Clutch and Glasses case (Made with my Fancy new sewing machine!)

The best Christmas present I have ever received was my first sewing machine that I got when I was 12.

I've now had it for 10 years and its been great. But it finally died about a month ago :( So I asked Santa for one for Christmas. Its soooo Fancy!!

 I love it! It sews by itself, automatically cuts thread, embroiders, and a million other things I haven't figured out. 

Winding the bobbin didn't go so well the first time tho :/ Ahhh!

But check out my fancy embroidery! (ignore the bunching, I haven't quite figured all that out :P)

My first project was a sunglasses case. I got the tutorial from "My Blonde Ambitions"

 Then I also made a wallet (which came out a little big so it could also be a clutch)

 I even put little pockets so I can put all of my cards and ID in there.

I love my sewing machine! I can't wait to find more things to make. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I Love Wrapping Presents!

I Do! Really! I'm pretty excited about how my gifts turned out this year. I used some of my hair things as bows. So it's like a bonus present. :)

 I did brown paper this year with fabric as ribbon. LOVE how it turned out.

HAPPY WRAPPING!

I was featured at {Love Stitched}

A BIG thank you to Brittney over at {LOVE STITCHED} for featuring my Blog. I am So So excited to have my tutorial on her blog. Everyone should go check out her blog and my feature.

 

Thank you times a million!!

Christmas for $1

Ok, well maybe not just $1 but I decorated my whole apartment with dollar tree things. The Entertainment center is my favorite part. I wish I could have taken better pictures before my camera battery died!

 For spacial reasons (the only option that we had) we have our TV in front of our fireplace. So here is a shot of our "mantel". I used 4 bushels of flowers, a faux pine garland, and part of a red and white striped garland, all purchased from the dollar tree. I clipped the flowers from the base stem and used the remaining stem to wrap the flowers around the pine and striped garlands.

I also have some cute wire rain deer and angel on top of the TV but they didn't come out in the picture.

 I used fabric that I had on hand and extra ornaments to decorate our stockings.

 I had three candle sticks(purchased from Kohls for $3 each) that I attached glass vases to the top (from the DT) and filled them with ornaments, hemp chord, and bells (again, all from the DT). I think it turned out quite lovely.


PS Heres a picture of those sugar scrubs that I made.

"S" is for Salamander

My best friend threw a party for her fiance and themed it "S is for Sal". (since his name is Sal :P) And of course I had to be a SALamander. I couldn't resist. And of course I had to make it myself.

Check me out:

Stunningly sexy if I don't say so myself. Now lets just say you want to be a salamander too! Let me show you how I did this.

I started out with a XXL sweater that was $2 at the thrift store and took in the sides so that it fit me like a sweater dress.

Then I purchased a half a yard of black felt and a 1/4 yard of yellow felt. I think the total for that was about $4. I also purchased a black visor and black gloves that were $1 each.

Then I put yellow dots all over it, made eyes out of white trash bags, and dots on my toes and fingers. I also used the black felt to make a tail (check it out in the mirror in my first picture). I hot glued the whole thing together. And for a grand total of $8 I had myself an salamander costume.

I would say it turned out pretty darn funny. Everyone loved it.

Holiday Boutique for you Californians!

Hope to see you there!

I'm So stylish!

Brenda over at "Creativity is only a state of mind" Gave me an award! Yay!

 

To accept this award I have to do the following:

1). Thank and link back to the person who awarded me

      

2). Share 8 things about myself

3). Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that I have recently discovered

4). Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards



1. Of course, Thank you Brenda!

2. Lets do holiday stuff since its holiday time!

   1. I love decorating for christmas and I buy most of my things at the Dollar tree.
   2. I love to wrap presents
   3. New years is one of my favorite holidays
   4. My family has its big dinner on Christmas eve.
   5. My favorite pie is Pumpkin
   6. The best present I ever got was my sewing machine when I was 12
   7. This will be my 3rd Holiday season with my own place (and I love that I get to decorate how I want :P )
   8. Me and my BF will be together for 2 years on New years Eve <3

3. 8 blogs that I love


A Diamond in the Stuff
A few of my favorite things
Ashley's Thrifty Living
Craftopia
If I weren't So Lazy
Mad in Crafts
Mandipity
Rubies and Pearls

Thanks again Brenda!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Jersey cotton Neck scarf

As I was wandering around my favorite discount fabric store I saw a lot of cute fabric in the $1 remnants bin. I sifted through and found lots of things I liked.

Pondering on my way home of what to make with all this, scrappy scarves came to mind. Once I got home I got to work. Using my rotary cutter I cut 1" strips (more or less) of the fabric, then just tied it up. I also added a flower for some embelishment. I love how they turned out.

I'm selling them at a craft boutique next weekend and after that they will be up on my Etsy.

Craft Fair Fun

Two Saturdays ago was my first craft fair. I had such a great time. It was a great experience and I even made a little bit of money. :) Here's a picture of my booth.

Then, this past Saturday my friend told me about another craft fair that was near their house. They had one spot left (lucky me!) and signed me up. The first half of the day was So Slow! I was worried I wasn't going to sell anything. Then by the afternoon I was selling up a storm! I had so much fun and I hope that I will find another soon.

(If Anyone knows a way to find local craft fairs let me know. The only way I've seemed to find them is word of mouth.)

Faux Window etching decal

I have a mirrored closet in my hallway/bathroom area That I'm not the biggest fan of. But I'm renting so I can't really do too much about it.

