Winos: You're Welcome!

So, since the last post, I've... 

...celebrated making it to *23* -- YaY for a completely phenomenal DMB concert and a new pink & white Schwinn Beach Cruiser! (Thanks, bf!)...

...visited Chelsey in FWB & Destin, Florida...

...rendezvoused to New Orleans ...

...read this book I purchased at a cute bookstore in NOLA...

...and worked really hard to get settled-in at my new job!  :)

I had been craving a new project since the day I finished the quilt, so after deciding I wanted to try something not quite as daunting and time-intensive, I browsed through my Pinterest boards and got really excited about upcycling old wine bottles! 

Here's what you need:
1. Empty wine bottles!
2. Dimensional Fabric Paint (Any color. It will get sprayed over with spray paint. I used white.)
3. Spray paint
4. Ribbons
5. Flowers 
6. Tape (optional)

I got pink & white spray paint, and white fabric paint at JoAnn's!

First, remove all paper from wine bottles and make sure glass is clean, smooth, and dry. An easy way to do this is filling up the sink with warm water and letting the bottles soak for a few hours. The paper will come right off. 

Then, draw whatever you like on the bottle with the fabric paint! I wrapped tape around the bottle to help keep my "lines" straight. 

Let the fabric paint dry! Then spray paint the entire bottle with whatever color you choose!

Let that dry. Then tie a bow around the bottle neck, and insert pretty flowers! :)

I got my inspiration from this post I found on Pinterest: 

http://www.plumadorable.com/four-valentine-dcor-ideas-free-printable/

Hope you enjoyed this post & think twice before throwing away your next empty wine bottle!

xoxo, 

MK

Sew Cute!

My mom got me a sewing machine a few weeks ago and this *adorable* zig-zag quilt was my first real project! Also, this could not have been done without my friend -Caroline- who inspired me to take on this project & had the patience to walk me through all the steps :)


Here's what you need:

• PATIENCE & time (This was my first time working with the sewing machine so I had to learn about all it's parts, how they work, how to troubleshoot, etc.)
• 9 quarter yards of print/pattern fabric (I chose 9 different prints)
• 1 3/4 yard of solid fabric (I chose a beige-y color)
• 1/2 yard for binding (I used the same beige-y color, but this color totally depends on what theme you're working with!)
• 2 1/2 yards for backing (Mine is the same solid beige)
• Batting (The quilting expert at Hancock's told me cotton > polyester or whatever) I think I got a package of about 75x90; it was the bigger size. There was some left over, but better to have too much than not enough.
• Thread (I made the HUGE mistake of getting quilting thread designed for hand-quilting and it was WAY too thick and had a very coarse texture and kept making my sewing machine freak out and get stuck. It even broke 2 needles! One tip flew out and hit me in the shoulder. Can you imagine if that would have hit me in the EYE? Scary spice!!! I sewed wearing huge chemistry-lab-looking plastic glasses from that point on. Anyway, about the thread, it was SUPER annoying to the point that I took the machine to the fabric store to see what was up. It was the wrong thread. Got a thinner kind in the same beige color and had no more issues!
• Sewing pins
• Scissors (I have special scissors that I only use on fabric. It really makes a difference.)
• A rotary cutter/mat set would also be really helpful! I used my friend Caroline's for some measuring/cutting. 
• A large open space 

The 9 prints I used:

Instructions:

1. The first thing to do is cut your fabric into these long strips. Start with the print fabric and cut 2 long strips of each pattern. They need to be 3 inches wide. Then for every print strip, cut a corresponding solid fabric strip. If you have the rotary cutter/mat you might get a more precise cut as opposed to using scissors freehand. I did some of both methods, and my squares turned out really well, but it took time. 

2. Line up a print strip + solid strip next to each other like the pic above, fold the print over the solid so that the print is facing down onto the solid strip and sew them together on the side. 

3. Flip open your strips and iron them print side up like the pic below. Cut them up so that the length is 5.5 inches like the pic below. You need 14 of these blocks for each pattern/print. 

YAY! It's time to put it all together! Don't forget to make sure your blocks are ironed well! 

4. Begin by laying out all your blocks in a large open area. The quilt will be put together in diagonal strips. To assemble the blocks together, Caroline taught me to focus on the "7" shape that the print fabric makes. For some reason, mine was weird and it is making a backwards "7" shape!

