Teach Me Something Thursday, Volume Nineteen.

The nineteenth installment of TMST comes from Allie, over at Little Mouse's House. She teaches us how to transform an outfit two ways: a peter pan collar, + a lace collar/pocket. 

I've had a few pieces in my (and Norah's) closet that I've been trying to find the perfect sprucing-up project for. I liked this dress before, but i LOVE it with it's new doily peter pan collar! One of Norah's plain black t-shirts got a matching lacy collar as well. This is a super easy and cheap way to make old clothes new!

you will need:

a dress, shirt, sweater etc. in need of some sprucing up

doily and/or lace

needle and thread

straight pins

scissors

If using a doily, first cut it directly in half. Then, using straight pins, pin the doily or lace onto the collar as you please. I also added some lace detail onto the pocket of Norah's shirt.

Sew around the edges of the doily or lace. After I stitched the curved part of the doily, I folded over the flat edge to the underside of the dress and then stitch through both layers. Make sure you trim any stray threads or extra pieces!

And Finished! Now enjoy your new-to-you item of clothing!

Make sure to head over to Little Mouse's House for more fun projects [many are kid-friendly].

If you would like to contribute to Teach Me Something Thursday, please contact me. I take holiday submissions year-round + am currently booking for Spring 2013.

Currently.

I haven't done a currently post in awhile, so I figured go a little picture crazy for this one!

 Loving: my fun new Shwings! They're fun wings to accessorize your sneakers for some extra oomph. While I usually prefer to get my wings from a can of Red Bull, these pink sparkly beasts definitely dressed up my Nike Dunk Sky Highs rather nicely! I can't wait to test them out on my Neon Yellow Litas!

Making me smile:  The awesome Lionel Richie Valentine's day coloring sheet I found! While bebesitting for my two of my favorite littles, I was looking for a holiday themed craft. I couldn't find the craft bin, so I decided to print out some fun coloring pages. I don't remember what I searched for, but when I saw this, I gasped + one of the cutest two-year-olds on the planet toddled over + asked what I was doing. I showed him, but he didn't understand it. I already gave it to Erich, because its amazing. You can find this gem over at Creative-Type Dad, because this dude seems to love Lionel just as much as I do [there are pages of Lionel goodness].

Patiently waiting for: the Wildfox SS '13 lineup, which is based on Clueless, which is one of my favorite movies ever. The collection launches sometime this month + I've been obsessively checking the site to see if its up yet. 

Reading: Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby. I snagged a first edition hardcover, because I really dig finding the original books, because I feel that is truly the author's creation. Levin captured my attention when I read The Stepford Wives years ago + this has been on my reading list for years now. Better late than never, right?

Rockin' out to: Rooney's self-titled album. I have been in a hard-core nostalgia music mode as of late, so I revisited one of my favorite albums from ten years ago. Somewhere in my old room I have the old demos burned on a CD, along with a few of the old EPs. 

Thinking about: what the next Iron Craft challenge will be. Week 1 was cotton, so Sarina + I used cotton totes I had lying around + made some fun stencils with freezer paper [Sarina created a freezer paper stencil tutorial, so make sure to check it out].

Watching: H2, which is essentially what the History Channel used to air - actual shows about history [instead of stupid reality shows that make me want to cry]. I pray that they don't pull an MTV2 + decide to switch from awesome programming to more heinous reality shows. 

A big thank you to Danielle from Sometimes Sweet for passing on the idea for these fun "Currently" posts!

So This Is The New Year...

... and I don't feel any different. - Death Cab for Cutie, New Year

For the last ten New Years, I have always played this song a few times the first week in January - its like New Year holiday music, if you will. I love older DCFC + Transatlanticism is my favorite album (you can snag a copy for under ten bucks from Amazon), so its often in rotation throughout the year as well. The opening lyrics stand true, though. I don't feel any different because the year has changed. If anything, I'm stuck in the previous year - it takes me a week or two to get into the habit of writing the new date on documents - I can't tell you how many times I would sign off on things at the beginning of 2012 + date them 2011 - I wouldn't realize it until someone pointed it out, either.

Same thing goes for birthdays. I never feel any different + it usually takes me a few months to start saying the correct age when people ask me how old I am. Since I recently turned thirty, this one was easier for me to remember, but I can't tell you how many times I would tell people I was 27 or 28, when I was actually 29. If I didn't realize what I said right away, Erich would joke that I was lying about my age.

I didn't make any resolutions (they're doomed from the start), but I did decide that over the course of the winter, I would attempt to drink less coffee, eat healthier, craft more + dress up more. So far, I have only been drinking tea, I have been eating healthier than normal (less candy now that my Haribo advent calendar has been demolished, but I just ate a slice of pizza that was leftover from dinner last night), I went to Sarina's last night to work on fun crafty stuff + I am attempting to break free of my usual winter attire - sweatpants, sweatshirt, Uggs + no makeup. As you can tell, its baby steps, but its better than nothing.

What Is Influenster?

Recently, I have read many bloggers talking about Influenster. I decided to see what the big deal was. After waiting to receive an invitation [if you want one, comment with your email address + i'll send it over], I logged in + saw what the deal was.

Basically, you review products + based on your choices, Influenster sends you a VoxBox full of goodies [sample size + full-size] for you to review, or to pass onto friends or readers to review. Its totally free, which is awesome. I have seen VoxBox samples on other blogs, + to be honest, the goodies inside look better than Birchbox samples, which cost $20 a month. I was a faithful Birchbox girl for quite some time, but after I was sent expired products twice, with a generic email response back from the girl I was told to speak with, I decided that I wasn't going to give them any more of my cash. Plus, the last few boxes I got were crappy anyway.

Whats awesome is that Influenster doesn't want you to write a review praising the product if you think it sucks - they want to know why you're not a fan  + why! Its also a great way to find out about a variety of items from folks that aren't being sponsored [some bloggers don't like speaking poorly of a product that they don't like - I, on the other hand, will tell you if I'm not a fan, because being honest is key]. As soon as I receive my VoxBox, I will share it with you all on here + yes, I will also be sending items to my readers, because sharing is caring!

If you are on Influenster, what do you think of it? If you're interested in joining, let me know + I will send you an invite!