Kiss Me!

Happy Thursday! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week. We are definitely looking forward to the weekend. It's been one of those weeks here. It hasn't been bad, just busy. We've been spending our free time working on a set of wedding invitations- not that we're complaining, but it's quite a bit of tedious and repetitive work. But totally worth it. They look pretty hot so far! Between that and work, we haven't had much time to craft for ourselves. However, we do have a project to share with you this morning:

Our door was looking a little bare after we took down our Valentine's Day wreath, so we decided we should start decorating for St. Patrick's Day. Now, it didn't come out anything like planned, but it's still cute, none the less. We have a cute little 'couple' in the middle of the wreath, holding a lucky shamrock. Adding the pink was Dawn's idea, obviously, which looks better (in our opinion) than if the vests were to be another green color. Also, every holiday should include some pink! His vest is a little harder to see, but it's there. Along with the pink, it's not a holiday if there isn't any sparkle:

We found this fun sparkly paper at Micheal's. It was a buy one, get one offer, and it was just so sparkly, we got a few sheets. Of course, one of the little characters had to have red-orange hair and freckles. We decided to make the girl with brown hair and some freckles. Looks kind a familiar. It's a cute little decoration for our front door. But we'll keep it inside...wouldn't want random people knocking on the door in the middle of the night...But I digress. Honestly, though, who wouldn't want to kiss an Irish girl?!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful day!

A DIY Tutorial- Boyfriend Jeans

Good Sunday morning! We hope everyone is having a superb weekend so far. We're sure everyone is gearing up for the Oscars tonight. Unfortunately, we haven't seen too many movies this year, and since none of the ones up for Best Picture are out on DVD yet, we haven't seen any of them. (OK, we're cheap and would rather spend our money on clothes and crafting supplies than on movies) A few of them are on the to-be-seen list, though. But we have been to the theater where they are held- does that count?! And let's be honest, seeing the dresses the actresses wear is the best part!
Anyway, talking about being frugal and looking your best, today's (somewhat long, picture-heavy) tutorial is on how to make old jeans fit better. At $30-$40 a pair, we don't like to buy new pants too often (So we wait until they're on sale at Old Navy). We wear them until they are no longer wearable, sometimes even longer. However, last week we plunged into the 'skinnier jean' fad (because they were on sale!) We liked how they fit, and didn't drag so much on the ground. We thought that since we had a few pairs of older, much worn jeans, we would DIY them into skinny jeans. These new pants may be more of the 'boyfriend' style, since they are a bit looser on top. These are the much-loved jeans we worked with, along with
Step One: Making Your Mark

As you can see, these boot-cut pants are cut wider from the knee down. As you can see, there are two ways you can go about when determining your measurements. The green line shows the first method. You can take a pair of your favorite skinny jeans, line them up, and trace them onto the bigger pair. The second way, which is how I did it, was to put them on and have your lovely sister pin them for you. This seems to be easier, as long as you don't prick yourself trying to take them off (So, from now on, ignore the green line)
Either way, take the extra denim from only one side of the leg, so you only have to make one seam, instead of both. 
Step Two: Check Fit

This seems like a silly step, but make sure the pants fit well. At this point, I decided I liked how one leg fit better than the other. If you like how they fit, you can continue onto step three. Since I didn't like the one leg, I carefully took them off and took my ruler and made both sides even. I measured the good side and made points on the other side, and then connected the dots. I also repinned along the line. I don't know if that makes sense, and unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this step.
Step Three: The First Stitch
Keeping the pins in place, I drew a line along the pants, where I wanted my seam to be. Now, onto the sewing. I sewed a normal, single stitch along the line:

When you finish both legs, try them on again the right way. (There's a lot of trying-on in this process) There may be quite a bit of extra fabric in there, but see if you like how they look the right way. I used this stitch in case I needed to change something and the possibility of having to seam-rip an intricate stitch wasn't something I was looking forward to. Luckily, everything fit correctly, and comfortably.
Step Four: The Seam Stitch
With everything fitting, the next step is to do the seam. Since you probably don't want your pants splitting down the side when you wear them, this is a pretty important step. Now, I'm not one to make a lot of clothing (I still have a dress to finish...from two years ago...) so there might be a better, more 'proper' way to do this step. If so, please let me know! Anyway, I used a zigzag stitch,  #3 on my sewing machine.

 

It was a toss-up between #3 and #7 to use. I read somewhere the zigzag stitch allowed for more stretch, so I went with it. I stitch the entire seam twice, just to enforce it.

