GUYS GUYS GUYS.

LOOK. I FINISHED SOMETHING!

6 gore, a-line skirt with belt loops, lined with black interlock knit, made with 100% cotton twill. All seams are overlocked.

For Bloomuffin, who purchased the fabric and let me practice my patterning skills. This particular pattern still needs a bit of tweaking because it was drafted almost 5 months ago? ‘OTL

I even embroidered a little “oTaM” tag so I’d remember which side was the back.

Nailed up one of those spool holder from Joanns near to my door; they had them on sale for 40% off! Also spraypainted it white to match my decor. And there’s my fabric stash in the bottom left corner.

I also don’t have an excuse to lose my keys anymore. :>

Have a sneak peak at my room renovations!

They’re all really easy DIYs.

1. A $7 drawer from Goodwill that was clean on the outside but stained on the inside; clean it up the best you can and cover it with scrap wallpaper (that I also thrifted a year ago). The small drawer on top was also thrifted same day.

2. Lightweight wooden frames from Daiso; gluestick scrapbook paper (or more wallpaper) onto cardstock and used double-sided tape to adhere to the back. Then hide your large flower hairclips among bunches of silk flowers.  

I want to do a breakdown of my room very soon because I’m actually really proud with how it is now; it’ll probably happen in cahoots with the LJ EGL wardrobe theme!

A leftover snap before ALA during the usual con-jam night.

My friend Bloo (aka Bloomuffin) insisted that my room needed more practical/cute courtesy of Daisi JP and Goodwill. I cave in easily. ‘OTL

The drawers and tote bag were Goodwill finds and everything else are Daiso goodies. The drawers were dirt cheap and simply need a little DIY love.

And some more Christmas DIY!

These are tins I customized to hold loose leaf teas and are completely reusable, provided that you wash them. My mom is a tea addict, so I thought she should enjoy better teas that were more complex in flavor.

The tins have scrapbook paper carefully decoupaged on with Mod Podge. To get a smooth and seamless finish, apply glue to the paper first. Use very thin layers of MP, and gently buff each layer with fine grit sandpaper to remove strokes. Let dry, and varnish!

The labels are removable and came straight from the bags I bought the teas in.

I love cute containers. I want to do this all day. D:

If you’re still looking for last minute gift wrapping ideas and you want to believe you’re being clever, you could do what I’m doing!

I’m using plain wrapping paper and brown gift bags with green tissue paper for gifts. My color scheme this year was white, gold, and green. On each gift, I’m writing a personal letter to the recipient, telling them how much I love them and how thankful I am for their existence.

I honestly thought I was being thrifty, but green twine, a gold sharpie, and a white opaque marker cost $15 and that was just murder.

First prototype done, two more to go! This one is the Peter Pan version. Took me a day and a half to work it out but I have the process down now. All the patterns were drafted by me. There are fur hooks to keep it around your neck.

Everyone thinks you just cut two slices of fabric to make a collar but that’s not how real collars roll. The lining, interfacing, and shell are all cut just a little different (it’s actually very important) and everything inside was handstitched down so it would sit smoothly. I’m not stingy about “secrets” so I really want to document a full tutorial for this. But only if there’s a demand because I’m lazy.

I really can’t wait until I finish all of them so I can host the giveaway. It’s sort-of-Christmas-no-not-really and it honestly makes me happy to make someone else happy. I’m very satisfied with the quality so far, but I haven’t determine a fair price yet. Also having way too much fun with the phone camera.

Also, I have a job. A retail job, but that means I can properly feed myself now. It’s been a very good week. Parking ticket be damned.