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Saturday, October 1, 2011

Sometimes I Make Things: Felt Rosette Flower Pot

Again, my cube needs some love.  In addition to the arrangement I made yesterday, I have a new little jewel to add to my desk.
How adorable, you say?

Why yes, of course! Simply adorable!

Easy peasy & cheap!

One flower pot (less than $1)
styrofoam ball ($4) - I know, they're such a rip-off!
9 sheets of felt - $3
Stick pins - Free (already had them)

Heck yeah! $8! (would've been $6 had I remembered a Hobby Lobby coupon..darn it!)

To make the rosettes, I simply take a felt rectangle (1/4 of the felt sheet) and cut into it like a spiral (think cinnabun). Start from the center and wrap them around.  Then, I use stick-pins to attach the flowers.  I'm sure others would use hot glue, but I change my tastes frequently, and I'm sure I'll get sick of the orange/fuschia combo at some point and want a different color scheme.  At that point, I'll simply pull out the pins, pull out the flowers and use some different ones!


Happy Sticking!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Sometimes I Make Things: Felted Wool Flowers

I apologize for the MONTHS of not posting.  A lot has happened.
I got a job.
I graduated.
I got a different job.

I have a GIANT cube and it needs some love.  Last weekend I found enough time to sew a lumbar pillow cover for my chair because I'm old and my back hurts if I don't sit up straight.  It's orange and white and p-r-e-t-t-y!  I'll try to snap a picture next week.  Next up on my list: Something pretty for my LARGE expanse of desk area.  I am NOT a packrat at work, and I throw things out/recycle all the time.  Translation: I have a lot of open space, DYING for pretty stuff.  And, althought I technically do have a window, it is a skylight and that's all I can see: sky. 

I need some nature.

Nature's expensive. :(

So I made some unnatural flowers from natural materials.  Huh?  Let me explain.

Felted wool beads!  Aren't they adorable?

I understand that they don't really look like any sort of flower.  But hey, they kind of echo a flowery-type thing, yes?  Ok thanks.

Wanna know how I did it?

Ok, but I'll tell you right now this is NOT a tutorial.

;)

So, I found these adorable little felt beads popping up all over blogland and just HAD to make some of my own.  So of course I went out and bought four ounces of merino wool roving.  I want to guess that I probably used 25% of that on this project.  Which is unfortunate.  Unfortunate because, I have found that I HATE HATE HATE making these annoying little beads.  They take forever and my hands get soggy and wrinkly.  Gross.  From now on, I am going to buy undyed pre-made felt beads on Etsy.  They're barely more expensive than buying the raw stuff, and they look TONS better than these ones I attempted.  If you would like to buy some, I would suggest trying here.  Lemonn's prices seem to be the most reasonable, for a great product.

BUT, if you decide you still would like to attempt making them after I've told you why not to, then go ahead.  You can find a tutorial on how to make felt beads from roving here.

So anyway, to the directions.  I was planning on making 30 felt beads, but gave up at 27 and decided that was probably enough.  I told you.  I hated making them!

So I made 27 balls.  I died them in batches of five, playing with different colors and water/dye ratios with RIT dye. That part was fun :D

I then stuck them on cheap grill skewers.

When I tried arranging them in my vase, I realized that the whole all-the-same-length thing looked awful, so I trimmed some to get some variety.  Also, I'm not a floral-foam person, so I opened my kitchen cabinet and pulled out those year-old dry black beans.  Easy peasy!

That being said, this was fun and easy, but next time I'd do it with premade, undyed beads and just dye them myself.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll be ready for some new colors come Christmas ;)

Price Breakdown:
Vase = Free (found it in my newly-acquired desk) but otherwise, $1 at a thrift store
Skewers = Free - they've been hanging out in our drawers since before we moved into this house (over two years ago...) but otherwise, idk $1?
Wool Roving = $10 for 4 ounces, and I used one, so $2.50.
Black Beans = Free, or $2

Total = $2.50!  (Or $6.50 if you are not a hoarder like I am)

Will look lovely in my cube, don't you think?


Monday, February 14, 2011

Sometimes I make things: Valentine's Yarn Wreath


Finished it this morning!

Happy Valentine's Day!


New Treasury for V-Day!

I just happened to have made this V-Day treasury...and you should check it out!  I'm really excited!

V is for Valentine's!

featuring these pom-poms, by pomtree, among other things:

How much do you just want to hang these all over your house?  I DO!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Things I might've ordered...

I've lost eleven pounds in 2011!  Yay!  And this means Andres has to give me $100. 

He wanted me to be motivated to be healthy, so we agreed that for every pound I lose, he pays me $20, in five-pound increments.  I was stuck at nine pounds for about a month (!) and I finally broke to eleven!  Yay!  So...I have not received my $100 yet, but I definiately have spent it...

For those of you who read my post from yesterday, yes, I did go to Boston Store and I did buy the exact same pants as my other ones, but it's funny how different they look, just in the fact that they're new.  1.  The color is sooo different because they haven't been washed a hundred times.  2.  They're tighter because they're not stretched out after two years of yo-yo dieting.  3.  No giant hole in the inner thigh.  Sweet!

They were $40, leaving me another $60 to spend.  And let's be realistic.  If I was going to be motivated to lose weight and had to spend the money on bills, some motivation that would be...So, I spend it on new clothes!  (Which is how I spent the last $100 as well).  With $40 jeans, I had $60 left to spend, and voila!  An e-mail from Express!  $15 off a $30 purchase!  What luck!  Here's what I got:

Heck yeah!  $12!!!

My absolute FAVORITE tank tops...None else compare...got three of them, for about $10 each...YEAH!

$12!  (And it sparkles!)
You are so jealous of my mailwoman.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Need new jeans!

I realized yesterday that I have ONE pair of jeans that I actually enjoy wearing...and they have a GIANT hole on the inside thigh.  Funny story on that one...

They're my skinny jeans, and always the first ones to get tight if I gain a little weight.  (I'm talking 2 pounds...I'll know...and they'll cut off my circulation.)  I decided to wear them the day after Thanksgiving.  They were all tight and such from being in the wash, so I did the "I'll just squat down in funny and inappropriate ways to make my jeans stretch out" dance.  And apparently my leftover Thanksgiving Peruvian food didn't appreciate this, and decided to RIP my favorite jeans.  Loudly.  :(

But I've still worn them!  I want to buy the exact same pair, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to find them to my satisfaction, so I've been waiting...Well, the time has come, when I realized yesterday that the only other pair of jeans I wear regularly are now a bit large.  Several problems with this:
1) Saggy ass.  I'm sorry.  I'm chunky, but I have a nice ass.  Saggy ass is never ok.
2) Weird crotch things.  When jeans don't fit right, they get all bunchy and stuffy in the crotch.  Yesterday I was wearing them and realized that they make me all funny-looking when I'm sitting and standy, because the button sticks out way far, because they're too big to be held up on their own.  Dumb.
3) When pants are too big, they hang low...Butt crack is never ok.  I pride myself on having a big enough butt to hold up my pants sans belt.  And belts are just another reason to forget to zip.

So,  have I located my replacement jeans?  Yes, of course I have!  Here, at calvinklein.com.  Last time I bought them at Boston Store, and I will probably look for them today, but they aren't listed on the website...All is not lost though, as Boston Store's website sucks.  So we shall see!  And maybe, I'll just get an EXTRA pair too! 

Unfortunately, I am tall, and it makes the acquisition of pants difficult.  Poop.  Anyway, here are the loves of my life:

On sale for $40!  F that shipping...