Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck had an old t-shirt?

I'm pretty sure I'm in the "nesting" phase of my pregnancy.  I have constant cravings for DIY projects and crafts...especially when I can do them for free or with things I already have laying around.  We are in St. Louis right now staying with Giovanni's family during his break between semesters, but did I leave my crafting supplies at home?  Heck no!  I dragged a box and two bags full of random things and tools so I could craft my little heart out while we're here.  I even brought along my friend's sewing machine in case I got the urge. (Thanks Sarah!)  


Well, I've been especially drawn to the idea of upcycling or repurposing old things to make something useful, fun, and new.  My latest target has been repurposing old t-shirts using online tutorials to make all kinds of cool things.  On Sunday I decieved my brother-in-law, Justin, into giving me one of his old t-shirts.  I'm pretty sure he thought I wanted it because my t-shirts are not very accomodating of my ever-growing belly.  Nope.  I wanted to cut it up, rip it into pieces, stretch it out and make this....




Pretty cute, right?  And totally FREEEE!  :)  I still had a bunch of t-shirt material left over, so yesterday I made this...




Still having even MORE material left over from the headband project, I came up with a BRILLIANT idea late last night.  I mean, we're talkin' after midnight here.  That should have been my first clue.  I had heard the term "rag rollers" before and sort of thought I got the idea.  Maybe I should have looked it up online to see if there's some sort of trick to it...but I didn't.  So after I got out of the shower, I started cutting up strips of the t-shirt...rolling my hair around it...and tying it off.  When I was done, it looked like this...




I slept on it all night long.  It wasn't too comfortable, but I think it was better than foam rollers.  I almost couldn't get to sleep because I was so excited to see how my curls would turn out!  (I've ALWAYS wanted legit curly hair.)  I was convinced that I had figured out a cheap, easy way for me to get beautiful curls whenever I wanted without having to use a curling iron.  It didn't exactly work out as I'd imagined...




I thought maybe I could fix it by shaking out the curls a little bit.  I was wrong...




After several more attempts to tame the beast, I finally decided to embrace the mess...




I was alone in the house, laughing hysterically at myself.  I can't decide if I wish someone would have been here to share the hilarity or if I'm glad no one had to witness this tragedy in person.  With the help of some mousse and a little time for the curls to settle a bit, I was finally able to look like a normal person again...




They are pretty goofy, skeewompus curls, but at least they are curls!!!  I may need to practice a bit more with this rag roller thing.  Or maybe I should just stay away.  Far away.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Tessa - I laughed so hard! I'm with ya - I'll try anything to get some easy, legit curls. So way to try it out! And go you for the DIY projects. I got that urge too and it was so fun!

Cassie Rowse said...

I've tried curling with t-shirts before! My hair was longer and doesn't like to hold curl at all so mine actually came out pretty tame.

Amy said...

Tessa - my mom used to put my hair in rags as a kid and my hair looked just like that, every time! I'm not sure why I let her do regularly... haha! Love the shirt repurposing by the way!