Skirt from a men's XL shirt

I found this beauty in the 25 cent bin. Let me say that again 1 quarter.  The label read one my favorite phrases, 100% cotton. 

Photos to the first few steps aren't available because I'm so not used to having to carry around something. I spend most of my time chasing animals around and the only thing I almost always carry is bird seed:) 

1.) cut off the sleeves

2.) this could be done different so that you only have two seams but that's hind sight for ya...what I did. Cut down the collar

3.)I was originally thinking I wanted to make shorts with this but I'm trying to step my style up slightly, still casual of course just a bit of polish:) skirts are an easy way to have a polished casual look, plus they really are super comfy. That bit of story time is the reason why the back of the skirt is in four panels. Once I cut down the collar I trimmed off the stitching from the back and cut the two pieces in half. 

4.) sew together two of the four panels, skip this is you plan the fabric:) 

After you have two panels sew those together

Place the back of the shirt fabric on the four panel piece and sew together

After trying it on, I needed to take in a pinch at the hips, you can mark this or pin or in my case just eyeball it, haha 

Here I jammed up a bit so I had to back track and take it out

All fixed, try it on, then trim excess

Now, it's ready to be styled

Please forgive the photos, my mr. was lending a helping hand:) 

Haha add a chicken and already it just feels more like a home:)stead 

Rug makeover

This makeover is so quick and super easy because it involves paint, just paint and painters tape it really doesn't get better. I am in love with the miracle of paint. There are an abundance of different types of paint out there. You can find paint that is for fabric, plastic, glass, etc the list really does just keep going..I'm thinking magnetic and chalk board oh my! 

Ok enough of that, I have to stop myself from making this entire article just about paint.

Supplies:

Rug, duh haha

Paint

Painters tape

Paper, from the recycle pile of course 

Scissors, maybe 

I did use paint that is designed for use on carpet. I couldn't decide what color to go with so I just went with old faithful, gray :) this is a rust oleum brand paint and I am a fan. I love that the finished product doesn't have that stiff feeling that paint can take on. I'm not sponsored by them or anyone, haha, this is just a personal opinion. Oh yeah and the tip is important try to find ones that are fat, haha just big boned...like this one

As usual, I jumped right in to the project so I don't have a picture of the rug just by its self. I wanted to keep the design simple because well simple is always better:) why complicate things? 

Alright I started with the "x" which is just too simple so I taped off the four "pieces" with an outline and used paper to keep the design looking clean. You want to use paper because no matter how good you are there will be over spray. 

Now this corner is where I used scissors but if you were doing a well enough job with the tape edge you could get it free hand. 

Notice the point is now a point and not some weird mistake.

Continue so that all the pieces now have triangle taped off sectioned. 

Before you take the plunge and start painting you need to make sure that the tape is nice and smooth all over so rub your fingers down all the seams for good measure. 

Alrighty, dive in and paint. I did this outside on a windy day.

Now, it doesn't need to be a windy day (actually I advise that you don't do this on a windy day) but you must do this outside. It's so important to have proper ventilation. 

Don't be cheap at this point (with the rug being thrifted it's cheap enough) use a proper amount of paint. My rug is a 5 x 7 and just on the "x" I used an entire can. 

So there you go. I'm happy with it but I'm also feeling like I might go for a little jazz, any suggestions?

Now an animal photo bomb:) these two wanted to help. 

Delia, a pup for momma

This little lady love bug was a gift for my mom.

I had her for a week, but with a face like that, I just felI In love at first sight.

And here she was in time out, haha all 30 seconds before I had to give her kisses 

Bella's two month celebration

Bella, our beautiful goat, just had her two month birthday and seeing how me and my mister just love her more than anything she got a cupcake:) 

Photo fun time

And as you can see her older brothers had to photo bomb, love'em! 

Diy skinny-ish jeans

So, I found these thrifting and I really like the fit in the waist but everything else was wrong.

...way too long and all bunched and baggy

Photo fun time 

Do it yourself supplies:

Sewing machine 

Pen

Jeans that fit

I turned them inside outside and lined up a pair of jeans that fit well as my template. 

I outlined the pattern and headed to the sewing machine.

At this point I could have used pins to keep them in place but I'm lazy, haha.

It's a straight line so even in my notice stage I easily tackled this. 

Important, try on the pants before cutting any "extra" do this with the pants still inside out.

Hooray, they fit. Now, you can cut off the extra fabric. 

Healthy hair

So, I gave up traditional shampoo and condition some time ago, about two years. The results were great! I've seen that some people describe a detox phase and that was true for me. At first, my hair felt different when it was wet it felt stiff but once dry it was soft and the texture held better. That sounds funny; let me try again, my hair is wavy and normally my waves are soft and flow so that the longer my hair is down the more the wave would sketch and fall out ( I have super thick heavy hair ). Now, my waves stay for days. 

Healthy hair tips:

Organic Coconut oil

Organic Coconut oil

Organic Coconut oil

I seriously can't say it enough. Organic, because our planet does matter and pesticides kill more than just pest, coconut oil  can be used as a shampoo, a conditioner, an after shower leave in conditioner, and as a styling product. 

 

Quick swap - health tip

Try to incorporate organic coconut oil into your diet. Ingestion is the best way to get maximum health benefits, although applying topically is nice because you get healthy hydrated skin but with the smell too :) 

Good places to start adding: 

as a substitute in baking cake

Start with a little in your coffee, working up to a tablespoon

And a morning oil pulling process for the more adventurous

Diy storage boxes

So, I had some boxes that were a good grade cardboard that I put to the side, instead of breaking down and going to recycle. I also had a need for cute storage boxes.

How freaking cute, right? Ok here's the supply list:

Free cardboard boxes (a shoe box or drill box)

White paint pen

Spray paint (I advise a paint + primer) 

Optional:

Leather strip

Twine

Thumbtacks

Ruler

Photo fun time

Notice, the purple was a paint plus primer and worked sooooo much better than the just paint.

It's pretty self explaining but here's a quick over view:

Outside spray paint your box or boxes, you need vented air so don't attempt this indoors. When spray painting anything even just cardboard don't try a one coat and done approach. Spray the entire area lightly. You just need something down on the surface to help the second coat hold. It's on the second coat that you can apply more coverage but really full coverage comes from the third coat. Ok, paint applied and dried...15 minutes later...now to draw on the design. You can use google image search for vintage suitcases and then have fun. I went free hand. This is diy so don't think you need perfect straight lines. My "straight" lines dames from a DVD case...a ruler might have been better but I didn't feel like searching.