Film Friday: 500 Days of Summer

OOOHHH I am so super excited to watch this movie! My love crush on Zooey Deschanel compels me to smile uncontrollably when I watch this trailer. Oh and did I mention Joseph Gordan Levitt comes in a verrrryy close second. This looks like the most perfect summer movie, beautiful music, a little romance, gigglies here and there...what could be better. Eeeeeee I think I may have peed a little.

Photo Of The Day

I came across these polaroid collages on yellowgoat's blog and just fell in love. This photo series created by Juan Felipe Rubio captures anonymous couple's love scenes...they are adorable...some smokin hot (oh my) Take a look for yourself here!

Etsy Frontpage!

Oh wow oh wow, my bracelet was featured on Etsy's frontpage this morning! There you are...bottom right corner, I'm so proud. Frontpage is a great way to give your shop exposure and draw in more viewers! Intrigued? Visit my shop here for a closer look.

Dear Etsy,

Thank you for featuring my canary yellow bracelet on your frontpage. It brings me great joy that this little guy was hand picked by you. You're nice.

Love,
Connie

Film Friday: One Week

All you Dawson's Creek fans will be completely spoiled with a healthy dose of Pacey in this new film starring Joshua Jackson. Pacey Joshua Jackson (mr. adorableness) plays Ben Tyler who just finds out he's diagnosed with a very advanced form of cancer with a mere one weekto live. Upon hearing this news we are taken on a cross Canadian road trip as Ben questions his past and discovers new truths in his quest to find meaning in his life. Along the way he stops at various Canadian roadside attractions also known as....."Look, I'm the worlds largest _______ , aren't I a beauty?" Personally I was a little frightened by the exisitence of these "landmarks"....worlds largest nickel? comon now. Anyways, this is a good lazy weekend watch, maybe with a fuzzy friend or two and a warm cup of milky tea. Great soundtrack and makes you wanna hit the road pretty bad. Give it a go, let me know what you think?

Comment below: What would you do if you had one week to live?

Video Of The Day

One of my very first posts was on how delightful losergoescrazy's videos are. Here's another lovely addition to her collection. Enjoy!

Don't forget to enter my big CONTEST GIVEAWAY!! One thing that makes ME smile is reading all your comments, they are absolutely splendid :)

DIY recycled t shirt braided scarf tutorial

This tutorial will teach you how to make your very own homemade recycled t shirt braided scarf.

There are several different ways to go about making these scarves, but all are extremely simple. For this project, I used XL t-shirts I got from a local thrift store but you can also use store bought jersey fabric as well. Let's get started!!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

- Fabric OR XL used seamless t-shirt (no need to buy new)
- Fabric scissors

That's it! WOW!

ABOUT THE FABRIC:

You will need approximately 1 - 2 meters of fabric depending on the desired length. I chose a cotton jersey because it was so soft and very stretchy, however, any type of cotton will do. Go to your local thrift store to find mens or ladies XL cotton t-shirts. I say XL because the width of the t-shirt will determine how long your scarf is and the length will determine the thickness. Also, avoid using t-shirts with seams sewn on the sides as they will look unsightly when braided. No no no to seams.

INSTRUCTIONS:

If you are using a t-shirt first you need to WASH it....who knows where it's been or who's been doing jumping jacks in it. Yucky. Next you want to lay it flat and cut out the body of the shirt by cutting off the hem on the bottom as well as the top portion of the shirt by cutting right under the armpit.

Feel free to splatter fabric paint or tie dye your material at this point, I have kept this scarf plain.

Cut 1/2 - 1 inch strips along the width of the fabric creating loops. I cut out the strips freehand...you do not need to be exact, but try to make sure that the strips are about the same size. If the edges are jagged it's ok...they will be rolled up anyways.

You will end up with something like this:

Once all the strips have been cut out, gently tug along the length of the strips to curl the edges under. Make sure to stretch each loop out evenly, otherwise you can end up with some longer than others.

If you used a t-shirt for this project, cut through one end of fabric so you have long strands of cotton instead of circular loops. Leave one strand aside, as you will be using it to secure the braid later on.

