Oh, Lordy Lordy.

WOW. All I can say.
It's been a long while.
Moving to (& living in) Denver.
2 months down.

You guys, I've found the best deals on stuff here, I can't wait to get them all up on the blog... but the Goodwill Outlet here is 500 x's better than the one in Des Moines. (soon to come: Columbia soft shell jacket... for $1.39/pound, making it like a $3 jacket!!!)

I've kept my crafting up, but the pile is almost beginning to consume me. I just need a weekend without homework so I can catch up!

First off, some tasty treats I've made recently. Let me tell you... Warm treats have been my weakness... I've definitely been falling off from my dietetics roots recently. Not to worry though! :)

Homemade vanilla chai tea mix! (SO GOOD!)

Crockpot Monkey Bread! (Thank you, Pinterest!)

Homemade granola bars (2 bananas + 1 cup oats. Mix, add add-ins such as craisins, nuts, chocolate chips... then bake at 350 for 15-17 min!!)

YUM! I have done a couple small refashions such as take pockets out of a dress (you may be thinking "WHAT? WHY!??" well, they were in a jersey fabric dress and just made my hips look lumpy. Cue the "ohhh, good thinking" response!). I also have begun working on refitting a blazer. I have dyed a few things, just to spice them up a bit (cobalt blue and purple!!) And refit an old demin button down of my mom's.

Here's a shot of the denim button down with a dyed purple skirt that I shortened a few months back:

I love the look of the two together. The purple skirt was blue at one time so it almost has a marbled appearance now. I'll get a close-up of it sometime!

I'll leave you with my to-do shots

Can you find my sewing machine buried in there anywhere?? :)

You should be able to find: polka dots, aztec, paisley, the blazer I referred to above as well as a pair of hiking pants to refit, jeans to patch, and sweatpants to make into capris!

This is my "someday" box... but lots of fun prints to get to, hopefully soon! The items above are higher priority at this point, however!

Well, as soon as grad school dies down a bit, hopefully I can get to some fun refashions! :)

Stay well,

Mary

Pants Skirt

A few weeks back I discovered this awesome blog called ReFashionista. Within about a 3 week period, I viewed and read every single post she had. And let me tell you, she has a lot! She recently completed a 365 day challenge to refashion a piece of clothing every.single.day. for a whole year.

I don't know this person, I don't even follow her blog (I just have it listed as a bookmark on my internet browser!) but I feel like she really changed how I thought about clothing (and other artsy stuff in general!)

Well anyway, I've been wanting a maxi skirt for a while now but just never pulled the money out to buy one. Even a simple one like this for $25? I knew I could get one for cheaper, I just had to figure out how.

Before I moved out of Des Moines (which was just on Friday, FYI) I found an amazing Salvation Army Thrift Shop and visited it twice in 1 week. I found pants that looked scary similar to these (I forgot to take a before picture.)

These set me back a whole $2! Oh no, break the bank... not! I saw ReFashionista's post(s) on how she has made a skirt out of an old pair of pants. See how I did it here!!

So with a bit of seam ripping, figuring out how to thread and use my new sewing machine, this is what I came out with:

My very own pink maxi skirt!

Action shot??

Awesome fit and loving it! (no rhyming intended!)

I need to say, I wish I could claim that Twins shirt to be my own, but I actually borrowed it for the game from my friend Hannah Sanborn. My dad and boyfriend bought tickets for us and my mom for my mom's birthday and I realized I had nothing to wear. Luckily Hannah came to the rescue just in time!

So there ya have it! A quick and easy maxi skirt! 

Total time to make: 40 minutes (this included seam ripping, pinning, and sewing!)

Total cost: $2! Yahoo!

SEWING MACHINE!

Since I have been crafting more and more recently (and since AJ gave me the idea of this blog, the creative juices are flowing ever more!) I realized I had to stop waiting to go home to use my mother's sewing machine and buck up and buy one for myself!

On to Craigslist I went (thanks AmeriCorps budget... being thrifty is actually a need now, not an excuse!) and I found a nice lady who sold mer her Kenmore model 385 for $35 (thread included, yahoo!)

Well, only issue is I found it in Mahtomedi, MN and I am still in Clive, IA. That's an issue. Luckily my awesome boyfriend told me he would pick it up! So 35 minutes longer on his drive home from work, he ended up with my very own sewing machine!

I have yet to see it in person (I leave for MN in about 2 hours!) but I was able to have a few photos sent to me!

Here it is! And it's ALL MINE!

Yeah, it was cheap but it has a removable base to sew sleeves and collars. NICE!

So many stitch styles!!

Now, my question... Does having a sewing machine make me a grown woman? ;) How many 23 year olds do you know that hunt for a sewing machine in order to sew their own clothes? Yeah, that's right. Probably not many!

Ring Holder

So for all of you who don't know, by best friend since I was a baby got married to an amazing guy in June. I was so blessed to be a part of their wonderful celebration:

This is Alie, isn't she beautiful?? :)

Well, her birthday and her husband's birthday are very close to each other (within a week I believe!) so since I'm not living out in Denver near them yet, I made their gift and sent it out there. Not as exciting, but what else was a girl to do?

