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Thursday, April 20, 2017
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Renaissance Noble Dress Project Part 3: Princess Dress Reveal!
I blogged about designing a new Elizabethan Nobility Dress to perform with Husband at Renaissance Festivals. This project was harder than any other costuming project I’ve done. I like the finished dress for the most part, but I don’t love it as much as I do the costume it replaces. There are a bunch of mistakes, and the bodice fit (among other things) needs tweaking which is why I haven’t shown you the finished project.
But I promised you a DIY renaissance festival princess dress and that you shall have, warts and all.
I started with a sketch after pouring over my favorite Elizabethan costuming books working backwards by buying the fabric first and coming up with a dress design second. I like to work the other way around.
I started with the overskirt and underskirt (forepart) first. I attempted hand embroidering the brown velvet trim but didn’t liker my test pieces, not to mention that kind of hand embroidery means an extra year for construction I didn’t have.
But I promised you a DIY renaissance festival princess dress and that you shall have, warts and all.
I started with a sketch after pouring over my favorite Elizabethan costuming books working backwards by buying the fabric first and coming up with a dress design second. I like to work the other way around.
Disclosure: affiliate links appear in this post for your convenience.
I started with the overskirt and underskirt (forepart) first. I attempted hand embroidering the brown velvet trim but didn’t liker my test pieces, not to mention that kind of hand embroidery means an extra year for construction I didn’t have.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Friday Favorites Linky Party 367
Have you started Spring Cleaning yet? I've been cleaning and reorganizing a cupboard shelf, closet space, and such bit by bit for the last couple of months or so. I like to think of it as "shopping the house" because I always find something I misplaced or forgot about. It's almost like getting new stuff even though it's my stuff already.
Small projects like this keep my Cabin Fever which rolls into Spring Fever in check while I'm waiting for it to be warm enough to work on projects in my garage workshop.
It not only pays off in more organization, and clearer shelves and closets (after I drop off the donation box) but this year it paid off in cash money. I tossed the stray coins I found while cleaning out my drawers and purses into my Travel Fund coin bank instead of chucking them back into the drawer.
I put over ten dollars in my coin jar without even trying. I don't know if I should proud or embarrassed we had so much money laying around the house. Oops.
Let's Party!
Small projects like this keep my Cabin Fever which rolls into Spring Fever in check while I'm waiting for it to be warm enough to work on projects in my garage workshop.It not only pays off in more organization, and clearer shelves and closets (after I drop off the donation box) but this year it paid off in cash money. I tossed the stray coins I found while cleaning out my drawers and purses into my Travel Fund coin bank instead of chucking them back into the drawer.
I put over ten dollars in my coin jar without even trying. I don't know if I should proud or embarrassed we had so much money laying around the house. Oops.
Let's Party!
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Monday, April 10, 2017
DIY Magnetic No Soliciting Sign
One of the few downsides of living in a condo community with neat little sidewalks is we are an easy target for every single organization that thinks door to door sales is a fabulous way to pester people in the middle of their day with stuff they don’t want.
Like most of neighbors, I put a No Solicitors sign on my front door. Sometimes it works.
Often it doesn’t.
Every surveyor, free offer, or people offering to register me to vote (only me, never my husband, and even though I have been registered to vote since I became of age,) ignored my No Solicitors sign because they clam they “aren’t selling something.”
Even thought they end their spiel with some sort of sales pitch. Every. Single. Time. Grr!
Like most of neighbors, I put a No Solicitors sign on my front door. Sometimes it works.
Often it doesn’t.
Every surveyor, free offer, or people offering to register me to vote (only me, never my husband, and even though I have been registered to vote since I became of age,) ignored my No Solicitors sign because they clam they “aren’t selling something.”
Even thought they end their spiel with some sort of sales pitch. Every. Single. Time. Grr!
How to Make a Quick and Easy Front Door No Sales Sign
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Friday Favorites Linky Party 366
Let's Party!
Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:
Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin
Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL
You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!
If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!
And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
What’s in Your Trash and How Do You Reduce it (or Not?)
I’ve been thinking a lot about trash lately. The stuff in the bin outside your house, not about tawdry things. Lacey is a genteel lady who not tolerate dirty things in her home (unless it is something muddy or smelly to roll in.)
I’ve been mulling over ideas to share how to reduce your household trash since the New Year. I’m coming up short because every draft I write sounds like some big green guru sitting on a mountain top looking down her nose at the world thinking that my Swiss Army knife of low waste options are the Pinnacle of One Size Fits All Solution to reducing household waste.
Or at least it feels that way and that is not my intent at all.
I want to offer options not absolutes because, honestly, there aren’t any one size fits all eco friendly low waste living solutions. It all depends on where you live, how you like to live, family size, etc.
I love mud!
I’ve been mulling over ideas to share how to reduce your household trash since the New Year. I’m coming up short because every draft I write sounds like some big green guru sitting on a mountain top looking down her nose at the world thinking that my Swiss Army knife of low waste options are the Pinnacle of One Size Fits All Solution to reducing household waste.
