Trick or Treat...Last Minute Halloween Ideas!

Can you guess what I was for my Halloween weekend? I'll give you one guess...a Zombie Hipster! Alex and I spent the weekend visiting one of my great friends in the Appalachian Mountains this past weekend (just what I needed to balance out my crazy week!), and everyone loved out costumes! We had people come up to us the whole night saying things like, "so exclusive" or "this song is too mainstream." We also had people stop us on our way to the party to take pictures! It was such a blast. And guess what? Our costumes were homemade, and very inexpensive.t-shirt: $1 at the Dollar Generalpaint: $1.20 for all 4 colors (and I have plenty left over!)Hipster glasses: Free, with the purchase of an awesome 3D movie ticket!Flannel: $4 at a thrift store, or free if you can bum one off of a friend
It took me about 30 minutes to make the shirt and let it dry (I cheated and used one of those powerful hand blowers to make it dry faster!) And here are the results! Alex's shirt says "So Exclusive" and my shirt says, "Life Was Too Mainstream"And here is a picture of us in our element, infesting the town!Feel free to copy our last minute idea ;) Also if you want a few more ideas, try some of these DIY looks below:
1. SailorWhat you need:a white t-shirtnavy blue painta ruler to keep your lines straighta cute white skirt or shortsa cool paper sailor's hat (click here for instructions!)or try painting this if you are feeling artsy:and try pinning a quick bow onto your hat using my 2 minute bow instructions!
2. The IncrediblesYou can either make this shirt with "No Sew" glue, like the one above, or with paint (probably the easiest way for the procrastinators in all of us!)What You Need:Red Shirtblack, orange and yellow paintpencil (you want to sketch this design out first!)black mask ( either make out of old DIY fabric, or buy one for $1 at Wal-Mart)red tightsblack shorts...or undies, depending on the party, I suppose ;)
3. David BowieAll you need for this one is some face paint, hair gel, and some super tight and flashy clothing! Try something similar to the look below:
4. The SmurfsThey were adorable! This one might be messy with all of the baby blue body paint, but pair this with a cute thrifted dress and some blue leggings, and you'll definitely be a conversation piece!
That's all that I have! Happy Halloween, Everyone!*********IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE SMALL WORLD PROJECT FOR THIS MONTH, PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP. WE ONLY HAVE 2 SPOTS LEFT!!!!**************

DIY...Rainbow Strokes Tee

 Hello everyone! Today I have a new DIY that I like to call the Rainbow Strokes Tee. I made this t-shirt in honor of my non-profit organization, Party For Autism. The different colorful strokes and the mixing of colors are suppose to represent the primarily similar yet different characteristics that make up individuals with autism. (Read about our philosophy here!)

Normally, I would give a detailed tutorial on how to make this shirt, but I feel like that takes the creativity out of it! Here are the basic materials that you will need:

-A black t-shirt (learn how to make a tank top out of a t-shirt here!)

-An Assortment of Acrylic Paint

-A paint brush (I use a black sponge brush)

-A straight edge (optional) to make sure that your lines are even on the top and bottom, and not slanted on the sides, unless that's the look you want!

Make sure that you hold your t-shirt up against you from time to time to make sure that your lines are long enough, or mark them ahead of time.

(My inspiration bored in the back is feeling pretty empty! That's a problem!)And I cannot mention strokes without thinking about this wonderful band! Thanks again, Alex for introducing me to them awhile back ;)

DIY...The Easy, Two Minute Bow

Ever wanted to make a bow, but couldn't because you didn't have access to a sewing machine or hot glue gun? Well, have no fear! The Two Minute Bow is here!

Here are quick and easy instructions on how to make a temporary or long term bow out of scraps from an old t-shirt!1. Identify an old t-shirt or scraps from a DIY t-shirt. If using a full t-shirt, cut horizontally across the bottom of the t-shirt the length that you want your bow to be (my bow was about 4 inches long). Once this is cut, make sure to cut the side seams so that your fabric lays flat and is not doubled. Also cut the bottom seam so that you can use this to tie your bow later.

2. Take your seamless fabric and fold a portion of it to the width that you want your bow.

 3. Cut this portion from the fabric.

 4. Unfold this fabric and slightly fold the egdes of what will be the top and bottom of the bow.

 5. Fold the fabric so that the two folded edges lay on top of each other.

6. Take the bottom seam that you cut off earlier and wrap it around your bow. Cut it so that it fits (I only used about 2 inches to wrap my bow)

7. Once you are finished wrapping your bow, tuck the lose edge in the back of the bow and stick a bobby pin  through the back side of the bow so that it can easily be bobby-pinned into your hair.

Voila! An easy bow that shouldn't take more than 2 minutes! Make sure to save your scraps so that you can make more bows in the future. This would be cute to pin on the straps of a sleeveless shirt or on a bag, and of course in your hair! Let me know if you try it!

