Nat’s Top 5

I thought it’d be fun to highlight my favorite projects from Nat this year. Sort of a year review, but less vain, since they’re not mine (by the way, I updated the tutorials page so you can find any of our tutorials you want now easier!) So in no particular order, here’s my 5 faves from Nat:

I love Ruching. For real. You don’t have to be pregnant to enjoy the awesomeness that is ruching. So go here to see how Nat ruched this cute shirt!

I’ve used this tutorial at least 6 times this year. Seriously. I used it on 3 pairs of new skinny jeans, 1 pair of hand-me-downs that were already pretty trashed, 1 pair of my jeans, and at least 2 other pants are waiting on my sewing machine table for me to fix them. My machine and I are on a break. We’ve been seeing too much of each other. We’re taking a break.

I love me some carbs. I really want to make these. Soon. Just haven’t yet. But Nat claims they’re really easy so I should be able to do it. Recipe is here.

Every time I see this, I get nostalgic and hope that maybe someday I’ll have a little boy too, so I can make this adorable necktie tee. Someday. Maybe.

But, in all honesty, I can make ridiculous, fluffy, flowery dresses anytime I want because I have 2 little princesses of my own. And they’d love this dress!

Do you have any plans today for New Years? Looking for some décor, party ideas, or resolutions displays? Go look at my Pinterest board for New Years. If I wasn’t just getting over a nasty cold, I would make the oversized sequins. Love them!

Happy New Year! See ya next year

No nonsense!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

A couple of weeks ago I got a super awesome package in the mail. It included these:

Espresso corduroy leggings, and a pair of fish net tights in black. They had a QR code that I scanned with my phone, and it took me to a video showing some of the fun tights and leggings that No nonsense has. They’ve teamed up with Jill Martin, a fashion guru, and have several videos on their site to give you some style tips. Go here to watch some.

I was asked to make a few outfits with the tights and leggings. Here’s where I may lose some of you….I’m of the belief that leggings are not pants. Skinny jeans are pants, leggings are glorified tights. Do you understand? For me personally, I wouldn’t wear the leggings like the package shows, with just a regular shirt. But, I would (and have) definitely wear the leggings with a long tunic or short dress. Mine were a little big, but I was super impressed with how comfortable they are. I’m a fan of that. Normally, I’m not a corduroy or velvet type person, but I gave it a try. Here’s my caveat before I show you some of my pictures. I've had a bugger of a cold. So you don’t get to see my face. My nose could rival Rudolph’s right now. Next…It’s been snowing/overcast the last week. Not great for pictures. Okay, so here’s the picture with the tights first.

Can you see my fishnets? Here’s another picture.

Okay, so I wear fishnets a lot. I have a pair in pink, black, tan, red, green and blue. I wear them a lot. My favorite outfit I wore to church a few weeks ago was a light gray ruffle shirt, pink cardigan, gray skirt, hot pink fishnets, and brown riding boots.

So I wear fishnets a lot. The ones I have worn I can tell are not as nice as the No nonsense ones I got. Sometimes, the fishnet can dig into your toes uncomfortably. It’s not fun. But I didn’t have that AT ALL with these ones. And my fishnets I already have get holes really easy, especially up by the crotch. These are put together a heckuva lot better. I’m excited to wear these more. Can I tell you that I love to add color with my tights, because if I know I’m wearing hot pink fishnets, or black fishnets, or purple tights, I automatically feel that much more sexy. Just because it’s kind of like my little secret. Like when you’re wearing a pink bra or something? It’s a fun little secret, that maybe someone catches a bit of it, but it helps me feel more confident and bold. For real.

So, for the leggings…You may remember when I posted that I bought some stuff at DownEast for a great price? Here’s 2 of the 4 shirts I bought.

I got this tunic/dress for $4!! What? I pretty much love it. It pairs so cute with the leggings. Polka dot and corduroy. Love. I threw on my riding boots and it was great outfit. I’m wearing it today I actually want a mustard cardigan to throw over it. Wouldn’t that be cute? Here’s outfit number 2.

This tunic/dress was $3. They’re both blue, go figure, but I thought they went great with the espresso leggings. The leggings go into the boots really easily, like butter. The only thing I can imagine that would make me love these leggings more? Make them in mustard. Seriously. I want some skinny pants or leggings in mustard. I already have brown, red, turquoise, pink, dark denim, and light denim, and I want mustard. I’m slightly obsessed with mustard, especially combined with navy right now. You’ll see that more in the next few weeks…You want to see how cute these outfits would be with mustard? Let’s see with Photoshop…

Yes. I know, it looks fake. But the color? Awesome. I’d wear them all the time. Cuz you can wear mustard with black too. Sweet. So, No nonsense? If you read this, I want mustard. Probably in chino or cotton. I didn’t see them on the site, (go here to see all the colors and styles they have. Capri anyone?) but as soon as you make some, I will be buying some. Yep. Definitely. But brown can be worn with pink, green, gray, blue, mustard, and pretty much every other color, except black, unless it’s done right. So, I will be getting a lot more wear out of these leggings.

Okay, so if you want some other ideas, I finally consolidated some boards on Pinterest and made a Fashion board. You can go here to see some of my favorite outfit ideas.

