DIY Christmas Sweaters

Hello everyone! Can ya'll believe that this year is about to be over? I find it so hard to believe but it is true what they say, time sure does fly when you are having fun. So last year I wanted to make our own ugly Christmas sweaters but by the time I convinced the Mr. to do it with me it was way too late and we were already heading to TX for Christmas. I ended up buying some ugly sweaters that I found at the home improvement store out of all places. This year I had plenty of time and my creativity sure did run wild. Keep reading to see what I did. I feel like I have been planning this for the last year. I looked and looked everywhere to get ideas and we both finally decided between ugly, cute, tacky and funny sweaters. 

I bought us black pull over sweaters at Wal-Mart and they were about 7 bucks a piece. I had somewhat of a plan when I walked into Hobby Lobby for the rest of the materials, but then I saw all of the cute stuff and my mind went blank. Then I ran into this little guy....

And It was all over from here. I was so inspired by him and it went perfectly with the "elf" theme that we were going for that I started gathering stuff to try to make something resembling this cute little guy. I ended up spending $21 on materials by the time I was done. 

Hobby Lobby has these felt packages and let me tell you, I had so much material left over that I could have made about 36 more sweaters. As you can see I ended up buying fabric glue bit I used it for about a full minute before I gave up and decided to just go with a hot glue gun. Please use a hot glue gun. I could not find single plastic candy canes in the whole entire store so I just went with some pipe cleaners and then for the buttons I used gold little pom-pom's. The three pieces of fabric on the left hand side were about 50 cents, the fabric department lady told me that they are cut in the smallest size that they can cut it. So here we go. 

I suggest getting some notebook paper and cutting out the shape that you want and put it on the sweater before you actually start cutting the felt material. Once I got the size and shape down, I traced the notebook paper onto the felt and then cut it out.

When it came down to gluing it on the sweater I put it down backwards so the pen marks from the tracing would not show. Also, I assembled most of the little elf before I actually glued it down on the sweater. It gives you a little wiggle room if you make mistakes. 

I wanted to make my elf a little more girly of course, so I added a sparkly skirt. I added a strip of hot glue and then just bunched up the tulle to make it look a little ruffled. 

Then I added the little stockings ON TOP of the skirt because obviously you would wear a skirt over stockings and not under lol. 

I could not find a material similar to what the little elf had but this one was just as cute. All I did was fold it in half twice and cut it enough so that I could glue it to the back part of the dress so there would not be any fraying. After I measured it, I took a pipe cleaner, cut it in half since it was a bit long and just curved it like a candy cane and glued it to the inside of the belt and glued everything together. I added a gold pom-pom as a little belt buckle. 

I cut the stockings so they could be the same length and cut out pointy elf shoes. Really I just traced one and used the outline for the other so they could look even. I cut the little socks in a triangle pattern like the collar and secured it with hot glue to the shoes. 

I glued the entire elf to the sweater and added the collar at the very end. I also glued little jingle bells to each of the triangles. The pom-pom's were added to make little buttons and also at the end of the shoes. I found Christmas type stickers and added them to the sides. What is an elf without a tree and presents right?!

I was not going to put arms on it, but realized it looked kind of weird. I cut out a "boomerang" type shape from the same fabric as the stockings and just glued it down. 

I did the same exact thing for the "boy" elf. I just gave him a "candy" belly and some shorts. 

I hope ya'll enjoyed my post and hopefully it inspires you to make some cute sweaters as well. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

DIY Pinata Couple Costume

Hello! I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween this year. This has got to be one of my top 3 Holidays out of the year for sure. A day where you can wear something really out there and not care if you looked like you escaped from the loony bin. I am the person that tries to go all out. My boyfriend...not so much. Good thing is, he will agree with me and let me go crazy as long as he gets the bare minimum, yay for compromise. We had so many good ideas and at the end of the day while looking through, of course, Pinterest, we thought it would be so fun ( I was so naive) to be "the pinata couple" we did not know what else to call ourselves. So if you are interested or would like some ideas for next year, keep on reading.

I went to the dollar store and bought 9 packets of the assorted tissue paper sheets. I did not know how many I was going to be needing and when it was all said and done I only ended up using 3 packets. 

