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Fashion Fridays: Anthro-Inspired Striped Ruffle Tee (and tutorial!)

I am so excited to share this project with you!  A while back, I was cruising through the Anthropoligie website (as I do to drool over all of their lovely things) and I came across this shirt.

How cute is this?!  But it was on the pricey side (duh!  It's Anthropologie!)  Then I thought to myself, I could make that!  Thus the hunt for black and grey striped shirt ensued.  Remember the striped shirt from my post yesterday?  This is what it was for.

To make one for yourself, you'll need:

A striped shirt

Knit fabric to match (I did my ruffles in black, left over from my ruffle tee makeover)

Needle and thread to match your fabric

Fabric scissors, measuring tape, straight pins and seam ripper (just in case)

First thing I did was take off the little pocket on the front of the shirt-it was right where part of my ruffle was to go.   Then, using the Anthro pic as a guide, I measured how long my ruffle would need to be.  Each one was 28 inches long.  

Next, I cut out 8 strips of black fabric, 1 in. wide and 13 1/2 inches long.  I used 4 sewn together for each long ruffle.

I sewed 4 of the strips, end to end, to get one long strip as pictured above.

Then I sewed big stitches down the center of the strip.  Next, I pulled the thread to gather the fabric, cinching it to measure 28 in. long.

  

Evened out the ruffles and then pinned them in place (again, using the picture as a guide.)

Sew down the middle to secure to your shirt.

Repeat on other side.

And volia!  You have your very own Anthro knock-off :)  I'm hoping to get some better pics of the finished product this weekend-it was dark when I finished and my photographer wasn't feeling all that great (we've got a cold going around our house-right now, we're all pretty icky feeling.)

Hope you enjoyed that!  Happy Friday!

I'm linking up at

Fab Finds

Oh, Walmart, how I love you!  In addition to having nearly everything I could ever need under one roof, you supply me with great fashion finds.  I know what you're thinking-Walmart?!?!  Generally not where I'd go to look for something to spruce up my wardrobe.  Target, yeah, but Walmart?!  Check out what I found yesterday, it'll change how you look at Walmart:

I found this super cute sweater vest by Miley Cyrus/Max Azria.  Now, just to let you know, I cannot STAND Miley Cyrus.  Hannah Montana aside, there is just something about that girl that grates on my nerves in a most unpleasant way.  But this line that she created with Max for Walmart is actually really cute. You just have to ignore the Miley Cyrus aspect.  

And at that price, how could I NOT buy it?  Who cares if it's Miley Cyrus, it's $3!!!!!  Besides, no one is going to know what brand it is but me-the tag is on the inside : )

Then there was this cute striped number by OP.  Anyone else remember OP from back in the day?  I'm happy to see them make a comeback and it doesn't hurt that it's at Walmart prices.  I'd been looking for a shirt exactly like this for a Anthro-inspired project I've wanted to do.

And at $4, I can!  I love finding things for cheap!

So for 7 bucks, I got two new great items!  Can't beat that!  Check back tomorrow for pics of my Anthro project!  I'm really excited about it!

Who's That: Knock-Off Wood

Meet Ana.  She's obsessed with furniture (her words.)  She is the mind and brawn behind Knock-Off Wood and definitely the woman to check out if you're looking  to spruce up your home for less.




Ever browse through Pottery Barn and drool over all the gorgeous furniture, thinking, "I love all of this, but it's just so darn expensive!"  Well, thanks to Ana, you can make it!  That's right-YOU can make furniture that looks like a page from a Pottery Barn catalog, with the help of Ana's awesome plans.  She finds cool furniture, draws up plans and posts them on her awesome blog so that you can make the same thing for way less than it would cost you to buy it at the store.  How cool is that?!  Here's just a couple of the projects she has plans available for that I adore:

Photo courtesy of Pottery Barn

Isn't this rustic entryway bench just lovely?  Seriously, I want it.  But I don't want to pay Pottery Barn prices for it.  Don't have to, thanks to Ana!

Photo courtesy of Williams Sonoma Home

This one is my favorite by far.  As soon as I have a kitchen to put this in, I'm building it.  This beauty is from Williams Sonoma Home and retails for $4500.  Yep, you read that right.  And it's special order only.  Gag!  How about building your own for around $100?  Sounds much better.  And then, when someone compliments your lovely furniture, you can say, "I made it!"

