DIY: Camera Bag

My poor little camera has been through so much! In case I've never told you guys, I wield a Canon Rebel Xsi which I bought off Craigslist for $450. And I just love, love, looooove it. Of course, I have to thank Brandon for pitching in a little to help buy it ;) But we've taken it to the beach, on vacations, and I haul it around between work and home practically every single day! And even though I've had it for... a little over a year(?) I have not gotten a proper camera bag! Now, I looked into camera bags and 1) they're superdy-dooperdy expensive and 2) they're down right ugly! So I went on a quest to make my own and this is what I came up with!
I realize now, it's a bit girly..... woops? Not really what I intended but I like it.
I started out by thrifting this for about $6.
Then, I got some fabric and quilted it together to cover the top (I wasn't so crazy about the swirly things).

I pressed all the edges...
And pinned it all together. On the rounded corners, I clipped off the corner of the fabric to ease it into the curve.


Wohoo! Covered! Now, for the harder part. I used this foam that magically appeared at my dad's house.... so it was free.
I cut pieced for the bottom and sides.

I found some fabric, I went with something neutral to match the inside and cut two pieces for each piece of foam.
Then, with a piece of fabric on each side of my foam (right side facing outward) I stitched it... like that ^^. The foam I was using was kind of thick and I was hoping this would thin it a bit... it didn't really.
So here are all my finished pieces, next I connected them. Sides first, then the bottom.
I decided to make two little pads to cradle the lens. I cut foam in the size I wanted and then made a kind of pillocase for them. Then I sewed it as close to the bottom as I could and cut off the extra.

To sew them in place, I turned the whole thing inside out and stitched the little pads on the sides.

And last, I hemmed up the raw edges at the top.


And done! The space on the right is for either my wallet/phone or whatever so it can double as a purse. OR whenever my new lens arrives, I will make it it's own little case!

I ended up getting this 50 mm beauty and I CAN NOT wait until it comes in. Speaking of which, I recently got a new camera remote and HIGHLY recommend it. It's so small and sleek, comes with a little pouch that attaches to your camera strap (freakin' amazing and so very convenient) and it has a two second delay so you have time to hide it before it snaps the picture! Seriously, it's worth the $20. 
I'm so happy my camera has a home now. It's a little bulky but at least it's protected now! And the best part is, this can double as my purse when I need it to. I might make another for when this doesn't.... dare I say, "go with my outfit". Don't judge me ;) Hopefully I can find a way to make it more compact without giving up the amount of protection? I guess we'll just have to see about that! 
P.S. Has anyone ever tried to dye things with tea or coffee? I just had a thought and am thinking of trying one of those to kind of ruff it up a bit. Ideas? 

Home Tour: Bedroom

**WARNING: Kind of long**
Hello, hello! How was everyone's weekend? My Monday started out surprisingly well, I think it may be due to a certain, wonderful, cup of joe? Maybe? 
So anyways, last weekend while Eliza was away I had the chance to clean my whole house! And actually kept it clean for more than a couple of hours (truly amazing) so I took the opportunity to take some pictures for a house tour! I've been holding off because it's not "perfect" and I can still "do this here" and "do that there" but have come to realize that it's a work in progress. And will probably always be a work in progress. So instead of waiting until it's "perfect" (which will never happen), I am posting pictures now to remember it as it is and in a year I will look back and say "Oh! So that's what it looked like before I did _______". 
We will start off with the bedroom, simply because it's the first room I cleaned. Brandon, Eliza, and I share one room so it's packed with tons of goodies! (see what I mean by I have too much stuff? haa, maybe that's the way I like it?)Here is what you see when you look through the main entrance door. We will start off by looking directly to our right....
And you see another door! It's our bathroom, woohoo. Lining the door are some polaroids we took from the time I was 4 months pregnant to when Eliza was about 6 months old (I'll share those another day).
Hilarious picture of Eliza plus a little trinket that I found (with this) in Galveston after Ike.
Probably my favorite part of our room, our dresser and collage of... stuff. All of this was either thrifted, made, or given to me. Remember making the plate stand? And the map/heart pictures?  (p.s. ignore the empty frames)
Next to our dresser, we have our laundry room! I love having our own laundry room, especially one in our bedroom (so convenient)! Then we have Eliza's little corner. Most of her clothes are in the laundry room but for things we can't hang up, go in that little dresser. There you see the heart suitcase and another plate stand to hold all the bows and headbands Eliza never wears (I keep them there for wishful thinking but mostly she just throws them everywhere).
The picture of Brandon and I are from our senior year in high school (gifted to us by our mother's). The picture on top I took for a photography class (I actually took it with film and developed it in a darkroom!) Then a DIY picture of hearts (ya, ya I like hearts) and a thrifted shelf with thrifted goods. The pair of pink booties I kind of inherited (they're super old), aren't they the cutest things ever?!
And this dress was given to us when Eliza was born. She never really wore it because it's see-through so I had to find a way to put it to good use! And why not on the wall? Can't waste all that beauty.
Right next to Eliza's corner is her bed with the quilt I made for her 2nd birthday. I'm pretty proud of it, if you didn't know already ;)
And these letters I made/gathered before she was born.
A little more to the left is our little reading nook. This is where we keep all of Eliza's night-time books and a few toys.
This rack was actually the side from her crib. And the toy bed has a quilt to match Eliza's!
When Brandon and I first started "dating" I used to make him origami animals during one of my classes. We had these little square lockers in theatre and after a while I had made him a whole little jungle! Through the years they all disappeared except for this one. It's a sweet little memory :) Then we have the crayon art, a bulletin board (recovered), some free art, and one of the very first things I ever made for the blog- owl plaque.
I love, love, looove this nightstand. The school house has been with me since childhood, the tile came from a relative, the picture above is of my sister and I when we were little, and then some more free art, a poster, and a picture of baby Eliza. Hey! Remember making this lamp?
Next is our bed! My very first handmade quilt, dreamcatcher, this little basket thing that I keep scarves in and some really awesome, vintage curtains that I inherited (same one's from my living room)!  A giant mirror gifted to me by my mother (what would I do without this thing?!)
Brandon and I's closet.
My half, kind of clean. Since I don't have much space, I don't have too many clothes. I'm always purging my closet and stealing things from the store so it's continuously revolving which is great for avoiding wearing the same things over and over.
This awesome piece of art by Gvstav Klimt. I found this at a Goodwill for like $3 and had to have it! I remember as a kid, my mom had "The Kiss" and I would just staare at it forever. This one kind of seems like an orgy... but I try not to think of it like that!
And now we're back to the entrance! The picture above the door is another favorite of mine. My brother gave this to me when I was pregnant, it's three pictures of Brandon and I. Purty cute. 
Well that's that! Because of our lack of space, I tend to throw things up on the walls. I like things to be visible otherwise I forget about them so everything gets put out on display. It's more fun that way! Maybe some day when we get a bigger place I can spread some of this out and it'll seem less cluttered. Or I'll just get rid of some of it! But for now, I like it just the way it is. I take great pride in making things for my house, it's like filling my house with art... kind of? I just love looking around and seeing things that are really special/have meaning instead of just some store bought decorations. I try to avoid being a hoarder but that totally doesn't count... right? Well anyways, I love our little home. And I sure am glad Brandon puts up with all my decorating because what would I do without him!? (: 

