PINTEREST CHALLENGE: Ethne #2

Posted by Ethne~

My second Pinterest Challenge project was my version of the Turbie Twist wet hair wrap ‘As Seen on T.V.’  I have another one that Mom Connie got for me at Herbergers years ago, so I know it’s not a completely original idea, but I liked it.  Get on Pinterest immediately, and then follow Wom-Mom here.

Pretty much what you need to do is fold your towel in half the long way.  You can free-hand cut the rounded edge and lines from the towel.  The widest part of the towel section is 10” and the thinner end is 5”.  I really think you can make this just by eye-balling it.

My original twist on top of the folded towel

On my version, the finished end of the regular towel is
along the bottom, the fold is along the right, and
the loose ends (narrower) on the left

By using the finished edge of the towel, I didn’t have to sew the edge under.  SLICK!

I sewed the top unfinished edges with a serger-type stitch on my sewing machine.  Zig-zag stitch would work fine.

The kiddos always have their paws on my sewing projects

The serger/zigzag stitch on the right will keep fraying stopped

Then turn it right-side out and stick a strip of elastic about 2” total in length.  That is sewn into the smaller end of the wrap.  A button is sewn on to the wider end.  [I used the button stitch on my sewing machine which was SUPER EXCITING since it was the first time I used it.  Worked just like it was supposed to.]

Wanna know where I get these elastic strings? They
are from the elastics that keep shoes together as pairs at Target

This button sewn with my sewing machine
button stitch - I am SO PROUD I DID IT!

Easy Mac is modeling here how it’s worn.  Isn’t she cute?  Oh, and she drew a cat face on her mouth with eyeliner this morning.  Since it’s a Saturday and Halloween is Monday, no biggie.  I’m all about the girls being creative like that.  We even went to JoAnn’s as an eyeliner cat.

You need a bath Easy Mac!

It was a little big on her

See the loop at the bottom right, which is the open side.
Button is on the other end.  Adjust it as you need to further
back on the sewn side to get the button and elastic to cinch right.

PINTEREST CHALLENGE: Ethne #1

Posted by Ethne~

Lori and I are all over the Pinterest Challenge from two of our fave blogs: younghouselove and bowerpower. 

Were we up to the challenge?  HECK YEAH!

We decided we would each do one challenge from something we’d pinned on our Pinterest page.  Are you on Pinterest yet?  It’s pretty much like asking if you’re on Facebook yet.  Get with it!  It’s the best thing to come to the internet since FB.  Fact.  Click here to follow Wom-Mom on Pinterest.

The challenge pertains to Fall-ish holiday-ish things, and Lori was all over that.  I heartily approved.  I, however, decided to do two things I’d really wanted to do.

On one pin I saw a stencil on a wall which said:

‘Loved you yesterday

Love you still

Always have

Always will’

Brilliant.

My inspiration 

Well, I knew this was just the thing for me.  I thought it would be a great project for the girls ~ paint their own canvases.  And I’d grab a larger canvas for myself.  PERFECT!  We headed to JoAnn this afternoon and picked up three canvases (which were 50% off), and a few bottles of acrylic paint.  I found one that is soy-based and it’s low-VOC, which is good.  The JoAnn brand bottles were $.59 and the soy bottles were $1.99.  I got colors of each.  (Oh, and my canvas was $6.50 and the girls’ canvases were $3.50 each.)

Easy Mac drew a cat on her face with Thrifty Nana's eyeliner

I had a lot of primary colors of acrylic paint at home, so I really only needed black and white to make gray, and then a pink (the soy one) that I loved a whole bunch – though if you know me, you know that pink isn’t a hard sell for me to L-O-V-E.

Wearing our painting/baking aprons from Auntie Lori

Don’t bring toddlers to the paint aisle if you can help it seeing as four hands reaching out of the cart are like a paint hurricane.

The girls got a plate with a dollop of each paint color we had.  They got a small and large brush and could have at it however they wanted.  I didn’t get any of my canvas done.  That would’ve been idiotic when I was vigilantly monitoring the paint-fest going on at my island x 2 kiddos.  Their masterpieces are gorgeous, and will go up on the wall with mine.

Ready with paint and canvases

Masterpieces!

In the meantime, I took newspaper the size of my canvas and divided it into four length-wise sections to space out the four lines of my quote.  It worked out well – to keep the spacing even and to give me an idea of how big my words needed to be.

Trying to space things out right

When the girls were finished, I got started on my white canvas.  The original Pinterest picture had block letters that looked stenciled.  I was going free-hand, but tried for the ALL-CAPS look.  What a mess.  It was so ugly I considered throwing out the whole canvas.

Instead, I painted the canvas the gray color I used for letters – this covered it up and would provide me with a base color for the next try.  I let it dry and then got out my quote book to practice writing some cursive letters.  I got to the letter look and spacing I liked and used really small brushes this time.

Take One: gone-zo

The newspaper still helped me with spacing.  The gray was roughly painted on, and with the color of it, I thought it looked kinda like an old-fashioned chalkboard.  This grew on me quickly.  I mixed up a really light pink for the words and got to my paint-writing.  I used the pink soy paint for the hearts.

Pink of course

It’s not perfect, but I’m in love.  And for me, the imperfections in life turn out to be the good stuff.

Sherry, I hope you like it! J

PS – Shaun gave me a few other quotes I could’ve painted on there, but you’ll just have to use their imaginations.  This is a family-friendly blog…but I did get a good laugh at one of them which hearkens back to ‘Wedding Crashers’.

PINTEREST CHALLENGE: LORI’S PROJECT (LOOKIN LIKE TIPPI)

Posted by Lori~

We conclude our HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR with a costume idea that is to die for!  Not only that, but we are participating in the Pinterest Challenge found on two of our favorite blogs Young House Love and Bower Power and this is my submission (be on the lookout for some fabulous “stolen” projects courtesy of Ethne in the next few days).

I saw this photo on Prudent Baby and new I MUST be Tippi!
Click here for details

Recently I was cruisin’ one of my favorite blogs, prudent baby, and saw the most brilliant costume idea.  You see, this costume has a close-connection with my wom-mom co-author and BFF Ethne.  I just knew I had to be Tippi Hedren from the movie THE BIRDS!  Why you ask?  Ethne is related to Tippi and Melanie (Tippi's daughter)…and I am obsessed with brushed with fame!  And really…they are related!

Tippi--I don't know about you, but I see a major resemblance!

Ethne and Whit!

Not only that, but this costume was simple, easy, required few supplies, and I could pull it off!  All I needed was birds, fake blood, and an outfit.

The best part of the entire costume was that my good friend Jen (who happens to be obsessed with Halloween) supplied everything (the birds and the blood).  A quick trip to the thrift store for the outfit—$4.00 later and I had my entire costume!

Great use of blood!

Ouija absolutely NECESSARY at a Halloween Party!

It was perfect, it was comfortable, and I even won a costume contest for best use of blood (thanks Steve for helping)!  And I couldn't believe it but the bird stayed on my head (thanks again Steve, for securing it so well)!

Photo is fuzzy---courtesy of fog machine!
Steve is Dexter!

I think I look Tippi—WOMS…what do you think?