Tutu Tuesday- Breast Cancer Awareness

Tutu Tuesday was an event at the beginning of October at the Mesa Arts Center, here in Arizona. This is an excerpt from their website. The Ballerina exhibit is open through December 2nd! Go check it out!

Ballerina stems from Bob Carey’s body of work called The Tutu Project, which humorously depicts the tutu clad artist in playful predicaments and scenarios. The project began 10 years ago, when Carey and his wife moved from Arizona to New York. Six months later, Carey’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and the photographs have taken on a new identity and become a visual anthem for the fight against this devastating disease.

My girlfriend, April, and I decided to join in on the fun and rocked a pair of Delighted. tutus! What fun we had :) The exhibit was beautifully done and the photos created a hum of giggles throughout the crowd. Professional photographers were on hand to take pics in exchange for a donation-of course we partook! 

  

 

To order your very own tutu email befeellivedelighted (at) gmail.com for prices and sizes. All sizes and colors are available!

<3 ZZB

Simple Layered Lace Skirt-Upcycle

The inspiration Pinterest provides me on a daily basis, whether for this year's Halloween Costume or just an every day project, fuels passion and creative juices like none other! Well antique stores help too!

I LOVED this lace skirt tutorial I found on pinterest. For months I hunted the aisles of lace at JoAnn's whenever I went for a "visit." They never had the *perfect* lace. Then a friend from work introduced me to SAS a discount fabric store here in Phoenix!! They had a whole wall of lace in every possible color and in tons of different widths. Pending on the width the price went up. The lady who rang me up measured extra nice so my lace was half off. I just rolled with it ;) Until I needed more and that guy measured correctly and in no way cared that I had previously gotten it for $0.25 a yard! Boohoo--ok $1.50 more I can do that lol

So I initially bought 10 yards of lace, bought 5 more and used maybe 3 of it. 

What you need:

Lace-- pending on your chosen width-mine was 2.25" 

Fabric to sew on to which becomes your skirt base-I used one of my guy's old white t-shirts {It had pit stains so repurposing it was a wonderful idea}

Thread

Step 1: Use a pencil skirt that fits you. Lay it on top of your desired base fabric and cut around it. Now, I cut it slightly larger than the skirt to have room for a seam allowance, but thought the t shirt would stretch a little like this skirt does, but once I added the lace it no longer stretched...just food for thought. 

The other bonus of using the t-shirt is its already double layered which saves you time. 

I left room at the top to have the ability to fold it down and have a soft waist band. 

^This was me just testing out how much lace I might use. ^

 Step 2: On a cutting mat lay one layer of base fabric out. Begin pinning your lace at the bottom edge. And then pin each strip every one inch-adjust this pending on your lace-I cut as I went along over hanging it a little bit in case when sewn I used more than I thought given the t-shirt can stretch. Do this all the way to where you want the top to be + a quarter inch for folding over -you don't want the base fabric to show so you will be folding the lace over a quarter inch.

Step 3: Repeat with second layer.

^This shows you the 1 inch overlap^

^My shirt was extra long so I cut off what I didn't want leaving about an inch for the fold over^

Step 4: Sew the strips on. I used a zigzag stitch to ensure I caught the edge. This will also help avoid the stitch breaking if your skirt is tight when you put it on. Zigzags do not break while a straight stitch will! I started my sewing at the bottom moving on up just as I had pinned the lace on.

^Your stitches don't have to be perfectly straight just close!^

Step 5: Roll your top over on each piece and sew it down so that only a quarter inch of lace shows on the back side. You could sew down the bottom part of the waist band, but I did not. If you do this make sure you move your front lace out of the way.

 Step 6: Lay your lace sides together- if you measured 1 in apart the lines should match up almost if not exactly perfect. At this point I trimmed my edges, so I had a straight line to work with when sewing the two pieces together.

Step 7: Sew them together- I again used the zigzag stitch. IF you want a zipper in one side you need to do that now. Zippers are still scary to me, so my advice would not be helpful. Take a deep breath, watch a youtube video or two and Go for it!! You can do it--you can only get better!

TOTAL Cost $6.50 and about 2 hours :)

I love this skirt!! It's a wee-bit tight making it not appropriate for every setting, but for the right event its great!! I think I may wear it to my cousin's engagement party this weekend-now to figure out what to pair it with, maybe a blazer!?!

Send me a pic of your new skirt!

<3 ZZB

Yummiest Veggie Burger Ever!

