Morning Glory

I'm moving on in SYTYC! My project was the repurposed dress, Morning Glory. Go HERE for the tutorial.

This was my entry post:

I love repurposing clothes that would normally be passed over and instead making something beautiful. I used a men’s dress shirt, a very large woman’s shirt, and an old jumper to make a dress that could fit right in at Shabby Apple.

The marigold yellow top, ruffled accent around the neckline and down the front, and sweet sleeves beautifully pop in contrast with the gray, button down skirt.

An old elastic belt with a flower clip embellishment allows for a transition between fun and function—making this dress perfect for work, church, or a night out!

Who would have thought that these outcasts could be upcycled into something so lovely?

Parties I’ll be linking up with:

Hoo’s Got Talent, The Sunday Scoop, The Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Weekend Wrap Up, Motivate Me Monday, Frugalicious Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Mad Skills Party, Get Your Craft On, Anything Related, Make it Yours Day, The Shabby Nest, Kojo Designs, Tea Rose Home, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Real Momma, Real Style, Idea Sharing Wednesday, Creative-ly U

This ‘n That Saturday

Remember how my Easter dress was one of those “third time’s a charm” projects? I thought I’d show you the first failure part of the dress:

Are you seeing the awkward 90’s bridesmaid/prom dress poof thing it’s doing at the hips?

The waistband was supposed to end up with a nice gathering…

But really, this dress was quickly becoming everything I didn’t want it to be. So I threw it under my cutting table with all my other scraps

My mom came to visit the day after I finished the dress and I held up the cast away skirt to show her how wrong it was. Something about the way I held it up made it actually look cute to her… that is, if I were to turn it into a dress.

Like this. Oh, and do you like how it takes standing on the edge of the tub in Jace’s bathroom to give you a full length picture? I’m thinking I really need to buy a full length mirror already. And back to the skirt—I really think it could make a cute dress. I’m picturing straps like those on Reese Witherspoon’s wedding dress in Sweet Home Alabama and a belt with flower embellishments. Don’t you think it would look cute? I’ll show it to you once I get to actually finishing it up. Oh, and I’ll be able to give you a tutorial for it too since I actually took pictures of the process that created this!

Also, if you feel like checking out (and buying) some cute premade flowers for crafting and sewing projects, you should hop on over to Shabby Flowers.

Maybe I’m crazy, but don’t you think that a cluster of one of each of these would make a sweet embellishment on the dress above?

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Saturday!

New Winners!

Three of our winners from the Birthday Week Giveaways never got back to me, so it’s time to select some new ones!

 

Our new winner of the Adornments by Wendi $30 shop credit is…

Stacey!

 

And our new winner of the Pleated Shoulder Bag pattern from Ali Foster Patterns is…

Slovenka!

 

And our new winner of the Belle Rose Designs $20 shop credit is…

Register!

 

Winners: You have until 8 am on Monday, May 2 to email me at nolanandjill {at} gmail {dot} com!

My Mom’s Craft Room

Since I’m in Maryland right now, I thought I’d give you a peek at one of my favorite spaces in my parents’ house: my mom’s laundry/craft room. She didn’t know I was going to take pictures of it, so this is how it really is, no staging or prettying up happened. You’ll see how great it is.

My parents moved here five years ago when my dad took a new position in the Baltimore area. While it was sad to see them part from the house I grew up in in Corvallis, Oregon, it’s been fun to watch my mom be able to set up a new place. Their basement was unfinished when they purchased the house, and soon after they remodeled it so it now has a family/TV room, bedroom for my brother, storage room, and a large craft/laundry room for my mom.

This piece by Mary Engelbreit is the inspiration for my mom’s room. She has a lot she still wants to do to the room.

Standing at the door looking in:

The washer, dryer and utility sink are to your left while the crafting space is all on the right. The double doors lead to the storage area.

The baskets above the cabinets on the far wall are where she stores her fabric. She plans to put fabric bands around them and hanging tags labeling what’s in them. She’ll also be painting parts the woodwork on the black to match her inspiration piece.

Inside one cupboard she has shoe box tubs full of craft supplies and the other cupboard holds scrapbook paper.

The wall next to the double doors has shelves holds more craft supplies.

Inspired by bloggers who fold and display their fabric on shelves, she folded and displays her tissue papers so she knows what all colors she has at a glance.

Ribbons, string, Zylus cutter and its cartridges.

This is the wall on your right as you walk in the door.

Her paint and ribbon storage. I LOVE this thing!

She used to have a business in which she taught Toll Painting classes and sold the materials for it. Because of that, she owns a lot of craft paint! [Side note: the ENS are just left over letters from a vinyl project she did once.]