Step 5: The Hem
This step is kind of self-explanatory, I think. Using the same length as the model pair, I made my 1/2" seam. I used the horizontal line that I had drawn before, and used that for my hem length.

Step Six: Trimming
The next step is to trim all of the extra denim.

I left a little along the seem, just in case. And I didn't want to accidentally cut the thread. I saved the extra pieces for another possible project later on. And finally,
Step Seven: Modelling!
This is the best, and easiest, step of all! Take some time to model your new pants!

There are a few different ways to wear these. The first is to wear them 'normal', which would be good with almost any shoe or boot. The second is my personal preference, which is cuffed a little. This is so much easier, and neater, without all that extra denim. This style is perfect for those warm spring days or cool summer nights. Can't you tell we're ready for winter to be over?!
This was a nice break from our other projects. Now it's time to continue on with those superheroes... I know there are a whole bunch of these tutorials out there, on sites like Pinterest, so thanks for stopping by and reading our version!

Cupcake Saturday!

Good morning! Unfortunately, it's been a few days since we've posted. We have been pretty busy with other projects that our blog has been a little quiet. We've been busily working on a set of wedding invitations (off of Etsy, which is super exciting because it's someone we don't actually know!) and apparently everyone and their father enjoys superheroes and have birthdays coming up. And, on top of that, we spend today working on some DIY tutorials we'll share in the upcoming days. However, since today is Saturday, we have a cupcake to share with you!
I don't know about elsewhere, but it was pretty nice here today. The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a raindrop in sight! It was a bit chilly, though, but that's what layers are for! After the few days of rain we had this week, it was most definitely a welcome sight. It was one of those days that gets you ready for spring. Because of this spring weather, we decided to make a 'spring-y' cupcake for today. These are lemon cupcakes, filled with a lemon curd, and topped off with a mixed berry buttercream frosting.

We used fresh lemons (and some bottled lemon juice) for the cupcakes and filling, and a mix of freshly-unfrozen mashed berries, including blueberries and raspberries. With all the fruit in these, they have to be good for you, right?!
Thanks for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for one of our DIY projects!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! We hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We've been having absolutely gorgeous weather- just chilly enough to remind you it's still February, but sunny enough to not miss all of the rain! And on top of it, we have seen the first flowers of spring! There's a little patch of crocuses that popped up at the park.
Anyway, for today's cupcake, we were inspired by the warmer weather. Although summer is still months away, this cupcake reminds us of summer.

These are our "coffee-shop inspired" mocha coconut cupcakes. As residents of this great state, we might be one of a few that would prefer a coffee from Dunkin Donuts, but since we don't have any here (unfortunately) we work with what we have. This drink is probably our favorite warm-weather drink, and on our road trip a few summers ago, it was pretty much how we got all of our calories in (along with our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of the trunk).
These cupcakes are chocolate with a hint of coffee. We were kind of nervous when we made the batter because the coffee flavor was too strong. Luckily, the flavor mellowed out a bit once they were baked. There is also some coconut in the batter. Once they were cooled, we topped them with some lightly-sweetened whipped cream, toasted coconut, and drizzled with some melted dark chocolate. They may not taste just like the drink, but they're excellent, none the less! And even if you're not a fan of coffee, the topping is good on its own!!
Thanks for stopping by!!

One More Valentine's Day Project!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a wonderful (Single's Awareness) day yesterday. For being two single ladies, ours wasn't too bad. We had a few kids ask us if we'd be their Valentine, (but we're pretty sure it was because they felt bad for us!) We spent the evening watching the hot guys on The Vampire Diaries, some wine, and a pizza. Can't get much better than that! And to top it off, it's the start of another long weekend, with temperatures in the mid-50's! (and a little bit of rain, of course).
Today's project is our last Valentine's Day project for this year. It is a quick hot chocolate gift set. We wanted to make something that would go with our coffee syrup kit, but was appropriate for a child. We figured the next best warm drink to coffee was hot chocolate! We added four little packages of hot chocolate mix, figuring these looked a little nicer than the packages from the box, some little chocolates, and some mini marshmallows, but those are hiding. (Who knew you can get a whole container of just hot chocolate marshmallows?! We'll have to see what kind of recipes we can make with them!!)

This was our first attempt at actually painting on a coffee mug. The other times we've decorate mugs, we've done so with vinyl and Sharpies. We wrote out the name first and then went over it with an acrylic paint. (Recommendation- have your design drawn out first, in case you spell something wrong, or don't like the look of it.) We've seen the idea on Pinterest before, which is where we got the Sharpie idea. Unfortunately, the marker ones washed off only after a few handwashings. Here's to hoping this lasts longer!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Or as we like to call it, "Singles Awareness Day." It's not that we are against it or anything, but shouldn't love be shown every day instead of just one day?
Today's post is the gift we sent to our parents. It's a movie gift basket, with all kinds of goodies inside.
(The best part is the Nicholas Sparks four movie collection. They don't get much more romantic than his stories!)

