eShakti

I’m many things but an online shopper is not one of them.  I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ordered an article of clothing online.  Two times I can think of off the top of my head is the time I ordered two pairs of the same gap maternity jeans in two different sizes knowing one would probably fit and the other wouldn’t.  I didn’t have to pay shipping because the total cost was over a certain amount.  Second, Target used to carry what are my all-time favorite tees and now that they don’t, I’ve been known to order them off eBay (here!).  Is that crazy, especially since we live in a technology-saturated world and it would be so much easier than packing up three kids to get to a store?  Are you an online orderer?  Here’s the thing, I have a paranoia that whatever I’ve ordered and paid shipping costs for won’t fit so I’ll end up returning it, possibly paying more shipping and end up having paid shipping costs for something I didn’t keep.  It’s a real fear people.  So tangible clothing shopping it is for me.  Enter eShakti - the only online women's fashion apparel company offering sizes 0-36W & custom clothing.  When they contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I’d like to customize a dress to fit me, it was like they were in my head and knew exactly how to quell that fear.  I jumped at the opportunity, hoping for a good outcome and wasn’t disappointed.  I chose the Scallop Neck Faux-Wrap dress in prussian blue:
   

I threw on my leopard heels (Target, two years ago) and couldn’t decide on a necklace because I didn’t want to take the show away from the scallop neckline, which had me at hello.


And the pockets!  I love me a dress with pockets and appreciate them even more now that I have three chicklets who need stuff stowed every once in awhile so they had me at hey, how are ya?

The quality of the dress is outstanding!  Their prices aren’t too different from higher end clothing stores like J. Crew (unless you shop sales, in which case they’re a lot more affordable) but the fact that you’re getting a quality-made garment that’s specifically made for your body is genius and a great (dare I say better?) way to spend your money, in my opinion.  The customization process was very simple – measure all the places on your bod they ask you to measure, insert said measurements, and wala.  I also got to choose the dress length – above or below the knee or mid-calf - and the type of sleeves I wanted on it – none, short, cap, or elbow length.  I choose below the knee and loved the cap sleeves the dress had in the online image so I kept those.  I had the option of subtracting the pockets too but I’m not that crazy.  ;)  I felt so regal constructing this dress online.  It was like I had my own personal tailor for five minutes!  My only, very small, complaint is that the measurements in the drop-down boxes where you could choose your number were only whole inches; no half-inches.  There were a few times I came up with half-inch measurements, one being my waist size and, for fear that rounding down to the nearest inch would yield me no breathing room, I rounded up.  I wish, now that I have the dress, that I would have rounded down instead because the dress fits me in the waist for sure but it could stand to be a little more snug.  Lesson learned for next time.  And speaking of next time, I’m crushing on any and all of these (Christmas is coming y’all!):

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

Just a budget-conscious girl’s tip:  For registering with eShakti, you get a free $25 credit towards your first purchase.  (Just be sure to register right before you buy because I think the credit expires not too long after you register!)  Also, there’s a $7.50 fee to customize a dress (which is nothing when you’re talking a dress that’s made for YOU) but your first customization is free, so take advantage of that!  AND, last but not least, eShakti generously is offering a 10% discount to all Bean In Love readers!  Just enter code ‘beaninloveblog’ at checkout!  (P.S.  The reader discount is only good until 12/04/2014, needs to be entered in the ‘promotional code’ box, can be used as many times as you want, and can be combined with other offers unless otherwise specified in other offer conditions, but can’t be used on clearance/sale, gift cards, or overstock categories.)

Have you ever purchased from eShakti?  If so, what was your experience like? 

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Easy DIY Jean Vest

Among their plethora of hand-me-downs, the girls had a sweet little jean jacket from their cousin.  From Gap, embellished with embroidery, and soft; cute on the hanger but on?  Well, meet the Hulkette:

With their tiny frames and stick arms, the girls didn’t stand a chance.

