dave ramsey inspired cash wallet

 i needed some serious inspiration to actually stick to the all cash diet going on around here and ratty, worn out envelopes stuffed in my wallet just wasn't doing the trick. so i started looking around and all i could find were some seriously expensive dave ramsey inspired wallets on etsy and some plans that you had to pay to download - isn't the point of this to save money?? so after lots of searching, i decided to combine {this} and {this} to make a little wallet, in case anyone else is looking for a little help.

it's far (far) from perfect and the front little flap is crazy crooked, but i decided to use it for a couple weeks to see if i could live with it and - surprise surprise - i'm doing just fine with the imperfections :)

i'm loving all the little envelopes in the middle keeping me organized! i was worried that it would all fall out of the top with the envelopes open, but with the flap on the top, there hasn't been a problem at all.

 in defense of the expensive etsy ones, i would totally charge lots of money to make another one of these. it wasn't hard, it just took forever and i'm not really that great at projects that take multiple days :)

projects

last week, covington had his first real non-tooth related fever for a few days. it was sad but i can't say i hated all the extra cuddling...

with all the extra time at home and super long naps plus james being crazy - pulling an all nighter - busy, i had lots of time for projects. when i proudly showed james how i'd organized our medicine cabinet and put labels on each shelf, he asked if i was starting to feel a little cooped up :)

i do love a good project! 

how great is wonder under?? some super clearance finds from babies-r-us with strategically placed appliqués make some fun little tee's 

i'd been looking for a storage ottoman for a few weeks before finding this one on sale at target for $8.50! what! 

i hot glued a yard of fabric on that i'd been saving for a year

and it's the perfect little toy storage! 

i got tired of looking for the perfect fabric to cover this shade with, so i just painted it - not perfect but better than before.

and my favorite - i've only been meaning to do this for a year... when covington took over our 2nd bedroom, james' "office" was squeezed into the corner of our bedroom. if you gotta use a filing cabinet for your bedside table, you might as well bling it up a little. i'm sure james appreciates it so much more now :)

i never get tired of gold and white :)

pillow progress

what goes in a big white room with a brown striped rug, an orange swirly rocker, and a green polka-dotted bed skirt?

lots and lots of really bright pillows, of course

a whole daybed of pillows to lounge on
i do love me some patterns

thankful for a snow day + the weekend + mlk day off school to get these done.
sometimes when i'm walking by the room, i just stop to look...
and get really excited
and then get really nervous
all at the same time.
is that normal?

really glad the sewing is done because i'm getting quite large and crawling around on the floor cutting things out is not as easy as it used to be. pinning the bed skirt on last week left me sounding like i'd just run a marathon. not to mention that i kept getting stuck behind the rocker...
it wasn't a pretty sight.

alright, things are going on the walls this weekend!

a summer skirt

guess what.
i actually sewed something.
imagine that.

it was kinda annoying me that my favorite skirt at old navy never goes on sale because, even though it's just $15, i always feel better about buying things on sale. and then i saw this skirt at anthropologie which is really just the same skirt, but longer and thought i might like that better. so first round of this skirt was a long, black version. but i've actually never worn it. i think it holds the mississippi humidity in and who wants that. not me.


so for round two, i used less than 2 yards of cheap jersey from the hancocks sale table. gotta love piles of sale fabric.



first, i doubled my fabric over, laid my favorite old navy skirt on it, and cut it out, leaving a couple inches around it.



i serged up the edges to make a triangular - tube.



for the waist band, i cut out a rectangle twice as high as i actually wanted it to be on my waist (b/c we're going to fold it over in a minute) and wide enough to fit around my waist pretty snug.



i folded it over, hamburger style for all you kindergarten teachers, and serged up the edge to make a tube.



ok, this is kinda hard to explain - we want the serged edges to be covered up, so i took one of the edges and folded it over to meet the other raw edge. make sense? probably not...



now the tube is only half as tall with one smooth side and one side with 2 raw edges



now to put it all together - i definitely messed this up twice. on the 2nd skirt i did. ugh.
with the skirt still inside out, i lined put the tube over the top of the skirt, lining up all the raw edges



serged all around it



and walah! super comfortable summer skirt with a fold over band. gotta love jersey for the summer.

little happies

last weekend, we had one of those fun crazy weekends with wedding showers and birthday parties and suppers with awesome friends all in one day. it was great. last minute (of course) i whipped up some of my stand-by favorite projects.

