DIY: Easiest Top Ever

So here's a top I made this past weekend from fabric I found in the Joann's ultra-clearance section at home: 3 bucks for 2 yards. SCORE.

What you need:

A yard(ish) of flimsy/soft fabric - if it's stiff at all, it'll stick out weirdly

A sewing machine (optional)

Fraycheck (optional)

What you do:

-Measure how wide you want the shirt to be on your shoulders, and how long on your torso.

-Cut out two pieces of fabric using these dimensions.

-Sew along the dotted lines in the photo (sorry I look so upset in the photo, I'm really not!):

1) With the right sides together, sew halfway up the two sides of your shirt (the unsewn top half will be where your arms go).

2) Sew the top together, leaving a hole for your head (so really just a few inches on either side of the top).

-Fraycheck all the unfinished seams (or hem them if you're feeling fancy).

-Viola!

Fun fact: this is the first time I think I've ever worn animal print anything. I still can't decide if I feel too old to be wearing leopard print, or too young, but I'm kind of digging it for now. Especially with these shoes - I need to wear them more often.

P.S. Sorry for the crappy pictures with crappy lighting... I'm working with just a point and shoot for now.

Wardrobe Essentials (Winter Edition)

How am I JUST NOW finding out about Polyvore?? Well, maybe because most of the things on it are lightyears out of my college budget... But I'm so glad I found it because it allowed me to do something I've wanted to do for quite a while: make a visual display of my wardrobe essentials (inspired by some of my favorite bloggers such as Geneva over at apairandaspare). Turns out I'm definitely a neutral (black, brown, white, cream) kind of person, though I love pops of bright colors and the occasional gold sparkle. And of course, I had to include some purple for school spirit!

Black and khaki winter coats; black, khaki, and colored skirts; white, black, and colored tanks (and tops); LBD; brown (riding) and black (heeled) knee boots; red statement shoes; black booties, flats and plain heels; tan low-heeled boots; scarves and hats in any/all colors; black blazer; blue, black, and dark colored (ex. dark green) jeans; camel sweater; blue jean shorts; trusty college colors shirt

A couple notes:

-Some of these things I have, some are still being searched for. After years of being let down by products from mass-market stores, I'm finally seeing the value in spending more for something that I'm going to wear for a long time, than spending less on a bunch of things that will a) break in a week and b) be out of style in a month. QUALITY over QUANTITY!

-This is an incomplete list, definitely geared more towards the current cold weather (hence why there are no sandals, etc).

-These aren't necessarily the exact items I want, just the general idea

I've got another entire spread of things I "need" in my wardrobe essentials but are more trendy so won't last more than a couple seasons. I'll put that one up here eventually too!

DIY: Hipster mug

I gave into my hipster side over break and decided to remake this adorable mustache mug while I was home! I didn't get a final photo of it before I gave it to my mom for a Christmas present but I think you get the idea.

via ???

What you need:

Ceramic mug of your choice

Ceramic paint

Water-soluble pen (not shown)

Paintbrush

What you do:

1) Sketch outline of the mustache on the side of the mug with a pen.

2) Go over that outline with your paintbrush (I realized afterwards that this step would have been much easier if I had also gotten a ceramic paint pen to outline with...)

3) Let dry, then fill in the outline. I did two coats of the paint, though one mostly covered it.

4) Clean up the paint lines, bake your mug according to the paint instructions and you're done! So cute.