So, after procuring a second jean jacket (for $5 off Varage Sale!) that was similar because #twins, I made a few snips, inspired by Kilee, and we’ve ditched the steroids in the name of fashion:
 
[While saying “cheeese” and dressed in skirts their size yet way too big that I spied undies a few times and the only shoes they have right now that fit…better get on that!]

All I did was cut off the sleeves which probably doesn’t need one word of an explanation but since I am who I say I am…

The only thing worth mentioning besides “Step 1:  cut off the sleeves” is that when you do, make sure you cut as close to the inside hem as possible so that you wont see any remaining sleeve material peeking out from under your new armhole.  I found that cutting at a slant gave me the closest cut.

You don’t have to worry about fraying because you’re not cutting out the hem, just the sleeve material where it meets the hem.  No cutting the hem = no fraying.
 

And that’s it!

It’s just now dipping under sweltering here so hopefully they’ll become our toddler wardrobe staple soon!  Until then, we do quick photo shoots in the cool of morn:
 
 
I had been on the thrift store hunt to grab a jean jacket to turn into a vest for my very own but then I found one on the clearance rack at Target a few weeks ago so we might possibly turn into those mom and kids that are matchy-matchy once in a while.  I’ll make sure to gram the occasion if we do and give you full permission to do an eye roll.  ;)

Leaky Tap

Hey all!  So sorry for the radio silence last week…even though I know the only one to notice was probably me.  Monday and Tuesday were busy spent with the kids before I jetted out to St. Louis on Wednesday to spend some time with my bestie, Megan, helping her plan her upcoming wedding.  I brought Sebastian along for the ride since he’s still nursing and, let me tell you, one baby is a breeze!  ;)  I mean, it would’ve been if clingy wasn’t his middle name but hey, I got a taste of what spontaneity felt like again and got to eat in an actual restaurant THREE times in THREE days!  Crazy.  And the fall:
 
Take me back.  The only colored leaves we see down here in the south are in craft stores so I soaked up the scenery like Spongebob and made a resolution that a visit is necessary every fall from here on out.  On Friday, Grace was so kind to let me pop in and spend a couple of hours chatting while the happy couple had a meeting and it was the best couple of hours Sebastian had.  I’m positive he wouldn’t have even noticed if I had left because he took to them like a bee to flowers.  Grace (who is so awesome and sweet and downright gorgeous) and I have the same alma mater (Franciscan University), so I knew her from college but had never met the rest of her clan and let me tell you, they are the epitome of cute.  I don’t know if you read her blog but if you don’t, you should.  Lack of time has brought the unread posts count in my blog reader to an all-time high (168!), but you will never find a post from the Camp on that list.  She writes, I read, I read to Anthony, end of story. 

So anyway, I was hoping to get my act together and get some actual substance up as soon as the kids say “nap”, but until then all I have to share is our new faucet…so boring, I know. 

A couple of weeks ago I started noticing puddles forming around the base of the old faucet but just thought my sloppiness with getting water everywhere while washing dishes was getting bad.  Nope.  Turns out our faucet was leaking.  We didn’t want to rush into buying another before a good deal showed its face, so Anthony bought us some time by putting some plumbers’ putty around its joints and we just made sure to turn the water off under the sink at night.
 

Then last week, I came across this faucet on sale for $98 (marked down from $154) online at Home Depot.  Bought it, they sent it, Anthony installed it and…

…just like that, we have running water running where it’s supposed to and only where it’s supposed to.  (I made sure to croppity-crop out the dirty dishes just for your viewing pleasure…insert over-dramatized wink.)  I love the high arch (our old one had zero arch) and how sleek it looks.  So, if you’re in the market for a new kitchen faucet, snatch this one up before the sale ends on 11/2!