When I opened the paper up, there where 2 of each color and instead of separating them,to make my life easier all I did was cut along the folds it already had.one color pair at a time. To me, it was a very wide piece of paper so I folded it in half. You can of course make it as thick or as small as you want. I wanted lots of color and fringe so I went for the smaller route.

After you fold it in half to get a small width, you are going to keep folding it length wise until you end up with about a 1 inch square. This makes it so  much easier when it comes time to cut the fringe. 

Next just grab your scissors and go to town on cutting little strips on the "free side", not the side that is still folded when we made the wide piece smaller. 

And that's it. Just sit down, grab some wine and put on something good to watch because this might take a bit. When you open it back up, you should have two similar pieces of what ever color you choose to make your costume. 

So first I knew that I wanted a long sleeve dress because after all we do live in Ohio and it gets chilly. You'll find out soon enough that the sleeves went out the window very quickly. We went to the thrift store to try to find him a poncho, a sombrero and a dress for me. Please don't use a dress you plan on wearing again because trust me there is no coming back. 

So I found this pretty little gem! I figured the ruffles it already had would give the final product more bounce, and it did for the most part. You are going to want to put a big piece of cardboard inside or something to stretch the dress out. If you don't stretch it first, you are going to be gluing the tissue paper as is and when it comes time to put it on it will break or you will notice that it has a lot of gaps where the material stretched.

I used spray adhesive because it is what I had handy. It did its job but I would not recommend it. The strips stayed on the dress but if even a little corner came off the whole strip followed. I ended up using fabric glue only for the pieces that started falling apart, which wasn't that many but I am sure I could have avoided this if I had used fabric glue in the first place. 

Starting from the bottom I sprayed an entire section and started to attach my strip. To get more of a "pinata" effect stack the strips where the other ends not just directly on top of each other.

I just kept repeating the process all the way up to the top. When I got to the top instead of doing thick stripes of color started stacking the color strips 2 at a time following the same color pattern as I was doing at the bottom of the dress. I did not take a picture but to work around the neck line, just glue the strip down and leave some extra. When you are all done just trim off the excess and cut along your dress neck line. 

Most of the costumes that I saw online had some sort of party hat head piece. I don't know about you but I do not find party hats to be very comfortable. Since I was already at the dollar store I bought one of those stick on ribbons that you would but on a present. 

I just took the backing off and stuck it to an old headband of mine and there you have it, a headpiece. 

By the time I finished the dress, I was so over tissue paper that I just ended up cutting the sleeves. I loved it so much better this way. When I put on the dress there were some gaps in the hip area where I had not stretched it enough so all I did was take some leftover corresponding color, cut it to the size of the gap and just stuck it on with glue. 

We got so many compliments on this costume and it was so much fun. Since the Mr. wanted the bare minimum, all I did was buy a fringe blanket at the thrift store and cut a hole for his head. I used my broom stick and did the same thing I did with the dress with the leftover tissue paper and bought him a sombrero at the costume store. I was a little chilly that night so I went to Hot Topic and bought some colorful socks. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. We had a lot of fun for Halloween as well as making the costume. Thanks for reading and see you next time. 

Hugs....Bere

xoxo

THE Military Vest

Hello everyone! So I decided to do something new on this blog and throw in some OOTD. I follow many blogs and sometimes I can't help but think, where the heck do you wear these things to? But to each their own. I know there is  fashion week but don't know much after that.

As for me, I am a regular girl, living a pretty normal life and only dress up when I really need to do something. 80% of the time I am at school living in yoga pants(minus the yoga). So here it goes. 

I bought this military vest YEARS ago at this store called Papaya in Houston and I fell in love with it the  minute I saw it. It is green and studded?! Hello, this has me written all over it. I uploaded 2 pictures because I wanted to show how this can be worn in a variety of ways. Excuse the quality of the pictures, they will get better I promise. I just happen to remember to snap a pic as I am about to walk out the door. 

These have got to be the most perfect jeans for short people like me. I got these at Target last winter on sale. They are supposed to be "ankle" jeans but for someone like me, with short legs, they are the perfect length. I wore this casual look for a movie date with my love. I wanted to look put together but comfy and casual at the same time. Let's talk about my weakness, shoes! I got these at Nordstrom Rack about 2 years ago. They are entirely suede on the outside, wedged and the cutest most comfy shoes I have ever worn. I find that I wear these with EVERYTHING and they still look amazing. It will be a sad day when these things go bad.

