Ruffle shower curtain before and after

I know I've said this before but I am totally

loving ruffles right now,

 so when I saw THIS ruffle shower curtain at Anthro I wanted needed it...

and then I saw how much it was!!  118 bucks!  

seriously??  

So I decided to make my own.... 

 I absolutely LOVE it!

Here is the before....

it looks so .... ugly now.

 It actually is a nicer blue than it looks in the picture

 but,  wow,  what a difference the new one makes!

 This is what it looked like when I ran out of fabric

and I had to put it up anyway because I was using the original shower curtain

to make the new one.....

I added that little blue ruffle because I thought about leaving it like this,

 but I wasn't satisfied, it just looked unfinished.

So back to the store I went and was happy they had

the exact colors I was looking for.

Here is the finished product again

not gonna lie and tell you this was  a quick project.

It took quite a while to cut the strips of fabric, ruffle each strip,

pin and then sew it on.... making sure it was straight...etc...

Then the unfortunate running out of fabric, running back to the store

ripping off the little joke 

of a ruffle that I sewed on trying to make it look finished, and 

starting all over again with the added fabric.

All that work was totally worth it....

It makes me happy every time I see it 

and best of all it only cost me $20

whew!! Glad that project is done ... 
Now to paint those black "relax" and "enjoy" words  a
color that matches....

P.S.   There are already quite

a few tutorials out there for this and although I did mine a little different 

than they did.... it's all pretty much the same idea.

And if you do give it a go.... I recommend Elastic thread! 

It made the ruffles that much easier

An old door to fill in a "blank wall"

Yes I'm a little embarrassed to admit

I did get an old door out of the trash.

But it was the perfect size,  shape and color!

How often does exactly what you've been looking

for drop in your lap like that?

If you're anything like me your saying "never" .

 

So I looked around to make sure no one was looking 

and grabbed that door right up.

and when I say "grabbed" I actually mean "lugged

That thing was heavy!

And after a lot of scrubbing 

it was perfect...

Looking at this now I'm thinking the birdcage has 

got to go... but otherwise I'm loving

the shabby chic look

Black and white photo letter art

Hello friends,

      Today I'm sharing a very special artwork project I have been working on for a few months now.

I love the photo letter art that I've seen a few places, 

and decided to make my own. 

It's finally finished and I love it!!

This is just a small sample of how much  EVERYTHING
I see reminds me of her.

The most time consuming, but fun ,  part of this was getting pictures
of the right letters.
I  wanted them to be naturally formed intoarchitecture,
but the options are endless!
I was surprised how easy this was.

Once I had all the photos
I just made a collage using the 'picture pile' setting in Picasa 3.
 



Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:

• Locate and organize all your photos
  
• Edit and add effects to your photos
• Create galleries
• Can update your Picasa web albums automatically

 

Click Here to download

Wooden tray redo

A friend of mine gave me this tray.

It's one of those trays that the wooden letter blocks come in.

 she was organizing their toys into bins and didn't have use for it.

  I was sure I could make it useful for something.

It was a perfect size, but not very pretty...

so I pulled out my handy craft paints and scrapbook paper and

painted and mod podged like crazy!

I overlapped two 12 x12 pieces of scrap paper and after gluing them down I had to smooth out the bubbles

VOILA!

pretty tray for my new ruffle lampshade.

Suitcase for Cosmetics

I may have found a home

for all my hair and make up necessities!

I say "may have"  because I might decide in a week that it doesn't work

but as for right now.... I'm loving it :)

 I am totally obsessed right now with 

vintage suitcases for decor.  

So when I found  them at thrift stores for like $4 I couldn't resist.

And then (too late) I realized that 

6 just might be too many....  less is more and so on  blah blah....

So I needed to find a use for my last suitcase 

and I also needed to clean up the mess that was always 

spread all over this bureau.

this is on a good day... Semi organized... but still not pretty

and what it looks like now.   Not beautiful, but so much better.

 I just added a drawer organizer, put my make up brushes in small jars,

(they don't get crushed by the lid because the suitcase is just deep enough).

put the bottles in that stretchy little pocket, and keep my hair clips on the big pocket.

so easily accessible

and when I'm finished with everything I close the lid

and just like that...everything is hidden away!

Love it :)

Linking to Eisy Morgan Inspired By You Wednesday, 

DIY by Designs Fall into Fall It's a party

Simple Ruffle Lampshade Tutorial

I had this lavender lamp  that was very cute, BUT it didn't match any room in my house and because  I needed a lamp in the computer/craft/dressing room.   I decided to give it a facelift.

I had some burlapish fabric

 ( leftover from another project)  that I cut into strips.

I didn't bother making straight lines or finishing the raw edges, 

I wanted it to look a little... shabby chic.

My lampshade is small so I didn't need that much, but if you're doing

a regular size shade  cut lots!  You use more than you think.

just do the last 2 steps all the way around the lampshade until
it's completely covered.
and that's it!    Easy peasy

 I painted the base blue to match the room better
and glued the fabric flowers to the shade

Now I need to get some cleaning done!
After all..... it is Monday :)
Hope you're having a great day!!