And that’s all I’ve got today!  I seriously have, let me count, umm…seven finished projects waiting for a spot on the blog so there is content coming, I just have to find the time to write and it used to be after bedtime but Sebastian has thrown his out the window so just…well…stay tuned.  #socliche  #i know  ;)

Meow

The girls have been crushing on these Old Navy loafers ever since they spied them in-store a month ago:

Okay, so I fibbed a little…I have been crushing on these for the girls.  But, as much as I love my girls, I don’t even spend $20 for a pair of shoes on myself so to spend that on five-inch long toddler shoes (times two) that’ll be too small in three months just doesn’t jive with my wallet. 

So, you can imagine our delight when I found a pair of these little thangs at Goodwill last week:

A size too big but I know two little girls who can prance around in their mom’s 7.5’s so one size up is nbd. 

The pom flowers though, they had to go.  As cute as they are on the shoes, they made them less versatile with than without.  I don’t want to have to make sure blush pink fits in with an outfit if those shoes are the ones getting worn, ya know?  They were sewn right on the toe of the shoe though so I just grabbed my seam ripper and ripped them right off.  It took all of two minutes.

Bingo.  Now we just have to find another pair.  ;)

 
^ hashtag ootd ^

And never fear, I didn’t toss the pretty little flowers.  They’ll be married to a couple of nice hair clips as soon as I get around to it.  Tutorial to follow along with dancing and some wine-ing.  Be there.

In the Corner

Wow-eee.  Life is busy, no?  Places to be, things to do, people to see, thoughts, more thoughts, kids, more kids, throw in a cold or four…add yours to the list because I’m sure you can relate!  That’s why posting around here has been minimal the past few weeks and why the project I’m about to tell you about has been in-progress for a month now and still isn’t finished.  You see, we’re on a mission to re-organize our laundry room.  I’m not sure why this whole process started…it might’ve been the annoyance of looking at this to long:
The corner in question.  It’s organized ‘per-say’ – drawers full of painting supplies, spray paint, tools, paint chips - but overall it’s just a big heap of random stuff that’s really not the most aesthetically pleasing sight we ever did see.

Enter this big lug:
 
I found him at Goodwill a month ago.  At $19.99 his tall, dark, and not-so-handsome physique was just what we needed to take that corner of the laundry room to the next level of organization.  We removed the built-in lighting and also ripped out the top shelf, as it didn’t extend all the way to the back of the cabinet, in order to replace it with a few more shelves and left the bottom opening as it was because it’s the perfect size to accomodate our shop vac.

The plan was to paint him white before we put him in his place.  So first things first, I wanted to make him a little less country and a lot more modern by filling in the scroll work and decorative holes.
 

To do that, I used a plastic putty knife with this Elmer’s wood filler that we picked up from Lowe’s: I’ve used it before (to fill in holes in this desk and this dresser and cracks in this loveseat) and have been really happy with it.  It dries nice and hard without cracking.  However, it doesn’t sand down to a very smooth finish so I usually use it in conjunction with spackle.  More on that later.
Side note:  For the loveseat, I used a tube of the wood filler and when I went to use it for the desk, I found it had hardened near the opening, even though I had the lid screwed on nice and tight.  So, since the stuff towards the other end was nice and soft, I cut off the top of the tube and pulled from there, taping the opening off and storing it inside a plastic bag for extra protection against drying.
 
Hoewever, when I pulled it out again for this project, the whole tube was hard and unusable so we that’s when we purchased the tub of filler, hoping its fate will be the opposite.  I’ll keep you updated but so far, so good (This just in!  Kelly told me she puts saran wrap over hers before she lids it and it keeps hers nice and nothardened!  Thanks for the tip Kelly!)

To fill in the scrolls and holes, I scooped up a large chunk of wood filler and spread it over the holes like I was buttering bread, making sure I pressed it in enough that it filled the entire area.  Then I drug my knife across the surface, scraping off excess.  When you do this you don’t want to scrape off all the excess.  There should be more filler than you need over your filled areas, sort of like a miniature hill.  You’ll make everything smooth and level by sanding the dried excess off later.  Make sense?  Here’s what the top of the cabinet looked like after I was done filling:
 

So, after everything was filled and dry (since the holes were pretty deep, I waited a whole 24 hours to ensure the filler was completely dry), I went over it all with a fine-grit sanding block to remove the excess and level the surface as well as I could.
 

