A Backwards Glance at all the Firsts: 2012

This past year has held a lot of firsts, beginnings, endings, excitement, disappointment, and soul searching. I feel like I have grown more as a person the past year than maybe any year before. On that note, here are a couple of the highlights from 2012 (the year the world was suppose to end. Also, sorry this post is so long, but everything is better with a lot of pictures, right?):

I went to my first crazy college New Years Dance (ok, it was at the SLC Institute so it wasn't THAT crazy).

I went to my first Brain Regan Concert. It was worth every penny and my cheeks were sore all night! If you ever get the chance to go, DO IT!

This wasn't my first, but it was a first none the less! I accompanied my roommates to go see Parachute when they came a second time to Salt Lake City to a sold out show. It was beyond amazing! It was two of my roommates first concert! I am such a concert junkie that it was fun to see them at their first one. 

I planned/went on my first Spring Break vacation without parental supervision. A group of us hopped in cars and went to St. George. It was also my first time driving for longer than an hour at a time (leg=sore). It was by far one of the funnest trips I have ever been on. 

Hugh's Family (Peter was the dad, I was the mom, the rest were our kids :P )

I experienced my first Color Festival. Man was it crazy! But SO much fun. I totally plan on going again this year!

I was bold and had my first "break up" hair cut--everyone says you'll regret it later, but I sure didn't!

I met the guy who plays Elton in Singles Ward. It was a big deal ok?

I posted my first DIY shirt to my blog and Pintrest (it is still my most viewed post and pin).

I started my first full-time summer job that extended into the school year at US Novelty and Party (this was a pic on my first day of work).

I successfully pranked a boys room for the first time with a whole bunch of left over yarn. 

I became a member of the Latter-Day Saint Student Association (LDSSA) at the SLC Institute as head of the Historian committee. I also designed the t-shirts that you can see everyone wearing around the UofU campus!

The first of my best girl friends got her mission call: California ASL speaking. She is in the MTC right now and I am so proud of her!

I went to my first Murder Mystery Party and it was a blast. 

I sang in a choir for the Relief Society Broadcast for the first time (though it was not my first time singing in a choir in the Conference Center).

I went to Nightmare on 13th for the first time (I'm the crazy looking one in hipster glasses almost hidden in the back :p What you can't see is that I'm wearing a cat shirt ;). )

I wore a wig cap and a wig for the first time for a Hallowen Costume. (LOVE this costume.)

Dress: Thrifted (such a good find), Beads: Claires and borrowed from my roommates, Gloves: Halloween City, Boa: Halloween City, Wig: Halloween City, Bracelets: Claires (way old), Ring: Forever 21, Tights: JCP, Lips: Sephora Lipstain

And last but not least, I threw my first ever Christmas Party that ended up being a SMASHING hit! 

So there are some highlights of the "firsts" I experienced this year. To wrap things up, a few firsts and highlights that I don't really have pictures for: 

I experienced for the first time what it feels like to find your perfect match and have them not feel the same.

I got into the Graphic Design program, so I have a concrete plan for the next 2 1/2 years for the first time since I didn't get into the program the first time. 

I was paid for my first design job. 

I created this blog.

I went fishing for the first time and LOVED it. 

I had my first summer romance.

I rode a moped for the first time. 

I ate sushi for the first time and actually liked it. 

I had my purse stolen. 

I spent a summer not at home for the first time. 

I got my first big paycheck and was tempted to blow it all. 

I experienced what it felt like to be loved back...and what it feels like to be the one to end things. 

I started an Etsy shop.

I signed up for my first boutique (more on this to follow).

Well there you have it folks. Here's to 2013 and all the new firsts that are just waiting to happen! I plan on grabbing each new experience by the horns and riding them till the next one comes along!

Happy New Year!

xoxo

CRM

Panic

So I'm throwing a Christmas party tonight. The panic of pre-party-planning jitters have arrived and I'm not sure if I will live to see tomorrow. Or the end of tonight. 

Just kidding. 

But I'm pretty sure this is how I look right now: 

(Or at least that's how I feel like I look.)

I know I'm being overly over dramatic over this party (how many times can I say 'over' in one sentence ), but I want it to be a success and I don't want all of my hard work and money to go to waste. I'm sure you've all felt that way about an event at one point or another. You've tried to keep your expectations low, but in the end you just hope and wish it will be a smashing success.

