I was going through and reorganizing my closet and there’s a strong theme in my clothing choices… I love denim. Now, while I do have a nice stash of denim jeans (that probably don’t get enough use cause I prefer dresses), I have a pretty collection of denim dresses, half I made, and the other half, vintage. My newest denim addition is this vintage oversized denim jacket. I have always loved Erin’s and this pin (or even this one, but the pockets are way large), so I was so excited to come across my own. I’d probably like it more worn with a dress, I’m just a dress girl, but since it was a cooler day (and those are rare), I took the opportunity to wear jeans. The weather forecast says we will get enjoy fall weather until next Wednesday, so we are loving layering up a bit until the next heat wave comes.
This is our master bedroom, and since changing out the carpet to wood floors, and adding curtains this past weekend, I love how serene it all feels. I loved the burlap and cheesecloth solution we’ve used for many years, but I was growing tired of it. Plus, every time I tied up the window (I love wide open windows), all the little fibers would get everywhere. Here is a before with the burlap and cheesecloth window coverings…
The girls say that the curtains make it feel like a hotel and they love it. One day I’d love to put some cafe-style shutters, but with recently putting in the wood floors upstairs and on the stairs (and our current front yard project), our wallets need some time to recover. Thus, I’m content with the simple act of switching out the burlap window coverings for these linen curtains. The change has made the world of a difference in our bedroom. I didn’t anticipate the drama they would add to our bedroom, but I don’t mind the drama one bit.
I had been wanting some white, linen, blackout curtains, but those can get costly at about $150 per panel (and I needed about 5-6!). I looked at different websites to find some that weren’t as heavy on my pocketbook, but they all cost about the same. After deliberating between a couple ideas (even sewing my own), I decided to get these linen curtains from IKEA (we use them downstairs and I really like them) and then backed them with blackout fabric. I knew I wanted to do clip ring style curtains, so I thought if I cut out blackout fabric to match the size of my curtain and just clip them behind, maybe it would work that way. Obviously, it did! I didn’t want to sew them in because in case we ever got cafe shutters, I wouldn’t need the blackout part any longer. Plus, if the blackout curtains were sewn in, then the whole thing would be dry clean only, and I like the idea that I can separate the two and throw my linen curtains in the wash if I wanted to.
I picked up about 16 yards of blackout fabric from Jo-Ann’s (with a coupon it came out to about $80) and 3 packs of linen curtains from IKEA. The width of the blackout fabric is the same as the curtain panel, so I only had to cut the length. I cut them about 3″ shorter than the curtain because I didn’t want them to kiss the floor like the curtains. Then, I just clipped them in at the back of the curtain (with the white side facing out). I didn’t bother sewing the raw edges of the blackout curtain because the folds would be too bulky and you don’t really see it, so it’s no big deal to me. I’m pretty happy to have my black-out curtains for way less the price. Now, it’s so much easier to let all the light in during the day and close them for privacy at night. I’m loving all the light that streams in our bedroom and my plants are pretty happy about all the light too.
I started wearing some of my earrings again and this is my current wishlist of earrings I would happily wear. Soul has been wearing sticker earrings lately and she’s debating if she wants to get her ears pierced for her 7th birthday. She’s probably the reason I have earrings on my mind. What can I say, my Soul is a fashionista and she’s inspiring me already. Maybe I should try some of her sticker earrings too.
Here we are in the second month of the school year and things are going well. Our school days have been fuller than previous years; I’m still navigating how to divide up the time with teaching the 3 different grades. Soul and Glow do some of the same lessons, but I modify a lot for Glow, especially in reading and math. While True and Brave are different grades, they do everything the same. Brave is a fourth grader, but does fifth grade level things. It’s been an adjustment having Glow officially join us this year.
The girls have picked out their Halloween costumes and we are going to start on that this week. We have to go thrifting to put together True’s, and I have 2 pieces to make for Soul’s, and Glow’s is the most daunting. Brave’s is already done (I made it in the spring), so that makes my life a tad bit easier. Hopefully, by the end of the this week we will have 4 completed Halloween costumes. Wish me luck!
This was our most relaxing weekend in awhile. I watched a movie on Saturday afternoon, and also made time to start a new macrame project. Ben wasn’t feeling great on Sunday, so we headed home after our morning church gathering, and just chilled for the rest of Sunday. We watched the debates (oye!) and definitely needed to watch an episode of Fear the Walking Dead after that.
Cheers to a brand new week and hoping to getting lots accomplished!
I took a nap this week. While I’m typically not a nap person, I was thankful for that bit of rest.
The girls are excited that basketball pre-season started. We love our Spurs! #gospursgo
Ben and I spent the day cleaning our front courtyard and backyard, so hopefully we can enjoy our outdoors spaces more. And I can’t wait until we have the front lawn figured out. It’s the big house project we are currently working on, and it’s taking time to lay everything out. We are putting a lot of drought tolerant fruit trees in, so between the backyard and front yard, I think we have about 80 fruit trees.
The tunic was a dress I sewed a while back (see here) for a wedding we attended. The linen dress looks so much shorter now, either I grew or it shrank. I’m pretty sure I haven’t grown since I was 13. It could also be that I’ve been wearing longer length dresses, so this just seems shorter compared to those. I paired it with thrifted Levi 501s and a pair of Innika Choo sandals (they’re on sale and there’s a size 6 left!). The bag is from PrelovedPQ one of my fave instagram shops; Naomi curates a really nice selection of pretty things.
We’ve had really nice weather the last couple days, and it actually felt like fall when I went out the other evening. Though those high temps are coming back this weekend, so sandals definitely get their monies worth in Southern California. It’ll probably be a long while until you see me wearing a sweater (our California evenings do a get a teensy bit chilly though). I love seeing people share their sweater and boot fall purchases on Instagram, I’ll enjoy fall vicariously through them.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
I was going through and reorganizing my closet and there’s a strong theme in my clothing choices… I love denim. Now, while I do have a nice stash of denim jeans (that probably don’t get enough use cause I prefer dresses), I have a pretty collection of denim dresses, half I made, and the other half, vintage. My newest denim addition is this vintage oversized denim jacket. I have always loved Erin’s and this pin (or even this one, but the pockets are way large), so I was so excited to come across my own. I’d probably like it more worn with a dress, I’m just a dress girl, but since it was a cooler day (and those are rare), I took the opportunity to wear jeans. The weather forecast says we will get enjoy fall weather until next Wednesday, so we are loving layering up a bit until the next heat wave comes.
