Friday, May 31, 2013

DIY Side-Tie T-Shirt Remix


I was in Victoria's Secret last week and they were selling tank tops with the sides slit open and little bows holding them together at the bottom.  I thought they were super cute, but pretty expensive for a shirt that doesn't even cover your torso, so I busted out my scissors and made my own.

I made mine with rehearsals in mind, and I wore it yesterday and loved it.  It's the perfect shirt to throw on over a leotard.


You'll only need two supplies to make this look: a t-shirt that's a little bit too big for you and a pair of scissors.

Here are the directions:


1.  Starting just inside the seam where the right sleeve meets the shirt, cut straight down the side of the shirt until you're almost at the bottom.  Try to leave a little wing of fabric sticking out at the bottom; you'll use that fabric to tie a bow later.  Repeat this on the left side.

2.  Cut off the bottom of the shirt to make it your desired length.  Instead of cutting straight across, though, start at the bottom seam and cut a sideways D shape, as pictured above.  This way you'll have nice and long strips of fabric to tie the bows with later.

3.  This step is optional.  I cut off the neckline of my t-shirt to give it a more easy-breazy feel. Don't cut too low though, because you'll already be showing a ton of skin on the sides, and you'll (hopefully) want to leave something to the imagination.

4.  Use the dangling fabric pieces to tie bows at the bottom of the side slits.

That's it!  It only took me 5 or 10 minutes to make this shirt, and I can tell I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it between skating and beach/pool days this summer.  I think it looks really cute with a frilly swim suit peeking out the sides.  Maybe don't wear this to Grandma's house though, ok?


Happy cutting!
xoxo
Laura

Monday, May 27, 2013

Knitting Washcloths

My road trip knitting project has turned into a rehearsals knitting project. Isn't it funny how that happens? The majority of my ventures end up taking longer than I expect them to. Sometimes it's because they end up being more difficult than expected, but it's often because I get carried away and turn little ideas into bigger ones. That's what happened here.

I was going to make one little washcloth to use up some cotton yarn from my yarn stash, and I ended up loving it so much that I decided to make a whole set.


Do your little knitting projects have a tendency to turn into larger ones as well?

I can't help myself...
xoxo
Laura

p.s. I'll be posting the pattern for these little washcloths as soon as I finish the whole set.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

A Few Snapshots

Our road trip is over.  We made it to Sandusky, Ohio yesterday after three long days in the car, and we started rehearsals for our summer show today.

Looking back on the journey, my favorite moment was at dusk in Indiana.  The colors of the sky were ridiculously vibrant; I didn't change them with photoshop.  I also realized how fun it is to shoot through a car window when it's covered in reflections.


I took both of those pictures through the side window.  The windshield was crazy gross.


Yep, those are bugs.

I'm not quite done with my road trip knitting project... I'll be sharing it soon!
xoxo
Laura

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

On the Road Again


My yarn and I are all packed up and driving across the country!  We're Ohio bound for the next ice show.

I can't wait to show you what I've been knitting on the road...
xoxo
Laura

Monday, May 20, 2013

Link to Love: Knitting and Yoga


The Guardian published a very interesting article on May 16th about how nicely knitting and yoga compliment each other.  Click here to read the article.

This quote sums up its general message:
"To really get the gist of why yoga and knitting aren't such strange bedfellows, you need to understand a bit about what's going on behind the scenes. In the same way as yoga uses physical movements to affect a change in your state of mind, so too does knitting."
I found this idea fascinating because it perfectly describes my own lifestyle.  I touched on the idea of knitting and ice skating positively affecting my state of mind in similar ways in a blog post a while back, and yoga fits into the same category as well.

I started yoga as a way to improve my strength and flexibility for skating, but I definitely continued yoga for different reasons.  I love how relaxed and rejuvenated I feel when I walk out of the studio after class.


What do you think of the Guardian article?  Do you do both knitting and yoga as well?

