Tutorial for Super Woman tank

Original Shirt - Fitted T-shirt

My shirt was small so I only cut about an inch on from the neckline and an inch from the sleeve seam. If you have a shirt that is large on you, you might want to cut 2".

Next fold it with the side seams together. I started my cut about 2 inches from the armpit area and left about the same at the bottom. I ended up cutting the bottom later and tied it like the others. 

Lay it back out with the emblem in the front. Then cut about 1" slits all the way down. I stretched each one out a little before tying them. I think my slits were more like 3/4" in though. Once cut, tie each one on both sides.

I put a matching sports bra underneath for more coverage and no regular bra showing. :)

Tutorial for the cinched back t-shirt (up-cycled)

Here's the original shirt

Fold in half, aligning seams

Cut 1"-2" from the neckline, depending on how low you want the neck. 

I based mine on the words on the shirt. On the sleeves, cut 1/2"-1"" (however you want really) from the seam of the sleeve to cut it off....cutting in a slight curve.

Using one of the sleeves you just removed, cut the part that's not on the sleeve itself and cut it so it's one long piece. Sorry, I didn't take a pic of that part. 

Cinch together the back of the straps. Starting at the top, tie a knot. Then wrap it around the cinched part until the end of the extra fabric. Tie a knot at the end of that. Voila! You are done!!

You are done!! I actually ended up moving the fabric down to where it felt comfortable and fit better.

Up-cycling ...love redoing things to use another way

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am not a t-shirt person. I have those few t-shirts that I have gotten from events that I want to save but I know I won't wear them. Here are a couple of shirts that I redid today. Both are going to be workout tops. Here they are.

BEFORE

AFTER...ignore the t-shirt scraps in the background :)

If you'd like a tutorial, please comment and I'll post one!!!!

My husband found this shirt at Walmart. It came with a hot pink cape. Yeah...for a grownup! Ha! It fit a little snug so I knew I had to do something with it. Here's the AFTER.

It's now a tank and the sides are cut and tied. I put a pink sports bra under it. 

Revamping a Goodwill find

I love finding great deals. Shocker! :) My recent searches have taken place at Goodwill stores and I'm on the hunt for fall/Halloween/Christmas decor. During that search, I found a great little 'thing' for my yard. We just put in flower beds so I've also been excited about my yard. You know you are getting older when....you get excited about gardening. Haha!!! I like my yard to look nice. I have also hung a hummingbird feeder and I'm thrilled that they've been coming to it. They are so cute. Anyway, back to my Goodwill story...so I found this item that I'll probably end up turning it into a bird bath. Here are the before and after pics. The before pic I took right after I started painting it. That's why one mushroom is red.

My baby is in Kindergarten!!!

Oh boy! Where has the time gone!!?? My baby is in Kindergarten. Surprisingly, my emotions didn't get the best of me. I only teared up a little. Maybe it was because she has had 2 yrs of school already, though short days or maybe it was because the day before was so bad that I was glad to have some freedom, maybe even because I sure thought I'd have another child running around before she went to kindergarten. God's plan was a little different than my own. :)

Throughout the day, I wondered how she was doing, if she was home-sick (yeah right) and if she was enjoying it. As I picked her up from school, she spotted me and immediately had a huge grin on her face. I asked her what she did all day and she said "We had snack and we had lunch". Leave it to my child to be excited about getting to eat. :) So I asked her again what she did and she said "We had recess and we played". I then asked the question in a different way. I said "Ok. What did you learn?" Her response. "I don't remember". Crazy kid. Same thing today, she didn't remember what she learned nor could she remember what she got in trouble for. Day two of school and already getting a 5 minute loss of privilege. We had a little talk so I'm hoping that the rest of the week will be better. She no knows her punishment for a bad report and also her reward for a good one! We'll see!

She was really excited for school to start and I can't wait to see what all she learns this year.

1st day of school picture!!

Easy, Affordable Style...dress 'makeover'

By now, you all should know that I love a bargain. With that being said, I typically bargain shop for my clothes too. I found this dress at Walmart...yes, Walmart..and I liked the design and the length so I thought I'd check it out. It was on clearance for $9. You can't beat that! I didn't like how low cut it was though and I knew it wouldn't be appropriate for anywhere really but especially not for church but I figured I could find some way to make it work. So......tonight I was getting my clothes ready for church tomorrow and wanted to wear this new dress. First I grabbed a cardigan (3/4 length) and that would cover up a little but not my cleavage so I needed another solution. **LIGHT BULB** !!!! Here's what I put together.

