A Pinterest Work Out and Slow Motion Burpees

I did it! I just tried the at-home workout below and I feel great! I little wobbly and out of shape (ok very out of shape), but I did the whole thing 2 times. (Ok I only did the "wall sit" once.)

Lessons Learned:

1. Now I know what "vigorous" workout means by the definition of sweating in the first 3-5 min. I've always had trouble with the "Can you talk? Can you sing?" measures of intensity because as a former trumpet player (while marching across a field), I have pretty good breath support. And frankly, it takes quite a lot to keep me from talking. ;)

2. Burpees are hard. I've seen people of various fitness levels do burpees (ie. my personal trainer friends vs. The Biggest Loser contestants) but I wanted to make sure I did it right, so I googled "How to do a Burpee" and clicked How to do a Burpee Properly. I watched her for a few seconds and got the basic idea: push up + jump up in the air.

Let's just say my burpee was not so fluid. More reminiscent of the first week on The Biggest Loser. A) I can't actually do a 'real' push up. B) I can't just jump my feet forward like that! Either way, my slow-motion burpees were definitely working me out and I am very proud of myself! ^^)

There you have it! My rambling commentary on trying Pinterest workouts. :)

Confessions of a Pinner

I love Pinterest. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on it. Why? Because I already had my own personal Google doc organized into various seasons, projects, and titles with lists of links under it with short descriptions. Yes. Yes I did. (And I know I was not alone. Too bad I didn't invent Pinterest!)

But now I'm really a Pinner. I have 921 pins. That's a LOT of pins people! (Not alot, but that's for another day.) I'm just a few more weeks of unemployment* away from hitting 1,000. I'm not sure when I started pinning (that's a bad sign isn't it?) but I think that's a pretty hefty growth rate. 

I, Rebecca Whiting, am addicted to Pinterest. Just pin a big ol' scarlet P to my chest. (Speaking of which, Pinterest could have kept Ms. Hester Prynne out of a lot of trouble in my opinion.)

SO, fellow addicts, or you know - those of you who pity me because your addictions don't have a nice computerized counter next to them....

I HAVE A PLAN! A challenge!

I am challenging myself to DO SOMETHING from Pinterest at least once a week. (And slapping somebody in the name of a mosquito doesn't count!) I want to try to make something, sew something, cook something, work out from a Pin at least once a week. Not only do I need some motivation to do crafty projects that I love but procrastinate about, but then I don't feel so guilty pinning if I've done some of them! ^^)

I would LOVE for anyone to join me. In their own way, on their own schedule. 

For example, I just graduated, don't have a job, and don't have kids.

If you are engaged in any of the above, your personal time probably looks rather different. So don't think I'm one of those super moms who can bake 100 rainbow cupcakes for the 2nd grade while simultaneously running a business and decorating my house fit for magazines. I can barely keep a resolution as long as a kitchen sponge.

This is my challenge for me. What will your challenge be? Do you even need a challenge?

What addiction would you prefer not to have a computerized counter attached to?

Ruffle Neck Tee

Even though it's retroactive, I'm gonna call this Project #1 from my new self-challenge to make the things I pin. Read more about that here.

The original pin was a tutorial from Sutton Grace for this shirt. She finished it off with a nice band around the collar, which I have yet to do (nor have I hemmed my sleeves...whoops). And I used my cut-off sleeves to make my ruffle. Thanks for the excellent tutorial, Erin!

*If you want to pin this, please go to her site to pin the tutorial. :)

Remember those long-forgotten thrift store finds? Well, I finally finished refashioning one of them into a ruffle neck tee! I'm still getting used to wearing something so ruffly but I really like it!

Super Memories

Just reminiscing about last Christmas, and realized I never posted the capes I made for the kiddos. So for the 95% of you in my family, you've already seen this. BUT, this is the best place for me to post some good pictures and not lose them! :)

Featuring Little Red Riding Rose, Super Peter, Super Silas, and James as Ben Ten.

(Many thanks to Mom for sewing all those stripes on James's jacket!

Favorites:

Yes, that's right. He's jumping off a table. That's why it's always more fun when Granny's in charge!

The Lone S

Super Cousins!

And we can't forget Phillip...

Christmas in the Air

Every Christmas, all my patience and self-control goes out the window. (Not that there was much of it.) I suddenly want to buy decorations, lights, wreaths, blankets...etc...that I can't afford. Or won't, I should say.

I was just about to burst last week, realizing I had frittered away my November cash without a single piece of glitter to show for it. SO, I was determined to make some nice Christmas decorations out of what I had in the house. (I did have to run to Joann's for more white felt and iron-on stuff.)

