Here’s The Skinny

I’ve had these magenta cords since college, where I found them on a clearance rack in Fashion Bug for seven bucks: 

They had them in light pink and powder blue too so, since a deal I spotted, all three I bought(ed).  I’ve since given the blue ones to a loving home via Goodwill (a decision I now regret) and haven’t worn the pink ones much in the past few years because I’ve grown a little weary of the fit.  They originally had a six inch fold in the bottom complete with a nice little slit up the back.  Long legs over here took out the fold right after the purchase which still left me with the slit…something I thought actually gave them character whilst walking campus (“oh my, did she really just say that?”). 

  Well, I came to my fashion senses and decided some time ago that they’re just a little too baggy and much too long for my more mature, post-college self.  So, out came the sewing machine and in went the legs.  Now I know I’ve posted about turning wide legs into skinnies before but this time I thought I’d write up a proper tutorial.

(Before I started, I ripped out the seams along the slit in the back and sewed it right up, perfectly aware that I was taking away the awe-inducing flash of my sexy heels…meeeow.)

So, first I brought out my fave skinny jeans and, working on one leg at a time, laid them over the top of the inside-out pink cords – making sure they lined up along the outside thigh and crotch – and traced a dotted line along the inside edge of the jeans onto the cords.    

Then, making sure the leg I was working on was perfectly flat on the table and folded along the outside seam, I pinned along my dotted line.  

I sewed two stitches, 1) a straight stitch along my dotted line and 2) a zigzag stitch along the outside edge of the straight one to insure a nice strong seam (lazy man’s serge).  I actually sewed the straight stitch into both legs, tried the cords on to make sure they fit the way I wanted, and then went back and sewed the zigzag stitch.Side note:  I once read that when turning boot/wide leg pants into skinnies, you should take in both sides of your pant leg for the pants to fit right in the end but every pair I’ve altered by only stitching up the inside has turned out great.

Last, I cut off the extra fabric with a pinking shears and sewed a half-inch hem into the bottoms. 

With a snip snip of a few threads I had new pants that would even make Barney jealous.  :)

Who knew that the colored corduroy investment I made almost ten years ago would pay off circa 2012-3?  Might have to rethink those ankle length denim dresses complete with metal buckles found in abundance at the local thrift.  They might be keeping a secret only time will tell.  ;)

Twenty Twelve in Pictures

What better way to commemorate 2012 than in pictures.  Thanks be to Dweej at House Unseen and Robin at Farewell Stranger for the great idea and for hosting link-ups so we can all peek.  If you haven’t yet reflected on the past year via blogging, you should mosey on over and join the fun. 

Since projects are my main squeeze, my monthly memories are all DIY style.  Here’s 2012: I pulled out the spray paint and covered over some shiny gold towel rings that went up in our master bath.

We started a kitchen remodel.  I spent most of my days sanding, scraping, and priming whilst four months into our twin pregnancy.

  I turned on the crafty switch and made thank you cards out of baby shower cards I received at our first shower this month.  We also found out that buttons and bows, ribbons and curls would be a very big part of our future as the two sprouts were GIRLS!

  Determined to cover the ever-expanding twin belly in clothes that fit and eager to stay far from frumpy, I took a stab at altering some maternity tees and after a little frustration, finally succeeded.

With the girls arrival only a couple of months away , we got on the ball and started planning out their nursery, after combining the office and guest bedroom.  (Eight months later and it’s still in progress…)

  I pushed fashion into their destiny as I made the twins their very first maxi skirts out of the pant legs of some maternity pjs I altered.

  On the 9th, we welcomed our biggest project to date.  They came after seven hours of labor, weighed in at a cumulative 13 pounds, and it only took us a day to name them.  Hola Seraphia and Cecilia!

  We livened up our master bath with a faux roman shade.

We finally finished the kitchen remodel we had started at the end of 2011.

I whipped up some curtains to adorn the girls’ closet and window in their (still unfinished) nursery.  We also moved the girls from our bed (a survival mode remedy after trying car seats, swings, and a co-sleeper) into a crib in our room without too much of a hassle.

  I spent many nap times, bedtimes, and Daddy times painting stripes in the nursery.

I injected some much needed color into our white, white kitchen by spray painting some kitchen basics.

 

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, and fruitful 2013!

Merry Christmas!

I thought (wrong) that it'd be fun to take a picture of our card for you all but as you can (or can't) see, it's a little indistinguishable   Yes, that is our little fam buried in the sands of the southern shore line.  No, it's not really "real" but only photoshopped "real".  The point is, Merry Christmas y'all and Happy Birthday to the Big Guy!

Almost every family member (about 9) singing pat-a-cake got us this gem after mass last night:

And, our tree this year:

The same as last year and the year before - fake, pre-lit, and wrapped with even more lights by light-lover me, adorned with our swelling stash of ornaments (thanks to gifts and an ornament party) and a $3 handmade star (tutorial found at Love Maegan) atop it's point. 

Merry, Merry Christmas!  

Just The Lid

Thought I'd had enough with spray paint for awhile?  Never.  If you have had enough of me not having enough with spray paint then I'm sorry, but I just can't quit it and I'm gonna slide in this last post about the stuff until I finish some other projects because it's a quickie and I've only got a quick minute and because I've been sewing and your gonna get the deets on that next week.  Aaanywho, we have this jar:

Plain, simple, and I'm pretty sure at least as old as me since it appears in my childhood memories..not to mention abundant in many forms in every thrift store I've ever been.

Well, as it happens I still have mucho of the same gold spray paint that I used to make my cap toes and jazz up my Mama so:

 

Bada bing, bada spray...not so plain and not so simple anymore.  Ready and willing to assist in keeping our ears clean.

Speaking of clean ears, make sure yours are because hooves will be hitting roofs this week and lucky is the person that hears 'em.  Merry Christmas and Happy, Happy Birthday Jesus!

In Living Color

It’s been five long/short months since the twins entered this the world and five long/short months since I stopped documenting the bump they gave me.  A couple of months ago I started to construct a collage of the belly pictures I took to show just how ginormous I got week-by-week.  I had this great idea to turn all of the weekly pics to black and white photos except for “the bump”, highlighting it’s presence…as if it’s size didn’t do that already.  Great idea, a long time to accomplish with my current job as mother keeping me on high alert.  Then Natalie posted a fantastic collage a few weeks after her son was born and it really lit the fire under my bum to finish mine.  :) 

So folks, here we have:

Born on their 37 week in-utero birthday, you can read Seraphia (5 lbs. 13 oz.) and Cecilia’s (6 lbs. 14 oz.) birth story in four parts – Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.  Then, get a load of their cuteness at 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months…I’m a smidge behind on posting their 4th and 5th but who can blame me?  I’ve got twins.  :)

.           .           .

P.S.  I used pixlr.com to create the colored bump effect.  First I opened a belly pic, duplicated it (duplicated the layer…not sure if I’m speaking technically correct), turned the duplicate (on top of the original) black and white by desaturating it, and then erased the area over my belly to reveal the still-colored photo underneath.  Easy peasy.  It’s such a fun way to edit a picture!