My Life in La-rame

Many people ask me, "What do you do while you're here in La-rame?"
To them I say, "Everything you do, only backwards and in high heels." (I may have stolen that quote).  Oh, and without a job.  The last part has seemed minor when you think of how busy we've been lately!  It has been an awesome few months! To sum up what I do, I'll show pictures of some of the past few months.  But in a word, I: sew, craft, DIY, visit with family, workout a lot, rock climb, date Mike, babysit, plan parties, plan finances, clean, shop, teach a four-year-olds in church, do artwork, cook, and drive Mike around.

Here are some photos of things I've done while Mike's off in school:

Decorated sugar cookies with friends and their kids

Worked on art projects and designed clothing while watching "Project Runway"

This was actually one of my final projects for a 2-Dimensional Design class.  The city skyline is made up of an arial view of a city.   

Made a diaper cake for my friend Frannie's baby shower

Sewed a burlap Valentine's Day banner.  First I cut our these panels...

Then I sewed around the burlap panels, hand-stenciled the lettering in white paint, painted a red line around the edges, then sewed a rope across the top of the panels to attach them

(The heart in the middle is painted in red sparkle glue. Kind of my own touch.  I got the idea for the banner from a similar one on Etsy.  Their version: $35. Mine: $2 for burlap, $3 sparkle glue and hemp rope, and paint I already had) 

I planned a baby shower for my friend Jess.
For food, I made a homemade chocolate cake with raspberry filling and ruffled buttercream frosting, chocolate and red velvet cake balls, and lemon cookies.   

We went with a Valentine's Day theme because she's having a little girl and all the pink supplies were on sale 

Here's my buttercream cake

I painted an arrow feather design on an older brown t-shirt I have 

I painted the top of some thrift-store brown leather boots.  They now look like they have lighter tan leather on top...kind of trendy

I painted a Taylor Swift inspired giant heart on one of my favorite pink sweatshirts  

All you need to do is cut out a design in freezer paper, iron it onto your piece of clothing, and paint on a design with a 1 to 1 mixture of paint and textile medium.  After it dries, you iron over it, and Voila! 

I painted the toes of some flats a pastel pink, then put a clear sealant over them to give them a shiny sheen 

Mike and I are on an emergency preparedness kick.  We went to the store and bought all sorts of emergency supplies, and I planned and compiled our 72 hour kits.  They include: breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals for three days, two bottles of water per day, a heavy and light rain poncho, duct tape, an all purpose knife, gloves, wash cloths, first aid kit, toilet paper, a flashlight, camp soap, body soap, hand sanitizer, wet ones, klenex, sunscreen, bug spray, deodorant, toothbrush & paste, mini brush, whistle, hot hands hand warmers, a blanket, space blanket, some small games, a pad of paper, marker, pen, extra batteries, a lighter, matches, emergency plan, emergency money, and a change of clothes.  

Because I work out about five times a week, I made a little black (or pink) book of workouts.  It has pictures of all sorts of moves, organized by type (arms, legs, abs, cardio) and has some notes of different exercise routines I've come up with or found on Pinterest or learned in Pilates.  

I made a bag for my Pilates mat, inspired by my friend Maggi

I cut a length of blue chevron fabric a little larger than twice the width of my mat, with a 2 inch long strip for the strap.  Then I sewed along the length of one side, and along the bottom.  At the bottom I sewed little tabs to make it more rounded and to fit the bottom of my mat better.   I then turned down the top end and sewed around what would be the lip to make a clean edge.  I later added a drawstring. 

For the strap, I sewed along one edge and the bottom and turned it inside out.   Then I measured where I wanted it on my mat cover and sewed it on, making sure to secure it with a few lines of stitching and back-stitching. 

Pinterest inspired:  Many people have been making these framed pieces of paper that you can write notes on...like wipe-off boards.  Here's my take:  

I turned this old t-shirt into a skirt by cutting off the sleeves and the red trim,  then hemming the sides to make it more form-fitting.  I then sewed a seam on the bottom, and a black elastic waistband into the top.

This is the finished product.  

I modified my chocolate cake recipe and made it into a german chocolate cake that I entered into a Relief Society cake-baking contest.  It tasted pretty great!

I tried the ombre effect this time with the ruffled frosting and added clear sugar crystals on top.

Happy Crafting!