That Cheetah Dress: Leather

How to wear that cheetah dress? Leather. Leather is usually... correction: ALWAYS,  hot with cheetah. 

Here is how I paired the two. 

A tough jacket with this flirty outfit. Totally me.

Hind sight: Should have added my hoop nose piercing instead.

Bulletin board

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am one of those girls who like to continually go above and beyond, so when I realized there was NO decorations for Thanksgiving at work I HAD to do something about it. What did I have available? A roll of yellow paper and a few markers. 

In other words, I was working to make two ingredients into a whole meal.

Bad analogy? You’ll deal. 

Anyway, if any of you care here is what I ended up throwing together in the 30 minutes I had, and a pictorial view of what I did.

Step 1: Sketch the cornucopia

Step 2: Color in/ Shade the cornucopia

Step 3: Add background items

Step 4: Start adding foreground items

Step 5: Continue adding detail

Step 6: Fill in any yellow places left with gray

Step 6: Another  example of filling in "white space."

Step 7: Add shading to anything else you want. I added a little more yellow shading to the under side of my cornucopia

Step 8: Add acorns. Just do it.

Final Product. Make due with what you have!

Now that's the spirit.

Outdoorsman Christmas !

Nothing says Merry Christmas quite like an arrangement of antlers...right?

All of the men in our lives are avid outdoorsmen and we wanted to honor them and the skills involved in safe and successful hunting. So we added this Christmas decoration to the top of our entertainment center.

It took a long time to gather this many racks. I started the arrangement by stacking the antlers and laying them out in a somewhat symmetrical pattern.

The next step in the process was to weave the greenery and small rice lights into the antlers. It is already starting to look better.

Next I added some glittery bulbs to fill out the look.

Here is a close up of some of the bulbs.

Over all I am very pleased with the look of this arrangement. Mark was happy to see how I used the collection of antlers and was honored that we thought of him. This is a fun addition to our usual decorations and a nice glow when we turn on the lights.

Our First Blogiversary!

Today is our first blogiversary and we are celebrating with our very first giveaway!

All you need to do to be entered into our giveaway is be a followed of our blog. To follow our blog please click the "Join this site" button in the right column and follow the directions. A winner will be chosen Friday, November 30th at midnight to win the bow clutch seen below.

Good luck! To see more items sewn by Marissa visit her Etsy shop, Sew Help Me by Marissa.

My Beauty Tackle Box

Did any of you brave the crowds for Black Friday shopping today? My mom, sister, and I have made it a tradition to go out in the late morning, about 8:00 a.m., when there is usually one or two good deals lefts to watch people fight over. I'm telling you it should be a sport!

I got a few good deals and almost completed my Christmas shopping. My favorite purchase of the day was a tackle box, believe it or not, which I purchased for myself! I couldn't wait to get home and fill it up with my beauty supplies and make a "beauty tackle box" of sorts. I have to say this system is working out quite nicely and I love not having to dig through two or three bags to find the right shadow, which in reality usually meant I settled for the shadow in the bag I had in my hands.

Talk about a Caboodle on steroids!

Flashback Friday

This was my 4-H project in 1973. I was thirteen years old. The fabric was a double knit. In that era it was "the stuff". I wonder now why my mom let me have a photo of this outfit without a good pressing first. It sure could use it. I actually liked this outfit at the time and loved the soft green color. The collar was a newly learned skill and the skirt had a zipper. Boy oh boy, those were the days.

Look how long my newly straightened hair was. NO ONE had curly hair in 1973!!

Camo. for Opening Day!

Many of you have probably seen a similar clothing remodel on our blog but this one is VERY special because it's camouflage and Paul is going to wear it on OPENING DAY, which is a holiday of its own in our house! Paul purchased this shirt for himself, a few sizes too large, because it was on sale and he had faith in my tailoring ability.

