If the Internet has taught me anything, its that I can do anything!

Perhaps I should be more specific.  It was pinterest that convinced me, and I'm pretty sure it's not just me.

Ladies of the world, what are we doing to ourselves?  At every party I've been to recently, at least one person brought a (ridiculously amazing) recipe they found on pinterest.  A friend once said that the biggest compliment she'd recieved was when someone walked in and said, "Your house looks like my pinterst boards!"

Don't misunderstand, I am not mocking. I was completely jealous when she told me that.  I too have shared my pinterest recipes and homemade laundry detergent tricks. What began as a craft box is now a room with piles of fabric and half started crafts.  And for some reason, I thought making a slipcover, as a beginner seamstress, without a pattern, would be easy.

I'm about 6 hours into this slipcover project, and the most important lesson I've learned is to stop and put it away when I start to get frustrated.  This, I'm sure, has saved me from throwing fabric and/or scissors out a window... If I can ever finish it, I'm going to feel like the Domestic Queen.  But for now, I'm going to carefully put this fabric away and back away from the sewing machine.

Curtains!

I used to have this beautiful makeshift slipcover which I made with the help of the ever creative Amanda.

Slipcover:













Amanda:










but then I got a jack russell terrier named Jazz and she puked on it and the ripped it up. :(

Jazz not noticing how sad she made me:










So I am attempting to make a new slipcover, but in the mean time, I salvaged what I could of the fabric, plus the scraps I had leftover initially and I made curtains! (and maybe pillows!)

Here are the finished curtains:









The curtains were really easy. I had the clips, so I just sewed one very large rectangle. (I actually wish I had just a tiny bit more fabric so I could have made them more bunchy, but you gotta live with what you've got.)

Christmas Gifts Part 2: Aprons

The other craft I attempted to do for Christmas this year was this "One Hour Apron".

One hour my foot.

I have attempted to sew in the past. My mom has taught me enough that i could sew a button back on by hand... and I made a dress in High School...

Here are the things I learned

1. Patterns written by people who know how to sew, are usually written FOR people who know how to sew. Not being one of these people proved to be a problem.

2. Pinning is your friend. Pin EVERYTHING. Thoroughly. I pulled apart these aprons dozens of times, because fabric slipped, bunched, or otherwise moved while sewing.

3. Sewing is the smallest part of sewing. Most of it is cutting, ironing, pinning, scratching your head, ironing again, re-pinning... all for a glorious 15 seconds of pushing the pedal on the sewing machine. Then you're back to the squinting, scratching, pinning and ironing again.

4. Don't be fooled by the above fact. Go slow for all that is good and right in this world and do all the ironing and pinning and squinting, and even basting before you stitch. Or else, you too can pull everything out over and over and over and over again.

In the end, I learned a lot, and I still have to finish one stinking stitch on my sister's apron. (Mom has had me pull that single stitch out at least 10 times.) But I ended up with 3 nice looking aprons and I might even attempt to sew something again in the future. Well... maybe.

Christmas Gifts Part 1: Personalized Mugs!

This year for Christmas, I decided to make my gifts. Having recently discovered Pinterest.com, I had plenty of ideas... I just needed time and patience. So craft number one was these awesome personalized mugs! They have names on one side, and chalkboard goodness on the other.

Given that I currently have Crafting Level 1, It was a massive battle of trial and error. Armed only with a picture on pinterest of a vase and an idea of the mug in my head, I set out.

Version 1 - First, I tried Elmer's glue. However, Elmer's glue is no where near thick enough, and I ended up with a droopy mess. I washed the mugs and then I wrote the names on with a glue gun. Then painted over it with chalkboard paint. They took awhile (I kept having to redo the names) but eventually, I came out with a beautiful product. Until Jacob took his to work. The heat from the coffee melted off both the glue AND the paint!

Back to the... er... chalkboard.

Version 2 - I did a lot of internet research (the very best kind.) And found that you have to cure a ceramic - this entails putting a painted mug into a cold oven, heating to 350, baking for 30 minutes, and then letting it cool. Ok, problem one solved, but a hot glue gun is going to certainly melt off during the curing process. I tried it just to make sure - and yes. Big melty mess.

Jacob had some ideas but in the end, after much trial and error, and a little exasperated sighing (ok, I was screaming something about "stupid mugs, why did I even think I could make something?!!!") we used puffy paint! (aka fabric paint).

I was very pleased and I hope all those who received them liked them. Plus, I leveled up to Crafing Level 2!

Domestic Endeavors

Well, I just had to write a post to brag about my first domestic diva win!! I made a wreath!! Entirely out of a metal coathanger, some flowers from the dollar store, and packing tape! And it looks awesome! I'm hoping to find a wreath hanger tonight, but in the mean time:


And then we had birthday cake situation. You know what, I'm going to call it a win. Sure, the cake was a box mix. Sure, the frosting came from the store. And yeah, the cake did have a giant gap in the side between the layers.. but for the first time ever, I made a cake, leveled it (or attempted to), and decorated it, without crying, throwing a temper tantrum, or needing Jake to come rescue me and the cake! And how diva is it, if you're always falling apart anyway?

So see, friends? If even I can have an occasional success, so can you.