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2 Little Hooligans

Momma’s got a sewing room.

I think this just may be my most favorite room in the house now, but that has not always been the case. This is the room that caused my worst “why did we buy this house” melt-down. When we purchased the house this room was not being used for anything, it was a big, dark, empty room. There was no insulation and the walls were actually the siding from the outside of the house. There was even a little hole in the back wall that was completely open to the barn. The floor was patched together with old barn boards and plywood then they were covered with roofing tar paper. Hmm? It was one of those floors that bounced like crazy when you walked on it and in all honesty I chose to crawl and not walk on it. I still remember the day when my hubby sent me up there to start demoing the floor and to pull up the tar paper. It took about one minute to completely break down. This room scared me! Seriously I thought something was going to crawl out from under that tar paper and attack me or that I was going to literally fall through the floor. A few minutes later with two spot lights and lots of reassurance I was pulling up that tar paper. Within a few months this room was framed, insulated and had sheet rock. At first it was our living room/office/guest room. Then it became our bedroom with the first little one joined our family. So here we are 7 years later and this once scary room is my craft room and…Momma’s got a sewing room!
I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have all of your materials and tools stored in one place. I can finally sew and create with all of my materials in the same room. Goodbye to running around the house to find all of my items so I can begin sewing at the kitchen counter. Goodbye to stacks of fabric and unfinished projects stashed all over the counters. And goodbye to having to clean up my sewing messes just so we can eat. Yes, I am one lucky girl, that I know!

So welcome to my sewing room! I’m pretty sure that when the kids are sleeping this is where you will find me.

So the two huge armoires hold all of my fabric and crafting supplies. I am so lucky to have these to store my fabric in. They are great! Unfortunately now we have no where to store our clothes…minor details right?

Most of the items that I added to my craft room came from thrifting, yard sales or something that I already had in the house.

Nothing more perfect for a craft room then to hang bunch of pretty fabric up on the walls with hoops. And of course my 2 little hooligans logo needed to be hanging up there as well.

A little peek inside at my fabrics that are finally neatly organized.

I used a combination of comic book boards and Fabric Organizers from here.

All of my knits, satins and whatever cheap fabrics I have snagged up to make clothes is stored on the top shelf.

In the other armoire I placed all of my home decor, upholstery, minky and odd ball fabrics. I also squeezed my batting’s, pillow forms and whatever else I could in here. The drawers are filled with zippers, threads, patterns, and every single crafting supply or material I own.

I purchased this little vintage inspired dress form a few weeks ago. I had been searching for a real dress form for months now but they were just too pricey. So I snagged up “Beatrice” for a mere $30 with free shipping (brand new) from Ebay. I think this will be great to bring to craft fairs and is just a fun display piece.

And in all honesty we are the same height. So she may help with draping and some minor fittings, but her waist is going to need a lot padding before she can even get close to the same measurements as mine. She may be skinny, but my bust size is bigger, so boo-yah!

Ok, so here is one of my most favorite thrifting finds…my sewing chair! I saw this little beauty and knew it would be perfect and for $15 I couldn’t pass it up. Just look at the shape of it, how cute! I think I might end up painting it white in the end, but for now it is going to stay as is.

My sewing table is actually a fold out table that we already had. The top was in pretty bad shape but with a little sandpaper and a few coats of white paint it is now perfect. I love how big it is and really it was free, so you cant beat that. I also bought a large cutting mat and a new ruler. I had been using a tiny scrap booking mat to cut all of my fabric and let me tell you how difficult it was cutting out large pieces of fabric. So this is amazing to use. I also found a fold-out suitcase holder while thrifting for $2. Now it makes the best little spot to hold unfinished projects so that my table can remain clutter free. It’s s holding a sleeping bag that is in the works right now. I’m just hoping that my unfinished pile doesn’t get too big.

Then there is this little chair. Yet another thrifting find for $21. The fabric is in amazing shape and needed nothing other then a new home. Its not my typical style but for some reason it was calling my name (maybe because there is orange in it) and I’m so glad I brought it home. What a cute shape and you should see the piping on it…adorable! I have learned over the past 6 months that my style has changed so much. I am now a cheap, thrifting, vintage loving girl…who loves bright colors!

Another dresser for storage which is actually still filled with some of my clothes. In time I’m hoping to fill it with all of my handmade items. I would love to start selling again in the next few months and hopefully I will have enough items to go to a few craft fairs this year.

And here is my newest little baby…and obviously not a thrifting or cheap find, but a NEEDED one.

I’ve used it a couple of times, but I need to spend A LOT more time learning all of the stitches and how to master threading it. But I know in a few months this is going to be my best friend! Goodbye to zig-zag stitching all of our clothes.

So all I need now is a good light for sewing. The only problem with this room is that there is not a single window in it. So it is really dark and as you can tell from the photos, really hard to photograph. Any ideas on a good light? I see them all the time at JoAnn’s but wonder if they are worth the money or if I should buy a cheap lamp at Walmart.

