Tee Shirt Upcycle

Here is a big tee shirt:

Let's make it cute.

Supplies:

Oversized Tee

Scissors

Tape measure or ruler

This is a quick way to update an old tee for Summer. 

We'll let the photos speak for themselves in this post (that's how easy this is!)

I love off the shoulder shirts, and am the cropped top queen. I also love me some bandeaus so I love finding shirts with over-sized arm holes to show them off. So I made a shirt and incorporated all these things!

Creepy myspace self photo collage time!

Possible Memorial Day cookout outfit?

There are so many things you can do with old tee shirts. Share any of your designs with us: emilyjojohnson1@gmail.com

--Emily

Weekly Wall Planner

Here is a project that will help you stay organized this Summer:

Supplies:

Picture Frame

Paint Samples

Glue

Dry Erase Marker

Scissors

I'm a busy busy girl and I'm hoping this will help me a little bit.

Look at this mess. I took apart my frame, and cut up some old magazines for the background of my planner. Collage time! This isn't necessary, but my frame was too big and I wanted something interesting in the background.

I love paint samples. They are FREE and they save you time on painting. This project is good to have a color scheme with, so just chose a color and get all the different shades of it at the paint store.

Then I glued down my samples overtop of my magazine collage. One for each day of the week.

I had some letter stickers, so I used these to label Monday-Sunday. You could always just use a marker or paint instead though.

Put your frame back together, grab a dry erase marker, and get planning!

To do: blog post this project!

This project was tough to photograph because of the glare.

To give you an idea of the size, here it is on my wall.

Happy Planning :)

--Emily Jo

Layered Beaded Necklace

A few years ago, while still in Savannah, I stopped by The Beadstro one day - our local bead shop - and picked up a few hand-painted ceramic beads that promptly got stashed away for later. I had completely forgotten about them until recently and decided that it was time to show them off. I wanted to just string the beads on a simple silver chain but didn't have one available. Then I remembered that I had some silver seed beads that could work just as well!

Supplies:

Needle and thread

Beads

It doesn't look like there are many seed beads there, but once you start stringing them up you realize how few you actually need. From that little section I probably used only a little over half of them for the entire necklace. 

Once you've threaded the needle and made a knot at the end that is big enough to stop the beads from falling off, just start stringing! This is one of those great projects to do while watching Netflix(I'm watching Sons of Anarchy for the second time and it's just as good as the first!).

Once you've filled up your string and made sure it is the length you wanted, add on your bigger beads and tie the two ends of thread together. 

How cute are these beads? Just simple blue and pink flowers with gilded edges that will definitely add a little life to my spring wardrobe!

--Heather

Quotable Artwork

Even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body, you can do this project.  I've been coming across some great quotes lately and have been stockpiling them for some sort of project. Canvases were on sale at my craft store, so I decided to do a quick painting to test out some quotable artwork.

Supplies:

Canvas

Acrylic Paint

Alphabet stickers

Choose a few colors, and then go nuts.

Paint all over your canvas, different colors, textures, patterns, just keep layering.

Keep going until you like the look of things, or until Dateline is over (which is what I did).

Take your alphabet stickers and space out your favorite quote.

Then paint over it in a solid color. Be carful around the letters to make sure they don't unstick from your canvas.

When you peel off your stickers once your top coat is dry, it will show your abstract design right through. Such an easy project, and a great way to add a conversation piece to any room.

...and yes I painted my lips and then kissed the canvas.

--Emily Jo

Margarita Tarts

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I have been in a major creative rut, I'm blaming the weather, but I think the supermoon may be pulling me out of it and just in time for my favorite Mexican holiday! My friend is having a party tonight, and I decided to bake a sweet treat to bring with me. It's not a Cinco de Mayo party without some margaritas, so I whipped up some single serving margarita tarts!

Ingredients:

Crust - 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup butter melted

1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

2 tbs sugar

Filling-

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup tequila

2 large egg whites

1 tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Here it is - you can see I substituted vegan butter for the regular, and I also ground up my own graham cracker crumbs in the food processor. 

Start by making the crust. Add the graham cracker crumbs, coconut and melted butter into the food processor(or a bowl blended by mixer or hand would work as well), and blend until it starts to come together a bit. 

Then put heaping spoonfuls into lined muffin tins and pat down into the bottom.

Next, juice the limes. I ended up using 4 limes and had a bit over the 1/2 cup of juice that the recipe calls for. I love limes, so I used all the juice anyways. And you can see, my favorite way to juice any citrus is to roll it on the counter to loosen it up then use a fork while squeezing to really get it all out. 

Mexican limes - keeping it authentic over here.

Now on to the filling. Mix together egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and tequila and set aside. It was at this point that I decided to put some lime zest in as well, though in retrospect, I wish I had blended it into the crust instead. 

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites and sugar until it forms soft peaks. 

Then fold in about half of the egg, juice, tequila mixture. Once incorporated, add in the rest and fold until blended. 

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, I portioned out the filling, leaving the cups about 2/3 full. They will rise a bit in the oven.

                                       

Bake for about 20 minutes or until they have risen and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a rack then chill until ready to serve. These taste like little fluffy key lime pies, and the tequila taste is very faint, so if you didn't want to add the tequila, it wouldn't matter too much. Or if you wanted a stronger flavor, add some more!

Then break out your mustaches and party like you're Mexican!

--Heather