Thrifty Thursday - Fashion DIY Pt. 1 - Cut-Off Denim

I have never, ever attempted to 'do my own fashion'. Whether it's dying, sewing, cutting, blinging...I've never done it.

 

Reading through multiple magazines this week I've seen so many cut-off denim shorts which I L O V E. You can wear baggy, frayed shorts with tights and ankle boots whilst we await the arrival of some warmer weather (hopefully sooner rather than later, I don't think I can take another weekend snow report!) and then bare legged in the summer. How very economical...

 

 

 

 

Anyway I happened to find the ugliest pair of old jeans in storage today to test some ideas I had for cut-offs. Don't get mwe wrong, I'm aware that chopping the legs off these bad boys does not make them socially acceptable. This is purely my first go. A draft, if you will...

 

These are the offending jeans:

 

 

Ew.

 

So firstly I thought it would be a good idea to research hemlines. Short shorts apparently have a hem of between 2 and 3 inches. So, taking my thighs into consideration, I went for 5. Using a ruler to mark where I wanted to cut, I got chopping.

 

 

Now I faced the problem of how to perk them up a little bit. Using one scissor blade I made horizontal slits in the denim, then used a cheese grater to fray them up a bit... *blushes*... There was no sand paper in the house!

 

 

 

I also thought I could rip one of the back pockets so it would flap down and be all hipster. In fact, it looked ridiculous, so no photo for that little actvity!

 

After sorting the turn ups out I tried them on... not bad for my first ever attempt:

 

 

Now I've popped my own DIY Fashion cherry, the plan of action over the weekend is to scour eBay and my local charity shops for a baggier pair of jeans (preferably boyfriend style), invest in some acrylic spray paint and a cheap lace top. I'll show you how this works out in a couple of weeks...

 

Next week I'm posting a trend a day with celeb inspirations, high street bargain buys and an exciting Thrifty Thursday that involves a bucket, rubber gloves and salt (DIY Fashion Pt. 2)!

 

Tweet me @sheldan2207 or comment below, I love your ideas and feedback

 

xx

 

Thrifty Thursday - Cleverly Customised Calenders

This week's post follows on from my ideas yesterday. It's all well and good having a delightful mood board but if you have nowhere to hang it, then you have a slight problem.

 

It's the 10th of January so we should all by now have our new calenders/filos/diaries on the go...so really this week's project shouldn't cost you a penny!

 

We look at our organisers every day and all we see are numbers and pages, but why should we stare drearily and count down the days until our next big thing? I'm going to customise my diary with images similar to those on my moodboard so I can be reminded of my goals and what in turn is going to make me happy this year!

 

That weekend away - the one that is going to be the first weekend away of the year and isn't until March:

 

 

(Excuse the terrible picture quality - blame my BlackBerry!)

 

That week before the super luxurious trip to the Caribbean - the one you've spent all year preparing for:

 

 

 

Inject a little fun back into your everyday lives. I used images from the Boots magazine I mentioned yesterday (only because I haven't had a chance to go and stock up on my glossies!) but you can also take your own pics to really pump some personality into your organiser!

 

These are some of my personal photos that could be used on my moodboard/in my organiser:

 

It can literally be anything that will help you see through the year happy and successful!

Give it a go, it's just a little bit of penny-pinchin' fun

 

xx



 

Thrifty Thursday - DIY Christmas Stocking

Happy Thrifty Thursday everyone! Temperature is currently sitting at 1 degree here in frosty Herts but who needs to worry about the Arctic weather conditions when you've got a Christmas Stocking to make!?

After last week's delightful little wreath (still hanging proudly in the hallway) I decided to creep up the creativity levels. The main issue in making the wreath was literally building the thing, using those little tree branches and tying it all together with twine... I took an extremely long way around the problem.

Not this week though! I got an old PE shirt from school, some white craft glue and a load of pretty, shiny sequin-ny stuff to create my home-made Christmas Stocking, which I can present to you...NOW!



 

 

Bearing in mind it is still a little wet (this thing is going to take a minimum of a week to dry, that much is guaranteed. I should learn to sew!) and I still need to tidy up the edges and add the faux fur trim; I still think it's so pretty! The blue fabric was a bit of a let down, and the fact I had not one tub of paint in the house, but the finished result is my glittery, randomly French version of a stocking.

 

If this thing holds together, I am SO blogging a picture on Christmas Day when it is full of candy and other wonderfully delicious treats!

