Natural Things

Over the last couple of months I put a lot of thought and effort into living a more natural lifestyle.  I have lots and lots of reasons, not the least of which is that I want to be as healthy as possible.  In addition to fashion and home decor, I'll be posting some of the wonderful things I've done lately to make those changes.  I've made my own laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent.  I've "washed" my hair with baking soda and conditioned with apple cider vinegar.  I've made my own granola bars and other yummy, natural snacks.  I've gone almost full hippy, it seems!  I'm definitely still shaving my armpits though and you won't catch me smelling like patchouli any time soon.

Today I'd like to share with you this fabulous, natural body scrub I made last week.  

I found the recipe through Pinterest, which lead me to this blog. I'm using her picture here because mine is in my shower and is almost gone :).

Using 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tsp. of lemon zest, and 1 tsp. of honey, I mixed it all together in a bowl and put the mixture in a jar.  Then I apply it gently to my skin during my shower and rinse it off.  This body scrub has lasted me about 1 week, so far, and still has about 2 showers left.

I'm not kidding, this is the softest my skin has ever been.  This may sound silly but I feel more beautiful.  I feel like I'm glowing after a shower!  Forget all that expensive beauty store nonsense.  This stuff is legit and I'm sure it's better for your skin. It also smells fantastic!

More to come soon.

Wall Art

My house has big walls.  I'm serious.  Really big walls.  We have high ceilings and long walls and I have a really hard time decorating because of it.  Now, I don't mean to complain.  I love our house and I'm thrilled that we live here.  It's just been tough over the past two years to get started on any given wall because I either have to hang one giant piece, or a bunch of little ones.

After picking up an awesome frame at The Goodwill for $6.00 I was inspired to create the following piece to help fill some wall space.

It's tough for you all to see the size of the piece in this picture because you have no frame of reference.  I'll just tell you, this is one of our small walls, and thank goodness, my new art almost fills the space.

The design was actually inspired by my Ikea coasters.

The frame came with a cardboard print in it, which I wasn't terribly fond of.  I used the cardboard and stretched brown burlap around it, securing the burlap with staples.  Then I cut pieces of fabric and glued them to the burlap.  I used a rotary cutter for the tree, which helped to keep the lines straight, and I used fabric glue to glue the pieces of fabric to the burlap.

I got the burlap in the remnants bin at JoAnn for less than $2.00 and all the fabric I used were scraps from previous projects.  This means I spent less than $8.00 for the entire piece.

Beside saving money, another thing that is so awesome about creating my own wall art, is that I can use whatever colors I want to accent the room.  This piece is hanging in my living room, which is mostly decorated in browns, oranges, and greens.  

I'm thrilled about how it turned out and have had numerous compliments.  So much fun.

So, if you like burlap and/or you like contests, check out these two sites where you can buy or win some burlap.

http://www.adventuresindressmaking.com/2012/04/burlap-fabric-contest-giveaway.html

burlapfabric.com 

Happy Balentime's Day

In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to share some slightly-valentine themed items I wore over the weekend.

I found these incredible red, suede boots at my favorite thrift store last summer.  I paid....wait for it....three dollars for these amazing boots!

I'm guessing they're at least 30 years old.  They're in excellent condition and they fit my feet perfectly.

Here comes the tragedy: although I purchased them last summer, I just wore them for the first time last weekend!  Honestly, I was a little afraid to wear them.  I didn't know what they would go with and just couldn't quite envision an outfit with them.  But now that I've worn them I kind of want the wear them every day.  I can imagine making them a staple this spring and summer with skirts and dresses.

Next, I'd like to show you the newest trend: FRIENDSHIP NECKLACES!  I don't think it's an actual trend yet, but since friendship bracelets are such a big deal right now, I decided friendship necklaces should be the next big thing.  They're simple to make and the possibilities are endless!

Finally, I'll tell you how stinkin' cheap my outfit was.  As you know, the boots cost me $3.  I borrowed the dress and bought the denim shirt at a garage sale for $1.  I made the necklace out of embroidery floss I had on hand, and I salvaged the pendants from an old broken necklace, which was originally given to me as a gift.  This brings me to a grand total of $4.  I love feeling cute for almost no cost. 

Now, you be inspired!  Go thrift store shopping.  Make a piece of jewelry out of old stuff you have laying around.  Make some adjustments to an old piece of clothing.  It's so much fun, my friends.