If you want to find a store near you, find No nonsense tights and leggings here. I’ve seen them everywhere. Drug stores, food stores, Walmart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, everywhere! Plus they’re affordable but last.

I found this link of some fabulous ideas of wearing leggings and skinny jeans! Some cute ideas, especially with a pop of color instead of just black leggings!

Her blog is no longer up, but I thought this pinned picture was great inspiration.

Go over and find No nonsense on Facebook to keep up with No nonsense there (and see when they get those Mustard colored ones), and they also are on Twitter! Put on some colorful tights or leggings, and you’ve got an awesome statement outfit!

What’s your favorite way to wear leggings and tights? Do you do neutral or do you go bold with color?

What I Wore Sunday: Week 47

psssstttt…The Hubs and I got engaged THIRTEEN years ago today!  :)

Love that guy!

…52 weeks of shaking up the wardrobe…

The Rules:

1. Wear a different outfit every Sunday.
2. Incorporate at least one article of clothing or accessory that was either refashioned, sewn myself, or handmade.
3. Outfits can be worn more than once; just not the same way

Here’s what I wore Sunday:

I really love this sweater I’m wearing.  I bought it when I was pregnant with Monkey, so yes, it’s a maternity sweater.  I didn’t want to get rid of it, so I took it in at the side seams.  I also turned the sleeves into 3/4 sleeves.  This was a fun outfit to wear, although, next time, I’m wearing tights or tall boots.  It’s waaaayyy too cold for bare legs!  :)

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!  :)

Oops.

I love sewing. Unfortunately, being a “Textile Artist” can be dangerous.

Yep. I totally sewed through my finger. It hurt. Bad. I yanked my finger back and busted my sewing needle. I held pressure on the wound until I got a band aid. As I removed the pressure, I noticed it wasn’t bleeding. Why? Because I made a complete stitch in my finger!! It didn’t bleed until I pulled the the thread out. Nasty.

I just learned a valuable first aid skill. In an emergency, the sewing machine will apply adequate stitches.

Just sayin’.

Christmas Tour 2012

Okay since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought I’d show you my house. I make no guarantees I’ll be back this week, so Merry Christmas!

Coming in the garland hung front door:

There’s snowflakes window decals hung by some girls that can’t go much higher than 4 feet on a chair, so they don’t go too high. There’s garland hung over the front door curtain rod, just because.

Then, where our Halloween/Fall tree was hung, I have an awesome felt tree

It’s a weird angle cuz there were some heavy things in front that I didn’t feel like moving all the way….My mom made this for us and it was our advent calendar growing up. I let the girls redecorate it as much as they wanted to, and they left the real tree alone.

This is sitting on my kitchen table, to add a little Christmas cheer.

Then, by the fridge, there’s the advent calendar I made last year. It’s survived 2 moves so far!

Walking into the family room area….

On the window sill, there’s the book ornaments and tree I made last year. They needed a little TLC but they survived. Then, our TV armoire is festive:

You can’t tell, but there’s some felt mistletoe hung on the handle. That’s where the girls wanted to hang it, but it makes it awkward to kiss under Right to the side is the Christmas books the girls got to open every day. They loved that, so I think that helped them leave the presents alone!

Onto the main event:

The tree! It has our old stockings hung on the tree. The girls were playing that yesterday, and I think it’s cute. I love the tree reflected in the mirror behind it too. And do you see what’s hanging on the mirror?

Good ol’ Rudolph. It was a shape that Cricut let you cut free for a week. I wanted to throw the Cricut across the room in frustration because it couldn’t cut the CONSTRUCTION PAPER!! Don’t get me started on that. I want a Silhouette so bad!!! Maybe Santa will bring me one

Anyway, on to the house.

Yes, I even decorated the treadmill. It’s still useable!

There’s the mesh wreath I made. I just added a glittery poinsettia sprig and some green glitter wire ribbon.

Here’s my pretend mantel. I was going for red and gold. It was fun, but I never really finished it. On the right is a fun Christmas to-do list from my friend Natalie. (nope not the Nat I’m cousins with), and the nativity vinyl and Believe block are gifts from year’s past, and the cute Elf saying is from my friend Rhonda.

The red ruffle tree was something I made this year,

And so was the gold bead one. I was going to make a whole forest, but then decided to sew a bunch of crazy dresses instead.

We saw this lovely (expensive!) tree at Tai Pan just after Christmas and my oldest fell in love.

Finally, in the girl’s room, they have quite a few little decorations, but the one they were most excited about was the cupcake candy tree we put together.

It’s the tree I bought for Valentine’s fun this year. I have a candy garland my mom passed on to me, and we put a bunch of small ornaments on it, and then made several cupcakes and candies to put on.

This was is my favorite cupcake.

And we put ribbon on the outside to make it that much more fancy. I could’ve sworn I took some pictures when we were making the candy and the cupcake, but the cupcakes were out of felt, the candy was milk carton lids and the cardboard part of a tape tube painted and paper put over the holes, and then swirls from paper, wrapped up in cellophane.

Speaking of ribbon, this is how I displayed the cards we got this year. A ribbon pinned on the top and bottom of the (laundry closet) door, and then using 1-3/4” clothespins I finally found at Michaels. So Merry Christmas! Hope it’s great, and I’m excited to post some pictures of my little princesses in their new dresses!!