Almost there!!

Aside from some touch-up painting, the outlets being put in and a cover on the light switch, she's ready for me!! I went with blue, and I'm not regretting it. LOVE the color!
So today I'm scrubbing all the "construction dust" off those floors and shelves, and loading up the closet!
Oh, and getting all the hubs crap out of the window seal. He's no longer allowed to make a mess in MY room!
Happy Monday!!

Gift for MY baby!

Last night I recieved a gift for my soon-to-be-babe from my very sweet sis in law. And I'm FREAKING OUT!
She crocheted this adoreable sock-monkey beanie for her and a darling blanket! I CAN NOT WAIT to have a little baby head to try this on! I love the colors. Reminds me of neopolitan ice cream. (Mmm, ice cream..)

And the scalloped edges on the blanket make me want to squeal like a little girl. Seriously.

Thank you Brooke!!

Anthro knock-off necklace

I saw the tutorial for a knock off Anthropologie necklace here and decided to give it a try. It was kinda fun to make, pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and I loved how it turned out! I'll definitely be making some more!

I used pearls instead of jewels (I'm more of a "grandma's pearls" kinda gal then I am a "bling-bling" gal. But I love both looks. Thanks for the tutorial Aubree!!

Craft room update

Just a small update. All the finish work is done and the hubs just finished caulking last night. (Those floors clearly need a good cleaning) He put shelves in the closet. it's a pretty big closet! It will be SO nice!

Now, to choose a paint color! It's between blue and yellow.

I'm leaning more towards blue. I think the second one down is my fave, but we'll see. I'm having a hard time deciding.

Primer will be going up tonight (hopefully), and then it'll be time to paint!! Woo hoo!!

p.s. I'm totally gonna start calling it my "studio". Sounds so much more professional! I'm even tempted to put a sign on the door that says "no kids or husband allowed". :D

Ric-Rac Recieving Blanket Tutorial

I made another ric-rac blanket(as shown HERE and HERE), so I thought I'd throw together a quick tutorial since I had a couple requests for one! It's extremely easy!! What you'll need is:

1 yard of fabric

1 yard of coordinating fleece

a few spools of jumbo coordinating ric rac (I got 3 to be safe, but it will depend on how big you want the blanket to be)

sewing basics

iron/ironing board So start off laying out the fabric, right sides together, and lining up the edges as best you can. trim any edges to make it all even. And then cut down to the size you want. (I cut about 6 inches off so it was slightly closer to an even square. I like my recieving blankets to be like this)

Grab the bottom left corner, and pull it over to the right side so the bottom right corner is lined up to a perfect point (as shown above) Trim the corner, curving it.
You should have a nice curve when you unfold it. This will make it easier for the ric rac.

Fold the blanket in half, lining up the corners. Cut the corner that is lined with the curved corner, using the curve as your guide. Fold blanket in half the other way and cut the other two corners so all four are curved.

Now start laying down your ric rac. Sandwich it between the two fabrics lining up the edge of the ric rac with the edge of the fabric (as shown above)

Pin the ric rac in place. If possible, pin every scallop of ric rac. It's worth it so your ric rac doesn't move when your sewing and it stays nice and even.

When you place the ric rac around the corners, the top of it will bunch a little, but that's okay as long as the bottom of it stays flat and lined up with the edge of the fabric. Especially pin every scallop with the corners!! They will be uneven otherwise.

Also, when you start a new roll of ric rac, over lap the ends about a half inch or so. It makes it less noticable when you turn the blanket right side out.

Sew 1/2 inch from the edge of the fabric, leaving about 6 inches unstitched for turning the blanket right side out.

You don't have to, but I like to make little 1/2 inch cuts on the curved corners. I've done it with out, but it seems to make it less bulky around the edges when you do after you turn it right side out.

Turn your blanket right side out. Now, iron the whole thing flat, especially the edges. When doing the edges, it makes it easier if you pull on the ric rac when ironing, making it flat for you. I like to iron both sides so all the edges are completely flat.

Line up the edges of the opening you did for turning and iron flat. Pin.

Now top stitch around the entire blanket about 1/8" from the edge of the seam.

And you're done!!

Let me know if you have any questions!

If you make this, feel free to add a photo to my flickr group! I'd love to see it!! Plus, you may get featured!!

FOR PERSONAL USE ONY PLEASE!

And can I just tell you how excited I am for when I can do tutorials in my craft room and not off of my dining room table?! It's getting close!! I'll show you updates tomorrow! Happy Monday!!

The Leah Tunic

Just thinking about sewing clothes has always scared me. But when doing a sew along with Jess over at Craftiness is Not Optional, it just gets me excited to do more. Seriously. Jess just wrapped up a sew along for the "Leah Tunic", and it was such a fun and easy one!

Wanna make one? Head on over to Craftiness and check out her step by step tutorial on how to do it!

Getting Organized/Shoe Purge

Let me just say it out loud: "I'm bad at organizing". I've never been good at it. I'm bad at keeping things organized. I am bad at sticking to routines. (Please tell me I'm not alone!)

But...I'm determined to change that about myself!

I look at people who can keep their houses immaculate and I am completely envious. But are people born with a natural talent of cleaning and organizing? Or is it learned? Is it about how you're raised?? Then why is my sister so good at it and I'm not??

Maybe it is a talent that some people have a natural ability for. But just like every talent, it's something that can be learned. It just may take a little more work for some (me) then others.

So when I post about "Getting Organized" with tips and such, it's not because I think I am the person to learn from. It's because I struggle with it and I'm trying to share what I'm learning, or to just display some pride that I'm making progress.

I am turning to all resources to gain this ability and have an organized, "company ready in 5 minutes" home.

One of the best resources I've found is: I just recently fell in love with this blog.

This month she's doing a challenge of getting rid of 30 things in 30 days. This was something that I definitely had to join in.

One thing she posted about was purging shoes. So I did!

I'm lucky enough to have built-in shelves in my closet (courtesy of the hubs), and have one section specifically for shoes. So I organized the top shelf as all my "dressy" shoes, the second as my "semi-casual" shoes, and the bottom as "very casual" shoes.

I also used her tip on putting magazines in your boots so they stand up straight.

Jen is also having a giveaway for a free pair of shoes!! So go check it out!!

Thanks for reading my ramblings! :D

A few new beauties

Over the weekend, I accumulated a few new pieces of furniture, desperate for a makeover! The best part about them is they were FREE!! Courtesy of my dad who had some previous renters (he has a few rental homes) abandon them. So he gave them to me!! Thanks Dad!! (Please excuse the "stuff" in the background of these photos. I'm in no position to move them to another part of the garage that doesn't have stuff in the background, and I'm not patient enough to wait for the hubs)

This tall skinny beauty will be getting a makeover, of coarse, and will be living in my craft room (when that project's done). The only bummer with this piece is I wish that all the drawers were actually individual. But unfortunately, only the top drawer is a single drawer. The rest are actually one drawer per two drawer panels. Oh well! I'm still excited!!

I have a dilemma with this dresser and the next piece. Kadie's current bed and dresser go together and are actually heirlooms from her grandpa. And this dresser and the next piece obviously go together, so I was going to use them for the new baby, but both this piece and the next piece won't fit in the baby's new room. So I may put the next one temporarily in Kadie's room, or put one on hold until the baby is bigger. We'll see.

I am excited about this vanity (the mirror for it in the photo below). Can't wait to repaint this beauty!

And I LOVE the shape of the mirror!!

So those are my weekend finds!! Did you get anything good??