DIY Mermaid Costume & picking grandma's flowers

So this post is about a year overdue. Last year for Halloween, Ivy was a mermaid.  I don't know how much of a DIY this will actually be, because I made this costume so long ago! Let me try to jog my memory… 

Basically I bought purple clearance fabric and made a tube top with elastic and some pleats. I used a peach-colored elastic headband to make a little halter strap. I used my seaweed ribbon and a real starfish from the year before's costume (see the Starfish costume here). For the skirt/mermaid fin, I measured Ivy's waist and cut out a maxi style skirt out of the scalloped fabric, a little wider than her waist and added elastic to the waist. I made the bottom edge come to a point in the middle. Then I used the blue/green batik fabric to make fins (8 panels to make 4 panels - 2 fins on the front, 2 on the back.) I sewed giant sparkly green rik rak on the front 2 fins, then sewed them all to the pointed edges of the skirt. 

PROBLEM: kids can't walk in mermaid fins

To solve this problem, I made a slit up the back of the skirt/mermaid fin. Then I added snaps on the side of the fin and skirt, so it could be hiked up. Oila! She can walk!

Our ritual each year is to go to the beach in front of my grandma's condo and take pictures of Ivy in her Halloween costume. It's actually not my grandma's condo anymore. She passed away a few years ago when Ivy was about 2. I remember going to show my grandma my Halloween costume every year growing up, and it seemed to bring her so much joy. She loved seeing the grandkids all dressed up. Every time I take Ivy, I remind her about who her "G-Gma" was and that this was where she lived and talk about how special she was. She and my grandpa's ashes are spread in the ocean right where Ivy is looking. 

What was crazy on last year's trip to the condo is that Ivy stopped on the sidewalk exactly in front of my grandma's condo and picked a flower for me. I couldn't believe it! She had no idea that she was exactly in front of G-Gma's condo, (it's been remodeled by the new owners), but also, I picked flowers from that same bush for 20+ years, and gave them to my grandma. 

I don't know what Ivy is going to be this year… we are on a different island now, but will have a chance in mid-October to go visit my grandma's beach. I better get my act together and make a costume! (And hopefully it's beach-themed again, haha). 

This girl makes it too easy to take pictures! She's just up for anything. Don't you love the starfish head band? A friend of mine saw I was making a mermaid costume, and said she had the PERFECT head band for it. Pearls and starfish. I love it!

If you have more questions as to how to make this costume, feel free to comment or email me. 

Sorry the DIY part of this post is pretty lame… haha. 

Aloha, Becca

Read more ...

Acai Bowl Craving - I made my own!

This summer I discovered my new favorite eatery on Maui: Farmacy Health Bar Wailuku. It was right across from my work, the freshest food you could imagine, and it was delicious. Problem: I moved to Kauai about 2 weeks after discovering it. Boo.

Farmacy Health Bar Wailuku

LOOK at this Acai Bowl. Yes, that's bee pollen sprinkled on top. 

While teaching dance camps, I ate one almost every day for 2 weeks. 

They were $8 a pop, but well worth it! 

It was health in a bowl!

Papaya, strawberries, blueberries, granola and honey… oh my.

Well, I've had enough sitting around dreaming of this delicious acai bowl, 

so today I decided to make my own, and here's how it turned out:

Not bad!

 Even Ivy liked it, and she's a picky one. 

So here's how I made it:

1. Blend apple juice, granola (Anahola Granola!), honey, acai blend (Sambazon from Costco!), frozen strawberries, and a few dashes of ground ginger until it's almost smoothie consistency. A little chunky is okay. Pour it in a large bowl.

2. Cut open a papaya, remove seeds, and spoon out small pieces on top of the smoothie.

3. Add some more granola and some chocolate chips on top. 

4. Eat it before it melts! 

Blessed to have fresh papaya growing in our yard!

I had to take these pictures fast. Both the Farmacy bowl and my bowl tended to melt quickly. 

But it sure did hit the spot! I'll be eating more of these in the future. Maybe I'll find some bee pollen :)

Aloha, Rebecca

Read more ...

How To Recover A Vintage Train Case

I love my aunt Jaymee. She gets me. At age 1 she would put red lipstick on me. They're some of my favorite pictures to look at from childhood. We've always lived on opposite sides of the pacific, but when I went to college in California, I actually could drive and meet her for lunch. She would buy me Starbucks gift cards, (which I loved!) and she let me crash in her guest room whenever I needed.

2 years ago, Ivy, my mom and I went on a trip to California to visit family and friends. (After that trip, I blogged about my aunts adorable cottage here, my cousins uber-chic apartment here, and my very first train case here). I got the awesome vintage train case from my aunt (see pic on right). She actually had them just chillin in the trunk of her car and willingly gave one to me and one to my best friend. Little did she know that gift gave huge definition to my decor style, and that I would rip out its guts and give it a whole new look. 

Recently that old post has been getting a ton of attention via Pinterest, and the pics from that post weren't the greatest (pre-iPhone 5S, if you know what I mean). I actually picked up 2 more train cases last November in Oklahoma, and just recently recovered the inside of them. I feel like it's time to show my updated collection. Incidentally, all my train cases happen to be blue. I'd give my pinkie finger for an avocado green one. I'd give my pinkie toe for a grey or yellow one. 

For now, I'll have to settle with my blue collection of 3.

Here's my grey arrow print with mini mustard pom pom fringe.

