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