Girly Gauges

Check out my new blog!

http://girlygauges.blogspot.com/

I make and sell gauges for women with gauges who want to accessorize.

Let me know what you think good or bad.

Here's to a new year the start of a new business!

Andrea

New Year, New Goals

well kind of... when I say "new goals" I mean old ones that I will be officially working on. In Dave Ramsey's newsletter I found a basic, but inspirational article. Turn Your Dreams Into Reality! Micah and I are working on some life planning/goal setting today. I'm very excited about this and the direction it will give us.

Here's a few ideas I have: (not in order)
- Have a house with ROOM (more than 500 sqft)
- Start Threaded City, and have an online and brick and mortar store be a lucrative business
- Be able to go on Vacations (Hiking Trips, Extended Cycling Trips, Europe, Etc)
- Know the ins and outs of being a survivalist and have the land to be off the grid
- Live in other places (Alaska, Colorado, Europe)
- Have a family (Dog first, maybe a couple of kids)
- Graduate
- Learn a Language

Making Sheets

After searching high and low for sheet sets that were around the $20 mark, I decided to make my own. Since it's getting a bit chilly out (i.e. 6-8 inches of snow by Tuesday) flannel seemed to be a good option. I decided to do a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and 4 pillow shams.

Next was figuring out how much material was needed. Doing a quick google search gives standard dimensions to guesstimate from. http://interiordec.about.com/od/beds/a/bedsizes.htm

I waited till black Friday to go to Jo-Ann Fabrics to get Flannel on sale $1.29 compared to regular $5.49 a yard. I bought 17 yards but only needed 15. WOOHOO, so far under $20.

Ok.

Fitted Sheet.

1. Measure your mattress. Mine is a Full, so 54" wide x75" high x8" deep. I added 10" on both the width and hight to give enough for the depth of the mattress and hemming. (a little bit of guess work) Total Size 72"x96". Lay and cut out material. If material is not wide enough, sew pieces together.

2. Cut out corners and sew the edges. On all four corners measure a square the depth of your mattress, cut the square out. Put the two edges just cut (from each square) together and sew. This will start to give you the fitted box shape.

3. Hem edges. Fold 1/4" then again 1/4", sew.

4. Add elastic. Some tutorials I found suggested only 10" on each side of your sewn corner, however I ended up using about 20" on each side.... I'm not a still sleeper. Mark where you would like to start and stop your elastic along the hemed line. Sew a low to medium grade of elastic (let me know if you want the stuff I used, I have extra). Pull elastic tight while sewing.

5. Put new fitted sheet on mattress and roll around in the glory of your creativity!

Flat Sheet.

1. Get approximate sizes of sheets from the above link, include seem and hem allowances. Lay out and cut material. If material is not wide enough, sew pieces together.

2. Hem raw edges. Fold 1/4" then again 1/4", sew. (you can be more decorative with wider hems or decorative stitches)

3. Enjoy your new flat sheet!

Pillow Shams.

1. Measure your pillows or old pillow shams, include seem and hem allowances. Lay out and cut material.

2. Sew 2 long and 1 short sides, faces of material together.

3. Hem 2nd short side. Fold 1/4" then again 1/4", sew.

4. Flip right side out, push out corners. Put pillow in and rest your head on knowing you are a D.I.Y.er.

Unfortunately I was not able to include pictures tonight... I will have those up tomorrow... and do a run through of my instructions. Until then, I hope this was somewhat helpful and encouraging.

Sweet dreams.

Different Directions

Dear Readers... I know I don't do much for you, but I'm finally out of my slump. It surprised me that the wedding was so draining creatively. Until last week, I have had zero desire for making, mending, or designing anything. Here's something I came up with, and wish someone would have told me the past few months...

If you're in a slump...

1. Breathe, know that it is normal to be still and lazy.

2. Work through the reasons why you are in a slump, external and internal. (Write them down if needed)

3. Process those reasons, and let yourself go through them. Figure out a way to get past them. (Friends and Family might help)

4. Finally through feeling slugish? YEAH!!! Now, if you have the slightest desire to do ______ (insert craft/chore/whatever here) DO IT! Don't wait for that feeling to pass.

Hope this helps in some little way. This is what worked for me, and I ended up with new flannel sheets.

PICTURES!!

Wedding pictures are here and I am oh so happy with them! Dustin did an amazing job made everyone feel like a million bucks and then some. I would highly recomend him although you might have a tough time getting him, everyone else notices his talent too... he's booked all next summer! So much so, him and his fiance have to wait until 2012 to have a free weekend. Thank you DUSTIN!

clients.mckibbenphotography.com/rapp

Micah and I really had a wonderful wedding! It's hard to believe that all the plotting and planning is done.

3 Weeks Away!

I'm in the final countdown and not freaking out too bad. I have 2 things to show off, the invitations and my guarder.

I used scraps from my dress and some other random materials, the band is made of muslin along with the biggest pinwheel. The other one is just a really dark purple to match my colors.

You'll just have to take my word that it looks better on!







The invitations where fairly interesting to come up with. My original vision for these was much more complex, so when I finally figured out to make them a little simpler I was very happy with the work it required. The cutting was a little tedious but well worth the effect. I spent about $50 on all of the paper and ribbon. I was able to get the crate paper for the envelopes from work for FREE, and the white was just computer paper that we already had. So all in all it was a pretty low expense for 60 invitations. PS. Sorry I'm lazy and don't want to reverse the image. The banner reads "You're Invited!"








Hmm... What else to tell weddings are an interesting event, if I didn't love them so much we probably would have decided to go to Europe with the money instead of having an official wedding. For the bride and groom deciding what kind of a wedding they want... seriously consider a elopement with a celebration cook out. BUT if you're convinced that a more traditional approach to matrimony is in your cards, I'd be more than happy to offer what sense I do have of making the big day personal, creative, and inexpensive.

Reduce Stress:
Andrea

LOVE this blog

basically that's it for now... her entire blog site is great...

enjoy!

2000dollarwedding.com/