Happy reading!
xoxo
Laura

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A Day in my Life with the Beautiful Mess App

Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess released a brand new app this week and I love it!  It's only available for apple products (not androids) so I bought it for my iPad mini.  It cost a whopping $0.99 and it's packed with doodles, phrases, and borders to enhance your photos.

I wasn't blown away by the photo filter options, as there are only 3 color filters, but that's not much of a hinderance because it's possible to export your photos directly from the Beautiful Mess app into Instagram where there are tons of filters to choose from.

Here's what a day in my life looks like through the eyes of the Beautiful Mess App:


I spent the morning at the ice arena where I did some skating and coffee drinking.

Then I came home and made the easiest lunch ever: baked grilled cheese and mashed potato smiles.  I love making my grilled cheese this way because I don't have to wash as many dishes.

After lunch I pretended to pack for a while because I'm leaving for my next contract soon, but I really just ended up knitting on the couch.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the boys replace a giant window.  Doesn't Justin look right at home on top of my dad's truck?

Life is so great when I'm at home between contracts.  I don't think I want to leave yet!

Have you tried the Beautiful Mess app?  Did you like it too?
xoxo
Laura

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

DIY Washi Tape Recipe Notebook (with free Printable)

There's only one week left until I head off to my next ice show contract.  (Eek.)  I've been doing a bit of packing and a lot of crafting to gear up for this next adventure.

I'll have a full kitchen on this next contract and I couldn't be more excited about it!  I've been pinning recipes on pinterest, checking out cookbooks from the library, and leafing through cooking magazines in checkout lines like a woman who is totally obsessed.

The obsession has been paying off, though, and I've amassed tons of recipes that I can't wait to make this summer.  I wanted to keep all those recipes in one organized place, so I decided to make a recipe notebook.  This notebook needed some washi tape on it.  Obviously.


You can download the Yum! printable right here.

Here's what you'll need if you want to make this notebook too:


1.  A notebook.  I used a 9" by 12" sketch pad that was on sale at Micheals for $5.
2.  The printed out Yum! printable
3.  A piece of thick paper to go in between the notebook cover and the printable so the design on the cover of the notebook won't be visible through the printable.
4.  Two kinds of washi tape
5.  Scissors

Directions:


Start by printing and cutting out the free printable Yum!

Now set the Yum! aside and start washi taping the notebook.  Yes, I did just use "washi taping" as a verb.


1.  Cut the thick piece of paper so it's the same size as the notebook, place it on top of the notebook, and use washi tape to secure the two outside corners (the top right and bottom right) so that it looks like there is a triangle of washi tape in those two spots.

2.  Place 4 more strips of washi tape on the bottom right corner of the notebook, parallel to the strip in the corner, wrapping the excess tape around onto the back of the cover.  Do the same thing on the bottom left corner, but don't wrap the tape around the cover yet.  Instead, leave the excess tape hanging off the cover (as pictured above) and then cut it off of the side with the spiral binding with scissors once you've placed all 5 strips of tape.  Now you can wrap the excess tape on the bottom edge around the cover.  Tape the top corners exactly as you taped the bottom corners.

3.  Now that all of the corners are taped, it's time to fill in the middle.  Starting at the bottom and working your way up, apply 5 more strips of washi tape as pictured above.  This time the tape will be horizontal instead of diagonal.  Cut off the rough edges of the tape strips diagonally so they match up with the diagonal tape.

4.  Repeat step 3 on the remaining 3 sides of the cover.  Once you've done that, your notebook should look like the 4th picture above.

Now it's time to place the Yum! printable in the middle of the notebook and tape down it's entire perimeter using the second type of washi tape.  You're notebook cover is all finished (yay!) and it should now look like the very first picture in this post.


Fill the inside of your notebook with recipes from all over the place: cutouts from magazines, printouts from websites, handwritten notes from your parents' kitchen, etc.

To add a little extra flair, use washi tape to tape in the recipes.  That way the inside of the notebook matches the cover and the whole thing will feel more cohesive.


