upcycled thursdays: blouse made from a men's shirt

Article of clothing number two for the  30 for 30 challenge done! 

I cut up Ralph Lauren today. 

Ok maybe not the man himself. But one of his shirts. 

And quite frankly, rightfully so. What self respecting man would wear purple checkers? No wonder it was tossed out for me to find and start cooing and petting and saying "my precious."

This is the first time {that I can recall} that I made a blouse from a men's shirt.

I wanted something boxy that would be nice and airy for summer. 

Because let's face it, if I feel sweaty, I don't care what I look like.

And I get reaaaaly cranky when I get hot. But no one needs to know that. Pretend I'm perfect...Mmmkay? Thanks. 

To make this, I took in the sides, shortened the length, chopped off the sleeves, and changed the collar.  

I think I could wear this all summer. I need more men's shirts!

Off to Mason's closet...

P.S. I wear the same pants two days in a row. So what? I'm perfect, remember? I know you do it, too.

first goal complete

I accomplished my first goal from my 30 by 30 list! Hallelujah! Only 29 more. I'm so close.

Dream camera purchased.

I've been talking about getting a spiffy camera for years. Years. And I even have a cute I-adore-my-husband story to go with it.  

A few months ago I finally decided on the exact camera I wanted. I hadn't saved enough by that time so I patiently continued to put pennies in my piggy bank. Then one magical day, Mason and I were driving in the car as I calculated the dollars. And what do you know... I HAD ENOUGH!

I had a minor freak-out moment as I screamed my news at Mason. He whipped the car around and automatically headed to the camera store. Awesome. I skipped into the store. Ran up to the sales person, pointed to the camera in the display case and said "I want that camera!" 

The sales person slapped me and said "NO!" 

OK, that's not what actually happened. But they didn't have the camera. Nor did they have it at any other store. And it wasn't coming anytime soon. Since I wanted a Cannon I was out of luck. The camera making plant is located in Japan. See where this is going? The company has been struggling to get out  cameras since the terrible disaster. They told me to call every week to see if there were any in the shipments.

So that's what I did. I called and called and called. I even put the store number in my phone, I called so much.

One day I decided I was just going to go a different route and order it online even though it said it would be about a month before it would ship. I mentioned it to Mason and he got a funny look like I was making a terrible mistake to go thru with it. 

Long story short: Mason had already ordered it. At that moment I was only 24 hours away from holding my camera in my hands. 

So I now have my great camera. And I have an awesome husband. 

P.S. There was an insane storm in Boise a week ago. Here's a couple pics I caught with my dandy new toy. I even got lightening! 

skinny jeans and skinny smoothies

Bag & t-shirt: made by me. Tank & shoes: Urban Outfitters. Pants: thrifted. 

To get this look I took this t-shirt, turned it inside out, added a lacy tank and threw on some skinny jeans. 

{Threw on used loosely. We all know it takes a stick of butter and an extra set of hands to get on skinny jeans. }

This past weekend we got conned by my sister in to going to a health seminar by The Green Smoothie Girl. It was....interesting... I mean there was a lot of talk talk talk and little info. The whole thing was a loooong drawn out story. BUT I did leave feeling pumped about taking better care of myself. 

I cut out a ton of preservatives in my diet a few months ago. Turns out I was eating myself sick. Long story. Another time.  

But now I feel great. 

So this whole hour long sha-bang was about one thing: The Green Smoothie. Basically, it's a smoothie with a bunch of veggies in it.

 It's supposed to increase energy, aid digestion and help with weight loss. 

Interested? Here's the smoothie gal herself making a green smoothie.

And here's us drinking them...

I thought i was delish! Mason thought it looked like slime.

Maybe if I keep drinking them I'll no longer need that stick of butter to get into my skinnies. 

Do you drink green smoothies? What are your thoughts? 

how to make an endless opportunities dress

This is the dress from my last post. I bet you didn't know you could wear it a million different ways...

And there's still more ways. Cool huh?