New pillow covers. :) 

Paper Lanterns

(plus awesome piney stuff from a tree outside)

I made them with scrapbook paper and a jumbo thumbtack.

Unfortunately, my little battery tea lights (3 for a dollar at Dollar Tree!) aren't quite strong enough to glow through scrapbook paper. Duh. So I recommend just colored paper.

(The red lanterns have Christmas trees on them.)

So there are my decorations (so far)!

And thank you Robert for trusting me! :D

Paper Lantern Stencils

Pillow Stencils

Geometric Denim Skirt

Inspiration

I have been requested (well, sort of) to explain how I made this denim skirt. I really like denim skirts, and have lots and lots of jeans that I have worn through and can't make into shorts if you know what I mean. However, the legs of the jeans are in excellent condition!! Also, most jean skirts have you do some weird fold over of the in seam, which is worn out (as afore mentioned) and not very nice to keep. I wanted something visually interesting, and stumbled across that awesome skirt.

My skirt was made from 1 and a half pairs of jeans: full pair + legs. So really, you could save the shorts too.

Since I did not take pictures during the process I will do the best to recreate my madness for you!

First, find some jeans that have a very comfortable waist and rear.

Step 1. Cut off the legs. (Above the inseam and before the curvy part. Aka, really high)

Step 2. Very closely cut out the seams on the legs, so you have 4 good leg pieces. These can go as high as you want the skirt to be long. Make sense?

Step 3. Cut the legs into strips. I'd say no thinner than 3 inches wide, since you will lose some width in the seam allowance, but I just eyeballed it.

Step 4. Line up all your strips in an order you like. Since I was using 2 slightly different color pairs of jeans I chose to do light-light-dark, etc. I also moved around strips so that there weren't two really skinny or fat strips next to each other...and so on. The way I cut the 2 pairs of jeans ended up also making my pattern skinny strip-skinny strip-wide strip....

Then sew the strips together, right sides together. I just started with 2 strips, and then sewed on the next strip in the line up. Repeat! 

**I chose to use the original hem of the jeans. This limited my use of the pant leg (no thigh pieces), but the hem looks nice. If you want to use strips from all over the jeans, just hem your skirt after Step 7.

Step 5. THINK. 

So now you have a waist and pockets to legless jeans AND this bizarre length of blue jean strips.

Try on the naughty mini-skirt, and wrap the strip-skirt part around your hips to make sure there's actually enough skirt to go around. If not, you need to add more strips. 

At this point I had to sit on the floor (because that's my big cut and design surface) for about 10 minutes just thinking. This is because I wanted my skirt to have a diagonal, which just about made my brain explode!

Step 6. Skirt.  If your strip-skirt goes around your whole body AND lines up with the rough edge of the waist section. Sew it together in a loop. Ummm.... I mean. Sew it together to be a tube. Thus, we will attach the tube skirt to the (tubular) waist, and have a skirt that will fit on a 3D woman. ^^)

Step 7. Connect. 

The end goal is to have "right sides together," right? 

Lay out the "waist" section. Right side out like you would wear it. Then turn your tube skirt thing inside out. line up your rough edge (top of skirt) to the rough edge of the waist section (bottom, hips). This in effect should look like someone wearing a skirt and pulling up the skirt to flash their legs. Make sense? No? oh. Darn.

Well, sew the skirt section to the waist section. If you think there are going to be any funky wrinkles because they don't match up perfectly, you can always sew an extra seam to make the waist or the skirt a little skinnier to match. 

Before you sew, make sure the BOTTOM hem and the TOP of the waist are parrallel. Or else your skirt will look like this:

Not what you want.

Sorry these last steps are super confusing. You can do it! I believe in you! 

The end.

How to Take Up a Shirt

Woohoo! My first attempt at really taking up a shirt! I got this shirt today (see previous post) for $6 (before the random discount the cashier gave me just to be nice!) at a local consignment store.
I apologize for the poor lighting and photo quality in the Before picture, but hey, that's how they do it in commercials, right?

And you know what, I'm going to give a tutorial, because some of us are still at this phase and are not ready to whip out quilted throw pillows or adorable dresses. Even the idea of using a real pattern (which may or may not have been sitting in my sewing desk for 3 months) just freaks me out.

Step 1. Find a shirt (long sleeves for this) that you like the size and fit. Turn them both inside out and lay the smaller shirt on top. (I laid both the "fronts" towards me) Line up the shoulders and collars so you just have to take up the armpits.