I mentioned above that I like to use spackle in conjuction with wood filler.  Wood filler has fibers in it that make it unable to be sanded down to super smooth surface.  So, using this spackle and a metal putty knife (our plastic putty knife has some tiny divots on the edge so metal was better to get a smoother finish)…

…I went over all the areas I had filled with the wood filler using the same technique, only with spackle.
       
After that was dry (I spackled in the morning and it was good and dry by late afternoon), I got out the fine-grit sanding block again and sanded everything until it was smooth and level.  After wiping it all down with a damp rag to get rid of any sanding dust, I was ready for paint.

The cabinet front, bottom, and shelf are solid wood; the sides are particle board.  The wood parts had a few large knots which tend to bleed through latex paint (so I’ve read). 

To keep them from bleeding through my handiwork, I brushed a thin layer of oil-based primer over them first. 

Once those areas were dry, I primed the rest of the piece with some Kilz primer.  I reminded myself over and over to take pictures of the cabinet primed before I painted but still forgot.  Not a huge deal but just know that when I prime, I just make sure everything is covered.  Primer will probably always be splotchy and that’s ok.  Next up was paint.  It took me three hours on four different nights and naptimes to prime the cabinet so I opted to spray paint the cabinet with its final layer of latex paint.  Not canned spray paint though.  Some good friends of ours offered to let me use their paint sprayer so I used some basic white latex we had on hand (by Olympic).  This Graco paint sprayer is what I used to spray on the paint.
It was really cool to be able to borrow it so I could get a feel for how paint sprayers work and whether we should invest in one.  It definitely took me more time to set up and learn how to use it than it did to paint.   However, I apparently have a lot more learning to do because one side of the cabinet turned out really drippy…
 
I either added too much water to my second round of paint or painted too close so next time I’ll have to pay attention to those two things to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I painted the cabinet outside and while it was drying, there were some things to take care of in its corner:
I wanted to paint the doorbell white (like I did our other doorbell), spray paint the electrical box white so that it’d blend in in with the back of the cabinet, and touch up the wall paint where we removed an old key box.
 
To spray paint the electrical box, I simply protected the area around it by taping pages of a magazine (thank you Franciscan Way) to the surrounding wall.


Then I primed it with Rustoleum’s Clean Metal primer and spray painted it white.


Then in went the cabinet!  We have yet to cut out a hole in the back so that we can access the electrical box without having to pull the entire cabinet out from the wall but so far so good!
 

Like I said above, we’re not done yet.  There are still a couple more things we want to do before everything gets put back and organinzed and those things started with a bang last night in the form of a DIY fail.  Stay tuned.

Also, a sneak peek!  The french door leading from the kitchen to the laundry room is becoming a reality…slowly!  We used an old wood door we found at ReStore, cut out the middle (which is now on top of the washer and dryer working as a countertop), and hung it!  I managed to prime it while I primed the cabinet but that’s all the farther we’ve gotten.
 
We would’ve had it finished a few weeks ago but the glass insert turned out to be more expensive than we thought so we had to postpone in order to save up.  A typical step in the life of budget-ridden folk, I guess.  :)  All the details on how that all went down up to come hopefully soon.

And that’s all she wrote…so far!  We’re moving the kids rooms around today which means that Sebastian is going to his own room and the girls are moving to another.  I’ll be crying out of sadness that they’re getting older and smiling out of happiness that I won’t have to tip-toe around my own room anymore to avoid waking a sleeping boy, all while I move furniture this afternoon.  What are you up to?  Any projects that have been in-progress for quite some time now or are you pretty good at starting and finishing without too much time in between?  Any paint sprayer users out there?  Any secrets or tricks I should know?  Spill ‘em!  I need to make this relationship work!  :)

Have a great Tuesday!