Save your chin- The towel holder

Here is an item that my husband fully does not understand: The towel holder.
It's super simple, just two clips that hold up the towel for when you're getting your little one out of the bath.
Am I the only person who does the chin down to the towel, try to hold it up, while struggling to get a little wet, slippery body out of the tub?


Also, SUPER helpful for when your child decides that splashing like a lunatic is the most fun that can be had in life but YOU have on an outfit that you really like and actually want to wear out of the house that night.
How can my husband not think that this is the most brilliant idea ever?

So easy to make!

Materials:
Piece of fabric approximately 23 inches long and 4 inches wide (to determine length measure from one collar bone, around the back of your neck to the other then add two inches)
2- art board clips (found at Michaels in the same aisle as the fancy paint brushes)


1. Fold the fabric in half the long way and iron a crease down the middle.
2. Unfold the fabric, then fold each long side in so that it meets in the middle.

Fold this in half and press. Now you have a strap.
3. Stitch the strap closed.
4. String each end through the hole at the top of the art clip.

5. Sew the end to the strap, so that you have one art clip hanging on each side.

Wall Art Redo

So the husbando and I had a beautiful, delicate, super awesome paper cut out hanging in our room, but it was in this really horrid plastic frame that I just never bothered to replace. We bought this mind you about 6 years ago from a street vendor by Harvard, and it's supposed to bring good luck. We also had this super horrid wine "art" that the husbando was a fan of but I just couldn't bring myself to hang up on the wall, so I combined them!

Started by wrapping the offensive wine picture in fabric, stapled it right to the back.

Then I very, very carefully removed the paper cutout, which was brittle when we bought it I'm sure since it's so delicately cut, but way more brittle being 6 years old.

Then I trimmed it to fit and "ModPodged" the paper directly on to the fabric. This was an extraordinarily delicate process, and I did get some cracks/breakage in the paper but I don't feel that it hurt the finished look.


And yes, when the color started to run I had a little panic but everything turned out fine.


So we have saved two pieces of art that were "meh" and it's the new inspiration for my total bedroom redo which I will be talking about next week. I need loads of ideas.

$3.10 maternity shirts

I loathe the cost of maternity wear.
It's rarely cute, always poorly made, and only occasionally on sale (though never the right season).
If I find a cute $8 top I practically dance in the aisle at Target.

So my $3.30 a piece maternity shirts require the following supplies:
3 pack of men's v-neck white t-shirts $6 on sale
Sharpie fabric markers $20 for a set of 8 ($2.50 each but I'm only counting them as $1 in my calculation b/c I didn't come close to using the whole marker on one shirt)
Elastic (about $0.30 worth)
Scrap fabric
Spare stencil optional if like me you can't draw

I made them in two styles, one using scrap fabric to make an empire waist, the second sewing elastic directly to the sides of the shirt to create rouching, therefore a little pouch in the front.

For both versions you want to start by using the fabric markers to decorate a part of your shirt. Use your stencil to draw a pretty pattern, or freehand it if you've got that kind of skill. I chose to do a little something up top by the neckline, and a larger area of color on the belly and side:


Empire waist version:
Measure the width of the shirt two inches below the armhole seams.

Cut a piece of fabric twice that length (so it will go all the way around the shirt) plus an inch, and 3 inches wide. Fold the long sides of the fabric under about 1/4 inch and iron.
Sew the fabric on to the shirt 2 inches below the armhole seams. Leave the ends open. This will create a long pocket for your elastic to be threaded through.

Measure under your bustline and cut a piece of elastic (I used 1/4") one inch shy of that number.
Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and thread it through the fabric. Secure the elastic ends together (hand sew or machine will work for this).
Fold the ends of the fabric over each other and sew the fabric tube closed.

Side rouching version:
Measure from 2 inches below your armpit to your hip bones. (For me this was 8 inches)
Cut two pieces of elastic (I used 1/4") to that length.
Flip the shirt inside out and pin one end the elastic two inches from the armpit seam and the other end two inches from the bottom of the shirt. Do this on both sides.

Sew the elastic directly to the shirt, stretching the elastic as you sew to fit the shirt.
I used a straight stitch for this. If your thread is catching in your elastic considering turning down the tension.




Looking at this picture I'm definitely going to go back and add more pink and black to the belly part of this shirt. It was hard to judge how much would be too much, but I feel more neon is in order. Thoughts?

