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Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

February 16, 2017

On a Shoestring: DIY Air Plant Holder

February 16, 2017

I’m collaborating with Amy over at Amy and Angie for On A Shoestring: a series of posts to re-imagine how we dress, decorate, dine, and more all on a shoestring budget. We’re on a mission to show you that it doesn’t take a Rockefeller-sized closet (or house) and budget to have a good life!

Today, Amy and I are DIYing decor. I’ve been seeing those cute geometric terrariums all over. You know the ones I’m talking about. They’re usually diamond-shaped, either have glass on their sides or they’re completely open, and typically in a brass/gold finish. Oh, and they’re like $25. For a table trinket.

No, thank you. I can make that instead (Famous Last Words of a Pinterest Project).

(Speaking of “I can make that instead,” you have to see this coat rack that Amy made for $10. She has an awesome tip for finding “free” wood!)

This DIY is truly a shoestring project. If you can break a penny, you can make this geometric air plant holder.

This air plant holder is so easy to make! It's just toothpicks, glue, and paint. It's an awesome, quick DIY!

All you really need are toothpicks and a glue gun; I added some paint as well. Side note: I can’t wait for sunnier/less windy weather so I can spray paint again. The ventilation in my garage is less than ideal.

Bonus points if your Martha Stewart paint also came from Pat Catan’s clearance section.

This air plant holder is so easy to make! It's just toothpicks, glue, and paint. It's an awesome, quick DIY!

I started by laying out the toothpicks in the design I wanted. For the base, I placed the tiny ends against the fat ends to form a triangle. Next, I built up the pyramid with the fat ends on the bottom and the tiny ends coming to a point.

DIY toothpick air plant holder. So easy to make!

DIY toothpick air plant holder. So easy to make!

DIY toothpick air plant holder. So easy to make!

For a hanging planter, I added a second point to the other side. You can keep building it out to make it more gem-like – there’s no wrong or right way to do this.

DIY hanging air plant holder. So easy to make!

DIY toothpick air plant holder, hanging double pyramid style.

Then, I painted and styled with my air plant. You don’t even need to paint it, but I added a some color to one or two of the sides to carry out the geometric look.

DIY hanging air plant holder. So easy to make!

Here’s a warning about the glue: a little dab of glue is all you need – you’re just attaching toothpicks together, after all. They aren’t really that heavy-duty. My gluing got away from me just a bit. Painting the whole thing would cover that up. Since my glue gun tends to leak/drip, I just stuck the end of the toothpick in the drip and tried to wipe off the excess. Even if you failed at Glue Gunning 101, you and Lady Gaga can do this.

I feel like I cheated, it was that easy.

Double air plant holder DIY with toothpicks

DIY toothpick air plant holder. So easy to make!

Hanging air plant holder. It was a DIY homemade project using just toothpicks!

Caring for an air plant is super easy, too.

It really doesn’t need much attention. Because it gets its moisture from the air, though, it does need a little more TLC when the weather is dry.

When that happens, I soak my air plant in a cup of water for about an hour once a week. Place it in the water upside down and make sure the plant is submerged. When you remove it, dry it upside down. Water that sits in the plant can cause it to rot.

If it’s relatively humid, you can get away with spritzing it with a fine mist when it looks thirsty (mine right now needs to be watered – it’s looking a little ashy), but keep an eye out for warning signs.

How can you read the warning signs? Garden Therapy has a great how-to guide for reviving sad air plants. (I also have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to gardening and plants. I kill (almost) every succulent I bring into my house; I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get.

Do you have air plants? Where do they live?

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1 Comment · Labels: On A Shoestring Tagged: diy, home decor, on a shoestring

November 17, 2016

On A Shoestring: Party Down with an Up-cycle

November 17, 2016

In case you haven’t heard, the holidays are nearing, so Amy and I have dedicated this On A Shoestring to party fashion. Except we’re throwing in the always headache producing fun task of altering clothing that doesn’t quite work. I mean, a lot of times, you’ll find something that’s cute but not quite your style or fit, but you buy it anyway because it’s cheap. Come on, it can’t be just me.

Y’all, this up-cycle was a challenge. I deviated from the “doesn’t quite fit” route to the “doesn’t quite look fresh anymore” route. I wanted to re-purpose a shirt that I have with a stain on it into something I could wear again. Kinda like this.

I was hoping I somehow, possibly through osmosis or genetics, would be able to nail it on the first try. I mean, I only had one shirt and one piece of fabric, so it was more than the first try, it was the only try.

Sadly, if my mom passed along any sewing genes, today wasn’t the day they decided to grace me with their presence. I’mma brag for a sec: my mom is a mad-genius crafter. She sews, quilts (by hand and machine), knits (garments! Stuff you can wear!!), cross-stitches, makes freakin’ lace by hand, and just knows all the craft things. Me? Well, I can spray paint….

My original plan was to remove where the yoke would be on this shirt where the stain appears and replace it with a fun fabric panel. I’m downplaying my skills a little. I can sew and I do own a sewing machine. But when I got to the “sew it on and hack the shirt up” stage, I froze. I didn’t think ahead to just how to do this. I sewed the hem to the patterned fabric. I stabbed myself one too many times with straight pins. And I didn’t thread my sewing machine properly so the top thread had too much tension on it and snapped.

