Weekend Recap

My recap isn't much of a recap...more of a hey, I'm still here--and there will be something interesting coming soon.

While this weekend wasn't full of sewing/project planning like I expected, it was full to the brim with busy errands, family and friends. Unfortunately I came down with something on Saturday morning and after a late night I was down for the count all day on Sunday. Plus the hubs woke up with a fever today, and I'm still stuffy. We make quite the pair!

I'm not posting this as an excuse as to why I didn't get anything done...but it truly is why I'm still a little behind. But there is good news--and a light at the end of this long tunnel! I have major plans for the coming weeks. Seriously.

They include:

• Blog overhaul -- I'd just like to play around with the design and such. That's ongoing, obviously.
• A Spotted Sorbetto -- last week I picked up some very pretty fabric to make a Sorbetto top with. This will be a first for me!
• I'm also going to attempt the envelope clutch sew a long from see kate sew before I leave for my work trip next week.
• A few possible refashions with two items from my closet cleanse that I didn't want to give up.
• And more!

Speaking of my work trip--I'll hopefully be taking my camera with me to document my travels. I'm still trying to get more comfortable with getting the big honking thing out and not looking like a crazy person. I know I shouldn't care, and I really want to start documenting my life and sharing it on my blog. 

Anyway that's it for me! I'll hopefully be getting a lot done over the next two days. Hope your week is great wherever you are! :)

A Pittsburgh birthday and some card making

I had such an awesome birthday with my husband last Thursday! He truly spoiled me. We spent the day in Pittsburgh. Here was our view from dinner:                                                                                                    

Day View

Night View

Is that not awesome or what? Great view, great food--so much fun. Doesn't hurt to have your birthday on Valentine's Day. ;)

As much as I have wanted to update the blog this week it has been hard. With my night class for our MBA program (almost done with our third class--it flies by!), working, cooking, cleaning...it's been nonstop.

Tonight I finally got to sit down and make a card for my dad for his birthday on Sunday. We are celebrating my birthday with my family tomorrow since we couldn't see them last week. I get to eat sushi--I'm very excited.

I've been making my own cards every now and then for awhile now. I get it from my mom who totally spoils me and enables my need to buy every paper product in sight! Two Christmases ago she got me a Cricut and this past Christmas I got a Big Kick embossing beast. They are two of my tools that truly help make great cards even though I don't get around to it as much as I like.

Here's the card I made for my dad (pretty simple, but so is he--in a good way):

This card has the trifecta of cardmaking techniques: die-cutting, embossing and stamping. I know, too much.

I also wanted to give a glimpse of wear I craft as well as sew. Sorry in advance for the blurry photo:

Like most of our furniture, the desk was a hand-me-down from my parents' house. It works, but it is way too small of all of my stuff. I won't even mention what my sewing machine is sitting on--it's so embarrassing!

I'm excited to one day have a house with my own specific place to organize all of my sewing and crafting supplies. Two of the necessities I will be looking for in our first home is a space for me and a man-cave for the hubs. Super important.

Well, that's about it. Sorry for the kind of long and kind of lame update. Hopefully I'll have a list of weekend plans that involve sewing!

25 before 25 and a NEW NAME

You may (or may not) have noticed that my blog has a new name: very blissful. I changed it on a whim because I am so indecisive  and I wasn't feeling scraps & scones. When I think about what I want this blog to develop into--I want to be able to transition into a number of different things. Sewing, crafting, knitting, DIY, family, photos, etc...so here we are. Feel free to let me know your thoughts! I have a lot in store for this little gem on the web.

Also, I turn 24 in two days. How crazy is that? Crazy to me. I know it is not like I am turning 30 or 40 (great milestones I will point out) or even 50 like my madre in May, but still. I can't believe I am turning 24 and NEXT YEAR I'll be 25!

