It's no shocking news (especially if you follow me on Insta) that I LOVE playing with flowers. Flowers bring me so much joy and there's nothing I love more than creating something fresh for our home or an event. For our baby shower, I of course took charge of flowers and loved how they came out, so in this post, I'm teaching you how to recreate the look. To preface this post, I've taken a few floral design courses, so while I do have some experience learning techniques, I still think this design is very achievable for beginners. Let's go over what you need to get started!

Eggs and Bacon Costume

This is Halloween, this is Halloween! I can’t believe my Halloween costume series is here and per yesterday’s post I can’t believe I’m writing this lol. This year, I thought it would be fun to incorporate a series with my son, Nacho, because it’ll be the first year we celebrate one of my favorite holidays together! Growing up, I had a dog that my mom dressed up every year and going into this year, I knew I would have to do the same for my little boy. Finding ‘dog and me’ costumes is kind of hard though because the selection out there can kind of be limited so in true Melissa fashion, this year I’m thinking up fun and super inexpensive ways to dress your furry friend up. This week, we’re each others’ favorite breakfast combination: bacon and eggs. Alright, let’s learn how to make these costumes, that mind you cost all but $5 to make lol. 

Holiday Pillow Tutorial

I know, I know. How dare I disappear all November!  I'll have to do a catch up post on my whereabouts because November was by far the busiest month of 2018 for me.  From my bachelorette party, to mine and Martin's new home, to fixing up the house, to continuing the wedding process to Thanksgiving...I mean there was just no time for anything else!  Things have chilled out a bit and I woke up this morning with the intention of taking time today to do something that didn't feel like a chore.  Obviously that would involve my sewing machine or some kind of craft, so a trip to Jo-Ann's and twenty minutes later, and voila I created a new holiday pillow.  You guys know I love to post my DIY's on here so let's talk about how I made this so you guys can make one too!

Breakfast at Tiffany's Costume

It's honestly no joke Holly Golightly is a movie icon and one of my favorite fictional characters EVER.  A few years ago, I created Holly's iconic sleeping mask in a DIY post and figured I'd put a whole costume together for my Halloween series!  I've seriously had this mask hanging by my bed this entire time and never thought about putting together a costume until this year - better late than never!  

Pretty Woman Costume

This is Halloween, this is Halloween!  I can't even believe I'm writing this because it doesn't even seem real that we're THIS into the year.  Super excited though because I have a lot to look forward to from now until the end of the year and into the next year.  Anyway, I received a ton of requests and questions on whether I was going to come back with another Halloween costume tutorial series and here I am, bringing it back for a second year woohoo!  So let's get into my first costume of this series, Ms. Vivian Ward of Pretty Woman.  Here's what you need and how to make this COMPLETELY with just scissors and a glue gun - you're welcome non-sewers!

Floral Wreath Tutorial

Hey guys!  I have another fun tutorial for you all.  Floral wreath's have been my muse as of late and absolutely love them as home decor or I know lately I've seen them at tons of events.  With wedding planning coming along, I've definitely been in the trenches of finding inspiration for cool decorations and when I came about a Pinterest photo of a bunch of wreath's all lined up together, I just fell in love for a hot second.  Not sure if I'll actually use any, but it was still fun to put a wreath together to share with any other brides out there who would like to make their own.  The cool thing about these wreath's are they don't only have to be used for weddings or event purposes, they can totally be rocked as home decor.  In these photos, I hung the wreath right over my niece's crib and thought it looked too cute.  Anyway, let's go over what you need and how to make something like this!

How To Make a Bow Hair Tie

Hey guys!  Just wanted to pop in and give written instructions on how to make this easy bow hair tie. I've seen them all over the place and think they're so cute for the beach, pool or just to step your hair game up.  If you don't know how to sew or have a sewing (I used a serger) machine, don't worry!  You can still make this with no sew fabric glue - like this one.  Let's go over how to make this super hair tie!

