April 2nd, 2010
by Becca
I consider myself an artist, in more ways than one. I’ve always enjoyed the crafts whether it is painting, drawing, cooking, gardening, and sewing.
This past fall I took on a huge project when I decided to make my own Halloween costume. Truth be told, when it was all said and done, I spent about the same amount to make the costume as it would have been to buy a pre-made outfit. Oh well, at least I learned a lot about sewing, right?
This time around, I needed to take that previous dress and add an apron to it. In a little over a week I will be playing Alice in a murder mystery and decided to just use my Dorothy dress, but add an apron. I knew exactly what I wanted that apron to look like and let me tell you, it’s hard to find an old fashioned pinafore for a decent price.
After realizing I didn’t want to make more than ten dollars, the most obvious choice was to make the apron myself. I still had a pattern for Alice because it came with my Dorothy dress. Surely it would be simple to just make the apron part of the dress, right?
Pretty much.
I bought some white fabric and some lace from Hobby Lobby and went to work. I’m still working on it so pictures will have to wait until I show off the full effect, but it’s looking good so far. In fact, I only spent ten dollars on the fabric and lace and I put together an apron. I’m convinced more than ever that I just need to learn to sew better so I can make my own clothes.
I also purchased a black hairband and my costume is now pretty much complete. Can’t wait to show it off next weekend. 
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November 22nd, 2008
by Becca
So, last night Gray and I were going around Target looking for some good gifts for the family. We’re trying to be frugal and creative with our gift giving and we started talking about ideas. Somehow, we came upon the fact that I once knitted a scarf. When I was a sophomore in college, my roommate Mandy taught me how to knit a scarf.
We had a great idea that I could re-learn to knit the scarf (and maybe other things as well) and give them as Christmas presents! I can’t believe we didn’t think of this sooner.
So last night I got online to look up instructions, seeing as it’s been four plus years since I knitted the last time. I had to get Gray, my husband, to help me because the pictures and instructions were awful! It’s a good thing I remembered some of it! Anyway, after like thirty minutes of frustrations, I’m finally back to knitting and we’ll see how it goes. I’m a little rusty.
What are some ways your trying to be frugal for the holidays?
diy, life, nablopomo | 2 Comments »
March 5th, 2008
by Becca
So I wrote earlier about invitations and why not give you a peek into what I’ve been doing?
The mess I made in the living room
My sad face because Gray watched television instead of helping me.
The never ending guest list
Lots of invitations ready to be sent out… almost.
Tomorrow I get to go meet with the lady we are renting some decorations from and then it’s off to Waverly to submit our wedding announcement to the newspaper!
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February 27th, 2008
by Becca
My room has been covered in wedding invitations for over a week now. It’s been a slow process, but I’m getting some done a little at a time. My spring break will definitely be spent working on them and forcing Gray to do some work.
Aside from invitations, I had a very exciting day because I got to see my wedding dress in an altered state. The dress will be done and ready for me to pick up April 2nd and it was absolutely beautiful to see today. I’d post a picture, but Gray is not allowed to see until the wedding day. 
The lady who worked with us is absolutely precious. Her name is Diane and she’s working at David’s Bridal (where I purchased the dress) for years doing alterations.
As Gray stated in his last entry, we’re both excited about Spring Break. It’ll be a time to enjoy some time off and get some items checked off our wedding list.
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February 23rd, 2008
by Becca
So, here is a first for me, a diy post.
I really liked the idea of doing a simple favor for our wedding and after a lot of thought, I chose to do bookmarks. Gray and I both love to read so the idea is actually perfect and if no one else liked the favors, I knew we could deal with having tons leftover.
I started off by designing a simple bookmark in Pages (like Word but for Macs). Well, it looked great, but wouldn’t print off on my printer. I finally realized that in order to get them all printed, I would have to attach them to paper in the proper place and then print them. This took several hours (over 3 in fact) to do and we printed them all off on campus to save ink.
Once they were all printed, the task of hole punching them was up to me.
Then it was time to thread the ribbon through and thankfully, my lovely and awesome roomie and beautiful bridesmaid, Lory, helped me while we watched Spanish television. Yes, this is how we spent our Friday night.
The finished product was worth it though.
A summary of total costs:
3 packs of blank bookmarks from Michael’s: 2.79 each (50 bookmarks in each pack) for a total of 9.19
I already had the ribbon and I printed them off at a computer lab.. so my total was 9.19! That’s less than 10 cents for each bookmark.
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February 14th, 2008
by Becca
Wedding planning has turned into frustration lately. I realized about a month ago that I needed to look into hair being done for the wedding day… for me and my girls. I finally have that taken care of but not without some stress in my direction. I also have some rentals almost taken care of, with me looking into saving as much money as possible. I thought wedding planning was going to be fun! hehe
I managed to finish putting together my invitations and I put my address on the response cards. Now all I have to do is push my dear mother into getting my addresses so I can get started on addressing. That’ll take up the next month. sigh.
It is definitely exciting to be getting closer to getting married, but the stress is starting to rise. I don’t know how people managed to do this in less than 6 months! Granted, I’m rushing a whole lot of planning into 3 months I guess.
I’m quite excited about a few projects for the wedding. I’ve finally designed the programs, and I’ll be working on them in April and I’ve decided to do a bookmark for favors, which I’m designing myself and will making myself. A post will come soon about those, once I get them started and such. Tomorrow is another pre-marital counseling session for Gray and I. I’m not sure how I feel about getting married. I’m definitely ready, but it still feels like a dream to me.
I think once the invites are sent out, I’ll know it’s not a dream. Until then I’m busy deciding on wedding cake, finalizing songs for the pianist to play, deciding on rentals and finalizing that guest list so I can send out invites.
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