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Lemon aid 

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When life gives me lemons…. I remind myself how much I love lemonade, seriously it’s an addiction. Know what else I love 

Put it this way, when life gives me scraps, I make bows.

  
When we were visiting Mr. Smith’s Aunt she kindly gave me a ton of amazing (adorable, wonderful, darling, “OMG I need this in my life!”) scrap material 

One stipulation… I had to make bow ties for her new yorkie… 

  
Oh what a hassle that would be (can I just inform anyone unfamiliar with tinybows that statement was dripping with sarcasm) 

I got started right away

  
Just use the same template found on this blog post for my felt hair bows and cut two pieces of the bow loop part of the template. 

  
Cut them at the same time with right sides facing towards one another and take into account seam allowance

   
Sew the two pieces together (still with outsides facing towards one another)

  
Then turn the piece right side out and flatten your seams. If needed (or wanted) you can iron it to get the seams to cooperate, I didn’t because the bows tend to be a little fluffier if you don’t flatten the seams with an iron.

  
Then cut a small rectangle of fabric about 1 inch by 2 inches and sew the long sides together with right sides facing together and again turn right side out

As a tip I had to use a pencil or sometimes a crochet hook to turn the pieces.

  
Then sew the two ends of the bow loop together.

  
Sew the center piece to the side of the back seam of the bow loop.

(Optional if you plan on attaching it to a collar) Sew a small strip of elastic on top of the  center piece

  
Wrap the center piece around the bow loop and sew it on the same seam as it started

  
Here comes the hard part, you have to stretch the elastic and sew it to the remaining centerpiece so that it rouches the fabric and allows the elastic to stretch

  
Trim any excess fabric and elastic and sew the end to the opposite side of the back of the bow 

  
You can of course adjust the size of the pattern based on how big you want the bow for your fur baby but the elastic allows it to easily stretch over the latch of a collar.

  

  

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How Bittersweet it is

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Everything is coming up purple! And by that I mean Bittersweet. Urban Decay’s “signature” color. Why? Because look at that gorgeousness!!!

  

  That is the color of happiness…. Or possibly Barney the dinosaur, which is the exact opposite of happiness… I suppose that makes the name bittersweet appropriate. 

Ok on to a quick review the Revolution gloss is very long wearing. I’ve worn it a few times now including shifts at work where I don’t get the chance to touch up and it’s lasted great. The pigmentation is… Well it’s ok, by ok I mean it is super purple but because I have naturally very bright lips it just looks like a cool tone pink 

  
Yup those are my stupid bright naked lips.

  
This is Bittersweet all by its lonesome

I could A. Prime/conceal my lips (yuck) B. Pair it with a nude gloss or C. Manage to find an epically purple lip liner. I’ve just been pairing it over a Marc Jacobs Enamoured Hi-shine lip lacquer  in Moonglow that tones down my lips and eventually mixes with the Bittersweet to make a strange lilac color

  
I suppose that is exhibit B1 with Marc Jacobs gloss. It also works well over nude lipstick like Lancome Rouge in Love in 124M (a great dupe for which is Rimmel London’s Lasting Finish by Kate in 113)

  
I think this was my favorite iteration of any of them because it was the truest purple. 

Oh and not to forget the Afterglow Blush, it is … Epic! I had been on the hunt for a purple blush for a while anyway because every “cool tone” (or for that matter warm tone) blush just ends up looking a generic pink on my lovely pink skin. So I figured the only way I would get a true cool tone was to go all out. (I solved the warm tone a while back with Luminous  Peach from Too Faced, which is just straight up orange) 

  
Bittersweet delivered. I was worried at first it would just look bruise-like on my fair skin, But being light handed and making sure everything was blended it looked just dandy. You may be able to notice above the swatch I blended what was left on my finger.

I might do a tutorial for an all purple look later on so you can see everything in action along with a purple smokey eye. Let me know if you want to see something like that. 

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The Mouse

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I thought I would take a minute to try to explain something I know I’m terrible at explaining. We will see how well this goes? 

I had to take up some straps today. It’s the bane of my fashion existence, apparently I have a short torso or something?

At any rate it’s an easy job, just put on the dress and pin up the straps at either the front or back seam (possibly both if they are super long) 

This was only an inch so the front got it, luckily due to having a tie in the back the bust was adjustable or it might have been a bit big too.

  
So once you have your straps pinned you just start sewing, nothing fancy or new. This dress had a seam along the front I could hide the new seam in. 

  
Then I took that excess material created when tucking up the strap and started to sew it down. This is where things get a bit odd. It’s a simple whip stitch running through only the underpinning of the dress so it doesn’t show on the outside of the garment… Yup I’m terrible at explaining things…

  
At any rate it makes that flap and the rest of the dress lay flat, without cutting away the excess and risking fraying. It also means that flap of fabric won’t catch on anything, particularly in the wash. 

  
(I never said my sewing was pretty, but it’s effective)

Soooo I took a dress that was originally priced $70, worth maybe $40, I paid about $25, and made it fit like it’s …. Well I still wouldn’t pay $70 for it… 

  
All done the dress lies nice and flat and you can never tell they were taken up … So technically I lied a bit like my cross stitching it’s pretty from the front but the back is a mess.