Fishtail Sunday

So Lauren wanted to take some pictures of our church outfits yesterday, 

so I was more than happy to throw a hand on the hip and cheese it up. 

I got a lot of compliments on my Anthro dress and my fishtail braid.

I got the dress on sale for $35 and added the navy lace extension on the bottom to lengthen it.

The braid was very easy, but sadly I did not find a tutorial for it on Pinterest. 

It just kind of happened on accident one day when I was home. 

So, here is how you do it. Sorry no step-by-step pictures!

Try not to judge my crooked braid :/

1. tease your crown and comb smooth. 

2. Find an elastic and put your hair half up, making sure that the back of your hair is smooth

3. I always like to pull some hairs out of the ponytail to make sure my pouf is even, haha!

4. Hairspray the top, not too much!

5. start with the hair that is not in the ponytail and fishtail braid from both sides around the half ponytail. 

6. you can braid all the way to the end or be lazy like me and do a shorter braid. 

7. Done and done. Looks cute plain, or with a headband, and even under a baseball cap. 

ALSO, if you are going to wear a bright lipstick, make sure that you keep the eyes simple. 

I just used a nude eyeshadow on my whole eyelid and then did a thick line on top and put on mascara. 

Don't forget blush! You don't want to look ghostly this summer!

DIY Mint Jeans

This is my first shot at a DIY tutorial, so please don't judge too harshly and leave some comments for the next DIY post.
MINT JEANS!!

 My cute roommate is quite the photographer!!
 I refused to be cute in these pictures, because she made me change out of my sweatpants :(

For those of you who follow Lauren, you already saw a post about our awesome mint pants.
Here is a step by step tutorial with what to do and what not to do!
1. Purchase a pair of white pants, preferably a cotton blend.

2. Wash and dry them like you would your normal laundry.
3. Pick a color from this awesome RIT color swatch link. There are color tabs at the bottom of the page that you can click through and then just click the swatch you like for the color mix measurements.
Here is a screenshot of the mint mix: 

1/2 teaspoon of Teal RIT dye and 1 teaspoon of Lemon Yellow

These are the powder versions, I found them at Hobby Lobby

Wear gloves and be very careful because they color will stain everything!!

4. Measure two cups of hot water and mix measured amounts of dye into the water. Stir consistently until ALL the powder is dissolved, otherwise you will see yellow and blue spots on your pants like I do. oops!

5. Fill a bucket or a sink with hot water so that the pants are completely submerged with room to move around. Then place the pants into the water and make sure all the fabric is completely soaked (for even coloring). Again, I FAILED! In this case, bigger is better. I recommend a mop bucket, not a tiny sink.

6. Pour in color, giving it one final stir just to be careful. Then mix the color into the water very quickly to avoid spotting. This is crucial. No time to stop and take cool pictures like this one, we learned our lesson. Just use your gloved hands to mix it. 

7. Make sure to really move the pants around or you will have light and dark spots! Not good!

8. Let it soak for about 15 or 20 minutes and then rinse the pants in warm water and progress to colder water with every rinse. You want to rinse until the water runs clear. 

9.Then wash the pants SEPARATELY, unless you want to destroy some of your clothes by adding them to the same wash.. The choice is yours, really.  

10. While your cute pants are washing and drying wipe everything down with bleach otherwise your Mom will probably get mad at me for posting this and causing you to destroy her sink and countertops!! 

11. Wear those cute pants and love 'em, and when people ask you where you got them-you can say, "I dyed them myself, No Big Deal!" Very impressive!!

Productive Tuesday, Holla!!

Yesterday was  very productive and fulfilling day for me :]

My awesome day started with a new job working at Nexeo. 

I am still not sure what I will be doing there, 

but I am guessing it is something to do with accounting 

because my uncle told them I was an Accounting Major at BYU. .  Say what? 

I was Pre-Business Finance a year ago!  

But hey-- maybe they need a design team. . . .

ya know? for uniforms or something!!

The day continued on and so did I-

I made two scarves- TWO!!

I was so excited that I went and bought some fabric at Jo-Ann's

I got started on Capri's dress in my sewing class and it is the cutest thing I have ever sewn in my life. 

It is a bright blue corduroy fabric with owls on it with a brown contrast collar. 

I went to Adopt-a-Grandparent and met the cutest grandma of my life. 

She told me above all else to be honest in everything that I do. 

She shared the story of how she met her sweet husband-who is now very ill.

