Announcement: Hillcrest Harvestfest

I keep telling you that details are coming soon on something...

...well the something is Hillcrest Harvestfest!

My sister-in-law (Loren) and her boyfriend (Destin) and I will have a booth at Hillcrest Harvestfest!

We'll have lots of handmade items!  Loren is an interior designer, and Destin is a graphic designer and artist.  And well, I like to craft.  So we will have some fun stuff available!

The week of the event I'll be blogging about items that I have for sale.

If you're in central Arkansas, mark it on your calendar and come see us!

Applique Onesies & Slice Fabrique Review

I won this Slice Fabrique in a blog giveaway a few months ago.

The first time I used the Slice, I got very unhappy and frustrated and gave up.

Then I decided to give it a second run and still didn't turn out thrilled.

I appliqued a few onesies (for others...not for me!) using the Slice:

Complaint 1: I still had to trim the pieces, because the razor did not cut all the way through.  I even followed directions on adjusting the blade.  The parts of the material that did get cut were fuzzy on the edge.

Complaint 2: You must iron interfacing to your fabric.  I wanted to just cut the fabric, but the blade will get caught and move the fabric around unless it's ironed to interfacing.

Complaint 3: You waste quite a bit of fabric getting your shape.  You cut a square of fabric to fit on the cutting board, and you can get only one good shape out of it.  You can get two shapes if you cut the smallest size possible.

I like the concept, considering it's much easier for a machine to cut a shape than for me to try to draw/trace a shape and then cut it to where it looks professional.  But overall, the Slice falls short.

I'm going to give it a few more go's to see if it gets easier or works better.  I've already read the instruction booklet a dozen times, but here we go again!

...to be continued...

South America in iPhone Photos

Once I go through all the photos from my trip to Brazil and Bolivia (that's where I've been these past few days!), I'm going to share some with you and tell you all about the trip.

Until then, here are a few photos I snapped on my phone.

Bolivia

I met this little girl our last night in Bolivia.  At first I took pictures of her and then showed them to her.  Then she pointed at the camera, and I quickly taught her how to take photos.  She loved it.

This is a two year old I met in a village who was mesmerized by his picture!

We had a flat tire in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.  That was an adventure!

Bolivian coffee is muy bien!

Brazil

We visited a couple of soccer arenas in and around Sao Paulo.  They are crazy about soccer!  Or futebol, I should say!  This is me with the Central/South America cup!

We went to the beach one day, and I found Ruby's Brazilian twin!  She even liked to be petted and dragged around like her!

I know that doesn't tell you much about the trip.  I just have a lot of pictures to go through before I can share more!

Woo Hoo! Congrats! Yay!

Congrats Cody & Meredith!

Colin's brother (Cody) got engaged to his girlfriend (Meredith) last weekend!

We'll all be Stanton sisters!

Loren (Colin's sister), Meredith, me

After Cody proposed, both families (parents not pictured, because the pictures were blurry :( ) went to eat and celebrate!

me and my boo <3

*NOTE: I won't have any blog posts for about two weeks.  I'll be traveling for work.  I'll tell you all about it when I get back and settled.  I'll also be back with a few tutorials!

Something's Different...

Yes, you guessed it.  I got my hair cut.

Ok, no, I didn't get my hair cut.

But I did restyle my blog a bit!

I hope you like it.  I'm going to have to live with it for a spell to see how it goes.  I just felt like it was time for a change.  Maybe the weather had something to do with that.

I'm having a few issues with buttons linking to the right places, so please bear with me as I work out the kinks.

So, welcome to the new look of Marla, Plain & Small!

<3
Marla

Tutorial: Shirt Alteration

What do you do when you find a cute shirt that's several sizes too big?

Buy it anyway!

I found this shirt at Gap for just a few dollars, but the smallest size was 5 sizes too big.

But it was cheap!

And fun!

So I decided to attempt an alteration...

I felt a bit like a flying squirrel in the before pictures!

Step 1

Line up the armholes and decide how much to take in.

Step 2

I wanted the width to stay the same at the bottom, so I decided to taper from where it needed to be smaller to where I wanted the width to be the same.

Draw a line, using a ruler, from where you want to take in the shirt.

Step 3

Pin in place.

Step 4

Sew down the line.

Step 5

(not pictured)

Try the shirt on to make sure it fits!

If it doesn't, use a seam ripper to remove the stitches and let it in/out.

Step 6

Once you have the fit that works, cut off the excess material.

Step 7

Ta da!

These are shameless self portraits!  I really need a live-in photographer!

I used a belt to define a waist, but if fits great even without the belt.

This will be a good fall transition with a cardigan!

So if you find a great bargain that doesn't quite fit, don't be afraid to do a little altering!  The alteration doesn't cost anything and doesn't take much time!

Tutorial: Marble Pendants

I had step-by-step photos how to make these.  And then I accidentally deleted them all from my computer.

Sigh.

If you want an affordable way to accessorize, personalize, and craft, you should make your own necklace pendants!

Materials:

Flat bottom marbles

Decorative paper

Bails

Mod Podge

1) Cut the paper and glue it to the back/flat side of the marble

2) Glue the bail on top of the paper

3) String it through a necklace chain

Now you have a new piece of jewelry!

I'm sorry that's all the pictures I have.  I would have taken more, but I ran out of bails to make more pendants!
Sad day when I deleted the photos, but I wanted to share anyway!