Color me crafty!

Once upon a time, Brandon and I drove to Virginia for a med school interview. While there, I found myself strolling through the mall to kill time, and a miracle occurred. I found the most comfortable, best fitting pants of my life. They were on sale for $2; I nearly passed out. Obviously, I bought them.

After bring these beautiful pants into my life, I thought I would wear them every day. But, I soon realized that wouldn't be happening. You see, these pants were white. Very, very white.

 

It seemed that every time I wore them, I would spill ketchup, or sit in mud, or my kiddos would smear some unknown substance down the leg. I would stare at these pants in my closet with equal parts longing, and fear.

Until I was watching Project Runway one night, and got the idea to dye them! 

 I got Tulip brand fabric dye, because that's what the Walmart near me carries, for about $2 each.

I was going for a plum/wine color, so I got one red and one purple, and followed the instructions on the package, mixing about 3/4 purple to 1/4 red.

Thank goodness for stainless steel sinks!

And the finished result! Now, I live in these pants!

The color is very even, and vibrant even after washing the pants a few times! 

I love happy endings.

I was crafty today.

Have you ever been to the website PS I Made This? It's awesome. Basically, she takes high end, expensive looking clothes and accessories, and teaches you how to make them for cheap.

Today I made some earrings, inspired by this tutorial:

http://ps-imadethis.tumblr.com/post/3031079633/l-stands-for-long-and-luxe-the-lovely-ladies

I loved her collarbone length chain earrings, with the ombre effect, but I felt like they were a little too couture for me. Let's be real here, I'm a suburban housewife. So I modified them a bit.

I started out with some spare chains I had from making other jewelry, and some earring hooks from an old pair of earrings that broke. I grabbed some pliers and wire cutters, and some jump rings that I already had. 

Because I already had the supplies, this cost me $0. But if you want to go buy them, jump rings cost about $1.50 and you can get 30 inches of chain for about $5 at any craft store.

First, I measured how long I wanted the chins to be, and cut them all the same size. I divided my chains into two separate piles, making sure they were equal.

I then grabbed a jump ring, and thread each chain through it.

And placed them next to each other, to compare.

Then, I grabbed my earring hooks and put them through the jump ring too. 

Make sure all your gaps chains and jump rings are closed up nice and tight, and cut any chains that are too long.

And that's it!

I think it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, and I'm seriously digging these earrings!

Passion for Fashion Friday aka That Time I was Crafty

I got some awesome coral cropped pants a while back. I was really excited about them, but when I got them home, I realized that I didn't love the fit.

See? They kinda flare out at the bottom, and I prefer my skinny jeans to be pretty skinny.

Needless to say, I was pretty bummed. I loved the color, and really wanted to love these pants, but with the poor fit, I just couldn't.

So I decided to get crafty.

I looked online till I found easy ways to skinny up my jeans.

This is the tutorial I used (gotta love Pinterest, right?):

http://ofdwellinganddress.blogspot.jp/2013/05/making-skinny-jeans-skinnier.html?m=1

It was actually really easy. I'm a sewing novice, and I could do it!

The after:

Muuuuuuuuuch better. 

I've since worn these pants like 4 days in a row.

beach crafts

I told you there would be a lot of beach related posts.

I was crafty! I made crafts!

The first beachy craft we did was this cute little shell clippy for Portia:

I just superglued shells onto a barrette. I know, my skills are incredible.

Next, I made a souvenir jar. Here's my inspiration:

found here.

I took an old candle, and cleaned all the wax out of it. 

.

and I gathered all the sand and shells I collected at South Padre.

Then I filled the jar.

I printed the place and date on an address label, and stuck it on the jar,

and I glued the lid onto the jar, because I have children, and it's not hard to imagine them opening up a jar of sand in my bed.

And that's it!

Pretty cute huh?