tightly woven basket, so I just hot glued where I felt it needed it.

Bottom side

The inspiration picture doesn't have measurements for how long the strips need to be, which is a total bummer. Mine ended up being a little too short to fold over and tuck in another row. But it worked out, I just glued an extra strip along the inside rim to hide the ends where I folded them down! Worked like a charm! And it seems to have given an extra wee bit of strength at the top. Win!

Mr Perfect says "Hey, that's a pretty nice looking basket". I'm like, "For reals!" Then he says (in a voice that sounded excited, sorta) "Where you gonna put it?" ....he anxiously waits... Me, "I don't know" ....crickets....
I think he was a little disappointed I didn't have some magical answer haha
After he left the room I looked over at the pitiful side table and saw all the remotes everywhere. Light bulb! So my cute little lawn bag basket is now serving as a remote corral. That table was screaming for some attention....it's very sad.

I'm going to give this project a B. I love how cute it is. I love that it's recycled. I love that it's super sturdy and not floppy. I don't like having to guess measurements on something and then have it not work exactly the way it should.

As an added bonus, I still have the other half of my lawn bag, so I just might make another one!

You can check out all my pins on Pinterest. Any recommendations on what you want to see me do for next week??

New Series

2012-02-15T06:00:00.003-06:00

I have a confession....I'm a Pinterest junkie {GASP}. Oh the shame. Countless hours of my life, gone. But I do love it...sshhh, don't tell.

I don't know about you, but I have pinned about a buh-zillion things in my "to do" board. Do I ever get around to doing any of them? Um, no. To help me actually get around to making my own version of some things I pin I am starting a new series on Thursdays...

Each week I will write about something I duplicated/tried/cooked that I pinned on Pinterest

WOOT!

Happy Mushy Lovey Dovey Day!

2012-02-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

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February 14th...it's mushy lovey dovey, kiss your hunnie, buy a Hallmark card day.

{Or it's boycott the hyped up, what's the big deal, wallow in self pity, lonely day} <----hopefully not you!

What are your big plans for the day??

We don't really have any. It's a Tuesday....which equals work, homework with the kiddo, kiddo's laundry, kiddo's shower and bedtime, kiddo, kiddo, kiddo.... you see the roadblock here? Not much room for romantic time. Sigh. Pretty sure Mr. Perfect is making baked salmon for dinner tonight though, and it is to DIE for! No lie.

No worries, we will be celebrating our happy time this weekend when the kiddo isn't here. We have dinner plans and we're going to a cabaret show. I'm pretty excited about it. I have a super fancy dress to wear. {maybe I'm more excited about the dress than anything, maybe haha}

So I went to wrap Mr. Perfect's gift yesterday and we didn't have any valentine's day wrapping paper. I could have swore we did, but no. And I wasn't gonna go get any either. What's a girl to do??? Make her own, duh!

So fun, so cute!

Can you guess what's in those packages?? I'll spill the beans only because I know he doesn't read my blog. Mr. is getting a new HTC Evo 3D, a case and screen protector! Woot!! He's going to LOVE it. He's still using an old crapberry that he hates. I had the same crapberry until I "found" an Epic in a bathroom one night. For some reason, there was no owner attached to the serial number when I took it to the Sprint store, so I got a new phone for free! Mr. Perfect has been super jealous ever since.... But, now he has the newer, better phone. Let the "I have a better phone than you" war begin!

MUSHY MUSHY MUSHY

I LOVE that man!! Enjoy your Mushy LOVEy Dovey Day!!

{Sewing Tip Tuesday} #3

2012-02-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Are you ready for another fantabulous sewing tip?!?!? Of course you are!

I use this tip ALLLLL the time. I thought of it out of necessity, kinda like last weeks tip.

So let's say you have a piece of fabric you want to attach something every small to and it's difficult to put a pin through it...what do you do?? I have this problem primarily with labels I'm attaching to a product. They're small.

Can you see why it would be difficult to put a pin through this and they try and sew around it?? Not to mention it would slide. Seriously makes me want to pull my hair out

Enter the miracle fix....DOUBLE STICK TAPE....it will save you so much frustration, trust me!

Just put a couple tiny pieces on the back

And stick it where you want. Works like a charm!

Hope this helps in your sewing adventures :)

Valentine's for the Kiddo

2012-02-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

I'm not big on the store bought valentine's for kids. They're all just, yuck. It's the same cartoon characters and dumb sayings. And seriously, the kids just bring them home and trash them anyway. So I helped the kiddo make her own. She loves to do crafts, so this was perfect for her. And the best part, she could do the whole project on her own with just a little guidance from me. WIN WIN!!

I made her a template to trace for the hearts. I also typed and printed the saying for them.

She did all the cutting and gluing. I think they are cute!

I just think personal, handmade valentine's are so much better. Are you with me on this one??

{Sewing Tip Tuesday} #2

2012-02-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Are you ready for another sewing tip? I know you are...

Ok so this one isn't my own tip, it's from Martha Stewart. She's so smart...even though I bet "she" didn't actually come up with this tip, her staff did...but I love her all the same.

I'm pretty sure this one photo will explain it all, so here ya go!

Martha Stewart

Do you see what's happening here? When hemming something, draw a line on cardstock for how large you want your hem to be, then just match your fabric edge to the line and iron! SOOO GENIUS!! I'm actually bummed I can't take credit for this one. I do have one of those metal seam guide thingy's, but this looks like it would save so much time!

However, I have one issue...if your fabric isn't cut straight, this wouldn't work as well. A perfect, accurate cut of fabric is essential, mmmkay

Don't you think this is fabulous?? That Martha, she's da bomb!

{Sewing Tip Tuesday} #1

2012-01-31T06:00:00.003-06:00

Welcome!! I'm so excited to start a new series today!!

This tip is one of my own. It uses some of these....

And this is what I use them for...

See how think all that fabric is?? How can you possibly put a pin through that?? Uh, the answer is, you can't. Back when I sewed my very first lanyard I sat in my sewing room looking for a better way to hold a thick section of fabric together, the pin just wasn't cuttin it. The light bulb went off when I saw a binder clip, hooray!

So now I do this all the time. Just clip them around your piece and remove them right before the fabric goes under your machine. They have enough strength to keep your fabrics from sliding around. Works like a charm!

I also did this when I made my Manly Tablet Cover. Try it out next time you have thicker fabric!

Another instance ~~I just thought of~~ that you might use this for is if you have a material you might not want to poke holes in. Like, in the pictures above, I wouldn't want to poke holes in that vinyl because, you know, they aren't going to close up!

Not a bad tip huh? Go use it!

Schedules

2012-01-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

My name is Meredith and I'm an inconsistent blogger.

I might blog on Monday and then again on Friday, or another day, or not at all. I might not blog for 2 weeks at a time. Then there's the occasional week that I blog 5 times {gotta pat myself on the back for those weeks}! All of this inconsistency tends to upset me. It's in the back of my mind while I'm at work. It keeps me up at night. It leads to further procrastination and self-loathing. See, I have a problem. I don't like to start things I can't finish or have the potential to fail at. So if I don't have the time to complete an entire project that I want to blog about, then I won't start it. Then I have nothing to blog about. So sad.

In my attempt to become a better blogger for you, and for me, I am trying to come up with some sort of schedule that I can rely on each week. I don't have definitive plans yet, but I'm working on it. Hopefully you will see the changes, and consistencies, in the next few weeks. Woot!

First thing I'm going to start doing is a series called Sewing Tip Tuesday! Every week I will share a sewing tip that either I use in my sewing or one I've seen online that I want to share. I'm pretty excited about it! I've been writing down these tips I want to blog about and have enough that I thought a series would be a great way to share them with you! What do you think? Do you like the idea?

For those of you that have your own blog, how do you deal with being consistent?
Do you have a schedule?
Would you be interested in a linky party on here to get to know new people and blogs?
Any suggestions for you what you would like to see here?

Don't forget, tomorrow starts...

EEEEK! I'm so excited!

{Noreply-comment} Bloggers

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

Are you a "noreply-comment" blogger??? If you don't know what that means, let me fill you in...When someone posts a comment on my page, I get an email notifying me of the comment. In the "From" box it shows your name and either your email address or "noreply-comment@blogger.com". I make every effort to reply to every single comment that I get. However, if your account is set to hide your email address, then I can't reply :( <---see that sad face?? I would LOVE to reply to all your comments.

SO, if you want to change your settings {pretty please} so I can reply to your comments, do the following...

1. Go to your blogger dashboard
2. Click on Edit Profile
3. Check the little box that says Show My Email Address
4. Save your settings

Done and done! So easy. So won't you please change? I pinky promise I will talk to you!

Bathroom Remodel

2012-01-19T05:00:00.001-06:00

Seeing as how our house was built in the 70's, we have 2 of the ugliest bathrooms EVER! No joke, they make me want to barf. I'm going to apologize in advance, I don't have very good before pictures. This remodel was not planned and took over a year, working on it all bit by bit. The bulk of it was actually done before I even started this blog. I never blogged about it because we never replaced the floor...it was hideous. I finally convinced Mr Perfect over Christmas to put a new floor in. I love it now!

So here's what we started with...

This picture was actually taken when we were doing our final walk through before signing on the house in 2009. It seems to be the ONLY before picture I have :( Sad story. As you can kinda see, there are ugly, nasty shower doors {I hate those things}...a marble countertop complete with flecks of gold, and a sink to match...dark ugly dated vanity...gray-ish, blue-ish, white-ish walls...and lets not look passed all that lovely yellow/camel colored tile. It pretty much covers the whole bathroom.

