Pinterest

My new favorite site!

I have come across a wonderful tool for creativity in the past week. It's a new site called Pinterest. It works like having a bunch of online cork boards to 'pin' photos/inspiration to. You setup different cork boards (like Ideas for the Home, Inspiration, Knitting/Crochet Ideas) and you 'pin' any images on the web to these various cork boards. You can view them all together, separately, follow other people and view their boards and what they've pinned. It's very easily a time suck, but a lovely one!!! Please check it out if you haven't yet. It is lovely and there are quite a few boards that deal with knitting and crochet.

Tribute to Nashville

This is my tribute to Nashville. I designed it and stitched it. I will always love my Nashville, TN. ♥

new Ravelry group - Pretty Granny Chic

I was searching Ravelry today for a granny chic group and to my surprise there wasn't one! SO, I created it! Please come visit us there and join the group if you love the revitalized granny chic/vintage look. This includes anything like crochet in solid colors, pretty vintage-style fabric pieces with crocheted or knitted edging, doilies, Japanese crochet projects, etc. It's a fun pretty group that I think you'll enjoy!

Click here for the Ravelry link (you must have a Ravelry account to join, but Ravelry accounts are free!)

posh pillows!! ♥

Here is a GREAT crafty project that will make your house even more lovely and will give you tons of crafty satisfaction! My goal this week was to buy pillowcases and make these, but lo and behold, I found CUTE fabric the other day and actually made my own!

This is from a wonderful tutorial I found online a while ago. I rediscovered it last week and just HAD to make some for myself. I'm very proud of myself for sewing these nifty pillowcases. They are quite posh because not only are they made of cute fabric with a cute crocheted edging, but they have a little pocket inside to hide the side of the pillow! See:

That is a nifty pillow. I made 2 of them and need to crochet the edge on the second one, but I couldn't be happier with how they look on the bed. We needed some more color and now they give me a great color scheme to work from for the bedroom.

Some tips when making these: 

1) take your time cutting the fabric and use a rotary cutter if you have one. I don't have a large self-healing mat to cut on, but even so, the rotary cutter gave me such a better cut than the first piece I cut by hand. Seriously. I cannot cut a straight line, as crafty as I am. Ugh.

2) I might suggest using a yarn for the edging that has a bit of nylon, silk, bamboo or something a bit sturdier than just 100% cotton. It turned out just fine, but after having to pull the cotton yarn through a bunch of times to do the blanket stitch foundation for the crochet, the yarn got a little bit worn looking at the end. Not a huge deal, but something with an additional fiber in it will probably hold up better. Be sure to use something machine washable though to make your life easier. You don't want to have to hand wash pillow cases. 

3) Iron, iron your seams, etc. It really does help as you're sewing. If you're a pro, you know this. I'm not a pro, but I realized how much it helps. 

4) The original post says to give yourself some chocolates while you work to reward yourself. I think that's a good idea, but I did not because with my luck, I'd get the chocolate all over my lovely new fabric.

I hope you'll make some of these! Here is the tutorial here. Have fun and let me know if you make some! I'd love to see your pictures ♥

dress revitalized

I love when inspiration hits, don't you? I was out shopping today and purchased this dress from Free People.

I LOVE it. It's the perfect summer dress. Maxi dresses are everywhere this year and being short, sometimes I feel like they overwhelm me. That was what was so wonderful about this dress. Being shorter in the front, not only do you not trip over your own dress, but it's much more flattering for those of us who aren't model height.

I'm about 5'4" and I LOVE long dresses. I could live in them, but many times mine just sit in the closet because I feel like they are too much for me to wear. I realized on the way home that I could repurpose some of those dresses in my closet by simply shortening the front. Yay!

Trust me, I'm not a seamstress, but if you can sew a simple hem, you can do this. I went by my Free People dress as an example and marked where the front of the dress hit on the front of another dress. (If you don't have an example dress, just try on the dress you're re-doing and mark where you want it to hit in the front.) Then I ever so carefully (not really) cut from one bottom side of the dress, up to that center mark I made and sloping down to the other side hem. I pinned a folded hem (probably approx. 1/2" hem - I'm not good at tiny hems). I ironed the hem after pinning (do this!). Then I sewed it up. This particular dress has a lining, so after doing the top layer, I essentially did the same to the lining, but made sure it turned out shorter than the top. Iron the hems again after stitching and voila!

I think I bought this dress last spring and never wore it. It touched the ground and it just looked too heavy for my frame. While the skirt is still full, now I show a little leg so it's much more flattering! This would of course work well with long skirts also. I hope you'll try something like this if you've encountered the same dilemmas as I have. Have fun revitalizing your wardrobe!! And thanks for excusing my pale whiteness in the photos :)

I'm off to shorten more dresses! Yay!

new tattoos!!! ♥

My flock of birds, a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

Got my new tattoos today. A flock of birds on my wrist and a ♥ for my Pinky, on my pinky :)

Foxy foxy & a new tattoo

I just bought the pattern for this cutie yesterday. I can't wait to stitch his portrait! I have a print done by the same artist of the same Mr. Fox. Love love him. You can buy him and other lovelies on Sublime Stitching's website.

In other exciting news, I'm getting my second tattoo (and third!) on Friday. Yay! I have pondered it for years, since getting my first. I saw my inspiration on another blog, but I'm not sure of the original source. It's a flock of birds and I'm getting it on my left wrist. It's to honor my time in Nashville and the amazing things I've done, learned, and experienced here. I'm migrating to another place, but this is where I found my wings. :) Just to get a little sappy fer ya.

The third tattoo is to show a little (and I mean a tiny bit) of love to my husband. Don't worry. Not getting the name Pinky tattooed on my bicep or anything :) Ha! Just a bit of something in honor of my sweetie. Photos to come as soon as they are ready to show off!

Spring faves

Spring faves, a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

So, I'm addicted to nail polish. I may have mentioned this before. Here are a few of my favorites for this Spring. The nice thing is, they are cheap brands, too! And unlike OPI lately for me (which I still love) they seem to stay on really well. I have had to cut out manicures from my budget lately since we're moving, but I've been greatly impressed with the staying power of these inexpensive polish brands. My next goal is to find a great shelf in which to display all of my nail polish in my bathroom. Or in which to display SOME of my nail polish. I have a lot. Maybe a cool vintage spice rack? I hope I find something cute.



Here is a photo of the orange I'm wearing today, with a cute new eagle ring I scored at an amazing new shop in East Nashville called Old Made Good. It's vintage AND handmade AND super cool. Plus, they gave me a margarita when I walked in today! I think it's their grand opening. PLEASE visit if you are in Nashville. You will love it. Happy Weekend!! xoxo