5. As shown below, take the "top" of the "7" shape formed by the print fabric (in this case, the backwards "7"), flip it on top of the bottom block, and sew along the side. Look at picture above... now sew all the "7" blocks together in diagonals (bottom right corner of quilt). Then sew all the diagonal strips together (top left corner of quilt).

 Woohoo!! The quilt should now look like this!!! 

6. This part is easy :) -- Cut off all the corners. 

Now it will look like this!! YAY!

7. Lay down the batting and place quilt face on top and cut batting to appropriate size. 

8. Take fabric for backing, lay over quilt face and cut to fit proportions. I had to sew together 2 pieces to make it large enough. (This is my first project -- still learning!!)

9. Use sewing pins to pin 3 layers together (backing on bottom, then batting, then quilt face). It is important to sew the 3 layers together in diagonals, starting with going right across the middle in order to guarantee that the batting will stay in place where it needs to be. Start in the middle going diagonally from corner to corner, then work your way out. This was the hardest part for me!! It requires a lot of time & patience to make sure you get all the diagonals. I had a tricky time keeping them straight!

10. The last part is the binding. Cut strips of fabric to go around the edges. Seam the edges so that you have a cleaner look once it is sewed on the quilt. Fold the strips over the front and back of the quilt and sew around the 4 sides of the quilt. 

Ta-Da!! YaY for a super cute homemade quilt!!

Check out Caroline's quilt for more instructions and pictures!! Thanks so much for all your help, Caroline! :)

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, click here to check out the original inspiration for all this quiltyness!

I had sew much fun making this zig-zag quilt, I want to make another asap! Especially since this one was made as a birthday gift for my friend Molly so I didn't get to keep it haha! :) 

xoxo,

MK

Like Mother, Like Daughter

This week is the first week in so long that I haven't had to wake up early and and go to work -- and it has been glorious!! This is because I am starting a new position at a marketing firm next week (so excited!!!) so I had a few days off while transitioning jobs. So, my mom came to visit me for a few days this week.. which is always nice because there is nothing quite like relaxing with my mom and forgetting about real-life adult responsibilities for a bit. I don't see her as often as I would like anymore so it's always a special treat for her to be around.  Also, because all our family still lives in Brazil, she's all I have here in the US which makes our bond extremely strong :) Anyway, she brought over a ton of her jewelry and shoes for me to go through and pick out what ever I like! What a great early birthday present! I'm positive that I will never be too old to love going through all my mom's stuff because she owns such interesting pieces that she's collected from her back-in-the-day travels all over the globe! It's also really interesting to see how my tastes have changed over the years.

Having fun browsing all the pretty pieces!

Large rings, cuffs, long necklaces -- some of my favorite things!! And I love love love turquoise in the summer. 

I am obsessed with this gold/leather watch! After doing a little online research we discovered that this Seiko is part of the Age of Discovery series. It has a calendar, an alarm, stopwatch, and it can display the time of 22 time zones throughout the world. See the cities on the gold band? And is it not super cute!? Taking it to get new batteries asap and will be def taking it with me on future travels!

Check out these vintage blue suede heels. (Ignore the pants.)

These midnight blue designer boots are completely cray. I have nothing else to say.

Side note -- my mom dyed my hair black! Hadn't been planning on it or anything.. just kind of woke up in the morning and knew I needed a change. 

Me & Mother Dear

These from my graduation are two of my favies of us :)

                         

May 1st, 2012

My old college roommate, Emily, posted this pic on fbook and I just couldn't resist sharing!! Yes, she is a big JT fan. I mean, she even thought Alpha Dog was good. I was an in-the-closet fan for a long time, but Emily gave me the courage to come out. After all, who can resist those hilarious skits on SNL? Anyway, I'm so happy she is off at vet school following her dreams now - although I do miss perusing through her collection of designer bags. That girl's weakness for purses parallels mine for shoes.

So, May has already arrived! Time is going by faster than ever for me. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was sitting through the graduation ceremony at the RBC Center with my dear friend, Lauren, but it was basically a YEAR ago!!