And here is a cell phone picture of the new tile we put down for the floor...but you can see the beautiful linoleum we had before. Gag

So here's the deal...we aren't made of money so gutting the bathroom and starting over was not an option. We had to work with what we've got. The yellow tile had to stay. But it's ok...I went with the yellow/gray color scheme! The vanity also had to stay, and the countertop. But that's ok too...paint is my best friend. And thank goodness there are countertop paints out there now!

Ok, so I know you are dying to see it...

if the colors vary, blame it on the fact that there's no natural light in a bathroom :(

I don't usually put my shower curtain up so high, but the kiddo broke the tension on the rod...it won't stay up now unless it's above those tiles...and let's face it, that's an expensive rod and I'm too cheap to buy another one. Thanks kid

Ignore the lower right corner where a couple tiles are missing...they popped off when the floor was installed and Mr Perfect hasn't glued them back on yet.

To see my project involving that little shelf and the vases, go here

I pretty much love it! I did all the painting and Mr Perfect tiled the floor....not too shabby for his first time!

Your thoughts??

One of those days

2012-01-18T17:59:00.000-06:00

Do you ever have one of those days where you get in a fight with your sewing machine?? Yeah well, today, is one of those days. GRR!! I don't know what her issue is with me today...yes I called my machine "her"...I think today her name will be Bertha because I think that name is awful and today, Bertha is acting awful. She ate my fabric. She spit some thread at me. And I had to waste a ton of thread when it broke while winding a bobbin! I mean seriously, what is her problem?!?! Tomorrow I WILL win! So watch out Bertha, I'm coming for ya!

PS. I've had a twitch in my lower eye lid for 11 days now. It's seriously annoying. That is all

DIY Jewelry Rocks!

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

I LOVE making my own jewelry! Especially when it's easy to do {tehe} I'm definitely NO expert at jewelry making, but I've made a couple things lately that I'm pretty proud of {enter noise of my horn tooting}

Whatcha think? Anyone else like it like I do?

Paper Flower Tutorial

2012-01-17T05:00:00.002-06:00

This tutorial comes as a request from my sister-in-law. We are going to make the easiest paper flowers EVER! I used them on my crayon garden project

I also made hundreds of them for my wedding a couple years ago. We used them in corsages and boutonnieres, on the cake, and as table decoration.

Ahh, so pretty.....can I have another wedding??? No? Darn

Moving on

Here's what you need...
*Scissors
*Glue Gun
*Cardstock square

I cut a square that is about 3.5" x 4". You can use any size paper. The size of your flower will depend on the size of your square.

Ok, so next cut a circle out of your square. It doesn't have to be perfect by any means. I just eyeball it. Then cut a spiral out of your circle.

The width of your spiral will determine the height of your flower. I try and keep it pretty even all the way around. Also, make sure you leave a little circle in the center like I did. You'll see why.

Next you start rolling the spiral from the outside.

Roll it all the way to the center.

At this point you can leave the flower nice and tightly rolled like this one, or you can loosen it up a bit. To loosen it up, hold on to it loosely and just let it unroll until you are satisfied with it. Doing this will make your flower slightly larger in diameter.

Once you get the size how you would like, put some hot glue under that little circle from the middle of your spiral. That circle makes a base for the flower.

And that's it! Use them to embellish anything you want...make them out of felt or paper. Super easy peasy right!?

Oh SNAP!

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

I have these two pins on Pinterest that I've been wanting to recreate for a while now.

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Here's mine :)

I love cameras!

xoxo
Meredith

Organizing Makes Me Happy

2012-01-14T05:15:00.002-06:00

Doesn't organizing make everyone happy???

Do you have a cabinet that looks like this? I bet you do, we all do. This one is above my stove. Drives me nutty! AH! I mean seriously, I don't even know what's in there.

Oh look, this is what was in there! More crap than I realized...{minus the crockpot...that has dinner in it}

Ahhhh, that's more like it. The rest of the crap when buh-bye! Bonus: I cleaned off the top of the fridge by putting those lunch boxes up there :)

I feel the stress melting away....now if only I could get back to that beach in California...

Go get organized!
Meredith

I'm Leaving...On a Jet Plane

2012-01-05T18:54:00.001-06:00

Don't know when I'll be back again...

Just a little joke...I'll be back Tuesday evening :)

Mr. Perfect and I are heading to sunny California, Los Angeles! We are going to see his grandparents, who I have never met before. We are sooo excited! Saturday we have a little side trip too...driving to San Diego to pick up Mr. Perfect's parents from his dad's work conference. It's going to be such a fun little trip for us. And MUCH needed! This is the first trip we've had since our honeymoon.

I didn't have time to get any posts planned out while I am gone, but not to fear dear readers, I will be back soon and I have lots planned! Plus I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to share ;)

Anywho, toot-a-loo!

Much Love~
Meredith

Piano Runner

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001-06:00

I recently decided to decorate my formal living room...yes I've lived in my house for 2 years and haven't touched that room yet...don't judge. You may have seen my painted curtains and my flower painting that are in the living room now. I also have a piano in there that I've been working on decorating. It's been looking weird and I couldn't figure out why. Then it occurred to me...I need a runner! There was too much wood...it looked naked!

I didn't really have time or the desire really to go searching for the perfect fabric or even take the time to make one. Blame it on too much to do in too little time...or laziness. So I used the same fabric I used on my pillow shams for the love seat in our bedroom. This project literally took me 10 minutes. It's not the most complicated or spectacular project ever, but it works for now and that's all I care about.

I actually have stuff sitting on top of the runner, but I took these pictures before I decided what to put up there. It really does look nicer with stuff on top, I pinky swear :)

Much Love~
Meredith

A Bed for the Poochy

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

My dog Carmen is in DESPERATE need of a new dog bed. With that being said, let me tell you why I dislike dog beds....

1. They are too expensive for how quickly they wear out
2. The ones that are relatively cheap, don't have zippers to wash the outer shell
3. If you can take the outer shell off, the inside can't be washed

These things lead to a smelly dog bed and a smelly dog. No fun.

Oh, and let's not forget that dog beds get flat super fast. I then feel guilty that my baby girl doesn't have a nice plush place to lay down.

Let's just take a look at what her bed(s), yes I said beds, look like

She definitely looks comfy on her 3 beds, but seriously, they are gross.

So I bought some super cheap fleece at Joann's black friday sale and made her a new bed.
It was super easy. I just folded the fabric in half, sewed in a quick short zipper on one end and then filled it with old towels I cut into strips. Now I can wash the outer shell AND the inside stuffing. Everything will stay so fresh and so clean! Win Win!

I think she digs it!

Much Love~
Meredith

Beads for Momma

2012-01-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

This year for Christmas my dad, my sister and I all bought my mom some fancy shmancy sewing/embroidery machine. But it's always nice to open more than one present right?

I had these beads I got from my sis-in-law. She works for Silpada Jewelry. She gave me a huge bag of discontinued beads...how lucky am I?!?!

So I used some of those jade beads to make my mom a simple bracelet.

Hope she likes it!

Much Love~
Meredith

My 2011 Favorites

2011-12-31T10:32:00.001-06:00

I can't believe another year has flown by already! Sheesh.

Anywho, I know I haven't had this blog ALL year long but I've seen a lot of people doing end-of-the-year recaps of their favorites or most popular posts or whatever. So here's my 12 favorite blog posts/projects from this year...meaning, mid-april till now :) Oh, and I would do a countdown, but I just can't pick a favorite! UGH, I just LOVE all my projects!! Does that make me conceited or narcissistic?? Oh well, it's my blog and I can brag if I want to ....right?!?

In NO particular order ;)

Manly Tablet Cover

Refashioned Shirt and Skirt

Statement Necklace

Melted Crayon Garden

Chalkboard Door

Braided T Shirt Bracelet

Yarn Word Art

DIY Halloween Costumes

The best yarn trick ever

Toilet Paper Tube Art

Interchangeable Flower Headband

Mod Podged Plates

So there you have it, my favorites from 2011 :) Can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

Wishing everyone a prosperous and safe New Year!!

Much Love~
Meredith

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T06:00:00.006-06:00

The last day of the year is here. Doesn't it always seem to go by too fast?!?

2011 was a pretty good year at our house...

*We celebrated our first wedding anniversary
*I started this blog :)
*We completed several home improvements projects that have been on the to-do list since we bought the house
*We put ourselves on a serious budget and have made huge progress towards eliminating debt
*I was offered space in a local boutique to sell my handmade items
*Mr. Perfect completed all his "training" that he's been doing for the last 15 months at his job
*We have had lots of good times and created more memories

Not too shabby right?

I have a feeling 2012 will be even better for us! ...just an inkling ;)

Today we are going to do something fun (movie or bowling) with the kiddo as a reward. We recently started a new discipline system and seems to be working! YAY!! Tonight Mr. Perfect has to work (he bartends on weekends) and I have the kiddo with me. I think we are going to watch some movies and have a spa party!! Should be a fantastic day to end the year :)

Hope everyone enjoys their New Year's celebrations and starts off 2012 in a good way

See you next year peeps!
Meredith

Custom Goodie Tins

2011-12-30T06:00:00.002-06:00

This year for Christmas Mr Perfect and I decided to give tins filled with baked goodies to some of the adults in our families. We have TONS of nieces and nephews and our own kiddo and each other to buy for and let's face it, we aren't made of $$$.

I bought these tins at Wally World for $3

Cute, but they needed something.

Enter...chalkboard paint!

Paint the lids...

And then write everyone's names on them :)

Fill with goodies and make everyone smile. Easy Peasy!

