Mail sorter

I meant to share this a while ago but... forgot. I made this cute little mail sorter to hang on the wall and sort our mail! I got my inspiration from here: http://sewlovesew.blogspot.com/2008/07/mail-sorter.html and kind of improvised my own. Here's a step by step in pictures:
 Cut two pieces of fabric the dimensions of your choosing using a hanger to kind of get an idea for the width and use some sample mail to get an idea of height.
 Cut some pieces for the pockets, they need to be the width of the base pieces (above). I chose to do three different pieces.   If you used more than one, sew them together.
 Then sew a hem along the top,
 This is also optional but I used some fabric scraps to put on top.

And then I stitched our initials on the pieces in the middle.

 If you used extra pieces in the middle, this is the time to sew them to the pockets.
 Layer the pieces: front base piece(facing up), pocket(facing up), back base piece(facing down)
 Lay the hanger down and pin all the pieces together, pin along one side of the hanger to the top.

Sew along pins and flip inside out. Slip hanger in now. 

Cut off excess fabric, fold in seam, pin, and sew shut. Make sure it'll hang evenly before you sew it shut! 

Ta da! Mail Sorter! I'm off to gather school supplies, not really looking forward to starting school but who is? This weekend we're taking our last getaway to Austin. My brother and sister when off to college last weekend so I'm going to visit them and enjoy my last, relaxing, kid-free, weekend. Brandon and I are both taking a bunch of classes so it's going to be a tough semester! Luckily, for my birthday, my mother offered to pay for mother's day out so that's going to help a lot! And Eliza can make some friends her own age, so it's a win-win! Well it's Thursday, my favorite day! I'm gonna eat some wiiiiings tonight!

 

A Little Pampering

When you have kids, sometimes it feels like you never have time for yourself! Between work, school, and my family, I hardly have time to even shower! But last night after everyone went to sleep, I took the time to pamper myself a bit! I cut my hair (to spice things up a bit!), painted my toes, and sat on the couch watching tv until bedtime. Oh, and worked out, gotta keep in shape!

   And I'm still not so sure why I decided to chop off half of my hair, but it's interesting. I guess I wanted to challenge myself... like I don't already! But it's fun to think of what I can do with it? It's about to get real creative up in here!   Yay, red toes and Jersey Shore! Also, here was Eliza's homemade present from her daddy! I was going to make it but got caught up with the quilt. So I handed over the designs to Brandon, and let him do whatever he wanted. I'm not going to lie, I was a little skeptical when he was near finishing because it didn't exactly turn out as planned. I'm a little bit of a control freak so I just had to take a deep breath and trust him. And hey, it turned out pretty darn cute! I'm so proud (:   the little gadgets are for her to tinker with   

G-town

Here are some pictures from my weekend in Galveston. It was suprisingly pretty but the water was... warm to say the least. But we enjoyed it and Eliza, of course, had a blast. Our friend has a beach house right on the water and invited a group of friends to stay. Good times!

Eliza Quilt

I just realized that I never shared with you guys the quilt I made for Eliza's Birthday! I'm really proud of it, it turned out so much better than I ever imagined! I saw this quilt and modeled mine after it. And used this awesome circle applique tutorial.





 I managed to use fabric I already had for everything but the white parts and the binding. Yay for saving money (and using up part of my stash)!

Here's what the blocks consisted of, plus a few more strips at the bottom.

I handstitched all the flowers and the actual quilting. It didn't take near as long as I thought and was way more fun than the last one! I didn't really do "blocks" last time which may have been part of the problem. It's easier to do it in pieces and kept me from getting too bored with it. A lot of this fabric was part of my vintage stash and then the rest was just fabric I had laying around or from clothes I upcycled.

I'm off to Galveston for the next couple of days! Hope you guys are enjoying the last bit of summer!

  

DIY Rose Headband

I've seen this kind of headband all over the place lately and have been itching to make my own. So I did! It was super duper easy and really inexpensive. Here's what I did:

First what you will need is:

Scissors,

Glue Gun,

A bouquet of fake flowers of your choice (roses, daisies, ect.)

Some matching ribbon

Cut your ribbon to desired length (circumference of your head plus enough extra to tie a bow).

Pull all your flowers off their stems.

Pull the petal part (if any) off the flower.

And cut the stem so that it doesn't poke out.

Put a dab of hot glue on.

And stick it on your ribbon. Note: I started with one in the middle and then worked my way out. Also, place them close together so that when it bends around your head, the ribbon doesn't show through.

 Here is what I wore with it, I made this picture for lookbook. Check it out: here.

Moss Grafiti

I spotted this over at Pretty Much Art and thought it was amazing!

Here is how you do it:

In your blender, combine:

* One can of cheap beer or 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
* A few handfuls of moss
* One teaspoon of sugar.

Blend until the mixture is smooth, and you’re ready to get painting!

You can use a brush to paint your moss onto concrete walls, rocks, or brick. Mist the moss once a day to help it thrive, and soon your green graffiti will take hold! If you’re looking to take this project to the streets, use caution- we don’t want to be responsible for any vandalism charges!

Is this the coolest idea or what? I need a house so I can vandalize it with moss!!!!!

200th POST!

Can you believe it?! 200 POSTS! So I'm celebrating with an outfit post from a cocktail party I went to this weekend. Thank you all for reading! If you have a blog, feel free to share! I love finding new blogs to read.

In other news, I got a lookbook! So you can also see this outfit, here.

Outfit Details:

Dress- Thrifted (in store soon)

Shoes- Target (just got them!)

Necklace- DIY

A note about the necklace, I think I'm going to start a necklace line. The necklace I'm wearing here is actually one I made to sell. I'll let you know when I put them up but I'm very excited! I have an obsession with necklaces so it's fun to design my own. And I think I'm going to "upcycle" necklaces too! Look at me, branching out! Yay.

Brandon, he looks so fifties! What a cutie.