What To Do With A Vintage Train Case

Train cases are the perfect catch-all. Of course you can revert to their original use and store your beauty products in them, but I've also used them to hold remotes, DVDs, lotion and perfume bottles, jewelry and even jars of coins. Kids love 'em - Ivy had a mini one that she would put her "treasures" in. There's a pin on Pinterest of a yellow one holding baby supplies like diapers, wipes and burp cloths. I love that! I'm all about cleaning up old things and making them clean, cute, and usable.

So how do you achieve that awesome inside?

Let's take a look at what some actually look like inside:

How To Recover The Inside Of Your Train Case

1.  Tear out the insides, save for a possible template. 

2.  Scrub the insides with a soapy rag, baking soda, a magic eraser, something! These things smell like old dog and cigarettes. I have yet to find one that doesn't wreak. 

3.  Pour ground coffee in the train case, close it up, and let it sit for a week. 

4. Clean out the coffee and febreeze it. 

5. Find a base material to give it a slight cushion-y layer to hide imperfections. Here's what I've used: felt, fake "snow" from Christmas time (the kind in rolls), and pieces of my sweat pants that I cut off cause they were too long.

Here's what mine looked like with fake "snow" sheets in it.

6. Next, cut out a piece of fabric to go in the bottom of the train case. It can be a square, with rounded edges. It should be bigger than the bottom of the case, so that it goes up the sides of the case. Do the same thing for the lid of the case. Every time your cut out a piece of fabric, iron it well, because you can't iron it once it goes in the case!

Your corners can be folded over one another. Use modge podge to initiate the adhesion, then use a glue gun to glue down the edges of the fabric. 

7. Measure the length from the top (usually metal) edge of the case, down to where the case starts to curve under at the bottom. Measure the circumference of the case. Cut a piece of fabric a little larger than these measurements and sew a seam along the top and bottom edge (It will be a long rectangle that you've cut out, and you will be sewing seams on the two longer sides.) This piece then gets glued around the circumference of the case, starting in the center back, using modge podge and a glue gun on the edges. The top seam edge should lie right below the metal edge of the case. Repeat for the lid of the case. Make sure the edges meet in the center back of the case, near the hinges. 

8. The next step could be skipped, but it really puts the icing on the cake: trim! I choose a trim to line the edge of the inside of the case, and it really hides any imperfections you might have along the top edge. I've used mini pom poms, and a cotton 3/4" beige ribbon. Just glue gun around the top edge. Again, the ends should meet in the back, near the hinges

 9. Final step! Cut out a square of fabric, wide enough to cover the hinges, and tall enough to reach the top and bottom edge of the case. Hem this square on all 4 edges. (You may want to cut it a little bigger so you have room to turn under the seams). Glue gun it on the back edge of the train case, to cover all the raw edges you had meet in the back near the hungers. Don't glue gun it on the metal, just the case. Finish it all off with some scotch guard or spray modge podge just to stiffen it up a little and make it slightly more durable against stains.

And that's it! Here's my red, white and blue case. With a little peach thrown in…

I love recovering these cases. I'm constantly trying to figure out how to get me some more cases all the way out to Hawaii. (By the time I finished this post, I gave in and ordered an avocado one off Etsy...) They're rare gems here! If you've got any you don't want, please mail them to me! If you've got any you want to hire me to recover, please mail them to me! 

Hope this tutorial helps you out. I know it was lengthy!

Aloha, Rebecca

Read more ...

Do unto your dining table as you would have your dining table do unto you

You eat here. You talk here. You might have "school" here. Your kids draw here. You sew here, iron here (well, at least I did, until I made our living room the sewing room). You entertain here. You LIVE here. It's your dining table and it takes a lot of flack from you! And if you're blessed enough to have a real wood dining table, you better treat it right! Do unto your dining table as you would have your dining table do unto you!

It wasn't too long ago that our table was just plain jane wood. Then it got black legs, and a cool antique finish on it's surface. (Click here to see that transformation a little over a year ago). 

Well, here we are a year later, and the awesome antiquing finish has become a little dull and our laziness of not using coasters ALL THE TIME has brought out the worst water rings in all of us. We LIVE at this table! It gets wiped with a harsh eco-friendly cleaner at least once a day! I'm not surprised that it is just tired and worn out. 

Here it is "before" I attacked it with some light sanding and Miss Mustard Seed's Hemp Oil last weekend. See that bottom section with the light area (where I scrubbed too hard one day) and the water rings? Well, this is right where I photograph my Etsy products, and it was starting to show in my pics!!

Look at these actual shots I have up on Etsy… water rings! Random light spots! It's terrible!

Luckily I've been working with Miss Mustard Seed's Hemp Oil for a few projects now, and was confident it would give a little revival to this table. 

I sanded a few problem areas and then I just "painted" on the hemp oil with a paint brush.

Ivy "helped" in her cowgirl hat, just before she and daddy headed out to an anti-GMO rally. 

It looks really wet when you first put it on, but after 30 minutes, you wipe off the excess oil. Then you let it "dry" for 24 hours. You can do additional coats at that point, or you can leave it be. 

I actually might add a coat of furniture wax to it for further durability, so the same thing doesn't happen in a year. As you can see on the bottom of the photo, those light areas are still there, because essentially, the antiquing wax was wiped off every time I scrubbed really hard. I should probably re-apply antiquing wax on those spots and then do the furniture wax over it. But other than that, I'm really happy with the new finish. 

So now we can get back to LIVING at our dining table, without staring at such ugly spots all over. 

Here's a shot of my latest Etsy listing, photographed in the same spot as the pictures up above. Much cleaner looking background! 

So, make sure you treat your table right this week. Even if you don't give it a Hemp Oil finish, maybe just give it a nice eco-friendly wipe down? :)

Aloha, Rebecca

(Here's some shots of us "living" at our table)

Read more ...