Archive for May, 2010

Crazy Cat Lady Vinyl Decal

May 31st, 2010
9 Comments

Have you seen the vans/suburbans/people carriers with the stickers of stick figures of mom, dad, kidlets and pets? You know what I’m talking about, right? Well, I made a pretty hilarious set of vinyl decals at my aunt’s request. When I made Scott’s decal, she commented,”Can you make those family decals that are so popular to have on your Utah minivan? Uncle Loren wants one for his truck that looks like a crazy lady and then about 12 cat decals!”

How could I not make those?? Seriously. I didn’t make 12 cat decals, but you get the idea. I hand illustrated the lady & the cats. Surprisingly, the cats were easiest to illustrate; it was the lady that irked me. I ended up getting inspiration from the Simpson’s cat lady and Hang Mioku (a woman who injected cooking oil into her face).

I also whipped this up the other day. This was one of my favorite quotes in seventh grade. It’s just so obvious, you know?

Sweetheart Bow T-shirt Tutorial

May 28th, 2010
27 Comments

I’ve been slightly obsessed with bows recently in case you haven’t noticed. I’m really digging them. I’m seeing bows pop up in the most fashionable of places like Anthropologie, J.Crew, Ann Taylor Loft and Urban Outfitters. As soon as I saw this bow pillow tutorial, I knew I needed to have a shirt with a giant bow on it.

I bought two DownEast Basics v-neck shirts and transformed them into what you see above. The project cost a total of $5 and 45 minutes. Winging it and hand-sewing slowed me down a tad. The finished product is feminine & accentuates my tiny bust, so it might not be suitable for the well-endowed. I’ve included a tutorial on how I did it, if you’d like to give it a try. I sure hope you do!

• • • • •

To make this t-shirt, you’ll need two shirts; one of which needs to be v-neck. I chose two of the exact shirts, in the same color. Feel free to get creative!

Grab the extra tee and set the good tee aside for later.

Fold the extra tee in half lengthwise and cut just below the armpit and about 3 inches above the hem. No need to be exact, just eyeball it.

Grab the middle section and align side seams together. Cut off about 2 inches of fabric.

Unfold the extra two inches and cut a 4×6 inch rectangle. I eyeballed it.

Fold both bow pieces in half lenghtwise with right sides in. Sew along open ends with a half inch seam allowance.

Turn fabric right side out and center the seams along the middle of the back side so they won’t show when you assemble your bow.

fold both bow pieces in half width-wise with the good side facing in. Sew along open ends with a half inch seam allowance.

Turn loops right side out and center the seams along the back side so they won’t show when you assemble the bow.

Turn big loop to the back(seam facing up) and accordion fold along the middle to create the pleats.

Anchor pleats by hand stitching the center together.

Slide small loop over the pleated bow and sew into place.

Snag your nice tee and lay it flat on the ground, smoothing out wrinkles. Place the bow at the base of the V and hand stitch into place. Stitch into place by anchoring undersides of the bow to the tee. Enjoy!

Click the button below to download the tutorial in PDF format.

This tutorial is free for personal use and should not be distributed without my consent. If you would like to use this commercially, please email me. Thanks!

A Hand Calligraphed Quote

May 27th, 2010
24 Comments

Last weekend I worked on a little calligraphy project for a very lovely lady. I enjoyed it, because it gave me an excuse to stock up on pen nibs and pretty ink. Penelope keeps breaking my pen nibs and Chris says it’s because she wants to secure her position as the only working Pen in the house. He’s probably right.

Here’s what it says:

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.”

– Desiderius Erasmus

I went for a very spontaneous look and just winged it. It was fun, but as soon as I was half way done I started to think crazy thoughts like: What if I mess up? Do I remember how to write a ‘y’? Oh crap! I’m going to mess up! I hate it when I start thinking thoughts like that. When I used to play the organ for weekly church service those same thoughts would go through my head then I would lose my place and skip a note. It was so embarrassing. Thankfully, my crazy thoughts of self-doubt and stress didn’t get to me; I was able to finish my quote with success.

I wanted to use white ink for this project, but the Higgins “waterproof” white ink that I have totally blows. I know, I know. It’s cheap ink. I should stop buying cheap supplies! I went to my local art supply store and stepped it up a notch and bought Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay India Ink. I love how smooth the inks are, especially the white ink! I really like my new inks a lot. What brands of inks have you tried? Which have you liked/disliked? I’d love to hear!

Thrifty & Chic: Sexy Shoes

May 25th, 2010
6 Comments

If you’ve been following the Thrifty & Chic series, you know I’m weak in the knees for gorgeous shoes on the cheap. I love shoes. The end of my freshman year of college was rather stressful, so what did I do to cope? I bought shoes. I bought 15 pairs of shoes in 2 weeks. It was nutso. I’ve since gained more self control and different ways to cope with stress. Regardless, I still buy more shoes than my mom thinks any normal human being should own. I like them! Today I’d like to show you my favorite shoes that I’ve snagged for $4 or less.

I found these beauties at the beginning of fall/winter this last year which was very timely since the boysenberry color started popping up in clothing stores. These shoes were $4. They’re leather with real snake skin details.

These shoes were featured in my first Thrifty & Chic post. Remember? I still love them dearly! I’m not huge into wedges, but I love these. I snatched them up for $3. The upper and wedge are made out of leather. Nice.

These classic red beauties are so chic paired with skinny jeans. I immediately spotted them while shopping because of the gorgeous button details on the sides. I snatched them up for $4 and later found out that shoes from this label normally go for $250-300. Score!

I found these black beauties while thrifting this weekend! I was just thrilled to find Nine West shoes in my size! They’re very comfortable and add a certain flavor of chic to any outfit. I snatched these up for $4.

Last but not least, I found these gorgeous babies this weekend in the same trip where I scored the Nine West beauties. Aren’t they so elegant? I love the strap, but there’s something about perforated leather that makes me squeal. I wore them to church on Sunday and felt SO chic. Love.

Penelope’s Birthday Party Part III

May 24th, 2010
17 Comments

A late thank you is better than no thank you, right?

I finally around to making and sending off thank you postcards from Penelope’s party. It’s been three weeks.

Penelope isn’t to the point where she can express gratitude on Paper, so I ended up writing them all from her perspective. As soon as she can write a thank you note; she’ll be writing her own! Thank you cards take me forever to write. I kept with the theme of her birthday invitations and added her saying, “thanks!” (which sounds more like GATS).

I discovered the glories of thank you post cards when Chris and I got married and needed to make and send a bunch of thank you’s on a limited budget. Post cards are where it’s at – they’re so inexpensive to print and send! Have you used thank you postcards before? What do you think?


Click here to read part I: The Invitation

Click here to read part II: The Party

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