This Is Me #13

Last week I was happy to have a break from my Saturday series This Is Me.  Which made me think, if I'm not enjoying a series, why keep at it?  I should revel in everything I create for my blog.  So it got me thinking about how much I enjoy putting together a fun outfit, and sharing my style with ya'll in outfit posts.  In a way sharing outfit photos are still in line with the idea of This Is Me, but instead of five tidbits about myself, I'll share photos of myself.  

Romper -- Urban Outfitters

Tank Top -- Target

Stockings --  Urban Outfitters

Necklace -- Handmade DIY

Belt -- Target

Braided Bracelet -- Handmade DIY

Yellow Bracelet -- inherited from my step-grandmother

Ring -- Forever 21

Cowboy Boots -- Cowtown, NJ

When I saw this romper at Urban Outfitters I was drawn to the fabric immediately.  I love the color, and the pattern is fantastic.  I was hesitant to try it on though, because I don't usually wear short shorts, and though I love the look of rompers, I never thought I had the right build to pull them off.  I tried it on, and I really liked it, but I decided not to buy it.  Then I spent a week thinking about it, and when I found myself back in Urban Outfitters I knew I had to get it.  I bought it to wear on my honeymoon in New Orleans (April 2011).  

I wore it on the honeymoon, but felt a bit naked the whole time.  The shorts are mega short, and the top is way low cut.  When I got home it got hung in the closet, and hadn't made it's way out since.  I've thought about, and I've even tried it on occasionally, but I never felt comfortable or appropriate in it.  

After I got home from working on the house today I wanted to put on something that would make me feel stylish and pretty.  This romper did just that, and I found a way to wear this without feeling totally exposed.  Pulling on some dark stockings underneath helped keep the shorts in place, and my thick thighs covered up.  I also wore a tank top underneath because otherwise my bra would show in the front, and with the tank top in place I didn't need to worry about showing more than I wanted to.  The dark belt helped break up the top and bottom of the romper.  I love my cowboy boots and accessories with this look, they all play off each other so well.  

Do you have any piece of clothing you don't feel comfortable in, but love anyway?  I dare you to experiment with restyling it.  Who knows you might even find a way to feel amazing wearing it!  Have a lovely weekend, and happy DIYing, chris! 

Fun Friday Fascinations #21

Happy Friday!  I don't have too many finds this week.  I've been super busy, and haven't spent too much time on the internet.  

#1.  I love the color, pattern, and shape of this pair of rain boots on ModCloth.

#2.  This whole interior design photo by Stella Nicolaisen is lovely, but I'm especially drawn to those hanging lampshades.  I want to make something like that!  Their sizes, colors, and patterns all work perfectly together, and the are hung just right.  

#3.  I'm really digging these Paper Clay Barnacles I found on Design Sponge.  They look fun to make too!

#4.  This lamp made with cupcake papers looks great all lit up!  I also found this on Design Sponge.  

Have a lovely weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

Pineapple Mint Tequila

Happy Thirsty Thursday!  I have some pineapple juice I need to use up, so I came up with a drink recipe based around the pineapple flavor.  A Pineapple Mint Tequila cocktail.

Ingredients:

-  a shot of tequila

-  7 - 10 fresh mint leaves

-  5 pineapple chunks

-  3 tablespoons of pineapple juice

-  7up

Directions:

Pour the tequila into a glass.  Mash the mint and pineapple chunks into the tequila.  Pour the pineapple juice into the glass, add ice, and fill the glass with the 7up.  Stir up the drink, and enjoy!  This drink has a great flavor.  The tequila and pineapple are a perfect combination!  

Hope ya'll had a great week.  One more day! :) Happy DIYing, chris!

Canvas Make-Over

So this is kind of a lame DIY, but it's a little project I'm doing for work, so I thought I'd share.  I'm a school photographer for Lifetouch.  For some of our schools we offer canvas prints of building photos.  We try to only produce quality products, and we recently had a mishap with a bunch of our building photos, and our office was left with a bunch of canvas prints that were not good enough to hand over to our schools.  So I decided to use one of the bad prints for a little office project.  This is how the canvas started off.  I blurred out the school name, because it seemed like the right thing to do.  

