Today’s Find!

This is a brief summary of my day today. I started my day off by heading to Target prior to going to work. My main goal was to get shaving cream, however I decided to browse shoes on my way to the shaving cream. (What do you mean they’re not side by side or even close to each other?) They had a good deal of summery shoes on clearance and I decided to browse. Here’s what I found…

I saw these when they were in the $4/pair range and decided that I didn’t like them enough for that price, but after I left the store last week I was thinking ‘eh, $4 is pretty darn cheap for shoes and who couldn’t use more sandals?’ But I was convinced I did the right thing. I never even tried them on. Today when I saw the price though and the shoes with the shiny bottoms, I decided it was time to try them on. It was just to see after all. No harm. Well I decided I liked how the strap looked on my ankle (not typically the case) and said ‘eh, $2.24… You can’t buy used shoes at Goodwill for that price!’ Then I saw the brightly colored ones, the only ones I’d seen on the original trip. I decided I’d find something that would go with them for only $2.24! So I bought 2 pairs of shoes for less than $5! That’s thrifty shopping! I wanted to see how many price changes these things went through, here’s the results, plus how they look on a foot.

Hope you enjoyed my thrifty find!

Birthday Blouson Dress

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent the better part of the day getting ready for dinner out with my husband. Kind of silly since he sees me day in and day out for the last 10 years (almost 8 of those being married to me). But I decided on my birthday I wanted to feel pretty.

The day started off with me working on my dress, followed by a manicure with my husband and breakfast out, then we came back home so I could finish my outfit and get ready. Truth is I had a surprise for him on my birthday. I found the closest Carrabba’s to our house, one of our favorite restaurants that we found while on vacation a few years ago. It’s about an hour away in Boardman, Oh. He never even suspected! 🙂

I thought I’d share my work from yesterday even though I didn’t take pictures of the process due to having a deadline.

First the manicure. My husband picked the color but I like it. Maybe a bit darker than what I would have picked.

Next the dress, it doesn’t fit my model very well because her chest and hips are practically non-existent.

Next the toes. I have a thing for shiny (if you couldn’t tell)!

And a little jewelry to glam it up even more….

I decided I should probably have a purse of some sort to finish off the look with that dress, so I made one from a placemat, with just a snap, thread, and a sew on “gem” to cover the snap.

Last but certainly not least, the SHOES. 🙂

$10 steal from Famous Footwear! I wanted something to wear with them and am so happy I came up with something. Such a good birthday present! New outfit and I got to finally wear my new shoes.

This was one of my presents from my husband, probably by far my favorite in awhile.

I always wanted a bamboo wind-chime just because they are the only ones I like the sound of. The rest just seem to clink and tinkle, not a noise I like to hear, sounds like something breaking.

I hope you have a great day! Keep crafting!

Sunflower purse/tote

I’ve been told I’m a strange woman for not carrying a purse. Truth is 99% of the time I have no need for one. I have pockets and the only things I typically have on me are a wallet, keys, and usually my cell phone. But what about that 1% of the time when one would come in handy? Well I needed some sort of solution for that, so I came up with this purse.

I can’t say I was methodical or measured much of anything. Becoming more of my typical thing, since I never seem to find the time to complete a project that requires exact measurements and straight lines and just ugh! So here we go…

Two random fabrics I had. The brown is duck cloth and the gray is some random knit that tends to split if you stretch it while it’s not hemmed (not my favorite by any means).

I cut 4 rectangles, 2 from each fabric.

This is why I can never find anything!

I was looking for some snaps I knew I had and well, temper tantrum got the best of me and everything ended up on the floor. Were the snaps there you ask? Nope! In a completely different spot in a totally different room in a place where I was sure not to lose them.

These are the straps, cut from duck cloth and lining them with interfacing. Sew together with right sides in, turn right sides out.

I highly recommend buying a pair of forceps off eBay. They make turning things sooooo much simpler.

I actually ironed the straps. Just to make it look like I hadn’t completely just slapped something together and called it good enough.

Sew down both sides of the straps. Attach (I eyeballed it), and make an X on the straps to add a bit more stability and strength.

Attach the elusive snaps. I used an exacto knife to cut tiny slits that I could push the snap prongs through. Had I thought this through the entire way I would have attached them sooner to hide the snap backs, but I didn’t so I made do.

I was paranoid the knit fabric would shred, so I put a dab of super glue on each hole.

Turn the bottom corners up to make the purse have more of a flat bottom and sew. Makes sure you got both layers of fabric tucked into the fold and you catch both when sewing.

Tada! Done, or is it?

Nah! It was a little to plain for my likes, so it needed something more.

Little bit of fabric paint and now it’s done. I may yet do something about those snap backs, but for now it’ll be ok.

Hope you like it!