Upgrading the Cloud Situation

     I realize that title sounds like code for some sort of horrible top secret operation, but don't get out your conspiracy theorist hats just yet. All it means is I spent some time working on fixing up my bedding (aka the Puffy Pink Cloud; the memory foam and fluffy pink duvet combine to create a rather convincing cloud effect). I decided I needed a different accent pillow after my mom pointed out that the one I had been throwing on there wasn't quite right. I also thought I should go ahead and make a cover for a second body pillow while I was at it, because since I recently removed my boxspring to fix a bunch of weird height alignment issues with the windowsill and various outlets and junk (turns out you totally don't need a boxspring if you have a bed frame that has slats and stuff to support your mattress -- unless you just really like the extra support of a wooden box under there. I do not. I wish to sink so far into my bed that there is almost a suffocation hazard. Almost.) it's had the side effect of my pillows getting sucked back behind the mattress at the top. So a second body pillow was in order to combat the pillow suck. So off to the sewing machine I went, and a couple hours and under ten bucks later (all I had to buy was the white polka dotted fabric and the ruffled trim -- the blue striped fabric is the same stuff I used to cover my bookcase to keep Bessie the Destroyer out of it, and it was from my Grandma when she was clearing her fabric stash a bit so it was freeeee!), this change had occurred:

     I realize that makes it look like it also got dark outside, but the first picture is actually from a few days ago, because I'm a cheat like that. I should mention that I didn't actually cover the pillow that wasn't quite right, it's sitting in my glider now and it looks nice there. The new pillow is made from a pillow form I found in the attic.

     Anyway, I took some process pictures and was going to write out some basic instructions but now that I'm looking at them, I realize that the whole process is basically, "Rectangles. Sew a bunch of them. In various sizes. At some point, add some trim if you like." 

     Seriously. I shan't patronize you by showing you pictures of what it looks like to sew a rectangle. Instead I'll just leave you with another picture of how pretty that accent pillow turned out, and how adding the second body pillow makes everything a bit more structured and less "I just rolled out of this bed three minutes ago." 

Birthday Roundup!

     As you know from my placeholder post beautiful masterpiece of art, Monday was my birthday! Let's do a roundup of all my super fun gifts and my beautiful monster of a cake! In no particular order...wait, no, I'll go in order of presents I opened. Order out of chaos! 

     First I opened my present from my grandparents.
 

     BAM. Red boots!  Anyone who knows me knows I loooove boots. I like to stomp around and pretend I'm about to fight through an apocalypse or something. I've wanted a pair of red boots for ages and ages. Like, since the first time I saw Footloose, even though the chick with the red boots is SO OBNOXIOUS OH MY GOD. But still, cute boots are cute boots. They also make me think of Marceline the Vampire Queen (Adventure Time, anyone? No, I'm the only "grown-up" who still watches cartoons? Ok, cool, whatever).

     Next up was my present from Amanda.

     A So So Happy hoodie! I love the So So Happy characters. Even the cantankerous ones are so cute. This guy is named Puff (from the website, I didn't just pick that randomly). And check. out. the back. 

     Spikes on the hood and down the back! So I can be a dinosaur! Life goal: achieved. When the small children in your life say to you "I'm gonna be a dinosaur when I grow up!" go ahead and tell them "I'll bet you are, slugger. I'll just bet you are." 

     Next is my present from Jen. In the box I found this crazy-soft terry pullover type sweater (all I wear these days is fall clothes, I don't even care that it's 95 outside. With AC on my side I can pretend it's autumn forever!)

 

     And underneath that, the cutest jimjams I have ever laid eyes upon. 

     Obviously that isn't the best picture in the world to show off the pajamas, but I'm using it anyway because it tickles me. Except the gross veins in my hands. As soon as I saw this picture full sized I actually stopped what I was doing, said "Whoa there homes, time to hydrate," and went to get some water. But still, polka dots and kitty feet!

     The last thing I opened was my present from my parents. I opened the big-ass box and found this jewelry box!

     But that wasn't all. This was the gift that just kept on giving. It was full of little bits and bobs from my Forever 21 wishlist and things I had pinned on Pinterest or otherwise hinted that I liked, (before you go thinking that makes me a brat, it was because she had been asking me to send her links to potential presents, I wasn't just like "BUY ME DIS AND DIS") like the two headbands up top there...