These shelves hold her Circuit cartridges.

She uses a kitchen island station for putting projects together. She’s packaging a birthday card for my brother here.

The washer and dryer and laundry storage.

In the storage room she has a very beautiful sight. These shoe box tubs are full of sorted wooden items like eggs, beads, sticks, etc. Lots of leftovers from back when she had her business!

I hope you enjoyed your little tour! I find myself inspired just by spending time in there!

Accessorizing: Turquoise Headband

I showed you my Easter dress a little while back. In the pictures, I was wearing a turquoise rosette headband from my shop. Of course (and much to my delight!) the headband had to go and sell right after I took those pictures. So I needed a new headband for Easter.

This time I made three small rosettes by simply rolling and folding the fabric. I also made a more full and fluffy flower by doing a gathering stitch, ruffling the fabric tight and then sewing it all together.

I like the way it turned out!

As a side note about my Easter dress: originally I didn’t sew a lining layer in and planned on just wearing a slip with it. The more I thought about it, though, the less I wanted to have to think about whether or not too much was showing. So I cut another circle skirt, the one just a little longer than the one I used on the dress, and sewed it into the inside seam where the skirt attaches to the waist band. The lining layer (made of the same fabric as the rest of the dress) peeked out by about an inch and a half adding a really fun affect to the skirt! I love the way it turned out and will have to take a picture some time soon to show you! Only problem with the dress was any time a gust of wind came through I felt like Marilyn Monroe trying to keep such a full and lightweight skirt down!

Parties I’ll be linking up with:

Hoo’s Got Talent, The Sunday Scoop, The Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Weekend Wrap Up, Motivate Me Monday, Frugalicious Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Mad Skills Party, Get Your Craft On, Anything Related, Make it Yours Day, The Shabby Nest, Kojo Designs, Tea Rose Home, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Real Momma, Real Style, Idea Sharing Wednesday, Creative-ly U

Comin’ Atcha from Maryland!

We decided to use part of our tax return this year on plane tickets to go visit my parents in Maryland. They moved to Annapolis five years ago, and it’s always a treat to go visit them!

We flew out last year at the end of May for my youngest brother’s graduation from the Naval Academy, so it wasn’t Jace’s first plane ride (not that he remembered the first one). He was a GREAT traveler!

We spent today finding all the remotes around Grandma and Grandpa’s house (and they have SO MANY of them!)…

Looking around the yard for Mr. Slowsky the turtle that resides out there (no such luck in finding him)…

Enjoying having Daddy around on a weekday!

Exploring the neighborhood with Grandma (this is in front of their house)…

Eating yummy food (this is my mom’s simplified version of Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon…

Jace LOVED it and wolfed it down.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading to Bethany Beach, Delaware for a few nights at a condo my parents’ friends own. Yay for a vacation!

Oh So Many Winners!!!

Are you as excited as I am to know who each of the winners from my Birthday Giveaway Week are???

Before I get to the winners, take a moment to head go check out the blog Knock Off Décor. My Pottery Barn Blue Gate Knock Off was featured over there last night! It’s an amazing blog full of… you guessed it! Knock Off Décor projects! Head on over HERE to see my feature.

Now, on to the winners!!!

The winner of the Poppy Seed Fabrics giveaway is…

 

And the winner of the $30 store credit to Adornments by Wendi is…

And the winner of the Pleated Shoulder Bag Pattern by Ali Foster Designs is…

And the winner of the wristlet clutch from The Crochet Diva is…

And the winner of 2 Soaps and 2 Scrubbies from Rachael’s Handmade Soap Shop is…

And the winner of 2 Patterns from Jenna Lou Designs is…

And the winner of the pattern from Aivilo Charlotte Designs is…

And the winner of $20 store credit from Belle Rose Designs is…

And while that’s all the winners from the Birthday Giveaway week, I do still have one last winner to announce. 2 weeks ago I asked for your feedback regarding a good price range for baby shoes on Etsy. Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I really appreciate it. I promised one winner a prize of their choice (a pair of baby shoes in your preferred size, a rosette bib necklace, a Sassy Headband (this kind or this kind), or a melted flower headband).

And that winner is….

Congratulations to all my winners! Please email me at nolanandjill {at} gmail {dot} com within the next 48 hours and I’ll get you in touch with our sponsors.

Thank you everyone for participating in my birthday giveaway week! And a BIG thank you to the sponsors of this week:

Poppy Seed Fabrics, Adornments by Wendi, Ali Foster Designs, The Crochet Diva, Rachael’s Homemade Soap Shop, Jenna Lou Designs, Aivilo Charlotte Designs and Belle Rose Designs