Gifts for my mama

I've been wanting to make some new drapes and pillows for my mom's living room. I didn't ask for colors or ideas, just my mom's trust! And I went with it.  

A little before shot of the old curtains (I forgot to take one of the whole living room, dang it!). The pillows also coordinated with the curtains.

And after: 

The new curtains really lightened up the space and made it feel fresh. I probably said "This looks so great!" about 50 times. Luckily my mom agrees. 

I got the idea for the curtains from these beautiful Anthropologie ones. I wasn't about to pay $168 per panel though, so I made my own version.

A $500 look for under $50 (thanks to my coupons from Jo-Ann's)! Can I get a what-what?

Close-up shot of the new pillows:

(there is also a solid-colored pillow under construction-didn't quite make the deadline) 

Thanks mom for letting me test out my ideas on your living room! 

EXPERIMENTS WITH BLEACH

I was reading this post on Cotton & Curls about bleaching pants (by the way I LOVE her blog. So much talent!), and thought I'd do the same to some brown skinnies I hardly ever wore. I forgot to take a before picture, but here they are being showcased at a family BBQ. The fit was fine, but they were kind of a weird brown and hard to match.

 I could use a pair of white skinnies!

As SOON as I put these dropped these puppies they turned tomato red. Not what I was expecting, but okay!
I could use a pair of red skinnies.
I left them in for about 7 minutes (per the instructions) and then threw them in the wash.

And they came out coral! Not what I was expecting...

but I could use a pair of coral skinnies. 

And here they are on the flesh. I'm just going to come right out and tell you that I love how they turned out.

 I have a feeling these pants are going to get a lot of air time this spring. 

Just as Bob Ross would say, "No mistakes, just happy accidents." Well played, Mr. Ross.

PROJECT DIY CAMPAIGN STYLE TABLES: COMPLETE (ALMOST)

I don't know if  you remember this post, but I finally completed the project(mostly). I checked IKEA daily 

like a crazy person until they got the glossy tables in stock, and I drove down the day I got the glorious news that my babes were there!

The tables were easy enough to put together, but the blasted brass corners were a pain in my beeper. 

The glaze/shellac made it SO hard to screw in the teeny tiny baby screws. I felt like a big dumb giant trying to tie a delicate bow. 

So I still need to put the brass corners on the legs.

I really love the look though, the corners really took it to the next level, if you know what I mean (smooth jazz music playing).

I still need to find some magical treasures, but that's all part of the JOURNEY. 

Sidenote: If I ever hear the word journey again, I will want to stab eyes out. The Bachelor really ruined that word. "This journey to a helicopter ride & STD's has been so amazing."

Caroling, caroling garland

I stumbled upon this little beauty of a DIY & made my own during craft night. I love how it turned out & it was the perfect addition above the lights. 

YAY for Christmas crafting, right? 

I have one more I'm working on, and then I'm cutting myself off. We are on the countdown now.

Mercury glass

During craft night with the girfs I finished these mercury glass mason jars. I'm going to stick in some white branches & put 'em up on a shelf.

I love them and now nothing is safe in my house from the mirror paint!







Honestly craft nights are the best. You eat lots of yummy snacks, make something awesome & chat around with a chick flick happening in the background.

It's not too much of an overshot to say I live for these nights!

DIY Campaign Style Side Tables.

I have been dreaming up the perfect solution for a coffee table in my living room. I should say, I've been dreaming up the perfect, most inexpensive solution. Then I saw this idea on LGN & am in love. It fits the bill! think I'm going to go with the classic white tables though.

 I already bought the brass corners on Amazon, so... I guess I'm committed!

after school camp.

Pretty much I have never felt like I'm really good at one thing. (Besides being weird I guess. Honestly, I am told that I am weird every day of my life. I can't figure it out, because to me I'm totally normal...)

I am just okay at a bunch of little things. I always wanted to be a dancer, but lo, I am completely and utterly uncoordinated. If you were at BEHS cheer tryouts 2002 you know this to be a fact.

Anyway, to figure out my niche I've been doing something different every day. It's like after school camp! Or boy scouts!

Here is a sampling of this week's efforts :

Li'l birdie on a tea towel 

polka-dottie bag

 (complete with inside pocket, how do you like me now?)

the "do not judge me" painting

If you don't think you have many talents (it couldn't possibly just be me?), you should do something like this. None of my projects are that fantastic, but they're things I created and I know I can get better.

 I think it's important to feel like we can accomplish things. It is, gosh danget!

Weekend nightcap

scenes from my weekend:

I'm ss(super stoked) to see how this craigslist find turns out!

Tyler's newest toy. Goodbye, dear boyfriend.

GEPETTOS

This is what a holladay restaurant looks like when you go to dinner at 10:30.

delicious pizza + live music =perfect dining experience.

Not pictured:

1. dinner with a bestie.

2. general conference. watching this feels like getting my personal battery charged for the next 6 months.

3. family dinner (complete with the best spinach dip I've ever made!) and a lot of just dance on the wii.

I love low key weekends like this spent with family and friends.

Have a loooooverly week!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

adventures in sewing: pillow talk

the latest & greatest from my sweatshop:

found this awesome needlework @ the DI for $1(like a year ago) & took it out of it's frame(and cleaned it-duh, don't be gross!)

please note the bag of jimmy john's potato chips. i'd like to say this project was sponsered by the Italian night Club.

folded it 'til I felt good about it & sewed it up into the painfully easy envelope pillow

made a pillow form to fit

(no picture, because it's boring)

& wahlah! it's definitely not perfect, but I think for a buck and 45 minutes it's purdy darn good.

I've loved experimenting with my sewing machine lately, just making things up as I go. I need to show you one of my (mis)adventures in sewing next! it was really sad.