Featured Posts
Skirt Tutorial: By Tammy
I really love the versatility of skirts so today I will share one more fun and easy skirt with you along with some hints about professional techniques when sewing clothing. This skirt has it all—easy, gathered, lined, twirly, and (best of all) it has a cute border!) It’s the not-so-basic basic skirt! This skirt is similar to the basic, lined skirt I shared last time so please refer to that tutorial (here) for detailed instructions regarding size information and the general instructions. This one moves a little faster, assuming you have the basic details down, and the sequence is a little different than the last one—I think it makes more sense! Materials skirt fabric (100% … {READ MORE}
Creative Estates (part 2)
I forgot to mention that we stayed at the lovely San Marcus Hotel in Chandler, AZ. The grounds were beautiful, the rooms standard. But what made the room NOT so standard were the awesome roommates I had. I got my ticket late in the game so pretty much everyone had already figured out roommates and travel buddies. I posted on Facebook that I needed both and Stephanie replied that she had room in her car and her hotel. Then Amanda seconded that motion. They didn't even know me! How sweet (and brave) are they??? My other roommate was Kara and come to find out we live in neighboring towns! Crazy world. Stephanie, Kara, me, Amanda. Okay, I will try to give you all a run down … {READ MORE}
Creative Estates (part one)
I remember when everyone was writing posts about their amazing experience at Blissdom Blogging Conference and I was so jealous. The green eyed monster was raging! I actually had to stop reading the posts cause I was so sad I couldn't be there and I felt like I was missing out on such a neat experience. So I almost didn't want to post about my time at Creative Estates. BUT, the one good thing that came from me reading all the Blissdom posts was that it made me determined to go to a blog conference. I decided to start a savings account for it and research which one would benefit me the most (cause there are like a million!). Even though my blog is more DIY/Decor I absolutely loved going to … {READ MORE}
My Mailbox Transformation
I apologize in advance for not having a "before" picture. I did this when all the Better Homes and Gardens stuff was happening and I didn't think about it until after. But imagine in your creative mind that the POST was black. And that a lot of the black coating was peeling off revealing the galvanized metal underneath it. Imagine a once black (now faded gray) plastic mail box that is missing the door. Not too welcoming. Not a great first impression either. I took down the plastic mailbox. Then I sanded down the post to get rid of the flaking paint. Then I wiped it down with a damp cloth. I used Rustoluem's Hammered Metal Spray Paint to paint the post. It was an exact match to the new brown … {READ MORE}
"Our" song….. in vinyl
My husband and I are coming up on 11 years of wedded bliss. We have had "our song" on our wall in vinyl for a few years now and I love the constant reminder. It makes me think of when we were dating. The only thing that bothered me was the scale of it. It seemed too big for the space. I ordered it since I didn't have a Silhouette back then and I didn't realize how big it was going to be be. I just cut out some new vinyl in a different font. I like that it is smaller :) NEW: OLD: This picture doesn't do it justice. It was REALLY big. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in the room. I didn't want it to be the focal point of the space. Just a side … {READ MORE}
Fixing My Window Problem
We got new windows awhile back (YEAH!) but there was a lot of damage done to the window frames (BOO!) when the old window were taken out. Not only that, but in the basement they installed one long window instead of two small windows side by side so there were chunks of wood missing. I love really ugly "before" pictures because there is no where to go but up :) The old windows hung by hinges so there were places that needed to be fixed from that as well. I bought some lattice molding and some thin flat molding at Home Depot. I cut it with my miter saw and then nailed it to the window frame with my brad nailer to hide all the mess. I didn't worry about making pretty mitered cuts since … {READ MORE}
My Front Door: Before and After
My front door is my favorite thing about my house. I LOVE that it is the original door to my 1938 home and I LOVE that it is rounded. I love that it is solid wood. Thick and strong. But I did NOT love the orange color of the wood. I held off on doing anything at first because I didn't want to take it down and have to sand it clear down to the bare wood. And then after awhile I just got so use to looking at it that I forgot it was orange. Well, Better Homes and Gardens coming to my house changed things! I suddenly saw my house with new eyes and I realized the orange had to go. Somewhere along the time when we bought our house and now, I found out about Gel Stain. You don't have … {READ MORE}
Basic Lined Skirt: By Tammy
After talking about gathering techniques to get everyone ready for spring skirts, there is no way I could skip making a spring skirt for this series! Unfortunately, around here we don’t have spring weather yet, but there is no reason we can’t pretend a little! Besides, it goes perfectly with Stacy’s current “Point of View” series! This is one of my favorite skirts—lined, twirly, and best of all, no bulk at the waist. There are so many variations on this skirt out there, but I think it is a good idea to start with the basic, lined skirt and then you can change it up any way you would like. I love to make this skirt in tiered ruffles and use a different fabric for each tier.This design … {READ MORE}
Good Things Utah Clip
I think I did better this time around. I am pretty sure I only said "yep" 3 times instead of the 49 times like last time. I didn't get all the info in there but it went pretty smoothly. They are all so nice over there! Everyone from the producer, to the interns, to the hosts :) LOVE them!!! I am planning on posting a staining guide and also a painting guide that will be on my sidebar all the time. But not today. I got all the garbage bags full of laundry out of the garage last night so today is a laundry party. … {READ MORE}
