Polymer Clay Fun!!

Hello lovelies!

So, I recently got my hands on some polymer clay. Have I ever worked with polymer clay, or any kind of clay for that matter? Hell no! Did Pinterest inspire me to once and for all give it a chance? Hell yes!

That's where most of my ideas come from. Pinterest. Yay, Pinterest!

Anyway, I've spent a few weeks reading books and blogs and looking at pictures and trying stuff out as I feel like it. I've only spent a few hours total on them, and honestly? Some of these really suck. But I'm getting better and better every week, and MAN is it relaxing making pretty(ish) things out of clay!

Click "Read More" to see more of my er..."creations". :)

Tank Dress

Hey you know what?

It's time to do someone else's tutorial for once, yanno??

I've made it no secret that I'm a huge fan of Mark Montano. I've been a fan of his since his appearances on While You Were Out on HGTV years and years ago. In fact, just yesterday I posted about the ATC's I got from his swap late last month. And if you follow me on Facebook, you'll see that I'm basically reposting his stuff fairly constantly.

So today I ran across this old video of his with a simple enough concept: attach some knit fabric to a tank top and BAM IT'S A DRESS. You can watch the video below if you want to know how I did it. I didn't include any instructions or anything, I just wanted to make something and I liked the result so much I decided to tell you all about it!

Click "Read More" to see my materials and results:

ATC Swap Package!

Hello lovelies!!

Remember way back when I decided to participate in Mark Montano's ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap?? Well, I sent away my cards...

And got an even dozen AWESOME cards in return!

Quick little post today as I show off what I got. It was like motherloving CHRISTMAS up in here!!

Skirt to PALAZZO PANT!!!

Hello lovelies!

Sorry I took the week off last week, but after the ULTIMATE OMG T-SHIRT RECONSTRUCTION TUTORIAL SERIES, I was absolutely wiped. I needed a few days to recover from all the making, and to get inspired to make some new things!

Like this thing, for example!

A quick between-errands stop to the thrift store resulted in this purchase:

It's a fabulous long crushed velvet elastic-waist skirt with some pretty awesome embroidery at the bottom. I've been seeing a lot of pins on Pinterest where women are taking skirts and turning them into palazzo pants, but painfully few tutorials on the matter. The ones that did have tutorials either weren't going to give me just what I wanted, or required the use of a pants pattern. PSH. PATTERNS. PUH.

So, click "Read More" to find out how I made this fabulous skirt into a pair of statement pants!

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 5: Embellishment

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments (this)

Welcome to FRIDAY!!!! Try really hard not to get the Rebecca Black song stuck in your head, okay? :)

Today we discuss EMBELLISHMENTS! You can do these kinds of embellishments on virtually anything in your closet - you don't even have to resize a t-shirt first!

Click "Read More" for tutorials on four different embellishments...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 4: Sleeves

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves (this)

Part 5: Embellishments

Welcome back to the Handmade Hell Guide to T-shirt Reconstruction!

Today we're going to talk about sleeves. Of course, you don't HAVE to do anything fancy with your sleeves when you're reconstructing a t-shirt. It's not NECESSARY. But it is probably the number one thing you can do to bring your t-shirt reconstruction from "oh that used to be a big t-shirt" to "I wonder where she bought that awesome shirt!"

Most of the tutorials covered below assume you have already Resized your t-shirt and also selected a desired Neckline. If you haven't done that yet, feel free to check out those posts and get started!

Click "Read More" for some simple (I promise!) sleeve alterations:

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 3: Necklines

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines (this)

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Happy Wednesday everybody! Hump day and all that. Welcome to Day 3 of the most comprehensive guide to t-shirt reconstruction that I could put together in a week! Ha! I'm exhausted. And yet? I'm REALLY happy about how this is going so far. I did a lot of work and I'm proud of myself!

So today we're going to go over necklines. Many of these already assume that you've resized, so if you haven't read that blog post, I recommend you go take a look at it. Otherwise, use your ideal resizing method (if you want) before moving on to necklines.

Click Read More to get started...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 2: Resizing

Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 2: Resizing (this)

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Hello darlings! Welcome back to my comprehensive crash-course in t-shirt reconstruction!

