Promise I Didn't Forget About Y'all

I had full intentions of doing another Thief Thursday post this week, but myunborn baby boy had other plans. Wednesday I went into preterm labor. I am only 29 weeks and they can't seem to stop the contractions, so I've been in the hospital since. Good news is that my cervix has not dilated past a one, so I may get to go home today. Yay!

It's driving me crazy to be in here! I don't have any of my notebooks or craft stuff with me to work on, so I'm stuck watching tv. MTV to be exact, and I'm not that impressed. So far, Ridiculousness has been the best thing on - I do love that show! Hopefully (*fingers crossed*) I get to go home today. As long as I haven't dilated any more, I should be able to. Then, I get to be on bed rest for who knows how long, I get to have my contractions at home, and I get to drive 45 minutes to my doctor 1-2 times a week. BUT, at least I'll still have my baby in my tummy so that he can grow more before making his appearance. As long as he's healthy, I'm happy. ♥

Thanks for reading, I'll give an update later on how things are going and how I'm doing. I'll (hopefully) be able to get a new project post up in the next few days. If I'm on bed rest, at least I'll be able to have lots of time to do some crafty work!

Easy Peasy Girls' Skirt

Good morning! Guess what? Today I'm actually putting up a new post. Yay! Exciting, isn't it? Or maybe I'm the only one that is excited by this... Oh, well. I'll apologize in advance for lack of pictures. I lost them when my laptop crashed a few weeks ago. At least it's easy to figure out.

Today's sewing project is actually extremely easy (hence, the title) and took me less than 30 minutes total. In all honesty, it probably would have taken me less time, but I didn't bring my iron to work with me, so I had to pin what I needed to sew when I got home. I guess that just means it took an extra ten minutes out of my clock-watching time. I love that it's finally hot out, but hate that the heat means no customers and slow days. At least I get paid to work on my crafts I bring from home! Can't beat that!

Materials Needed:

- Scissors

- Fabric of choice – at least ¼ - ½ of a yard (I used just over ¼ for my 5 year old)

- Tape measurer or ruler

- Pins or an Iron

- Pencil

- Braided elastic (½ inch or ¾ inch, depending on size of child)

- Safety pin or paper clip

- Sewing machine or thread and needle

Here are the measurements you'll need:

- Hip to Knee + 1.75 inches for the hem

  --》The Diva measured 10.5 inches hip to knee + 1.75 inches for the hem = 12.25 inches total

- Around the waist for elastic and x2 for fabric

  --》The Diva measured 20 inches around the waist x2 = 40 inches

I used ¾ inch braided elastic for my skirt for The Diva and some cute polka dot fabric that she picked out herself at Jo-Ann's. I, of course, could not find my measuring tape, so I used a ruler to measure. I wrapped the elastic around her waist once and cut where it met, then measured that (20 inches exactly) so I knew exactly how much I needed the waist of the fabric to be (40 inches, since we doubled it so it's not skin tight on the poor girl).

I measured out a rectangle that was 40x12.5 inches and marked it off in pencil on the back of the fabric.

After cutting out my rectangle, I pinned down my hems. The bottom is ¼ inch folded under, and then another 1/4 inch, making it 1/2 inch total.  And the top is ¼ inch, which is then folded under a 1 inch space for the elastic. I hope that makes sense.

I then placed my elastic on top of the upper hem in order to ensure that it would fit inside of the encasing instead of being too large. Of course, a clothes pin could not be found, so after I sewed everything together, I used a paper clip to pull my elastic through the encasing and it worked well enough for me to be satisfied (I definitely recommend a safety pin instead though).

I just did a short, straight stitch for the two horizontal hems, which is shown in the picture above.

Next, I pinned together the sides to make the vertical hem.

I did another short, straight stitch ¼ of an inch in. Then, I did a zig-zag stitch over the edges to better ensure that there was no fraying at the ends.

Thanks for reading today's post. I would love to see some skirts that y'all make using this tutorial! The Diva tried on her shirt as soon as she came home from school, as you can see above. She absolutely loved her skirt and even wore it to school the next day on top of some black leggings. Made this mama proud, that's for sure. Look forward to another post this week and a new project next week!

If you have any questions, PLEASE post them. Again, sorry for my lack of pictures. 

Thief Thursday: Dryer Wool Balls

Starting this week, I will begin doing posts called Thief Thursday every other week, which is just when I steal (and credit) projects from other blogs and try to do them myself. Some work out, some don't. You guys get to see both.

Today's post is DIY Wool Dryer Balls, which I got from here. I've wanted to make our house some of these for a while now, but never really got around to it. Well, while going through my Pinterest boards the other day, I found a pin for them. Upon further investigation, I realized how easy they would be to make! And guess what just happened to be on sale at Hobby Lobby the other day? Yarn!

Materials Needed:
-100% Wool Yarn
-An old pair of pantyhose, thigh highs, etc.
-Scissors

I started off by wrapping the yarn around my fingers 15-20 times:

Next, I slid it off my fingers and wrapped my yarn around the middle a few times:

Then, I continued to go around until I formed a ball the size I was happy with, cut the yarn, and tucked in the end:

Then, I tied them in an old pair of thigh highs I had:

Last, I dropped them in my washer on my hottest setting and then dried them on my hottest setting, too. This causes them to felt, which is what everybody keeps telling me I want. To happen.