Well I don't know which way it will turn out to be, but there will be pictures to follow and even a tutorial on how to make some cute centerpieces that are now not even being used as centerpieces because my venue got changed. (See, I have a little bit of room to panic, right? Right?)

xoxo

C.R.M.

Summertime Flip Flops

I'm sure we have all made a pair of flip flops like this at least once in our lives, but I thought I might as well post a tutorial on how. Especially since it has been forever since I have posted anything. 

I think my favorite thing about these flip flops is what my roomies little sister said about them. She said they were the type of flip flops that crafty, suburbian teenage girls made {said in a snooty "I'm way too cool for those" voice of course.}

Well, call me crazy, but I like em. 

{Another thing that inspired this project was Old Navy's $1 flip flop sale last weekend!}

Step One:

Gather together any fabric scraps you have lying around. I know I have bundles of them!

Step Two: 

Cut the fabric into relatively uniform pieces. You can try and match the fabric and make sure you have even numbers of each kind so the shoes will be the same, or you can just make it random. It looks cute either way!

Step Three: 

Acquire some flip flops to jazz up like the crafty teenager you are

Step Four: 

Tie the fabric onto the straps of the flip flops on one side like I did, or on both if you like that look better. {Ignore my un-manicured thumb. Yuck.}

Step Five: 

Enjoy wearing your cute new flip flops to the pool, beach, fair or any other summer activity you have planned! Or, make them for siblings and friends as a cute summer gift. 

Enjoy!

xoxo

C.R.M.

Newfound and Nifty + Sunday Confessions 6.17.12

First off, I have to pay my dues and give a shout out to the most amazing man in my life. 

My Dad. 

He has done so much for me in the almost 21 years I've been around, I can't even express my gratitude. He is the reason I love sports and especially basketball. He is the reason I can ride a bike and drive a car. He has pushed me to become the best that I can be and he has loved me through every up and down. I don't know what I would do with out his influence in my life and I am so thankful to be able to spend the day with him!

Love you Dad!

Inspiration: 

"Love isn't something that's just tossed around between lost and found."

Charly always makes me cry, and for those of you who know me, I don't cry often. So of course when I had to come home early from church with my little sister who isn't feeling well, it was my Sunday movie of choice. Someday I'll find a man who will love me as much as Sam loved her and would ride with me for hours on a ferris wheel. 

Tunes:

No matter how many times I hear this song, I still turn it up loud and sing along at the top of my lungs when it comes on the radio. There is a reason it is still #1 on iTunes! Also, the music video is horribly funny, just wait until the end!

I also can't help but love all the memes that have surfaced because of this song!

Obsession:

Fonts. 

I am totally a font nerd. 

My Font Book is organized by type and I use it often. 

Helvetica, Comic Sans, and Papyrus are my worst nightmares. 

Projects: 

I honestly don't have any right now. Sad days. But my mind is bursting with ideas like refashioned men's shirts, t-shirt make-overs, a new patchwork purse and a color blocked pencil skirt just to name a few!

Sunday Confessions:

I'm linking up again with Alyx over at Every Day is a New Adventure!

1: Sometimes my cat Maggie is my very best friend. She will cuddle without questions, demand my attention 24/7 and listen without interrupting. If only I could find a man who was just as dedicated. ;)

2: I have a bad habit of buying fabric and patterns...and then never doing anything with them. Boy do I need to get on it before I become a little old lady pushed out of her own room by her fabric collection!

3: I have seen all three High School Musicals more times than I can count and have most of the songs memorized. And to all of those who were discussing it at FHE last week, you know you secretly like some of the songs too and stayed up to watch the first one when it first aired on Disney Channel. Just admit it. :)

4: I really don't like baseball. I went to my first game in years last Monday and ended up talking through the entire game and leaving early to go get non-ridiculously priced food. Call me unAmerican, but I just don't see the draw of a bunch of guys occasionally running around in a circle. On the plus side the peanuts were good!

5: I'm really wantin' me some summer lovin'. If only so I could sing the song from Grease with my roomies!

Well there you have it folks. That's all for me today! Here's hoping the next week will be a little less hectic and some real blogging and project doing can get done. Until next time!

xoxo

C.R.M.

Newfound and Nifty 6.9.12

Seeing as how I totally forgot to do this on Thursday, better late than never, right?

Inspiration:

Mustard, navy, polka-dots, big sunglasses. Four of my all-time favorite things. 

