Men's Shirt Repurposed

I love a good upcycling tutorial. It seems that men's shirts have enough material to them that there is a lot you can do. Check out this tutorial for turning a men's button-down shirt into a women's top.

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Yellow and Grey

Remember my bathroom makeover?
Looks like I'm not the only one who likes yellow and gray and stripes in a bathroom. Check this one out (they even have the same yellow towels as me!):

And in case you missed mine:

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The Littlest Tomato Plant: A Story

Like many of you, I planted a garden this year. This is my first time ever to do a garden. I was pleasantly surprised when my garden began to grow and thrive. And then one day, my cherry tomato plant was chewed off at the base. Then the thyme disappeared over night. Then my parsley began to shake and my cat was next to it staring intently. The culprit? Gophers!
Soon one bell pepper plant disappeared, then another and another and another. We couldn't find the holes though, so Ryan dug deep trenches on either side of the garden box in hopes of discouraging them. That didn't work. Then we sprinkled gopher poison in the trenches. That seemed to do the trick. But only after so many casualties.
The dead plants that weren't completely eaten were thrown in the compost box, in which I planted pumpkins and corn because I ran out of room in the garden box. So there was some good soil in there too. A few weeks later Ryan noticed a tomato plant growing in there. It was just a scrawny little twig, but he moved it over to a now vacant spot in the garden.  I laughed and said, "Good luck with that."
But whad'ya know, this little guy was a fighter. One day I looked out and saw two tiny little tomatoes growing on that single 10" stalk.

So here's to all those who keep on fighting, even amid the toughest challenges and obstacles. Pin It

Peacock Costume How-To

I'm posting this in response to numerous requests for instructions on how to make the peacock costume I made for Ava last year for Halloween. I know a lot of you want to get a head start on the costume making, so I'm jumping the gun and sharing this in August. I don't have a photo step-by-step, but I will do my best to share with you how I made it so that you can replicate it if you want. Please let me know if my instructions need any clarity.

So first the easy part. The orange tights I got at Gymboree in October (they were sold as a Halloween item, so you might have better luck finding them then) and the onesie I got from Old Navy. Much easier than making those things. And useable afterward too. Another great resource for colored tights is welovecolors.com.

Next I bought the peacock feathers, large teal feathers, and elastic sequin material at Hobby Lobby (craft store). The sequin elastic was used for the headband as well as to hold the feather part onto her waist and legs so it stayed up properly. I bought a shiny teal blue polyester type material at JoAnn's (I think). I was lucky that the onesie matched the fabric color so well. 

I'd recommend gluing or sewing some feathers onto the headband—it would have looked better.

I figured it would be easier to explain visually, so I drew up a really simple diagram for the rest. The peacock feathers were really long, so I was able to cut them almost in half and use the bottom part inside of the fabric "petals" as support. Better than wire because it's lighter and less risky for the kiddo. A lot of the costume I assembled with a glue gun, because it was only going to be used once or twice, so I figured it didn't need to be too heavy duty on the durability, but you could sew more if you like. The elastic bands I sewed into loops—I figured glue wouldn't hold those very well.

UPDATE: I've been spending so much time sending out emails with the diagram that I can't keep up. So I've got it listed in my Etsy shop, but it's only $3. It's an automatic PDF download so you will have right away. Here is the {LINK} to my shop. Thank you!

Good luck and happy Halloweening a few months in advance!

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