Closet Organization: Cheap DIY Boot Fillers

I'm pretty sure it's not just me having problems with my boots not standing up. It's annoying because a) It is not cute to look at AT ALL, and b) My boots loses it's form. 

I have this weirdly organized room where my "closet" is not really a closet. Everything's exposed. Most of my clothes are on hangers and then I have a bunch of folded up items and then right below are my shoes. For the most part, I like it cos I can see all my clothes when I'm in bed. I like envisioning outfits before I sleep. 

This closet is right by the door so often times, if my boots are just slumped on the floor, it gets caught under the door and it gets pretty annoying. I feel like my boots always end up pushed around the floor.

I've looked at boot forms/ fillers online and they are not cheap. I'd rather save the money, thankyouverymuch. So here's an easy DIY solution that I did today.

I went to the dollar store and got 4 of these foam floater things.

I cut them up into 3parts (the 4 floaters were enough for 6 pairs of boots for me) You might need to adjust the cuts depending on your boot length. I used the longer ones for my thigh high boots

Stuff them in and ta-daaaaa!!!  

Easy AND cheap. My kind of projects.

I think I'll buy myself new boots from all the money I saved. 

Laters,

Trendy Thursday DIY: Leather Statement Necklace

Hey, folks! 

So, this week, the teachers go back to school. The kids don't come in till next week but I'm already so tired! I had forgotten how it feels like to be working at 8am. I miss sleeping long hours. Haha Seriously though, I still feel a little bitter about summer ending but I've met most of my to-be Rainbows and they're such a sweet bunch! So excited!

Anyhoo.. starting this week, I'm gonna start a new blog feature called TRENDY THURSDAY DIY where (hopefully) every Thursday, I'll post a DIY project inspired by the season's hottest trends.

Let's start easy, shall we?

One trend that's not going anywhere are statement necklaces. I saw this Lynn Ban Necklace in the September 2012 Harper's Bazaar. I absolutely adore geometric statement necklaces and this one immediately caught my eyes. But for a whooping $900, no, thank you. It's so exclusive that I can't find details for it anywhere. The magazine just gave a phone number where you can order. 

 And so, inspired by this piece, let's DIY!

What you need:

leather scraps: I got mine from AC Moore, 3 different sized sheets for $4.85, OR get it here.
jump rings: I used 3/8
closure, chain: on hand. entirely up to you what you want to use. I just used whatever I can find first.
leather: I drew the shape I wanted on construction paper and used it on the leather as template
whole puncher: I got mine from a local dollar store for $1

And in 4 easy steps......

Voila!

Not bad, eh? And remember, you can modify yours to the shape you want. I wanted to make mine a little more rounded than our inspiration piece.

Please let me know if you decide to do this project! I would love to see what you've come up with!

<3,
Mary

Today I Played with an Old Pair of Jeans

Hey my dears! 

How are you all doing? Did everybody have a fun fourth of July? It's been soooo hot in my side of town! Plus, if you aren't from around here, let me tell ya, last week has been cuh-ray-zee! There was a severe thunderstorm on Thursday. We lost power that night and didn't get it back til yesterday. 7 days without power! Which also means 7 days without any crafting - I stayed at my boyfriend's house for a few days cos it's unbearable here at home (they got there power back within a day. Lucky!) So I didn't have any of my supplies.

So as soon as I learned that we got our power back, all I really wanted to do was sew. Oh my darling sewing machine, I missed you so much! I started the day with cleaning the basement which is also my crafting space and found a few pieces of clothing that I could reconstruct! Yay! First up was an old pair of jeans that's already too short for me (I choose to believe that I'm still growing taller at 25). 

I've been wanting to make shorts from old jeans but I didn't want it to be just plain so I grabbed my stash of zippers and found neon orange ones. Perfect! I had this vision of a distressed/ rugged pair of summer shorts so I didn't even bother making sure my lines were straight. A few snip, snips, sew, sews and a  few painful accidents with my pins (not required for this project - just me being me) later.......

