A collaboration to entertain and inspire
What I wore
1. Blazer- unknown brand (thrifted )
2. Chiffon Top- TjMaxx
3. Brown skinnies- Gloria Vanderbilt (thrifted)
4. Silver pumps- BCBG
5. Leather Clutch- Michael Kors (www.michaelkors.com)
6. Earrings and Bangles- World Market (www.worldmarket.com)
This Caramel is so good. I discovered it a couple years back and made some personal changes to improve it. It is very versatile. I use it for my Old Fashion Caramel Cake, on ice cream, in my praline cheesecake, on cookies, or by itself 😉 Please enjoy!
Materials Needed
2 ½ cups of sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup (1 stick) of butter
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
¼ tsp. of salt
Directions
To make the caramel, place 1/2 cup of the sugar in a heavy or cast iron skillet set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring constantly, until caramelized. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining 2 cups of sugar with the heavy cream and bring to a boil. Add the caramelized sugar to the boiling milk mixture and cook, stirring constantly, to a soft-ball stage (234 to 240ºF on a candy thermometer). Remove saucepan from the heat, add the butter, vanilla and salt. Stir until smooth. Allow caramel to cool completely. Enjoy!!
For all those who follow the fashion trends, you know that Deconstructed or “worn” jeans are very popular. The concept is for your pants to look like they have some natural wear and tear to them. You know as a child when you tore a hole in jeans, you mom would put that ugly patch in them like that was stylish. Not so much mothers. Deconstructed jeans are the same concept without the ugly patch. Some of these jeans can cost hundreds of dollars. I refuse to pay extra for something that is “worn and torn” for me, especially if I know I can do it myself. That is exactly what I did. I bought some very nice fitting Levi’s from the Salvation Army and went to work. Here’s what I did:
Materials needed
1. Pair of jeans ( I would start with a cheap pair for your first try, just in case you mess up)
2. Sewing scissors
3. Tweezers
4. White eyeliner/ chalk
5. Nail file
Instructions
1. Put pants on
2. Mark on your jeans where you would like your jeans to be deconstructed/ cut. (remember the purpose is to look “natural”)
3. Take jeans off
4. Cut on the marked lines
5. To get the “frayed” look. Make a parallel incision along the original cut.
6. Now the tedious part: take your tweezers and pull out the individual jean fibers (perpendicular to the cut) between the fray.
7. Once finished pulling the fibers, take your nail file and file along the border of the  cut
8. Also file along the pockets in the front and back.
9. Toss jeans in the washer and dryer
10. You’re done. Put on your jeans and wear them proudly
Today definitely felt like a classic Fall day so I decided to keep my church outfit classic as well
What I wore
1. Skirt (thirfted)
2. Turtleneck (Macys)
3. Navy peplum jacket (Asos)
4. Purple leather bag (Tano)
5. Black knee-length boots (Joan & David Circa)
6. Necklace (Macys)
7. Gold Earrings (World Market)
8. Minnie Mouse watch (retro)
I recently bought some inexpensive booties. Although they were very chic, they were a bit too bland for my taste. I thought to myself how could I spruce these bad boys up? Studs and bows of course. They provide the quintessential boldness and girly-ness as well. Here’s how I did it
Items Needed
1. Needle and thread
2. Fabric scissors
3. Tape Measure
4. Alligator clips (Jo’ann Arts and Crafts)
5. Fabric
6. 1/4″ or 1/2″ studs
7. exactor knife
8. White eyeliner/ chalk
9. fabric glue (or glue gun)
10. Wire cutter
11. Bead pliers
12. Booties of your choice (mine are from Kohls)
Instructions
I decided to conquer the bow portion of the project first
1. Decide what material you want your bows made out of. You need a sturdy material that will be able stand on its own and not flop over on your shoe, unless that’s the look you are going for. (I used a sturdy satin)
2. Cut your fabric into 2 8″ x 5″ pieces
3. Hold fabric in half length wise. Pin it folded and then sew it down the length of the fabric
4. Take the seem and place in the middle of width of fabric. Iron your seem in place.
5. Hold the fabric in half again width wise. Pin in place. Sew along width seem.
6. Flip fabric inside out. Place width seem in the middle of fabric. Sew in place.
7. You should now have an approximate 4″ x 3″ rectangle.
8. repeat steps 3-7 for second bow
9. Cut two 1″ x 2″ pieces of fabric.
9. Fold fabric in half, width wise. Pin and sew along seem.
10. Move seem into center of fabric, iron in place.
11. repeat step 9 and 10 for second piece of fabric.
12. Roll up your large rectangle and stuff into the small piece of fabric. Center small piece of fabric into center of your rectangle. Unroll your rectangle and fluff and straighten out the sides.
13. You should now have a bow.
14. Repeat step 12 for second bow.
15. Place your choice of glue on the end of the alligator clip (the end without the teeth)
16. Place bow onto glue and allow to sit for 24hours, depending on your glue used.
17. Repeat step 15 for second bow
18. You now have 2 super cute bow clips that can be used on your booties or other places you see fit.
Bootie portion
1. Take tape-measure and place onto back of your bootie. Use eyeliner/ chalk and mark down back of shoe seem where you want to place your studs. (I placed mine 0.5″ apart.
2. Repeat for second bootie
3. Use your exactor knife and cut on the dots on the back of your shoe. Make cut big enough that studs will go through.
4. Take stud and puncture each cut
5. Once stud is through the hole, take your bead pliers and on the inside the shoe, bend the spikes away from each other to secure.
6. Repeat until all the your cuts have been replaced with studs on both booties.
7. Now for the actual heel portion of your booties; you may not be able to make cuts deep enough for the studs. These studs may need to be glued.
8. In order to glue these the spikes must be removed from the back of each stud so they can lay flat against the back of your heel.
9. Using your wire cutters. Cut each spike of the back of your studs.
10. Once yours studs are spike-less, place glue on your measured dots.
11. Place the studs on each glue dot.
12. Secure the studs in place for 24 hours (depending on the glue used). I used 2 pieces of elastic to hold my studs in place.
13. Remove elastic if used.
14. Place your bow alligator clips on the back of your heel. And Go!!!
Confections, Crafts, Couture