Step 2. Trace the smaller shirt and pin. I was very comfortable with this shirt size, so I traced right along the edge. If you want a little more room, trace an inch (or whatever you want) outside the shirt.

Step 3A: Clear all the junk off your sewing table. Dust the table and sewing machine so you don't get your project dirty. Find the right color thread...make a bobbin. Okay now I'm ready

Step 3. Sew along the lines you traced. I started at the bottom hem (make sure the hems are flush with eachother) and sewed up to the armpit and then out the arm. Make sure you make a "turn" until you hit the original armpit seam. 'Else you will have some funky armpits goin' on.

Step 4. Try on the shirt! It would be no fun to have to rip out any seams you just sewed, but it would be less fun to go on to step 5 with and ill-fitting shirt, because there is no going back after Step 5.

Step 5. Cut off the extra fabric. Leave a good quarter inch. (Not shown - whoops!)

Step 6. With the shirt still inside out, zigzag along that rough edge to keep it from fraying and sturdier in the washing machine. (I will let you know how this fairs next time I wash it!)

Ta da! You have a new shirt!

Unless you want to make it 3/4 sleeves like me. Then you're not done.

Step 7. I just tried on the shirt right-side out and marked where I wanted the sleeves to end with a pencil. If you are nervous about this, line it up with another three-quarter sleeve shirt you like. Make a line about an inch lower than where you want the sleeve to end (seam allowance)

Step 8. Cut the sleeve you marked! Then cut off the other sleeve to match! (I suggest lining up the sleeve you just cut off with the other cuff, than trying to fold over the whole shirt or something.)

Step 9. Turn the shirt inside out. Fold the newly-cut sleeve up about a half inch and pin. (Pin perpendicular to the end of the sleeve/ where you will sew). **If your sleeve doesn't fit around your sewing machine, you might be able to take off part of it to make a skinny arm.**

I chose to zigzag along the folded half inch of the sleeve so that the opening would still be stretchy. (I will have to ask my sewing consults if this will fall apart in the washing machine without some reinforcement.)

Ta da! Now you're really done!

Thrift Store Finds

Just spent $26 on SIX tops and one sweater dress at our awesome consignment store, Stuff Etc. (which Robert and I fondly refer to as "StuffMart").

Yes. Yes I did.

Stay tuned to see how they'll be refashioned!

Thinking about Christmas

Since Lissa and I have been talking about gingerbread all day, I started thinking about how Gingerbread are born.

"Waiting"
or
"The Longest 9 minutes of Our Lives"

Monstrously Cute

So I promised someone that I would try my hardest not to do any more catch-up/backlog posts. BUT, this one is really important!!!

A few months ago my college friend, Jessica, (not the one with the laundry soap) had a sweet baby boy! At that time my sister someone helped me to make some monstrously cute stuff for Jessica, Casey, and baby Isaac.

I will not go into the how here, because I depended completely on several great tutorials online.

• For the 2-in-1 Stroller Messenger Bag, check out Make It and Love It. This tutorial is the meat of what I followed to create this bag. 
• For other inspiration or more complicated bags, here are 11 Free Diaper Bag tutorials.
• Mr. Monster himself was inspired by a monster messenger bag like this on etsy. I can't find the original on etsy anymore, but these little monsters have started springing up all over crafty cyberspace. 

(For those of you who care, I actually deliberated a lot about if it was nice to copy an idea off etsy. Firstly, I'm not reselling, and I'm not telling you how to do it. You can fend for yourself and make it up like I did. Secondly, I would have no problem copying something from Target, right? EXCEPT that I would feel like I'm sticking it to The Man, but I feel like etsy people are trying to make a buck off their creativity. Oh well. I did it.)

So, without further ado, a Monstrously Cute Diaper Bag for Jessica!

And thanks to Lissa, a positively adorable Monster to hug and play with!

I think he needs a close up, don't you?

  

I just love his little toes!!!!

As for the bag, it was a lot of work, and Lissa wants to see details. (She [in Texas] mailed the monster and accessories to me [in Iowa], so I could put them in a box and mail them back to Jess [in Texas] with the bag. Thus, I got to hug and squish Mr. Monster, but she never got to see the bag up close.)

"Monster in the headlights"

 

Back of bag

Inside of bag

For stretchy inside pockets, I used this tutorial. 

The rest of her tutorial was too hard for me. Then again, that could be because all her prints kind of made me dizzy after while. Very cute in the final product though!

And then there were snaps! 

