Shoe Love, Always

Monday, February 5th, 2018

I love love love Valentine's day, mainly because pink is my favorite color and hearts are my jam. I recently counted all of my heart jewelry and accessories and the number was over 100...I guess you could say I am a little obsessed. This Valentine's day, I wanted to make some custom shoe clips to go with some of my V Day themed outfits. I am a huge fan of shoe clips because you can customize any pair of shoes without having to commit permanently. You can literally change one pair of shoes an unlimited amount of times to match any outfit or theme. Here are the clips I made this holiday...

Let me show you how I made these little cuties, so you can get to custom making your own.

Budget: $
Skill level: Beginner

Items Needed:

Clip on earring clips
Shoes of your choice
Felt in various colors/patterns
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Sharpie

First you will want to choose which design you want to make and draw or trace an outline on the back of the felt (as to not have pen marks on your final product). Now cut your designs out of the felt. In the first version I made, I created a bow using the below template. I then traced on the backside of the felt and cut out two of each piece (one for each shoe).

Once you have the pieces cut out of the felt, you can assemble your bows. Start by taking the "middle pieces" and fold to the center, using hot glue to secure each side as shown below.

Now you will take the "center" piece and wrap around the center of each bow and secure in the back with hot glue.

You are almost done with your bows. Next, hot glue the bow you just created onto the "tails" and you have your completed bows! Take a set of clip on earrings and hot glue the bow to each earring. 

You are now ready to clip them onto your shoes (make sure hot glue is dry). I am so happy with the way these came out! ...I of course could not stop with just one pair, I mean a girl needs options, right?

From plain....

 ...To quirky just like that!

For the other versions, I simply used pieces of felt, and cut them into various shapes. Using hot glue, I attached them to the clip on earrings and voila! Easy-peasy customized shoe clips. I am just dreaming about all of the other variations that I can make and wear throughout the different seasons. The possibilities are literally endless! What would you make?

The cacti have to be one of my favorites as I can wear them all year round. I just love them. I used my previous tutorial to make the little pom poms in the middle and just hot glued them on. 

I will be wearing the little X and O for at least the first two weeks of February, you can guarantee it.

And last, but certainly not least, the leopard print hearts. I have been a fan of leopard print since high school, so I don't see it going out of style in my eyes any time soon. I can see myself attaching these to several different pairs of shoes I already have in my closet. I mean leopard print is a neutral, isn't it?

XOXO, Happy Valentine's Day. I'll be back with more Valentine's DIY's in no time.

What I'm Wearing: What's Your Sign?

Thursday, December 14th

Say hello to my ultimate dream outfit! I am pretty sure I am going to wear this every year on my birthday until it no longer fits or disintegrates...which ever comes first. Who am I kidding, I would wear this everyday if that was acceptable. Some outfits just make you feel so fabulous, don't they? The bracelet has to be my favorite, as it was gifted to me by my bestie best years ago. I will treasure it always. 

What is your sign? I am a TOTAL Taurus (anyone who knows me would agree). Shop the outfit below. Oh...and this skirt is VELVET and it makes me swoon!

Shirt (Sugarhigh LoveStoned)  

Skirt (Lularoe Cynthia Sandoval) 

Jacket-Similiar (H&M) 

Purse (Goodwill-It has a built in mirror inside!)

Shoes (Swedish Hasbeens) 

Bracelet-Gift 

Hair pins-Similiar (Anthropologie) 

XOXO Kym

DIY: Drama Llama Tote

Monday December 4th, 2017

I decided I wanted to do a DIY that involved the use of homemade tassels. The first thing that came to mind was a llama wearing tassels, as they sometimes do. Initially I was going to make this into a pillow, but I felt like it was going to be so cute, that it deserved to be taken out into the world. I'm so pleased with the results and cannot wait to gift it to a friend. Here's how I made it, using materials from Michael's and items I had at home.

Budget: $
Skill level: Beginner

Materials needed:

1. Iron
2. Sharp scissors
3. Sewing needle
4. Blank tote
5. Jolee's Iron on transfer paper
6. Embroidery floss


7. Templates:

You will first want to print out the templates above onto your iron on transfer paper following the directions that come with the paper. **You want the words backwards for when you iron them on. Right click on the templates above and then print individually onto the transfer paper. Llama number one is shown below printed on the iron on paper.

I first ironed my tote bag so that the surface was nice and smooth for ironing on the transfers. Cut out the printed images and lay them out on the tote to see where you want them to be. Then follow the directions on the iron on paper to iron the images onto the tote bag.

Now that your images are on the tote it is ready for some tassels! Let me show you now to make those next.

First pick out the colors you want to use from your selection of embroidery floss. You will want to pick at least two colors per tassel, for contrast. Grab a whole packet and wrap a small piece of painters tape around to mark the center.

Now take the packet of string and snip two small pieces (about 2 inches long) and tie around the end as shown below.

Repeat on the other end and remove the black labels. You can now snip the middle of the painters tape so that you now have two small tassels.

It's time to add some contrasting color around the top. Pick out a differnt color than the tassel to use to wrap around the top and cut a piece about 6 inches long. Hold at the top of the tassel and create a small loop as shown below.

Start wrapping the string around the top of the loop and continue to wrap until you have at least 1/2" left. You will then feed the piece you have been wrapping through the loop you have created.

Once pulled through, grab the straight piece at the top and the piece you pulled through the loop and pull each gently at the same time. It will then tighten and affix the string to the tassel.

Now snip the two ends and voila! You have a tassel! I trimmed mine down to make it the right size for this project. Repeat in another color if you want two layers of contrasting color (as shown in the bottom picture).

Repeat, making four tassels for each llama (or more if you are feeling it, can't have too many if you ask me).

Next lay the tassels out on your tote, to get an idea of where you want to sew them on. Use a simple stitch to affix the tassels to the tote and it's ready to take out into the world!

I simply adore how it came out and it's already got me thinking about other variations (think cacti with pom flowers).  I can't wait to make more, as well as pillow versions as originally envisioned.

Enjoy! 

XOXO Kym