Archive for Under $20
The edible, incredible brown bag lunch
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One of the things I spend the most money on – which never fails to make me sad – is lunch. In our neck of the woods here in Manhattan, the average lunch is approximately $8-$10. Compounded over a year, that is a potential spendings of more than $2,250! You could take yourself to Europe on that kind of money and eat far better meals than my go-to spot of choice, Chipotle! (No offense, Chipotle, love you.)
However, if you’re like me, one of the hardest parts of bringing our own lunch is making it exciting to eat. That why I was so pumped to see this post on Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn, which has ten easy lunches you can toss together. I liked these ideas because they are the other thing lunch must be – easy to make. Check out the link here!
Do you have any easy lunch ideas that are quick to toss together and hit the spot? I feel a good series on that coming on.
Liberated Movement
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Image courtesy of Liberated Movement
Okay, so maybe it’s not exactly crafty, and has nothing to do with food, but we believe in ladies who strive to create something different and we want to support innovation when we see it!
Tonight, I took a dance class at Liberated Movement in NYC – which is a donation-based dance studio in downtown Manhattan. (We were tipped off by the lovely ladies of 89th and Broke.) I love, love, love my donation-based yoga studio and so I wanted to do my part and try to help this idea on its way to success as well.
Me and two friends – the lovely and talented Alicia and the always spicy Mari of Calimari – tried our hand at hip-hop dance class. The choreography was fast, and we didn’t always get it right (okay, we didn’t get it right at all) but we broke a sweat and had some laughs — and there are certainly worse ways to spend an evening. Also – the staff was extremely friendly, moreso than those at the city’s more established dance studios, which can be incredibly intimidating for those just looking for fun and exercise. Best of all, there is no $15 fee or class cards – pay what you wish and dance when you can. Can’t beat that.
If you’re in the New York area, love to dance and want to support women making the arts accessible to all – we highly encourage you to go take a class! Tell them we sent you!
How To: Tissue Paper Hydrangeas
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These are paper!
I love nothing more than fresh flowers greeting me at the door when I come home, but with the current heat wave they’re just not keeping. In fact, they’re dying at an alarming rate.
I’ve been dying (just like my flowers! ha!) to figure out how to make beautiful paper flowers to combat this problem. In fact, we posted a how-to on crepe paper flowers back in June. So, when I found this how-to on Just Something I Made about making paper hydrangea buttons I got excited. A starting point! The good news: expanding them to real-looking flowers looked really easy! The bad news: I had none of the supplies.
So I improvised with what I did have at home and it was a great success, if I don’t say so myself.
DIY Dry Erase Board
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File under: why the heck didn’t I think of this?
Check out this super-simple, uber-pretty how-to on making your own dry erase board.
I’ll say it again – why the heck did I not think of this sooner?
Thanks to How About Orange for the link.
Picture Frame Jewelry Holder
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Picture frames hold jewelry and act as decoration at the same time. Genius!
Browsing around the Internets as I’m prone to do from time to time, I came across this ingenious way to store – and if it’s nice enough – showcase jewerly.
I have several jewelry trees, which either through laziness or my own inability to work them properly, only serve to hold my jewelry out of sight in a tangled knot.
What I love about this is that it’s virtually impossible for your pieces to become entangled in one another AND you add a little extra pizazz to a room.
We’re currently planning to paint one wall of our guest bedroom in black chalkboard paint – couldn’t you just see these slightly distressed white frames and the jewelry give a whole lot of pop to the space? I can. Oh yes…I can.
Make Your Own Embellished T-Shirt
Posted by: | CommentsI absolutely love all of the cute embellished T-shirts we’re seeing this season. In my book, there’s nothing more comfortable than a soft cotton T-shirt, which is only made better when it’s cute enough to pair with a skirt for work or to dress up a pair of jeans for happy hour. But the price tag can be more than a little disheartening. So what’s a 
girl to do? Make it myself, of course! When you make it yourself, not only can you customize the shirt to make it exactly what I want, but you can also do it for about a quarter of the price you’ll see in a store.
A few weeks ago at the JCrew outlet they had their Favorite T’s on sale for $7.99. Bingo! Their T’s are thick, soft cotton and wash and wear really well, season after season. I picked up a few, including a plain white V-Neck. In my mind I envisioned something really girly that I could wear under a suit or with few of my summer skirts. I saw a few shirts that used grosgrain ribbon, so I decided to give it a whirl.
I went to Michaels, and picked up some grey and light pink ribbon – I love this color combo; it reminds me of aerobics gear from the early ‘80s. The vision in my head was of the ribbon cascading down one side – subtle enough to just peak out under my new navy suit jacket or favorite pink Jackie cardigan. Read More→
Must Read: New Dress a Day
Posted by: | CommentsFriend of Yay! DIY, Chad, brought this fabulous site to our attention yesterday (and ladies, he’s single…call him) – and a full 24 hours later we’re still in the throes of obsession.
Marisa of New Dress a Day turns muumuus into must-haves! (Images courtesy of New Dress a Day)
Los Angeles-based Marisa started “New Dress a Day” while in the midst of a creative funk. Her mission? Take her favorite hobby of scouring vintage stores for fabulous pieces to supplement her wardrobe and add one big twist: forgo all regular shopping and instead, create a new dress every day based on these thrifty finds. That means muumuus, nightgowns, oversized shirts, even pants – all get turned into fabulous pieces. And they are fabulous! And that’s not all – she’s limited herself to $365 for the entire project – so each outfit can only cost a buck!
Follow Marisa and her year-long adventure over at New Dress A Day! And look out for a special “11 Questions for Crafty People” with Marisa soon. Personally, this is exactly the inspiration I needed to learn to use this sewing machine once and for all!
DIY Honey Mustard?
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Is simply adding honey to regular mustard as tasty?
The boyf and I were out to dinner with friends the other night when the topic of conversation turned to condiments. I actually harbor a deep and abiding hatred of mustard and ketchup – but was intrigued when our friend Amy mentions she makes the best honey mustard by simply adding honey to her favorite dijon.
Any readers out there care to test this theory on our behalf? Or, have you already figured this out and have the ratios down pat? Though I hate it, I know not everyone does and thought we’d share….
DIY Crepe Paper Flowers
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I mean, can you EVEN?
I just about died from happiness yesterday when finding this amazing project on The Bride’s Cafe – DIY crepe paper flowers. (The site too, by the by, is amazing and also worth your obsession.)
Now you can have all the fun and frills of fresh flowers, without the annoyances like water and maintenance. Genius! Find the tutorial here. You won’t be sorry. I can’t wait to try it for myself this weekend.
More DIY from the UK: Patchwork Pattern Maker
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A hibiscus, quilt-ified.
This is too cool not to share. The UK-based site, Victoria and Albert Museum, is letting you upload any image you want and turn it into a pattern to make a quilt! I don’t quilt, but for those of you who do – this seems pretty awesome. What a great gift for a baby shower, beloved grandparent or someone special in your life.
Check out the site here to upload your image and make the pattern.
Thank you to How About Orange for the tip.
Adorable Headbands for Less Than $5
Posted by: | CommentsGuest Post by Alicia, contributor to YAY! DIY
Inspired by bright, floral headbands I’ve seen at JCrew and elsewhere, yet not wanting to pay more than oh, say, five dollars for one, I decided to make my own.
I went to Michaels and purchased a fuchsia ribbon (the silky kind) and headed over to their floral section to find some fake flowers to match. I was able to find bright pink “orchids” that would go perfectly, and one stem was about two dollars. I then got a few cheap plastic headbands at Walgreens for about three dollars a piece.
More details after the jump…. Read More→
