Crossing My ‘T’s and Dotting My Shirts

Tan looks awful on me.  It’s a smidge darker than my skin tone and a smidge lighter than my hair and when you put those three shades together on little ‘ole me, it’s a whole lot of blah.  With that said, I really have no clue what I was thinking when I plucked this shirt from my sister’s Goodwill pile several years ago:
 
I mean, it’s cute but the color is all wrong.  Of course I could always dye it but that actually never crossed my mind until three seconds before I typed this sentence.  All’s well though because it became the perfect medium for a project I’ve been itching to try.  Here’s what went down:

First, I laid a couple of sheets of wax paper inside my shirt like so:
 

Then, I threw fabric medium (70 some cents at Michaels) and leftover paint together (1 part medium to 2 parts paint) in a little medicine cup I use especially for painting,

pulled out a cotton swab and dipped,

randomly dotted,

and let dry, repeating the same process on the back of the shirt.  The directions on the fabric medium say to heat set it with an iron when you’re done but I took the lazy road and threw the top in the dryer for a few minutes, calling it a done deal.

 

A new shirt for a few cents…just the way I like it.  Even though it’s still a lot of tan, I feel like the polka dots break up all that brown…or maybe it’s just all in my head.  Either way, I love how it turned out and how easy it was to create.  I’ve used latex paint minus the fabric medium to stencil pillows before and they’ve held up really well, even after repeated washings, so I’m not sure what the benefit of adding the medium is (can somebody enlighten me?), but apparently it’s the proper way to paint fabric.  I’m envisioning some more potential paint-meets-fabric-medium victims in my closet as I type – maybe an aztec design?  Stripes?  Words?  Whatever it is, you’ll be the first to know about it as usual.  :)

Anyone else painted with fabric medium?  Do tell.  I’m on a roll with this stuff and need some more ideas.  Nothing in my house is safe, nothing.   

Made by Alicia

Traveling and teething and increasingly mobile childrens and lots of other bad excuses have kept me from some projects I’ve been dying to tackle like three frame collages that need to go up on three different walls, an upholstered headboard, turning our new/thrifted coffee table into an ottoman, and lots more ideas waiting to be born.  I’m a pretty patient person except when it comes to matters of decorating and doing-it-myself.  I have a “need to make it happen now” attitude that is only hampered by the fact that harried runs to Lowe’s and other diy palaces is close to impossible with twins always at my side.  Hmmph, the life of a mother…absolutely, without-a-doubt wonderful and very, very good at teaching patience.  :) 

To make up for my lack, look what my sister-in-law Alicia and her hubs did to their dining chairs:

Don’t they look incredible?  They reupholstered them just like we did our dining chairs awhile back.  Remove the seats, remove the old fabric, cut and staple on the new, put the seats back on and, BAM, your dining room gets all funky-cool just like that.  When she sent over the pictures, they were just enough to satisfy my diy-deprived heart until I can get a free naptime to do and do and do some more.

Speaking of naptimes, we’re in the midst of one right this moment which means that I probably should be taming my mane and finding something to wear for the Matt Maher, Chris August, and Bellarive concert we’re rockin’ to tonight!  With Lightning McQueen ear plugs in each canal (courtesy of Lauren), it’ll be the twins first-ever concert!  I’m pumped and the twins are too…I think.  I hope your night is as great as mine even though, if you’re not going to the concert, chances are it won’t be.  Juuust teasing.  Or not…  :)

Hope to see you tomorrow!  I’ll be the one in the polka-dotted shirt!  :) 

Three Ways to an Infinity Scarf

I love scarves, especially infinity scarves.  They’re my accessory of choice over necklaces any day.  That’s why I figured out how to turn just about every scarf I own into an infinity, whether it’s a plain, oblong scarf, tasseled, or a simple square.  Here’s how: 

For this one I simply lined up the short edges, pinned them together,

and then sewed them together, stitching as close to the edge as I possibly could.

Easy peasy.
 

No sewing machine?  You could easily hand-sew the edges together or even use some heat ‘n bond tape depending on the fabric your scarf is made out of.
 

 

With a tasseled scarf, all you have to do is tie the tassels on each end together.  If there are lots of tassels, you can get away with tying every other or every third one or even grabbing a few from each end and tying them all together all along the edge.  I tied the tassels on this scarf in bows in case I ever want to ‘un-infinity’ it…which will probably never happen.

 

My mom bought me a few square scarves last year and I didn’t know how to wear them until I figured out this little trick – fold the square into a triangle and then tie each end of the long side together.  Throw it over your head and wrap it around twice or three times and it’s “to infinity and beyond”.  Think of how easy it would be to grab a square of a fabric you love at a fabric store, hem the edges, and turn it into an infinity scarf using this tiny tutorial!  Endless options…endless I tell ya…and cheap to boot!

.           .           .

Anyone else have any little tricks they’ve used to whip up an infinity scarf?  Anyone else prefer them over necklaces like me or are crazy enough to wear them (light ones albeit) during the hot summer months?

39 Hours

That’s about how many hours we spent on the road last week visiting my family in Nebraska.  It’s also the number of hours the twins spent getting to know their car seats.  It was spring break so we decided to take the opportunity to make our way up for Easter, to introduce everyone to the twins, and then to attend my cousin’s wedding last weekend.  We made the trip from Alabama to Nebraska (and vice-versa) overnight, hoping the girls would sleep through most of the drive.  Lucky for us, they did.

On the way up, we stopped by my best friend’s house in St. Louis for breakfast before banking the last six hours.  The way back took us four hours longer than the way there due to more stopping to ease sore baby bottoms.  If I were to write up a “How to Survive a 16+ Hour Car Trip with 9-Month Old Twins”, it would include 1) a portable DVD player, played in 15 minute increments for maximum attention grabbing, 2) one parental unit sandwiched in-between babes in the backseat at most times, 3) overnight travel, 4) lots of annoying noise-making toys within tots’ reach at all times, and 5) just enough 5-10 minute stops to add a few hours to your already long drive.  And, if you were wondering (which you probably weren’t), we didn’t stop for feeding which means I got lots of practice in body contortion and hunching over strapped-in infants.  Lucky for me, I was smart enough to use my nursing cover to shield passers-by from feeding sessions.  I was under the impression during the drive to see my sister last year that our windows were tinted so I went about my merry way and nursed the girls while my other sister drove.  I found out months later that they are in fact NOT.  so. embarrassing.  I’m still praying I don’t find fame on YouTube because of it.  Aaanyway… 

Sunday circa 2:30 pm:

So now that we’re home (but definitely not unpacked yet), it’s back to the regular blogging schedule starting tomorrow with a post all about Buzz Lightyear…ooor maybe just his infamous “To Infinity and Beyond!”  Hope to see you then!

Easter 2013

While I’m puttin’ back loads of leftovers and lots of cheesecake (on my seventh piece in four days), here’s some Easter pictures for you all to munch on.  I’m usually not a huge fan of photo dumps so I apologize to those of you who are bored out of your mind and I won’t hold it against you if you skip out.  I’m also not sure what the internet access situation will be this Saturday so I can’t promise a post but h0pefully this’ll hold you over until I can get some diy up.  I’ve got four completed projects – two cardigan makeovers, an easy diy infinity scarf, and a diy polka-dotted shirt – ready to be put into words and out onto the web with a click of a button so stay tuned next week.  It’s gonna be good, I promise.  :)

Until then, gaze upon the cutest grandparents ever:
  

 

 





 

 

 

Last but not least, a sneak peak of one of those new cardigans the scissors, sewing machine, and I cranked out last week:

See you next week!