Happy Balentime's Day, homies!

Pinspiration

I saw this picture floating around Pinterest a few weeks ago and I just loved the outfit.

I remembered that I bought a skirt a couple months back that would be perfect to help me recreate this look.

I bought it at a thrift store for $1.25.  Oh, how I love the monthly half-price sale!

The skirt reminded me of an Amish safari.  That's probably not a thing, but it's what came to mind.

I didn't have to do much.  I just took a bunch of the length off and hemmed the bottom.

It was a little cold the day I wore this outfit so I added a sweater.  Here's my version of the picture from Pinterest!

It was another early-morning photo shoot so my face wasn't quite awake yet.  But you get the idea of the outfit.  

Now I have to tell you a cute story.

I work with kids, which is fantastic and never boring.  I was walking with a 10-year-old girl and she said, "I like your pants-things that come out from under your dress."  I can only assume she was talking about my nylons.  Do kids not know what nylons are anymore!?  They have to at least know tights, right!?  Anyhow, she is adorable so I had to share :)

Take that, J. Crew!

If you know me, you know I'm frugal to a fault.  Most things I will not consider purchasing if they're not on sale.  Even if they are on sale, I need to feel like I'm getting an excellent deal.  Unless it's something I absolutely need, of course.

This sweater from J. Crew is not something I need.

I especially don't need it for the $88 they're asking for it.  It's sold out, anyhow.

This is one of those things that I saw and immediately thought, "I could make that!"  So that's exactly what I did.  For $1.25, I made my version of this sweater.

I started with this sweater.

I bought it at a thrift store for $1.25.  

Then I used one of my husband's old t-shirts to cut out a heart.

I pinned the heart to the front of the sweater and sewed around the edges.  The whole process took about 15 minutes.

That was it!  Once again, really simple and totally worth the effort.  

You should try!

As promised

The remainder of the better sweater.

Everything is pretty straightforward and simple.  For the boot socks (really, leg warmers) I just measured my leg and cut two pieces from the sweater.

Then I sewed the individual pieces lengthwise and did a zig zag stitch along the bottom so it doesn't fray.

I finally had an opportunity to wear them on Sunday.  It wasn't necessarily cold, but it was cooler AND it was windy so that drops the temperature a little.  Either way, I just needed an excuse to wear these things.  Before we left for church, my husband said "Aren't your legs hot?  Are you itchy?"  Absolutely not!  

As evidenced by these pictures, I was perfectly comfortable and happy to be wearing my new boot socks.

On to the next!

The mittens were quite simple as well.  I used a folded piece of fabric and cut along the side of it so that part of the work was already done.  I just cut around my hand, leaving room to sew.

Then, like the others, I sewed along the seam and turned them right side out.

I'm not sure how one displays mittens for a picture.  I tried a couple of awkward poses and landed on this picture of my mittened hand against the wall.

Now, mittens are not terribly functional, so I imagine myself wearing them for about five minutes and taking them off in frustration because I can't scratch my nose/ open a door/ eat a sandwich.  They're still fun to have though. And it probably took about 10 minutes to make them so, why not!?  

I hope you all have enjoyed learning how to make awesome stuff out of a sweater.  Now go do it!

Things don't always go as planned

A friend gave me a bag of clothes quite a few months back.  When I saw this sweater, I knew something cool would come out of it, but I wasn't quite sure what that would be.

It was obviously much too large to stay a sweater so I started trying different things.  I imagined making a skirt but my hips chose otherwise.  I wish I'd remembered that when I decided to make it into a dress/ jumper.

It was quite possibly the most unflattering piece of clothing I've ever made for myself.

On to plan B...

How about a nice, knit hat!?

I started by using another knit hat that fits my head well.  I cut around the hat, leaving room for the seam.

Good thing I had my furry helper to supervise.

Then I sewed the two pieces together with the right sides facing one another.  I turned it right-side-out and removed the three flowers from the sweater; adding them to the hat.

These results were way, way better.  I love this new hat and can't wait for an opportunity to wear it outside.  Unfortunately, the daytime temperature hasn't been below 70 degrees in about three weeks!  What month is it, for goodness sake!?

I also made some mittens and boot socks from this lovely sweater-dress gone wrong.  I'll be sure to post again soon to show you those cozy things.