Much Love~
Meredith

Manly Tablet Cover

2011-12-29T06:00:00.001-06:00

Manly Tablet Cover

For Christmas my mom bought my dad a Toshiba Thrive {lucky dog}. I sewed him a very manly cover for it. I used a leather looking vinyl I bought at Joann's. I wanted to use leather, but I'm not sure where to buy leather around here, so knock off leather it is. I did use a leather needle to make sure my machine didn't throw a fit. I also used heavy duty thread to give it a better look. The inside is lined with felt so his screen is completely protected from scratches. I think the word he used on Christmas morning was "perfect". Yeah, that's right, perfect. {smiles}

Whatcha think? I'm happy I could sew something for my dad. I've given handmade gifts to most of my family members, but the guys are always the hardest. Hopefully he keeps using it :)

Much Love~
Meredith

I had a VIRUS!

2011-12-28T11:42:00.001-06:00

UGH!! My computer has had a virus for almost a week! Not happy that it happened, but my parents are wonderful tech nerds and fixed it YAY! No fear my friends, I have quite a few projects to share :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family! Not everything went as planned around here, but it was still a great holiday :)

Stay tuned!
Meredith

Inappropriate followers

2011-12-20T18:10:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure if anyone else out there has problems like this, but I need advice if you do...

In the past month I've gotten 2 followers that are obviously spam. Their profile pictures are completely inappropriate and I don't want them displayed on my page. I've blocked them individually when I've seen them appear.

So my question is, can I prevent this from happening in the first place?? Is there a security measure I can put on my blog to prevent such things from happening?

HELP!!

Much Love~
Meredith

Painting Knock Off

2011-12-15T06:00:00.002-06:00

I don't want to steal other people's creativity, so I'm going to make sure I give proper credit for this one. I saw this painting on Pinterest and thought it was oh so perfect for my new orange living room and very darling. I had to recreate it on my own!

The Elephant's Trunk

And here's my version!

I pretty much love it! {swoon}

And in case you didn't notice it yesterday, it looks just great with my new orange bay window and ombre curtains

Much Love~
Meredith

Painted Curtains

2011-12-14T06:00:00.004-06:00

I recently painted my living room. We've been in this house for 2 years and it's never been painted. It's actually never been decorated or designated as any specific room. It's just been this unfinished eye sore of a room you see as you walk in the house. Ugh. Image a long room with one long wall, two walls that are huge archways that take up most of the wall, and the last wall is mostly a giant bay window. One archway opens into the dining room and the other the entryway. It's basically just a pass-through room. What do you do with these kinds of rooms?? I have a piano in there that can't go anywhere else in the house, so that's stuck. It has to go on the long wall. I can't have any sofas in there because where would they go?? SOO frustrating. Hence the reason I haven't done a thing to that room the last 2 years.

Ok, on to the point of this post {tehe}. I painted the room. The long wall is an orange, the side walls are white and the wall around the bay window is also white. The alcove the bay window is in is orange. We think it looks nice without being overwhelming. So I've seen several pins of painted curtains that I really liked. {didn't even know you could do that!}

I took a full size flat bed sheet that I got for $5 from Wally World and cut it down the middle and hemmed the split. Then I taped out my stripes on a drop cloth

Of course I painted them next :) I was going for an ombre effect on them. It turned out so-so

Then hung them up! I'm not totally sold on them. The paint didn't end up completely even which infuriates me. It's not noticeable when its dark, but when the sun is shining through them, like it does allllll day long, it's very noticeable. I wanted to take them down and scrap the whole project as a big fat FAIL, but Mr. Perfect wouldn't let me. He said I had worked too hard on them. Still not sure if I should listen to him or not...but for now they are staying....I guess...maybe...

I hate when things don't go exactly as planned. Oh well.

Much Love~
Meredith

PS. See that painting over there? Look a close up on that beauty tomorrow ;)

Fuzzy Coloring Page Thingy

2011-12-12T06:00:00.002-06:00

I don't know what they are called. You know those coloring pages for kids that are black and fuzzy and you color in the lines?? My mom bought this giant floor book filled with those things for my kiddo. Most of the pages tear into small individual sheets that have birds and monkeys and kid things on them. BUT, there was one, that looks like a kaleidoscope, stained glass window type design. It's huge, the size of the book. My kiddo of course tosses it aside. Can I have it?? She says sure!

I used her markers when she was at school...sshhhh. I used colors that are in my dining room (navy, lime and white) and my living room (orange and white). It's going to hang on a wall in the living room right next to the opening to the dining room to kinda tie the two rooms together. I dig it. I'm going to frame it...black frame, white mat.

Too juvenile? Mr. Perfect doesn't mind. I like it.

Much Love~
Meredith

Christmas Mantle

2011-12-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

I don't go all out and decorate my entire house for Christmas. I also don't do a million Christmas crafts. I work full time, and quite frankly don't have the time. I do put up a tree and decorate my mantle though.

That's as good as it gets around here hehe

I made this wreath last year for Christmas to hang on the door. I really liked it. The problem was (I've talked about this before, sorry) it melts in the doorway! It's made with hot glue. The heat between my doors melts the glue, the beads fall off and my felt droops. It's a huge mess. So sad. But, it looks fab on my mantle!!

Not sure why that bottom leaf looks bluish..It think some light is reflecting back from the mirror and shining through the thin felt. Hmmm...mysteries...

I like this one better than the winter wreath I posted about earlier this week. Too bad I can't put it on the door

Much Love~
Meredith

Tablet Cover

2011-12-08T06:00:00.001-06:00

My best friend on the planet, Jamie, turned the big 30 on Monday. She's officially in her 30's while I still have another 5.5 months in my 20's HA!

Last month when Rebel Roxie Rose opened and my products went in their store, Jamie drove over an hour to their store for their grand opening. She bought a tote bag of mine! She's such a great friend! I'm so blessed to have been her friend for the last 25 years. Anywho, she hinted that she would like a matching cover for her Toshiba Thrive. Hello birthday gift!

Please excuse my super crappy cell phone pictures. It was night time, and I had to take them quick, the cell was all I had.

I didn't have very much of the fabric left that the tote bag was made out of so I had to use small pieces. Then I added the embroidered bird on the front flap. I think it ties the front to the back a little better, and makes the front not so plain. It really was stinkin cute!! Hope she enjoys it. From what I hear she carries the tote bag to work every day :)

Much Love~
Meredith

A Winter Wreath

2011-12-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

My bro-in-law has been giving me grief over my fall wreath on my door. Seriously, the DAY after Thanksgiving he was wanting to know where my Christmas wreath was. Sheesh, cut a girl some slack would ya??

So I had a lack of creativity on this one. I'm not entirely happy with it, but we're gonna roll with it just for the sake of having a wreath on the door :)

I used the crochet snowflakes I made a couple weeks ago.

I also used the wreath trick I wrote about last month. It took me approximately 6 minutes to wrap this whole wreath! Woot!

So that's it, a winter wreath!

Much Love~
Meredith

Felt Flower Tutorial

2011-11-29T16:56:00.001-06:00

I had a request to show how I made the flowers I put on my fall wreath

Start with a strip of felt about 2 inches wide and the length of one of those felt sheets you can buy at the craft store

Fold it in half and hot glue just along the edge

Then make cuts about 1/4 inch wide along the folded edge. I cut about 1/4 inch from the hot glued edge.

Roll it up and hot glue the end

Turn it over and fluff!

To make the ones that look like these...

....cut the slits at a slight angle

I also tried one where I gradually make the slits wider as a worked down my trip. It turned out like star looking flower.

They are pretty stinkin easy to make. And seriously take like 5 minutes tops.

Experiment!

Much Love~
Meredith

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2011-11-24T06:00:00.003-06:00

via

10 Things I am thankful for:

*The most loving supportive husband a gal could have

*A step-daughter, who at times I clash with, is still a blessing

*A great family who would do anything for us

*A nice place to call Home

*Bills that are paid for and a cushion in the bank account :)

*Chocolate

*My puppy dog...she sure makes me smile

*The one person who is always your friend no matter what...Jamie

*My general health

*The internet, because I would be bored without it

What are you thankful for??

Hope everyone enjoys the day. Spend it with whomever you call family!

Much Love~

Meredith

Crochet Snowflakes

2011-11-21T12:42:00.001-06:00

HELLO!!!

I'm still alive. I know I have been MIA for the last couple weeks. I was sick for what seems like forever. I was on a medication {for something unrelated to my cold} that gave me some funky side effects. I basically felt like I was in a fog for days. And lets face it, I've been lazy...and kinda busy...kinda. But I'm back! Woot!

So remember at the beginning of October I said I was going to follow this Crochet School?? Yeah well, I only made it half-way through and I dropped out. EEK! I'm a sorry drop out. I sucked at it. Not at the crocheting part, but I couldn't count stitches for some reason. Every row I did I lost a stitch somewhere. So instead of a nice rectangular block or stitches, I had a triangle :-( I even had my mom {expert} try and show me. Yeah, I still suck. BUT, my mom did show me how to make a basic granny square, that I've since forgotten, and I was pretty good at that. Point to the story is, I found this pattern to make snowflakes the other day and thought I would give it a shot. Turns out I can read and follow a pattern all by myself with NO mommy-help-me phone calls and NO google! As long as I stick to crocheting in the round I might do okay with it...which is okay with me! I'll just stick to knitting for anything that involves rows.

You can find the pattern I used here at Attic 24

They were so super easy. I'm thinking of making a bunch of them while I watch tv and stringing them together for some garland. Sound good?

Much Love~
Meredith

{Giveaway Winner!!}

2011-11-15T17:54:00.001-06:00

About time right?!?!?
It's only been like 2 weeks (maybe longer, who's counting) since I announced my giveaway for 100 followers :)
Sorry it's taken so long.
I've been sick and super busy and just feeling all around lazy...everyone's entitled to that right?