Thank you Ana for sharing your wonderful talent and love for beautiful furniture with all of us!  You've got me hooked!

Go check out her blog and all of her amazing plans!

Hand-made Goodie of the Week: Papered Monogram Letter

This is such an easy and cute craft.  It makes a great house-warming gift!  I had wanted one for FOREVER!  Then, I found this little wooden gem at Hobby Lobby for $1.50!  All the other letters I had been looking at were like $10!  How could I pass that up?!  It was just plain-jane white wood.  But, oh, the possibilities!

At first, I was going to paint it. I couldn't decide what color to do, how I wanted the end product to look, so it ended up sitting in my closet with my craft stuff for a good month.  Then, one day, when rummaging through my stock of scrapbook paper, I came across this cool pattern and thought, I HAVE to use this for something!  Anyone who knows me knows I love dots and this fit perfectly with the color scheme I have going in our family room.

To make your own, you'll need:

Letter-it can be wood, chip board, whatever you like, but it is best to have a smooth surface to glue the paper to
Scrapbook paper, or, you could even do this with fabric
Glue-if you're using paper, an acid-free glue stick works just fine.  For fabric, I'd recommend either hot glue or just some plain ol' Elmers
Mod Podge and brush
Pencil and utility knife or scissors

Here's what I did:

Lay the paper, pattern-side down, and then place the letter on top, back facing up towards you (I did it this way so I wouldn't have any lines showing on the front of my paper.)

Take your pencil and trace around the letter.  Then cut out with utility knife or scissors.  It's ok if the edges hang over a bit, we can trim it up after it's been Mod Podged.  Smear glue all over the entire back of the paper (or you can put the glue directly on your letter.  I actually did both so that it was very secure and wouldn't bubble when I put on the Mod Podge.)  Paint on one thin layer of Mod Podge, let dry for 20 minutes, then paint on a second layer.  Trim up any edges once second layer is completely dry.  Ta-da, you're done!  You can skip the Mod Podge step if you like-I wanted to seal mine and give it a textured look, but if that's not your cup of tea, that's alright by me!


Here's some other ways to create a cute and cool monogram:

Red Heads Craft More Fun shows you how to make this cute monogram out of jute!

Check out this cool monogram plaque over at Southern Hospitality 

 and there's this floral beauty over at bridalbuds.com

Happy monograming, all!

Tribe Talk at It's A Hodgepodge Life and some giveaways

So I'm a recent follower to Hodgepodge and am new at Tribe Talk, but I thought I'd give it a whirl.  If you're also unfamiliar with it, I suggest you go check it out!  It's a great way to find out about other blogs you might not have heard of and to get your blog out there for others to find (and fall in love with.)

The gist is you pick 5 blogs that you love and would love to share with the world, post them, and then link that post to the weekly Tribe Talk so others can "meet" them as well as check out your blog.  Sounds cool, huh?  Here I go!

My 5 Picks for this week:

Jen at Tatertots and Jello

Sachiko at Tea Rose Home

Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous

Ana at Knock-Off Wood

Tamara at Mad Boastings of a Cheapskate Mom

Hope you love them as much as I do!  Here's a couple reasons to entice you:

Tea Rose Home is giving away an awesome Christa Taylor apron!  

and

Tatertots and Jello is giving away Bobbityboo gift certificate-you can check out her stuff here!  It's all so cute!

What I Did Today

What a day!  We are back at our apartment, the hub's got to come home a week early from his business trip (yay!) but has to leave for another one Sunday (boo!).  Not that I'm unhappy that he's home early, 'cause I sure am, but it did kinda throw my week off.  I was planning on having more time to get the apartment clean before he got home-not that it was messy, we hadn't even really been here while he was gone-but the floors needed to be swept and mopped and the bathroom needed to be cleaned and there were some other things that needed some tidying up.  So I spent a good chunk of my day cleaning toilets and tubs, sweeping and mopping floors, all in between chasing after my runny-nosed little man (he's cutting some teeth and is just a snot factory at the moment.  Not so fun.)