Attempted to up-cycle this shirt and replace the back "yoke" area of this shirt with floral fabric

Attempted to up-cycle this shirt and replace the back "yoke" area of this shirt with floral fabric

At this point, I took it as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Too much work for a shirt that has been laying in the laundry room for over a year.

On to Plan B.

I had this dress in the donate pile because I’m not a ruffle person. It’s a cute dress, but I feel like I’m wearing a crumb catcher when ruffles get involved so close to my face. So I thought, “If I were going to a party and I had nothing to wear, but I had scissors and could accessorize, this is what I’d do.”

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!

I cut the ruffles off. Both rows of ruffles.

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!
Of course, I also added accessories because those are any cheap girl’s best friend, and tada, made this polka dot dress more modern and more me. Like last month’s On A Shoestring, tights make this outfit more than it really is. I’m intentionally mixing patterns – polka dots and plaid – but it works because the colors are in the same family and the prints are varied sizes. Then, I added a belt to coordinate with the tights and bring it all home.

I also LOVE this necklace, so on it goes to add more sparkle, which is a must for a fancy occasion.

dress-after-door

Up-cycling an old dress with ruffles into something to wear to a holiday party. Making it more modern!
Details on this outfit:

Dress: Hue
Belt: Purchased at Ragged Row years ago, label has since rubbed off
Tights: Xhileration at Target
Booties: dv dolce vita at Target
Necklace: Chloe & Isabel
Lack of me in pictures: weird sinus-y headache/cold thing

You’ve gotta see what Amy over at Amy and Angie did. Again, being so clever with this dress-to-skirt thing!

What would you up-cycle from your closet for a party?

I’m collaborating with Amy over at Amy and Angie on a series of posts to re-imagine how we dress, decorate, dine, and more all on a shoestring budget. We’re on a mission to show you that it doesn’t take a Rockefeller-sized closet (or house) and budget to have a good life!

Up-cycling and refashioning an old dress into something you'd wear. Sometimes you just need to take some scissors to it!

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1 Comment · Labels: On A Shoestring, Outfits Tagged: holiday, holiday outfit, ootd, party, party outfit

October 20, 2016

On A Shoestring: Transition Summer Clothes

October 20, 2016

Okay, I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t really dress seasonally appropriate. I don’t put summer clothes in storage and bring out the winter stuff. I like to have it all at my fingertips (sometimes to the detriment of my schedule in the morning), but sometimes that leaves me looking really not right for the season. And cold. I’m a person who likes to be warm. Oh, and save my money.

Enter a new series: On a Shoestring. I’m collaborating with Amy over at Amy and Angie on a series of posts to re-imagine fashion, food, decor (sorry, there’s no f-word for that) and more all on a shoestring budget. It doesn’t take a Rockefeller-sized closet (or house) and budget to look good.

It's so easy to take your summer outfits and make them fall-ready and fabulous, even on a budget!

Today’s mission: transition summer clothes. I love my summer dresses, but they don’t always scream autumn. And I’m like, I paid for it, I’mma wear it as much as I can! Gotta keep that cost-per-wear low.

I took this adorable summer dress (from Rosewood Boutique in Sewickley – they’re currently having a going-out-of-business-25%-off sale) and added three really budget friendly elements to make it jewel toned and weather-friendly.

Take any summer dress and easily transition it to a fall-ready outfit.

It already started out with a fall color, navy, so the transformation process was pretty simple.

First thing’s first: add in structure, especially with a flow-y dress like this. Nothing screams structure more than a good leather jacket (yeah, yeah, yeah, leather jackets aren’t cheap, but find one that fits within your budget and buy it. Take care of your clothes and it’s great investment.)

After the leather comes some tights. Stay warm, right? I buy most of my tights on clearance at Target. They have amazing patterned tights and beauties like the ruby-hued ones I’m rocking.

Finally, a dark vampy lip. Hell, even a berry lip will do.

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add leather! Love this jacket!

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add tights

Transition Your Cloest To Fall -- add tights

Transition Your Cloest To Fall--add dark lipstick.

You absolutely have to check out how Amy refashioned a white lace dress into a cute skirt and totally nailed a cozy fall look. For $3. Three stinkin’ dollars! Killin’ it.

Here’s the details on what I’m wearing. Everything was already in my closet. I just had to mix it together.

Dress: ETWO (from Rosewood Boutique)

Jacket: BB Dakota (from No. 14 Boutique – see it here another way)

Tights: Merona, Target

Booties: Old Navy

Lips: Notion, Ultra Matte Lip from ColourPop Cosmetics

Transition Your Cloest To Fall-Three Easy and Budget Friendly Steps

How do you transition your summer clothes?

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2 Comments · Labels: On A Shoestring, Outfits Tagged: fall essentials, fall fashion, fall outfit, leather jacket, no 14 boutique, old navy, ootd, rosewood, target

Who’s Angelica?

Life Un-styled Blogger, Gardener, Shoe Lover..among other things

I'm here to encourage and empower you to grow where you're planted and embrace the weeds that sometimes pop up. I'll share inspiration, products I like (and you may too), and stories from the garden.

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