 

     ...and this little apple-scented fragrance tucked in the side door. Apple is probably my #1 all-time favorite smell in the world, in case you were feeling like you needed some obscure Jacki-trivia today. The jewelry box also contained...

     ...the earrings in the bottom middle there, which match the necklace I got for my birthday last year (which, hey look! You can see in this next picture)...

....and this triangular necklace that kind of looks like gilded shark teeth (mermaid-warrior-princess-chic, it's a thing I'm gonna make happen)...

     ...This little moon-and-star necklace, which is tiny and delicate and perfect in every way...

     ...and the even tinier set of studs that matches it. I can't even tell you how perfect these are. They're so small and cute! And, of course, they're a crescent moon and a star, which you're probably noticing I have an obsession with. Last but certainly not least, I'll show you my very favoritest compartment in this jewelry box...the ring section. 

Bonus appearance by my new jimjams in the mirror. Professionalism!

     Sigh. Look at all the glorious options. Rings are my absolute favorite. The four rings in the middle column were part of my gift (more moons and stars! Shock, horror!), the rest are all the rings I immediately sat down to fill the case with so I could look at them all and go "my precioussesssss!" I'm not even kidding, several times since I opened this present I've gone into my closet to put together different combinations of stacking rings, then take them off and put them back in their little places. I'm weird. But it makes me happy.

     Now that I've shown you all the amazing things my super-generous family got for me, let's get down to serious business: CAKE. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked for my birthday cake, so I kind of...um...invented one. No, really. I sat down and drew up a schematic like Dr. Frankenstein to bring my monster cake to life. 

Just in case you thought I was kidding. I never kid about food.

     And like Frankenstein's monster, once it had been brought to life it could not be contained:

     It was so ridiculously good. I could only eat a half slice at a time because, I mean, look at that. It's intimidating. But I like food that challenges me towards a higher standard of gluttony, forcing me to say "If I eat one more bite I may go into a diabetic coma, but I'M GONNA FINISH THIS. I just need a breather. I won't quit on you, cake. Wait for me in the fridge, I'll come back for you. (My Heart Will Go On playing softly in the background, getting louder as the fridge door closes)."

     Point being, that cake was damn good. It's definitely going to be my new birthday tradition. 

     And that brings us to the end of my birthday roundup! I hope you enjoyed having a looky-loo at all the fun stuff I got, and didn't feel like I was bragging. I'm just really grateful that I have an awesome family that knows me so well and picks out amazing gifts! 

All that glitters is not gold...this, for example, is posterboard.

     Something about coming home from a trip always makes me want to change up my room. I think it's because after the novelty of living somewhere completely new for a few days, it can seem kind of boring to come home to the same room you're so used to. So I've been hatching up some ideas for how to make my room feel different without instituting any major changes that would break the bank or be a pain if I change my mind later. For the same reasons, the idea I'm going to show you today is great if you're renting your current dwelling, or if you're just really indecisive and commitment-phobic when it comes to interior design like me.

     One of the simplest ways to make a room completely unique is with wallpaper. But wallpaper is expensive, tedious, and a little too permanent for my liking. So I made temporary faux wallpaper...out of posterboard! I was inspired by these decals, but I wanted mine to be bigger...and cheaper. What can I say, I'm stingy! So I bought four sheets of metallic gold posterboard for a grand total of $5.96 and got to work.

     To make my polka dots a consistent size, I traced around a bowl on the back of the posterboard to make guidelines to follow when cutting. 

 

     Then, to make it easier to work with, I cut between each row and column of circles to make squares that would be easy to maneuver. All that was left then was to cut out each circle...

 

     And stick them on the wall! 

     I used good old-fashioned Scotch tape loops to hold each dot in place. To keep the dots somewhat lined up, I measured the placement of the dots in the top row and the far right column -- three and a half inches from the ceiling (or the wall), seventeen inches from the next dot. Then I just held up a yardstick to make sure the adjacent dots went on straight. Finally, when I had a nice even grid, I stuck a dot in the middle of each set of four, like the "five" side of a die. I eyeballed that part, because I was tired of measuring things. 

