DIY: Christmas Pocket Tee

I am so excited to share today's DIY project! For some reason people love t-shirts with pockets. I'm not exactly sure why a pocket makes a t-shirt 10x better, but it does, and I love it. So, if you have a little bit of time and a few products, this is a really easy, inexpensive gift to make for Christmas! I'm really happy with how these turned out. Here's the step by step process of how I made these.

Step 1: Gather your supplies. You will need: blank t-shirts, fabric, scissors, pins, rulers, and preferably a sewing machine.

Step 2: Cut out squares of fabric as well as a template for your pocket. You can print one or trace it for yourself. This will help to fold your pocket.

Step 3: Wait for your dog to move out of the way. Really, she insists on sitting right where I need to be.

Step 4: Use the template to help fold the fabric into the form of a pocket square. Then, pin the fabric into place.

Step 5: Sew along the upper part of the pocket.

Step 6: Pin your pocket square onto the t-shirt (as seen above) to prepare it for the sewing machine. It also really helps to have a pocket t-shirt or button down shirt next to you so you can position the square onto the t-shirt in the right place. Do not pin the top of the pocket!

Step 7: Sew the square onto the shirt. It would be possible to sew this by hand, but using a machine is a bit more practical. My mom graciously helped me during this part, because although I can sew, it would've taken me ages. (Thanks, mom!)

Voila! Now all you have to do is wrap these up & you have the perfect Christmas present! It takes a bit of extra time, but I think the result is worth it. My friends really liked this present, & now my mom even wants one for herself!

COUNTDOWN: 10 DAYS of BLOGGING!

(WHAT? 10!)

DIY: ♥ Collage

For this Thursday's Theme, I want to share a few back to school tips with you all. This DIY would be perfect to fill up an empty dorm wall, or add a little life to any room. About a month ago I rearranged my room and took down what used to be a big, fluffy, hot pink headboard. Oh, it was glorious, don't get me wrong, but it was definitely time for a change. I've been wanting to do this in my room for a while and finally got around to doing putting it up. Here are the steps I took:

1. Find yourself a nice open wall. I chose the space above my bed, but anywhere will work! (& yes, that is my teddy bear...)

2. Gather a bunch of photos & something to hang them with. I had some painter's tape, which isn't the best option, but it works. I used 19 photos in total-- 5 portrait & 14 landscape.

3. Lay out your photos in the order/arrangment you'd like. Add more or less photos depending on the wall space you are filling.

4. Apply tape to the back of each photo.

5. Recruit a cute puppy to help you hang them up. I'll admit.. I didn't do any proper measurements & just eye-balled it. I had to move the photos around 2 or 3 times before I was happy with it.

6. Voila! A fun, super inexpensive way to decorate your walls.

Be sure to look out for another Back to School post next Thursday! Have a lovely day & happy August!

DIY: Sea Glass Frame

Back in May my family and I went up to Maryland for my brother's graduation. We were staying at a house right on the water, and spent a lot of time walking on the beach looking for sea glass. I've been wanting to do something with it for a while, and just recently gave an old picture frame a makeover.

I picked up these 2 frames at Goodwill. I think they were even on sale, and my total came out to be 75 cents or something crazy cheap like that. I ended up using the one on the right for this project!

I painted the frame first with this acrylic paint -- huge mistake. What was I thinking? I got this because it is usually the cheapest paint I can find. It took a million layers, but it turned out just fine. I used tacky glue to adhere the sea glass on, which worked very well.

A few of the pieces we found while collecting.

Waiting for everything to dry! It was a night of crafting, so I was making this while watching Identity Thief. Fun times.

I've yet to print any photos from the Annapolis trip, so until then this photo is hanging out in the frame. A throwback to one of my mission trips with my best friends.

I hope you all enjoyed this DIY! I like to keep things simple when it comes to these projects. In the next couple weeks I'll be sharing a few DIY ideas on how to spruce up your dorm room, so stay tuned!

You can check out my last DIY here!

DIY: Bird Cage Revamp

For this month's Thursday Theme I wanted to share a few easy & inexpensive do it yourself projects that I've been working on. When I say easy, I mean really easy. I bought these two small bird cages at Michaels a few weeks ago and wanted to do something fun with them. The black and orange didn't exactly go with the colors in my room, so I just spray painted them white. Really simple, really easy, and I think they add a nice touch to my room. After reorganizing my room (as seen here), I needed a few more decor pieces to fill some spaces.

It took several coats, but I love how they turned out. The total cost was about 3 dollars I believe. I don't have the Michaels receipt, but the cages were on clearance and BOGO! I also just used spray paint I found (thanks Amanda)... so that didn't cost me anything! Be sure to come back next Thursday for another (slightly more complicated) DIY project!