I found that most printouts from websites will already have the recipe source printed somewhere on the page (like the Caramelized Peach and Brie Quesadilla with Honey Recipe from Oprah.com).  If the printout doesn't have that, or if you're using a recipe from a magazine or a book, make sure that you write down where the recipe came from.  That way you can refer back to the original source if you ever want to share the recipe with a friend or write about it on your blog.  (I'm a firm believer in citing your sources!)

I'm super excited to get cooking, and I hope that this post has inspired you too!  What are your favorite recipes?

Happy cooking!
xoxo
Laura

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day

 I made my mom a little box of tea for Mother's Day this year.


I got the idea from Martha Stewart, and her instructions for this project are right here.  Oh, Martha, you never cease to amaze me.

I bought a couple of craft punches for this project and fell madly in love with them.  Punching through thick paper and watching a perfect little butterfly pop out of the punch is endlessly satisfying.  I may or may not have punched a whole lot more butterflies than I needed, just because I was having fun doing it...

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I love you!
xoxo
Laura

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The Great Gatsby DIY: Daisy's Earrings

Before I saw the new movie version of The Great Gatsby I was a little unsure how I would feel about it, given that it's my favorite book of all time.  (Did you know that I majored in English in college?  I read a lot.)  Anyway, I saw it yesterday and I absolutely loved it!  I loved that the script stayed so true to F. Scott Fitzgerald's words, I loved Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of Jay Gatsby, and I loved, loved, loved the aesthetics of it all!  Oh, the costumes!  The jewelry!!  The headpieces!!!

Image via Tiffany & Co.


I was particularly taken with the earrings that Daisy (a.k.a. Carey Mulligan, shown above with director Baz Luhrmann) wore for most of the second half of the movie.  Aren't they lovely?  I did a little digging and it turns out that Tiffany & Co created all of the jewelry for the movie in conjunction with Catherine Martin, who designed the costumes for the movie.  No wonder everything was so insanely sparkly.

Obviously I can't head over to my neighborhood Tiffany's and pick up a pair of those earrings, but I couldn't get them out of my mind.  I decided it was time for a good old fashioned DIY and I ended up making myself a pair of similar earrings for less than $10.

Supplies:
-  2 sparkly buttons (I got mine at Joann Fabrics where all buttons are on sale for 40% off right now.)
-  Silver lever earrings from the jewelry findings section of any craft store
-  Tape... I'll explain that in a minute.


Directions:
1.  Start with two buttons and two lever earrings.
2.  Place each button onto each lever earring, as shown.
3.  If the hole on the back of the button is significantly larger than the circumference of the earring like mine was, you'll need to use something to make the hole smaller so that the button doesn't flop around on the earring.  I tried several different fixes and realized that tape is the best option.  Roll a small log of tape with the sticky side facing in, then wrap that log in another layer of tape with the sticky side facing out.  Force the tape into the button hole.  Cut off the excess tape.  Push the earring through the tape-filled hole.  Now the button won't slide anymore.  There's an arrow pointing to the tape in the button hole in picture #3.  See it?
4.  Put on your earrings and feel glamorous like Daisy!


I thought it would be fun to model my new DIY earrings dressed in a full 1920s outfit like Daisy, but it just didn't feel authentic without a bob, and I am way too attached to my long hair for that.  I just modeled the earrings dressed as myself instead.


Have you seen the movie yet?  Did you like it?  How did you think it compared with the book?

Happy button shopping!
xoxo
Laura

Friday, May 10, 2013

Blog Redesign


This is just a quick heads up that things are starting to look different around here, but I'm still the same old me and my blog posts are going to continue just as they always have (except they will be a little bit prettier).