So without any more of my blabber...

The winner is

Evan Becky

Woot!!!

email me so you can have your lovely pouch!!

Much Love~
Meredith

Where have I been??

2011-11-10T13:40:00.001-06:00

Sick!!
I have been sick
It doesn't seem like it's going away either
UGH!!!!!

Last week was super duper busy trying to get inventory together and tags printed and priced to drop off at the boutique I'm selling in now. So this week, I'm pooped. I have had NO motivation to do anything but sit, catch up on my blogs and my tv and sleep. Sorry dear readers, I will do something productive and worth-while here soon. I think I'm going to paint my living room this weekend, so look for that next week :)

Also, I still haven't picked a winner for my "100 followers" giveaway yet.
Still time to enter to win this ruffled pouch!!

Go HERE to enter!!!

I will return soon...pinkie promise

Much Love~
Meredith

Halloween Costumes

2011-11-02T05:00:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween!!

He had a good time here.

Went trick or treating at my brother-in-law's with cousins and family.

{My kiddo is the one with the poodle skirt and the fake smile lol}

Now for my costume.

I wore it to go out Saturday night.

Remember this vest I made??

Did you guess what I was going to be??

a PEACOCK

I made the vest, the tail and the skirt.

Whatcha think??

I thought I did a pretty darn good job {and I'm oh so humble ;)}

And just for fun, here's one of me and Mr. Perfect

He was a zombie...if you couldn't tell...tehe

Oooooh so much fun!

I just love dressing up at Halloween!

Much Love~

Meredith

{Big News AND a Giveaway}

2011-11-01T21:08:00.002-05:00

First up, my HUGE news...

I was contacted last week by a boutique that is opening in a couple weeks not that far from my town

They are featuring handmade products all made within 250 miles of the store

And I'm sure you can see where this is going....

They want me to be one of their vendors!!

AHHHHHHH!!!! SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!

I can't wait to see my stuff sitting on a pretty little shelf in a boutique!

So I apologize to my readers for my absence, but I've been a busy bee, sewing up a storm

The unfortunate news is that I'm going to be shutting down my Etsy store for a while until I see how this pans out.

I drop off inventory this weekend

Wish me luck!

Now, on to the GIVEAWAY!!

In a post a couple weeks ago I said I wanted to do a giveaway when I got 100 followers

Well looky looky over in the sidebar...I have 100 followers!!

I'm so appreciative of every single one of you!

SO on to the goods...I'm giving away this zippered pouch to one of YOU!

Isn't it pretty? I know you want it :)

Here's how to win

Leave me a comment about....anything!! Say something funny, tell me a secret, whatever :)

I'll pick a random winner on Sunday!

Much Love~
Meredith

I dress up for Halloween

2011-10-28T05:00:00.002-05:00

and I love it!

Halloween is so fun!

You can dress up and be as crazy as you want!

I made this vest out of a bed sheet as part of my costume

I'm a teensy bit sad I'm going to screw it up for a costume because I'm pretty much in love with it. I might have to make another one....out of real fabric and not a sheet hehe

So what am I going to be?????

You'll have to wait and see...

Much Love~

Meredith

Fall Wreath

2011-10-27T05:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I showed you my BEST wreath trick ever

Awesome right?

Now to reveal my wreath!

I can't use glues on wreaths because my front door is an oven and everything melts...

...so how did I solve this problem?

I stuck those flowers on with sewing pins. There's a pin hidden in the middle of each flower. And the ribbon is held on with pins also.

Pretty smart right??

Now I can finally have a successful wreath on my door!

Oh, I should mention, I hung this wreath up last week and it was fabulous. BUT the heat presented a new problem I didn't foresee....my pipe insulation started to soften and droop. My wreath was more of a sagging egg hanging on the front door. It was sad. So I took it down and thought on it for days. Then I had another genius moment...I poked a wire hanger inside that piece of insulation and ran it all around the inside. Now it has structure and stays in a circle :) Next time I will be putting a hanger in before I duct tape the ends together.

I'm so happy with my fall wreath!

I'm also happy I've defeated the oven between my doors! Take that!

I sent a cell picture to Mr Perfect of the wreath

His response...wasn't, "looks great", or "I love it", or "I've always dreamed of a wreath like that"....no, he said "There's nothing that says 'a woman lives here' like a wreath on the door"

Thanks babe, really.

Men...

News flash...I'm a woman, I live here, and we're having wreaths from now on!

Much Love~

Meredith

The BEST wreath trick ever!

2011-10-26T05:00:00.003-05:00

Raise your hand if you like a yarn covered wreath??
ME ME I DO!!

But first, here's my list of problems with a yarn wreath...
A. I can't hang any wreath on my door that has glue. My front door faces south with no shade all day. I tell ya, it's hotter than my oven! I tried hanging a wreath last Christmas and the dang thing melted!!
B. Wrapping all that yarn on a wreath form is TIME CONSUMING...a total drain. I don't like it.
C. Let's face it, wreath forms are expensive!

With that being said, I've seen this trick floating around blogland so I won't claim that it's mine...
...go to the hardware store and buy a 6' piece of foam pipe insulation, and cut it in half. Then duct tape the ends together and presto! 2 wreath forms for less than $2!

Now on to MY new trick!!
If you like yarn wreaths, you're going to LOVE this!
It is the BIGGEST time saver EVER!

Take your insulation piece

BEFORE you tape it, wrap it! This is seriously soooooo much easier than passing that ball of yarn from front to back of a wreath form. I timed myself, and it only took 12 minutes to wrap this 3' piece!!

So then go ahead and tape it together. I used duct tape.

And wrap that little section. I timed myself on that little section too and it took me 5 minutes. Imagine how long it would have taken me to wrap the whole thing at that pace! {longer than I want to spend on it}

Tell me that's not the BEST wreath trick ever!

Tomorrow I will show you the wreath I made from this and tell you how I solved problem {A} from above :)

I feel like a genius haha

Much Love~

Meredith

Sometimes I doodle...

2011-10-25T12:27:00.002-05:00

Bored?

Make a doodle!

Much Love~

Meredith

Ruffle Scarf #2

2011-10-19T04:30:00.002-05:00

And yet, another scarf tutorial!

This one is made from another ill-fitting, wonky, too small, long-sleeved shirt that I hate, but is soooo soft.

Start with a shirt

Trace several paper plate circles on it. I did 2 on the front, 2 on the back

Cut out each circle. Then cut them into a spiral. It doesn't have to perfect by any means, just make sure you don't cut it very thin. I have about 1.5" thickness all the way around. After you have the spirals cut, stretch them all out. They will be very ruffly!

Cut a little square. It doesn't have to be very big. I didn't measure.

Take all your strips and wrap the little square around the middle of them {where the back of the scarf is...hope that makes sense} I hot glued, but you can use fabric glue if you want

Then wear it! I just wrapped mine in a loop around my neck.

Hope you make one for yourself!

Of course if you use more than one shirt it will be thicker. Just do what you like!

Much Love~
Meredith

Crayon Garden

2011-10-18T04:30:00.002-05:00

Have you seen all the melted crayon art like this one on Pinterest and around bloggyland??

source

Ok I think they are AWESOME!!

However, I don't like the rainbow effect...maybe for a kids room or a playroom, but I need grown up art.

I also don't like the crayons glued on top...again, kinda juvenile.

Here's my spin on it and how I did it.

I used a bunch of random crayons that I stole, um, borrowed from the kid while she was at school {hey she prefers markers anyway} I taped them all to a velveeta box with painters tape.

I rested the edge of the cardboard on the top edge of the canvas so my crayons hung over the top just a wee bit

Then bust out the blow dryer and melt away! I'm not gonna lie...it's time consuming...lots of waiting...like watching grass grow...seriously

I kinda made a mess

And splattered some crayon on the wall...and maybe my carpet. But it's cool...I'm painting that wall next month and the floors are getting replaced in the spring.

So here's where I stopped

I flipped it upside-down and added some paper flowers I made.

And I have a grown up piece of crayon artwork!

I love!

Please protect your walls and floors better than I did if you attempt this :)

Much Love~

Meredith

Infinity T-shirt Scarf

2011-10-17T04:30:00.004-05:00

Fall is the best time for scarves, don'tcha think??

Yeppers, I do!

So I made that purple ruffle scarf last week and I have 2 more scarves for you that you can make from a shirt or some scrap knit fabric.

I have several of these cheap-o shirts from Kohl's that I've had for years. They are ill-fitting, too short, and have wonky seams...but are sooooo soft. Perfect for an upcycle!

Here's what I started with

{warning: picture overload!}

Cut off under armpit of shirt

Cut body of shirt into strips around 1.5"

Stretch all the strips. The edges will curl up

Cut 2 squares to cover the side seams on the strips. I just used the cuff on my shirt.

Line up all the side seams

Wrap squares around the side seams. I hot glued it shut because it was quick, but you could use fabric glue if you plan on washing it.

Ta-da!

Wear it with the cover-up squares in the front

Or in the back!

Or wear it long! You pick :)

Go cut up an old soft shirt!

Look for another T-shirt scarf upcycle on Wednesday!

Much Love~

Meredith

Progress

2011-10-12T18:46:00.001-05:00

How is crochet school at Craftyminx coming along?

Pretty good.

Not the best photo in the world, but whatevs

I think I'm getting the hang of it!

Much Love~
Meredith

A Halloween Costume

2011-10-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

What kind of Halloween costume does this stack of materials make??

A Poodle Skirt of course!