I don't want a love like Johnny and June, 

I want a love like Norma and Grover

I can't wait to go back and visit her next week.

I finished a 25 page assignment- finally done with papers and projects!

Then Vanessa talked me into going to a spin class- not gonna lie I was scared!

It was so tough, and I didn't think I was going to be able to walk when I got off that bike

Today my legs are wobbly and my rear is real sore.

That was my productive day, and here is one of the scarves I made
Just click the picture to follow the link to my Etsy shop

Halloween. . It was spooky

So my first Halloween costume was definitely the scariest. .
The pictures speak for themselves
I was a relief society president for the ward social party

Lauren was white trash, Darci was emoooo, and Mandy was. .. well Mandy was Mandy

Then I attended Zombie prom with Vanessa and Darci. . props to Darci for the wounds on Vanessa

I got my make-up tutorial on Pinterest. . How I love thee!

Lani is so fun. She knows how to throw a good party too

Then there was the masquerade with all my favorite people. 

Darci and Lauren and Bruce started the night with me

I spent the three days before the dance on my sewing machine making this dress and mask..

was it worth it? You tell me!

Saunder matched with his purple polo so a picture was more than necessary 

I also helped the 3 stooges disguise themselves as the 3 Musketeers

That would be James, myself, Riley, and Gideon

Did I mention how much I love Lauren?
Chandler and Eryn were also in attendance at the Masquerade, but I have yet to receive any photos from them. I will update soon

O Baby!!

Last week I made a couple onesies for Dan and Liese's new baby, Hayze.
He is coming in December :) I can't wait to meet him.
I was going to do a tutorial, but I forgot to take pictures at each step.

First, I made paper patterns for the vest and the tie. 

Second, I cut out the ties and the vest- just about 1/4" larger than the paper pattern so it can be turned and pressed

Then I pinned and stitched the tie, stitching from the neck first so it doesn't move. 

PINNING is crucial

Use a zig zag stitch 

no need to turn under corduroy. it finishes better flat

then stitch on some cute little buttons!

I also bought a pattern for pants at Jo-Ann. They are gonna be so cute with that big diaper butt!

The T-Shirt Quilt that took over the living room

I decided that it was time to pull out the old sewing machine again

It has been about a week now, ha!

I pulled all of my t-shirts from K-12 out of the attic when I was home

and they totaled about 60 shirts, most front and back. . 

I started cutting out the shirt squares and was exhausted after 4 hours

I swore off cutting t-shirts for the few moments before I tried to put the puzzle pieces together. 

2 MORE hours later I had semi-successfully pieced together 75 pieces of t-shirt memories

I spent an hour sewing and then threw in the towel for the night. 

For the sake of the living room, sewing resumes at 8 am tomorrow morning!!

front print only 

front and back 

the fruits of my labor

thank you aunt Melly for having a mat and rotary cutter

still had about 20 shirts front and back left

this was tougher than calculus

I ran out of room and had to move the couch out of the way

More photos coming soon, O and if anyone would like to donate about 6 yards of Minkee for the back I will be able to sleep in a warm bed and afford food when I go back to school. So cute, but 13 dollars a yard is outrageous!!

Hello Gorgeous!

At Christmas I was forced to part with a most prized possession. . .

The most beautiful ring a girl could ever ask for

A Ruby inspired by Proverbs 31:10

It is a gift from Aunt Jen and  Uncle Mike from my basketball days. 

We have been officially reunited and my left hand has never been more beautiful :)

This blog post just got real short. Criminal Minds is starting. 

Here are the projects I made this week.

Darling Blue Down East Basics Skirt

and a Fun Rosette Necklace to match

Nothing is better than coming home after a long time away at school. 

I have never felt more comfortable :)

Home is my favorite place to be!

LACE, up to my FACE

So remember the truckload of lace I talked about?

Here is a little sneak preview :]

I have so many project ideas shuffling through my brain right now

Good thing Aunt Mel didn't know about SAS Fabrics when she was here

She would have died when she saw that warehouse wall to wall with lace, fabric, elastics, and beautiful things

It was like manna from heaven!!

This is what I was able to snag in the 30 shopping minutes I had before they closed 

can't wait to make skirts and shirt dresses

Lauren is going to do back flips for this

I want to put this over a navy pencil skirt

Just peachy :]

Jena will love this

Hello navy ruffle skirts

can't resist the red

Favorite find of the day

Got any ideas?? Let me know!