Girlish Garb: Black Stripes

I'm getting better at taking outside pictures, eh? I wanted to get a few more outfit pictures in before I died my hair again, I think there's one more after this?


Outfit Details: Striped shirt- Thrifted Shorts- Thrifted & upcycled by me Necklace- DIY Socks & Shoes- Target





These are definitely my new favorite heels. I don't where heels often but these are so comfortable! The only downside is that they may be too tall! I've always been pretty short (5' 3") so when I wear heels that make me taller than my fiance, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. But beauty is pain, right?

DIY: Heart Suitcase

T.G.I.F! So this DIY has a funny story to go along with it. I was thrifting one day and spotted this suitcase. I walked over to check it out and saw that it was only $2 (suitcases were half off that day). I tried to open it but saw it had a lock and assumed it was locked. So I picked it up and felt that there was stuff in it. In fact, it was quite heavy! So I decided to be adventurous and bought it basically for whatever might be hidden inside. I took it home and got all these tools out to try and break this sucker open. 

This is me trying to pry it open.
After much banging and prodding, I realized the locked parts just slid sideways! HA! So I opened it and found these items.
Inside was a couple of t-shirts, this (awesome) Ren and Stimpy pillowcase and a couple of karate belts. Luuucky me, right? So now I totally feel like a dummy for not figuring out the stupid slidey thing and there's not even anything good in there! I got a good laugh out of it though. And I told just about everyone I saw that day (which was probably only a handful of people). It was kind of a rush, buying it and just thinking about what I might find on the ride home. Haha, anyways. So now I had this suitcase leftover and decided to pretty it up so I could put it to good use! It was pretty easy, all I did was cut out some fabric hearts... Arrange them...
Then I used a little Modpodge to put under each heart.
I stuck the heart on top of that...And put another coat of Modpodge on top.
And of course, continue with all of them.

After cleaning the inside, I put it on top of Eliza's dress and am now using it as a tabletop/storage in her little corner of the room.

I believe I got the idea from A Beautiful Mess (it was kind of a long time ago). 
In other news! If you follow me on twitter, you would already know but I died my hair again today! And it's like... fire red. Or copper? I don't know, it's very bright and red-orangy. Not sure about it yet, I'm kind of hoping it will fade a little in the next couple of days. I keep trying to take pictures to share but somehow my camera never quite captures how really RED it is. Or maybe I'm imagining it? So yea, that' my news for today. I'm going to go enjoy me weekend now....  

What's On My Playlist

I was reading the lovely Kitty Snook's Blog, listening to her "Zen Playlist" and it inspired me to post some songs from a playlist of mine! I used to be really into music back in high school, so much that I always had my ipod on me but when I got pregnant I kind of lost that (my ipod and my interest). I really miss it. But it's hard to find the time and the money for new music, you know? However, I've been starting to play music while I work and really enjoy it again. I have 2 playlists that I listen to most of the time, one is more upbeat and the other just kind of chill. Since it's kind of late, I picked a few from the more chill playlist to share. Enjoy! 
10 Mile Stereo by Beach House

I love this song so much, it has like automatic calming powers. 

The High Road by Broken Bells

I don't know all the words to this song, but it's a good song to hum to. 
Doin' the Cockroach by Modest Mouse

I love Modest Mouse, this is definitely one of my favorite songs by them. It's different, it's got some soul, it's a good song to sing (if that's what you can call it). 
Other Towns and Cities by Camera Obscura

This song reminds me of the sea, it's peaceful. 
Rome by Phoenix

I can sew and dance in my chair to this one! (: I like to mix it up a little, you gotta throw in a good pop-y song to dance to! 
The Breeze by Dr. Dog

The lyrics of this are so good. You always need that one song to bring you back down to earth or get you out of a rut. This is a good 'n! 
Pirelli's Miracle Elixir- Sweeney Todd Broadway Show

Alright, this one Brandon made me post. I recently thrifted this record from a flea market and he's been listening to it all the time. When he saw I was posting some songs, he coaxed me into putting this one up.

What kind of music do you listen to?