just Lu

Last-minute Pumpkin Decorating with Mr. Pumpkinhead

If you're in a crunch for time and still need to decorate your pumpkins, hop on over to Housewife Eclectic today where I'm sharing a new friend of mine:

Happy Halloween!

The Dahlia Top {Toptoberfest}

Toptoberfest! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

In case you haven't heard, Toptoberfest is a fantastic celebration of handmade tops, hosted by Tricia of Leafy Treetop Spot. (You may recognize her from Housewife MacGyver.)

I am so pleased to be participating in Toptoberfest this year with Tricia -- if you're stopping by from Leafy Treetop Spot, welcome! Let's get right down to business and introduce...

The Dahlia Top is a reverse-applique design using two knit fabrics, both old tshirts in this case. That might sound (or look) complicated, but it's really more a matter of patience and time than talent. Trust me -- there's not a particular abundance of patience around my house (especially that's left over for crafts... I figure my children need my patience more than my other creations ;), but there is definitely more patience than artistic or sewing talent. :)

This top was inspired by this top on Etsy. I am a big fan of buying and supporting handmade, but I knew that I could put together a similar top in colors that I really loved for a tiny fraction of the cost. Of the three tops I've made, two of them were free, using only old tshirts that I wasn't wearing anymore. You can't beat free!

The tutorial and template are below -- and you can use the template for so much more than just a top! The same flower would look great on a skirt or a bag or anyplace else that you can think to put it, with any type of fabric -- or even paint! I've provided the template in several different sizes, or you can resize it to fit your projects needs.

Social Bookmarking

If you like to save online stuff and maybe share it with your friends (online or otherwise), hop on over to Housewife Eclectic and check out my posts there last week and today, about my favorite social bookmarking sites and an intro to what social bookmarking is.

And remember that time when I was crafty? I still am, I'm just even worse at sharing in a timely manner than normal. But I've got at least two great posts coming up later this week! Thanks for sticking with me. :)

Twenty-five

It's my birthday! So far it's been great: baby slept all night, breakfast in bed and a nice long shower, and a toddler version of Happy Birthday. Life is so good. :)

I'm turning 24, and I thought I'd do some planning to preempt a quarter-life crisis... not that I actually believe I'll have a quarter life crisis, nor do I believe that 25 is in any way old. But I do plan on making myself one of these. :)

Anyway, last year on her birthday, my friend Tera set goals to accomplish in the upcoming year, and I think it's a great idea. Birthdays aren't as exciting as adults as they were when we were kids, but having a list of specific goals makes it more fun to look back over the years. At least for me, I very rarely accomplish anything major without it being on a list...

So... here's my list of twenty-five things I want to do before I'm 25... but it's not set in stone so I'm open to suggestions :)

Finish the t-shirt quilts that I've been saving supplies for since high school

Re-read all four books of scripture

(Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price)

Run another 10K... and actually train for it :)

Finish reading The Screwtape Letters and All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience since I started them almost 2 years ago

Visit a state (of the nation, not of mind :) that I haven't visited before