To start a new type of tradition and inspired by Elsie at A Beautiful Mess, I've created a 25 before 25 list to try and tackle in the next year. It is my hope that this will give me something new to blog about every once in awhile...plus it would be so cool to say I did most of these things before my 25th birthday in 2014! So without any further babbling...

1. Travel to the Pacific Coast

2. See Ben Folds live

3. Find my style

4. Make a dress I love

5. Adopt a dog/puppy

6. Celebrate Hubby's 25th in a big way

7. Reorganize everything

8. Write more

9. Create my own tutorial(s)

10. Visit Laura in NYC

11. Go to Mood in NYC

12. Start and keep an inspiration journal

13. Explore Pittsburgh

14. Blog every day

15. Volunteer

16. Learn my camera/Take more pictures

17. Design a line of cards

18. Start a monthly boardgame night

19. Go on more dates

20. Create monthly meal plans/budgets

21. Read at least 10 new books

22. Send birthday cards this year

23. Make (sew) something completely different/out of my comfort zone!

24. Run a 5k

25. Lose 25 lbs. 

So that's it! I can not believe I made a list this long to attempt over the next year...wow! Some of them will be super easy, but I think there are a few that might not happen. And I am totally okay with that!

I will be updating on this list as I go along! Is there anything I should add/switch/take off?

Happy February!

Can you believe it is the first week of February already? I sure can't! How crazy is that?! Here's what I have planned for the upcoming month:

 25 before 25 
Well, for those (probably all) of you who may not know, I am a Valentine's Day baby. Yup, I'll be turning the big 2-4 next Thursday! I'm really excited to celebrate another year of life, and since I have one more year until I celebrate a "big" birthday (I think 25 is big...the hubs is turning 25 this year and I'm going to try to go all out) I am planning on doing a 25 before 25 list. I've seen the "24 before 25" and the one number less than lists, but I want to do 25 before 25. I'm not sure that I will get to all of them...but I am definitely going to try!

 Getting on a schedule 
It's been so hard to keep up with posts and what not with work, life and the grad class we've been taking. Plus, I've been super picky about what project I want to start and what type of fabric I want to use/buy/where I want to buy it. So I haven't started ANYTHING yet. I have a day off from work tomorrow and so does the hubs, so I might talk him into letting me go to Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's to stock up on some supplies! But I promise--I will eventually post more and have a schedule like all you other fancy bloggers out there.

Stay tuned, because to celebrate my birthday I'll be posting my list and maybe a Valentine's project of some sort!

Muslin Musings

Making a muslin is a foreign concept to me--I don't know if it is because I never learned about this technique or if I simply overlooked the idea of creating one. After purchasing and receiving The Colette Sewing Handbook last week I'm almost convinced I need to start making muslins for future projects.

The Colette Sewing Handbook by Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns

I purchased my copy of the book on Amazon, and so far I have learned so much just by reading through the book. Plus it comes with some patterns to try your skills out on--I'm thinking about making the scalloped hem skirt first and then the dress that is featured on the cover as my first dress back in the saddle.

But back to the idea of a muslin. It seemed silly to me at first, what with my impatient nature and all. Personally when I come up with a project I want to wear it before I even start to sew. Silly, I know. However, look what happened to my mess of a navy dress (RIP).  The fit was horrendous and it wasn't as if I had the skills to alter it in anyway. Enter the idea of muslin making.

My body is all wonky with sizing, so getting the right fit is ideal. Again I think back to how I plan to create dresses for the 2013 wedding season and I don't want to haphazardly create a garment and not have it fit. 

In the Sewing Handbook, it mentions you can utilize any cheap fabric (there is an actual "muslin" fabric apparently), but Sarai suggests collecting vintage bed sheets and what not. This triggered me to think back to the old king size bed sheets we have from before I moved in. They are the worst, and I never planned on ever using them again (I don't know why we still have them now that I think about it). 

So I am pretty sure I will be making two muslins (not wearable) for the skirt I mentioned as well as my first dress. That way when I go to find the fabric for both I can have an idea of fit and the like.

