new name - new blog!

Well after the wedding, I changed my name so all my posts got transferred to ashlycassidy.com.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I will no longer be posting here at ashlysimmons.blogspot.com.  Thanks!

quick dress to skirt refashion - take 2

I love this dress's color and material, but I hated the deep plunge. It had great potential for a maxi skirt. After consulting the Pinterest, I was convinced that I just needed to redo the waist by feeding elastic through a newly sewed waistline.  After cutting the top off haphazardly, I tried it on and realized it makes a great high waisted skirt by keeping the original elastic. 

before

after

Cost: Free
Time: 5 minutes
Needed:

• old dress
• cutting board
• rotary cutter

1.  Make your cut.  Hold the dress so you can cut one side at a time being careful to not damage the elastic.  

2.  Clean it up.  Now that the top is detached, take your rotary cutter and get a nice smooth and close cut to the elastic. Cotton material doesn't fray easy so I left it as is with raw ends exposed for a ruffly edge.

finished brooch bouquet

The wedding is now just about a month away, so here is my brooch bouquet I have been working on for the special day.  A lot of time and thought went into this project, but I think in the end it turned out perfectly for our vintage garden theme.  I ended up including jewelry other than brooches.  A pearl necklace is wrapped around the base, a few sets of earrings and rings are wired into place, and there are also some rhinestones glued in there as filler.  Now I have a wonderful keepsake that can be passed down.

Cost: $27 Time: 10 hours Needed: scissors (owned) hot glue gun (owned) lace bouquet funnel ($3) 1" dowel rod - 8-10" in length ($1) 3 brooches ($10) 5" foam sphere ($3) 24" satin ribbon for handle ($4) 10x10" fabric for the sphere (owned) 6x6" lace fabric (owned) fake flower arrangement leaves ($3) florist wire ($3) 50-70 bridal shower brooch/jewelry gifts (free) rhinestones (owned) 1.  Collect your brooches and jewelry.  I was lucky enough to collect many brooches and jewelry from my relatives and friends, so I contributed only three pieces.  You're going to want to get a variety of sizes and shapes so placing them will create almost a puzzle of bling on your bouquet.   2.  Core the sphere.  Cut off a third of your foam sphere.  Eye it and mark it with a sharpie, then take a large knife and slowly cut through your marking.  Find the center on the flat side and dig out a hole about 1" in diameter and 1.5" deep. 3.  Attach the sphere to the handle.  Make sure your dowel rod fits into the hole and then layer hot glue inside the hole.  Push an end of the rod into place trying to keep it perpendicular to the flat side of the foam. 4.  Pin fabric to sphere. Take your fabric and pin the middle of it to the top of the sphere.  Turn it upside down and start stretching and pinning the fabric underneath to smoothly cover the foam.  I found using a plastic container to prop it up helped a lot. 5.  Place your brooches and jewelry.  Pin your biggest pieces first to the fabric.  Keep pinning until you fill it up. This is the most tedious time consuming part.  Your fingers will be sore from pinning and rearranging to get the look you want. Use florist wire and hot glue to attach rings and earrings. Fill in bare spots by gluing rhinestones into place. 6.  Decorate your funnel.  I cut some leaves off of a flower arrangement to glue around the funnel and over the lace. You may recognize these leaves from my twig and leaf pens project. Take your lace material and cut a small hole in the middle to slide over the funnel opening and glue to the plastic underside of the funnel. Let dry. 7.  Slide on your funnel.  Carefully, slide your funnel onto the rod and layer hot glue into the spot the funnel will rest. Let dry. 8.  Decorate handle.  Take the satin ribbon and glue and cover the bottom of the rod, then continue to glue and wrap until you cover it. Glue the ribbon end well when you reach the funnel so it doesn't unravel.

