a civil war ballgown complete.

I did it... It's finished! I made my ballgown!! I took it to our county's 4-H clothing revue and took first and I might be taking it to state! It only took me since last summer to finish but considering I got it complete by my deadline I'm fine with that! So obviously here are the awkward pictures! These were taken at the revue if you're interested in knowing.

I look so... thrilled

CLOSE UPS 

Side view

Back view. Can I just say, I've fallen in LOVE with how I did my hair! Want a tutorial???

Let me tell you... my machine has quite the temperament, it loves to EAT sheer fabric. I may have began yelling at it on multiple one *cheeky grin* occasion in a Russian accent. Tip I learned after the fact: place tissue paper on the top of it and rip it out after you stitch! 

Here are my tips for ironing a civil war ballgown:  When ironing DO NOT I repeat, DO NOT lay the HOT iron on top of your hand!!! It hurts... no burns, just redness. Just always pay attention.  When ironing sheer don't accidentally turn up the temperature and burn a HOLE in your shoulder drape. Use a thin towel on top or simply don't turn up the temperature.  And lastly, always steal your mother to help; Thanks for the help mom!!

The most tedious part was probably the waist because I got to do my favorite part... pull one TINY thread that breaks like a hundred times through an entire dress, evenly! I broke the thread at least 4 times and had to "improvise". But it is the part that makes the dress feel like it's really coming together.

Misty, the homely self taught sewer realized one fatal flaw in her scheme to make this ballgown... She's only ever put in one single zipper in her life. Four years ago. So youtube and the seam ripper became her best friends! Three tries later she said good enough, and let me say this, I HATE the zipper foot . *dramatic pound of the key*

Thanks for reading my post (rather, my rant of my sewing excursions)! Have any of y'all joined this bandwagon of dress making? Tell me about it in a comment! Have an awesome day

                      Your's Truly,

diy polaroid photo display + creative things.

Today I'm going to show you how I made my Polaroid photo display! It was super simple and took under 5 minutes to put together. I don;t have a Polaroid camera so I just put photos of me and my friends! 

Supplies

-Yarn: any color (or use baking string like I did because I LOVE the tint!

-Tape or Washi Tape

-Mini clothes pins

-Polaroids or Regular pictures

-(optional)Thumb tacks

Step 1) Get a empty space or a larger picture frame. 

Step 2) Run yarn along back and forth and tape down ends and use thumb tacks on edges that are not cut if you find it slipping. Add mini clothes pins. I added six since I'm using normal sized pictures.

Step 3) Add Pictures and enjoy! I only had 3 printed pictures at the moment so it still looks a little empty but I'm so excited to see it full!

P.S. I will work on taking pictures landscape style from now on so there isn't so much empty spaces on the sides! Sorry about that!

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So here are some of the projects I finished recently. I've been working on updating my walls with some different art/diy's so that's why I made the photo display! 

I put this onto my chalkboard wall because it's a beautiful verse! And it will look great once I hang out some other decorations around it!

I just recently went to my first plank party! I wasn't sure what to do for a design I decided to do this design so I could add pictures of Samme and I together!  

Last but not least, this is one of my favorite bible journaling design that I've done in my bible so far! I'm hoping to have more of them coming in a post in the next couple of weeks! I used paper mate flair for the wreath and polaroid metallic markers for the writing. 

I hope you enjoyed this crafty post! What is your favorite passage or bible verse? Have and ideas for room decorations? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Always,

Valentine's Day... again

Happy Valentine's Day! In 3 days! So as some of y'all may know I could take or leave Valentine's day... but I do love the candy, just not the chocolate unless it's white... I know I'm weird for not liking chocolate, but it's just not for me. I can eat some but in general I just don't like it...

My Valentine's box last year was supposed to be a gumball machine; it didn't turn out great but you could tell it was a gumball machine so that's a plus... This year my Valentine's box is 110% me... *drum roll*

It is the toilet we bought Emmett for when he is ready... so I am using it until he needs it. 

I promise my Valentines are very nice though. See???

 

I really loved this printable and if you want to check the pdf out here it is! 