The inside of the card has a poem using the names of the different snacks we put into it. It sounds corny, but that's okay!

Thanks for stopping by!

L-O-V-E

Today's project is a cute little Valentine's Day card. I love the different color combination used, instead of just pinks and reds. The blue makes it stand out a little, and isn't quite as girly as other Valentines cards.

The different techniques and textures used on this card were a lot of fun too, except for poking all those holes for the stitching. The only thing I would change is to add something to the empty white space, but I don't know what I would add to it. Maybe a photo. This would make a really cute scrapbook page as well.

I hope everyone has their gifts for tomorrow. Nothing like waiting till that last minute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! We hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! In honor of the upcoming holiday next week, we have decided to try something a little different look:

These are pink velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting, and topped with a small chocolate heart. The cupcake is sweet enough to eat by itself, which is why there is only a little bit of frosting on top. We decided to bake them in a wine glass, because what is more romantic than sharing a glass with a special someone?! We were worried that the glasses might crack, but they held up in the oven (thankfully). Our glasses are pretty big- much bigger than normal glasses, I think- so it's probably best to share this with a loved one! Or you can eat it all by yourself. We don't judge!
Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great day!

Been There, Ran That

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Today definitely feels like Monday morning here, but hopefully it will pick up a little. I was busy yesterday, between Super Bowl commercials, making today's project.

We've had our race medals hanging off of doorknobs, and each time we walked by, they clanged together, quite annoyingly. So I set out to find a hanger for all of them. They start around 45 dollars for simple, non-personalized ones. Well, that just wasn't going to work for us!

This is what we came up with to show them off. (It's not quite done. I still need to find something just right to put in the middle, but that will come soon enough.)

 

 We took a 15x30 canvas (on sale!) and painted it. The "Been There, Ran That" is cut at 3.5" from the Birthday Cake Cartridge. The medals are on cup hooks set an inch apart, screwed into the canvas's frame, and the bib numbers are hanging off of cup hooks as well. (Pushed through the canvas and hot glued on the back to keep them in place.)

This is what it looks like hanging up on the wall. I'm pretty excited about it, especially since there is still room to add more in the future. And the best part is that the whole thing was under $15!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a super weekend and getting excited for the big game tomorrow. We had actually been planing on doing a whole week on the Super Bowl, or at least football-related projects, but decided Valentine's Day was more our thing. Or, maybe we would have if the Seahawks or the Patriots were in it. OK, or the Giants, because I feel the need they should be mentioned. However, today's cupcake is sure to please everyone, no matter what team you're rooting for.

These are our rendition of a chicken wing cupcake. It is a cornbread muffin with a fluffy mashed potato frosting. To top it off, we added a little buffalo chicken wing on top. (Serving 'cupcakes' with veggies makes them healthy, right?!) Our favorite part of the cupcake is the chicken wing, but the ranch potatoes were a close second! They would be a great addition to any tailgate!
Now, we can't take all the credit for this idea. They were somewhat popular last year during football season. We were watching the news the other morning and there was a quick report on a cupcake baker in New York City who has done a small line of manly, football cupcakes, including some (possibly) tasty ones like a chocolate pretzel, or a not-so-sweet pepperoni pizza cupcake. Those would be two fun ones to try some time!
Um, so before we sign off for today, we would like to wish our track team back at home good luck today at their meet! It's their conference meet, and it's the biggest of the season for most of them. We, meaning they, should have some good performances today, and we wish we could be there with them! Good luck, kids!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy February!

Good Friday morning! We hope everyone has had a great week. It's crazy that it's already February. It definitely hasn't felt like February. Or winter, none the less. This weekend is supposed to be 55 degrees and sun. Not too shabby! It should be a good weekend! So, today's project is a super-simple (and quick) Valentine's Day card

It may not be a very intricate card, but it has a simple elegance to it (in our opinion). It is a little hard to tell, but the white background and heart have been embossed in a damask pattern. We spoiled ourselves and got a new toy that makes it to much easier to emboss, instead of doing it manually. It's so much fun!! We wanted that to be the focal point of the card. The ribbon was added to give it another dimension. The last touch was the two little pins through the bow. These were supposed to be used for another project, but we thought it was the perfect finish to the card.
Thanks for stopping by!