Tada!!


I love how the zippers add a pop of color!

The zippers are about 6" and fully functional although I do not recommend wearing them with the zippers up! No, missy!

I wasn't able to take photos of the steps. I was debating whether I should do a full picture tutorial or not since it's pretty simple. 


Basically, here's what I did:


1. I put the pants on and marked how short I want them to be plus add 2" for the fold. If you're in doubt, add more allowance. It's easier to cut a little bit more later than end up with your shorts being too short!


2. Take the pants off and cut where you marked your fabric. Adjust if necessary. NOTE: Watch out for the pocket linings! If they're sewn in with the seam, you can cut it too and just sew it in with the zipper as well. What? No. I didn't forget about mine. My shorts don't have uneven pocket linings now. No, don't check)


3. Fold and pin the bottom in place.


4. Cut the sides where the seams are, as close to the seam as you can. Again, it's easier to give yourself some allowance and adjust later on than cut too much!


5. Pick a side to do first. Take your zipper and line up the bottoms and pin. Make sure you check if your zippers are pinned correctly that it opens up the right way - the zipper on the bottom when closed. I won't tell you how I decided to put that reminder here.


6. Sew around the zipper and then sew on the cuff as well. I decided to use a zigzag stitch rather than just straight ones to add to the rugged effect and to stop it from fraying (not sure how effective this is though)


7. Do it on the other side.


8. Cut off the excess zipper. And there you go!


Optional: I was thinking of distressing the front but I don't want it to look too heavy/busy. Thoughts?


I did a couple more projects with the parts I cut out. I'll share them next time. So what do you think?Are the instructions clear? Please let me know if you have questions. I can do a step-by-step picture tutorial if you guys want. I'm so sick of wearing jeans. I feel like cutting all of them up. 


Let me know!


Have a happy weekend!


<3,
Mary

DIY: New Look For Old Bangles

Hey! I know it's been a while. On my last post, I said my very first tutorial was coming up. I had high hopes when I started the project - I took pictures of the steps and everything but unfortunately, the end product didn't turn out as grand as I thought. :( Oh well, maybe I'll try that project again next time.. I'm too frustrated with it for now. haha!


But anyway, have no fear! I've been looking forward to posting a tutorial so I've been crafting in all my free time (not that I get lots of those lately. Work has been kicking my ass) I have a couple of projects lined up and I decided to share with you this one first.

DRESS UP YOUR BANGLES

Oh what did you say? You have old bangles that you swore were pretty cool when you got them but now are just kinda lame? You heard that tribal prints are in this season?


Well, I have good news for you! Bring out your glue gun and let's give those babies a new look!


Here's what you need:

(1) ruler and cutting tool of choice; (2) glue gun; (3) old bangle(s); (4) tribal print fabric - or really, any fabric that you want to use

Let's get started!

Step 1: Cut a strip of your fabric, 1" wide

Step 2: Start gluing! Tip: Start on the inside of the bangle because the glue would probably be really messy and wouldn't look pretty. 

Step 3: Wrap the entire bangle as tightly as you can. You don't have to put glue on every round, just maybe every 2 or 3 to keep it secure. Tip: At the beginning, I suggest to wrap the fabric around itself 2-3 times before moving on to cover and secure the ends. 

Step 4: When you reach the end of your fabric, fold & glue the end about half an inch to make a hem before you glue it to the bangle. (Does that make sense?) This way, you get a cleaner finish. If you run out of fabric before you cover the whole bangle, that's okay. Just be sure to go around the ends of your first fabric so it's secure and the cover up is better - then go along as you did before.

Tadaaaah! New bangles for spring! Did I mention how much I love tribal prints? Well I do! I was so excited to hear how it's in for the season. I can't wait for all the colorful wardrobe and accessories as soon as the weather gets it together and people can start putting all their black and gray winter clothes away!

I'm giving myself a pat on the back for my first tutorial post ever. I hope you enjoyed this simple project!

Til next time,

<3,

 Mary