A Little Time for Me!

Lately, the only thing I've done for me is read a book or go out to eat while putting several creative things I've wanted to do on the back burner. But I'm sure you understand that, right? Today is the day I'm correcting that.

I started with my office here and took down some of the stuff on the wall behind me. It was starting to look cluttered to me or maybe it always was but it just got to me now.

The two shutters I got for a couple of dollars at a farm sale a few years ago and painted white and put decals on are going into the family room now.

I've taken down a little pink ladder, a mirror and several pictures. I've patched the holes in the wall and painted over them. I'll show the results later.

I've also recently tried an embellishment I saw months ago on a blog and cannot remember where. I emptied my armoire of several t-shirts that are stained, too big or too small or the colors weren't just right or I had taken a dislike to the color of the shirt. I cut circles out of them and put them on t-shirts I wear everyday. I'm usually in a t-shirt, but I thought I'd pizzazz them up a bit by putting coordinating colors or opposite colors I like with them. So far I've done two of them. You'll see the blue one in its first stage. I'm finished with it but it needs to be laundered before I show it here and it's a very old and well-worn shirt. This is the photo with half of the neckline done. I chose a blue and white thin knit to cut up into about 2 1/4 inch circles.

This one is done and I'm wearing it. The t-shirt is a candy apple red and does not show the true color of its red in any of these photos (red being a difficult color to photograph especially indoors with artificial light), but I decided to do pink on it. I love that color combination. These circles are 3 1/4 inches. So they're just a bit bigger but it does make a difference. I then folded the circle in half and then half again, stitched along the point of that and pinned them to the shirt and then sewed them on by hand. You "arrange" them as you sew them on. Very, very easy but I'll not see anyone around here with a t-shirt like mine. ;-)

Does the earth laugh in flowers? I think it may.
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Silence is true wisdom's best reply. I know this from experience.
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Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. If you show joy, it means you are thankful for life's blessings. And I am!!
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Random Thoughts and Embellishing T-Shirts for Pink Saturday 4/24/10

Happy pink saturday and thanks to Beverly of How Sweet The Sound for hosting this. I visited with Jennifer at Peacornpopnutssodagumandchewingwater for the first time last week. Now that's a mouthful, but she has a darling blog. Full of beautiful flowers for spring. Go visit her, chicks. Also, I met Olivia, one of my most favorite names, and her blog is Shabbychictreasures. I must say she is delightful. Cute blog and some darling ideas and has a red kitchen. Squeeeeeal! She's a shabby chic fan just like most of us.
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I never know what direction my blog will go until I sit down to blog. Sometimes it's decorating this house, sometimes it's camping—squeeeeeealing with fright when hubs mentions he wants to go caaaaaamping and get me away from my iMac computer, sometimes it's a trip to visit our kids or grandkids, sometimes it's a dinner for Love Bunny, sometimes it's a story about decorating the Christmas tree (see it in the sidebar and drool) sometimes it's a visit to our local nursery or an antiques store, sometimes it's about crafting in the studio and making anything I have a mind to that day, sometimes it's a conversation with Love Bunny and his wit, sometimes it's my lack of wanting to be fashionable(!) and sometimes it's just random thoughts and musings out of this old head. Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy your visit here. Ya just never know, chicks, what I'll talk about. But look forward to my hat/cattle/cow tipping post coming up soon.
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We've discussed this before: I am NOT a fashionista or diva anymore. About 20 years ago, before we moved here from California, I'd spend about $8,000 a year on clothes. I worked in an office. I don't now. I stay home. I love it. I look like a bumpkin pretty much most of the time. But I figure I'm clothed and modest, which is a big deal with me. I don't flaunt anything. I dress properly for church but don't bother with designer clothes anymore. I have boxes and boxes of clothing up in my garage attic, mainly because they're a size 10; I'm not a size 10 anymore. But we won't go into that.

I do like t-shirts because I wear special garments because of my religion. I don't wear sleeveless things unless I have a shirt or jacket over it at all times. But I get tired of the same t-shirts and blouses so I've decided to embellish these old ones. I mean there are only so many colors we can buy, right? Plus, after looking at the price tags on little t-shirts at Macys today, I figure I can make them cute myself and pass up the outrageous prices. But I do love embellishing inexpensive t-shirts. I cannot tell you how old these 2 below are. Very! I'm changing them. The lavender one actually looks cuter than the photo because the tiny ribbon flowers I made look askew but they are on perfectly straight, I can assure you.

I ruched a ribbon and attached it to this really old t-shirt.

And recently I ordered 3 dresses because I'm tired of wearing the same ones to church. I don't buy many clothes. Didn't you listen?! ;-) But they are relatively plain so I thought I'd make some embellishments ahead for when I receive them next week. I gathered some ribbon, made a custom button and put it on. I think it'll look sweet on one of the dresses. This shirt is bright red and it kind of drowns out the color of the flower so see below for another photo.

Not sure yet which dress this will go on, but maybe the purple one. I love those colors together. But this pin is interchangeable so doesn't matter too much. I'll find a place for it!

I've never made fabric yoyos before and this is my first. I need more practice but my fingers are so dry they are hurting me from doing all those paper roses and handling all this fabric. Sigh...