Bridesmaid Bouquet Under $10 | A Tutorial for The DIY Bride

Hey hey!  With wedding planning coming along, one thing Martin and I are taking time with are flowers.  We have an idea of what we want our venue to look like and florist options, it's just the bouquets that are up in the air right now.  From the get-go, I knew I would be the, "I can do that, why do I have to pay someone to do this for me?" kind of bride.  I am a creator and crafter, so naturally, I need/want to be creatively in charge of everything lol.  I know, get over it, Melissa!  But do I have to?  Since day one, I've been so against paying someone to put bridal bouquets together for my party.  Why?  Because I can make them myself.  The most common feedback has been, "You won't have time before your wedding." and although that may be true, I just simply feel like I can make time to make six bouquets.  This idea was only fueled even more when I actually tried to make a bouquet and once I completed it in 15 minutes, it was game over.  I just knew I HAD to make my own.

Holiday Blanket DIY

You asked, I listened.  My month-long tutorials are back!  Let's get real, I couldn't stay away from DIYing for very long.  After my Halloween series, I thought about maybe doing seasonal baked goods throughout November, but it ended up being the craziest work month and I'm so glad it's over haha.  I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to put together another series of holiday crafts.  This week, my sister and I took all our Christmas decorations out and transformed our home into a little Christmas oasis.  I felt my room was lacking something and ended up making a throw.  Sure I could have bought one anywhere, but where's the fun in that?  To make this throw, you will need a sewing machine and is a beginner project for anyone who can sew. Don't worry, this DIY series will include projects that do not require a sewing machine!  Anyway, this blanket was made in four easy steps.  Let's get started.

Cookie Monster Halloween Costume

Is it really Halloween week already?  Usually I'm really excited to dress up, but this time around, I'm really sad because that means my DIY Halloween Costume series is just about over.  So much sadness but I had such a blast putting costumes together for you guys.  I'm so happy I did this because it really rekindled my love for crafting that I was slowly drifting away from.  I'm so inspired to put more series together!  Anyway, for my last costume, I made a suit that I completely identify with: Cookie Monster.  Fact, you cannot leave a cookie around me.  I WILL EAT.  This costume may look overwhelming because of the tulle skirt, but I promise it's super easy.  Let's go over what you need!

Piñata Halloween Costume

Hey hey!  I'm back with a new costume this week and let me tell you, this one was super fun to make.  Who doesn't love a piñata at birthday parties?  It's my absolute favorite part and always look forward to what kind of candy or goodies will pop out.  Anyway, this costume was just as basic to make as they come.  I basically took a dress I found at a thrift store and glued party streamers from the Dollar Tree all around the front of the dress, then added a little tail to complete the look.  Let's go over all the details!

Selena Quintanilla Costume | Bustiquela, es un bra!

Hey hey! I've been thinking about this costume all week long and just couldn't wait to photograph it.  As a little girl, I used to pretend to be Selena Quintanilla herself lol.  I'm VERY sure I was just one of a billion other people in the world who shared this same mentality, and still, whenever I listen to her music I flip on my Selena switch and sing my heart out. It only felt right to make one of her iconic bustier's a part of my DIY Halloween Costume series.  To complete this look, I just tossed on some black high wasted pants I purchased from American Apparel, black booties and a belt with silver buckles.  Okay, you will need:

DIY Pumpkin Garland

With fall completely here, now is the time where I get super excited about crafting and making fun things now until the end of the year.  When I started this blog, I really wanted to share tons of sewing and DIY projects.  Somewhere along the way, my content stopped including as much DIY content as I would have loved, so here is where I encourage myself to change that!  I have a fun mini series of DIY's coming every week in October but I figured I'd kickstart this holiday season with a decoration piece everyone needs this fall - a pumpkin garland!  Alright, let's do this.

You'll Need:

Orange Yarn

Twine

Green Pipe Cleaners

Scissors

How To:

1) Start by wrapping yarn around your four fingers about 80-90 times.  The more yarn you wrap, the larger your pumpkins will be. 