Far Too Wide

Extra Large In The Belly

And Too Big In The Sleeves

First I had Paul put the shirt on inside out and then I pinned in the sides and arms until the shirt was fitted to him. Thankfully the sleeves weren't too long so I left the cuffs as they were and eased the into the inch I was taking out of the arms. When I rounded the armpit corner I widened my seams to take in the sides two inches. I took the two inches out in a straight line so the bottom of the shirt was smaller than the original.

Paul Modeling

Pinned Arm Seam

Sewing An Arm

Then, because so much material was being taken in and the original seams were serged, I serged the seams.

Doesn't He Look GREAT?!

TA-DA

Vintage Aprons Continued

Happy Birthday to Helen. Today would have been her 87th birthday. All of us learned our crafty skills from her. She of course learned to repurpose long before there was such a word. Thanks mom for all of the lessons you taught us about life, living and making do with what God gave us to use and take care of.

This is Helen, in one of her aprons somewhere in the mid '60's. This apron was strickly functional. It was a simple cotton print with seam  binding finished edges. The pattern was a criss cross in the back with no other closure. There weren't even pockets on this one. This was one of her every day work aprons. Isn't she beautiful? And check out those glasses.  Yikes!

Thrift Store Finds!

Krista I LOVED your consignment finds, especially that gorgeous, brightly colored scarf! 

When I got my winter wardrobe out of storage, because the closets in our old farm house are WAY to small to hold all of my seasonal clothing, I realized that it was far too dark. So I decided to keep my eye out for colorful pieces when I went shopping next  Here are my most recent thrift store finds:

August Silk: $3.69 + tax
Such a beautiful color!

Riders Slim Fit: $3.69 + tax
Princess seams make it really slimming and
the buttons are perfectly placed for no front gapping!

Isaac: $9.99
Colored heels!

AND THEY'RE REAL LEATHER!

Consignment Sunday

I had a serious need for a Consignment Sunday! So, to Value World I went. I thought I would find more, but what I did find was SO wonderful that I don't care at all. The mustard yellow coat is just so gol-darn cute!! This teacher is embracing late fall in style!



Merona $3.80

Old Navy $4.80

Best Purchase of the Day!!!
Coat- Relativity $14.80
Scarf- Vintage $2

Chemo Cap

When my mother-in-law Wendy was diagnosed with cancer we were all devastated. Like any "do-er" I wanted a way to help, so I was happy to get to work when she asked me if I could make a few chemo caps for her. Wendy found an amazing and simple cap that was easy to replicate. She and I were both very pleased with them so I thought that I would share my pattern with you all.

Wendy and I went fabric shopping to find the softest jersey knit that would feel smooth on her scalp and not irritate her skin. Then I grabbed some news paper and traced a coffee can (about 7" in diameter) and a rectangle 22" x 14". Using the newspaper pattern I cut out the jersey knit. Next I sewed up the 14" side seam of the rectangle, right sides together. Finally I folded the rectangle piece in half, wrong sides together, and serged the circular top to the rectangular bottom. This will allow for the bottom half to be folded up or left down, based on your preference. This basic cap could be accented with a floral hair accessory or also worn as a night cap.

And, Wendy beat her cancer. PRAISE JESUS!

Jeans that FIT!

Shopping for jeans is difficult, every woman knows that! When I finally find that perfect pair they are always 5"-6" too long! Apparently more than one woman has the same problem because today's post is a reader request.

Stephanie asked me, "Is there a way to hem your jeans and keep the original hem?" There sure is, and it's pretty simple too!

First, cut off the original hem, leaving about 1/2" of denim above the seam. Then cut off the desired amount of denim at the bottom of the jeans. Re-attach original hem by sewing hem to jeans, right sides together, as closely to the original hem as possible. There should be a 1/2" seam allowance. If you chose you can also serge this seam to make it as strong as possible.

For example, if you wanted to hem your jeans 5" you would cut off the original hem (about 1/2") and another 1/2" of material above it. Then cut off 4 1/2" from the pants. When you sew your original hem back on it will add the additional 1/2" of material making your finished product 5" shorter.

Re-Attached Original Hem.

Serged Seam Inside.

Finished Product!