Friday, June 29, 2012

Thrifty Diva: Le Goodwill Haul Video

Hey, I just met you.. and this is crazy.. but here's a video.. call me lazy (because I didn't write this up)!



Thursday, June 28, 2012

OOTD: Errand Runnin' Casual

Everyone has those days.
I just have them more than the average gal.
You don't want to put forth effort, but you're running errands that at least require you to look like something that DIDN'T wake up in a crypt 50 years ago.

I present to you my latest OOTD. This day we were doing a few paperwork errands, going to hit up the goodwill, medicine gettin'.. you know.. the usual errand greatness.

This outfit has a few awesome things about it. It's not the world's most fantastic OUTFIT.. but the pieces are some of my favorite things to play around with and use.



So there's the overview of the outfit. Minimal accessories (which is my usual during the summer.. I've already mentioned that)... but I love my earrings. The fact that they were only a dollar on clearance make them even more awesome in my book.

My skinny jeans are my FAVORITE (and only pair of jeans.. I have one more but they are my painting/crafting jeans). I love them though and am sad that I can't find these exact ones right now. I got them from JCPenny about 6 months ago. They were $24!! I love that JCP changed their prices (even though I'm too broke to partake).. and while they aren't the best quality, I love them. They feel fantastic, they have stretch to them and they are a good 60% less than what I'm accustomed to paying for jeans.

The top is from Torrid, some odd years ago. I'll go with 3-4. It's strapless... but it has POCKETS. Heck yeah! I got it on clearance.. I'd venture that I paid too much for it. Probably $26 dollars or so.

The lace cardigan (I guess it qualifies?) is from TJMaxx. It's been probably a year or more... but I wear this poor thing out. It's perfect for these tops like this that expose areas that I don't want to expose. I got it on clearance (are you shocked?). I am pretty sure it was $12.

Ok.. now for some details:





Very few sparkles today. My ring is hella old. It was $1 from Claires on the 10 for 10 sale. If you hit up claires, wait and hit it up when that sale is on. Take it from someone who worked there. That's all the stuff is worth, but when you hit it.. you can rack up. The bracelet is part of a set. I honestly think it was from Claire's too (give me a break man.. I had to wear 5 pieces every day... I have a lot of Claire's crap!). This is the only one that fit around my fat hand, but I like that it's the hammered metal effect. I only wore one.. because well, it's summer and my skin and sweat and fake metal don't mix. My earrings are from Rue21, $2!



I know you guys love my feet shots of my beautifully non-pedicure havin' feet. These shoes, I hate. Alas... they were all I had available to my outfit at the moment. It's not that they are horribly ugly, they just don't feel like me. I may tear them apart at some point and stud them and do a DIY on it... but that's in the very late future ;) They came from Shoe Dept on sale for $6! I only purchased them because my favorite white sandals broke while I was working... so they were needed. I wear them from time to time though.

SO there you have it. A very casual day out with the family, running errands.

Till next time!

Monday, June 18, 2012

OOTD: Basically.. it's just a dress

Sometimes you just don't want to put effort into what you wear.. but what do you do when you're running errands and your only pair of jeans are in stand up on their own territory until laundry day??

You wear a cute dress.



This dress came from Cato last season. Oh maaa gaaawww.. she's so not on trend! Who cares? I wear what I want.. and this was the quickest, no fuss.. no need for undergarments.. no tugging.. easy, breezy (if we had one) kinda outfit that I could choose. The dress, I want to say, was around $20 on clearance.

Flipper to you then! I don't care! :D

This dress is fun.. and with effort it can really be jazzed up. I knew I had a day of appointments and errands so I tried to keep it as easy as possible. The hair actually ended up halfway through the day, but hey.. buns are cute too.

I paired the dress with some random bracelets that I usually always have on. They are brown and gold.. and just kinda there. I wasn't going after a beauty award.. just an award that wouldn't end up on People of Walmart.

For shoes.. again, keeping it basic.

Don't hate on my horrid feet. They need pedicured and repainted.. but that's what happens when you slap some on in the dark trying to get by. I think I'll show them some pedi love tonight actually.

These sandles are also from Cato (sooo weird, I hardly shop there!). I got them last year for full price, so we'll hiccup around $16 or so. They are cute and go with a lot.. I have worn them down though and they aren't quite the comfortable sandals they used to be. I do put a lot of weight on them though.

So there you have. Quick, easy no fuss outfit. Nothing fancy or super trendy.. but that's okay. Don't feel bad if you don't put a lot into your look... because at least you put SOMETHING into it. Some people really think that pj pants and slippers are okay (not that I haven't been guilty!).

;)

Artsee Time: DIY Steering Wheel Cover

Okay first thing's first.

I apologize for this tutorial. It's quite rigged together. I honestly had this elaborate plan for it and I kept fudging up every time I attempted execution of making the tutorial. I get into something and just forget all about pictures (if someone wants to donate to the artsee diva video camera fund I wouldn't complain.. then you'd have youtube videos to follow!)

I also want to point out what you will see.. these were pretty much taken with different covers. You'll get the gist of it, and it's quite basic really.

This is MY INTERPRETATION. Last I checked creativity and DIY carried no rules-- that's the beauty of it. Feel free to do things your way if you'd like. This works for me, and I like this style. You can add to it and change what you want.