Call it what you want a burger or a patty, but none the less it's packed with protein and veggies and TASTE! We buy costco's frozen veggie burgers every time we're there. It's our quick throw it in the microwave go to meal. I got to thinking can I do this cheaper AND know exactly what's inside??

Without Further Ado...

Yummiest Veggie Burger Ever! {Makes about 24 patties}***

olive oil
2 tbs minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped sweet onions
2 red peppers
1 zucchini
4 carrots
2 cups mushrooms
2 ears of corns
1 bunch of green onion
2 cups kale
2 cups spinach

1 cup fresh parsley

1 cup fresh basil

1 can black beans -or fresh would be healthier

4 cups oatmeal-not cooked {I used thick rolled oats}
2 cups quinoa
1/2 cup flax meal

red pepper to taste
natural ketchup to taste
natural brown mustard to taste



***When making this I was just dumping in ingredients so you won't hurt my feeling sif you add, delete, edit the above list :)

In a big skillet add a splash of your preferred oil, I like olive oil. Add your garlic and onion. Let simmer for a bit then add your carrots as they take a bit longer than the others. When carrots are tender add, zucchini, mushrooms and red peppers. Remove from heat when veggies are all cooked. In the same pan add enough water to cook your quinoa- DO NOT clean your pan. The flavors will be helpful in flavoring the quinoa. Dump your veggies in your blender. You may have to do this in stages (At least I had to my blender is a tid bit whimpy!) Add spinach to the blender with one batch of veggie mush and kale in the next batch. Also add basil and parsley with a batch, it makes no difference which one. In a big bowl hand stir all the mashed up ingredients. Dump in your chopped green onion. Cut your *uncoocked*corn over the bowl or a cutting board and add to mixture. Dump in your black beans. {I blended mine up first-again your preference} Add your red pepper, ketchup and mustard to taste. 

Add oatmeal to thicken the texture and make the patties moldable. Also add cooked quinoa and flax meal. You may need to add more or less oatmeal. If the patties are too wet they won't mold well. I added a teeny bit of cornstarch also to thicken the mixture.

Mold {Keep your hands wet to avoid patty sticking} and freeze with a layer of wax paper in between :) I stored mine in Tupperware as I didn't want them sticking to a ziplock for instance.

Whether you leave them fresh or frozen I find cooking them on the stove top cooks them better than heating them in the microwave and they hold together better.

Add some mozzarella and avocado on top after you flip them or crinkle them over a salad. This weekend we heated some in the microwave and then broke them up over nachos before we put them in the oven on broil! YUMMY!!!

Some ingredients I will try next time:
*Butternut squash
*Sweet Potato

Let me know how you make yours or any alterations you found successful with my recipe... EnJoY!

<3 ZZB

P.S. These passed the man-meat-eating-test!! Also they are rather messy to make and require your entire kitchen! In the long run they may not be cheaper BUT you know EXACTLY what's in them :)

DIY Costumes

I LOVE Halloween, well I love the costume part and that's about it. Here are some of my favorite past costumes and at the end my favorite and easiest: Halloween 2012!

 1. Being Laid: Chicken Hat and an egg like shirt, add some raffia for "hay"

  2. Mechanics: Forever21 Jean shorts jumper, messy hair, grease on your face and a name tag. We just shortened ours.

Below we re-used our jumpers the next night for the "We Can Do It" Woman. In the middle is Minnie :)

3. Roller coaster Ride: Cardboard box, paint it, name it. Sorry no pic of the front, but I made straps to look buckled in, put a wooden dowel across our laps. Attach a pair of pants to the pair you are wearing and stuff them, add shoes, flop the legs over a flapped down piece of the front of the cardboard box. Note if the venue has stairs put it on at the top of the stairs! Pending your box size you could do one more people.

 4. Ninja Turtles: This was for Warrior Dash, but none the less, AWESOME! Shells painted on green old navy tees, for our back shells dollar tree baking tins, spray painted like shells--we put yarn straps on and a belt around them. Our belt buckles were tin can lids-note they can be sharp! Small pieces of fabric tied on calfs, wrists and headbands! We added green bikini bottoms from Old Navy to complete the look!

