Tank Top

Sorry I'm just now posting this. It's hard to take pictures of yourself! But, here they are. I know you've all been dying to see it! :)

(it's a little scrunched up, sorry)

This is a picture of the top where I have elastic on the left (for the back) and interfacing on the right (for the front). It's also a good close-up so you can see the fabric better. The color showed up a little more orange on camera than it really is. It's more of a dark coral.

I love this fabric! I didn't do a perfect job, but I did do a good job! I'm very proud of myself and I'm excited to have something that I made! It feels good :)

(And sorry...I bought this fabric last fall so I don't remember how much it was. But I can promise you that I spent much less on this than I would a new tank top at the store!)

Bathroom Craft continued...

Ok, here's a new idea. How do you like this?...

I did like just the red, but I also don't want a purely red bathroom, I want some other color thrown in there. So with this option, it's pretty much red, but there's a bit of black in there too, just to give it some personality. I also like how the black is mixed up (this was my husband's idea!) so that it's not like "here are some red beads . . . here are some black beads."Now it's like, "here is a really pretty decoration for my bathroom. Hey it matches really well too!"

Haha, ok so maybe it wouldn't be exactly like that, but something close right? :)

What do you think of the whole ensemble? I like it if I may say so myself :)

Bathroom Craft

Remember in my shower curtain post (seen here) I mentioned that I knew my bathroom desperately needed something above my toilet and that I had something in the works? Here it is! But I do need some advice, I'm not quite sure what to do about one part of it so I need to know what you think looks best.

Materials:
~Wire Knick-Knack (for lack of a better name)
~Glasses
~Beads
~Spray Paint

I found this wire knick-knack thing (I don't know what to call it sorry) at DI and it came with this weird-looking handle that I took off right away!

Isn't that thing weird? The whole spring-thing is beyond me. My knick-knack looks much better now :) And I'm sure it's glad to be rid of this handle! I know I would be!

Then I spray-painted the whole knick-knack black. Sorry I didn't get before and after pictures of that, you'll just have to believe me that the gold wasn't working! And the black totally does :)

I got three blue-tinted glasses (that I will be using as vases) I got two small ones (one is shown above) and a large one. I was planning on putting these inside the three sections of my knick-knack thing. Now I just needed to find something to put inside the glasses. I thought about potpourri but I didn't know if I'd be able to find the right color, I already have some in my living room, and I just wanted to find something a little more unique. I found two HUGE strands of beads! The beads were a few different shades of red and I thought they'd look so perfect with my shower curtain and rug!

At first I was a little worried that they might look like cranberries and the whole thing would look like a Christmas decoration. But then I thought maybe I could spray-paint half of the beads black and then I'd have both black and red beads. I spray-painted a few just to see how it would turn out and here's where I need your advice!
The beads didn't spray-paint very well just because they're round and the paint drips around kind of funny. They're too small for me to paint one side, flip and paint the other. They actually do look kind of cool but I'm wondering if they look too "summer camp crafty" or if it really does look cool. Do you know what I mean? So here are my options and what I like and don't like about them. Will you please help me decide?! :) Thanks!!!
1. All red beads
~~ Like: It's easier than spray-painting half the beads
~~ Don't Like: Maybe too Christmasy?
2. Half black beads
~~ Like: It won't look too Christmasy
~~ Don't Like: Hard to get the paint even
~~ Don't Like: It might look funny to have the oddly-painted beads

So what do you think? I'm leaning towards one but I want to hear what you all think. Leave a comment and let me know :) Thanks everyone!

Bathroom Craft:
~Wire Knick-Knack (for lack of a better name): $1.25
~Glasses: $1.75 total (50 cents each for the small ones, 75 for the bigger one)
~Beads: $2.00
~Spray Paint (my husband had some leftover from some projects): $0.00

Bathroom Craft: Total Cost ~ $5.00

Sewing Lessons Week 3

My sewing lessons went really well last ! I finally finished my shirt :) Hooray! I used a surger for the first time and loved it! It has a lot of needles and threads going in and out all at the same time, it's really cool to watch. I am so excited that I actually made a shirt! This week I learned

1. It feels good to finish a project!
2. I can do this whole sewing thing :)

I'll post some pictures later tonight of my shirt. I'm so excited that I finished it!

Sewing Lessons Week 2

Sorry this is late. I had kind of a rough lesson last week. I was making a lot of mistakes! But my teacher was very patient with me! I thought I'd be able to finish my shirt this week, but I made too many mistakes! So hopefully this week! (But maybe I should tell you that it's not supposed to be done for a month so then when I get done next week you'll all be extremely impressed with my skills!) Well, this week I learned

1. Sewing is hard!!
2. Luckily, most mistakes are fixable (thanks to our best friend the seam ripper!)
3. I'm a beginner...but that's ok :) That's what these lessons are for right?

Are any of you readers really good seamstresses? If you are you'll probably really be able to tell that I'm a beginner. If you have any tips or advice for me I would love to hear them!

Rear-view Mirror Hanging

My younger sister is getting her first car tomorrow so for her birthday my Mom had me and another sister go find something for her to hang on her rear-view mirror. The price of this one is a lot more than most of my projects just because it was for a birthday present from my Mom to my sister. But you could make it a lot cheaper! Here's what we came up with (I think you'll like it!)...

