I want to do this!

Tutorial here.

Project Restyle #5

So I am a slacker.  Whatevs.  I wish I could do a project a week, but...it ain't gonna happen.  Unless ofcourse I were to tie up the monsters, and frankly, even I did, the little boogers would escape.  Anywho, this is my 5th attempt at Project Restyle.  I do like the motivation it gives me to get crafting.  It's like my coach back in the day 86 the bullhorn and the yelling.

Before: thrifted dress

 After: cross body carry-all/shopper  for grocery shopping, days at the park or the pool, that I can get wet and dirty and throw in the wash. 

 It is ginormous.

 It has a giant cross body strap and two small handles for carrying.

 The bottom, some sweet bow heavy polyester vintage fabric.

I lined the inside with more scraps and put in a ton of pockets with the intention of storing yarn...and notebooks, when not being used to store toys and sand.  

check out the "i like to party" link to see where I linked up.  Holla!

Thrifty Thursday

First of all, I missed a day this week.  I mean, I am literally minus Thursday.  I thought yesterday was Tuesday and today was Wednesday.  Thank God my hubby was nice enough to let me know that tomorrow is indeed Friday.  I have two appointments that can't be missed.  One being my third interview with a company that I have already had an interview with and taken two tests for.  That would have been really, really bad to have missed.  I am kind of bummed though...there is no job better than being at home.

Have I mentioned that I love to thrift?  I could do it all day...everyday.  My stinkers make it difficult to really scour the racks like I used to, but I can usually scope out the good things fast.  Here are this weeks scores.

Arctique vintage water cooler, luggage (I thought it might make a great camera bag), and a lock box.  I  love a vintage lock box and have quite a few. 

 Some great vintage glasses with purple etching.  They had 5, but 2 had been run through the diswasher (if you ever buy vintage glasses DON'T wash them in the dishwasher, after too many washes you will eventually wash away any design they once had and they get scratchy). 

I can hardly ever walk away from a fur.  I looooove furs!  I did walk away from a mens leather jacket and am still thinking about it.  Sometimes I just can't bring myself to pay what they are asking.  My rule is to walk away and if I still think about after a few days, I might go back.  If it already sold, it wasn't meant to be.  Not very happy now...I want my Thursday back.

I am happy however that I found a thrift party!

Thriftastic

So a couple months ago I was thrifting and found what I thought just might be...a Burberry trench.  I have wanted one for ages and back when I traveled for work I even went into the Chicago store and tried one on for shiz and grins.  Needless to say I did not buy it.  It felt like butter and fit like a glove...but $1200 was and is too steep for this broke chic.

Back to story...I pick it up...do a once over...put it back (I do this a couple times)...go back...pick it up again...try it on.  I thought no, can't....be...the...real...thing.  I look it over, it has great detail, but a stain on the back.  I call the hubs, he says "watcha got to lose"?  I says "40% off $14.95".  He says "well there's your answer".  SOLD!

I get it dry cleaned and then wet cleaned (for $10 because I waited for the coat sale, yeah me) and the stain is hardly visible.  I take it to our local Burberry and guess what...it's the real deal.  Keep in mind, the gals can't "authenticate" but she happens to have her own 1980's trench and says "yup, you scored alright"!  Good enough for me.  Don't get me wrong, would still love to have a new one that has the sleeves that actually go all the way to end of my arm, but I will take what I can get.  Besides, nothing is ever long enough, so I am used to it...I'll push them up, and do what I do best...play big girl in a little coat.

Isn't she purdy?  Could not be more stoked to have found a link party for thrifting, am so giddy!  Check it...here and here.

Bubba's Birthday

5 years ago yesterday...my life changed forever.  For instance...the minute I started writing this yesterday...I started crying.  Dangit.  Let me put my game face on.  Whew.  You were 9lbs 4oz and 21" long.  I didn't think I would ever survive...but somehow you made all the pain go away.

Jeremy Dean 

    This is how you sucked your thumb.

This is how happy your daddy was.  And not just because I had you during march madness.

This is how handsome you were.

this is how ornery you were.  Don't worry, still not as ornery as that sister of yours!

This is how much you liked your 1st cake.

This is how kissable your face was.

and now you are this big.  i am going to cry again now.  momma loves you Bubba.

blushing

Super excited.  I was just featured on Sew Chatty:  Made with Love #18.  Check it...here.  This is how I feel right now.

It's snowing here in KC.  Grab your smallest curtain climber and your biggest sweatshirt.  Conserve energy and do less laundry.

Project Restyle #4

Oh Project Restyle, please accept my deepest apologies for being a bad friend.  I don't call, I don't write, I take weeks off at a time...this is my attempt at getting back together with you.  

These are my favorite jeans.  I've had them forever.  I split the ars out of them years back.  You can even see where they have been patched before.  To be honest, they have been patched and split back open numerous times. (insert joke here)

Each time, I patched 'em up and kept on wearing them.  I haven't been able to button them (let alone get them past my thighs) for years.  I tried them on the other day and it inspired me to really patch them...hopefully for good.  But, I needed inspiration.  

so I turned to one of my favorite vintage books...I adore these old craft books.  I ironed scrap fabric to some stabilizer and cut out a bunch of these triangle pieces.

