Pinterest Success!

 Yesterday, while on a cleaning frenzy, I was able to test one of the "uses for everyday items you never knew about" theories. You know, there are multiple pins out there with crazy ideas like applying salt to mosquito bites for relief or using dryer sheets for everything from cleaning water spots to curing the bird flu. I decided to try using toothpaste to clean crayon marks off of the wall. In the past, I have not been able to get the red marks off, so I figured I had nothing to lose but a little bit of toothpaste. I applied the toothpaste to the crayon marks and let it sit for about ten minutes then wiped it off with a warm, wet cloth. It worked!! I had to put in a little elbow grease, but the marks are gone! I was so excited! I read that it had to be toothPASTE and not a gel, so that's what I used...I wonder if the gel would work the same? Have any of you tried using the gel or any other of these theories?

Upcycled Leg Warmers

Hello! Less than a week until Christmas and of course, I'm just still working on some of the presents. This was so easy and fun for me because I got to embroider (yay!). I had a sweater that no longer fits me, but I just love it and its over sized buttons, so I decided to make leg warmers out of the sleeves. I've never done this before so it was a trial and error for me... I used a seem ripper to remove the first sleeve from the shoulder area , but once I got it completely off I realized It was an odd shape and I had to cut it.  I simply cut the second sleeve off starting at the arm pit seem and cutting a straight line up. It was much faster and looked the same as the other one.

 This is what the sleeves looked like after I cut them off. You can see the raw edge where they were cut...it's not cute at all and honestly reminded me of 80's gym attire :) I sent a picture to my mom who suggested I do a blanket stitch on top to church it up a little. If you don't know how to do a blanket stitch, you can watch this tutorial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXkSE2TTF4ss it is a very simple stitch and very cute. I picked a peachy color of embroidery floss that I already had.  Again, this was trial and error for me- I tried to do the blanket stitch on the raw edge and it just didn't look good at all. I found it was much easier and looked much nicer after I folded the edge over, pinned it in place and then did the blanket stitch. Once I finished the embroidery, I removed two of the buttons from the sweater and sewed them on with the embroidery floss. I was very happy with the outcome and hope the recipient of this gift will be too!

Now I've got to decide if I'm going to use the left over sweater for an ugly sweater party or attempt to make boot cuffs out of it. Every time I look at it I just wanna throw on a mullet wig and rock this at a party! 

Thanks for stopping by and if I don't post again before Christmas, then I hope you have a wonderful holiday surrounded by people you love. 

My Favorite Wreath

I was a little later at getting my Christmas decorations out this year. I finally have the inside of my house all decorated, and need to do the outside lights. However, the first thing I put up this year was my wreath. I love wreaths and love putting them on my door for every season, but THIS wreath is my favorite. Last year I wasn't happy with the one from the year before and I really wanted to use some old lights that my mom gave me. I found an old bike tire in our back yard and thought it would be the perfect wreath and even better it was free! I used some of old ornaments my mom gave me to church it up a little and this is the outcome.

There is even still dirt on the old tires. 

This is not a super bright and crazy wreath, but its different and it fits our personalities so well! 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from my family to yours!