Saturday, July 21, 2012

Little Bathroom... Little Progress : )

We have a half bath right off of our kitchen.  It was painted the same color as our master bathroom, which, in person looks like a neutral tan with a large hint of mauve.  It isn't the worst thing in the world, but when I started painting it, It looked like throw up.

Here is the before.  At this point we were redoing both of our upstairs bathrooms.  We were getting ready in this little bathroom and it was chucked full of crap.  (It makes for a better before and after shot though right?)




Here is the new paint and the old.  It really looks pink after you see the grayish blue on top of it.



It's not amazing but it is fresh and clean looking.  There is no window in this bathroom, so it isn't the easiest to photograph either, but you get the idea.  
That's it, nothing too exciting.  I hope everyone is having a great week.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Recent Sewing Projects

I love making clothes for Alaire.  If I could sew kids clothes full time, I would.  I love it that much.  Here are some of the things I've been making for her as of late.





I've said before that Alaire is obsessed with this mannequin.  She irons her clothes, WHILE THEY ARE ON HER!  Good thing it is a fake girl and iron.
(Please don't email me asking if I let Alaire use and iron and how she will not touch a hot one.  This is an old one with the cord cut.  She knows not to touch irons with cords.)



She gets really ticked when the arms come off too.  I hide and laugh.


 I made this little halter from one of Drew's old button up shirts. 
 I have a tutorial for this and it is really easy!



 This is definitely my favorite thing I have made in a while.  It is a white (I know it will be dirty fast) romper.  I am in love with it and so is Alaire.  I love when she likes the things I make because I do get bummed out when she hates them.  I will be making another one and taking photos of the process so you can make one too!



Reversible Bubble Skirt by Lil Blue Boo  Her patterns are wonderful and so is her blog.


I didn't sew this but I did recover my bulletin board in my craft room.  (I might have to add some white paint to the frame)


And that's all that is worth sharing.  

I couldn't help but post these pictures of Alaire chasing Belle into our house the other day.  She is so funny with Belle, who she calls "Bree" 






Thursday, July 19, 2012

Dining Room Before/After-ish

Here is our dining room when we moved in.  This is the only picture I have.  The furniture was getting sold on Craig's list.  About the big white rectangle on the back wall... YUP they painted around a China cabinet.  From this angle the paint doesn't look bad, but it was drippy sponge paint.  If any of you ever think of sponge painting, do not go around furniture.  It causes two REALLY different textures in the wall.
It's not an awesome after picture.  I think something is going to have to be done with the paint.  The room needs a rug, window treatments, crown moulding and maybe wainscoting or board and batten.  Did I say light fixture and six more chairs?  Yeah it needs everything.




The one thing that I don't want to change is the table.  I am in love with it still!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Is it really the Middle of July?


I cannot believe how fast this summer is flying!  July is a busy month for us, and pretty much everyone else that I know.  We went to Rochester, MN over the fourth of July to visit Drew's parents.  It was a last minute trip, so I was not as ready as I wanted to be for Drew's birthday, which is July 9th and our anniversary is two days later on the 11th.
Alaire really wanted to have a surprise party for him.  She loves birthday parties, so I couldn't disappoint.
I had six rolls of paper streamers that I had bought for something else and never used. 

I took these and turned them into...



These!


They are really easy.  I just ruffled them on my sewing machine.

Then I just twisted them and taped them up.


He was surprised!

I made those sour cream and green chili enchiladas that are floating around pinterest, and they were freaking awesome, and easy too!
Alaire ate strawberries and brownies for dinner.  Who can blame her?  


****By the way try not to look at the lack of dining room chairs.  I fell in love with that table and I want a mix of chair to go with.  The only bad part about that is that you can't buy them all at once, you have to "discover them" in multiple outings.  Hopefully by Christmas we can have a full dining room.  It's not too high on my list right now though.

Happy Anniversary to us!  We had a great night.  We had the babysitter come over at 5:30, so we had the whole night out together without little Lairi!  
I hope everyone is having a great summer too!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Craft Table Update

Remember this ol thang?  It has been an eye sore for too long.    I originally painted it a light gray, but it looked too blue in the room, so I decided to paint it white.  A piece of this size and with so many shelves seriously blows for lack of better words to paint once, let alone twice!  That is why I left it looking like this.


I finally decided to paint it this weekend.  

And I am so glad I did.  It looks so much better.





I am glad that is done.  Next time I will be 100% on my color choice with something so big.  I am on the look out for a big old chunky china cabinet to put into this room for more storage.  If anyone has one.. send it my way!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Pleated Dress from Men's Polo





Today I grabbed this "salmon" colored shirt out of Drew's closet.  He hasn't worn it in a year.  It was from Old Navy.  God knows those shirts are on sale for $10 for a reason.  Anyway it was shrunk and wonky so i thought I would make something out of it.  We need to clean out our closets anyway.  (more me than him but whatever)


If you want to make your own, here is the tutorial:


I cut out the dress pieces as shown.

You will need a skirt, front and back bodice pieces, two sleeves, a color and the two neck bindings.

Take the neck bindings and fold in one long and one short end and iron.
One neck binding should be slightly longer than the other



Take the front bodice piece and cut a 3-4 inch slit in the middle. Put the right side of the neck binding down on the backside of the front bodice piece.
Line up the raw edge of the neckline and the neck binding and the center slit with the other raw edge of the binding (as shown).  Stich the binding to the slit

Do the same with the other side.  You can see that the right side is longer.  

Pull the binding to the front side and fold it down (similar to double fold bias tape) Then top stitch the long side down.
It should now look like this and the long binding should be on top of  the short one.



Right sides together, sew the side and shoulder seams.

Sew both sleeves together on the side seams.

Right sides together, sew the sleeves in matching the under arm seams.

Pleat the skirt until it is the same size as the opening of the bodice.
Stitch a basting stitch through the pleats to keep them in place for the next step.

Turn the skirt inside out and slip it over the bodice, right sides together. 
Align the raw edges and sew the skirt to the bodice.

I cut the collar in half lengthwise and pinned it to the neck line.  
I put a few pleats in the collar to fit it.



Because of the raw seams I folded the end of twill tape and then stitched in along the neckline on the inside of the collar.



Little Alaire wouldn't put it on for a picture because.  "Mommy don't take that dress off of my girl.  That's her dress"  She is very protective of this headless mannequin.  She dances with it and it cracks me up everytime.