Anyways, since they both now have wedding bands on and dishes are probably not as safe to do (don't let the ring go down the drain!) I decided to take an idea off pinterest... isn't this cute??

So, I took my coupons on down to Michaels and came up with this:

The brown background I changed to be blue (their main wedding color) and viola! A wonderful wedding band holder for those nasty dishes!

Wall Hanging

I've been wanting a piece of art of some sort for above my bed, especially now that I will be moving into a larger bedroom in a week.
I didn't quite know what I wanted to do, but I wanted it to be cheap, colorful, and fit into the crazy color scheme I have going on in my room.

This part weekend I was one of the volunteer coordinators for a health fair. We had boxes and boxes of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss donated to us. There was a lot of cardboard waste when we consolidated these boxes. The floss had many thin cardboard separation pieces that I just couldn't let go to waste. I was originally thinking they would make good bookmarks for kids to design but ended up having an idea.

So of course I ran to Michaels (with my 20% off entire purchase coupon!) and picked up some colorful 99 cent bottles of acrylic paint (SO CHEAP!) and decided to see what I could come up with.

This was the first step. Painting each piece of cardboard... it really didn't take long at all and it dried super fast, so 2 coats took no time at all!

Then I started thinking of what I could do. I picked up a foam board when I was at Michaels because it was the perfect size for an above the bed hanging, so I started stacking the colorful pieces on:

I thought it was looking pretty cool but couldn't figure out the best way to attach them. Luckily I had recently fixed my blue bedside table and had lots of wood glue leftover. I knew that would be really strong but was still unsure.

Out of the light

With the light

So, this is what it turned out to look like! I was very satisfied and it only cost me less than $8 worth of foam board and paint. Definitely cheaper than this cool wall hanging!

Now I just have to figure out how to get it to Colorado without the edges bending... I didn't really think of that until afterward! I'm going to keep my eye out for extra large boxes and sandwich it between 2 pieces probably. Wish me luck!

Stay crafty! :)

F for Mr. F

I saw this online (surprisingly not Pinterest!) and decided to give it a go!

I purchased a wooden 'F' at Michaels. I then took Elmers glue and made swirls on the front of it then let them dry completely. Once dried, I wrapped the letter in tinfoil and painted it a greenish brown color.

It was really easy but it makes it look really pretty cool and old! (Thanks AJ for the artsy photo!)

Enjoy! :)

Good thing I like taking pictures...

I just went through my iPhone to find some more photos of what I've done the last couple months, well, the stuff I still have photos of at least.

This is more or less a "before" shot of my $1 side table. I started this one in April!

I didn't take an official "after" photo, but this is basically what it looks like now. I finished painting the thing blue, removed the vice grips (it does add though, doesn't it? haha!), and then I went over the swirls on the front and lightly painted them white!

I can take ZERO credit for these... but my crafty side rubbed off on my wonderful boyfriend AJ! He made these for me... the three places I've lived so far: Greece, Minnesota, and Iowa. Boy, Colorado will look silly when it is added to the mix!!

This is the "before" picture for my other table. I made this one in October/November-ish

And the "after" Chevron table. It matches my wall perfectly!

This isn't crafting, obviously, but rather a wonderful loaf of yummy bread that I made in my roommates bread machine! :)

A brief sampling

Here are just a couple of the things I could find to show you all... I'm in the middle of packing up my life to move from Clive, IA back to Maple Grove, MN for a week and then I'm moving out to start grad school in Denver for 2 years!
Needless to say, my life will be pretty crazy for the next 2-3 weeks or so until I am settled in Denver!

Some fabulous (but kind of fray-ing) burlap placemats. My no sew fray gel didn't work so well... I'm going to get a sewing machine to these babies once I get home to MN!

Made this last summer... but it's a piece of old barn wood that I treated and added hooks to! (Oh, and that awesome coat? A $4 Goodwill find!!)

A quick (and bendable) bracelet. This one is mine but I also gave 1 to my mother and 1 to my aunt for mother's day!

Some earrings, I've made about 4 pairs of these... the other 3 I have as gifts

Made this last summer as well... and please don't mind my packing mess... but this was a cheap $5 Target mirror at one point. I added an old closet door to the back for support and some painted trim as a frame around it! Good thing my family was doing a house remodel at the time because all the materials were free! 

As I said, I have a few clothing pieces that I will be making once I get back to MN. I am looking to buy a sewing machine of my own eventually, but I'm pretty low on cash (thanks AmeriCorps!!)

I really hope someone reads this because I truly love these little side projects of mine even though people think I'm crazy sometimes! :)

First post

I'm mostly starting this blog because AJ told me to do something to showcase my crafty side.

So for my first post, I would like to show you the beginnings of my craft basket. It's a bit small but works for me for now! :)

I have been a bit crafty recently but haven't taken many photos of my work so far... but I promise to take more pictures and upload them soon! But as a heads up, get ready to see 2 or 3 skirts being made, a dress, a wall hanging, a water pitcher, and I will "showcase" some jewelry and other stuff I've made in the last couple months.

Until then, stay creative! :)