Also, for size calculation purposes, I bought a men's large and I'm normally a women's medium. They do look a little big now, however, I'm not due until June 24th so when they're getting the most wear (warm weather) they will probably barely contain the belly.

DIY Tory Burch pom pom scarf

Saw this on Blake Lively in In Style and I fell in love:

THEN I saw a similar one in hot pink (which I can't find a photo of) and that did it, even though it's not really close enough to Spring to DIY a scarf for semi-warm weather I went ahead and did anyways.
This is super easy, I did it on my sewing machine but honestly wouldn't take much to do by hand.

Materials:
2 yards of fabric, 18 inches wide- I used a jersey knit that I had laying around, but
you could totally do this with a t-shirt that you don't plan on wearing anymore.
2 yards of pom pom trim from the interiors section of your fabric store. I assume that this is
usually used to trim curtains or pillows.
Coordinating thread

1. Pin the pom pom trim to the long side of your fabric

2. Sew it on with a zig zag stitch. At the ends fold the trim under and sew it to close it off.

3. Wear it

Stupid easy, stupid cheap. This cost me $3.50 for the 2 yards of pom pom, bought it when Joann's was having a half off sale on trim.

Just for the record, the Tory Burch version is $80. Just sayin'.

You can wear it rolled in tight, or wide:

"Be Mine" Valentine's Wreath

After having a circular wreath for both fall and Christmas I needed a total change of pace!
So I scavenged through my house and came out on the other side of scrap felt, an old frame and letters I usually use for wine charms with this:

First, I flipped the frame over and cut out a piece of glittery white felt (left over from my advent calendar) that fit in to the frame. I fired up the hot glue gun, ran glue around the edges and pressed it in to place.

Second, I made a ruffle out of a long piece of pink scrap fabric and rolled that in to a flower. All you do is start at one end and keep rolling the fabric around itself and this is what you get, super easy!

If you've never made a ruffle before just google it, honestly there are 1,000 sites with directions way better than I could ever give.
I placed the flower where I wanted it on the frame and hot glued it in place.
Then I took a piece of lace, cut it to fit the frame on a diagonal, and used jewelry jump hooks to secure little silver letters spelling "Be Mine" to the piece of lace. I got these letters ages ago and Michaels, I'm sure they still have them in the little kids beading section. (I've used them countless times as wine glass charms, that way people don't have to remember what animal they are, they just have remember their initials. Usually easier.)

I glued that in place and used 2 little red felt hearts to cover up the edges and neaten it up a bit.
String a ribbon through the top and you're done!
Voila!

DIY Maternity Shirt

My husband came to me with a work shirt that he was throwing away because the collar was discolored and he asked the very silly question "Could you use this for anything?".

In my house clothing never gets thrown out, it either gets donated, upcycled in to something new, or turned in to a dust rag.

So, since I'm 4 months along in my 2nd pregnancy I decided to give it a maternity makeover.

And I wanted to keep it super simple, in retrospect I would have taken the sleeves in but truly when I was doing this I was thinking of a super easy DIY that wouldn't require any advanced sewing skills.

Here it is, 4 steps to turn a men's button down in to a cute maternity shirt for work or play!

1. Remove the collar using a seam ripper.

2. Cut a piece of double sided bias tape the length of your collar, pin it and sew it in place. If you've never used double sided bias tape, it is truly as easy as it looks. You open it up at the center seam and slip it over the collar of the shirt. You will have equal coverage on the front and back sides.

3. Try the shirt on and mark directly underneath your bustline (if you know your boobs are going to grow more during the pregnancy give yourself 1/2 inch of extra room). In my case this was directly above the third button down, 2 inches below the arm holes. Take the shirt off, turn it inside out.

Measure around your rib cage, cut a piece of elastic 1 inch short of that measurement and pin it to the inside of the shirt, one end of the piece should be on the side with the buttons, one end on the side with the button holes. In my case I used 1/2 inch elastic and sewed down both ends (the long way), I recommend this width elastic. Anything thicker will feel too tight and I'm not sure that thinner would hold up as well.