Oh, but wait, the fun doesn't stop there.  I also had two birthday presents to make for tonight for the hub's twin sisters-their actual birthday is Wednesday, but between everyone's work and school schedules, we celebrated it tonight.  I found that out last night.  I already had one present all figured out-Anna asked for a cheesecake and I was more that happy to oblige-finally an opportunity to use my new spring-form pans!  But I was stumped on Sara, especially last minute.  Then I remembered these rag bracelets I used to make-BINGO!  So while the snot factory took a nap, I made cheesecake and bracelets. Anna, I hope that cheesecake was good, and Sara, I hope you like your bracelet!  Here's what I did today:

First, the cheesecake.  I didn't have all the ingredients to make the recipe I usually use and with a sleeping baby, I couldn't very well go get what I needed.  So I improvised.  This is actually parts of two recipes-the crust is from Bakerella (I didn't have enough cream cheese to use her filling recipe) and the filling is from Moms Who Think.
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted


Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine graham crackers and sugar, then stir in butter til moistened.  Press firmly into bottom of 9 in. spring-form pan and 1 in. up the sides.  Bake for 10 minutes and let cool to room temperature.


For the filling:
2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla


Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together ingredients until smooth.  Pour onto graham cracker crust.  Bake 25-35 minutes.  Cool on rack.


Next, the bracelet:

I was actually going to do a tutorial for this, but as I was reading through my blog roll before heading over to post, I saw that Kari over at U Create had posted one she found over at It's A Hodgepodge Life!  How cool!  I really like the way that Gay's turned out too-go check it out and learn how to make one for yourself!  They're super-easy and fast.  

What I did for mine:

I took two hair ties of different sizes and thicknesses, wrapped them in fabric (I double-wrapped each one, gluing the ends with hot glue so that the fabric didn't unravel over time), tied them together with some hemp and added a little beaded charm I made to match the blues in the fabrics I used.  

I'm really happy with how mine turned out and I hope that Sara is, too.

Hope you two have a great birthday!

Fashion Fridays: Total Beauty.com

I decided to venture in a slightly different direction with this week's Fashion Friday.  Instead of clothes and shoes and bags, here's a look at the other side of fashion: beauty products.  And if there ever were a place on the world wide web for anything and everything beauty-related, it would be totalbeauty.com.

Advice, reviews, how-to's- you name it!  This place is amazing!  It's great for researching products-be it ones you've heard about and would like to try or just general items.  For example, I was looking for a good self-tanner a few years back and used Total Beauty to help in my search.  Almost every beauty product you've ever used or heard about is on here-and they all come with user reviews and where you can buy them (usually with prices, too.)  They also have how-to's on everything from hair styles to make-up tricks to DIY face masks.  There are also fun little quizes (like "What's Your Winter Fragrance?"), Top 10's (worst products, best products, etc.) and celeb beauty pics.  And I can't forget the forums: they are a great place to meet other Total Beauty users, asks questions and find out other's great tips.

They do great giveaways, too.   Once a year, they give away a ton of stuff from Sephora (love!) including a $500 dollar gift card!  I would die if I won that, just from sheer happiness!

Definitely a place you should check out (and bookmark!)

Who's That: Mad Boastings of a Cheapskate Mom

Meet Tamara, the Cheapskate Mom.  She is wonderful.  No, really, she is.  If you aren't already following her blog, you ought to be!  She gives us a peak into her life, raising her three boys as well as little things to make us laugh, ways to save money and become cheapskate moms ourselves.  'Cause who doesn't want to save money, especially these days?  She has everything from recipes to ways to spruce your home-even a whole section of her blog called "Cheap Tips" that covers almost any subject you could want.  All mixed in with little bits of her life, so you really get to know the woman behind the blog.


I hope you enjoy reading her as much as I do.  Check out her awesome, fantastic blog here!

Hand-made Goodie of the Week: Gift in a Jar

I originally made these as Christmas gifts, but they work for any time of year.  You can find all kinds of Gift in a Jar recipes on Craft Bits.  There's everything from cookies to cakes to brownies to fudge.

 To make one, you'll need:


1 quart glass wide-mouth jar with lid
Fabric
Ribbon or rafia
Recipe card
Ingredients as listed for whichever recipe you choose to use


Assemble ingredients in jar as instructed.  Copy recipe on card.  Cover top with fabric and tie recipe card on around top of jar.

That's it!  You're done!

