There's nothing more that has gotten me so excited about sewing than knowing I can actually wear the clothes that I've made.  When I saw this video tutorial on CreativeBug.com for the Wanderlust Tee I just knew it would fit great into my daily wardrobe.  Plus this was a great opportunity to practice sewing more with knits and a serger, just like I did with the muscle tank.  I love this t-shirt so much that I made three of them! Two of the tees are a solid color and cropped while the third one is striped and I made this one a little longer too.

The gray tee was my first attempt at the shirt.  I found this knit fabric at Joann's.  It's a heather gray with tiny dots of gold glitter.  This will probably be the last time I work with glittery fabric as it gets glitter everywhere whenever I wear it.  Anyway I paired this tee with faux leather leggings and leopard sneaks for a casual/edgy look.

Can you see some sparkle?

The next tee I made was with a mustard yellow double knit fabric.  I've been seeing this color a lot on fashion blogs so I had to give it a try.  Plus I love yellow and bright colors go well with my skin tone.  I paired the tee with a leopard print skirt that I picked up at the thrift store for $6.  Cute for a date night or a night out with friends.

And finally I decided to do a striped tee because it's classic.  Plus here was my chance to practice lining up stripes for a sewing project.  It wasn't too bad, just lots of double and triple checking.  And on the Wanderlust Tee video tutorial, the instructor gave some great tips for this.  Here I paired the tee with distressed jeans and brown booties.  I love this casual "momiform" look.

Denim Midi Skirt

Last year I saw this super fun denim skirt that seamstress/stylist Mimi G had on her blog called the Perfect Denim Skirt.  I just love the vintage look to it and that it's not your typical denim skirt.  To me, it has sort of an 80's vibe to it.  I purchased the video tutorial last Christmas when it was half off.  This was my first attempt at sewing a denim skirt and also putting so many button holes and denim buttons on one garment.  In the tutorial Mimi G talked about how she used tinsel denim for her skirt so it would have more of a flow-y look, but unfortunately I couldn't find that at my local fabric store.  I was anxious to get started on it so I bought the lightest weight denim I could find.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out but I definitely want to make this skirt again with a more flow-y light fabric and maybe try it just a little shorter too.  The versatility of the skirt is great and perfect to transition between spring/summer and summer/fall.

 

 

Spooky Chic Halloween Mantel

This Halloween season I decided to ramp up the decor in the house.  In the past I usually kept it really simple with a jack-o-lantern and a few fall knick knacks around the house.  After catching some after Halloween sales last year I was able to tuck away a few bigger items to add to the house this year.  I also found some great things at Joann's and Michael's for a steal and you can't forget about the dollar store.  Here's how I put together it all together on my mantel:

I love all things skulls, skeletons, spiders and bats for Halloween.  The mantel shawl is from Joann's.

The filler fabric is from the the dollar store, so are the spiders

That gold skull is from the dollar store! What?!

Nothing says spooky like a glittery spider and web.  The frame I've had for a while, found it at a thrift store.

High Low Knit Top With Crocheted Detail

Over the summer my good friend took me to a clothing store that I'd never been to called Altar'd State.  They had some cute stuff in there, lots of lace and crocheted detailed in their clothes.  My friend described it as kind of a less expensive version of Anthropologie.  She was right however there were a few things that were a bit over the top for my price range.  Plus now that I'm sewing my own clothes lately, I saw there were some pieces that I could try to copy.  Like this cute little t-shirt.  A simple knit tee with a little bit of detail on the bottom hem.  This baby was $50!  Whaaaaat?

When I got home I went through my pattern stash and found Simplicity 1160 for knits only.  Ah-ha!  I knew I had something similar in my stash that I could riff off of.  I headed to Joann's and found a pretty cream double knit fabric along with a coordinating crocheted trim.  I was off to my serger and sewing machine.  I cut pattern C in a size Small.  Again I think I cut have cut a size down.  This was easy to put together.  Since I have been practicing sewing knits more on the serger, I'm still learning how to adjusting the serger for the various knits that I use.  I neck line came out a little too wavy, but its nothing that a statement neckline or a pretty scarf can't hide.  And who am I am kidding?  I'm probably being to knit-picky about it and probably nobody would notice.  I really like how it turned out!  I can wear this top all kinds of ways this fall like layers, skinny jeans and leggings.

 

Family Dinners: Weeks 6 & 7

The last two weeks have been a bit cray-cray with my son's birthday, family visiting in town and a couple of "moms night out" dinners mixed in.  This means quick meals that leave leftovers and also meals that require very little prep.  With some of the recipes I used, there were hits and misses:

Week 6
Sun. - Citrus Chicken with Slow Cooker Black Beans
Mon. - Black Bean Tacos
Tues. - Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs
Wed. - Leftovers

Hit: The meatball recipe was so easy and turned out delicious.  That was the first time I had ever cooked meatballs in the slow cooker.  The kids devoured them so I'm keeping this in rotation.

Miss: The slow cooker black bean recipe that I used (found on Pinterest) was terrible.  The cooking time was WAY off and were way under cooked.  Little did I know that beans need to cook all day, even in the slow cooker.  Thankfully I was able to save the meal and used the beans for two nights.  Let's just say that I think I'll just be buying my beans in a can and not cook them from scratch anymore.

Week 7
Mon. - Stir Fry Beef and Broccoli w/ Ramen Noodle Cake
Tues. - Creamy Mushroom Meatloaf
Wed. - Easiest Chicken Parmesan with Alfredo Bow Tie Pasta
Thurs. - Chicken and Black Bean Burritos

The stir fry and meatloaf meals were recipes that I used from the All Recipes magazine.  The beef and broccoli stir fry turned out great.  The sauce for the stir fry was the best Asian sauce I've ever made.  YAY!  The chicken parm and burritos were easy peasy meals I pulled out of my recipe brain.  The chicken for the parm were frozen breaded cutlets that were already cooked and the sauces from jars.  The burritos were hocus pocus too (think Chipotle style).

Easy and delicious stir fry.  And anything with Ramen noodles in it is a major plus for me!