Linking to  We Did It! Wednesday , Inspired By You Wednesday
and Fall Into Fall - It's a Party

wrap bracelet from a thin belt

so I'm totally lovin' the  " wrap watches"..... yes that is what I call them and if they have a name other than that,  I don't know what it is.

So anyway I found this picture on Pinterest, (I hate to admit how much I'm on there) that I absolutely loved, but wasn't feeling the price tag:   anywhere from $75 - $115.  What?? I don't think my husband would appreciate that unnecessary purchase. But it sure is pretty....

(Pinterest) 

la Mer Collections

I really didn't care about the watch part of it, I mostly loved the wrapped layers as a bracelet.

 light bulb moment... I could easily make my own!  With that thin leopard belt that I keep trying to wear and just seems to accentuate my

not- so -skinny parts.

All I did was wrap the belt around my wrist in a criss cross pattern  

and buckled it

like the pictures below.

hmmm   Cute,  but it needed something.

   

 

So I wrapped a chain around the same way.  I think

I like how it looks both ways.  Guess it would depend on the style of the outfit.

But either way... very simple to do.

It took all of about 3 minutes to get it looking just like I wanted :)

and it was worth those 3 minutes...  I'm totally loving it!

Maybe I will remember to take a picture of my outfit when I wear it out...

What do you think?   

Have you finished any cute do it yourself projects recently??

Book pumpkin decoration

 I was putting up my fall decorations the other day and realized I just didn't have enough cute things... aka NEW decorations to put up.   I was feeling a little guilty about spending money just because I was getting bored with what I had ....  what is a girl to do with a dilemma like this?  Get on the computer for a while that"s what ! After a few minutes hours I found this adorable Book Pumpkin Tutorial   and had to give it a whirl.

It was very simple and quick  and it looks so adorable on my newly painted  cabinet !  How do you like?

What new fall crafts have you got going on ?

sweater and twine bangle bacelet tutorial

So I found these awesome bracelets on Pinterest.

source  ravelry.com   (on pinterest)

my version

I may or may not be Pinterest whipped :)  Anyway I saw the bracelets and searched high and low for a tutorial on how to make them.... and came up empty handed   so to speak.   There just wasn't anything out there.... So I just did them my own way.

Supplies needed:

• plastic bangle bracelets     ( I made 3)
• glue gun
• scissors
• old sweaters  (found mine at the thrift store) 
• twine   optional
• piece of felt or ribbon   length of inside of bracelet 

I found these ugly plastic bangle bracelets on clearance at Burlington, but I'm sure you could find them anywhere.  They came in a set of 3.   Two of them were about 1/2 inch and one was approx. 1 1/4 inch thick. Exactly what I was looking for.
Because I used a vest for the largest one I cut a piece of the neck,  but it is a lot easier to use the sleeve of a sweater,    I did have a little issue with it the first time around so don' t cut your piece of sweater too big for the bangle it will leave you with overlapping layers on the bottom and that in turn makes your bracelet a little smaller :(     Not good.     And I did glue a piece of felt to the inside of the bracelet to cover the mess.   ( can't see it on the outside)


I didn't take pictures of the making process of the first one because of all the frustration of ripping it apart and doing it again.....  but I did take pictures of the smaller one.

This one I used the sleeve of an old cardigan type sweater that was cheaply made and very stretched out.    I just cut off the end of the sleeve , slid it on the bracelet , put a little glue on the inside of the bracelet and pulled the fabric around and pinched it onto the glue   like pictured above.





For the twine bracelet  I first cut a rather long length of twine, glued the end on at a slight angle to make it easier for wrapping, and just glued every so far and kept wrapping the twine around .

Lucky me i just happened to cut the perfect amount of twine so it ended right here:

and I just finished it off with a dot of hot glue.   and Done!

I really, really love the textures and they are perfect for my casual fall outfits!

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.....   and I would love to see your version if you give it a try.    Have a great day!

Linking up with   Liked it, Pinned it, Did it    on Ma Nouvelle Mode

Button necklace tutorial

Hi ! hope you all are having a great day.   I can say I am much, MUCH better.
I had a minor setback a few weeks ago and it took some time to get myself in working order again.
But like my sister told me, "hold on, the sun will shine again" and she was right, it's been shining brightly the last few days.  Thank the good Lord.


Now on to the most recent project....
This is VERY simple to make, I think it only took me like 20 minutes tops.  terrible pictures and all :)

All you need is 6 or so large buttons in various sizes, largest at least an inch in diameter ( I save the extra buttons they give you on clothes.  And as you can see, last year I was way into the cropped jackets with the huge buttons.)  The flowers were from a bracelet that I never wore, it was one of those cute bracelets that is always upside down.... so annoying!!  So I broke the flowers off and used them for this necklace,  and I used a piece of a neckline from  a t-shirt because It had the perfect curve to it, but I'm sure felt would work also.

these are the steps

and this is the finished product....

I've worn it a few times and always get a lot of compliments.
I think it would be even cuter with bright colored buttons for summer, but this is what I had on hand.

Linking to  

Thanks for stopping by!