Good Eats and Yummy Treats: Oreo Truffles

My friend Hannah made these forever and ever ago and I just loved them.  I finally took the time to look up the recipe and make them this past Christmas.  My family just loved them!  I found the recipe for them on Bakerella.  They are so easy and so delicious!

Oreo Truffles

1 package oreo cookies (if desired, set aside 7 for topping)
1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)
White chocolate bark

Finely crush 7 cookies in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine consistency. Reserve for later.  Crush remaining cookies and stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together.  Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.  Chill for 15 minutes or so to harden.  Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. I had left over bark that I used to drizzle over the tops of all of them once they were dipped.  You can sprinkle the tops with the 7 crushed cookies for decoration. (I usually eat mine before they make it to this stage.)  Once dry, refrigerate and enjoy!

Makes about 36 truffles.

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons

Ok, so I've previously mentioned that I'm a little on the computer illiterate side.  Like in a major way.  I pretty much know just the bare minimum basics and that is it.  But I'd like to learn.  On that note, is there someone who would teach me how to make buttons for my blog?  Or know of somewhere online that could help me design one (preferably for free)?  Also, how do I attach a PDF file to a post so that when someone clicks on the link, they can download the PDF?  I'd love you forever and maybe even make you cookies :)

Photo Collage Star Tutorial

This post has been updated.  You can see the new and improved post here.

My dear and crafty friend MyLyn told me about this project back when we were looking for fun, hand-made presents for Christmas this past year and I just loved it so much that I made one for myself.  She had come across it (somewhere) on the internet.  I looked and looked and could not find it.  So I've made up a little tutorial for you so you can make your own!

You'll need:

A large, metal star-preferably one without any embellishments.  You'll need a smooth surface to glue the pictures and paper to. I found mine at Hobby Lobby, but you can find them at lots of craft stores and/or home decor stores.  (P.S. the red one above is NOT the one I used for my collage.  It's only pictured to give you an idea and it is the exact same size as the one I used.) 

Scrapbook paper in 3 coordinating prints

10 pictures-you will probably want to plan ahead which pictures will go where on your star so that you have the right orientation (I recommend black and white pictures if using colored scrapbook paper-it's a little too much with color photos AND color paper)

Glue stick-make sure it's acid-free and safe to use with photos (think scrapbooking glue)

Mod Podge and brush

Paper and photo patterns.  You can click on the picture to make it larger, then right-click it to download/save.

Got all that?  Good.  Now let's get started.

Trace and cut out 10 paper shapes-one small and large from one piece of paper and 2 of each from the other two ("paper front" should be facing you when tracing your shapes on the paper.)

Then do the same with your pictures ("photo front" should be facing you when tracing shapes on photos.)  

Using your glue stick, glue the paper and pictures to each point.  Cover the entire back and make sure they are pressed down very firmly onto the star so that they don't bubble when you Mod Podge them.  The pattern that you cut only one of is the top point of the star and then alternate the remaining patterns on the other 4 points.  There should be a small border around each piece where the star shows through.

Once you have all of your pictures and paper glued on, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge over the entire star.  Make sure you get all the edges.  Allow 20 minutes to dry then apply another coat.

Hang and enjoy!

Check out more fun stuff at 

I linked up!

And....just in time for Valentine's Day-another awesome Lisa Leonard giveaway!  Go check it out!

Fashion Fridays: Anthropologie

I love Anthropologie.  It's another one of those stores that makes me sigh and say "I wish I had money I could just spend with reckless abandon."  They've got all kinds of cute stuff to get you ready for spring.  

Here's a few that caught my eye:

I think these heels are just darling.

I love the color this skirt and the contrasting stripes.

Because every girl needs a simple, pretty black necklace.

Perfect for Valentine's Day.  Or any day you're feeling a little extra lovey-dovey

I love this retro-glam swimsuit.  Makes me wish for summer ; )

I'm always on the lookout for cute, modest dresses and I just love this one.

I love all the pretty details on this shirt, especially the big flower on the front.

I am in love with this bag-the color, the shape, everything!

Love, love, LOVE these cut-away booties.

Such a fun yet sophisticated and pretty shirt.

Want to win this cute reversible bag kit from Tea Rose Home? 

Go enter on her blog-you have til Monday!