This is how it looked after one layer of yellow spray paint.

I made sure to also get the corners and the thick edges.  

Two coats of spray paint.

Then I printed a few different sizes of two Lifetouch logos, and attached them to the canvas with Modge Podge.  At first I was coating the back, and then shellacking the front down, but they were getting too wrinkled, so I stopped doing a top coat.  We'll see if I can add a top coat when it dries, if not I might just spray a clear coat of paint over the top.  

I gotta get some sleep! Oi!  Happy DIYing, chris!

Yellow and White Nails

A couple days ago I bought a small bottle of Orly's Lemonade nail polish, and I've been dying to try it out.  So when I got home from work today I set aside some time for painting my nails.  

I used Orly's Lemonade, and Sally Hansen's White nail art pen, plus Orly's Won't Chip clear coat.

I painted two layers of the yellow color, and then two coats with the white nail pen.  

I tried really hard to try to wait until the yellow had dried before I painted on the white, but I can see on a couple nails where I didn't wait long enough, and it smudged some.  Then I had to play the waiting game again before I could paint on two clear coats.  I love this look!  It will definitely bring some sunshine to these rainy days.  

I need to get some laundry done.  Happy DIYing, chris!

Sopapilla

Happy Labor Day and Nom Nom Monday!  I love Monday holidays.  There should be at least one of these every month.  I made Sopapilla for our family gathering.  My friend Kristen had this at her house one night, and I loved it.  I found a recipe for it on Chocolate Therapy, and decided today would be the perfect day to try it out.  It tastes like a cheesecake and a cinnamon roll had a baby.  A yummy baby!  

Ingredients:

- 2 cans crescent rolls

- 16 oz of cream cheese

- 1 cup white sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 cup butter

-1/3 cup white sugar &1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon mixed together

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Spread one package of crescent rolls over the bottom of a glass 13"x9" baking pan.  The crescent rolls will completely cover the bottom of the pan.  

Mix together the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  Spread the mixture over the crescent rolls.

Roll out the other can of crescent rolls over the cream cheese mixture.  This one is a little trickier, because with the layer underneath you can't go back and move the pieces. Though if you start out in the right place, it's not messy at all.  

Melt the butter in a small dish, and mix together the cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sugar in a separate dish.  

Using a brush spread the butter over the pastry, and any remaining butter can be gently poured over the top.  Thickly dust the top with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  

Then pop into the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.  

They taste great served warm or cold.  I love the cinnamon sugar with the pastry, and the cream cheese.  MMM!!!

I'm going to go enjoy the end of my holiday weekend.  Happy DIYing, chris!

August/September Days

At the beginning of the year I made a monthly calendar by hand, and each month I've been adding stamps and drawings for the big events that happen.

Here is August, a butterfly made out of different scraps of fancy paper.  For June, July, and August I went with a Hungry Caterpillar theme.  June was the caterpillar, July was the cocoon, and August was the butterfly.  

In the beginning of the month we went up to New York for our friend Derick's bachelor party.  My mom's sister Lynn had a birthday, and I totally failed to call her to wish her a happy birthday. Boo me!!!  I hope she had a lovely day!  

When I flipped over to September I was really pleased.  I forgot what I had drawn, and it's way cooler than what we've been staring at for the last month.  I'm beyond over the butterfly I made for August.  

This month is going to be another busy one.  We have two weddings to go to.  The first one is Aaron's cousin's wedding, and we'll be traveling down to D.C. for the day to celebrate with his family.  At the end of the month we have Aaron's best buddy Derick's wedding.  Aaron is in this wedding, and it's all the way at the tippy top of Vermont, so it will be a long weekend of celebrating.  We can't wait!  :)  

I was busy all day with the house, and getting ready for tomorrow's festivities, and I'm beat!  Hope ya'll have a great day, and happy DIYing, chris!