 

The inspiration for this stocking came when I saw Mooky Chick's Post online. There are so many kooky ideas on there that I couldn't keep my eyes of the page! I wish I had the materials to try the Faux Fur ones! Other than that, the post inspires you to make a stocking of your own using whatever you have in your house! I had an old shirt, she's used bath mats. Whatever you got!

 

Another new favourite blog of mine is Cookin' Cowgirl. Another creative lady getting all festive and fun this season; and her stuff is 150% a lot more polished than my amateur stuff! Check it out, she's funny, too!

 

 

 

Have you made anything this Christmas season yet? Or seen something I should attempt? Tweet me @sheldan2207 or comment below

 

xoxox

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Don't get me wrong, the majority of my Christmas Shopping is done online. I'm a solitary creature most of the time, so avoiding any sort of queue, crowd or rush is sort of my thing.

 

Today, though, I headed out into the big wide world, accompanied by Mother Dearest to do some Christmas preparations.

 

Final gifts were bought for friends of friends, work acquaintances and other people's partners, festive snacks were purchased and turkey crowns were investigated and measured.

 

To our surprise, we returned home happy and full of festive cheer. Yes, there were crowds and yes, there were queues but all was done to a happy soundtrack of Mariah Carey, Spice Girls and Slade. At this time of year the humans become sociable. Mum and I had a delightful conversation with a total stranger about out Christmas Dinner eating habits in the local Aldi. So not us. So not her.

 

"Thanks for waiting", says the happy-to-help sales clerk, "Buy one-get-one-free chocolates?"

 

How did she know I prefer two chocolates instead of one? It's that time of year when the retail industry has a huge employment surge and employs the happiest, dappiest little shop keepers who love a good sales incentive. Lovely!

 

Today, my favourite shop of all was The Works. I thought I'd just pop in to get materials for tomorrow's Thrifty Thursday. The phrase 'to pop in' assumes I was going to be a few moments, popping in, popping out again. The crowd in The Works are a breed all of their own! The craziness that ensues when prices never really exceed £1-£2! They have a wonderful Christmas CD playing, thousands of books, stationery items, toys, decorations and calenders all hanging in organised chaos. It's my sort of shop.

 

Talking of tomorrow's Thrifty Thursday, I've decided to up the ante for tomorrow's DIY project! If I tell you the materials I have, you can guess what the finished product will be:

White Craft Glue

Novelty Embellishments

Thick Fabric

One Sock

Scissors

Glitter Pens

Candy Canes

Christmas Decorations

 

In the words of Rolph Harris; "Can you tell what it is yet?!"

Thrifty Thursday - My DIY Christmas Wreath

Good afternoon Bloggers, I'm full of pride and emotion as I present to you my first creation of what will be a weekly post, 'Thrifty Thursday'.

Popping to town this morning in freezing temperatures, I pondered to myself what to buy for this wreath. I've never done anything like this before and found myself quite bemused at where to start.
Plodding around the pound shop I realised that my wreath could have whatever my little heart desired on it; pink stars, glitter, rainbow tinsel, etc, however I decided to start small.
I really wanted my little wreath to match the standards of those in the other blogs; I wanted to be just like the big kids!

With glitter glue, shiny baubles and gold-sprayed mistletoe in my basket I didn't feel very advanced. But I was happy, so I continued to the supermarket. As soon as I walk into Asda I spot a delightful little bargain in the shape of a 2ft 'Smartprice' Christmas tree! At £1.97, I'd be perfectly happy chopping it up.

Heading home I calculated what I've spent for my wreath. Total was literally £5. A fiver. Happy days, just had to get this thing together...

Laying out my materials in front of me as I sat cross-legged on my living room floor, I felt a little bit lame. I powered through though...
What I used: branches from a 2ft christmas tree (cut off and held together in the shape of a circle with twine I had in my cupboard), gold bead from Asda, bit of cellotape to re-inforce some terrible tying of mine, pretty fake flowers from the pound shop and silver glitter glue. That is all.

45 minutes later my Thrifty Thursday creation is complete! I have superglue all over my fingers and glitter in my hair:



It's not exactly the steadiest looking thing in the world, nor does it look like an adult has put it together but the main thing is... I like it. And so does my Mum. So it shall hang loud and proud in my hallway!

What do you think? Do I deserve a pat on the back or should I start over? Considering equivalent styles can be bought for up to £20 a piece, is it worth the saving?

Comment below or tweet me @sheldan2207

xx