Tattoo Your Heart On My Shoulder

Today's post is a little different from most that I do. This one is a little more on the personal side of things. I saw a post on Twitter from a friend of mine asking for opinions on a tattoo she wanted to get. So I tweeted back with a few suggestions. She popped up online and we ran through a few things and I took out a 3x5 index card and started sketching away...

Sweltering Summer Days: Lemon (or Lime!) Mint Tea Recipe

I don't know about you guys, but it's HOT here in Mississippi. Who am I kidding? It's ALWAYS hot (and FREAKING HUMID) every summer in the South. Ugh.

In order to stay cool on these horrendously hot days, I make iced tea! Being the southerner that I am, it's gotta be sweetened, of course! To tell you the truth, I got out of drinking sweet tea for over a year since I moved out of my old place. My old roommates used to drink (VERY) sweet tea like water! I would watch my roommate brew sweet tea and pour an ENTIRE highball glass (12 ounces!!!!) of sugar in the pitcher.

I've been experimenting with different tea concoctions the last few weeks and my favorite is to brew green (or black) tea with peppermint tea since it adds a nice hint of minty-ness and refreshing taste. My husband HATES tea (he only drinks milk and water and very rarely some juices) so I get the entire pitcher to myself!

Alright! Let's get started!

DIY Sweetheart Bandeau Top [with link to tutorial]

Strapless tops were never one of my favorite pieces of apparel. I was a bit self conscious about my shoulders and since most of them were tight fitting, it made me dread my lower stomach pooch.

This summer, I've been looking for new pieces to wear and I found this tutorial by fake-leather via Pinterest. It looked pretty simple and I tried it out on a spaghetti strap tank I already owned but never wore.

The verdict?

I LOVE it! I've made 5 of them in different colors! The tops look especially cute with skirts and a big belt so it hides my stomach pooch quite well.

There are a few steps not covered in the tutorial that I'm going to run through.

I started with this coral colored tank:

In fake-leather's tutorial, it doesn't seem like her top had a built-in shelf bra. I really hate shelf bras with a passion and despite looking high and low for a tank that DID NOT have one, all I found were ones WITH shelf bras.

So, I'm going to show you how to cut out that shelf bra and take off the straps! All you need is a pair of sharp scissors, a steady hand, and patience. 

First, find the side seams and pick which ever side to start cutting.

Next, start cutting from the bottom where the elastic is. Cut along the seam and then veer off either left or right. Your preference.

From here, just cut carefully around the upper part near the top elastic all the way around. Be careful and try not to cut the fabric on the back side or you'll have holes show up when you wear it. A good way to prevent is to take it slow and keep your hand under the bra to make sure the scissors are between the shelf bra and tank fabric. 

After you've finished that, you can cut straight across on the front of the tank (see fake-leather's tutorial) but don't cut the back straps yet! I've found if you just cut it off, it's left with these irritating "nubs" that will dig into your backside when you wear it and makes it 100x hard to sew through on your machine or by hand.

So, take your seam ripper or your scissors and carefully find the threads that hold down your straps and snip them ONE AT A TIME. 

Do this for both straps and now you're just left with the strapless tank body to finish! Follow the rest of fake-leather's [tutorial] and you're on your way to a cute sweetheart bandeau top for summer!!!

Here's how mine turned out! (Disregard the dusty mirror and stomach pooch.)

Thrift Shopping 101

Hey guys! Today's post is about thrift shopping! It's one of my favorite things to do besides napping and crafting. I was going through my closet the other day to look for things to donate and I realized that about 70% of my clothes and over half of my shoes were from some form of thrift store. 

I'm not a professional at thrifting, but I believe I've gotten pretty good at it. I wasn't always such a big fan of thrift stores, believe it or not. Don't get me wrong, I've always been cheap and I try to buy everything on sale. Before my mom passed away in 2004, she taught me that thrift stores were places where only poor people shopped and even said, "Why would you want to buy that stuff? Someone's died in it." So, before ever setting foot into a thrift store, that was my general belief of them. It's not like she taught us to blow money or spend extravagantly. My mother taught my siblings and I to be frugal and buy EVERYTHING on sale (or try very hard to). After my mom passed, my family and I went through and donated a lot of her clothes to the local Salvation Army. That was the first time I had actually ever set foot into a thrift store and took interest in buying anything. I was enthralled at the mix of interesting and weird things. While some stuff was icky and old, some was pretty fashionable.

My thrifting habits didn't really kick in until I got into college in 2006 when my friends and I got into a reconing clothes phase. Since then, I rather shop at thrift stores than retail! My husband is still iffy about thrift clothing but he enjoys looking for interesting thrift furniture and books. On our honeymoon to Flagstaff, AZ (big hipster city), instead of going shopping at the retail stores, we went thrift store shopping!

Some of my thrifted goodies! Many name brands like Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Anne Taylor Loft, J. Jill, Patagonia, Fossil, Coach, Ellemeno, Anne Klein, H&;M... to name a few. Even the frame for that dry erase calendar was thrifted!

Okay, enough about me! I'm going to give you a rundown on the general beliefs, pros/cons, and then end with thrifting tips with links to sources and good blogs on thrifting! If you're a veteran at thrifting, you may already know most of these tips. These are mainly for those starting up in thrifting and beginners. Get ready to READ!

[TUTORIAL] How to Add a Sash/Bow Tie to a Button-up

Hey guys! You may have seen my other tutorial on how to enlarge a button-up and make it into a removable bow tie shirt. In this short tutorial, I will show you guys how to add a bow tie/sash to the collar of a shirt.