The kiddo picked this as her costume this year. Thank goodness it was simple and SUPER easy to make!

the shadows are colors are kind weird right here...guess that's what I get for photographing at night! lol

I feel so relieved that I've got it done and I don't have to stress about a time crunch!

Next up, MY costume...

Shop Update

2011-10-02T15:01:00.003-05:00

I opened an Etsy store at the beginning of the summer. I didn't have much to list, but I did it anyway. It's been a major fail. I've had no sales :( I'm actually kinda embarrassed to even write that. It has been a very discouraging summer for me. I can't say I'm completely surprised though. I didn't do much to promote it. I didn't add new items. I just put it out there and expected it to do it's thing...uh...what was I thinking? Then my busy time at work started and I just didn't have the time to devote to building my shop. Especially when I have been concentrating on building a blog. UGH! So much to do, so little time...story of my life. Well this has all been a nagging in the back of my mind that I'm stressing about. I'm in a position where I loathe my job almost every day (hope my boss doesn't read this) and I want to quit. But I can't do that financially. Mr Perfect is working on making some changes in his job situation, but until he does I'm stuck at my exhausting job. I would love nothing more than to be able to quit my job, but still help support our household through my blog and more specifically my shop. So I've been working my little tail off to revamp my shop! I took all new photos and listed more items. I have plans for some more items and different products to add here soon as well.

I would really appreciate some feedback from anyone that would be willing to take a look at the shop since I made the changes. Do you like it? Does everything look okay? Pricing okay? It's really great to have such wonderful support on my blog. I'm hoping to get some support for my shop as well. I've also thought about doing a giveaway on someone else's blog to get some exposure....email me if you are interested!!

Okay, so go check out the new, updated, hopefully more successful, shop!

Haute To Sew The Shop

Much Love~

Meredith

Crochet School

2011-10-01T14:23:00.001-05:00

I stumbled upon Craftyminx today.
She's doing a crochet school on her blog for the month of October

AHHH!!

Look at all the awesome things I could make if I learned to crochet!

source


source

Wanna learn to??

Go check it out!

Much Love~Meredith

5 Bits of Randomness

2011-10-01T05:30:00.001-05:00

1. What is your Zodiac sign?

Gemini...and seriously, this fits me to a T. I read my horoscope almost daily on my phone...it's never wrong.

2. Name 3 things that are always in your purse besides your wallet.

My calendar (I have never gotten into digital calendars), lip gloss (ok like 6 of them), and my Nook.

3. Which magazines do you look at the most?

Better Homes and Gardens

4. Do you pluck or get your eyebrows waxed?

I had my eyebrows waxed ONE time and said NEVER again! I pluck.

5. How often do you go grocery shopping?

Um, I don't! Here's the situation...Mr. Perfect cooks everything, thus he does all the shopping. He also cooks for my brother-in-law and sis-in-law daily...they give us grocery $, Mr. Perfect doubles his dinners, they pick it up every evening and everyone's happy. So, to answer the question, I grocery shop once a month when I go to Walmart in the middle of the night for a munchy trip LOL

Ruffle Scarf

2011-09-29T22:09:00.002-05:00

I'm not a cold weather person...like at all!

I hate cold.

BUT, I do LOVE a cute scarf!!

I whipped this one up in about 10 minutes.

I am swooning over the ruffles!

So here's how you make one...

{I didn't take pics of all the steps because it's pretty simple}

Lay out your knit fabric with it still folded in half off the bolt.

Cut a strip 6" wide

Sew a straight line 2" from the edge on each side of the strip.

Backstitch when you start

At the end, don't backstitch, just cut your thread off

Then pull the bottom thread until you have enough ruffles and tie thread off in a knot.

Repeat 2" from the other edge

Wrap around neck and add cute brooch or pin :)

Voila!

haha, yes that's a chandelier behind my head!

I'm standing on a chair in my dining room taking this pic in a mirror tehe

I want to make more of these scarves in colors like turquoise and yellow!!

Much Love~

Meredith

Future Giveaway??

2011-09-29T04:00:00.000-05:00

I've noticed that I'm nearing 100 followers!

I wasn't really sure I would enjoy blogging when I started at the beginning of the summer, but I do :)

I'm so thankful for all of my followers

And for everyone that takes the time to leave me comments

I love checking my email every day and seeing a new comment!

So to give back and show my appreciation I'm going to do a giveaway when I reach 100 followers!

Doesn't that sound like fun??

Not sure what I'm going to give away...something I will make!

So tell your friends!

Much Love to you ALL~

Meredith

A Little Organization Makes Life Better

2011-09-28T16:58:00.000-05:00

Do you have junk drawers?

'cmon, everyone does!

I hate them...they make me frustrated

ENTER...Dollar Tree

They have the best little baskets

Gadgets go from this

To this!

And my super stuffed bathroom drawer goes from this...

To this!

LOL my leg looks a little creepy, like it's miniature compared to the drawer!

That's about all the motivation I've had this week.

Getting up at 4:30am every day is such a drag.

Much Love~

Meredith

Snap Up Sleeves

2011-09-22T04:30:00.003-05:00

In case you missed it, I guest posted on Oops I Craft My Pants last week.

Today I'm going to show you how to cutesy up your sleeves, with a little EASY sewing and a couple snaps.

I started with this yucky, boxy, totally NOT flattering shirt.

If you want to see what I did to make it form fitting go here

After I slimmed the shirt up a bit, I shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length. I'm going to be doing a tutorial on that early next week, so be on the lookout ;)

So I took what fabric I had leftover from the sleeves and I cut 4 strips about 9 inches long and 1.25 inches wide.

Place 2 strips right sides together and with 1/4 seam allowance, sew up one side, make a rounded top and sew down the other side, be sure to backstitch.

Trim off the excess around the rounded end (say that 5 times fast!)

Turn them both right side out, press, top stitch all the way around. Now you need to decide how much gathering on the sleeves you want and where you want to places your snap up strips. I didn't want very much gathering on these, but you can do whatever you like (I'm not gonna stop ya). So turn the sleeve wrong side out and sew a little box and X to make it secure. Make sure you aren't sewing both your sleeves together...not that I've done this or anything

Then place a snap over the little X and one on the end of your strip that's hanging out. Definitely check which way you are attaching your snaps! I used decorative snaps cuz they're pretty :)

OH SNAP! You just made your ugly shirt cute!

Of course you can vary the length of the straps and how gathered your sleeves are ;)

Much Love~

Meredith

How to Shorten Sleeves

2011-09-21T05:30:00.002-05:00

I have long arms

Always have

Like a monkey

And I'm thin

So long sleeved shirts are not ideal for me

The sleeves always shrink

This makes me not happy

Just another reason I hate winter

{sigh}

Ok, I'm over it!

I just cut the sleeves off when they shrink in the dryer and make a new 3/4 shirt :)

Here's how.

Start with a shirt the sleeves have shrunk on. {I love this color}

Measure where you want to cut the sleeves. It's definitely helpful to use a straight edge!

I cut about 10" off mine.

Fold sleeve up about a 1/2" and press

Fold it up again another 1 1/2" and press.

Then sew about 1/4" from the first folded edge.

And that's it!

The sleeves on this shirt had large ribbing so it puckered a bit when I sewed it.

Oh well. I'll still wear it anyway, cuz hey, it was a free fix!
Some people would prefer to turn the sleeves under to sew, but I wanted the look of a cuff.

So easy right?

Much Love~

Meredith

A to Z with ME

2011-09-21T04:30:00.001-05:00

I've seen this on several blogs lately and thought I'd share.

I know you are dying to know me better, right?

The Family...Me and Mr. Perfect, Sis Valerie and BF Derek, Mom and Dad. Aren't we cute?

A. Age: 29

B. Bed size: King...and it's seriously so tall I have to climb into it
C. Chore that you hate: I don't clean showers. What's the need? It gets a bath every day anyway.
D. Dogs: I have one pitbull mix named Carmen. She's a sweety pie. I introduced you to her here.
E. Essential start to your day: Does cursing the alarm clock count?
F. Favorite color: I love yellow!
G. Gold or Silver: I have both, but I wear more silver
H. Height: 5’7"-ish

I. Instruments you play: I took 7 years of piano lessons...am I that good now, no, but I could be. It's like riding a bicycle for me :)
J. Job title: Photographer (it sounds cool, but half the time I loathe it)
K. Kids: 10 year old step-daughter, and my doggie of course!
L. Live: In the burbs of Kansas City
M. Mother’s name: Sue...also my mother-in-law's name :)
N. Nicknames: Uh, people will occasionally call me "Mere" which I think is kinda stupid, but it's whatever
O. Overnight hospital stays: Had my tonsils out when I was 3. I stayed 4 nights once with pyelonephritis...it's a glorified kidney infection. It was BAD. I had a baseball sized cyst on my kidney. No fun!
P. Pet peeves: Any food noise drives me INSANE!! And I seriously hate whistling
Q. Quote from a movie: "There was nothing wrong with it until that no talent ass clown became famous and started winning grammy's" -Michael Bolton of Office Space
R. Right or left handed: Righty.
S. Siblings: 1 Sis, Valerie
U. Ultimate Vacation: Anywhere with sand I can bake myself on.
V. Vegetable you hate: Peas...I just threw up in my mouth a little
W. What makes you run late: The hubs, the kid, it's never me ;)
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, Sinuses, Back, and I had a CT scan once, does that count?
Y. Yummy food that you make: HA! I don't cook. So, chocolate chip cookies maybe?
Z. Zoo animal: Penguins all the way.

Yarn Word Art

2011-09-19T04:30:00.004-05:00

I saw this yarn covered number

see kate sew

Cute, right?

So I put my own spin on it

I made this sketch

I transferred it to poster board and cut it out

Then I wrapped it in yarn.