     I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. In person, it looks for all the world like the dots are painted onto the wall, but I didn't have to do any of the messy work of painting, and when I screwed up the placement of a dot or two, I could just reposition them, instead of painting over them! Much simpler. 

Favorite Things Friday!

     My favorite things this week were all superficial items, and I don't feel bad about it one bit. I know people say that money can't buy happiness, but I think those people are just spending their money wrong. I bought a few things this week that just made me feel better about life. Lemme show you: 

Look, I even laid it all out on a pretty backdrop for you! Blogger of the year, right here.

Let's go clockwise from the top right, because it feels like the right thing to do. 

     First I picked up this pretty gold headband. I was already in the market for a headband that's nicer than the grimy stretchy one I wear while I wash my face, and this one caught my eye because it felt very Game of Thrones to me somehow. Sidenote: I'm sort of obsessed with Game of Thrones. This week's episode was so amazing that I watched a lot of it with my "excited for vengeance" look on, which words can't even describe. It's something like this: 

     I think I'm going to download the books to my tablet so I can stay awake for a week straight reading them all enjoy them at a leisurely and totally sane pace. Hey, I guess not all of my happy things are material goods this week! I threw a bonus tv show in there! Woo, culture!

     The next happy-making thing I got is that bright, bright, BRIGHT pink cardigan underneath the headband. I just couldn't resist it's delightful neon charms. It's also a bit looser than a normal fitted sweater, so it's super comfy, and it's very lightweight, which means I can wear it into spring and summer (in the arctic-blast air conditioning in stores and restaurants, dontcha know). Plus it was on sale for more than half off its original price, which makes my cheap heart flutter. 

     Next up is a pair of reflective blue-green sunglasses from Target. I like to get a new pair of cheap sunglasses at the start of each summer. It gets me excited for the warmth and sunshine. I like these reflective ones because it means I can stare at people without them knowing (just kidding. No wait, I'm totally not. People-watching is the absolute best). 

     This next one's a big deal. Like a caps-lock worthy BIG DEAL. I got shorts! That's a milestone for me because I really, really hate shorts. I like the idea of them, but I have a really hard time finding a pair that looks good/makes me feel cute. But I can't just go all through summer wearing jeans; it would get rather toasty after a while. So the other day when I was in a good mood and my self-esteem levels were nice and high, I set out on a mission to find shorts. It was still a bit tough though. My mom and sister had to convince me to buy these. But now that I have them home and can try them on in my own closet under normal lighting conditions and with a mirror I trust, I like them a lot more. I firmly believe fitting room mirrors are portals to a poorly lit alternate dimension in which everyone looks as bad as they possibly could. It's a rough dimension to live in, but maybe they have like, world peace there or something to make up for it. Or maybe they look in the mirror and see THIS dimension's version of themselves/us and think "Hot damn, not half bad!" That just got really confusing really fast, so let's just move on. 

     Then we have my new brush, which I realize is probably incredibly dull for most people, but hear me out. It's called "the Wet Brush" (creative name, I know), and is specifically designed for brushing your hair when it's wet (whaaaat, you never would have guessed!). The reason this is so exciting is twofold: first because I have a stupid amount of really tangly hair that I can only brush when it's wet because you can't brush curly hair, and this makes it a bajillion times easier to keep passing birds from eyeing my hair and thinking "I could raise a few kids there." And second because I tried SO DAMN HARD to find this stinkin' brush online, and lots of places have it, but with shipping costs that outweigh the cost of the brush itself. I finally found it in a Sally's and happily snatched it up. 

     Movin' on, I then got a shiny, sparkly, confetti confection of a shirt that also manages to feel like I'm walking around in my (very fancy) jim-jams. Double win! As you can see, those stars manage to be surprisingly sparkly for a screen-print. They catch the light as well as sequins, but without the itchy scrape-y feeling sequins bring with them. This was the last one in the store, and it's an extra large, but that worked out surprisingly well because it's really loose and flowy and so, so comfortable. A+, shirt, you done good!

