Moccs

**Just a quick reminder!  There’s a Luce Leather giveaway happening on our Instagram page that ends tonight at 8pm!  Nicole of Luce Leather has generously offered to give away a Magnificat cover that she made herself!  It’s so beautiful!  If you don’t read or don’t have a Magnificat, enter anyway!  Christmas is coming and if you win, it’d make a great gift!**

And speaking of leather…

Baby moccasins are the hot new thing!  Haven’t you heard/seen?  I have to admit, I wasn’t fond of them at first but I think they’ve rubbed off on me after seeing them alllll over Instagram.  But, when it comes to baby shoes, I have a pretty tight wallet.  My kids (maybe most kids?) are in a new shoe size every 4-6 months so hand-me-downs, clearance, and thrift stores are where we shoe shop.  Leather moccs can run anywhere from $45 to $60+ a pair and faux leather ones can be found on Etsy for $15+.  Our budget right now told me “no, you can’t buy any baby moccs” so I took matters into my own hands and made some!  Look!

My friend Jesse came over on Monday last week after bedtime and we chatted, drank wine, and sewed our littlest tots a pair of moccs.  She made hers out of the leather skirt I wore with The Traveling Scarf (that she got at Goodwill for $1!) and I made mine out of a leather vest (that I found at Goodwill for $4).  I forgot to take a picture of the vest before, but here’s what was/is left of it:I still have almost the entire back of the vest left so if anyone has any ideas on what to make out of it, toss ‘em my way!

Here are the moccs we made that night almost finished:

We used this pattern and this tutorial, combined with this tutorial, and a lot of our own tweaking.  I didn’t take pictures to write a tutorial but I’m planning on making some more as Seb grows and maybe even some moccs for the girls and when I do, I’ll make sure to document every step.  It was surprisingly simple even though the thought of making baby shoes is totally intimidating.  If I didn’t have Jesse by my side, holding my hand the whole way, my moccs might not have turned out as good but thankfully I did and the next pair will be even easier to whip up.

I’m still trying to convince Anthony that they’re cute though!  He thinks they look a tad too girly.

Maybe it’s the fringe?  I might have to trim it to win his admiration. 

While the moccs turned out great (despite their potential girly-ness), I learned that next time I need to use a thicker leather.  The leather I used was super soft which would be great for a crib shoe version; not for a mover and shaker.  I took Sebastian out to the front porch to crawl around the day after I made them and just from dragging his feet across the concrete, they scuffed up pretty easily.  See the roughed up top?

Jesse made a second pair using an old leather purse she cut up and they seem more durable.  Aren’t they so cute?  I am in love with the scallops vs. fringe for girls!  

Here’s hoping I’ll have some time to make some more soon so stay tuned!  If you’re not interested in sewing your own, check out these mocc makers:
>>Freshly Picked
Susan was on Shark Tank with her moccs, got a deal, and now they’re arguably the most popular moccs on the market but run on the higher-priced end.  You can find them all over the blogging world and there’s always a giveaway somewhere so keep your eyes peeled!
>>The Coral Pear
Amanda’s leather moccs are slightly less expensive and oh-so-cute!
>>The Striped Arrow
Courtney makes faux leather moccs that are really affordable and has some good sales that you’ll find out about if you follow her on Instagram!
>>Gracious May
You can find the cutest, fringed moccasin boots at Gracious May.  Their prices are up around those of Freshly Picked though but once you see the boots, it’s mighty tempting to splurge.
>>KaBoogie
Audrey makes moccs and mocc boots out of reclaimed leather and they’re a lot cheaper than similar moccs and so stylish!  They’re also styled a little differently than other moccs out there which I appreciate!


Are there any moccasin shops you’ve come across that you love?  Or have you found a great pattern and made your own?  Please share!

Luce Leather Giveaway

Hey all!!!  Happy Monday!  It’s been a great one over here so far.  Let’s see, Anthony had an early morning meeting this morning (he can usually hang around until after breakfast) so I was on my own when the kids woke up and wake up they did – both girls had wet the bed which is rare these days and Sebastian was in a wonderful mood after a fun night of not wanting to sleep.  So, I caved for the sake of rejuvenation slash keeping all my marbles and perched the girls in front of the “ABC show” on YouTube (you see, if they learn something I don’t feel the pang of guilt quite as much).  ;)  Seb is sleeping now and I swear someone set a bomb off in our house at 3am because it was immaculate when we went to sleep last night (hmmm, my nose is growing for some reason…) but I’ll deal with that later (maybe) because I want to make sure you know about the Luce Leather giveaway happening on our Instagram page!

