Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Anthropologie DIY- Lace Cardigan

~ SEWING

My project this week:


I’ve been looking for an oval-shaped stone ring for awhile so when I saw these real Jade stone earrings, I was so excited! I just took out the earring post and bought a faux gold ring and attached to it. I bought a Krazy glue that’s for metal to attach the stone to the ring but is there something better? The stone is quiet heavy so I’m afraid the glue won’t hold it in as good. Maybe a glue gun would work? I would love to get tips from you amazing crafty mothers out there.

Anywho, since it was an earring set, I have one more jade stone ring so if you would like to purchase it, then click here. It’s only $20. And plus, we can be BFF’s and have the same ring! 😀

Onto my next project:

I was inspired by this cardigan from Anthropologie, priced at $118.

I bought this size XXL cardigan from Old Navy. (That was the only size left) And some lace.
Then I cut up the sides and the sleeves and sewed it back on after cutting the extra fabric.
Then I sewed on the lace about 1/5″ to the hem. I thought lace in the back around the neckline would be cute so I did that but the lace kept cuffing up and folding so I just cut it off. Then I used liquid stitch(my first time using it and it’s awesome!) on the other edge part of the lace so it doesn’t air up when I move.
And my result:

I thought about adding pearl buttons but it would make it look more dressy and it would take attention away from the lace so I decided to leave the original buttons to keep it a more simple/casual style. It’s really light and soft so it can be worn in the summer, especially on cool summer nights. 

Molly Hanna DIY

~ SEWING

I made two necklaces this past weekend. The first one was a bracelet but I thought it would be cute as a necklace.

Before

After

All I did was take the beads out and out a gold chain around it. So easy! I love recycling.

The second one was an inspiration from a designer Molly Hanna. I saw her designs in the J.Crew catalogue and instantly fell in love.

This model is Molly Hanna herself. Isn’t her necklace just beautiful? (It’s not for sale.)


These two necklaces were being sold for $495 and is sold out. So I thought, hey, it doesn’t look that hard… So I wanted to just experiment with it first so I made a “trial” one using jewelry I already had at home.


And the best thing is, it didn’t cost me a penny! I just gathered all the jewelry, beads, hair clips, earrings, flower brooches I had that I don’t wear and just played around and put together what I thought matched well together. Then I just super glued it on a black felt and super glued the black ribbon. No sewing was necessary, yay!

I can’t wait to make another one but this time buying some beads and jewels and I’ll hand sew the beads on a fabric instead. And a photographer Amber Weimer took this picture of me wearing the necklace for one of her projects.

Kinda embarrassed posting this picture haha. But oh what the heck. ^ ^

Anthropologie DIY Minas Tank

~ SEWING


I bought this blouse dress from Target for $3.49. Right when I saw it I knew I could make it into something much cuter. And a dress for $3? Either way, you can’t lose right?

Then I thought of what I could make it into. So I was browsing through my “Inspiration DIY” file(saved pictures of things I want to make), I came across this Minas Tank from Anthropologie and knew this would be perfect! And this is my outcome!


I cut the sides to make it smaller and cut the sleeves and used the extra fabric from the sides and the sleeves to make the ruffles and the waist-tie.


The only “twist” I added was I used two layers of ruffles instead of just one like in Anthropologie. I think it adds more personality. 😉


 I just saved over $85.00!

I was featured on these great blogs for this dress:

Finding Fabulous
Making the World Cuter
Blue Cricket Design
Sew Dang Cute
My Backyard Eden
Hope Studios
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Sugar Bee
Two Peas in a Pod
10 Marifet
Hendersonville
Sew Much Ado
Sugar & Spice
Waterstone Jewelry
The Train to Crazy
A Vision to Remember
I Heart Nap Time

I was featured on Sew Dang Cute!

~ SEWING


Sew Dang Cute, a cute craft blog featured me as one of her top 5 “get inspired” favorites! She has craft link parties every week where you post the crafts you’ve been working on and this was my first time participating in a link party anywhere and I was so excited to see mine on there!

Check it out here! Thank you Sew Dang Cute!

My new haircut & more sewing

~ SEWING

I’m happy because:

1. We’re leaving the snowy, bone-chillin’ UT to go to Hawai’i for Christmas.

2. Ariana woke up every 1 1/2-2 1/2 hrs. ever since she’s been born UNTIL about a week ago. She now wakes up just once or twice. It’s about time, HALLELUJAH!!! (*knock on wood*)

3. I haven’t felt the “mommy burn-out” for a long time and I recently realized why! I’ve been sewing every night when the kids are asleep and alter or make clothes just for me. It is the first time in 2+yrs. that I’m doing something that’s just for me on a regular basis. I now know how important it is to not let go of your individuality and to set aside a time to do a hobby that is just for you. Now my 2 advice to mothers are: 1)don’t have kids a year apart. 2)do something that is just for YOU everyday.

4. Jay is the sweetest husband ever. Me and my girlfriends had our annual Christmas party at our house last week and while I was curling my hair & getting ready, Jay got off work early to come help. By the time I came downstairs, he had cleaned n wiped the table and the chairs from the shed, set the table, cleaned the whole house, Christmas music was playing, and he bought me and my girlfriends a big thing of cheesecake and cream puffs. I cried when I came down and saw it.

5. I have the sweetest girls ever. I fall in love with them more and more each day by a substantial amount. It’s amazing the love a human heart’s capable of holding.

6. Watched Precious last night and I’m so grateful for my parents who never treated me harshly, never abused me but always loved me immensely and supported my decisions and dreams. I’m also grateful they didn’t spoil me with materialistic things but taught me to work for what I want.

7. We have lots of ice-cream in the freezer.


I chopped off my hair one random night cuz I was sick of my same long hair I’ve had since I was 14. I even cut it myself but that’s not because I’m brave it’s because I’m cheap and it’s such a hassle to find a babysitter to go somewhere. I also had promised myself I wouldn’t chop my hair short like every single mother in this world right when they have a baby so I waited 2 years. 😉

This is a XL cardigan I bought and made it smaller and added the ruffles. It was harder than if I had bought the fabric and made it from scratch. It’s hard to alter the sleeves and the shoulders! note to self: buy the right size from the beginning or just buy a fabric from the fabric store and make it.

I added the ruffles. I saw this from Anthro so I made my own version. 🙂


I made this for a friend. I sewed on the flower and gathered the sides of the shirt.

This is kind of an old DIY, but I never posted about it, I made this top from a lining of a skirt I no longer wear. I saw this design at J.Crew and fell in love with it. (I always feel like if I copied someone else’s design, I gotta credit them or else I’m not being honest. Such a nerd huh?)