Materials:
~Necklace
~Earrings
~Pliers
~Wire cutters

We went and bought this cute necklace at Icing but there was one thing horribly wrong with it!

Doesn't that heart look like something a 5 year old would wear? It didn't match the style of the rest of the necklace! So...we just took it off :)

There...ahhh...MUCH better! Don't you think? But...now it needs a little something.

We found these earrings at Icing also so we decided to add one on to the top where the ugly heart had been.

There it is! Isn't it great?! The earring looks much better than the heart, don't you think? Now it looks like a 16-year old's item instead of a 5 year old's :) We just put the earring through one of the links in the chain, bent it a little with some pliers and then snipped the end off!

Even though we did this with a new necklace and earring, you could use something old. Also, the second earring that we didn't use here is going to make a beautiful necklace!

Materials:
~Necklace: $15.00
~Earrings: $8.00

Rear-view Mirror Hanging: Total Cost ~ $23.00

Shower Curtain--Finally Done!

This project took me a lot longer than I expected but I do really like the end result--so it's all worth it! Here's what you need to do your own...

Materials:
~Shower curtain that needs some re-vamping
~Fabric
~Ribbon (optional)

I've wanted to spice up my upstairs bathroom so I was thinking of how I could work with the things I already have. I love our shower curtain but it is kind of plain, so I got this picture in my mind of how I could add something to it. So our shower curtain was like this...

Not bad, but it could definitely use some flare! I love the color red, I think it adds a lot of pop and pazzaz to things really quickly!! I decided I wanted to add a strip of red fabric across the top of my shower curtain!

I found the perfect fabric at Hob Lob (one of my favorite places! It's a good thing I live just a few minutes away from one!) The fabric was a crimson red and it was ON SALE! I got 2 yards for $4.45! Perfect color and a perfect price...a perfect combo! I got something that was machine washable (I chose cotton) so that I could throw it in the wash every so often. Also, make sure you don't get a stiff fabric or else it won't hang very well. I measured out the fabric and then folded over the raw edges and ironed them down.

I went upstairs to use to my beautiful sewing machine and there I ran into a problem... Since my shower curtain is vinyl it wouldn't run through the feed of the sewing machine!!! I realized that I was going to have to hand-stitch the whole thing! I don't know about you, but I'm awful at hand-stitching. As you can see here, my stitches are uneven, crooked, and to top it off, my thread's the wrong color!! ... (Don't worry I fixed that later)

I was determined to finish though, so I buckled down and got to work. I stitched the fabric around the edges and then decided to add a black ribbon around the edge as well. This was for two reasons: 1-I really liked how it added a crispness to the look, and 2-to hide my awful hand-stitching! It's hard to see black stitches on black ribbon :) Phew!!
So I now have a beautiful new shower curtain and I can appreciate it even more because I WORKED HARD on it! (It was definitely worth it though!)

Here is the end result...

I don't know if you can tell on this one, but the fabric matches my rug PERFECTLY!!!! Hallelujah :)
(And I know...the rest of my bathroom is so blank! I definitely need something above the toilet. Don't worry :) I've got something in the works already!!)

What do you think?! Here's the price tally...

Shower Curtain:
~Shower curtain: $0.00
~Fabric: $4.45
~Ribbon: $2.12 (also on sale!)

Shower Curtain Re-Vamping: Total Cost ~ $6.67

Sewing Snip-its

For my birthday my Mom found a lady who teaches sewing lessons right by my house and paid for my first two months. I went to my first lesson yesterday! Sorry to all those seamstresses out there, but I am DEFINITELY a beginner! I'm still learning basic terms like baste and surge that you find in patterns and also in the every-day conversations of seamstresses (by the way, baste means sew together [why can't they just say "sew together" it's not like 2 words takes that much longer to say or write than one!] and, honestly, I'm still not quite sure what a surger actually does! Don't tell my teacher! I'm using her machine next week! haha)
My lessons are on Thursdays so each week I'll share a few things that I learned at my lesson.

Lesson #1: I already shared this one above, but Baste just means to sew two things together. I should be able to remember that one!
Lesson #2: The thread take up (or take up lever) should always be at its highest position before you start sewing a new line. A lot of my most frequent mistakes can all be traced to this problem. The thread take up is the thing at the top of your sewing machine right above the needle and if you start sewing with it in the middle then it has a stitch started and it will hook another one right away so you end up with a knot right at the beginning of your line (this happens all the time to me!) It can also cause your thread to come out of your needle thus requiring you to thread the stupid thing again and again!
Lesson #3: You should sit so that your nose is lined up with the needle. Don't sit in the middle of your sewing machine because then you have to lean to the side to see the needle. Keep your back straight and then you can sew for hours and hours without getting back pain.
Lesson #4: Your seam-ripper (the un-picker) is your best friend :)

I'm making a tank-top and I think I'll be able to finish at my next lesson. So I will post a picture next week!

Cool New Blog

I found a really cool new blog that I like and I thought I'd share it with all of you! Check this out! Less Than Perfect Life Of Bliss I think you'll like her stuff :)

I Haven't Forgotten...

Sorry that I haven't posted a craft in so long! I promise that I haven't forgotten about this and I actually have one in the works. I thought it would only take me an hour tops but it has turned into quite the project! Here is a preview of it...any guesses on what it is? :)