Do you make a muslin? Is it worth it?

RIP Navy Jersey Knit Dress

So I thought this weekend would be a weekend of progress, especially with getting on track to start my wedding guest dress goal. The first wedding we have to attend is May 17. I'm hoping to at least have 4-5 pieces done by then. There's just on itsy-bitsy problem.

I'm super impatient.

I'm one of those sewers who wants the pattern to be cut out already, the dress to be made and everything to be easy. Well, yesterday I started on a dress that I've had the pattern to for a long time as well as the fabric. It was a jersey knit hot mess train wreck. And that's me being nice.

Instead of beating myself up over it and being my usual self-loathing self when I mess up I decided that, "hey, let's not try jersey knits for awhile." Because really, that's not my ultimate goal. It's not what I want to achieve.

I recently purchased the Colette Sewing Handbook and the beginning of the book (before all the good stuff) really hit home for me and what I want to achieve in regard to my personal style. We spend so much time accumulating "things" that don't necessarily make us (or me at least) happy. When I think about my closet, I have a ton of stuff but only a few key pieces that I'm absolutely in love with and wearing all the time.

And there are those times when I'm looking for a cute dress for a specific occasion and I decide to go to the Outlets or Kohl's or Penneys to grab something to wear. I almost always walk away empty handed because the "trendy" stuff fits me funny or in most cases is uncomfortably short.

In my ideal world, the one where I don't have a clothing budget, I would buy adorable expensive vintage dresses from Etsy, or the vintage inspired styles on ModCloth. But I honestly would rather spend (or save) $80+ dollars on something else that isn't a cute sunglass print dress that I'll only wear once.

So I'm going to be taking inventory of my closet, seeing what I want, checking off what I have and building a new wardrobe (myself) around that. I'll keep you updated!

2013 Bucket List

Yes. The annual "this is what I'm going to do in 2013" post. It's a must, you guys, I'm sorry. This will be quick and painless. I'm not going to try and do a million or a cliche "13" in 2013. Nope, we will stick with . But this is what I want to do in 2013:

1. Sew a dress/skirt/outfit for every wedding we have to attend (minus the one that I'm in) in 2013. We have a lot of weddings to go to this year (it's closing in on double digits but I don't think it'll get that out of hand--who knows!), and I'd like to try and make a few dresses to wear to them. Most are in summer, and the one that is in December 2013 will definitely be a dress/tights occasion. I feel like if I could tackle my fear of pockets and zippers I can definitely do it, but I have to start now. I'll make a separate post tag for this--it should be interesting!
2. Run a 5k. As much as I want to make "lose weight" as one of my goals--it's just a given goal that I will always keep. I feel as if it's a given for [almost] everyone. I've been saying I've wanted to run a 5k for at least four years now. This year is the year. I don't know when, but it will happen.
3. Cook/bake as much as possible. Before the holiday, the hub and I were doing SO good at eating healthier than we ever had. Then came the cookies. And the cheesy potatoes. And the ha--well, you know. When I cook we eat better, so I'm going to be cooking and blogging about that as well. AND, I might even throw in a scone recipe in this year just so my blog name makes sense. ;)
4. Better photography. I've had my beautiful camera for over six months now and I still have so much to learn.
5.  Happiness. All the time. Sometimes I can be SO cranky. I don't know how my husband deals with me--he's a saint. In 2013 I'm going to be more like him. I'm going to laugh at myself, smile all the time and let things roll of my back. It's one of the MANY things I love about him, and it's one of the many things I want him to love about me, too.

I think this is a pretty solid 2013 Bucket List. A couple of things that didn't make the top five were wear more makeup (it sounds vain, but I really need to start making myself look more presentable) and get rid of my yarn stash--I have WAY TOO MUCH YARN!

I'll be making a larger bucket list that doesn't have a "yearly" timeline (AKA my LIFE Bucket List) that I'm sure I'll share.

Anything I should add to the list? What are your goals for 2013?