Or at least it feels that way and that is not my intent at all.
I want to offer options not absolutes because, honestly, there aren’t any one size fits all eco friendly low waste living solutions. It all depends on where you live, how you like to live, family size, etc.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
How to Make a Farmhouse Industrial Wine Cork Wreath
Many (OK, most) winter weekends husband and I mull a bottle of table quality red wine until it gets too warm outside to drink hot drinks then we switch over to making sangria. So between that and enjoying a bottle of the good stuff from time to time, I have several vases full of wine corks in my craft room.
Quick and Easy DIY Wine Cork Wreath Idea
My wine cork stash is getting high, my door wreath stash is letting low so with my creative powers combined (just like Captain Planet and The Wonder Twins!) I made a quick and easy wine cork wreath and you can too!Thursday, March 30, 2017
Friday Favorites Linky Party 365
Husband and are I in the middle of planning our travel schedule for the rest of the year. Part of that is double checking we have all of the travel organizers and accessories we need to pack for our trip.
The one thing we never seem to have is enough luggage tags. So I made this music lover's luggage tag for my shop LNW Creative Gifts! You can personalize it with your first name on the front or leave it plan and print your contact information on the bag of this sturdy tag.
I have one on my instrument case to make sure my black case isn't mixed up with the rest of my band's black instrument cases. If you want to keep you bag - tag it!
Sale ends in Let's Party!
The one thing we never seem to have is enough luggage tags. So I made this music lover's luggage tag for my shop LNW Creative Gifts! You can personalize it with your first name on the front or leave it plan and print your contact information on the bag of this sturdy tag.
We're have a20% off sale starting today, Thrusday March 30 to April 2, 2017 when you use this code at checkout:
ZAZDETAILS17. No Foolin'!
I have one on my instrument case to make sure my black case isn't mixed up with the rest of my band's black instrument cases. If you want to keep you bag - tag it!
Sale ends in Let's Party!
Monday, March 27, 2017
How to Make an Easy DIY Floor To Ceiling Shoe Rack Organizer
The over the door shoe rack similar to this one on the closet door and stackable shoe rack similar to this one worked for awhile. Well actually, it worked for Husband’s shoes rather than mine. My shoes are so small they would often slip through the split shelves and end up in a pile on the floor. (I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)
And after years of wear and tear, there came a time when even Gorilla Tape wouldn’t put our dilapidated shelves back together again. Which, frankly, I only put them back together every time they fell apart because Husband and I have grand plans to make this closet a cedar closet and pimped out with a custom closet organizer system.
Someday.
That keeps getting pushed down the punch list because blah, blah, yadda, yadda.
Does this happen to you or am I the only one?
After two months of shoe clutter barfing out of the closet and not being able to shut the door I had enough. This project doesn’t have to be my perfect dream of custom wall to wall floor to ceiling shoe storage, it just needs to be done. Now.
And after years of wear and tear, there came a time when even Gorilla Tape wouldn’t put our dilapidated shelves back together again. Which, frankly, I only put them back together every time they fell apart because Husband and I have grand plans to make this closet a cedar closet and pimped out with a custom closet organizer system.
Someday.
That keeps getting pushed down the punch list because blah, blah, yadda, yadda.
Does this happen to you or am I the only one?
After two months of shoe clutter barfing out of the closet and not being able to shut the door I had enough. This project doesn’t have to be my perfect dream of custom wall to wall floor to ceiling shoe storage, it just needs to be done. Now.
Shoe Closet Before. I am not proud of this.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
When is it Wrong to Paint Furniture and Friday Favorites Linky Party 364
As a DIYer, upcycler, and maker of things, it isn't unusual to paint a piece old and beat up furniture. I do it all of the time and I'm sure you do too.
But I am starting to rethink that updating strategy after hearing about the long and horrific restoration job a friend went through to remove silver spray paint from a set of antique rattan Mid Century Modern footstools. There was one footstool for each spouse and they groused about DIYers ruining a classic antique but it also meant they added them to their collection for a song because the current value was shot.
I understand both sides of the coin. I love a good painted or reworked furniture project but I can also get sick to my stomach when I see someone wreck a piece that would sing on its own with stripping, sanding, and retaining the finish (Flea Market Flip I'm talking to you.)
Let's Party!
But I am starting to rethink that updating strategy after hearing about the long and horrific restoration job a friend went through to remove silver spray paint from a set of antique rattan Mid Century Modern footstools. There was one footstool for each spouse and they groused about DIYers ruining a classic antique but it also meant they added them to their collection for a song because the current value was shot.
I understand both sides of the coin. I love a good painted or reworked furniture project but I can also get sick to my stomach when I see someone wreck a piece that would sing on its own with stripping, sanding, and retaining the finish (Flea Market Flip I'm talking to you.)
Which is why I appreciate the extra work Vintage Green took to restore her scratched and water stain dresser rather than take the easy way out and paint it. Bravo!
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