{ i spy a diy - the primrose pumps }

Anthropologie stocks some pretty, flippin' fantastic shoes.  I almost never buy them because they are often too expendy for me, even on sale.  But I fell in love with these shoes, the Rensselaer T-Straps, a few seasons ago, and haven't been able to get them out of my head since.  Aren't they lovely? 

These beauties retailed for $148.  Eeek!

Then last week, I spied these $2 Candies mary janes at the thrift store.  They were in like-new condition. Hmmm, they got me thinking about a DIY version of the Rensselaers.

I knew I needed some leather so that I could make some pretty blooms, so I picked up these ugly boots for $3.

And then I cut up the boots and used the leather and leather glue to make some sweet, little flowers.

I added some bows, and this is what I ended up with....

Here's another look at Anthro's and mine.

I spent five bucks.  FIVE.

I am happy. ;)

{ i spy a diy - the ravishing rose belt }

I've had this sweet Anthropologie belt on my list of DIY projects since 2009, I think.

It seemed like about time to take an hour to tackle this lady.  And I love how it turned out!  I used this tutorial to make my fabric rose, and the rest of the belt was super simple.  And, bonus.....it cost me nothing because I already had the yellow fabric and the D ring closure in my stash of goodies!

 

happy Monday!

{ i spy a diy - the picnic polo }

One of my favorite kind of projects is the kind where you take a boring piece of clothing and give it new life with trimmings or embellishments.  These kinds of "re-fashions", as lot of people call them, totally rock because they are quick, easy and usually really cheap.

I picked up this plain, red striped polo for a buck at the thrift store.  I added a ruffle trim (using this fabric), a cool measuring tape ribbon to the placket, and some pretty wooden buttons, and I had a whole new look that I love.

Picnic anyone? ;)

{ i spy a diy - the sweet shop skirt }

Look what I whipped up with a $4.50 fabric remnant!

I was inspired by Anne Cramer's yummy striped Flynn Skirts. 

These lovelies are only $160.  HA! 

I was pretty thrilled that I was able to hide the seams (see how nicely those stripes match up? Yay!) in one of the pleats.  Oh, how the little things make me happy.  I also made it super, duper-dee easy on myself  by adding elastic to the back of the waistband instead of fussing with a zipper.

Not too bad for a nap time project!

And did I mention that it costs $4.50?!! ;)  I didn't bother with a pattern here.  I just sort of eyeballed and pinned the pleats on myself,  but there's a great pleated skirt tutorial here if you're interested in making a similar one. 

{ i spy a diy - the bountiful bows cardi }

It's been a return to cooler temps around here, and that's just the motivation I needed to get going on this DIY.  I've long been smitten with this little bow-filled cardigan from Anthro's 2008 catalog.  It's called the Teddy Darling cardi.

Looks pretty easy to replicate, doncha think?   It absolutely was.  I finished it in four easy steps, and it only took an hour and a half total.

Step 1: Grab a plain cardi and then gather some ribbons.  I went searching for some special ones, and found these.  I love that they're printed  with definitions like 'vintage' and 'unique'.  I also used this one that has ruler markings on it. I used some black and white polka dot ones, and a few other cream ones too.

Step 2: Make a BUNCH of bows.  Again, an episode of Downton Abbey is helpful for something mindless like this.

Step 3: Position your bows in an arrangement that you like.  I decided to follow the line of the v-neckline rather than going more random like the original.  Once you have them in place, secure them with glue.  This No-Sew glue is my sewing secret weapon.  I LOVE it.  Why?  Because it keeps me from having to pin things.  I HATE pinning things.  I'd rather rip out a seam than pin.  This glue forms a temporary bond and then washes out.  It's awesome.

Step 4: Tack down each bow well with needle and thread.  Done!

I'm really excited about how it turned out.

I even like it better than the original. I just love when that happens ;)

Remember that you have until midnight tonight to enter the sunshine giveaway. 

        Come back tomorrow to see who won!

{ i spy a diy - with bovagoods! }

Today I am absolutely delighted to bring you a guest post, courtesy of my ridiculously creative and talented friend, Elisabeth.  Take a peek at her tutorial for some easy-peasy and totally darling, fabric flowers. If you're anything like me, you'll be itchin' to grab your glue gun and fabric scraps like, lickety-split!
 Take it away, E!

Hello, Polkadots and Puppies People!

I am thrilled to be guest posting here today on one of my all-time favorite blogs.  This is such a happy place, isn't it?

Rachel and I go way back to college where we often spent the night in the studio draping, sketching, sewing, and pattern making. Now we are both bloggers and still stay up all night pinning, reading, posting, and creating. Ok, well, we probably don't pull as many all-nighters as we used to but we still share the love of all things creative, crafty and colorful.

My blog is called Bovagoods. I love to share with my readers my DIY projects, before and after projects, Pinterest love, thrifting finds and any other "goods" I am inspired by.

Rachel has asked me to share my fabric flower goods with you today, and I couldn't be more excited to do it!

If you have fabric scraps, felt, buttons, a hot glue gun and some hair clips or headbands then you are already prepared to make the project I am here to share with you today.

The tutorial that inspired me to make these can be found here.

Here's what you need:

Fabric Scraps 

Clips, Pins or Headbands

Felt

Buttons (or other items for the center of the flower)

Hot Glue Gun

Cut out a bunch of fabric circles:

The bigger the circle, the bigger the flower. 

If you cut out 5 inch circles, you will end up with a 5 inch flower. 

(Note: 5 inch flowers are really big.)

Mine are made with two different size layers. You could do one layer, or three layers.

It takes six circles per layer.

The circles don't have to be exact.

I looked around the house and used bowls, cups, etc. for patterns.

Stack up the six layers of fabric, hold the card stock pattern on top and cut.

Cut some felt into a 2 inch circle. (You will need 1 felt circle per flower.)

Take a fabric circle, and fold in half:

Then, fold that like this:

Then, flip that over and fold over the other half.

Then, you have something that looks like this:

It sort of looks like a double cone thingy.

Take your glue gun and put a bit of glue between the layers of fabric at the bottom near the points to keep them closed/folded. Don't use too much glue and don't smoosh it out all flat or you'll have flat flowers.

You will have a bunch of these:

Now start gluing them to your 2 inch felt circle.

Glue the smaller petals on top.

It will look like this on the bottom:

Then glue the button to the center and when that dries, glue on your clip, pin, headband, etc. to the back.

I made my girls some flowers out of white linen to wear for Easter.

Dresses: Clearance rack at GAP Kids

Pink sandals: Wal-mart

White sandals: Target-fall clearance

Hand painted basket/purse: vintage family piece

This one started out as a huge 5 inch flower. it was way too big. (Maybe on a headband it would work) I had to trim it down a bit. It ended up being about 4.5 inches.

This one is the 4 inch size.

I needed to add some color to my dress for Easter so i pinned a couple of flowers to my waistband.

Dress: Land's End Canvas (clearance last year)

Shrug/sweater thing: tj maxx

Silver necklace: lisa leonard

Blue beaded necklace: vintage

Earrings: Target

Sunglasses: Coach (found at Tj Maxx)

Flowers: Made by me!

The flowers on my dress are 3 inch and 3.5 inch with safety pins glued to the back. I also played around with pinning the blue one to the side of my necklace. It was really cute. So many ways to use these.

Pin them to your belt, necklace, purse, top, hair, jacket, bathing suit, beach bag, throw pillow.....

So easy. So good. Thanks for having me Rachel!

xoxo,

Elisabeth