clothing and jewelry
Wear the Vintage Watch
I have some advice for all of you non-watch wearers. Wear the vintage watch – even if it doesn’t work. All of you watch wearers are probably gasping in horror right now. Wear a watch that doesn’t work? What kind of nonsensical advice is this? I actually tried to find statistics on how many people wear watches every day so that I would know how many of you were gasping in horror. I know you come here for fact-based, bias-free reporting, after all. Well, friends. The numbers were all across the board and then I got frustrated, so let me just sum up my observations on this very important topic.…
Plastic Birkenstock Repair Hack
If you are the .01% of the population that needs a plastic Birkenstock repair hack to fix the stretched out toe post on your Gizeh-style sandals, you’ve come to the right place! I fear the following disaster has only happened to me, but on the off chance it has happened to another Birkenstock fan, here’s what happened and the repair hack I used to fix it. I was wearing my plastic Birkenstocks and walking through the yard carrying something large and bulky. Does it matter what it was and where I was taking it? No. Fine. I’ll tell you. It was a Culligan water dispenser and I was taking it…
Closing Waistband Gap on Jeans with Elastic
Much as we hate to admit it, grandmas are usually right about a lot of different topics. Polyester pants with an elastic waistband? They might not be attractive, but they didn’t wrinkle. I’m willing to bet they were comfortable too and you didn’t ever see Grandma adjusting her pants because the waistband wasn’t fitting correctly, did you? No, you didn’t. If you saw Grandma’s drawers it was because she was drying them outside on the line and not because she bent over and flashed everyone in aisle 12 of Target. Her kids probably never whisper-yelled loud enough for the entire store to hear, “MOM! I can see your UNDERWEARS!” Her…
Leather Map From Old Boots
There are a great number of things to be sad about in this world. Your favorite pair of boots falling apart at the seams is not one of the things that should make you sad. Don’t worry. If it did devastate make me sad I wouldn’t do anything immature like text my bestie a million crying face emojis when I realized the boots were not repairable. Of course not. Instead, I decided my heart would go on to save the leather from the boots. Perhaps I could use it for a crafty project in the future. That’s where the idea for a leather map from my old boots originated. Here’s how…
Personalized Wood Hangers
Hangers are that one useful tool in my house that no one wants to use. This is particularly true when it comes to our coat closet. Coats will find their way to a hook, the back of the chair, on a bench, on the floor, and my least favorite place, hanging on the closet door knobs. But not ON a hanger IN the closet. I’m living with a house full of rebels. I tell you this so there’s no doubt that this crafty project – personalized wood hangers – was just for my pleasure. In this house, it seems, I’m the only one who thinks hangers are useful AND can…
Wardrobe Malfunctions Happen
Something fun happened, so I thought I’d overshare with all of you. A couple of weeks ago, Buzzfeed included one of my sewing hacks in their article on “avoiding a wardrobe malfunction.” Cool, right? Buzzfeed is one of the 100 most visited websites in the U.S. (when I checked), so this is especially great for my itty-bitty site. Since their article was about avoiding wardrobe malfunctions, let’s talk about the times I have NOT avoided a wardrobe malfunction. I’ve nursed a very enthusiastic baby in public. If you’re a mom, you’ll know some babies consider nursing an Olympic sport with arms, legs and nursing covers flying everywhere. More than once…
Two Easy Ways to Corral Hair Bands
I can open a drawer a million times and the mess doesn’t bother me. At least not enough for me to do anything about it. And then… I can’t explain it. Something snaps. I find myself saying to no one in particular, “what kind of animals live in this house? Why is this drawer such a gross disaster?” I have a silverware tray in a bathroom drawer to organize my daughter’s hair stuff. As you can see, it’s working super well. *sigh* Handy Husband’s idea for organizing this drawer was short hair. That idea was met by an epic level of eye rolling by our 10-year-old daughter. *sigh* Thank goodness…
Mother’s Day Gift Idea: Anonymous Jewellry Subscription Service
A few months ago I gave myself a gift. I’m not in the habit of frivolous spending on myself, but man, let me tell you, spending that 30 bucks felt GOOD. What? Did you think it would be more expensive? It’s me we are talking about. After thinking about it for a good long while (that’s my M.O.), I signed up for an Anonymous Jewellry subscription. It’s a monthly subscription service that sends you a present every month. In this case, 1 to 3 pieces of costume jewelry. I prepaid for 3 months. You have no idea what you’re going to get or if you’re going to like it. That…
DIY Embroidered T-Shirt: Nevertheless She Persisted
I don’t usually do step-by-step tutorials because I’m not that detail-oriented, but I’m going to try my best today. My main reason for this is because embroidery thread is right up there with felt on my list of favorite craft supplies! Also, to encourage you to try embellishing a t-shirt with embroidery stitching because it’s not as hard as you might think. I taught myself! If you can do it, the possibilities are endless. Here’s the step-by-step of how I started with a plain white t-shirt and ended up with this result. Step 1: Gather Your Supplies You’ll need a t-shirt you want to embellish, embroidery thread, a sewing needle, backing…