Jeans: Target 

Vest: Papaya Clothing

Shirt: Walmart

Shoes: Franco Sarto/ Nordstrom Rack 

This is from yesterday, the hun and I just wanted to do some sight seeing in Detroit, have a nice dinner and maybe some shopping. This outfit managed to keep me comfy and looking nice the whole time. These jeans really surprised me, they are so light and very well fitting. Of course I had to get them hemmed like all my other jeans but it is just something I am used to. We live in a small town in Ohio (small for my standards since I am from Houston) so I beggars can't be choosers as far as shopping goes.

Jeans: Walmart from L.E.I

Vest: Papaya Clothing

Shirt: Tommy Hilfiger/ T.J Max

Shoes: Franco Sarto/ Nordstrom Rack 

I wear my vest as a neutral. I have worn this thing with many different outfits. It is perfect and goes with everything. I highly suggest investing in one. Let me know if ya'll like post like this so I can keep doing them. Of course the pictures will get better.

Mint Desk

Hello everyone! So for the longest time I have been wanting a mint green desk. I wanted something fun and shiny so I went for it. I am new at this whole thing and I usually stain things or just paint it either white or black so this was pretty fun. 

I bought this desk because I went on a whim and decided I needed a study area. Let's just say it turned into a folding table for laundry.

This is after one coat of primer. Usually, when I do a project I sand the piece before I start messing with it. This not only was my first colorful project but  my first non-sanding project since the piece is laminate. I got brave, the internet said I could do it and of course we all know the internet does not lie (see what I did there? ha!) For the most part, not sanding it first was not that  bad, but it did get a little worse. 

 After 2 coats of the Bullseye - 1-2-3 Plus Primer.

  

The hardest part was picking the color. Everything was way too mint, too green or too blue. I finally decided to go with a $3 sample and it turned out to be the perfect color.

After very lightly sanding the primer and one layer of paint later. When I sanded the primer it started to just peel off!! I instantly regretted my decision to not sand but I just put another coat of primer on it and it turned out great. 

Excuse the bad cell phone pictures but my camera totally gave out on me. It took about 3 coats of paint to achieve the color I wanted and I am in love. I kept the hardware because I was really in love with it, all I did was paint it gold with some spray paint I bought at the dollar store. 

I sealed it with regular poly because I am not going to lie, if you even rubbed it hard enough the paint would chip a little. I have had it for about a month now and it has really held up. No chips or scratches to report and it has now been upgraded from a folding table to an over sized coffee table. 

I was so over the painting and since we were already on the fun train, I decided to do do the same for the drawers. Decoupage. Yep, you read that right. I've never done it before but after watching an episode of "Flea Market Flip" I got brave again. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some "burlap" print paper. I needed something that I was not really going to need to match up the edges too much since it was my first time. I ended up using 10 sheets on both drawers (I messed up a lot). For it being my first time I don't think I did too bad. 

Using a foam brush I put a little bit of Mod-Podge on the drawer and then brushed a little on the back of the paper. I put the paper down on the drawer smoothed it out with an old membership card and then brushed another layer of glue on top. I just kept repeating and I also made sure to cut the pieces before I put them down. 

In the end I am very happy with the finished piece. I've been using it and putting it through a beating and it has help up good. 

Thank you for stopping by and reading. 

Unconventional Materials Table Top Re-do

Well hello there guys! I am back and happy to announce that this semester is over and finished it off with two A's and one B. Now let's celebrate. Grab some pop corn and junk food because it's going to be a long one.

So I finished this project I am about to share with you guys a couple of months ago but I just never posted it and also I wanted to see how it was going to hold up. You'll see why in a minute.

When my boyfriend and I moved from Texas to Ohio all we had as far as furniture was a blow up mattress and well that was about it. That thing served as our bed, couch and dining table. Sometimes all at once. Anyway, when I finally got around to getting us a dining room table, the process took a lot longer than I expected. All of them were huge tables, cheap little dinettes or just something weird. Then it happened, the perfect size table and chairs for the space we had. So I bought it for $70 bucks..one table, an extension leaf (which I later turned into a bench) and 5 chairs. Yeah it was a little pricey but I got tired of eating on the dang blow up mattress.