First brown, then turquoise, the a little more brown

It's kinda hard to see the colors real well because I hung it at the end of my hallway

ie...NO natural light...ugh

I "love" it hehe

Super duper easy project, but VERY time consuming!

Hope you likey!

Much Love~

Meredith

Guest Posting!!

2011-09-16T06:30:00.003-05:00

I know, I know...

I'm so lame I haven't posted on my own blog this week, but I'm posting on someone else's??

This one single blog post is literally the ONLY thing outside of work, the kiddo's activities, family get-togethers and what little sleep I get, that I've had time for.

I'm so sorry, please forgive me

AND

Go check out my SU-WEET tutorial on

Oops, I Craft My Pants

Do it now!
You won't be sorry ;0)

And no worries, I WILL be posting on my own blog next week!
I already have things in the works
HOORAY!

Much Love~
Meredith

ANOTHER shirt refashion...

2011-09-07T08:00:00.001-05:00

...seems that's all I'm doing lately

Well, here it is anyway

I got this shirt 3 years ago at a Royals game on a giveaway night

Totally didn't fit, go figure

see?

Awful

So I did what I do to all the shirts that don't fit on the sides and fixed it up!

If you want to know how to make a shirt fit your sides right go here

And voila!

Fits like a charm!

Much Love~

Meredith

RAWR Dinosaurs!

2011-09-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

Does anyone follow see kate sew?

Well you should.

She's a fantastic seamstress

Anyway, she was looking for a few peeps to test out a pattern for her

Good thing I'm a slave to my phone and saw the email right away so I could volunteer!

The pattern we tested was a Dinosaur! RAWR!

So cute!

Here's how mine turned out

Isn't he marvelous???

My nephew will be receiving him for a birthday present in a couple weeks :)

So her pattern goes on sale today!

Go check it out

see kate sew

Much Love~

Meredith

To Quilt Or Not To Quilt???

2011-08-31T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to make a quilt for some time now

But quite frankly, it scares the crap out of me!

It looks like there's SO much work involved

All the cutting...

And sewing all the tiny pieces together...

And binding...

And whatever else you have to do

AHHHH!!!

Anyway, I have a childhood friend who's having a baby at the end of the year and I thought maybe I would start with a baby quilt for her. Then I might not feel so overwhelmed?? But still make a decision on whether I like quilting or not.

So I need some advice from my lovely readers...

Do you quilt?

Do you like it?

Is it easy?

Am I going to have to sell a kidney to support this hobby?

What's this about jelly rolls and charm packs??

What's your best resource for a first timer?

Should I buy a walking foot?

HELP ME PLEASE!!!

I would really love you for it :)

Much Love~

Meredith

Shirt Refashion Tutorial

2011-08-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

So I recently refashioned one of my shirts for work

It was big and boxy and hideous

I refused to wear such an ill-fitting shirt

But my boss is being a stickler on the shirt thing this year, which I understand

So I had to fix them

You can find my previous post here

I had a comment from this lovely girl Kalliemack

She suggested I do a tutorial

Well here it is....

Turn your shirt wrong side out and lay it out flat.

Make sure to line up all your seams on the hem and sleeves

yes I realize this photo is totally crappy :(

Next take a shirt that fits you well and lay it on top as a guide

Again, make sure your hem and sleeves match up perfectly

At this point I would use a water soluble marker and just draw an outline for sewing,

but with a black shirt, it's better to use pins.

To keep things looking professional, measure the same amount on the sleeves and armpits to be cut off. This will keep your shirt from looking uneven or wonky.

Also try and make the sides as close to identical as possible.

So then you just sew where you drew your line, or put your pins.

I used a regular straight stitch.

I also backstitched several times and the hem and sleeves to give it extra strength and durability.

Last, use pinking sheers and cut off the extra fabric.

Turn right side out and marvel at your sewing abilities!

You can do this to just about any shirt that doesn't fit your form properly.

I did this on a previous refashion you can check out here

Now find all your boxy, frumpy shirts and make them new again!

Much Love~

Meredith

Chef Coat Tailoring

2011-08-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine is the General Manager at an On The Border in my area

She asked me to turn her long sleeved chef coats into short sleeved ones.

Ok, no biggie.

I decided to use a double needle for this one

I've never used it before and I had to get out my manual to figure it out

I have to admit...I don't like it

Don't get me wrong, I think the end product looks fantastic and it definitely saves time

But I just didn't like threading both needles and winding multiple bobbins.

Yuck, just a pain.

Oh well, I conquered it

Here's what I started with

...sort of...

As you can see, I had already chopped off the sleeves of the other 2 before I remembered to take a picture

Ta Da!

See how nice the double needle stitching looks!

Much Love~

Meredith

VERY Late Pinterest Picks {Week 5}

2011-08-28T12:32:00.001-05:00

I'm such a bad blogger

I don't feel like I've done anything on my blog this month

August has been a VERY busy month at our house

I just finished up ANOTHER 55 hour week

I was sick half the week too

UGH!!!

So here I am posting my Pinterest Picks for this week...

....2 days late.

Sorry people

So here goes

This week I'm sharing something FUN!

I love funny, witty sayings

These are all from my Words board


source

Haha This is what I feel like when the weekend starts!

source

I may be 29, but I still call my mom for all kinds of stupid things...do we ever stop doing that???


source

You know, I'm kind of a big deal.

If the shoe fits!

source

Who can relate to this one?!

source

AMEN

So go check out the rest of my board Words

I promise I won't be a crappy blogger this week.

I already have posts lined up!

Hooray!!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 4}

2011-08-19T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week I have the CUTEST play kitchens to show you!

My kiddo is too old for one, but should I ever have a little girl, I'm totally making one!

Check it

source

Aren't they just soooooo stinkin ca-ute??

Maybe I'll make for myself since Mr. Perfect does all the cooking ;)

I can pretend I'm a great chef...then just eat his food

Ok, maybe not, but I still want one!

Check out the rest of my board HERE

Much Love~

Meredith

Work Shirt Refashion

2011-08-18T12:13:00.001-05:00

So I have a closet full of "work" shirts that I'm "supposed" to wear

Do I wear them??

Uh, no.

I hate them.

They are all boxy and don't fit me at all

My boss orders more of them every year and I just hang them up and wear something else

Sometimes I feel guilty for doing this.

Everyone else wears theirs

But I just don't

And when I do, someone always asks "why are you wearing that shirt??"

I think they've come to expect me not to wear uniforms

Well the time of year has come when my boss once again asked for shirt sizes

As always I say WOMEN'S SMALL!!!

Haven't gotten this round of shirts yet so we'll see what they're like this year

However, he seems like he's going to be a stickler on this shirt thing this year...at least for now

Hope he doesn't mind that I refashioned my old shirts!!

Here's what I started with...

BLEH!!

HIDEOUS!!!

See why I despise these shirts {I hope he never stumbles across my blog}

See the terrified look on my face??

See the longer hem in the back?

One thing you can barely see is my boobie bumps! Sheesh!

SEWING MACHINE TO THE RESCUE

BOOYAH!

Now THIS I can handle

I have another shirt like this in black that I will FOR SURE be doing the same thing to

Hate your clothes too??

Change them!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 3}

2011-08-12T06:28:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Week 3!

So if you haven't red my bio before {you should ;) just sayin} then you don't know that I am a photographer by day

I work for Lifetouch

I take school photos, and seniors, and sports, and dances...

blah blah blah...you get the picture {no pun intended tehe}

So this week I'm sharing with you some pins from my Amazing Photos board.

source

souce

SWOON!!!

I have an innate L.O.V.E. for photography

Hope you enjoy

Be sure to check out the rest of my board

Much Love~

Meredith

Chair Covers

2011-08-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

My brother-in-law teaches seminary in the mornings at his house

He asked me to make these chair covers with the kids names on them

He wanted me to make 14 of them!!!

14!!!!

Holy smokes!!

This happens to be a super busy month for me each year and I was a little worried about this project

BUT, he's family and he's done a lot for us in the past

So this is kindof what he wanted

I've been thinking on how to best accomplish 14 of these

Then on Sunday while I was brushing my teeth, I thought, painters drop cloth!!

So here's how it went down...

{I'd like to apologize for the crappy photos now...I don't have much time to write this and I figured just doing the post was more important than stellar photos...hope you agree}

Lay out drop cloth...draw lines for cutting...cut...I laid the 2nd one on top and cut them both together

I had 4 long strips like this...I took each one and hemmed the cut edges...some had pre-finished hems from the edges of the drop cloth...then I just stacked them and cut my sections

Fold in half, right sides together and sew up the sides...add a snap in the center...and voila!

Use super spiffy neon fabric markers to write the kids names {I'm missing 2 still}

Stick on chair and snap! Oh snap!

This isn't the chair he's using, this is mine, but I thought I'd test it out.

I'm sure they'll look way better on his chairs, not so tight on the sides, but whatever.

Now the kids know where they're sitting every day.

Mission accomplished!!

Much Love~

Meredith

Friendship Bracelets!!

2011-08-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Remember a couple weeks ago I told you about signing up for the Friendship Bracelet Swap??

Well I made by bracelets and shipped them off the end of last week!

And I'm here to show you the loveliness

Don't they remind you of high school??

I secretly want to go back...sometimes...sshh...don't tell

I was grouped up with 3 other girls

So far I've received 2 of their bracelets

When I get the other one I will do a post to show them off too!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 2}

2011-08-06T10:37:00.001-05:00

I'm back friends!!

{Doing the happy dance}

This week has been EXHAUSTING!!!

Worked 58 hours and didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked

BUT, I'm refreshed and ready for a productive weekend!

