So the other day, I happened upon this adorable idea while on Pinterest.
I was so inspired, I ran out, bought all the supplies, and promptly made three different Mother's Day gifts.
And, can I just say, they are soooooooooo cute.
It kills me a little.
They are so easy! I want to make them for everyone. {and me.}
The rundown:
You will need plain dishtowels, cute fabric, and a sewing machine. {duh.}
All you have to do is cut the fabric a little wider than the dishtowel, iron all four edges under so it's the same width as the towel and whatever length you want, and sew around the edges!
If you want, you can do two strips of varying lengths, like I did.
The end.{seriously.}
I made a set of two for each mother. {yes, i have three.}
I dunno, are my eyes lying? Are they really not that cute? Do you not want to start giggling when you look at them?
Once upon a time, I had an orange sweater that was THIS color:
Kind of a so-so faded orange.
But THEN.....
I mixed up some bleach solution {10 parts HOT water to 1 part bleach}and soaked the orange sweater for half an hour. {for more tips on bleaching, go HERE}{i love her. she is my hero.}
When I pulled it out, it was now THIS color:
{off-white....ish. sorry these first few pictures are crap. couldn't find my camera.}
Next, with a handy bottle of golden yellow RIT liquid dye {instructions on bottle}, I mixed up some dye solution in which I proceeded to swirl said sweater around for approximately fifteen minutes. {you don't have to leave anything in for the full amount on the bottle, just pull it out when it turns the color you want}
Now, I have a yellow sweater:
Are you amazed????
Let me tell you, when I pulled that sweater out of the dye and rinsed it out, I swear I saw millions of doors opening before my eyes.
Maaaaaaaagiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.
Go dye something. It'll change your life.
On a somewhat-related topic, that picture you see above was taken at my friend Kim's baby shower. {awww, babies!}
Having been on a sewing kick, I decided to make her something for the shower. {who doesn't want something that no one else has??!}This is what I came up with:
Blanket {my first!}:
Burp cloths:
And the part of which I am MOST proud....a FISH:
Remarkably easier than you'd think. I just pulled up a silhouette on our computer, then held a paper up to the screen and traced the outline. {i suppose if you want you could actually print it off.}Then I cut it out, pinned it to some fabric, and cut out two shapes. I decided to get a little fancy at this point, and used a narrow zig-zag stitch to attach some strips of cloth leftover from the burp cloths and blanket. Then, I pinned it right sides together and sewed everything except a small gap to turn it right-side-out. Turned it the right way, stuffed it full of stuffing, and then used a handy ladder stitch to close the opening. Ta-daaaaaa!
It used to be because I loved the excitement of opening presents. {that hasn't entirely faded...}
But nowadays, its a mixture of the absolute joy that always seems to hang around, the celebration of Christ, the family get-togethers, the endless hot chocolate and candy, and most of all, watching other people open the gifts I got them.
{Yay!}
Since Chris & I travel up north to be with family for the holidays, we open our presents to each other before we leave. This year, we decided that instead of opening them all on one day, we'd create a new, beautiful thing called......
Christmas Week.
{Yaaaaay!}
We open one present a day, every day this week.
Day #1:
I got a scarf, Chris got a Green Lantern shirt.
Day #2:
I got BOOTS, Chris got a wrench organizer.
Day #3:
I got a hot chocolate maker, Chris got a Hand Reflexology Kit.
{He's already pretty amazing at it...I swear it makes my headaches feel better.}
Oh yes. That's fur-lined on the inside all the way down.
Fantastically excited, for no apparent reason. Sweeeeet.
Besides, you only turn 23 once, right?
Chris kicked off the beginning of my 'birthday week' (a tradition from his family, I am so not complaining) with a surprise bonfire with all of our friends.
We burned 3 couches, a chair, a tree, and various boards torn from an old deck. Said items were doused in gasoline, and lit with a roman candle {I kid you not}. It was possibly the most epic fire I have ever been to. I'll try and find some pictures.
The next day, Sunday, Chris managed to get all of our friends to hang out with us again.
{Maybe he paid them?}
Everyone brought some food, and we had a grand old time barbecuing and enjoying each other's company.
Day THREE, Monday {my actual birthday}, we both had to work, but we did go out to dinner at Wingers.
Mmmm. I love me some Sticky Fingers.
And then....I got anew camera.
If I tried to tell you how excited I am it would only come out as high-pitched squeals and gasping sounds.
I. Am. Thrilled.
I really couldn't have asked for a better 23rd birthday. I got to hang out with my friends, watch my husband light several things {including himself, once} on fire, eat cupcakes, drink Dew, and mindlessly devour lots and LOTS of sour, neon-bright gummy worms. {They are my top favorite candy.} {I got a 5 lb. bag and am probably going to make myself sick.}
I threw him a surprise party the night of his birthday. We all went out for ice cream, and then came back to our house for games and cake! We all sucked it up at DDR. Awesome.
Add caption
And this is one of the dinners I've tried so far this week...Broiled pepper salad with lamb! It was pretty good.On his actual birthday I made clam chowder, one of his favorites. :) I still have a couple dishes left to try...wish me luck!
Well aren't the holidays just awesome (And I mean they really are).
Chris & I had a rockin' night at the Fall Ball here at SUU--we got to dress up and get dinner for free! The dance was a lot of fun--and who knew I married a man with such...unique...moves? ;)
The Sunday before Thanksgiving we threw our annual Pre-Thanksgiving party. We deep-fried a TWENTY-THREE POUND turkey! Phew. We also managed to squeeze 22 people into our kitchen! It turned out to be oodles of fun and I was so grateful for all of the wonderful friends who came to spend time with us!
Here are all the pies/desserts we had...so good...
I had to wait a couple hours after dinner was over before I even had room for any! So much food!
And just this past Sunday we decided to have a 'hot chocolate party' and hand around some gifts we'd bought for our friends. We had a pretty good time watching the expressions on their faces as they opened their gifts. Russell got a baby launcher...Matt got an 'Awesome' pin....Mario got fry sauce...haha they were all pretty random! After that we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Definitely one of my top Christmas movies!