Etsy Shop- Pie N' The Sky

Check out my favorites from this cute little Etsy Shop that I have fallen in love with, Pie N' The Sky! These "hair pretties," and jewelry are absolutely adorable!Check out more cool things here!

DIY...I'm Seeing Stripes Tee

Remember sometime, about a month ago when I told you guys that I had been working on a few DIY t-shirt projects? Well I am finally putting up my results and instructions! My prized possession is my "I'm Seeing Stripes" shirt. As you can see, the shirt has definitely had some wear and tear, due to my cheap laundry detergent, and because I wear this shirt all of the time!

Here are the instructions:

1. Crop your white t-shirt as desired, using a ruler and a pencil to draw a line of wear you plan to cut it. For short instructions on cropping a shirt, check out my DIY Flower Girl Shirt tutorial

2. On a steady and flat surface (I used an ironing board, instead of my carpet), draw lines that are a ruler's length apart (approx and inch and 1/2), all the way up to the armpit. The number of lines will vary based on shirt size; I had 7 lines.

 3. Outline the lines that you plan to paint black, to ensure neatness, and then began to paint within with a black sponge brush. Make sure that the top line is painted black!

 4. Measure out about 3 1/2 to 4 inches above the top back line and draw a horizontal line. This is where the yellow portion of the shirt will be. Trace the outside of this area with the yellow paint to ensure neatness and then proceed to painting. Let it dry where it is; it'll take a few hours to dry completely.

And we're finished! This is how I wore it out the other day,

The Small World Project- What I Gave

Hello everyone! I hope that your week has been going well! We just got off of fall break yesterday, so my week is just about over! Earlier this week, I posted what I received on the first week of The Small World Project, and described what I gave, since silly me forgot to take pictures! Well thank god that Sasha took pictures of what I sent her. Look below!
She says that she loved my package! I made sure that I took pictures of what I gave this time around, so I'll post those as soon as Katie gets her package! To read more about The Small World Project and to keep tab on articles written, click the icon below!

The Reason Why I Walked

This Saturday was the Walk Now for Autism Speaks 2011 in Charlotte, NC and various other cities in North Carolina. More than 9,000 people gathered together early Saturday morning and walked laps around the NASCAR race track all with one mission in mind.Many of my peers ask me what my connection is to the autism community, and I can give them the simple answer, "I have a cousin with autism," however, this is not what got me started on my mission. My cousin lives in Germany, so I didn't even know for sure that he had autism until after I started working with the community. The truth is, a bus ride is what got me motivated. I walked on the high school bus and saw a group full of boys tormenting a classmate of ours. It was more than obvious that she had special needs, and I just couldn't believe that someone would attack her because of this. They threw her backpack from aisle to aisle, letting papers and books fly across the bus. Why? Could it really be because she was different? Nobody came to her rescue, not even the bus driver. I was the only one who stepped in to help her. I was so nervous as I stood up and shouted at the boys to stop. This was so out of my character, and the words burned my throat as I pushed them out. Someone had to speak on her behalf. After I spoke, the bus was quiet. Then the anger turned on me. I didn't even care, because I knew that the girl would be safe for now. I bent down and helped her collect her papers and let her sit with me. She acted as if nothing had happened and started talking to me about various different subjects; however, I knew that was her way of saying "thank you."Since that day, my life has changed. I've made it my mission to help with the autism community as much as possible. I started a club for high schoolers at my old high school called, Advocates for Equality, then started a non-profit, Party For Autism, which has a summer camp, Camp Darrell. This year, I am the President and Founder of the Autism Speaks U chapter at my university, and yesterday, I was offered a position at the Autism Society of NC!I found it important to share this with you all since this is such a big part of my life. I also would like to ask you to help out as well! We are entered in a photo contest to bring money back to the autism community in Charlotte. All you have to do is click the link below and "like" our picture on Facebook! This would help us out tremendously in helping plan affordable events for parents and their children with special needs. We have until Oct 14th for you to "like" our photo. We got a late start, so please help us catch up! I thank you with all of my heart!
CLICK HERE TO HELP!

The Small World Project- What I Got and What I Gave

Hello everyone! I hope that you are having a great afternoon! It's pretty nasty outside over on these parts; however my day was brightened after I received my first letter from the Small World Project! Melissa was the first person to send a letter to me and this is what she sent!

Melissa made me a little notebook that contained all of the questions for the month inside of them! Also a pretty awesome Anna Banana's sticker from Boone! I'm transferring to Boone next year, so this was great! Last week, I gave a package to Sasha! Because I was in a rush, I forgot to take pictures! However; I do remember sending her lots of goodies including coupons from Coupon Suzy, hair shampoo samples, an inspiring picture from Russh Magazine and a necklace from Forever 21 to show my appreciation for joining my project!I am so excited for this next round! Stay tuned!
Click here to read more on The Small World Project!