Nicole is generously giving away this Magnificat cover to one lucky follower!  Skip over there for the details!  The giveaway will end Wednesday at 8pm (CST) so hurry quick! 

After you enter, make sure to check out Luce Leather’s page.  Read about Nicole, her story, and how she’s taken her incredible talent in working with leather to the business level and also where she got the name “Luce”.  And then, browse in awe at all of the beautiful leather things she’s made – from rosary pouches, to bible covers, to checkbook covers, and her upcoming purse and clutch collection!  It’s all so beautiful! 

And last but not least, use code ‘BEANINLOVE11’ to get 10% off any ready-made products at $50 or more and $25 off any custom order until 11/29/2014!  

How’s that for a happy Monday?  Brightened mine, that’s fo sho!  :) 

Wee Scarves

So I might have an infinity scarf addiction – proof, proof, and more proof.  But I can’t help myself, especially when it comes to dressing the girls, so when an opportunity presented itself, I bit down…and made a graphic:

Here’s the story.  I have this tee from back in my dancing days.  It has my name heat-pressed onto the back except that recently I washed it (for the 395757th time) and all of the white of the letters came off in the wash.  So weird. 
Not a huge deal but since I was/am going through a closet purge and have 49579 other t-shirts, I thought maybe it was time to bid farewell to this one.  So I went through the whole “what could I do with it?” before I actually tossed it to the donate pile and it hit me – the fall-ish cranberry color, the size, the soft cotton – they were all perfect ingredients for a couple of little infinity scarves of the no-sew, five-minutes-to done-variety for a couple of twins I know.

Here’s how I made them.  First, I cut off the bottom of the tee under the armpits.
 

And then I flipped it over to see that some of the logo on the front was still visible, so I cut off a tad more.
 
(Ten points if you know what a “clogger” is!)

Then, since I needed two scarves for two tiny ladies, I folded that bottom piece in half length-wise and cut along the fold. 
 

Next, I cut a bunch of shallow strips all the way up the unfolded/cut side of each half of fabric.  My cuts measured about an inch.


When I unfolded each piece, it looked like this:
 
(Sorry about the infiltrating sunlight!)

Last, I tied each strip to the one opposite it…
 
(Side note:  I ended up cutting off the bottom hem of the t-shirt because the strips cut there were too hard to tie since they were thicker.)

Since I didn’t have that much fabric to work with, I cut the strips pretty short to get as much scarf circumference as I could.  So, to aid in tying, I pulled on each one a bit to stretch it out before tying it to it’s counterpart.
 
[Unintentional light leak!  Cool!]

Until, after I had tied all of the strips together, I had myself, or the girls, two little infinity scarves.


We test drove them last weekend on a trip out to see Daddy who was working at a retreat out in the Southern countryside.
[DIY jean vest tutorial here.]

I like the extra detail the ties provide.  :)
 

For an adult scarf, all you’d really have to do is cut the tee off under the arms and stick your head in, like so:
…unless you’re working with a huge tee or you want to combine a couple of tees!  For the tots though, I prefer a more fitted, smaller scarf so depending on the size of the tee, a little snipping and tying might be necessary.

More photo spam from our little country excursion:

Heart eyes and more heart eyes.

 
They had a blast picking up acorns and tossing them into the water.  Like they-didn’t-want-to-do-anything-else blast.  And then C found a huge, gross ‘shroom to toss in and we had to ruin her fun’gi…ha!

She’s so cute though, no?
  

Anyway, go out and find yourself some cute patterned tees and cut your way to an infinity scarf or seven to keep your neck warm this winter.  I found this tee at Target on clearance for $2.10 a couple of months ago…
 
[via this gram]
…and am punching myself that I didn’t grab more to make scarves…something out of!  Whatever…no regrets.

You know what they say on Fridays – TGI…oh wait, I’m a mom.  ;)

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P.S.  Be sure and stop by Monday because there will be details on a fun giveaway over on our Instagram home!

