Quiet Book Page ~ Knock Knock, Who is There?

Today, I am sharing my quiet book page at Riley Blake Design! I came up with pages with clear pockets. They will be so fun to pick and choose what pictures to insert and it is so easy to change them once your child gets bored with the pictures.

Please head over to Riley Blake Design and check out my complete tutorial. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tutorial ~ Scarf to Scart

A few weeks ago, I shared this scarf to skirt tutorial on Megan's blog Brassy Apple, I am posting this today in case you missed it. I shared a little bit of a "behind the scenes" story about the last couple pictures.

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Today, I am sharing a super easy skirt made out of a scarf. The beauty of this is that the side edges of the scarf is already treated, so you don't have to worry about fraying. If you are only interested in this part, it took me less than 30 minutes to make the skirt. If you are interested in doing more embellishments like I did, it takes more time.

So, here is the scarf I bought at the end of last summer for $7.48 at Target... Because I was between houses I had packed it away. It was like getting a present when I was unpacking my things and found this.

{You will need}

Scarf -- My scarf was 24" x 72". The finished skirt is for someone size XS to M. This skirt doesn't have lining, so I recommend you use a dark colored scarf.
Elastic --- the length to fit your waist
Matching thread

If you are going to applique like I did...

Fabric that you want to use for applique
Heat & Bond

{How to}

1. Fold the scarf in half. Using 1/2" seam, sew both sides from top and bottom. Open the seam and press with iron.

2. Lay the scarf flat and trim off the fringe.

3. Cut off 1/8" from the folded seam to open it.

4. To create the waist band, measure around your waist and sew the end of elastic together. To ensure the strength, I open the seam and zig-zag stitched it.

5. Fold 1/4" from the top seam of the skirt.

6. Pin the skirt to the waist band. To spread it out evenly, mark the sides, front and back of the skirt and waist band and pin them together.

7. Sew the fabric to the waist band. Stretch the elastic as you sew with a zig-zag stitch.

8. Fold the bottom seam of the skirt twice (1/4" and 3/4")then sew.

9. Now you have a skirt!!

As I said in the beginning: you can whip out this skirt in no time. Although, if you want to add more personality to it like I did, it takes more time.

Here is what I did:

1. Cut out flowers I wanted to use from the fabric.
2. Used Heat and Bond and fused the flowers to the skirt(follow manufacture's instructions).

3. Sew them on. I did free motion stitches. Don't worry, you don't have to try to do it so perfectly, just go with the flow. :)

Now, I am ready to try out the skirt. I love how this skirt is so comfy (not to mentioned that I didn't spend a lot of money and time)and care free.

Well, I am off to practice being lazy for this summer! I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial. See you at the next post.

{Tea Rose Home photo shoot behind the scene}

The last couple pictures... it looks like I am totally relaxed and lounging at home right? Actually, this was taken after the fall (I posted the story, you can read it if you are interested in what happened). The due date for the post was getting close and I really needed the picture, but I was in a lot of pain. So, the solution was some lounging photos! Hahaha, it is funny because I am not in pain any more. Life is not picture perfect all the time, but when life give you lemons, you just need to make lemonade right? :)

Tutorial ~ Seriously Simple Pillow Case

I have been itching to clean and decorate our front porch for a while. I have been doing that here and there, but the recent nice weather is making me wanna do more...

Ever since we moved into this house, where to spend our limited resource (yes, money to be exact) is our constant struggle. There are always "needs" and "wants". Mr. TRH is better at making the distinction between those two and goes with the "needs". Me? Not so much. I am a pretty practical person, but I "want" to decorate the front room or I "want" to get beadboard in the bathroom and paint, woo can't forget the perfect towel and soap dispenser too! Well, that is my inside voice. We usually meet at a happy medium, but I didn't like to pay as much as we did for a water softener (also, that is part of the reason why I slipped and fell in the shower!). I appreciate the soft water very much... but I could have done so much around the house with that money too.

Ok, I got sidetracked... I was looking at outdoor pillows online and the ones that I liked cost around $50 to $60 a pillow. I wanted several that could easily cost me a couple hundred dollars! I decided to do a quick sewing session last weekend.

Thanks to Joann Fabric's sale, I scored the outdoor fabric and pillow forms for 50% off, yay!
Online version ($60) vs mine (around $12)


I will share a very simple pillow case tutorial, in case you have been looking for one. The beauty of this style of pillowcase is, you don't worry about piping, zipper and all the other fusses, and because it is a very minimal style, it costs less as well.