While I was roaming the Dollar tree I came across this clear book cover roll. Its a roll of sticky plastic that is kind of like shelving liner. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I have finally figured it out.

Here is what you will need:

 First: Draw out petals (or whatever other design you may want) with a marker. I wouldn't suggest a ball point or pencil because it will dent the plastic.

 Second: Cut out your design. If you cut individual pieces it will be easier if you lay them out how you want them to be placed before you start placing them.

 Third: Peel each piece from its backing. I used my exacto knife to help peel the back off.

 It's hard to take a picture of this decal. But it looks much better in person. It's subtle and cute. It's just enough to give some interest to the mirror.

Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub

I just found this idea on Tip Junkie's post about different ideas for jars. Homemade Lemon sugar hand scrub. I was trying to think of a cute thing to make all my friends for the Holidays this year that won't be too expensive but have a lot of thought. This is perfect. I have lots of jars laying around that I'm saving for something... that I didn't know what.. until just now!

The idea came from Under the Table Dreaming's Blog. Click on the link for the recipe. My plan is to go find cute vintage spoons to tie with it. I want to paint each lid a different color and match it with a cute fabric scrap bow to tie the spoon to the jar. I can't wait to start this.



AND:
In other news! I'm going to my first craft fair on November 6th! Its at a little church by my house in Long Beach, Ca. If anyone is in the area you guys should stop by and check out my stuff [and I guess some other people's things too ;) ]. Its on the corner of Woodruff and Willow. I can't wait. I have a huge school project due Monday, then after that it's lots and lots of craft making for the rest of the week.

Peacock Halloween Costume

My friend Courtney wanted to be a peacock for Halloween and asked me to help her make it. I was more than happy. The problem with the costume was that peacock feathers are pretty expensive. We made a few laps around Michael's before coming to the conclusion that I was going to have to make individual peacock feathers.



Heres what I grabbed:
-Green feathers
-Blue feathers
-Green sparkly pipe cleaners
-1 green sheet of foam
-2 blue sparkly sheets of foam
- Blank Mask



First I cut a 1.5"-2" circle out of the green foam and a 1" circle out of the blue foam. Using hot glue I glued three green feathers and one blue feather to the green foam. I sandwiched a pipe cleaner in between and topped it with the blue foam circle. Later I added a orange/yellow colored rhinestone to the top of the circle. I repeated this lots of times.

Then I cut a big half circle out of the sheet of blue foam and layered all of the feathers around the foam. I did three rows. Finally I attached elastic to the back side of the foam to wear like you would fairy wings. And there is the the tail. I used my left over feathers and things to decorate the mask. Shes going to wear it with some sparkly shoes and a black dress. I can't wait for her to try everything on. I'm so excited :)

I linked up to Mad in Crafts Halloween costume Link Party

Footboard converted to a Craft Desk

Remember the Headboard I made? Well I didn't want a foot board, but it came as a set. So the foot board has been sitting in my room looking ugly. I usually do my crafting on the dining table (my roommate is very understanding but I'm pretty sure she would like to eat dinner at some point this year :P ).

I came up with the idea to put legs on the foot board and use it as my craft table. I bought the legs at IKEA for $3.50 each and just screwed them on.

 I'm so happy with how it turned out. I finally have a space to leave all my craft stuff out. One day I'll have a whole room for that. For now I'll just sit here and dream.

I got a new duvet cover at IKEA too. I love it. Just in time to put my down comforter on my bed.

Earring Holder out of Things you already have

I made this cute earring holder out of a place mat from the Dollar Tree, and an old picture frame. 

 I removed the backing and the glass out of the frame. I chose a place mat that is a wide mesh texture so that you can place the earrings through the holes.

 First I measured out the size of the openings of my frame and cut my place mat accordingly. (You can see I already up-cycled this frame by painting it :] ) Then I simply hot glued the place mat to the back of the frame.

and that's all! I love it




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I linked up to Mad Skills Party

A Brand new Sweater for 70cents!

Yes, thats right. I bought a brand new sweater for 70 cents. I got it off the clearance rack at Marshalls.

It had a little snag it it but I knew just the thing to cover it up.

 Its super easy and it took me about 5 minutes. First I layed out the ribbon in a squiggly pattern that I liked and that would cover the snag.

 Then I pinned it down and sewed down the center of the ribbon. All done!

 

Linking up to this party:

http://simplydesigning.blogspot.com/2010/12/link-party.html

My First Wreath

Wow! This has been the most HECTIC month Ever! School started, then my boyfriend moved, then it was my best friend's 21st birthday, then it was My birthday, Mix all that with Lots of design projects and you have one absent blogger.

However, I did have time to make a wreath for fall. This is the first time I've ever made a wreath and I have to say, I really like it!

From the Dollar Tree I bought a strand of fall leaves, a strand of shiny leaves, a wreath, a spool of ribbon (I also used one I had on hand), and a "happy halloween" sign. Total cost: $5 and it only took me about 5 minutes to make. I just hung the Halloween sign on the hook so that once Halloween is over I can keep it up through November and just pull the sign off.

I think I will be making one of these for every holiday :)

New Etsy Items

Hi Everyone!!

I'm finally getting around to uploading all of my hair goodies onto my Etsy. Check them out. Most of them are only $1

And don't forget about my reusable grocery bags for only $5

Go check it out!

<3