Hairs & How I Cut My Own

My hopes were to share with you a finished laundry room cabinet this week but no-go because, as it turns out, finding wood to make shelves for the thing is turning into a longer process than we wanted it to be.  Hopefully that saga will come to a close soon and I’ll have an ‘after’ and tutorial but until then, here’s a sneak peek:
 

Today though, it’s a DIY haircut and layer tutorial.  It’s not the best hair-cutting tutorial out there and while I was going through the grainy phone pictures I took of myself in-process, I realized it might be the worst and a video might’ve been better.  But either way, I promised a step-by-step so here ‘tis.

  I’ve been cutting my own hair for 10+ years but only in the past six or so have relied on myself as my sole barbette minus one professional cut I got three years ago (unless my sister’s visiting because then I make her cut it).  Cutting my hair, and Anthony’s hair as well, is one of the ways we save money in this house.  It’s worked really well for us and probably saves us a good $250+ a year. 

So…

Trimming

If I’m just trimming my hair, I usually just cut it wet right after a shower.  If I’m trimming and layering, I blow-dry it as straight as I can get it, which is a beauteous sight considering my naturally curly hair doesn’t blow-dry stick straight:

[I mean, it makes you wonder why I don’t make this my reg ‘do, doesn’t it?  Frizz is inn.]

After blow-drying it, I straighten it with a straightening iron to get it as straight as possible.  It’s hard to tell how well I’ve cut when my hair is wet (and I’ve heard that wet hair stretches leading to a not-so-good cut when it dries and my most favoritist pro hairstyler ever used to cut dry because he said it gave a better cut) so when I layer, I cut it dry.

Back to just the regular trim though, I like a rounded V vs. a straight-across cut along the bottom of my hair when it’s behind my shoulders so to get that, I part my hair as best as I can down the middle, pull both sides forward, and cut straight across the bottom on both sides, like so:
 
I learned how to trim my hair this way by following Feye’s self-trimming method and it’s worked like a charm.  I usually have Anthony check for stragglers when I’m done just in case though.  :)

    
Layering

Trimming can be explained pretty well using pictures and words but layering is a little more difficult.  To layer, I grab thin sections of hair, sort of like pie pieces, sectioning it from top to bottom.  Then I pull each section out and cut a diagonal line at the end, starting where hair from the bottom of my hair ends, up.  So, I end up cutting more length off the higher I go.  This picture doesn’t explain very well but it’s what I took at the time (and it’s actually after I cut):
 
I slide my fingers out to the ends of the hairs from the bottom of my head and holding my fingers straight up and down, cut along them. 

And then I made this crazy-looking graphic to help explain:
 
If the yellow circle were my head and the yellow lines, my hair, I’d pull them out like the picture above and cut along the black line.  Doing so gives me a bunch of layers.  The lower you hold your hair out, the longer your layers will be and the higher, the shorter they’ll be. 

And that’s how I layer my hair!  (Any and all beauticians reading this right now are probably cringing…sorry.)  I’ve tried a few different ways besides this (like this time when I wanted a deep V cut and butchered my hair and had to cut off six inches to fix it) but have found the best layering cut happens using this process.  Oh and btw, I didn’t come up with this myself, I learned it from being very observant while getting my hair professionally cut and playing around with different techniques with my sisters.  (Just a side note:  I respect hairstylists and know they have to make a living too so in no way am I trying to say that what they do is not important or can always be done at home.  We choose this route because we’re on a really tight budget and can’t afford salons where we’re at right now but I say support them if you can!) 

Here’s the aftermath of my scissoring the other night whence I trimmed and layered and took pictures doing it:

(Quick photo courtesy of the husband who was caring for Sebastian after bedtime so I could give myself a quick cut.)

Another thing worth sharing is the way my sister layers her hair(s).  Her way is much easier and I have yet to try it but all she does is put her hair up into a high pony at the tippity-top of her head.  The best way to do this is to flip your head over and brush your hair up into the pony so that each and every hair leads from it’s root, straight up into the pony and out.  Then she holds that pony up and cuts a line straight across.  Of course, I faked what it’d be like for explanatory purposes:
 

And then I let go of my hair and this happened:


And I had to document my new ‘do.  Lady Gaga would be proud, I think.  ;)

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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