Tunes: 

Every time I hear this song come up on my Pandora station I go to like it and realize it's already been liked. It's worth a listen. 

Obsession: 

We watched Ramona and Beezus as an apartment last night and fell in love with Josh Duhamel all over again. So tonight I am watching Life As We Know It just to stare at him all night again. Yummy. 

Projects:

A few days ago I made a post about some lyrics I wrote recently. Well, today I got with a good friend who helped me put some actual music (and good music at that) to the words. It was rather amazing. He is a spectacular guitar player and is convinced I will be able to play the song someday on my own. I am not as strong of a believer, but it does sound good! Maybe someday when I get the melody down I'll post a video...maybe...

I also finished a dress today! Unfortunately I did not look decent enough to take pictures of myself in it. Another "maybe someday" to keep you on your toes. ;)

xoxo

C.R.M.

The One-Yard Shirt

I have been trying to get this tutorial up for over a week now but just haven't made the time to actually sit down and type it out. But here it finally is and I hope you like it!

The One-Yard Shirt

You know when you find some crazy awesome fabric while browsing through the aisles at Joanns but it's just a little too bright or garish for a dress or a skirt? Or when you have a random yard leftover from a pervious project and you just don't know what to do with it? Well have no fear! I have the solution and it's as easy as pie. {Though I'm not sure making a pie is actually that easy. Sounds pretty hard to me. Maybe I should rephrase that to say "as easy as eating pie"...}

{Thanks to Heather my roomie for taking pics of me! Check out her blog here.}

{Outfit: Shirt: hand-made, Necklace: Claires (bought forever and a day ago), Pants: Old Navy, Watch: Anne Klien.}

Step One: Choose a piece of fabric that is about a yard long. It could be a bit less or a bit more depending on what size you are and how flowy you want the sleeves to be. Make sure you wash your fabric before you start sewing with it to ensure there won't be any shrinking, stretching or pulling once you sew it. 

{I fell in love with this fabric as soon as I glimpsed it. I thought this was the perfect project for it's bold pattern and colors.}

Step Two: Before you start cutting or pinning, I found the easiest thing to do first {after ironing of course} is to hem all the raw edges. Lay out your fabric matching selvages and edges to make sure everything is even and cut away any excess. Then plug in your sewing machine and hem away! {I did a small rolled hem, but you could do any type you like.}

*Note: If you are using a stretch knit fabric you don't need to do a hem because it won't fray in the wash! Lucky you!

Step Three: Find a T-shirt that you like the fit of and lay it out on top of your fabric. {The neck of the shirt should be on the side of the fold and the bottom should be along the open end.} You will use this as a base for where to sew up the sides and how wide you want the neckline to be. 

Step Four: Mark about an inch or so away from the edge of the T-shirt with pins. {Make sure the botom and sides of your fabric are even.} Mark from the bottom of the shirt to the bottom of the armpit. This will be your stitching line. You can eyeball the distance from each side or you can measure it out with a tape measure if you want to be more precise. I used a tape measure just so that one flowy sleeve wouldn't be bigger than the other. 

Step Five: Mark the middle of the top folded edge of the fabric with a pin and do the same with the neckline of your T-shirt. {I used a different shirt for the body and the neckline because I wanted a round neckline, not a v-neck.}

Step Six: Cut through both layers of fabric to create the back neckline of your shirt. If you want to have more of a boat neck, you could cut the front and back necklines the same, just making them wider and lower. This step really just depends on how you want your shirt to fit. I cut the back to one level and the front to another.

Step Seven: It is hard to cut the front using any sort of templete because you don't want to cut through the back of the shirt. So I just moved my templete shirt and eye balled the front neckline, trying to make it even on both sides. 

Step Eight: Before you sew the sides up along your pins, it might be a good idea to try on your shirt. But be careful not to get impaled with pins or rip your fabric in the process! This will help you know if you made your stitching lines far enough apart so it fits your torso how you like it. This will also help you see how well the neckline you cut out is going to fit and if you need to make any adjustments. Speaking from experience it is better to make your neckline smaller than you think you need it-account for a rolled hem and the nature of your fabric {stiff, flowy, stretchy}. 

Step Nine: Once you are happy with the fit of your shirt, sew up the sides with wrong sides together along your pins {backstitching at the beginning and the end} and hem the neckline. I found that to avoid puckering or bulk in the hem of the neckline, it was better to pin it before sewing. 