These are 3 of my 7 finished balls:

And, let me say, they DO work like a charm. Last night, I used them to fluff up some pillows and then to quicken the drying process of a load of towels. It didn't save a ton of time, but in the end, every ten minutes saved is more money in our pockets.

P.S.- Make sure to wrap the balls tightly, or you will end up with a 20 minute mess that looks like this:

Crash and Burn

Well, my laptop crashed today. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. However, last weekend I decided to clean out my phone and put 80% if my pictures on my computer. So, I have just lost several years of pictures, not to mention my photography AND some of my blog pictures that cannot be redone. Ugh! So, I was going to upload a project today, but now half of my pictures are gone. I am going to try to see about recreating some of them and I'm not sure about the rest.

The good news is that there will DEFINITELY be a new post on Thursday. Wish me luck on everything else!

Also, last week I officially opened my own Etsy shop. Yay me! My hopes are that I can gradually add things over the next couple of months and start selling by the end of the year. Mainly because I know I'll be out of money by then and I can try to make some Christmas sales. Feel free to check it out by clicking here.

Key Makeover

If you are anything like me, you probably get your keys mixed up when you are trying to unlock your door – especially when it's dark outside. I've tried to do the colorful ring-thing like this:

But that didn't help very much because it was too big to fit on my key ring and was so bulky that my entire key couldn't fit in the door, making the entire idea a pointless one. So, I bought the customized color keys from Wal-Mart, but they were so bulky with the paint on them that my key wouldn't turn in the lock. My third and final attempt was to buy the keys with just the colored tab on the end. Only problem? The tabs broke off after a couple of weeks. So, now I just seem to do the try every key until I get it right when I'm going into work, my parents house, or my house. The sad part is that I only have four keys, but I can never seem to pick the right one on the first attempt. Pathetic, isn't it?

So, a lady came into my workplace the other day with some very colorful-tipped keys. When she caught me checking them out, she hurriedly explained that her daughter-in-law used spray paint on the ends so that she could easily identify what key went to where. Apparently, her daughter-in-law got the idea from Pinterest. Of course, what did I do as soon as she walked out? I got onto my Pinterest using my phone and searched “Painted Keys.” While browsing through the pictures, I saw that several ladies actually just used nail polish instead of spray paint. Genius!

So, I tried it and so far it's going well. I was really afraid of the paint chipping when I put the keys on the keyring or after a few days of usage, just like my nails seem to do. So, I sprayed some Modge Podge over the paint to (hopefully) help them last a little longer.

Materials Needed:

- Keys

- Nail polish or other type of Paint

- Optional: Modge Podge or Clear Enamel Paint

Here's a picture of my supplies and my before-nail polish keys:

And here is my final result:

Much better, is it not? A lot prettier, also, than the average ring of keys.  I left my work key unpainted so that when I turn it in the guys won't have to use a colored key. I contemplated getting really creative and doing designs, but I didn't want to put a ton of time into something that wasn't going to last too long, just in case. As you can tell, I love bright, funky colors, making it very easy to distinguish between keys. Have any of you tried this technique? How long did it last for you before beginning to chip? I really don't mind having to do touch-ups once a month or longer, but if I have to do it once a week then I'm going to definitely just try the spray paint technique next time. I just get so tired of having problems distinguishing between my keys and I'm getting fed up with wasting money on things that don't work. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I hope everybody has a great weekend and I'll do another post sometime next week. I'm getting ready to start redoing our kitchen, so I'm not really sure what day I'll be able to take a break and post. Wish me luck!

A Sale at Jo-Ann's?!

Hello! Long time, no talk. I've officially updated the look of my blog and gotten quite a few other things done, as well. Yay!

Anyway, I have the Jo-Ann Fabric application on my smart phone so I can make sure to never miss a sale or a coupon. Yesterday, I was very glad I had that app. Why? Because I bought a ton of fabric for a very low price. Here's some pictures with what I plan to use the fabric for:

All Snuggle Flannel was 50% off. I'll use these four for Little Man's cloth diapers.

These were part of the same sale. I'll use these cute chevron prints for bibs and baby blocks.

These were 40% off. I'll use these for bibs for my soon coming niece.

These were 40%, 40%, and 30% off. I'll use these for a super cute Halloween outfit for The Diva.

The Special Occasion fabric on the left was 30% off and the sheer tulle on the right was regular price. These will be used for The Diva's Halloween costume.

 

All thread was 40% off. I'll use the white for everyday stuff, and the orange for my Halloween projects.

This is my receipt. With tax, I paid $27.25 for all of these. Amazing, right?  It wouldn't have been as much off, but I was able to use a "15% Off Your Total Purchase" coupon. Score!

My total savings were $27.58, which means I saved more than I spent. How can you NOT love Jo-Ann's? Plus, I earned a 25% off coupon for this week/weekend, which just happens to be pay week. Are the Heavens looking down on me, or what?!

I, also, bought these adorable buttons! I used a 40% off coupon, which saved me a whole $0.92.

Hey, it's not a whole lot, but that's almost a dollar that I saved (and later spent on a sweet tea at McDonald's).

(The first time I get to use my new signature. How exciting! Ah... The little things in life.)