i love { made's } hobo bag pattern. i've based several bags and purses on this pattern. it doesn't take long to make and (hopefully) it useful


all filled up with lots of activities to keep little boys occupied on road trips


for the wedding shower, i went with the ruffly dishtowels. super easy project that'a fast and fun. i love grouping lots of patterns. add some utensils and all done!


we're soaking up our time with sweet friends here in chattanooga and loving our crazy weekends.

slipcover accomplished!!!

so we have this chair.
it's a lazy boy
i have a love/hate relationship with it.

but i definitely love it more than hate it. it's the perfect place to take a nap or curl up and it's sooo comfortable. it's a lazy boy, right?

but it's not the prettiest thing because, well, it's a lazy boy.

but when you're young and married and in school, any free furniture is pretty much beautiful in my eyes, if you know what i mean.

so anyway, when we got married 4 years ago, my mil and sister in laws wrestled an awesome red slipcover on it to make it match the barn and it looked great (have you ever tried to put a lazy boy slipcover on? i was wrestling just trying to get it off!) but i was ready for a change.

i've looked everywhere for a slipcover that's straight on the bottom, like not elastic, but no such luck. so last summer when dirt cheap got a huge shipment of target linens, i picked up 2 thick cotton tablecloths for just a couple bucks (total steal!) thinking i'd try to sew one. well, i'm a total dork when it comes to trying new projects and read and read and think about it and plan it but get totally scared to actually cut into the fabric. i even bought { pink and polk dot's } 'the lazy girl's guide to custom slipcovers' e-book and it was awesome with step by step directions and lots of pictures but i was still scared. and then spring break came and i finished all my other projects and got bored enough to finally try it out and - you know what -

it wasn't that bad!!!

it's sooo far from perfect but it's covered and it's bright and a good change and it was a great learning experience.
you can see the seams in one of the corners but it's nothing a throw pillow can't fix if-you-know-what-i'm-sayin
and i can take it off and throw it in the wash with some bleach anytime it needs it.

whooo that was a lot of words. on to the pictures -

before -


but really this is the before because this is what it looked like most of the time...


and after -


woohoo for one more thing off my list and fabric out of my pile!

summer dresses

my sweet friend abby was tired of this curtain she had in her kitchen, so we decided to make it into something new. how 'bout a little dress?
so i used a dress to see about how wide we needed it and cut two rectangles

serged them up the sides

made 2 little casings - one at the top and one in the middle

and threaded some elastic through

a quick hem

and added an easy sash
and wa-la! fun summer dress!

so this was a bit too easy to make. i could become addicted. planning to make myself a couple tomorrow...
(hope you like it, abs!)

organizing fun

so i'm a serious sucker for some organization
especially cheap organization

so when i saw this idea to organize my falling down piles of fabric that drive me crazy, i immediately headed to the dollar tree.

i got 7 pieces of foam board, measured my little shelves, and drew off 8 rectangles to make some mini-bolts


cut out all the bolts


folded my fabric and wrapped it around


and used straight pins to secure it


all wrapped up


oh how i love how neat and organized they are! i can actually see all the fabric i have. it's so pretty... and all for $7

as for the rest of our over-stuffed closet...

pattern sewing!!

ooh i'm so excited -
it's been one of my goals to saw using an actual pattern for, ummm, like a year and i finally did it!
yea, this is no big deal to most people but i pretty much feel like a rockstar for actually figuring it out :)



day 1 - watched lots of videos on youtube on how to read a pattern, seems easy enough

day 2 - umm, it wasn't as easy as it looked on youtube. there's lots of paper and i'm scared.


day 3 - finally get everything lined up ( i think ) and it's not fitting on my fabric - ugh. quit.


day 4 - new day, new fabric (iphone pic)
i finally figure out why i'm cutting out 2 of one piece and only 1 of everything else ('cause they're all on the fold!) big step for me. actually get stuff cut out before getting too nervous & quit. still can't quite figure out where all these pieces are going.


day 5 - bored out. of. my. mind. our plans cancelled on us. 8:30. nothing to do. so i finally started sewing and - you know what - it wasn't that hard! side note - i might have picked the easiest pattern ever - no zippers, no exact arm holes, just elastic

oh how i love my new serger (thanks mom!!) im sure you all gaze at the seams in your clothes with pride too, right?

after i got the whole dress put together, i got a little cocky and figured out how to use the rolled hem on my serger

i do love it!

james recommended adding some ruffles to the collar to make it look a little less homemade. he even picked out the yellow. im pretty impressed with his consulting. i'll probably continue using his expertise.



if i use this pattern again, i'll probably use a smaller size and and make it a little longer but overall, i like it! and i've finally accomplished my goal of using a pattern. woohoo!