In Part 1, I gave you some tips and tricks for reconstructing t-shirts, from picking what kind of reconstruction you want to do, to what t-shirts you should choose, to how to sew the stuff. If you haven't looked at it yet, I would recommend you go back and read it real quick, just as a quick refresher on how to manipulate this knit material.

Now, in Part 2, I'm going to take you through six different methods for resizing a t-shirt.

Ready? Click "Read More"...

A Comprehensive Guide to T-Shirt Reconstruction, Part 1: Materials and Tips

Part 1: Materials and Tips (this)

Part 2: Resizing

Part 3: Necklines

Part 4: Sleeves

Part 5: Embellishments

Hello my lovelies!

IT IS TIME. I have put together as comprehensive a crash-course on t-shirt reconstruction as I possibly can given two and a half days to do it...

Today I am going to go over some tips and tricks for working with t-shirts. For the most part, it's extremely easy...but there are a few things to keep in mind if you haven't spent a lot of time with them on your sewing machine.

So, without further ado...click "Read More" to get started!

Coming up next week...THE COOLEST BLOG SERIES EVER

Hey guys!

Given the insanity of my day today (multiple errands, sick kid, cat getting balls removed, etc.) I have not been able to prepare a good solid "I MADE A THING" post for you today.

HOWEVER!

I have been, in between my various to-do's, brainstorming like crazy, and have I got a special (and stupidly ambitious) surprise for you...

Next week, from Monday through Friday, you will be treated to a five-part series on...

T-shirt reconstruction!

Yes, those are t-shirts above. I couldn't really think of a better way to display them. There are 12 t-shirts there, every single one of them in dire need of a revamp, a recycle, a reconstruction, and a refashion. They sit there, forgotten and bored, in the back of my drawer, unworn and uncared for.

IT'S SO SAD Y'ALL!

So this weekend, I will be fixing ALL of them.

I will do it in every different way I can think of (so that it actually results in something I feel comfortable wearing).

And I will document every painful, messy, cotton-knitted second of it for your enjoyment!

Oh you are so welcome. :)

Are you excited? I'm excited. VERY excited. 

Wish me luck! I'll see you on Monday with Day 1 of 5.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

Failure Files: Don't F*** with a Bias Cut Dress

It's been a while since my last Failure File! I don't know if that's because I'm getting better at this or I'm playing it safe...either way, I give you on this glorious Thursday...

Don't fuck with a bias cut dress. Just don't.

Click "Read More" to find out why. Because oh yeah. I documented the hell out of this failure. :D

Pin-O-Rama: 10 Anti-Valentine's Day Sentiments from Me to You

Hello lovelies!

Yesterday I talked about my general "meh"ness towards Valentine's Day. I don't really have anything AGAINST the holiday per se, but it just seems so silly. It's just a day. It's not even a bank holiday! And unlike Halloween (which is also not a bank holiday), you don't even get to dress up in funny costumes and go crazy for a night!

No, no. Valentine's Day is a day for best behavior, flowers that were already dead long before they got delivered to your desk, crappy chocolates in shoddy cardboard heart-shaped boxes, teddy bears that are literally only cute and relevant on that one day, and high expectations that much money will be spent from one person to another.



It just all seems so silly to me. Why devote one day a year to love when really, honestly, EVERY day of the year should be devoted to love? Why restrict ourselves in that way? I'm not saying buy flowers and candy and teddy bears every day, because that would be ridiculous. But WHY do we buy those things? Because we want to show people we care. Meanwhile we could be doing that in a thousand inexpensive (or even FREE!) ways every single day.

Anyway, in honor of the impending holiday and my apathy towards it, I decided to do a Pinterest round-up of my favorite anti-Valentine sentiments that I found today while looking for some commiseration. Turns out I'm not the only one who has a thing against this day.

Warning: some of these images are probably NSFW. Bad words and what not. You have been warned!

Click "Read More" for the round-up.

Mandala Watercolor Valentines Tutorial

Hey all! It's almost Valentine's Day. DID YOU NOTICE?

Yes, the blogosphere is blowing up with handmade Valentines, candy boxes, paper flowers, etc. etc. etc. I'm getting tired of it myself. Not that some of these crafty ideas aren't AWESOME, because many of them totally are! But I've never been a big Valentine's Day fan myself.