I know just the place for this one because one of the dresses is turquoise and this should look great on it.

A better photo of this pin than on the red shirt.

This little ragged pin took me about 10 minutes to make. Quick and easy.

So there you have it, my sweet little chicks. Several ways to embellish your t-shirts or blouses without the high cost of buying at expensive stores plus they will definitely not be seen all over the place so you'll be unique...just as you truly are. ;-)

But I'm going to make you work for this one. If you can't figure out how to make them, you're going to have to ask me. I just want to know if someone actually reads what I say. *Sigh*...... :-)
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Sally Hansen hair removal glue strips do not work. Hairs have to be 1/4" long to work and I'm not letting my chin/lip hair get that long.
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I haven't yet eaten enough pastries to be willing to trade this world for one in which the existence of sugar is not guaranteed by theologians.
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I like rain. I like whatever weather God chooses to throw at the world—storm, hail, wind, cold, heat—because the variety and extremes of creation are what make it so beautiful. We had a thunder and rain storm tonight and hubs, and I went out on the porch to drink in the adventure of it.
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Real estate ads will sometimes say "wild life" in the area they are promoting. Does that include skunks? I don't think I'd want to live with them.
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There's a commercial on the radio for men's prostate problems. Hubs and I get a kick out of it. It asks if you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He mentioned to me that he sure hopes he does because he wouldn't want to pee in the bed. He's such a card, that man!
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When the health clubs start selling Twinkies and chocolate cupcakes filled with white gooey stuff inside, I'll join. Not until then, I can assure you.
~*~

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Refurbishing Some Red Shoes I Love for Pink Saturday 12/5/09

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.

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Visit with Beverly at howsweetthesound for more participants for Pink Saturday. You'll not be sorry. Hope your holiday was wonderful!
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Beverly has asked us to share a Christmas memory and mine just happens to be about a pair of red shoes!

In the late 1950s we lived in Yorktown, VA. and did our shopping in Williamsburg. One day while shoe shopping my mother wanted these red shoes for me and I wasn't particularly fond of the style. I would only agree to them if she bought me a pair I liked. I was a teenager and a bit obstinate. So we bought 2 pairs of shoes that day: the red pair and another pair that the color escapes me after 50 years, but I rarely, if ever, wore those red shoes and never did hear the end of it from my mother. Oh, I loved the color, just not the style.
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I've had these shoes for over 25 years. They were my favorite pair of shoes but as you can see they've just about had it. Who am I kidding; they've definitely had it. They just went with anything: skirts, dresses or pants. I love them. So instead of throwing them away I've redone them to keep in a spot in my home. If I could find a shoemaker to duplicate them I'd have another couple of pairs made. But, alas, around here no one would take on the challenge. That surprised me because they definitely look easier to make than a pair of cowboy boots!

First step was painting them. I didn't necessarily want them to match so I painted one pink and one white. It took several coats of paint for them to even start to look better.

First I added german glass glitter to the outside. Then I started with the embellishing.

I painted the heel alizarin crimson red. That's about as red as you can get. I've given it many coats and may have to do many more through the days just as high end house painters and decorators do to those fabulous homes in magazines. Do you realize that in some cases those homes get 25 coats of paint? Yep, they do. The more paint the more luminous the wall. I've never done less than 3 coats of paint to any wall I've ever had.

Then I added some gorgeous vintage lace and some ribbon roses.

Since I call just about everyone "chick" I decided to add a little chickadee and a frivolous bright pink feather. A paper rose tops it off.

I wrapped some beautiful fabric around some poly filling and stuck it inside the shoe. After all, who wants to look at the yucky inside. On the sole I glued some pretty paper on but didn't take a picture of that.

And voilà the end result.
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I'm grateful to have lived in many places in the U.S. and having visited other countries because I then can truly judge about how wonderful this country is.
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Embellishing T-Shirts

A week or so ago I went shopping at one of the large retailers around here and found some darling tank tops with lace. I bought several of different colors and a couple more pinks that didn't have the lace on them. Now, I am never seen in sleeveless clothing at any time but I knew I could cover them up with a blouse, sweater or jacket so I made th' leap, chicks. But they were such a good deal—normally $16.00 each on sale for 2 for $15.00 so how could I go wrong. I wanted to embellish the plain ones so I stopped at Joanns to find more lace to put on the plain ones and this is how they turned out. See the 2nd photo.

I couldn't find any red lace for the red tank top so I just put on white with pink ribbon running through it. Then on the far left one I hand sewed a tiny lace and added a ribbon rose. See how you can be creative when you want to be. Also, I'll never ever see another chick in that particular top! I hate it when I see another dress I have on someone else. That's why I usually shop online or get things in California when we go visit the kids. Plus I sew dresses and that's a guarantee I'll never see them on another person and be embarrassed because they look so much better in them than I do!! *Smile* It's rare that I'll see anyone in the same thing now.

These tank tops can be worn under a V-neck sweater in the winter also. Layering is one of my favorite things to do in winter.

Ooooh, and that one on the left? That's what I was wearing when I took these pix, so you can imagine what I'm in taking these pix—my camisole top! And if that doesn't send ya running from the room screaming then nothing will, I guarantee ya!! *Wink, wink*.........

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