Lip Service

When I was little, I loved to color pictures with pink and red together. Pink and red flowers, pink and red houses, stick people with pink and red clothes. My mother always told me that pink and red 'clashed,' "Don't put those two together! They clash!" Thus, I was never able to wear anything that was pink and red together. Sadness.  I thought they went fabulously together. I considered pink and red to be cousins, if not sisters or even besties. But for the earlier part of my life, the two were forced apart.

Now that I am older and wiser, I love to throw pink and red together. Wearing anything with the two colors paired up puts a huge smile on my face and an extra strut in my step. I was paging through a magazine the other day that had images of lace appliqués on sweatshirts and t-shirts.  Once again, I was reminded and inspired by my two long lost, sister colors.

Off to the fabric store I went. JoAnn Fabrics had long sleeve t-shirts on super clearance. Apparently in decision making parts of the world, long sleeve tees are no longer in season. In North Dakota, they are still mandatory. I picked up a pink one that was 2 sizes too large for me. I then went over to the lace section and had 1/4 of a yard of red lace cut.

The first thing I did was slash the neckline of the tee, the bottom hem and the sleeve cuffs. I then cut off an extra bit of length on the bottom. The intention was to make an oversized cropped tee. Once it was cut, I placed some cardboard covered with wax paper inside the shirt, underneath the front side. I put that aside.

Next, I went to the computer and found an image of kissable lips. I printed it out, cut it out in two pieces and used those for my lace pattern pieces.  Once I had the lip pieces cut out, I placed them on the t-shirt. I then used a foam brush and Aleene's Fabric Fusion to glue them onto the front of the shirt. Make sure that the cardboard and wax paper are beneath the side of the tee that you are gluing on. I brushed the backside of the lace with the Fusion. Make sure brush the glue on and do not use globs of the glue on the back. If you use globs, they will show through the lace and on the shirt. I have learned my lesson doing this. Once the lip pieces were glued on, I placed the tee with the cardboard still inside somewhere to sit and dry for 24 hours.

Once the glue was dry, I washed the shirt in the washer, just to get the stiffness out. Fabric Fusion is totally washable and the glue sticks even after drying. It is a thing of wonder! I love this glue. I use it all of the time.

When the shirt was washed and dried, I hemmed the bottom and the cuffs and added seam binding to the neckline. It turned out just as I wanted it to and I love, love, love the colors!

SWAK!!!! Get out there and make something that clashes!!! Happy glueing from your red and pink friend in the north!

Glamping Cosmetic Brush Roll

I am a makeup junkie. I will not deny it. I whole heartedly accept this vain fault. Just try and tease me with a new lip gloss or worse yet, eye shadow. I will snatch that puppy out of your hands like a dog who hasn't had a meal in 3 days. Because of my 'habit', I try to take the best possible care of my cosmetics. I store them in a vintage train case. I clean my brushes regularly. If I travel, my makeup comes in with me before my clothing luggage. If there were a fire and I had 30 seconds to leave, you can bet that train case would be in my hands.

I like to put a cloth down on my dressing table when I put my makeup on. I carefully lay out the cosmetics I will be using. But recently I decided not just any old cloth will do any longer. So I decided to 'multi-task' and make a pretty makeup pad that doubles as a brush holder.

I went to my favorite fabric store in the entire state of North Dakota-Sew On Sew North, located on Main Street in Langdon. It was there that I found pink glamping fabric by Moda. Perfect for the makeup junkie that I am. I only purchased half a yard for this project. Also needed were double fold pink seam binding, felt and silk ribbon.

I cut two pieces of fabric in size 16"x12" and one piece 16"x7". I cut the felt in the 16"x12". First, I sewed a seam binding across the top of the  16"x7" piece. This will be the pocket.

Once that was stitched, I put one 16"x12" piece on top of the piece of felt and then the pocket piece on top of that, lined up with the bottom. Pinning them all together, I stitched the sections in the pocket for the makeup brushes.

Once the sections were stitched in the pocket, I put the the other 16"x12" piece on the bottom with the right side facing down. I pinned them together and pinned the seam binding all around the sides. On the  left side, I added two strips of silk ribbon for the tie and pinned it with the seam binding.

Once it was stitched and all thread was cut, I rolled it up and tied it into a pretty bow.

Not only do I have an organized way of finding my brushes, I have a cute pad to lay my favorite cosmetics on.

Happy glamping from your thrifty buddy in the north, still waiting for spring flowers!