So there you have it, Momma’s new sewing room!

I kinda like it.

So I just kept going with my first paint choices and I’m glad I did…I kinda like it. No, I don’t love it, but I really like it. And in all honesty I think it will grow on me. This is a change. A big, bright change. So time will only tell. But one thing I do know for sure is that I am LOVING my kitchen being a kitchen and only a kitchen.

This weekend I even started decorating the walls in the kids rooms.
And even started working on my sons comforter. Can you guess what I’m making?
I even started making a little something for my bunny-button loving girl.
Oh and I almost forgot to mention that I finally finished organizing my sewing room! Oh I am thrilled! Don’t worry, lots of house pictures soon to come.

So any fun projects for you this weekend?

Girly-Twirly Dresses

I had a lot of little girls to make Christmas gifts for, 12 to be exact. So I decided to make them all the same dresses to make it easier for me. I bought The Twirl Skirt Pattern from Lil Blue Boo and copied her A Party Dress Tutorial. Instead of using cotton fabric for the twirl skirt I used ruffle fabric.
As you can see in the picture below, the ruffle fabric goes in all different directions when cutting it into a circle skirt. I think it adds to the girly-twirlyness of them. Yes they are so sweet and I’m pretty sure that I just made up a word there…girly-twirlyness!

I bought most of my tee-shirts from Walmart or Old Navy. I find they have the best selection of plain tees that can be embellished. And they are very reasonable in cost.
Some of the dresses I added flowers to them, while some I left plain.
I even used a few other fabrics that I had on hand to make each one unique and one of their own.
It was fun making so many different dresses with so many different colors.
I just wish one of these girly-twirly dresses would look as cute on me as they do all those little girls that they went to.

Shabby Apple giveaway winner and repainting the kitchen.

The Shabby Apple giveaway winner is…

Adventures of Shaw who said…
My favorite Shabby Apple Dress is Le Coeur. We are going on our honeymoon to France in April and I want all of them.

Congrats! And how exciting to be going to France for your honeymoon. That dress couldn’t be any more perfect for the trip!

So this weekend I decided to repaint our kitchen. I know, I said I was going to take a little break from working on the house once our other rooms were finished, but this room desperately needed a new paint job. And really I just couldn’t wait, even though I promised the hubby I would.

Instead of repainting everthing the existing colors I decided to go with something new. Most of the time I can pick out the perfect color in minutes, but I was just having a tough time with all those blues. So I took a couple of fans home to help me decide. Gosh, all of those colors are dangerous for a color loving girl! I thought about going red for a minute or two but decided to go with big country blue for the cabinets and true blue for the walls. It took hours to remove all of the doors, hinges and hardware so late that night I started painting. It wasn’t until I finished painting the built-ins (on the left) that I realized the color I had chosen was way to bright for me. Like WAY too bright. Trust me, these pictures make the color look great, but they don’t really show the true color. But I had gotten too far to turn back…plus the paint store was closed and I’m an impatient kinda girl when it comes to such things. So I decided to go with it and make it work somehow. Last night I finished painting all of the cabinets. I wish I could say that I love it and that all of the time spent painting was worth it, but I can’t…not yet. Hopefully after I paint the walls and trim today I will like the color and it tones down the brightness on the cabinets a little.

Oh geez, sometimes my love for color can really get me into trouble! And in case your wondering, the hubby loves the color.

Have you entered?

Just a quick reminder that the Shabby Apple giveaway ends tomorrow. I know some of you were having a hard time entering due to issues with Blogger. I think I fixed the problem for the time being, so thanks for being so patient.

Gosh I want that dress!

Shabby Apple Dress Giveaway!

Oh boy do I have an amazing giveaway for all of you today from Shabby Apple!


For those of that don’t know shabbyapple.com carries the most beautiful women’s dresses, little girls dresses, and even maternity dresses. Here are just a few of my favorite dresses that they carry.

Rosso

Love Me Do

Le Seine

Maple

Shabby Apple not only carries clothing but they also carry the most amazing accessories to go along with any outfit. They carry everything from shoes to scarves and from bracelets to belts to bags. There really is something for everyone at Shabby Apple! Just go and take a little peek for yourself. But I’m warning you ahead of time, you can spend hours just browsing their collections.

Spring Bloom Necklace

So are you all wondering which dress one lucky winner will be receiving? Well it’s the Spanish Steps dress! My favorite.

I know right?! It’s beautiful! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this dress! It’s dressy, yet casual. Simple and comfy on the top yet intricate and girlie on the bottom. Its one of those dresses that will look completely amazing on any body type and it could be yours!

So here are the details on how to enter to win the Spanish Steps dress. And lucky you, you have two chances to win! But first I must mention that those of you that enter must have a US shipping address and that there will be no exchanges for the winning dress. And like always make sure you leave a seperate comment for each chance to win.