A few considerations before you begin:

-The collar on my button-up is a mandarin-style collar so this tutorial only explains how to add a sash to that type of collar.
-If you have a shirt with an actual fold over, pointed collar (like any normal button up), I would recommend just using my tutorial linked above to make a removeable sash.
-Here is a no-sew tutorial on how to make your collared shirt into a mandarin collar shirt. Attaching a sash will be a bit different than my method since this isn't a true mandarin collar.

Let's begin!

[TUTORIAL] Removable Bowtie Shirt & How to Enlarge A Shirt

Hey guys! It's Tutorial-Tuesday! (Not really. I am not motivated enough to post a self-made tutorial every week.) Today, I'm going to show you guys how to ENLARGE a shirt that's too small and how to alter a long-sleeved button-up into a sleeveless bow-tie button-up.

I was inspired by Extra Petite's tutorial on how to transform a button-up to sleeveless bow-tie top except the shirt I had was TOO SMALL for my busty Asian self. I may be petite, but I was unfortunately (hehe not) blessed with my grandmother's Amazonian Asian genes of bustiness.

So, I shall show you the ways of enlarging a shirt!

***UPDATE*** Nude but not naked! Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Café Au Lait Polish Review!

In order to keep my blog updated more than once every 2 years, I have decided to write posts on subjects other than crafts and my Etsy store. This one is a nail polish review!

To tell you the truth, I am terrible at painting my nails and other people's nails. I'm that girl at the slumber party that can't paint your nails and makes the other girls do it for her. I get polish EVERYWHERE. Cuticles, hands, carpet, you name it. Before 2012, I believe that that last time my nails were painted (other than the french manicure Ashlei did for my wedding) was my sophomore year of college for "Emo Day" when my friends Ashlei and Lauren and I decided to dress emo and stroll about campus trolling folks.

This year, Ashlei got into a big nail polish kick and I joined in. Being a nurse, it's nearly impossible to have nice nails, but I tried it out anyway. Since I'm currently a housewife, I can have the nicest nails ever! (jk NOT) I wanted nude colored nails and Ashlei and I had the discussion of how cool it would be to have a nude polish that would match your skin tone.

So, today I went to CVS on a hunt for Burt's Bees Blemish Stick and somehow ended up in the nail polish aisle and found Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Café Au Lait." 

Since I'm Asian and have yellowish undertones, I figured this color would look close to my skin tone.

Long time no see!

Well, hello world! Long time no see! Did I ever tell you guys that I was TERRIBLE at keeping up with blogs? No? Well, I am.

LOTS of things have happened since I last posted. Well, I GOT MARRIED on October 15, 2011 to my amazing husband. He's currently finishing his masters and will be graduating by December. So hopefully we'll be able to move somewhere nice. I don't work at the hospital anymore. I quit in May and was just burnt out on the excessive overtime and long hours and night shift schedule. At the moment, I do not have a real job and I've been bumming around the house and managing my.....

ETSY SHOP!!!

Awesome, right???? I FINALLY got off my lazy butt and opened it! AND EVEN HAD MY FIRST SALE! (Yay!!!) You'll probably notice that there are no products that look familiar to any of my old pictures I've posted in the past (i.e. Sculpey clay earrings and such) because most of the products in my shop are ready-made and ready to ship. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back to making Sculpey jewelry soon.

Oh! I actually sold at my FIRST craft fair this year as well! My best friend, Ashlei, who runs FiberLuxe on Etsy, and I teamed up at the Starkville Cotton District Arts Festival in March and did quite well! Ashlei won Best in Category -Jewelry! Awesome, right??? She does amazing embroidered necklaces and earrings so you should go check her shop out right now!

As you may notice, I've FINALLY changed the look of the blog. I really need to get around to personalizing it and making my own header and such, but eh. I'm so lazy. So this will have to do for awhile.

I will TRY to keep this blog updated as much as possible. I may even start a JWo Designs Twitter feed to keep customers updated on new products or possible products for sale. Who knows. I'm trying to work out all these kinks at the moment. Thanks for reading my long winded post. Have an awesome day!

SPRING SALE

****SPRING CLEARANCE SALE****

10% OFF READY-MADE JEWELRY PIECES! This does not include custom orders. The discount only applies to READY-MADE pieces in my stock. Prices already reflect discount. Shipping charges are NOT included in the price. These will be added when they are bought/claimed when the receipt is done up.

You can purchase sale items off my Winkelf store at JWo's Designs !

If you happen to live in the Columbus, MS area, you can stop by and pick them up! Saves on shipping! :)

All proceeds go towards my future rental home! I'm trying to scrounge up some cash to pay for my first actual home! I'm graduating in May so it's about time I move out of the dorms and grow up. :S

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and store!

NEED A LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT?!

LOOK NO MORE!

There are many one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces at my Winkelf online store, JWo's Designs! Check it out now!

Also, do you know a Twilight fan but don't want to spend all the money on Twilight merchandise? Get them a "Bella's Bracelet" from JWo's designs! It features a real crystal heart charm with real wooden wolf charm! Just like in the book! (The bracelets in the stores only have metal wolf charms... NOT like the book at all!) So get them now before I run out!

ONLY 5 LEFT!

E-mail me at jkw@myapps.muw.edu for questions or inquiries for custom jewelry, plushes, accessories, clothing, and more!