 5. Rufio and Tinkerbell from Hook: For Tinkerbell--I used a tan fabric and sewed up a quick outfit making a pattern similar to a dress I already owned. Green shoes and some wings + some glittery makeup. For Rufio--I bought some black pleather to make the vest, belt, wrist ties and neck piece. I sewed on some red fabric to the sleeves and frayed it, tying on red feathers. For the belt I cut the pleather r in a long strip but in the middle kept a triangle pointed down. Then I cut the triangle into strips, adding wooden beads and feathers. Make a necklace with shells and wooden beads I simply used knots to create the woven look I wanted. We cut slits in his pants and sprayed them with red spray paint. For his collar I used a styrofoam circle and cut a 4 inch section out of it so it would slip on his neck, I then sewed a pleather tube to slide it in. Painted wooden dowels red on the tips and then stuck them into the styrofoam. You need to cut a slit in the pleather, add some glue and then shove it in. Throw on some black paint, make some faux hawks and hair paint them red. Add a sword because all men love a costume that requires a weapon ;)

6. Smurfs: This was again for Warrior dash. The guys wore scrub pants and blue T-shirts. Mom and I made dresses from men's T-shirts and dyed white tights blue with RIT dye. The blue paint---we used latex paint, you can buy it at adult stores-why I don't know--it is in no way sexy! It's sticky and each layer required 20 minutes of dry time. We were not that organized thus it didn't stay on well and as we layered it stuck to our hands and pulled off. Oh well, it got the point across! Simple blue face paint for our faces and necks. We had to find paint that would withstand the mud and waterhole obstacle.

7. THIS YEAR Pinterest!! Yes, I loved this costume! It was all our own and just came to us while brainstorming. We spent an evening cutting our favorite things out of magazines while sipping wine and listening to music. I made a stencil with my silhouette, which was tricky because the images you can find online have a white background thus I had to trace the lettering to make it work, but alas it did!! I then wrote "Pinned by" with each other's names on our shirts. Kurt pinned his favs on me and visa versa. On the back I used the "P" to make the simple logo. We put pins in all our pictures ahead of time and put pins in our shirts ahead of time. Before we went into the party we put a few on each other and throughout the night we continued pinning! (We attached our bag of pins to our shirts with pins so we always had our bags on us.) So fun!! I did my hair from a pinterest pin on curling I have actually pinned, did my nails from an actual pin and my skirt I made a few weeks ago from pinterest inspiration! To top it off we took a fall adult beverage I also pinned! So easy and so much FUN!! 

What are your favorite DIY costume ideas?! Send me comments or a link or link up to my page!

<3 ZZB

Patio Love-A Recreate of Sorts

I picked out the house we're in now. It's old. I like old. Kurt likes new. Enough said. My mission: Make him love our backyard!

It has an awkward pool deck and a ginormous cacti. The neighbors have Fort Knox ready for the attack of??? It's a tree house without a tree that probably hasn't be inhabited in decades--it's our view. Oh and a falling apart hot tub. Love at first sight lol.

I have the I-love-a-challenge mantra with the ever popular I-can-do-this interspersed. :)

We've added LOTS of planters-that's HIS department, I have 0 green thumbs. My department LIGHTS! Love me some strung up lights. I wanted a circus tent feel to them, several hours of standing on the chair, getting off the chair, moving the chair earned an incredibly lit patio....for 2 seconds. Blown Fuse. Oh, you mean when the lights say only string 2 strands together they mean it...rules are made to be broken....not this one apparently. Mr. Green Thumb or Mr. Clever when he needs to be {I kid he's getting his masters degree} mapped out a light plan that allowed all the strands to be up, but only 2 connected for fuse purposes. Wonderful. So I restrung up my lights, so the plan could happen and thank goodness it worked!!

Given the shape of our patio/roof line we needed a connector point for the lights. Insert super ingenious group {he, I and curious pups} project.
     

       1 half whiskey barrel
       Pickle Bucket
       Soil
       Grass plants
       Rocks
       Quick setup concrete
       4" by 4" beam
       Arrow signs-made with scraps
       Permanent marker
       Outdoor polyurethane
       Drill
       Outdoor Screws
       Large Eye hook/screw
       Shade triangle-- if needed

Fill the rest with soil and a plant of your liking. We chose a tall multi colored grass. 

Please note top of the "Fort"and the hot tub and the "island like" pool surface

Pre-Lights Correctly Strung

 After Lights: 

We used pavers we found in our backyard to make a paver patio.

Mr. Green Thumb-->

We added arrows pointing in the general direction of the places our favorite vacations have been and where our favorite people live with how many miles away they are. 

Please note tall grass--I LOVE it!! Plus it {kind of} hides the hot tub.

An update on the Pallet Garden- HA turns out the puppy really likes plants....BUT our orange trees are growing well!

Slowly, but surely our patio is becoming a retreat. That is when the mosquitos are at bay and the scorpions have been sprayed! Them aside, it is a peaceful place to sip a glass of wine. :)

<3 ZZB