First Chance: Head on over to shabbyapple.com and choose your favorite dress then come back here and tell me which is your favorite
Second Chance: “like” Shabby Apple on facebook and then leave me a comment saying you did so.

**Shabby Apple is also offering my readers a 10% off discount for the next 30 days! Just use the coupon code: twolittlehooligans10off **

Special thanks to Shabby Apple for letting me host this amazing giveaway and hurry on over there because the giveaway will end Monday January 16th, 2012.

Great ways to use up leftover wrapping paper.

Sometimes I do something and wonder why hadn’t I ever thought of that before…this was one of those moments. We finally took down our tree today (right before my 2nd craft failure). Of course like usual I didn’t have a great way to pack up our breakable ornaments. Every year I say I am going to buy some ornament storage boxes, yet never do. So this year I got the bright idea to use up my leftover wrapping paper by wrapping up our breakable ornaments with it.

I never knew how much fun you could have with a roll of wrapping paper.
It was definitely worth the few bucks that were wasted.

Not only is it fun to hide in, but you can also use the backside to color on. Just tape a huge section of it onto your table and let the kids color. Yes, hours of entertainment for just a few bucks, gotta love that!
And don’t forget to save the roll on the inside to wrap your lights around.
Who knew one roll of wrapping paper could be so entertaining.
And that wrapping up our tree would be just as fun as putting it up. Yes, there were a few melt downs over the pig and chicken being packed away, but it will make playing with them next year just that much more special.

Do you have any other great uses for leftover wrapping paper?

2 craft failures in 2 days.

People ask me a lot if I ever have a craft fail…well of course I do, everyone does. I just had 2 craft failures in 2 days. Luckily some of the time I am able to turn it around and make it into something else. For example this Anthropologie inspired comforter I just made was a craft failure at first, but I was able to turn it into a craft success. But sometimes my projects are just beyond being saved and they end up in the trash like this homemade fruit leather that took me over three hours to make.

It sure was pretty to mix and it smelled amazing, but I wouldn’t try that recipe again. My second craft failure came today when I started to pull all the staples out of this chair that I was reupholstering.
I’ll admit I was getting pretty discouraged fast with this chair. The chair wasn’t even bare and I had pulled 10 pieces of fabric off it, yet I was still determined and kept going. But once I found out that the cushion on the back was glued onto another piece of fabric which was filled with fluffy batting I decided to give it up and call it a craft failure.
I’m pretty sure that if I were willing to put in many many hours on this chair I could eventually reupholster it, but I’m just not willing to do so. So I’m ok with failing sometimes.
And luckily I’m only out $9.99 for both chairs because they were 1/2 off the day I bought them.
But I learned a lot from this little project. First of all when I’m completely in love with the design of the chair to begin with, don’t buy it. There will be more matching chairs out there that need to be reupholstered. And secondly, spend more time looking at the design of the chairs and not just the price tag… $9.99 really spoke to me.

So those of you out there that are too scared to try something due to failure just remember we all have failures. But don’t let that stop you. It’s always better to try and fail, then to have never have tried in the first place!

Upcycling a boys shirt into baby doll clothes.

My little girls love playing dress up with their dolls. So a few months ago I made them a bunch of clothes for their dolls using their old baby clothes and a few of my sons. I had these two plaid shirts that I just loved and couldn’t part with. So I turned one 2T long sleeve button down shirt into one pair of pants and one pillowcase dress.

They were so simple and easy to make. Just take your shirt and cut off the sleeves right at the seams. Then cut the sleeves to the desired length by measuring them up to your doll. Remember to allow a few extra inches at the cut part to allow the edges to be rolled over for the elastic to be added. Cut your little half circles on the inside parts of the shirt like I did below. This way you will end up with the buttons on the outside of the pants.

Now turn one sleeve inside out and keep the other one right side out.

Place them inside one another with the half circles lined up. Pin in place. Sew only the half circles.

Pull the legs. Now turn the pants wrong side out.

Fold over the top edge twice and iron flat. Sew all around edge while leaving a 1″ opening. Feed elastic through opening.


Sew opening shut and turn your pants right side out.




Now to make the pillowcase dress all I did was trim off the collar and made sure the fabric was straight across the top and back. Then cut the arms out by using the seams where the arms used to be sewn on and where you just cut the sleeves off.

Fold the top and the back of the dress over twice and sew like a regular pillow case dress.

Just another quick and easy upcycling project. And what a great way to use up those outgrown hard to part with clothes.

New Years ReSEWlutions with Me Sew Crazy

I’m over at Me Sew Crazy today as part of her New Years ReSEWlutions series.
I’m sharing my tutorial for this Anthropologie inspired toddler bed comforter that I made for my little girl. It was a great way to kick off the New Year and to finally start checking off those projects on my list.