I used a hot glue gun with fabric glue to hold them down.  If you haven't ever used this glue I would suggest go lightly and don't glue where you intend to sew.  It is hard to get through.  As it was, I had to use pliers and and a thimble to get my needle through the thick parts near the pockets.

I did a blanket stitch all around the pieces and like EPMD from '97...I am back in business...until I bend over and rip out the butt again.

Check out where I party on Tuesdays.  Click here and come join us...be sure to scroll to Tuesdays!

"One doodle that can't be undid...homeskillet"

What on earth was I thinking?  A loooong time ago I painted my beautiful dining room table and chairs cream.  It was magical, they were beautiful, I didn't protect it.  Several years, hundreds of crafts projects, and two kids later it looked like this....

Every time I look at it, it makes me ill, I hate it, it's past the point of no return.  The whole time I was scraping the paint off with my handy heat gun this quote from Juno kept going through my head.  If you haven't seen Juno there is a video clip of the scene here.  The quality is terrible but it's one of my favorites from the movie.  

This is what I did ALL day Friday, while the monsters enjoyed the sunshine.

See that disgusting porch?  Another WIP.  We started on it last year, again with the heat gun.  Since I have lived in this house it's been, gray, green, blue, yellow, and beige (and this is only what I remember), and now we are scraping off years of paint. 

Table is almost sanded, and the chairs are taunting me.  I made the smart move of going to open gym last night to play volleyball for 2 hours.  I was hurting so bad I had sit out the last game.  I called myself a few names.  Hopefully in the near future I can post the finished product...and hopefully I will finish. 

I want sweets now

After looking at this blog that featured two of my favorite things: peanut butter and chocolate...I had to post these pictures of what I made last week.  I only gained 4 pounds the week I made them so they aren't very good.  I got the idea from an Etsy post on facebook.  I searched and couldn't find the link, but did find this one here.  I ate all of mine immediately so there were no after photos...sorry...I have no self control with sweets...

and yes, there were delish.  Now you guys are probably hating on me like I was hating on the sweet gal who posted the yummy pb and chocolate recipes.  

hate on haters...hate on...and then go grab the gallon of milk and drink it straight from the jug.

How we get down

It's underweeeaaar TIME.

Don't let that face of angel fool you...with her tank on backwards and her brothers sweats.

helping herself to some jooooce. This was about 6 months ago. That's how she gets down.  And yes, she will do it with a gallon of milk also (don't know where she gets it!).

underwear isn't just for your bum.

Here she is looking like a girl.  She is always mistaken for a boy, could be the hightops and sweats and she normally picks out.  Cutest headband ever.  My beautiful cousin Shelley made it.

This was a while back.  So much changes when they reach 4 (he'll be 5 next week...I want to cry, it's gone by way too fast).  They aren't as ornery as they are when they're 2.  I take it back...the boy just crushed powdered donuts to make it "rain" on his "trains".  Cleaning is futile with these two.

This was him about a year ago.  And this is how he woke up.  When he went to bed there was no marker on him.  He snuck out of bed and decided it was auts and cwrafts time all by hisself.

I am cornholio.  Anyone around in the 90s has to remember Beavis and Butthead.

OK, I won't bore you with any others.  They are stinkers for sure, and wear me out to no end, and may make me a little crazy...but I do love them bigger than outer (s)pace.

Love, peace, and hairgrease...Amy

Le tunic

This is for you @katie.  I am trying to get used to photos of myself.  It's all fine when it's girls night and I've had some cocktails...but still a litte weird when it's not.  So here it is, not sure if it counts as self portrait since I cut my head off.  My tunic on....

Thanks for the comments I loooove them.  Holla!

Last weeks naptime fun

This is some naptime fun.  I like really quick and easy projects.  I pick up 70s fabric all the time at thrift stores.  I think its a polyester blend.  It's not necessarily the highest quality fabric...but something about it I love and every time I am somewhere that has some, I generally clean them out.  It's cheap, doesn't fray (no hemming required WOOHOO!), and comes in fantastic 70s prints.

So I was looking for a quick project.  I finished this (not including the buttons) in an hour.  I sew like I cook...I'm a bit of a hack, I don't really like using patterns, I will if necessary, but I'm not a big fan...I think it's a patience thing.  I did use an old long sleeve fitted t-shirt as a cutting guide for the sleeve inseam and overall fit, then added about 12 inches for some length.  This is my version of dressy sweats.  So comfy, I can wear it with leggings.

I find a lot of these old buttons that you can re-cover in old sewing boxes at estate sales.  They are fab.  I can sit and cover buttons all day.  (easy projects make me happy)  

I love me a puffy sleeve, so I gathered the shoulder before sewing the sleeves on.

It's hard to tell in this photo, but there is a little cuff.  The picture below shows the gathers on the shoulders and then I used scraps but changed the direction of the fabric to lengthen the sleeve.  It was mainly out of necessity because I was running out of fabric.  As you can see below (I am a total hack) I actually started out with a rectangle for some "bat sleeves" before I trimmed it down.  

Bottom line, cheap vintage fabric and easy sewing projects= Happy mommy.

 It's coffee time!

Click on the "I like to party link" to see where it's at this week!