{You will need}

Pillow form -- Mine is 18"x 18"
Outdoor fabric -- well, if you are making one for the inside you can just get regular fabric, of course!
Thread

{How to}

* Before you begin --- The outdoor fabric I bought is 100% polyester. You need to check your iron setting before you iron, so you don't melt and shrink the fabric.

1. Fold the fabric in fourths and trim the edge. Because my pillow form is 18"x 18", I added an inch for seam allowances(1/2" for one side and 1/2" for the other).
Cut fabric for 19"x width of the fabric.

2. I brought the ends together to test fold and overlapped both ends by 9" in the back, add 1" for both ends for the seam then cut off the excess.

3. Fold both ends 1/2" twice and sew.

4. Fold the fabric again like you did in step 2 and pin the seam. Because I wanted to match the stripes exactly, my finished pillow case is slightly off. If you are working with solid or all over pattern fabric, this process becomes easier.

5. Sew both openings with 1/2" seam and treat the edge with your favorite method to prevent fraying.

6. Turn the fabric inside out and press with iron.

Now, it is ready to stuff the pillow form and enjoy!

This is one of my new favorite places. As for me, satisfaction comes from the knowledge that I didn't break the bank to decorate our home and I am getting the results that I imagined in my head. I will see you at next post everyone, I am gonna go outside and sip my lemonade. :)

Shoe Makeover with Liberty of London Fabric

A couple years ago, I found these shoes at Ross for $8. I had intended to refashion these super shiny shoes with huge bows but because of other projects, I had totally forgotten about it. Thanks to the move we did last summer, I have found items like this all over the house.

I have been the #1 fan of fabrics from Liberty of London for years (and years!) and I have sewed things with it. Now, I wanted a one of a kind Liberty of London pair of shoes! I will show you what I did. :) Before we begin, here are the list of things you will need;

Fabric that you would like to use
Mod Podge
Sponge brush
Freezer paper (or the tissue paper used for wrapping would work as well)
Scissors
Pin

{How to}

1. I decided to create a pattern first. I felt like I could give this shoe refashion a more precise beautiful finish. Cover the shoes with freezer paper, press it to the shape well, mark it with pencil.

2. Trace the line with marker. I just used the other side of the pattern to create a pattern for the other shoe. They just need to be a mirror image.

3. Lay down the pattern onto the fabric and trace around the paper. Then add 1/2" seam allowance to the fabric. You may not need that much seam, but I wasn't so sure about the pattern I created, so I wanted to make sure that I had some extra fabric to play with.

4. Snip around the curves. Be careful not to cut into the finish line. This will give a nice curve to the finish.

5. Fold the seam at the finish line and press with an iron.

6. Lay the fabric on the shoe, and bring the ends together. Pin them to the back of the shoes, so the fabric will kind of stay in its place while you are Mod Podgeing.

7. Use the sponge brush and spread generous amounts of Mod Podge on the shoe. Line up the one side of the folded fabric to the edge of the shoe and lay the fabric and press. Make sure there are no bubbles under the fabric. Pull the other side of the fabric and line it up with the edge of the opposite side of the shoe and press. Because there is extra fabric to play with on the seam, you can adjust as you are glueing the fabric to the shoe.

8. Work your way up from the sides to the back.

9. Finish up the details.

10. After that give a thin layer of Mod podge (just like a top coat). Let it dry.

11. They are ready to wear!

Liberty on Liberty...

Mmm... My own Liberty of London Shoes... I am in my happy place. Great thing is- I didn't spend an arm and a leg for them. I can't wait to see them under the warm summer sun!

BANG !! ~ I Hit the Bottom and...

BANG!!! That's how hard I hit the bottom.

Not emotionally or spiritually, I literally hit the floor of the shower last Sunday night. Well, if you are a long time visitor of my blog you know this, but I have a long medical history since birth and had my right leg amputated when I was 2. There are still complications and conditions that I go through on the rest of my right leg and hip. (I am not going to go into the details here, because that is not the focus of this post, but if you are interested you can read some here and here) NOTE; The Mother's day post is from 2010, the giveaway is closed.

That being said... when I take a shower, I have to take my prosthetic leg off and hop into the shower. I have been doing this all my life, I have an extremely great sense of balance with just one leg. I can stand on one leg for a while and wash my hair and everything, sure, it's easy, but no prob. That is not something I would share at a school talent show or anything, but I was pretty confident with my ability to do so.