I'm not some bitter old lady who's never had a man, either. I just don't really dig pink and hearts and flowers and teddy bears and that other sappy stuff. It all looks the same, all in support of a holiday that literally only exists to take your dollars.

(Imagine if you will that I stand on a soapbox and rant for a few more minutes about Valentine's Day okay?)

But, as you know, I do love making things, especially things for people I love.

So in honor of my love of making things, combined with my desire to be completely different from everybody else all the time (so there!), I give you:

These weird alternative watercolor mandala Valentines!

Okay so they're basically just greeting cards. :) You can use them for anything you want - birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, get well, congratulations...basically, whatever they have a section for at Hallmark, there's probably a mandala/watercolor combination that will match it.

Click "Read More" for a lot more pictures and some tutorial goodness.

Thor Meme Painting

Tee hee, I made art.

My god, do I love Thor. It might be my favorite Marvel movie? I don't know. Every Marvel movie I watch is my favorite until I watch the next one. But Thor has some of my favorite moments of all time, including, and perhaps especially, when they are in the coffee shop and he says "This drink, I like it! ANOTHER!" and smashes the mug to the ground. It cracks me up every time.

Here's the clip:

Bahahaha. The Internet blew up with memes and here is one of my favorites:

I love that brightly-colored background. I love that smile! I love that line. I also love coffee! So see, it all works out nicely. So I decided to make my own piece of wall art to hang above my coffee machine with a good solid reference to that moment in that awesome movie.

Click "Read More" to see how I did it.

How to Make Your Own Artist Trading Cards

Fabulous Friday everyone!

A few weeks ago I was checking up on my favorite YouTube subscriptions, when crafting and interior design god Mark Montano posted this video.

I've always had an interest in artist trading cards, but frankly never considered myself an artist, so I never tried them. But you know what? Maybe I could be an artist! And Mark Montano was hosting a FABULOUS ATC swap. And of course I HAD to participate in THAT!

I made an even dozen cards to send along (well, I'll be sending 11 - one of them is going to my daughter because she fell in love with it!).

Click "Read More" for all of the ATC's I made plus some tips for making your own!

Girls T-Shirt Quilt

Hello my lovelies!

Remember when I made a t-shirt quilt for my son?

It was this one right here:

Click Read More to find out how (and why, dear god, why) I did it again...

Shibori Dyeing Practice!

OMG CRAFTERS LOOK AT THIS!!!!

I came across Shibori Dyeing on Pinterest and fell right in love. I've always loved tie-dye but Shibori...Shibori is like tie-dye on Adderall. SO PRETTY!!!

I was a bit intimidated, honestly, but then I thought, "What the hell?" Most of my best decisions start that way. :) And this? THIS, FOLKS?

SO. FUN.

I wanted to try as many different techniques as I possibly could, so this is a long and photo-heavy post. Ready?

Click Read More...

DIY Lunch Bag

Hello everybody! As you saw yesterday, I have returned from my extended absence - sorry about that. It wasn't so much that I wasn't inspired to create things, but rather that I wasn't feeling the blog. MY BAD. It won't happen again.

To make up for it, here is an easy, fun, and useful tutorial, complete with TONS of pictures! My daughter's lunch box broke so she's been clamoring for a new one. It took me a while to get around to it, but when I finally sat down and figured out how it was going to happen, I realized that it is actually a pretty simple project.

Click Read More to read more. :)

No-Sew Jacket Recon

Hello lovely crafty people! I know it's been a while since I posted up a clothing recon (or anything for that matter - sorry about that!), but I did something really fun that I wanted to share with you! Usually I like to really go for it with my recons, but sometimes simple is better. In this case, it was just a matter of choosing fabrics, cutting, and gluing to turn a plain and simple jean jacket into something I actually wanted to wear.

Click Read More for a few more photos. :)

How to Make Galaxy Dinner Plates

Happy New Year my lovelies! As promised, I still have some DIY's for you, although they will be coming a little slower as work and school have grown absolutely nuts lately!

I have been OBSESSED with galaxy prints lately. Also, I've been watching a lot of video tutorials on painting glass plates. I've also been looking for a cool craft to make for my kids so they can have as much special handmade stuff under the tree as possible. 

ALL OF THESE THINGS came together in one glorious project. :) And the verdict? They loved them. Click Read More for a full tutorial and more pics!