The 2-in-1 Messenger Bag concept was the result of one mother's frustration with hanging a diaper bag on a stroller. Because really, the under-carriage space is already full of purses and shopping bags if you're on a major outing. Thus she invented the 2-in-1 Stroller Bag so that she could have a long strap for wearing the diaper bag over her head/shoulder (not pictured), AND be able to snap it up on the stroller.

I would like to note here that the original design (which I followed) has the long part of the strap removable with velcro & snaps. If I ever make one of these again, I will just make the strap normally, and add snaps for easily hitching it up on a stroller. I mean, if I just had a baby, I would lose the long part and be stuck with a stroller-only bag. Thus, I'd rather it be one piece.

         

Hanging down and hitting your feet  VS.  snapped up and easy to access without removing from the stroller!

Special thanks to my sweet neighbor for letting me use her stroller for my photo shoot. It was much easier than accosting some poor family at church.

   

Accessories! by Lissa

3 light flannel blankets

3 pacifier clips & plastic rings

Accessories! by Becca

Wet bag (plasticky lining for wet clothes)

Using a wonderful tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home

Whew! That's all folks!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Jessica, I have been happily using homemade laundry soap for a few months now. I chose liquid, because I 've always used liquid detergent, but half way through stirring a cauldron (aka. 5-gallon bucket) of soap in my kitchen, I thought dry powder soap might have been a better option. So, if space or strength to muscle a full bucket around are a problem, I highly recommend the dry version. (Jessica has used it with great success). If you reach the same cauldron-stirring moment, don't come crying to me. I warned you. ^^)

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

• Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
• Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
• Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
• Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. 

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

• Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.

Also from Jessica:

Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes

Recipe #1
1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.

Recipe #2

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

~Note: I haven't tried these since I'm not a big Fabric Softener user, but I really like both ideas! ~ Rebecca

Take that, Freud!

Let me start by saying, I have been seriously out of my blogging groove. That, and I got great summer job in April, and started school 5 long weeks ago. Maybe someday I will do a "rewind post" posting pictures of the thing I wanted to show you in May & June. For now, I am going to live in the moment instead of trying to catch up. (This was always my problem with keeping a diary too.) Besides, I talk to 90% of my audience on the phone every week.

The deal is, I am neurotic. ;) According to wikipedia (where else would I look?) "Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms.^[1] It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic." Or even more accurately, I have onycophagia.

  

Basically, I've been biting my nails since before I can remember. I only remember sucking my thumb until some time before first grade. This year I found out from my sister when exactly I started biting my nails. You'll never guess. .... First grade - conveniently the same time she was a freshman in college and started biting her nails. My conclusion? Freud would love me. I have had my finger(s) in my mouth since birth. BIRTH! I have tried to stop before, but it never lasts for more than a few weeks. Even when I've had my nails done beautifully, after a week or so I forget and find myself chewing subconsciously on the wonderful hard acrylic nails. I no longer buy the 50 pack of pens because all the soft plastic caps end up in mangled clumps. Anybody remember those rubbery bracelets that were so popular for any and ever cause? You can chew on those things forever without them showing any wear....but you'll get a sore jaw. Or so...you know... I've heard.


Since I'm not really keen on receiving some Freudian psychoanalysis, and my own Cognitive (just will yourself to stop) attempts have been futile, I'm resorting to good ole operant conditioning. As in, snap yourself with rubber band following undesired behavior.

If you can't read the label, it says "Stop undesirable licking, chewing, and biting behavior." Granted, 21-year-old women are not featured along side the err...dogs and cats. We bought this stuff for Daisy after she had consumed (note: not chewed, consumed) Echo's first 6 collars or so. Poor Echo, I hope it doesn't smell bad to dogs too. We doused is collar in Fooey on two different occasions and Daisy still chewed through them. This was an improvement from eating everything but the metal buckle and loop. The first time I used it on Echo's collar I accidently got some on my fingers and after tasting (biting) the bitter stuff was afraid to touch my face at all (touch your lips -lick your lips -yuck) for at least 24 hours.


So here goes. I've had it on my fingers all day and I've already learned some good manners.
1. Don't touch your food with your fingers.
2. Don't lick your fingers if you get food on them.
3. Don't grab your spoon by the eating part when pulling it out of your backpack.
and obviously
4. Don't put your fingers in your mouth! (This includes correcting a lipstick smudge...yech.)


I'm sorry this is SO very long, but I do intend to get back to blogging, and when my nails are long and pretty I'll post a picture!


p.s. If you did not follow the link on operant conditioning, please please go watch the YouTube clip that is attached. The end is the best part.