Tutorial: holiday/winter DIY centerpiece

Thanksgiving is almost here! I will be hosting it this year and unlike last year I will be doing all the cooking myself. Wish me luck. 

What will you be doing tomorrow?  

If you are in the US: May you, your family and friends have a great Thanksgiving. 

This was a very popular tutorial last year so I thought I'd share it again.

DIY holiday centerpiece

Material list:

Red maple tree leaves or any red leaves you manage to find in your yard
Pine cones (smaller ones are better): this can also come from your backyard
1 tall vase
Tree branches: I got mine at Michael's a few years ago

Directions:

1. Clean your vase, and add the pine cones to the bottom

2. Arrange the red leaves nicely, so that the red part actually shows. Mixing smaller and bigger leaves works really well.

3. Play with the branches. See what works best.

4. I chose to display a couple of candles on both sides of the vase because I think they compliment the design quite nicely.

And because the leaves are red, you can leave this up until Christmas. The only thing I would change is the candles. Perhaps use red candles, or Santa/Frosty?

Toga party costume re-style

Hubby and I were invited to a Toga party last weekend. Having never been to a toga party before, I started panicking right away. You see, jeans (and pants in general) contain my love handles and all that extra goodness I sometimes carry around my waist. Wearing dresses and skirts on the other hand scares me to death. The last thing I want to look like is a hot air balloon ;)

I also wanted something more creative than a white sheet wrapped around my body. So I decided to hit the costume and party stores. I found this awful looking thing on sale for $14.99 at Party City.

As it turns out, taking pictures of your own self is really hard!

Anyhoo, it was a step up from a plain white sheet, but not by much. It was a sleeveless, long white dress 3 sizes too big, with a diagonal sash looking thing-y.

So after a quick trip to my local Joann's and 4-5 hours in front of my trusty serger, I transformed it into this:

 

Here is what I did:

Shortened it
Made it a bit smaller so that the shape was a bit more flattering
Adjusted the shoulder seam (as you could see way too much when I moved my arms)
Added tons of trim
Total cost: $25.00 (I already had the sandals)

I got so many compliments at the party that I have decided to make all of my costumes from now on. I like being unique ;)

Happy Friday Friends!

Treasure Hunt time!

November is a special month, since it is this little blog's anniversary! I can hardly believe it has been a year since I've started blogging. 

I have learned so much and met so many wonderful people! More on that later though!

To celebrate, I have put together a little treasure hunt! Who doesn't like a good treasure hunt right?!? 

Etsy allows me to add up to 5 pictures to each one of my listings. I have added the picture above to one of my shop listings. Go to my shop, and click on all the listings until you find the treasure chest. 

**HINT: Look at the 5th picture....

The special: you will get 50% off the item in the listing! 50% is a huge discount! What are you waiting for?!? Check it out! 

AHOY MATEY!