**If you have never sewed an elastic in place, a quick tip, pin it at the start and end of the elastic, at each side seam, and once in the center of the back. Then pull the elastic to fit the fabric length every 4-5 inches and sew that section. If you overpin the elastic you're likely to get frustrated trying to pull the elastic to fit the shirt for sewing, the pins will just get in the way of your stretching the elastic.**

4. Put the shirt on and fold each side inward from the collar down to the elastic creating a v-shape. Pin in place and sew.

Honestly, you can spend time measuring this out and making sure it's perfect but if you look in a mirror and pin it so that it looks good to you it will be fine. (I hate measuring)

Final product:

I do not know where the horrendous glare off the right side of my glasses came from....but in the interest of not photoshopping my blog pics I'm totally leaving it.

I do have some experience with sewing but I am by no means an expert and this only took me about 35 minutes total. I know that the instructions are not 100% clear, but they're the best I can think of at the moment. If you are thinking of trying this but don't understand something please don't hesitate to ask in the comments and I will try to clarify as best I can!

Santa Stache

I had a cookie swap this year and I think it's going to be a Christmas time tradition, and not just because everything was yummy, it was a great group of women and we had an awesome time!
I'm not saying we had more fun because of our Santa mustache cups...but that was probably a huge part of it, how can you not smile and laugh looking at this:

To make them I bought white foam board at the craft store, traced and cut out a bunch of mustaches and then used regular old scotch tape to stick them to wine glasses! Serve with Santa Sangria (Wine, diet Sprite, triple sec and lime juice) , and Elf Elixer (Juice and lemon lime seltzer water) and voila, holiday cheer:

I also made a crescent roll wreath, which I've never done before but tasted fabulous and looked ridiculously festive:

And of course, our cookie assortment...does it get better than this?



Definitely a tradition in the making!

It's a whipped up racket!!

Whipped cream cheese and I used to have a love/hate relationship, so much easier to spread than block cream cheese, but for some reason 3 times more expensive.

We now have a solidly love/love relationship since I started making my own.

Take THAT Philly and your ridiculous $3.85 tub of cream cheese that's mostly just air! You won't be reeking your wallet havoc in this house anymore!

So, thanks to my Kitchen Aid and 4 tablespoons of milk, I turned two blocks of "sure to demolish a toasted english muffin" in to light, fluffy, super spreadable goodness. That's right, just put two blocks of cream cheese in your Kitchen Aid (a handmixer with a whisk attachment would work too), put on the whisk attachment, and add 4 tablespoons of milk, and whip on medium/high speed for 5-6 minutes. Use the savings to get yourself an afternoon coffee.

It's not the best picture, but you get the idea:

Christmas Wreath

I have a total backlog of blog stuff to post! I had to choose between this, the yummiest breakfast ever, and a little party hosting "cookie swap" blog. So I will start with the Christmas wreath and you can look forward to the other two in the next few days!

Pinterest is such a great place to get new ideas from! I made a Christmas wreath for the front door and started with a 6 foot long piece of foam pipe from the plumbing section of Lowes. Never in a million years would have come up with this if I hadn't seen it on Pinterest.

You will need: Foam piece, duct tape, various fabrics, hot glue, embellishment (I used mini jingle bells)
Here are the steps:
Cut the foam to desired size for your wreath, I cut it down to 4.5 feet.
Cut a piece of fabric 1" wider than the width of the tube, and 1" longer than the length.

Pin the fabric right sides together and sew in to a tube, open on both ends.
Slide the foam piece in to the fabric tube.

Duct tape the tube together.

Pull the fabric together to cover the entire tube and hand stitch in place ends together.
I made a little door hanger with fabric at this point and wrapped it around the top of the wreath, but you could easily sew on a loop of ribbon and it would work just as well.

Next cut three pieces of fabric about 20-25 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. I used three different fabrics for this. Fold them in half the long way, with right sides facing out and sew a basting stitch across the top, do not back stitch at either end. Tie a knot in one end and then holding one piece of the opposite thread begin gathering the material in to a ruffle. (There are awesome videos on You Tube if you search for "how to make a ruffle")

Roll them up counter clockwise in to flowers.

Hot glue the flowers on the wreath, using embellishments in the center if you wish. I think that gems would look really adorable here too. I added a little red sparkly something that I had lying around from a Michaels after-Christmas super sale two years ago.

When I hung my wreath because the foam base is so light it titled toward the embellished side so I had to use duct tape to secure it straight up and down.

Love it!