So here's my Pinterest Picks for the week...a day late...

WREATHS!!

I see so many drop-dead-gorgeous wreaths in blog land

I REALLLLLLLY want to have on my front door

There are 2 problems here...

1. My door faces south, with no shade, so any wreath with glue, melts and falls apart in the sun.

2. Mr. Perfect thinks wreaths are tacky (he's obviously delusional)

So I'm stuck admiring everyone else's wreaths and being super jealous

source

Ahhh, SWOON!!

Aren't they lovely??

Maybe someday I can have a wreath...maybe

To see the rest of my "Wreaths I Love, but Hub's Wont Allow" board, click HERE

Hope everyone had a great week!

Sooo glad to have time to be back on my computer :)

Much Love~

Meredith

Sad News

2011-08-01T18:15:00.001-05:00

Right now I have nothing to share

I have several large projects I'm working on for some friends and family.

I'm working on adding a ton of new stuff to the shop

AND

I'm working 60+ hours this week

EXHAUSTING!!!!

plus I HAVE to watch the season finale of the Bachelorette tonight ;)

Don't worry, I'll be back!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 1}

2011-07-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

I've decided that each week I will be posting a few things I've pinned.

I just signed up on Pinterest last week and I'm hooked like a crack addict!

{And I've gotten a few of my friends hooked too *tehe*}

Everything today is coming from my Love for all things PEACOCK board!!

1. UH-mazing

2. Bridal Bouquet

3. So Darling Softie

4. Peacock Cupcakes
5. Gorgeous Wreath

This fall my sister and I are considering getting a "sister tattoo"

She currently has 4

I have none

I want a peacock feather

But it's still up in the air

I'm a wuss

Much Love~

Meredith

Friendship Bracelet Swap!

2011-07-27T16:39:00.001-05:00

I just saw this today and it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside

It's sponsored by The Modern Marigold

I got signed up just before the deadline

TODAY is the last day peeps!

Go sign up!

It's fun to make something for someone random, and meet a couple new friends

Like pen pals, with benefits *wink*

Much Love~

Meredith

Lanyard/Keychain Thing-a-ma-boppers

2011-07-26T12:23:00.001-05:00

In case you missed it, I did a guest post on Sunday over at
Tattered and Inked
So I'm going to re-post it :)
Enjoy!

Today I am going to share a tutorial with you on how to make a lanyard/key chain.

I am a school photographer and I have to wear a name tag to work every day.

Lanyards are usually soooo boring, so I make my own!

So here's how I started

First I cut a strip of fabric 2 inches wide and 35 inches long {cut selvage to selvage}

Next iron the strip the strip lengthwise wrong sides together

Open it up and iron each side to meet the middle fold

Then fold it back in half and press flat

Please ignore how gross and stained my ironing board is, thank you!

Then just sew straight down each side

Make sure you backstitch at both ends

I started with the open side to kinda put the fabric place so it doesn't slide around

I lined my edge up with that little metal piece under my presser foot...you see it?

I hope your machine has one too...if not, it's about 1/8 of an inch

Almost done!

Match up your ends and fold about an inch upwards

I held mine in place with a binder clip :)

I changed my needle to a size 16 for the next part because you are sewing through 16 layers of fabric!!

So just sew 2 lines right across where the ends are

Then slide on a split ring and you're finished!!

Because you cut selvage to selvage your fabric shouldn't fray as easily, but just to make sure, I put a couple drops of Fray Check on those ends :)

And of course I have to show off my 2 pieces of flair! My District 12 button from Hunger Games! If you haven't read this trilogy, RUN, don't walk, RUN to your bookstore and read them ASAP!! And I have my Get Crafty button *wink*

So there you have it! If you can sew a straight line and iron, you're golden!

These are super popular with teenagers too!

They love putting them on their keys...I see it all the time

Or you can shorten the length for a keychain for yourself :)

I hope you all enjoyed my little tut!

Much Love~

Meredith

Guest Posting!!!

2011-07-24T14:13:00.001-05:00

That's right people....today I am guest posting for Kelsey at

EEEK!!!!

I'm so thrilled!!

I'm doing a super easy, quick, versatile, fun tutorial over on her blog

Here's a sneak peak of the fabric I'm using :)

Isn't it lovely??

So if you want to see what I made with this, head over to Tattered and Inked and check it out!

And give Kelsey some blog lovin while you're there, she's adorable!

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!!

Much Love~

Meredith

To Pinterest, or Not To Pinterest??

2011-07-23T10:43:00.001-05:00

{DUH}

I joined the tons of people who spend hours and hours mindlessly "pinning" every image they see online that strikes their fancy.

I'm totally ok with it too.

So follow me!!

You can find the button in my sidebar

I think I'm going to start a series, on Fridays, where I showcase some of my pins

Whatcha think? Yay? Nay? ....please say yay!

Excuse me while I go back to searching for eye candy online :)

Much Love~

Meredith

The Bachelorette and a Monogram

2011-07-20T10:00:00.002-05:00

Ok so this post isn't really about The Bachelorette....although I just love the romantic mess on that show....

I was just watching it while I was doing this craft

Here's what I'm workin with

Slap some Mod Podge on that bad boy and stick on some moss

I had planned to put moss on the edges too, but I got lazy so I just painted them this green color. In hindsight, the painting should have been done first. Oh well.

And that's pretty much it! I put it on my mantle.

I had intentions of hanging it from that mirror, but

A) I don't like any of the ribbon I have right now, and

B) This was easier :)

And yes, that's a speaker on the left side....and blankets on the bottom ledge...

This is real life people...not a model home.

That's it!

Now I'm off for a nap....anyone else just super exhausted???

Much Love~

Meredith

Circle Of Life

2011-07-18T12:06:00.001-05:00

I have to share what violent action I saw out my window yesterday

Out of nowhere this hawk lands in my driveway and crushes the life out of this bird

Just stomping on the thing

It was gross and sad and yet oddly fascinating

It lasted about a minute, then the hawk flew the bird to my neighbor's chimney cap where it continued killing it's lunch

Good thing I keep my camera handy and ready at all times :)

There ya have it folks...the circle of life

Much Love~

Meredith

Clothes I've Made/Refashioned

2011-07-18T11:49:00.001-05:00

Since I blogged about the outfit I refashioned yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to show you some of the clothes I've made myself or refashioned in my pre-blogging days. Mmmkay?

Let's not get upset about the pictures...some might be slightly blurry...my mistake

Ok, first up, this tube top I knitted! It's the only clothing I've ever knitted for myself. It's super tiny knit too, and let me tell you, it took me like 2 months to make this thing!

I refashioned this tank. I had an old tank with a logo on it from a bar I used to work at that I wanted to cover up. I used another tshirt to cut up strips and sew them on in a ruffly sort of way to cover up the logo.
The skirt I made. It's a basic elastic wasted skirt....can you see the black elastic??
I actually wore this outfit to my 10 yr high school reunion last year.

This skirt is basically the same as the previous one, except this one has a liner too. I should mention both of these fabrics for the skirts are vintage from a garage sale...awesome find right!?!
The shirt was a basic long sleeved white shirt that the sleeves had shrunk on. I cut the sleeves off, then used the fabric to made little snap up ties on the sleeves and the ruffles on the front.

This is the very first thing I sewed on my sewing machine. It's vintage fabric from that same garage sale. I used a pattern to make this shirt {only clothing I've ever used a pattern for}. It was definitely a learning experience. I think I ~~called my mom~~ used google about 50 times just to decipher the pattern! And it was supposed to be a dress, but I made it a shirt instead. I was pretty impressed with myself in the beginning because there's a fancy invisible zipper in the back....yeah...it's not invisible. Over a year later, I now know the proper way to install one :)

So there you have it.
Whatcha think?

Much Love~
Meredith

A Turkish Feature

2011-07-17T22:32:00.001-05:00

So I noticed that I was featured by someone in Turkey...

It's driven a lot of traffic to my site and for that I'm grateful!

But, I don't know how to thank this woman...

I can't read a word on her site!

I can't even read what she wrote about me!

I tried to enter the little paragraph in a translator, but what came up didn't make very much sense.

HELP!

What do I do?

How can I read a blog by someone in a different language???

I'm at a loss...

Here's the link if you want to see.

Scroll down to her second post.

You'll recognize my Braided Bracelet

Please help~

Meredith

Sunday Refashions

2011-07-17T16:57:00.001-05:00

I'll start off by telling you what I wanted to do with my Sunday...

I wanted to be basking in the 100 degree weather next to one of these

(source)

And this is totally the pool I would be going to...cuz that's how I roll

I also wanted some of this


(source)

Because today is National Ice Cream Day!!!

BUT...

Neither of these wonderful things happened today

Why?

Because the kiddo got in trouble

Boo

So now I'm stuck inside being pale and healthy.

AND sewing!!

I have 2 refashions for you today...

First off, I have this dress that I NEVER wear.

I love it, it's super cute, but my rib cage is too big for the top.

Solution...cut it off and make a skirt instead.

Here's what I started with

Look how great that detail is!

If only I could breathe with it on as a dress!

Ok, so here's the second item I refashioned....

I have this shirt that I HATE

It's orange...gross

It's boxy...blah

It's all around U.G.L.Y.

I don't even know why I bought this shirt so many years ago

I'm sure I've never worn it

See what I mean? Not cute at all!

I made this a little more form fitting and cut the sleeves off

Here it is after the transformation

Loads better, but still boring

So I used the scrap fabric from the sleeves and dressed it up a bit

Here's the whole outfit finished

{ignore my blurry photos...that's what happens when you are trying to photograph yourself}

{and I cut my head off because my hair looks like poo today and I have no makeup on}

There's no question I love the skirt!