NCSU - Class of 2011

Between working full-time, keeping a house, wanting to workout, never-ending laundry, planning and striving towards healthier eating, budgeting, making time for crafty projects, finding time for fun with friends & boyfriend, etc., etc., I'm just as busy as I was during school. And just as sleep deprived :) So to make a long story short, I've been really getting into slow-cooker recipes lately because I love tossing ingredients in the crock-pot in the AM and then coming home to yummy smells and a ready-to-eat dinner. I just get so excited about not having to stress out daily about food, like, "hmmm what am I going to do for dinner tonight?!?" It makes life so much easier to have a hot, savory meal waiting for me to get home!! (and I always have delicious leftovers that last me a few days!!)  But, usually with crock-pot meals, you want something to go with it - like pasta, tortillas if your making a taco-y dish, rice, whatever. I love rice so I always want rice to eat with my recipes, but I am the worst at cooking rice because it always sticks to the pan, or doesn't get soft enough, so I gave up a while ago......until......I discovered this Boil-In-Bag Rice at Harris Teeter. I thought it was too good to be true! I never noticed it before, but I gave it a whirl last week and fell in love at first bite!

You literally just put a bag of rice in a pan with 1 quart of water and turn the heat on high so it boils. Leave it uncovered for 10 minutes. Add salt/butter according to taste/preference. Take the bag out with tongs and set it on a plate/bowl to let the excess liquid drain out. Open bag & dump the rice onto your serving plate. DONEZO. Easiest thing in the whole world. I was scared I would be sacrificing on taste......negative......tastes like normal rice. One bag is enough for 2 people.

Went a little heavy on the cilantro ( I <3 cilantro) and the rice in this pic, but as you can see, one bag is a lot for 1 serving, but you can always split with a friend or simply store as leftovers.

Mmm..Now I'm so hungry! But alas, hunger is losing to sleep this round :)


beijos,
MK

Hello, Friends!

Hi! I am so excited you are checking out this first post! There is something about creating something yourself that evokes happiness. A knitted scarf, a bowl of pasta, a photograph. When you put your soul into something, you have the power to mold an extended representation of who you are.

I have a passion for losing myself, my worries, and my time in paintbrushes, ribbons, yummy (easy-to-follow) recipes, and all things cute & creative. This will be a fun platform for sharing all my projects and obsessions with friends - and hopefully it will inspire you to try something you haven't thought about yet!

Without further ado, these little portraits are my latest creations:

**I am still working with adjusting the lighting, sizing, etc., (as this is obv. my first post & kind of a trial run) so please bear with me on the photo quality.**


So those little gems are up on my living room wall right now and they are just oh-so-CUTE!!! They add so much personality to what was an empty space of bland light-yellow wall; and I have gotten so many compliments on them!! The great thing is, they didn't take too much time, $$$, or skill to make!

What I used:

 -Square Canvas (I used 5 squares) 

-Rolls of border strips (I used a different border for each square. They were about $4/roll at Michael's. Tight budget? Use same border on all squares!)

 -A tree stencil (I love stencils! They make everything so much easier.)

-Tape

-Glue (that dries CLEAR!)

-Paint (I used brown for the tree trunk/branches, green on leaves & blue on bird)
-Thin paint brushes

-Flowers, assorted colors ($3/pack)

1. Tape stencil down to center of canvas. Use brushes to paint inside stencil with steady brushstrokes. Be careful not to lay on paint too thick so that it slides underneath stencil. *Tip*: Always paint towards the inside of the stencil to keep paint within the lines. Remove stencil carefully and wash off with warm water before residual paint drys so that it is fresh for the next use. Let canvas dry.
2. Cut 4 pieces of border strips same length of sides of canvas. Remove sticky back and spread thin layer of glue on back of border (I used clear glue, but I had a difficult time making it stick to the canvas, so in the future I will try a hot glue gun) and place the middle of the strip (long ways) going down the thin edges/sides of the canvas so that half folds over the front and half covers the back. This will cover the sides with border pattern for a better visual effect upon completion.
3. Cut 4 more pieces of border strips. Glue 2 strips on the face sides first. Next, glue 2 remaining strips on top and bottom of canvas face. 
4. Apply clear glue to flowers and stick them near areas with leaves. Let dry!

These were so much fun to make; and the instructions above are only a general guideline for how to make them. There are so many possibilities for variation! Different stencils......painting the canvas with a background hue....incorporating fabric........substituting buttons, etc. in place of flowers. The possibilities are endless. :)

beijos,
MK