V-DAY PRINTABLE 

Simply buy your preferred hershey nuggets, cut out the "labels", and attach them accordingly! They are really good btw.

Thanks for reading! Do you like Valentine's day? Always,

Planner and Travelers Notebook Flip Through

Today I made a video on my planner and my traveler notebook layout! I hope you enjoy the video!
                                           Here is the UPDATED link to the video :)

Bethany from Everyday Memoris-http://graceofmyredeemer.blogspot.com/
Michael's-http://www.michaels.com/

Thank you for watching. Have an amazing day :)

Making Pie with me / What's Up with the Leotard

I love baking/cooking! So I decided to make my peanut butter cheesecake! This is my favorite pie! Nothing beats it; except Perkins Strawberry Pie! YUM! So here is my experience! The recipe will be listed after.

These are my ingredients... I was going to make two but... that didn't happen....

The delicious crust! I LOVE GRAHAM CRACKERS!

Then my snapple ran out.....

                                                                             

The peanut butter mixture!

The HOMEMADE whipped cream!

Quite a few days later.......... its was delicious!

Ingredients for the crust:
- 9 whole graham crackers
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 7 tablespoons of butter, melted

Ingredients for the filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar (and 2 tablespoons for the whipped cream)
- 1 cup of creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup of heavy whipping cream(1/2 pint)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

For the crust: Smash or food process the graham crackers and sugar until ground fine. Add the melted butter and stir/pulse until moistened. Press mixture into the pie pan(preferably 9 inch) and bake for 12 minutes. Let cool.

For the peanut butter filling: In a large bowl use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.

For the whipped cream: In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer with whisk attachment(if possible) to whip the heavy whipping cream until thick and light. Add in the remaining 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

For the filling its self: Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. Pour into the prepared pie shell and freeze for 3 hours. Once freezer time is up store in fridge for a little over a week covered. Optional- drizzle with caramel and/or chocolate and Reeces Cups. 

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Okay, so what is up with that leotard?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm going to be taking ballet! We (mom, sara, and I) found them at walmart and figured we would pick it up for the price! I can't wait to start ballet! We seen a recital last night and it was SUPER COOL! The girls(and guys) in it did amazing! Emmett LOVED the tap dancers! I was actually interested in doing ballet 3 or 4 years ago but we never did it. Sara's friend, Megan, actually brought it back up this year because she is in the class we are interested in and she was helping out with a free, mini class at our local library! Sara and I both attended, and we both loved it...... even though we kinda sucked..... #NoFlexibility

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

Valentines Day / Creativity

So it's that time of year.... again.... the time of LOVE; but I personally just enjoy the candy....

Since it's that time of year, I get my annual boost of creativity! *Winter can really dim your creative spirit* I make handmade valentines... (almost every year) which brings the dreadful question of.... what is my design?!?!? Well, this year.... I slacked...... I cut out hearts and wrote "Happy Valentines Day" on all of them and attached a mini candy bar. I admit.... it's not my finest work but they look okay *and are delicious*, so that's all that matters. right? 

This year I took more time on the box.... my design, inspired from Pinterest..... A GUMBALL MACHINE! I began right away. Who could have thought a wipes box (the cardboard part obviously) could become a gumball machine??!?!?!? Well... here are the pics!

Mwahhh!!!

"Gumballs" made from cotten balls

And the top fell off...

It's not 100% finished as the "gumballs" are still drying...   Once they are dry the "gumballs" go into the "two containers."

 It's okay if I do say so myself....the important thing is.... I like it!

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Now that I started "crafting" I won't be able to stop.... it's totally not a problem.. ;)

Well... I decided to do some late night sewing last night... and I chose to steal an idea from Mrs.Bethany Durie. Here is the post from "Grace of my Redeemer!"

Emmett was not thrilled about lying down

Warning for all sewers... if you use hot glue instead of pins cause it's already out and your being lazy.... *ahem*, don't sew over that spot... or you'll sit there for 45 minutes pulling out your hair, shouting at the sewing machine. Moral of the story.... don't be LAZY! ha...ha..ha 

Thank you so much for reading! BYE!     P.S. Feel free to leave a comment if you want!