2) Slide the wrapped yarn piece off of your fingers and tie the top of your pumpkin with a piece of yarn.  Repeat this step and tie the bottom of your pumpkin. 

3) Cut a piece of pipe cleaner and insert it under a loose piece of yarn or under one of the ties you made.  Next, you'll want to simply twist the wire up. 

4) Take your twine and begin sliding your pumpkins through the top of the yarn, right under the green pipe cleaners. 

5) Trim the loose ends (or tuck them into the pumpkins) and enjoy!

How to Make an Elastic Waist Skirt

Okay I'm back.  Work has been super busy as of late and has totally been consuming my time, but in a positive way!  Not too long ago, my friend Jaime and I had the best conversation about the artsy phase her daughter is currently in and I swear a lot of what she mentioned totally reminded me of me when I was her daughter's age haha.  That conversation totally helped rekindle my love for sewing and made me itch to make something fun.  I've never lost touch of this fun craft, but you know how it is when you have a full time job, have relationships to keep up with, run a blog and try to stick to your content calendar as much as you can...all the busy.  Anyway, because I was itching to sew something, I decided to make my favorite thing - a skirt!  I would definitely say this is a beginner skirt and if you know how to literally run a basic stitch through a sewing machine, you can make this.  Now for the fun part, let's start go over the details!

You'll Need:

1.5 - 2 Yards of Fabric: This should be enough for your waist length x's 2.  My waist is 27 inches so I used 54 inches.

Scissors

Measuring Tape

Pins

Thread 

Elastic: This should be the length of your waist, but if you'd like a snug fit, cut off 3-4 inches off

_____________________________________________________________

  Step 1:  

Measure the length from your waist down to however long you'd like your skirt.  My skirt length was 19 inches and width was 54 inches.  Once you have your measurements, you'll need to keep your fabric folded and cut out your piece.

 Step 2: 

Cut all along your fold to have two even pieces of the same width and length.  Turn your two pieces right side in (this means to stack the two pieces on top of each other with the front of the fabric facing each other).  Next, insert pins along the lengths of both sides of skirts to connect each side of fabric together.  This should look like a large tube after you've inserted your pins.  You'll then just need to make a basic stitch along the pins and once you're done, flip the skirt inside out to show the right side of the fabric. 

Step 3:

Depending on the size of your elastic (mine is 1") you'll need to make one fold in that is at least the size of your elastic because that will need to go through the casing you're about to make.  I basically made a 1.5 inch fold and curled that extra half inch into the skirt for a clean finish.  This is optional, but when making your casing, you can take an iron and quickly run it down the tube you made to make sure it stays down. 

Step 4:

Pin your casing down and run a basic straight stitch all along the tube.  Next, take a safety pin and pin it to the end of your elastic and run that through the tube until it's popped out through the other side.  As you run your elastic around, you'll also need to pull the fabric through and sort of scrunch it up.  Once the elastic has made itself through the whole tube, take both ends and sew a few stitches up and down to lock it. 

   

Step 5:

You'll now need to take both ends of your skirt that are open and simply run a straight stitch all the way down.  You might find it a little difficult to stitch over the elastic part, and to lock this part down, I first start a few inches after the elastic and then hit my back pedal to stitch backwards.  If this is still difficult, you can always hand stitch that part and you should be fine. 

Step 6:

To hem your skirt, you can basically do this in three ways.  For one, you can fold the raw edge of your skirt up the exact same way you made your casing.  It's about making a tiny tube, pinning down and running a straight stitch all around.  The other way is to make a zig-zag stitch all around the raw edge to lock in the fabric similar to using a serger.  Third, if you have a serger machine (thanks, #KingMartin) you can run the bottom of your skirt all around and be left with a fun detailed stitch.  

After you're done hemming your skirt, turn the skirt inside out and you're all done!  Don't forget to email or comment below with any questions you may have.  Talk to guys soon!

xo,

Melissa Victoria