             BEFORE              

AFTER

Dress $9

T-shirt $5 (approx) ...also Walmart!

Belt I had already. I believe it came with a skirt I bought a while back. It wasn't expensive. 

Tomorrow I'll throw on a long necklace, small earrings and be out the door! You can't beat an outfit for less than $20 !! 

Body Image

Before I start, let me say this. I, in no way, think I'm 'fat' so please don't get offended that a 'skinny' person isn't happy with their body. I mean that in the nicest way possible. :) 

Okay....I'm going to be critical of myself as we all are so bear with me. 

We, as women have our own body issues that we don't like about ourselves. I have always been skinny. I have a small frame so that pretty much comes natural. In my teens and early 20s I was in shape and skinny. I was active in general but also worked out. However, I have always had 'cankles'. Seriously...I have big ankles and you can barely tell where they stop and my calves start. No matter how much I worked out, they didn't seem to get smaller. I still don't like them but I've learned to live with it. Moving up a little, since my very early 20's I've had spider veins above the back of my knee, my ankles, and now other areas of my legs. These to me are so unsightly and make me feel like an old lady!! I'm too young for these! I will eventually get laser repair for those (I hope). I talked to a dr about it and they recommended waiting until I'm done having children. I keep waiting for that. Maybe I should go ahead and do it. Staying with the legs, my thighs are cellulite and not really toned. They could be worse but could definitely be better. I am appalled at myself in shorts. GROSS!!! Moving up again, my butt....aye aye aye...it's saggy and jiggly....always has been. Yes, I have a butt that looks decent in jeans so I can't complain with that but with a swimsuit or nothing at all, I just think EWWW!! Don't even get me started on running, working out, or dancing. JIGGLE JIGGLE JIGGLE!! Up to my stomach. I must say, before I had Kiya, I loved my stomach and never really had to work on it. I had nice abs and rarely had what I felt might be love handles and I had a cute little belly button. During pregnancy...the last 2 weeks I might add....I got the dreaded stretch marks. They itched like crazy!! From the time I had her, I covered my stomach up with my arm anytime my husband was around. Not only was I embarrassed by my stretch marks but also my flabby disgusting stomach. How could anyone be attracted to THAT!!?? I felt so ugly and hated my body from that point. Luckily, my stretch marks aren't red anymore like they were at first. Now they are white and are only around my belly button area but they are still noticeable and wrinkly looking because of the loose skin. I HATE HATE HATE my stomach. I am grossed out by it. Seriously. I'm still very self conscious about it though I'm trying my best to just deal with it. I'm really not self-conscious about my arms because they are naturally skinny as a rail. Haha!! I'm also self-conscious about my jaw and my nose. I don't like either one of those. I didn't like it anyway but it made it worse when someone actually pointed it out. They said 'Wow. Your chin sticks out really far.' Um. Gee. Thanks for noticing!! Really!!?? Let's state the obvious here. Anyway. It made me realize that obviously I wasn't the only one that noticed it and maybe I had a real reason for not liking it. It really bothered me. I'm pretty much over it now though. I still don't like it though and I hope my daughter's isn't the same. I got it from my dad. Some of these things, I wonder if I just worked out harder, ate strictly, etc....would they be the way I wanted them. Days I feel like I've worked out hard enough that they should be better than they are. I feel like there's no progress so I give up. Probably not the right thing to do. :) Who else thinks 'EWWWWWW!' when they look in the mirror while getting dressed?  I do quite often. Too often I'm sure. Okay...enough complaining. Now for the positive part.

As I get older, instead of dwelling on my stomach (my biggest issue)...maybe I should just be happy with the body that I have. I am skinny and I think pretty healthy and for now I'm still in my 20's. I should be enjoying it. I also learned something the hard way. One day a few years ago when my daughter was close to 2 yrs old. I said something like 'I look fat in this' when Kiya was in the room. Later she said.."mommy fat". That's when I realized I shouldn't say these things with Kiya around. I want her to think that I'm confident and that I'm happy with myself. I know that one day she'll go through these struggles as well. When she's a teen, that's when body image is most important to us. I want her to be confident with herself and her body. She also sees me workout so hopefully she will follow in my footsteps with that. I finally wore a bikini out in public. I was very self-conscious about my stomach. I mean VERY but I just had to try to ignore it. I have to remind myself that my body is a temple and I should really take care of it. Inside and out. I've been working more on the inside lately which is a good thing. Maybe that's why I'm slacking on the outside. Okay. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :) 

Psalm 139:13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.