You will need to find something to anchor one end of the fabric to keep the strands in place while you braid. The only thing I could think of using was one of the table legs from my coffee table! haha. It worked really well! Leave a good amount of fabric to be unbraided as this will form the free flowing strands that you see in the photo. I left approximately a foot of fabric. I will now leave you to your search of something to anchor your scarf. Good Luck!

Next you will need to divide your strands into three equal sections. Here I had exactly four strands in each section, BUT the number of strands does not need to be exact....just roughly the same.

Now it's braiding time!!! Yahoo!! I believe that most of you know how to preform a simple braid, but just in case you don't....watch this video here. Braid down the length of the fabric again leaving about a foot of fabric unbraided at the bottom. Make sure you braid a small section at a time as the strands below the braid get tangled fairly quickly. Brush through them every so often to prevent this from happening.

Once the braid is complete, gently remove it from whatever you used to anchor it and tie the two ends of the braid together with the strand you saved earlier. Wrap it around the ends several times and double knot it to secure. Weeee you're almost done!!!

Feather out the strands and cut random pieces shorter to created a layered effect.

Easy Peasy! Now you're all done! Enjoy your new homemade recycled t-shirt braided scarf, how lovely.

Comment below if you have any questions! Thanks for reading!!

CONTEST TIME!

OK as promised, the big contest giveaway has arrived!! YAHOO! There will be TWO lucky winners, here's what's up for grabs:

1. NEON YELLOW/BLACK recycled t-shirt necklace
2. CORAL/BLACK TIE DYE recycled t-shirt necklace

Items are handmade by ME and are featured in my Etsy shop thisoldshirt ....here is your chance to win! (see etsy shop for more photos)

How to enter: Two ways

1. Comment below with your email address and answer the following question: "what is one thing that makes you smile?" Please include your preference as to which necklace you would like to receive.

2. Add me as a friend under "Neat People" located in the column to your left. Just click join this site and set up a Google Friends Connect profile if you haven't done so already. Make sure you add me publicly or else I won't know that you have entered! Again, ensure to include a valid email address so I can contact you.

I will use random.org to choose one winner from the comment section and one winner from my google friends.

That's it! YAY!

Contest ends Friday July 31st 12:00am mountain time

WOOWEE GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!!

contest closed

I've Been Tagged!

Oh wow oh wow, my first tag ever! Carlene at the most lovely "it's heavenly" tagged me to list six little things that make me happy.

Here are the rules: Tag and link back to the person who tagged you. List six little things that make you happy. Tag six bloggers and let them know they're “it".

Here we go!

1. Eating delicious food. I particularly enjoy hot dogs (especially the a-bomb from my local tubby dog, with bacon bits and topped with crunchy potato chips, mmm) and sushi is always good company.

2. Vintage shopping. Oh how I adore those lovely Sunday afternoons spent at the thrift store finding the most perfect dress.

3. People watching. Something about sitting on a bench and watching strangers go by just makes me smile. It's even more fun when you're with a friend and there are simply no words exchanged. how nice.

4. Petting soft animals. It's no secret that I make regular trips to the pet shop to visit those little bunnies. Say hi to them, love them, ask them how their day was.

5. Discovering beautiful music and playing it over and over again.

6. Surprise fun days with my boyfriend. I love when you have absolutely nothing planned for the day and end up going on spontaneous adventures around the city....walk along the river, stumble upon some amazing chocolaty treats, play with the neighbor's kitty cat, catch a late night movie. lovely.

Tag! You're it!

Mynthia from morethanbearable

Andrea from miscusi handmade

Ann from still dottie

Rachel from myopiasco

Carole from minuit 12

Sarah from fashionista0921

Khushdeep from just thoughts

Recycled T Shirt Dress

This is totally a work in progress but I made a dress! It's a little er.... short? Excuse the WHITE legs, all that crafting in my basement means no sun for these poor things. haha. I'm thinking it might look better belted, or with tights? hmmmmm

ps. check out my etsy shop! now open!

Etsy Shop Now Open!!

Weeee! The moment has finally arrived! My Etsy shop is now open for business :) You can visit my shop here. I'm so excited I could pee my panties. Big thanks to everyone for all your patience and support. How swell of you. On that note, please bear with me as this is my first time selling items online, hopefully everything will work out nicely. Doo dee doo, head on over...let me know what you think!