Want to make it yourself? Here's how:

You will end up needing several yards of jersey fabric.

First make a circle skirt. Circle skirts are incredibly easy. There's a great tutorial over here on Made.

But stop just before you sew on the waist band. 

You're now going to cut two really really ridiculously long rectangles. 

Measure from between your chest to under your armpit. That's one of the sides.

Then take your height and add it to half of your height. That's the other side. 

Those are your two measurements for the rectangles. Cut 'em out.

You can now go on to sew on the waistband to the skirt, but also sew in the two rectangles.

I sewed mine on a slight angle so it would create a nice v-neck.

This dress is very forgiving and people with basic sewing skills can make this.  

Get creative with all the ways you can wear it as a dress. You can also hike it up high to create a tunic top or wrap the straps around your waist several time to create a skirt. 

Endless opportunities.

box breaking

I re-vamped a shirt that has been sitting in my closet, feeling unloved, for far too long. 

I realized, looking over the pieces I picked for my 30 for 30, that I'm drawn to blue and green.

And since this challenge is about getting out of your style comfort box, I went against my instinct to throw it into a blue/green pot of dye and went coral. I've broken that box! Oh yeah.

I also made this dress. Easiest dress to make. Like sewing 101 easy. More on that tomorrow.

In other news, I saw two guys today walking down the street. They're the baggy pant, wife-beater tank top type guys. They looked like they should have been walking a pit bull. But they weren't. They were walking a goat.

Gotta love Idaho.

upcycled thursdays: dress made from two men's shirts

Wondering what that number 5 is all about? Read this post!

Happy Thursday! This dress was made from two thrifted men's shirts. 

It's lightweight and perfect for these hotter days that are finally showing their shining faces. 

I made it a little while ago and have yet to wear it. {Bad me} Enter 30 for 30 challenge and success! 

It made it's way out into the world. 

I'm a terrible person and didn't make much of a tutorial. If you're interested in one speak up in the comments! I may surprise you with one later. 

dress made from trash bags. vest made from paper clips.

Modeled by Miss Michelle

nothing

Sweater and purse: made by me. Dress and belt: Anthro. Tights: Hue. Shoes: endless.com

See sweater transformation here.

I'm staring at my laptop with nothing to say at the moment. Just that life is good. Sometimes all the stars align in life and you can't help but be incredibly grateful for whatever decisions you made that led you to this point in life. Husband, home, family, happiness. 

Life is good. Not perfect. But so so good. 

food and family

Shirt: made by me. Belt: thrifted. Pants: Anthro. Shoes: Ross.

Shirt transformation here.

I wore this yesterday and spent the day eating and laughing with my momma, sisters, cousins and aunt. Girl's day. Food and fun. It was glorious. 

I came home to my guy and we went to U-Swirl. It's one of those make-it-yourselves frozen yogurt places. So good. We piled those babies so high. It was almost embarrassing. Almost. We headed home to eat and watched movies. Also glorious. 

Then I went into a food coma. But it was a happy, dream of more food, coma. I hope to go to that place again soon.

father's day

Happy Father's Day to the world's greatest dad!

He taught me a love of books.

He taught me that it's ok to eat brownies every day.

He taught me that it's great to exercise, especially if you like to eat brownies.

He lets me borrow his camera for months without complaining.

He helps me move heavy things.
He taught me nothing is more important than family.

He taught me how I should be treated as a girl.

He taught me how to love by example.

He still teaches me something new every time I see him. 

a fried date

Sweater: made by me. Shirt: Anthropologie. Pants: thrifted. Shoes: endless.com

See sweater transformation here.

Last night was date night. Neither of us were very hungry. But both of us were in the mood for fried food. 

Solution: hit up the drive-thru, grab a bunch of fried sides, head to the park for some sunshine and ukulele time. Perfection. 

As we packed up and headed to the car, Mason reached over and took the uke and camera from my hands. I thought to myself, "His mamma taught him well." 

That was until he dumped water on me.