holiday retro

i've said it before and i'll say it again.  the day after halloween is my favorite shopping day of the year.  and for good reason.  most of the decorations are half off, so it's easy and cheap to get yourself the hook up for next year.  i'll admit that my home decor takes a not so subtle nod to the macabre.

and then you find gems like this :

this is (sideways and i can't figure out how to flip it) this years cotton table cloth in the halloween section of Target.  100% cotton, and oh so amazballs.  the original price was $14.99, and i picked it up for just $7.50.  and it's a huge piece of fabric.  i forget the actual dimensions, but big.  it IS a table cloth after all.  and if you've ever been fabric shopping you know that any good measure of fabric is going to cost a butt ton more than $7.50, especially quirky fabric like this.  

so i picked it up.  before the car even got out of the Target parking lot, i'd sent a missive to my Heather who is my go-to gal pal in the fabric/clothing design department.  (everyone should have a Heather, they're great, i have a couple of Heather's)  i automatically envisioned a skirt out of the fabric, i just wasn't sure what kind.  Between Heather and myself, we decided on a pencil skirt.

now, i've never made a pencil skirt before, and Heather was there for me again.  she pointed me here, to an amazing tutorial on drafting a pencil skirt pattern.  once the pattern was made, it was super simple to stitch it together.  

pencil skirt pattern

i honestly couldn't be more pleased with the results.  the skirt has a kicky retro flair, i added a ruffled kick pleat in the back, and i can see me wearing it even though i'm not a skirty kind of gal.  i think i'll even pick up another table cloth if there are any left.  

the completed skirt looks amazing,  now i just need somewhere to wear it.  

the kick pleat gives it a little tail.  

here's a better picture of the ruffles.  

Refashioned

As long as I'm making an effort to dress nicer and show off my awesomeness, I've got a little confession. I do, sometimes, like ..... frill.  I don't have a problem with pink.  I like lace, especially vintage lace, I can spend SO MUCH MONEY on vintage lace. You have no idea. I have a nice stock pile of vintage lace, and have been looking for new ways to use it.  I'm planning a lovely pencil skirt with a lace ruffle godet. I'm excited.

And I decided to refashion a tank top with a little lace.  Think I'll wear it to work tomorrow.

Using up the fabric stash

I have way too much fabric and no set projects. I can't justify buying more fabric for the projects I have lined up until I use some of the stuff I have on hand.  Its a bit of a catch 22 situation.

So I'm trying to come up with interesting things to do with odd bits of fabric.  So far ive made a marble maze and a bunch of infinity scarves.  Oh how I love the infinity scarf.  I would wear one all the time if I thought I could get away with it.  Love em.  And there very easy to make.

1) start out with 2 yards of light knit fabric. I'm sure you could use any light fabric, but you will have to take a couple extra steps and hem it up. 
2) cut the fabric up the middle long ways. So you now have 2 pieces of 2 yard long fabric
3) sew up the two short ends.

Done.

Seriously, that is how easy an infinity scarf is to make. The one you see in the picture has been drip dyed a charcoal gray to white.  The other three I made went to friends at work.  I'm thinking that ill be making a bunch more in different colors and fabrics.  Because I love them. 

The next project will probably be a weekender bag.  I have a  bunch of fabric that has bright red palm trees all over that would be perfect.

Keeping Everybody Up To Date

ok, typing quickly before getting ready to go to work.  multi tasking not my strong point.  just a quick note to keep everyone in the loop.

the side yard is cleared out (with the exception of the yard waste), and construction of the zen garden will begin when the EPA gives the nod.

the gypsy caravan is still in the 'what the hell am i thinking' phase, but i've got a source for plans (hopefully), and that will begin after the zen garden.

i need to repaint my bathroom.

got crafty again this weekend and made magnets for my magnet board out of wine corks.  i have plenty of them lying around.

ok, i'll try to have a real blog post sometime later this week

Magnet Board Instructable

i got a couple of cookie sheets from work today.  they were going to be thrown out if i didn't take them home.  and you all know how much i love free stuff.  so i CRAFTED!!!

here's how you make your very own magnetic boards from old cookie sheets:


first you need a couple of old cookie sheets and some spray paint

put the pan on a surface you don't mind getting splattered, like a garbage can:

spray till you have a nice even cover

and they will look something like this:

 or this

then by the time someone is ready to get out of the pool:

(yes, he's in there with his shoes on.  yeah.  i know)

they should be dry and you'll be ready to take them inside.

now you need some sticky back velcro, and attach it to the back like thus:

take the backing off the other half of the velcro and stick it where you want it.

i decided the inside of my 'witchy' cupboard was the perfect place.

and there you have it.  a simple easy way to make your own magnet board!

when you care enough to spend the very least

i'm a cheapskate.  i scour thrift stores.  ebay is a resource beyond measure.  craigslist is a gods send.  so when it was oh so well past the time to replace the counter tops in the kitchen, i freaked. 

the beginning estimates were at HUNDREDS of dollars.  and that was just for cheap laminate.  granite?  in the thousands.  concrete.....  i didn't even ask.  so i sucked it up.  i told myself that the counters weren't that bad, that they would last.  after all, they weren't falling apart, the were just stained and nasty.  so when hubby and i were walking through the home improvement mega box store, we happened upon this little can of stuff called "counter paint".  *insert angelic choir here* 

at twenty bucks, it was a vast improvement over replacing the counters all together.  so i figured why not.  if it works, great, if it doesn't i'm only out a twenty.  so we brought it home, and this morning, i tried it out. 

IT WORKS!!!  oh my gods it works! the color isn't exactly what i wanted (i was hoping for darker than it turned out), but it's a HELL of a lot cheaper!  hurray for diy!!!  

here are some before and after shots:

wide before shot

nasty stain 1

nasty stain 2

wide after shot

where nasty stain 1 used to be



 it needs another coat, and like i said, i wish it was darker, but to be honest, i love my counters more now than i did this morning. 

cheapskates FTW!!!!