{I tried to make the stitching line a little more visible on photoshop since I was using white thread and it wan't visible at all.}

Step Ten: Once I was finished stitching up the sides and the neck of my shirt I realized the neckline was a little bit wider than I was comfortable with. So I decided to put in a pleat on each of the shoulders and it ended up looking really good! I took it in from the middle of each shoulder about an inch.

Well that's all I have for you folks! This is a really fast and fun shirt that could be end up becoming a new staple in my wardrobe in lots of different patterns. My roomies already have me lined up to make some for them too! :)

Happy Sewing!

xoxo

C.R.M.

Newfound and Nifty

So I realize there has only been one post between last weeks "Newfound and Nifty" and this weeks...but what can I say? The job hunt has taken up most of my time and honestly nothing very exciting has been happening around these parts for awhile now. I guess it might be time to shake things up a bit. :)

But until then, here are some musings for your enjoyment!

Inspiration:

A bunch of blogs that I love got together and had a Button Up Refashion Swap event. I got so many great ideas on how to refashion old guy's button up shirts that I had to make a DI run to snatch some up to cut apart. Seeing as how my laundry bag is full to overflowing and my newly thrifted shirts are somewhere at the bottom being squished into little shirt pancakes, I have yet to actually go through with any of my ideas...but soon. Very soon. 

{I really want to try this one, but first I need some fabric paint!}

{This one is is also adorable. I'm in love with the peplum on the bottom and the light teal dye...it really needs to be time for me to get over my fabric dye phobia...}

And look at how awesome this shirt is that found I at the DownEast Outfitters Outlet store? I'm so excited to make it into something wearable! {Though part of me would love to give it to a guy and actually make him wear it in public. ;) }

{Gotta love the white accents.} 

{And yes, those aren't polka-dots. They're stars. Oh yeah. Can you say red skinny jeans and Fourth of July?}

Tunes: 

Now that summertime is in full swing, I can't help but love any song that keeps me rockin' in my car with the windows down and the wind tangling my hair. {I am totally a windows girl. I'll take all the windows down over air conditioning any day...okay, maybe not a day that's ranging in the 100's. I owe my obsession with wind tossed rides to my first car in high school: Screech. He didn't have airconditioning, so it was windows ALL the time. No matter what. Now it's just stuck!}

{I've loved this song since the first time I heard it last summer. Definitely my summer anthem!}

{One of my good friends introduced me to this song awhile back and I can't tell you how many times I've listened to it since. Really hits home if you know what I mean.}

{I had totally forgotten about this song until my little brother put it on our Brother/Sister Roadtrip CD last week. Amazingly enough I still remembered all the words and of course still love Maroon 5.}

Obsession: 

I have come to find that everyone seems to be obsessed with sushi. I tried real sushi for the first time last week and took the plunge headfirst-none of this California Roll for first time goers for me! I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, but I still don't really see the obsession. It was good, but I doubt I will ever crave it and HAVE to have it. But just to prove my "everyone is obsessed" theory, I was invited to go get some again after playing ultimate frisbee last night. Apparently Utahan's like their sushi!

Projects:

Today my goal is to actually start working on some of the sewing projects that are beginning to spill out from their bags/boxes under my bed. I think my first item of business is going to be refashioning this little gem of a dress. I found it {once again} at the DownEast Outlet for $2.50. Unfortunately it is a size 6 {I don't remember the last time I was a size 6...if I ever was...} and the zipper is completely shot. So why did I buy it you might ask? It sounds completely useless and not worth the $2.50 that could have been used for two Redbox movies instead. I have one word for you:

Elephants. 

Yes. This dress is made with elephant fabric. I couldn't resist. I have great plans of making it into a skirt with a black button placket insert in the front. Hopefully pictures of that refashion will be headed your way soon! 

{It really is too bad the dress is too small and broken because it's cute the way it is-paired with a cardigan of course. But alas. I will just have to work my magic!}

In the meantime, enjoy your summer, live life and don't let the little moments of happiness escape from you. I've found that even though the past few months have been stressful and emotionally draining and the last few weeks on the job hunt have been frustrating and unfruitful, I have a great life and have so much to be thankful for. So take a step back and just enjoy life every once in awhile! Let all the stress slide off your shoulders and enjoy a sunset or the sound of rain on the pavement or birds chirping in the tress. I promise it will do you some good! 

Till next time...

xoxo

C.R.M.