     Next up is another somewhat Big Deal item: a swimsuit! I know almost everyone hates shopping for swimsuits, but I got this one on the same day as the shorts, so it wasn't actually that bad by comparison. I'm a total weirdo, in a lot of ways we don't need to talk about right now, but specifically in that I find bathing suit shopping way easier than shorts shopping. You'd think the more potential for exposed jiggle, the more potential for plummeting self-esteem, but not for me. That's not to say throwing on a bikini is always a delight, it's just that I think shorts were designed by a malevolent deity specifically to bring hardship, misery, and woe to my days. Anyway, this swimsuit caught my attention because the super retro style reminds me of the one-piece number that old-school Barbie used to rock, which I have always loved. And it's got all of my favorite things: black and white, bows, polka dots, and ruffles! The only way it could have been more "me" is if it came with a free teacup pig that could oink my name. 

     And last but not least, my new phone case. My old one (the one that looked like the TARDIS) somehow got a chip cracked out of it and left a sharp edge that caught on everything. After looking at cases for hours and hours, I finally decided to just go with something cute and simple. Purple bunny ears! I don't know why, but it just called to me. It said to me "You need me in your life!" and my phone said "Yeah, I'm a phone, why WOULDN'T I have bunny ears? It makes perfect sense!" and I said "If inanimate objects are starting to talk to me I should probably stop staring at the computer screen for a little while because my brain must be frying," so I went ahead and ordered it and walked away. 

     PHEW. Who would have thought I had over 1000 words to say about a bunch of clothes and bits and bobs? Wait, that's not even a rhetorical question, the answer is "anyone who knows anything about me." 

Quick Fixes: Remote Wrangler

     I'm one of those weirdos who has to have the tv on before I can settle down for the night. I know all the studies say tv before bed will ruin your sleep, but I never slept in the first place, so there's not really any harm to be done there. But while I'm willing to flout the advice of modern science and burn out my eyeballs staring at a screen in a dark room, I hate having to keep the remotes in my bed overnight. Partly because I don't want to roll over onto a remote, pressing a button that switches the channel to one of those weird upper channels that plays questionable pseudo-religious stuff all night and accidentally get subliminally messaged into a cult. And partly just because rolling over onto a remote isn't super comfortable. 

     So I whipped up a little...eh, thing. To keep my remotes close enough to grab when I need them, but out of my sleepy space. A nice little caddy-majig to hang on my headboard!

     I pulled some fabric out of my collection of leftovers (a long rectangular piece leftover from my desk makeover and a small piece of navy polka dot fabric leftover from a dress I made a while ago) and got started.

     Figured out the right size, then rounded the corners (special thanks to Bath and Body Works for their useful candle lids) and added some fusible fabric stabilizer to the base and pocket pieces. 

     Then sewed the pocket on with a small pleat on each half to give the pocket a little more room...

     Added some piping for flair...

     Finally, the long rectangular base piece got folded wrong sides together and with a quick stitch around the outside (except for a small space left for turning), a flipsy maneuver to get it right side out, and a few stitches to close the gap, it was lookin' goooooood! After much debate about whether it should be secured with stick on velcro, sew-on velcro, snaps, or some other method....safety pins won out. Yup, good ol' safety pins. 

 

     Ta-daaaa! Cute, functional, polka dotted. Everything I care about. 

 

Polka Dot ALL THE THINGS.

     When I found this old pair of jeans in my closet clean-out, they needed some help. They fit nicely, but I wasn't a huge fan of the wash, I hated the flares, and the hem was destroyed in the back anyway. 

    I decided to deal with the flares first. Turning flares into skinny jeans is a lot easier than you might think. All I did was turn the offending jeans inside out, lay a pair of skinnies with a good fit on top (lining them up with the inside seam, which stays the same), and trace where they needed to be taken in with a pen.

     Then I sewed along that line, tried them on to check that they looked right, and cut off the extra. The new seam got a quick serging to keep it from unraveling or fraying. I lopped off a few inches at the bottoms and re-hemmed them at a nice cropped length (I like my skinny jeans to hit just above the ankle bone in a nice 50's silhouette. Just a personal preference).

     Finally, I added white polka dots to the jeans using a round sponge brush and matte white fabric paint.  After they dried overnight, I had this cute new pair of jeans!

    They may not  be everyone's cup of tea (Amanda called them "interesting," which I'm not sure is exactly a compliment), I think I'll get a lot of wear out of them since I consider polka dots a neutral.