DIY Painted Striped Shirt

Long time no blog.  Yeah yeah, sorry sorry. Yesterday marked 6 months until the wedding and lately, that's all I've had on my mind. I've also been way less focused on school, which will probably take its toll during my GI final this coming Friday. I will be SO GLAD when this module is over. Needless to say, I haven't enjoyed it as much as the previous two. It's just....too much stuff. However, my two patient interactions this module were awesome. And probably the only reason I haven't completely burnt out yet. It's so amazing to me how every person has a different story to tell. Granted, a medical history isn't necessarily the most happiest of stories, but it's still really cool to hear each one. 

But enough of the sentimental blogging. 

I've been working on quite a few projects for the wedding (and the blog) but I either haven't completely finished one to show it to you, or its a gift that I can't show you until the wedding is over. So, today's post is a random spur of the moment project I saw pop up in the craft blog world and I wanted to take my own shot at it. As you've already learned from the title, it's a painted striped T-shirt. 

I thought this was the coolest idea. I wish I could share the original idea with you, but I just saw it one day scrolling through Pinterest. So, instead I'll just give you my own tutorial.

Supplies:

 

Plain white T-shirt

Fabric paint*

Foam paintbrush

Masking tape

*I used acrylic paint mixed with a textile medium to make it fabric paint

How To:

 Use your masking tape to make stripes down the shirt. I used a ruler to make sure they were the same width all the way across. I also put a strip of masking tape vertically on each side. (But I didn't get a picture of this). I did this because I only wanted my stripes only go across the front. 

Before you begin painting, make sure to put some scrap paper inside of the shirt so the paint doesn't end up bleeding through to the other side.  Then, dab on your paint with the foam brush until each stripe is covered. I decided to alternate my colors.

 Let the paint dry and slowly peel off each piece of tape. 

And now you have a new piece of clothing in your wardrobe. :)

 Or at least a new, cute, pajama shirt?

It needs something...like a necklace. Or another stripe. 

I promise it's not a crooked as it looks. ;)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Tulle Pom-Poms

Can you believe I already have another project for you? I have had nothing but wedding on my mind and felt the urge to knock out a lot of stuff lately. Today, I want to show you how to make tulle pom-poms, my way.

I wish they didn't look so much like loofahs. Eh. Oh well.

I had searched different ways to do this, but none of the techniques I found resulted in a "full" pom-pom. So, I tried a mixture of techniques.

What you need:

Bolts of tulle 

2" Styrofoam balls

Straight pins (ignore the wire, it didn't work)

Scissors

Ribbon

Directions:

1. Cut rectangles of tulle (mine were probably about 7-8" long) and fold accordion style (like a fan).  2. Stick a straight pin through the middle of your folded rectangle. 

3. Fold both sides upward and stick the pin into the Styrofoam ball. 

4. Repeat many times.

5. Cut a piece of ribbon (for hanging) and pin it into the middle of the ball. (You may want to add some hot glue too, just to give it extra strength.)

 

And you're done. Now you have a nice loofah-like decorative pom-pom. Hooray!

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to recruit some unlucky individuals to help me make about 20 more of these. AKA - my mom and sister. :) 

Photo Booth Props #1

I know I know. I'm pretty much the worst blogger ever.

Also, these past two weeks have been absolutely non-eventful.

I had my first GI test this past Friday. And it was killer. But I won't bore you with school stuff.  Since I had this weekend off, I spent it doing all things wedding and family. Today I just wanted to share one of my wedding projects I completed this weekend.

My plan is to have a photo booth at the wedding so I've started making/collecting random props. I saw these on someone's Pinterest and thought they were the cutest things.

[source]

And then, I decided I could make my own.

Mine aren't quite as cute. But that's okay.

Supplies:

Two foam fingers

X-acto knife/Self-healing pad

White fabric paint

Foam brush

Freezer paper

An iron

I used the exact same technique for these as I did for my Muggle shirt.

And this is how they turned out :)

And this is what happens when my crazy sister takes interest in my crafts.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Student Gift Basket

So for all of you that don't know, my fiance is a 2nd year in medical school. At the end of your 2nd year, you must pass Step 1 of the Boards to move on to your clinical year. I absolutely dread it. The MCAT was enough to make me want to pull my hair out. But anyways, he began studying a couple weeks ago and will take it April 19th.  In an attempt to be a good fiance and motivator, I decided to make a study gift basket.  I thought I'd share my ideas since they could be used for any devoted student. :)

I tried to keep it relatively healthy with the vitamin waters and granola bars, since he will be sitting at a desk for days on end. But, you have to have some unhealthy things...like his favorite candy! And we all know studying can be mentally draining, so I tossed in some headache medicine. It's necessary. I threw everything into a cheap plastic basket that I attempted to decorate the front of.

