Hand-Made Sunday

Brian, if you are reading this stop.  This isn't for you.  But I'm posting it because Brian rarely reads my blog and I think I'm safe.

and even if Brian did see it, it's not a big deal to me.

So I made a garter tonight in about 5 minutes.

I had originally been drooling over these garters by Florrie Mitton.  But I just can't spend that much money on something I don't really care about.  I didn't think I would wear one at all and I'm sure not doing the garter toss, so what's the point.  But I've been thinking it over and I think the tradition of wearing one is really sweet and I don't want to miss out.

so I decided to make my own.  It is not as elegant as the one's above but it's cute and simple and took a total of 5 min.  which means it's awesome in my book.
First I bought this headband from Forever21 for less than $5. (score)

I love the applique and I think it will look good with the dress.  I cut open the headband leaving 1inch on one side and the rest on the other side.

I grabbed some grosgrain that we had laying around the basement and measured around my leg, subtracted the length of the applique and added a few inches. I cut two pieces this length and melted the edges with a match so that there would be no fraying.

I sewed about an 1/8 of an inch from the edges the two pieces of grosgrain together.

I trimmed any excess of the elastic from the headband.  I just wrapped it around my leg to find the excess and gave myself about an inch extra. Then I put a safety pin on the end of the elastic and fed it through the grosgrain.

Now the ribbon is covering all of the elastic.  I sewed the two open ends of the elastic with about an inch allowance.  I just did a straight stitch back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.  It looked pretty stable.

Here is a blurry picture of it over my legging!

and another.  It looks pretty good on.  I'm sorry the picture didn't turn out well.

The final product!  It may have looked better with white grosgrain, but my dress is ivory so this works for me.  I'm really excited to wear it!  28 days....

New Etsy Store!

I finally did it. I opened a new, grown up etsy store!

You need to check it out Right NOW! Click the link to the right!

Here is a sneak peak....

Valentine's Date

Last Saturday my boyfriend and I went on our Valentine's Date. We had to do this because I am away at school and he goes to school near home...therefore we are apart. Sometimes this hurts my heart but this will only make us stronger in the end. (or so says everyone, whatever ...I miss him).

Before I tell you about our date I must give you some history first. Around the time of his birthday in September, he made this image of himself....
He thinks it is hilarious. He really wants a tshirt with this image on it. He knew it would be weird if he made it himself, perhaps he would be perceived as a little cocky. Well, that's what I seriously thought about it. I kept saying, "No, I'm not going to feed your ego and make a tshirt of yourself. I won't do it!"

Then he kept expecting me to do it for Christmas and I refused again.

So then it was almost Valentine's day. I thought now he doesn't expect it, I'm going to make it for him.

He came over before the date to pick me up and I surprised him with a cake with our initials on it.

(this is my first successful double layer cake, by myself! I was more proud of this than anything)

So after our date I told him we had to go back to my house for dessert before we went to his house to see the tivo-ed Lost. (I know we are geeks. I only let him watch Lost with me because I want to watch it too.) So I told him that while we were at my house I wanted to change into a tshirt and jeans instead of my date clothes.
He had no idea it was the shirt he always wanted. We sat around. I kept saying things like, "Oh my shirt smells like new shirt." He sniffed it and agreed. But in reality it smelled like the spray-paint that I had used on it. We ate cake and talked for about 30 min. Then I was getting ready to go to his house and hid the shirt I made him in my purse because I knew he would have to notice eventually. As I was putting on my coat he realized. He was stunned and so excited and that was fun to see. Now he loves his shirt. He wore in the next day to work and to show all of his friends. I don't think he could be more proud. I liked making something special for him.
I bought a children's craft foam sheet. I free-hand drew the image on it and cut it out with an exacto knife. Then I took some outdoor furniture silver spray paint and sprayed it on. That stuff is so good because it will NEVER come off. It was fun and I'm glad he likes it. I want glad I could do something for him on Valentine's Day.