Here's what it looked like when I got it.

So there it sat for months! I am serious. Getting used to life in Ohio, school and family this thing was left forgotten. I knew exactly what I wanted to do to it, yep, you guessed it, stain the top and paint the rest. The thing is the freakin' top is LAMINATE. *begin dry heaving now*

I went on Pinterest/ Google for help and got tons of ideas:

1. Replace with an old door and put glass on top of it. Nope, couldn't find an old door for a reasonable price.

2. Replace with wooden planks of some sort. Nope, really not that handy or crafty.

3. Just paint the whole thing. Nope, I was very adamant that I was going to stain the top. That's my idea and I am sticking to it.

4. Glue paint stirrers on top of it and stain. Voila! 

4 is the lucky number but of course its never that easy. I had a paint stirrer laying around from some paint that I had bought and I set it on top of the table. Immediately I realized that I needed to go back to the drawing board. The paint stirrers were just so thick and I was going to need like a saw of some sort to cut through all of them and it was a lot more work than I was willing to do. So one day walking through Wal-Mart it hit me!!!!

POPSICLE STICKS!!!!

These little things talked to me! Look even they are happy!

See the difference in thickness ^

Technically they are made of wood too and I am just going to go ahead and say it. This takes a bit of time but it is seriously so inexpensive and to me, personally I loved the effect I got at the end.

I just started placing the popsicle sticks on the table and went from there. I started laying them down randomly, subway-ish tiled, some type of design and you name it. I finally decided to just have them going all kinds of ways. I also decided that the length of them was too  long for my taste and went ahead and measured them all to 3 inches with a regular tape measure.

I scored all of them in the box with just a regular pencil. I did not now how  many I was going to end up needing (oh you have so much to learn little one) and hours of Netflix later I had scored and cut all of them. I cut them with a big pair of scissors I found in the hardware section of Walmart for a couple of bucks. They cut very easy too.

At first I decided on this pattern and started placing them down on what I thought was the center. I did measure even though it does not look like it in the angle of the picture.

Before I started gluing I roughed it up a little with some 80 grit sand paper.

 I just started gluing and gluing and watching Netflix. I put something heavy on top of them because I did notice that the sticks started to curl up at the edges.

And as you can tell, this is where it happened. I was sitting down doing thing and wasn't even noticing that I was totally off center going all kinds of ways. I had to pop every single one of these suckers off with a screw driver and a hammer (this glue is no joke), sand down the leftover glue and start all over. *hysterically laughing and dry heaving all at the same time*

As you can see, there is trial and error in everything. Not all of the things you see on Pinterest comes out perfect the first time. Don't get discouraged.

When I regained consciousness I started over, you would thing I learned my lesson but no, I wanted the same type of pattern. But this time instead of doing "V's" I started doing "L's" hope that makes sense, don't know how else to explain it.

My sanity, one day later and another box of popsicle sticks since I had to throw away most of the ones I popped off, the table was completely covered. I just went over the middle part where it I supposed to separate but I knew I was never going to use it for that. Especially since I made that bench out of the leaf.

There was a lot of gaps between many of the sticks, so clearly not all popsicle sticks/measurements are made equal. I filled it with wood filler and it looked perfect. Since the table is oval I had some pieces that did stick out quite a bit so all I did was got a tiny little hand saw from Walmart and used that to saw off the pokey edges. I went back and sanded them to get them smooth.

 After I filled all of the gaps with wood filler, I started sanding the heck out of this thing to get it as flat and smooth as possible. I made it this far so now I kind of had to go through with it.

After all was said and done and I did enough sanding to last me a lifetime, I stained it with Minwax Jacobean (the $3 sample sizes was more than enough for this table), sanded it smooth a couple more times and put a few layers of Poly. since it was going to get a lot of use.

This little stinker is the biggest pain in my behind. I glued it the wrong way and I refuse to pop it off because I am scared I am going to mess everything up. It's right in the middle but my centerpiece covers it.

 As you can see it's pretty flat and people that have came over say its pretty darn smooth. It has held up perfectly as well.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.

So if you are ever THIS bored or have no idea what to do your table top, I hope this helps. I did not even spend 100 bucks including the table itself to do this. All you need is popsicle sticks and patience. 

I hope you learned something new and enjoyed this little DIY. Hope you stop by again.