Sunday night I was going to take a shower and hopped in to the shower. SLIP! BNAG!!!!

It happened so fast, I landed on my lower back and my bum really hard then hit my head. Oh my gosh that was painful. Then, I remembered that we installed a water softener a few days before and it had started to kick in. The water was more slippery. Mr. TRH immediately came and helped me up, but I was still in a lot of pain. After a while I was OK, but I went to bed shortly after that.

When I woke up the next morning I was having so much pain, not only the area I hit hard, but on my right leg and hip. I had a hard time getting up and couldn't put any weight on my leg and couldn't walk. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but the pain I was having was so bad that I thought something might be seriously wrong. My right femur is much skinnier than the left side due to the condition I was born with, also I have vein problems and replaced my hip on that side (Yep, sounds like a lot, right? Tell me about it) I have lots of reasons to worry.

We decided to go see the doctor and get an x-ray just in case. I knew someone who sneezed and fractured their rib, so you never know!

Long story short, the x-rays came back negative. No broken bone, no dislocated hip. I felt somewhat relieved but the pain was still there. We decided that the only thing we could do for me was to just rest and wait to see what happens.

It happened on Sunday night, and I am writing this post on Friday morning. It took me 5 days to finally get better enough to walk around the house with crutches. I guess my right side is ultra sensitive even though it didn't get directly hit, the vibrations alone caused so much damage. Yikes!

I had so much to do this week, and I couldn't go through the to-do list. Also, I can not say the whole experience was fun to go through, BUT this week wasn't all wasted. In every hardships there is a silver lining. I found many this week. Let me share some of them...

1. I have piles of books in my room that I have been planning to read when I have time. Because I couldn't do anything else I finally got to some. I finished reading 10 books since Monday.(I am a very fast reader, and they were Japanese books). That was such a treat!

2. Monday night my 13 year-old son prepared dinner for the whole family without being asked. It was nothing fancy, but he used left overs and cooked some scrambled eggs. They were nicely presented on the plates. Oh, he also made a fruit salad. I was amazed with the presentation and effort he put in. Totally made my day!

3. The kids all helped out to keep the house clean. Vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, straightening things up etc. They are such good helpers.

4. My friend in the neighborhood found out about it, so she brought us dinner on Tuesday. Also she coordinated with other neighbors and they brought us dinner for our family on Wednesday and Thursday. We are still new to this area, but it is such a nice feeling to know that we are living in an area with kind people who care about us. Seriously, it is such a comforting feeling. Thank you!

5. The kids came to see me in the bedroom and told me about their days; those were the highlights of my days. Since I am just laying there, I felt like I was really able to focus and listen to them and enjoy the time with them. Usually I am so busy and always have things to do or places we need to get to. This was a good reminder for me to slow down a bit.

6. I have done some sketching and designing. :)

7. Then my husband Mr.TRH. Right after he situated me in bed, he immediately got online to find out a company that remodels bathrooms to make them more handicap accessible. He called up the next morning so we could get some handle bars installed. He also took care of driving the kids school and activities this week. The thing is that he never complained how this made his day inconvenient and such. He just did it. He is not a typical "romantic" type of guy, but he is always there for me and takes such good care of me. That is one of many ways he tells me that he loves me.

I have always known how much I have been blessed, but times like this it is a great reminder for me to feel and see that clearly. This week I was in pain and wasn't productive at all, but my heart is filled with gratitude for the people in my life.

I hit the bottom, but it wasn't so bad after all. :)

Guest Posting at Brassy Apple

I have something to share with you today! I was given the chance to be a contributor for Megan at Brassy Apple till the end of the year. Every month I will be sharing a refashion or repurpose project on her blog.

Today I will be there sharing my "Scarf to Skirt" project.

Please hop on over to Brassy Apple and check out my latest tutorial!

Fabric Flower Head Band

Hello all! I have been sewing, but most of my projects are not ready to share with you yet... (My newest tutorial will appear this Wednesday though!). In the meantime, I made a quick hair accessory for Rachel last week.

I feel like I have done many fabric flower tutorials in the past, so I won't do a tutorial here. All I did was make the flower (Liberty of London!)and sew pearls in the middle. Sew the flower and other embellishment such as buttons and pearls on the headband.

It was a quick project and it was perfect with Rachel's cardigan.

Wouldn't it be fun to have it in different colors and different prints?