More info on this to come...
xoxo
Laura

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Mother's Day Craft Ideas

Mother's Day is this sunday, and I honestly don't think there's a better excuse for a craft project than that!  I looked around the web and there are literally hundreds of fabulous Mother's Day craft ideas out there.  Here are my 5 favorites:

1.  Fill this DIY fresh flower envelope garland with little love notes for mom, from Studio DIY.


2.  Make Mom a meyer lemon sugar scrub with Amy at U Try It.


3.  Learn how to make heart friendship bracelets for you and your mom with a Lovely Indeed tutorial.


4.  It wouldn't be Mother's Day without flowers, right?  Crafts Unleashed had a cute idea to put them in a hanging floral arrangement.


5.  If your mom likes to sew, a sewing kit in a jar from Funky Time would be the perfect gift.


All of the lovely images shown above belong to their respective blog owners.  Aren't they great?

I have one other Mother's Day craft project up my sleeve, but my mom reads this blog so I obviously won't be posting about it until after Mother's Day.  (My parents may be my biggest blog fans and I love that about them!)

Happy crafting!
xoxo
Laura

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Yarn Stash


The other day I saw a fishing poster that said "keep calm and cast on" and I thought it would apply beautifully to knitting as well.  Don't you think so?

Anyway, speaking of knitting, here's a picture of my personal yarn collection:


It takes up an entire shelf of my bedroom bookshelf, and I honestly have no idea how it got so large.

I always hear other people talking about their yarn "stash" and I've always wondered why someone would even want to have yarn stashed away.  Every time it came up, I would think isn't the whole point of yarn to knit with it and not to just have it lying around?

But now, suddenly, I get it.  A sizable yarn stash isn't something you work to achieve, it's an unavoidable hazard of being a knitter.

All of my yarn is left over from the projects for which I bought one too many skeins or from the projects that never came to be because I got sidetracked by somethings else. I never just bought yarn for the fun of buying it, and yet, another yarn stash has been born.

As far as hazards go, I suppose a wool-stuffed bookshelf isn't such a bad one.

Do you have a yarn stash too?
xoxo
Laura

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

No-Sew T-Shirt Bow Sleeves


I'm very excited to share this t-shirt project with you guys today! I came up with the idea a whole month ago while I was still on the ship and I didn't have time to execute it until now.

Now is a funny time, however, because it's snowing like crazy here (in May!).

I started this project yesterday, and while I was working on it, I came up with a fun idea to take pictures of it outside in the sunshine.  I wanted to let the glue dry overnight before I took those pictures, though, and man was I surprised when I woke up to a winter (spring?) wonderland this morning!  I took some pictures outside anyway, just for fun.


All you need to make these bow sleeves are a t-shirt, a pair of scissors, some machine washable glue (I used E6000), measuring tape, and about 10 minutes of your time.

Here are the directions:


1.  Cut a 2.5 inch slit from the top of the shoulder down toward the armpit on both the front and the back of the sleeve, making sure that you are cutting on the outside of the seam.  (This means your total slit length will be 5 inches.)  Once you've done that, there's a possibility that the shoulder seam might hang outside the shirt, like it is in the picture.  To avoid this, I cut the unsightly seam off of the shirt in the area where it was visible.  If yours doesn't hang out, there's no need to cut it off.  Repeat this process on the other sleeve as well.

2.  Carefully cut off the very bottom of the shirt, below the seam stitching.  Save this strip of fabric for step 3.  You'll be using it to make the center of the bow.


3. The strip of fabric from step 2 will be folded in half.  Unfold it and cut out two 2.5 inch strips.

4.  Use your fingers to pinch the center of one of the sleeves.

5.  Wrap one of the strips from step 3 around the sleeve where you pinched it.  Put a dab of glue on the end of the strip, where the star is in the picture.

6.  Fold the other end of the strip over the glue so that the strip becomes a circular band around the sleeve.  Pinch it tightly between your fingers to make sure that the glue is secure.  Repeat steps 3 through 6 on the other sleeve.  Let the glue dry before trying on your new creation!


I love my new shirt and I hope you like yours as well.  I can't wait for the weather to warm up again so I can wear it without the vest...

Happy cutting!
xoxo
Laura
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