 
  
And being who I am, I felt the need to add a little cheesiness. So I made "coupons." One was for a coffee date, one for a running date, one for a neck massage and one for help cleaning (and by cleaning I mean, like, taking the trash out.)

Some other ideas I thought of after the fact were:

Coffee (he has a ton coffee), a stress ball, notecards, highlighters, postits, B12 pills for energy, and notebook/folders.

I don't expect to see him much these next few weeks. Ha.

Happy Thursday!

Spring Break

Sorry for being MIA the past few weeks

Last week was my Spring Break and the week before that was the week of my Pulmonary final (really just a pretty terrible week in general). Needless to say, the blog got pushed to the bottom of the priority list again. I spent my break in South Carolina with my grandparents and sister. My sweet, tough ol' grandpa was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the same week as my final and my sister and I decided that Spring Break was a perfect opportunity to visit them and try to help keep them optimistic.

My 23rd birthday was also during the break and we celebrated with a baked spaghetti dinner and the most delicious cake! By the end of the week, the three of us girls had eaten all but, like, three pieces. I should really go run.

I got pretty birthday flowers, too!

The last day of my break was spent taking engagement pictures (finally)! That day also marked one year since our engagement. Coincidence? Overall, the week was great and I am so fortunate for the time I got to spend with my family. I'm officially back into full swing and preparing for major studying this module: Gastrointestinal (better known as GI). Mmm. Yay digestion.

Oh, and I promise to have craft post real soon!

Pearl Shoe Clips

Hope everyone had a great week. It's finally the weekend! (If you didn't know)

And since that means no school, I'm obviously going to craft.

But today's craft is semi-school-related:

Pearl Shoe Clips

Since I have to dress up to visit patients at the hospital, I have started wearing flats all the time. The only problem is, out of my 4387538 pairs of shoes, I only have, like, 2 pairs of flats. Promise I'm not exaggerating. I started brainstorming ideas to dress them up or make them different because they get really boring.  I had already made the bow clips for them, but that was just because I'm a tad bit obsessed with bows and I can only wear those with certain colors. This led me to pearls. Pearls are always classy and can be worn with pretty much anything. Just ask Auburn sorority girls, they wear them with their over-sized t-shirts and Nike shorts. ;) Just messin.

Supplies:



White felt
Blank hair clips
Plastic Pearls (52 total)
E6000 glue (or other strong glue)
Scissors

How To:

Cut 2 -1.5" felt circles
They don't have to be perfect - promise

Put a dab of glue on the bottom of your pearls and arrange them in the above fashion on your felt circle. The outside pearls are going to be slightly hanging off the felt, so I put a little glue on the sides of those so they stick to the pearls in the middle. Also, make sure the holes in the pearls aren't seen from the top, unless of course, you don't care. I'm too OCD.
Let these dry before gluing the top layer.

For my top layer, I glued one pearl directly on top of the bottom center pearl and then 6 on the outside of that one. The only difficulty with this, is the pearls on the outside are going to try to fall into the creases of the bottom layer. So, I had to hold them in place until they dried just enough to hold themselves.

Lastly, glue your clips to the bottom. I clipped mine to a piece of paper while it dried so the clip didn't glue shut. (That's happened to me before.)

Finally, you have something to dress up those boring flats!

Told you I only have 2 pairs.

Happy weekend!

DIY Cluster Necklace

I just wanted to post to show you guys my cluster necklace I made during girl's night on Monday. 

 It's super easyto make if you have any patience at all.

Supplies:

Headpins
Pretty beads
6" of regular chain
16" decorative chain
Pliers
2 jump rings

How to:

I followed this tutorial to learn how to make a loop
Put one of your beads on a headpin and use your pliers to cut excess off the top. I left about 1/2 an inch of headpin above my bead.
Then, using your pliers, make a loop and hook it onto your regular chain.
Repeat until you have as many clusters as you want.
At each end of your regular chain, add a jump ring and hook it onto your decorative chain.
Make sure your decorative chain comes with a clasp already attached.

Lastly, admire your new necklace :)

Hope everyone's having a great Wednesday!