I am very excited to carry this down the aisle with me soon.  It turned out great.  My family and friends really helped out and found mostly green brooches for the bouquet.  It's one of kind and it was fun to make.  If you start to get frustrated by this project with all the pinning, this is one you can walk away from and come back whenever you're ready again.  One other thing that you might want to consider is making labels of who gave you your pieces. I made clear labels and stuck them to the ones that had enough real estate to adhere.  My bouquet ended up weighing 3 pounds, so a sturdy glass vase displays your bouquet nicely until the big day. Good luck!

twig and leaf pens

With my wedding less than 3 months away, I thought it would be good to start my crafts that I had in mind.  One of the crafts I needed to complete was the guest table pens to sign our wedding tree.  I wanted them to have a leafy garden feel to them, so I made them into twigs standing in a mound of grass.  They are super simple to make and look adorable for our garden theme.

Cost: $18 Time: 1 hour Needed: felt tip pens ($4 - 3 pens) fake flower arrangement ($3) galvanized container ($3) fake wheat grass ($3 - 4x4 block) ribbon ($3) florist tape ($2) scissors (owned) hot glue gun (owned) masking tape (owned) 1.  Cut Grass.  Cut your grass to fit your container.  Attach to bottom of container with plenty of hot glue.   2.  Cut Leaves.  Cut your leaves off your arrangement or buy them loose cut.  Make sure you have at least an inch of stem. 3.  Attach Leaves.  Tape a little masking tape to secure the leaf stem on the non-writing end of the pen.  Another option is to remove the pen's end and hot glue the stem inside for a smoother surface.  Be sure to remove the pen cap clips. If your pen has flat edges, you can round them by hot gluing dots on the ends. 4.  Wrap Tape. Take a piece of florist tape and cover the end before wrapping to make sure it stays covered (i.e. last photo, middle pen).  Then take your florist tape and start wrapping near the leaf covering the shaft and stopping before the cap.  Dot hot glue at the beginning and end of a wrap.  Be sure to wrap the cap separately so it can still open.   5.  Decorate Container.  Tie a piece of ribbon into a bow around the container before inserting these cute pens into the grass.

piñatas

A few weeks ago I made some piñatas for a party around Cinco de Mayo.  They were actually a lot of fun to make.  A little bit of a time investment compared to most DIY projects, but after a few days I had some gorgeous piñatas.  Cost: $3 Time: 3 days Needed: 17" balloons ($1) newspaper (owned) flour (owned) scissors (owned) yarn or twine (owned) streamers ($2) bowl (owned) glue (owned) 1.  Blow up balloons.   2.  Make mixture.  Mix flour with enough water to make almost a pancake batter consistency.  You're going to need a lot of papier-mâché to coat a balloon, but it does not take much time to harden so make small batches at a time. 3.  Tear strips.  I made a variety of newspaper strips ranging 1-2 inches in width.  You'll need a lot of these for the multiple layers needed to coat the balloon(s). 4.  Coat balloons.  Lay your balloon in a bowl or sink to hold it steady and one side is accessible.  Dip a strip into the mixture and evenly spread it so the entire strip will adhere to the balloon.  Be sure to press the strip firmly against the balloon so it will dry smoothly.  Repeat and rotate the balloon until the it is covered.   5.  Dry overnight.  I would definitely let each layer dry for at least 12 hours.   6.  Repeat.  Two layers will definitely hold candy, but not too much.  If you're wanting to hold a whole large bag of candy, I would do 3 layers of papier-mâché. 7.  Cut it up.  Take a pen and draw a hatch door with three sides wide enough to stuff candy through it.  Draw two dots two inches below the sides of the hatch door for the yarn.  Cut carefully along the markings and open the hatch door to string the yarn through the two holes.  I doubled the yarn to reinforce it, but twine should be fine.  8.  Decorate.  I folded up streamers and cut slits along one side before gluing it along the balloon in straight lines.  Take care around the hatch not to glue the streamers over the door. 9.  Fill it up.  I split a large bag of candy between two piñatas and also put pieces of streamer inside. Just a word of warning before hanging one up and letting someone destroy it: you're going to be a little upset after investing time and effort into these just to watch them be demolished.  Try to enjoy them while you can :)