The real surprise here is that I now ADORE this shirt!!!

I think I might just wear it everyday...I'm only kidding...sort of

And it looks fab with this skirt!

So there you have it

If I can't have the pool and ice cream, I can at least refashion myself a new outfit!

Hope you are doing something fun today!

Much Love~

Meredith

Handmade Gift Exchange

2011-07-14T09:41:00.002-05:00

Twice a year at Craftaholics Anonymous Linda hosts a Handmade Gift Exchange.

You then have 1 month to get to know that person and make them a lovely gift!

It's such a great idea!

My partner was a lovely woman name Heidi.

Heidi loves pink!

So here is what I made her...she *hearts* it!

The gift exchange went on during the month of June.

Unfortunately the postal system ~~sucks~~ seems to have lost my package from Heidi, so I have yet to receive anything from her.

Every day I walk to my mailbox with such anticipation, but to no avail.

That's ok though! If nothing shows up, I still had a great time making something for a total stranger!

Gave me the warm fuzzies inside *giggle*

I have been waiting to post what I made her until I got my gift, but I just can't wait anymore.

I had to share!

From what I understand (since I'm new at this stuff) the next exchange will be in November.

I highly recommend looking out for it and joining!

Much Love~

Meredith

Purse/Coat Hooks

2011-07-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

My entryway is kind of an eyesore.

I don't even have a real rug inside my door...it's a carpet remnant...super classy I know!

Anywho, I needed somewhere to hang my purse when I come in the door

And I suppose it would be nice for my guests to have somewhere to hang stuff too

I saw these at Hobby Lobby for a whoppin $1.40 a piece

Woot! Score!

But really, who needs 4 hooks that have crowns on them?? Yeah, not this girl!

So I painted them :)

And here they are!

Yes I realize the one my purse is hanging on is a wee bit wonky, but I promise I hung them level...I think the bracket on the back is off...but that's what you get for $1.40 right? Oh well, good enough

Cute enough I think :)

I'm certainly not the best painter in the world mmmkay

Much Love~

Meredith

Braided T-shirt Bracelet

2011-07-11T14:47:00.001-05:00

This was a super quick project that I whipped up before work the other morning.

It's so easy to do that I'd recommend making, oh, about 153 of them!

So here's whatcha do

Start with an old knit shirt of some kind. I had already cut the sleeves off this for something else.

I cut 4 strips that were an inch wide and 8 inches long. I measured my wrist to be 6 inches around then added a couple inches that I thought I would lose in the braiding process. After you cut them, pull the ends to stretch them out. I should mention that this won't work very well unless you cut your fabric the right way, so tug and pull on your shirt beforehand to figure out which way to cut.

Since I'm all about doing things the easy way, I just hot glued the strips together at the end

Use a binder clip {or whatever clip you want} and clip to a book {in this case, Mr.'s accounting textbook} and start braiding!

When you are done, hot glue the other ends together

Fold together and , yeppers, you guessed it...hot glue the 2 ends together

Cut another strip about 2.5 inches wide and 4 or so inches long, then fold over the sides to make a tube

Glue on the inside of the bracelet when your ends meet, wrap it around and glue to finish!

And voila! A super cute, super comfy, super quick bracelet for summer!

Now go cut up all your old knits and get to braidin'!

Much Love~

Meredith

Still Alive

2011-07-09T22:57:00.001-05:00

I've been absent from my blog for 8 days

Shame on me!

What a bad blogger I am

BUT I have excuses...

Doesn't everyone love to hear excuses?

No?

Ah, well, that's all I got...excuses

Excuse #1

I spent the entire 4th of July weekend doing this:

Yeppers, that's me trying to stand on a raft!

Ok, so I didn't do exactly that all weekend, but I did spend every day in a pool of some sort.

It was hot, the pool was cool, and I loved every minute of it!

Excuse #2

I went back to work.

BOO!

My lazy summer days where I have unlimited time to do whatever I want to do, are over.

This makes me sad, but thus is live, let's move on.

Excuse #3

I decided to put TURQUOISE peek-a-boo highlights in my hair

AHHHH!!!

Crazy I know, but it's just hair, it grows

When my hair is down, they aren't really visible, but the hair is up, or moves, KA-BLAM!

I'm going to dye it again to make the color darker and not quite as mermaid-ish

Maybe I'll show you again when I re-dye it (do you even care?)

Anywho...here it is

(sorry for the crappy photos and my naked face)

Excuse #4

I had a concert to attend

A monumental concert!

I am a die hard 311 fan, like to the core

First CD I ever owned was 311

I've seen them (now officially) TEN times!

I sing every song, I jump in the air, I totally rock out

I L.O.V.E. concerts

There is so much energy at a 311 concert!

So there you have it, my week in a nut shell

I have a new tutorial for you on monday, so be on the lookout.

Hope you all had a fantastic week!

P.S. I'm one follower away from 50 and that makes me smile :) Thanks to everyone who has made my blog start a terrific one!

Much Love~

Meredith

Ikea Mirror Redo

2011-07-01T08:00:00.003-05:00

I have these 4 Ikea mirrors I bought 6 or 7 years ago.

They were unfinished wood when I bought them

I painted them a flat black

They hung on my walls in my various rented apartments for years

Now they've been packed in a box in my basement for the last 4 years or so.

I decided they needed a new life

Here's what I started with

Not the most attractive mirrors right?

I covered them in scrapbook paper.

Take your paper, turn it upside down and cut out the middle square. I didn't worry about it being centered because my paper was bigger than the mirror.

Then modge podge to the front.

I didn't worry about covering the sides or the inside of the square by the mirror because I thought the black looked good enough

Then just trim off the outside with the exacto knife and you're done!

I hung 2 of them in my family room and 2 by my front door

It feels so good to breathe new life into all the random things I have been holding on to!

Much Love~

Meredith

Bird's Nest Necklaces

2011-06-30T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've seen tons of people either making or selling those uber cute birds nest necklaces lately.

They really are super cute!

So while I watched TV thursday evening I made a couple, like 5 of them!

The blue one is my fav!

Go get some wire and make some!

Much Love~

Meredith

Log Wall Art

2011-06-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

I made this framed wall art a while back {before my blogging days} and I thought I would share it with you.

It's made from some logs we had from trees cut down in our yard.

Oh, and I built the frame too.

Other than the cost of the trim for the frame, I had all supplies on hand.

Another cheap project in the books!

Much Love~

Meredith

Sweater Pillow

2011-06-28T08:00:00.003-05:00

Last week I made my 20 Minute Pillow Shams and I mentioned making another pillow out of a sweater.

I have this sweater that shrunk slightly and doesn't fit me as well anymore, but I've been saving it.

Sorry my pictures aren't that great, I did this at night :(

I started by cutting the bottom off , then cutting the largest rectangle I could from one side of the body

Fold right sides together and sew along the short side.

Then I had to do a little tricky math to find out what size circle to cut for the ends. I actually had to google how to compute how to get the diameter of a circle from the circumference. Let's face it people, who really remembers those formulas from school? Not this chick! Anywho, once I had that I had to draw a circle. It probably would have been easier if I had a protractor or whatever those things are called, but I don't. I just tied a piece of yarn to a pencil and measured out what I needed. It worked pretty well if I do say so myself.

So then I used the bottom piece of my sweater I cut off originally and cut 2 circles out of it.

Then just sew them on the ends! Leave a hole in one so you can turn it right side out and stuff, then close up your hole and it's done! Took probably 30 minutes total. I do love me a quick project!

It's kindof a small pillow, but I had a very small sweater to begin with. Oh well, it's perfect size to slip under my neck for a cat nap!

Much Love~

Meredith

Plastic Plate Upcycle

2011-06-27T08:00:00.003-05:00

I have this stack of cheap plastic plates I bought several years ago for my RV.

I tried to sell them in a garage sale last year,but in the end they were still on my table.

So I've been holding on to them knowing I could do something crafty with them.

Then the other morning it hit me and I knew what to do.

So here's what I started with:

I took some cream colored scrap book paper, cut it into strips and covered each plate.

I wanted each plate to mimic a specific flower on the curtains in my kitchen.

I just started cutting out shapes to make flowers and modge podged them on the plates.

Then gave the whole plate a good coat of modge podge

When it dried, I flipped the plate over and cut the edges off with an exacto knife.

I am so in LOVE with how they look!

Whatcha think?

I can't stop staring at them...literally!

Hope you enjoy!

Much Love~

Meredith

Planting Flowers is Hard Work

2011-06-25T22:03:00.001-05:00

This is the first house I've owned.

The first house I've had to maintain a yard.

The first time I've cared about my "curb appeal".

And the first time I've planted flowers.

As I've mentioned before, our house was built in the 70's, and the landscaping reflects that.

This is our lovely bushes when we first moved in

Beautiful, right?

No?

Yeah that's what I thought.

So Mr. Perfect cut them all out.

Once all those bushes came out we found massive rocks, in size and quantity, under them.

So we built a flower bed with the rocks.

FREE landscaping!

Now the really great part...

Our city has the most UH-MAZING city services

We have huge recycling bins, they pick up all our yard waste, I love it.

I recently found out they use the yard waste and turn it into compost.

They also use the logs and turn them into mulch.

Great right?

The best part...

As a resident, we can go fill truckloads of compost and mulch, for FREE!!

Pretty sweet deal if you ask me! That stuff is not cheap!

1 truck bed filled with compost and mulch + $50 in flowers = One super cheap, beautiful new flower bed!

YAY!

This fall we will lay grass seed on the exposed dirt and next year it will be even better!

I'm pretty happy with it :)

Much Love~

Meredith