What we are doing:

We're making a very basic steering wheel cover with exposed elastic. I started this type as an elastic practice project and ended up falling in love with it. I absolutely love making these things... and I'm sorry if you know me, because these will probably be your Christmas, Birthday, Easter and Flag Day gifts :)

Here's the final product that we're going after:



Cute huh? This one is for sale in my etsy store if you're not ready to tackle the sewing machine. You can get one right there ;)

SO the first step to this is to choose your fabric (and if you want to, your lining fabric). I honestly buy the huge bolts of felt-ish material (LOL.. I am sooo teh skillzed at knowing my terms and fabrics). It's dirt cheap, and the pink you'll see me using here cost me 1.00 for TONS of it on sale. I sometimes opt out of lining the covers, it just depends on the original fabric and if I'm going to take to the inside with a puff paint or not :)

So.. you've got your fabric all picked out. Hopefully you're using something thrifty like an old curtain, shirt, sweater or thrifted material. These were for an order so they are not.. but this is a great way to upcycle :)

You're going to want to take the measurement of your wheel all the way around. I make my orders usually around the 37-45 inch sweet spot. You want them to be around 5.5 inches wide. Too wide and they will hide your dash and important information... but not wide enough and they just look silly. Take your wheel into consideration throughout the process. I base my length on how much give the material has. You want it to fit snug, but you don't want it to pop off off in your face (hey.. don't judge me!) while you're driving. If it's not very flexible then you want to get it the full length of your wheel. You're going to be adding elastic, but if it doesn't fit to begin with then it's really not going to fit once you add that fun stuff to it.



Now-- this is me doing things bass ackwards, but I cut everything the same size first and THEN go in and trim my hem out of the lining. You can choose to do this from the get go if you want... but my brain works weird.

I usually take about an inch off of the lining material so that I can center it and have a nice little edge on each side for hems and elastic.



Once this is done, you iron down your hem! The weirdo in me loves the felt sort of material for lining because it melts a tad under the heat and helps to hold things in place for me so I don't have to go pin happy!



Now-- I do all of this in one swoop. It would probably be neater if you double hemmed it to get all the fraying under control and THEN put on the elastic.. but this is how I did these, so you'll have to deal with a not so neat one. It's for family use though and I don't have a problem with my edges once I take some Fray Check to them (don't have pictures of that part, sorry!)



ATTENTION: PRACTICE BEFORE YOU GO ALL OUT WITH YOUR ELASTIC!

Every machine is different. Your tension and settings need to be perfect to achieve the right gathering. Gather some scraps with smaller pieces of elastic to get the right feel before you do this on your final product.

To sew the elastic you want to have a constant pull on it as you let it go through your machine. You don't want to rip your needle, but you also want to give your material some gather as it goes by pulling on your elastic the whole time you are "feeding" it. Let your machine and material guide you as well... don't force it through. If you need further education on sewing elastic, Threadbanger has some killer tutorials on youtube. One simple search and you're on your way.

I don't have pictures of this step.. but all you do is put your right sides together at the end and sew it back and forth a few times to make sure it's secure.. trim down your edges, flip back so you're prettiness is on the outside and do a jig of happiness because you completed your easy peasy lemon breezy steering wheel cover!

...there you have it!





Oh wait---



POST PROJECT MADNESS!!! AHHHH. I'm definitely not a "clean" crafter. My stuff goes flying everywhere and by the time I'm done I'm covered in thread and scraps. I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.


SO I hope this helps. I honestly didn't find very many things online to this regard, so I had to fake it till I made it. One day soon I'll redo this in greater detail.. and then once you guys fund my camera project (tee hee!) I'll do the same in video form.

Leave any questions or comments for me below.. and I'll see you guys soon with another DIY!

(Plus size OOTD coming tomorrow!)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

OOTD: Pastel pencil skirt

Okay-- a little background before we begin.

This skirt is a (very exciting) thrift find from Goodwill. I have plans for this skirt, big plans.. and actually I have a whole series coming up and this is the first of that. I have quite a few thrift finds that I love (of course I do, I purchased them!) and I will be showing you how to style these in a very basic way. Not everyone has an unlimited line of credit or extra paychecks to buy all the hottest trends (myself included) and I feel that basic styling and a few main pieces go a long way.

I give you an office look.

I realize it isn't everyone's cuppa tea and most BBWs that I know will not wear a skirt that isn't loose.. but it's all a process. If you force yourself out of your comfort zone, you'll find out that what you thought to be so comfortable wasn't actually your "limit".



What you have here are some basic pieces. A white shirt with lace sleeves, my thrifted pastel skirt and some black heels.

If you're like me, you don't have an extensive shoe collection. I have about 4 wearable pairs of shoes that aren't my vans-- and even with those I only have 4 pair... so you're looking about a closet of less than 10 pairs of shoes. This is my only pair of black heels but they get the job done. I don't know the name, but I purchased them from Rack Room a few years ago when I had gainful employment that required nice shoes but equally required me to stand all day.



Jewelry I kept minimal. I personally love accessories and will pile them on until the cows come home (moo moo baby!) HOWEVER.. this is South Georgia and it's hot and humid and I wear cheap costume jewelry. That + Sweat is never pretty for my skin, the item or people looking at me.

I did want to show off something that is out of my usual way of styling. It was FREE from my semi annual accessory swap that I host!



It really helps bring in the whole outfit. As you could see from the first photo, I'm wearing a silver snakeskin print belt... so this bracelet and the way the light catches brings in every single color that I had on!



The belt is from Cato on clearance. I believe back when I got it I paid somewhere in the nature of $4.


So.. that was today's look. Very plain for me, but it's classy with a spark of jazzy. It's not everyone's cuppa tea, which means it's perfect for me!