About Time. Thanks Photobucket.

Here I am trying to upload pics and blog and what not and tell you about where I have been and what I haven been doing. Thanks to a good friend who suggested using photobucket as my image hoster, and posting images from there, I am now able to blog.. pics included!!! YAY!

Thanks KP. (mini shout out)

Here is where we left off..

 

My Dearest Darlings,
I am sure that you have noticed my absence and have wondered about my whereabouts. I stopped blogging because, well, My Mom started religiously following my blog.. The good news is, I'm back!  Just kidding, (mom) I have been visiting the fam during the month of November and The Hus has been in Asia for work. My family lives in Utah. I was there for about 3 weeks. I dont think I realized how small of a town it was until going back this time. Its seriously like something you might imagine would be a back drop for a movie. Here is what my trip consisted of, wrapped up in pictures, of course.

Driving down streets like this. This is main street people. Beautiful.

Homes like this exist on Main Street. Please excuse the crookedness. We were driving and trying to not alarm the owner, who was on the right. I cropped him out.

The Government building.

We ate at places like this. That looked this on the inside.

 In this building, is a clothing boutique, a cafe, and a photo framing shop, I believe. Also, please note, that this "shopping center" is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood.
Cup of soup? Coming right up.

Drove past the cemetery, daily, because you know, its right in the middle of main street. No big deal. Btw. I have NO idea where my cemetery is out here in San Diego.

We went to church with cousins, and gave it a thumbs up.

Went to the local trampoline park about 3 times. WE loved it. If you go to one of these places, pee before and wear a belt. Dont say I didnt warn you.

Took lots of self portraits... The Hus was gone for two whole weeks. I was bored sometimes, ok..

Tried to entertain early morning babes with the iPad. Worked, about 75% of the time. Which means, about 4 minutes.

Killed it with some black friday shopping. 3 pairs per babe. I love me some colored pants for these cats. Thank you H&M.

Begged to play in the snow every. day.

Welcomed home and unshaven Hus. Obligatory proof portraits were due. The insta needed proof he was home...

Took pics with our favorite toys and then added pirate eye patches to an accidental pirate face... Kinda perf right?

Got kinda stoked when I realized I was raising the next Justin Beiber, when my kid BEGGED and CRIED hysterically for these. I bought them, really, how could I not? Let the money start flowin kid. Lets get this guy on the disney channel shall we?

Last but not least, we wrapped it up with some family photos. After almost everyone cried, seriously, we got a few good ones! Thanks Mom.

Then we hit the road. Back to California and a 20 hr trip. Which went quite well, if you consider, the mini barfing, and me barfing and the older one having to pee in a McD's cup, well. Take my advice and NEVER leave the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We moved about 45 miles in 2.5 hours, pretty much the whole way. Yay for people visiting their families!

And there you have it folks!
I'm back!
xoxo, Janean

















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Blogging Conundrum

My Darlings,
I am not lost or missing. Although, it may seem like it. I was out of town for a while, and since getting back I have tried to blog, but it seems as though Google is making it difficult for me to add images. I am being requested to pay about $25 a year to post images to my blog. I'll be honest, I havent blogged lately because I have not decided if thats something I want to do or not. I love blogging but its not my career or making me any real money. I can only blog as much as its worth to me. So, until I figure out what Im going to do, as far the blog goes.You can follow me on Instagram, linked over there at the side. Or you can look me up, JANEANSOCAL. Besides, you only really want to see pics anyway right? Right.
xoxo, Janean
Happy Friday!
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Easy DIY Halloween Costume Dinosaur

So I wanted to make a costume for the mini and thought a dinosaur would be adorable. So I went out to Target got myself a plain circo hoodie for $8. I chose dark blue for the hoodie, and went over to JoAnns for some turquoise felt. The felt was 25 cents a sheet and I bought 2 sheets which was plenty.

So this costume cost me $8.50 and turned out fantastically cute. I couldnt be happier. Here's how I did it. Folded the felt sheets in half and cut out triangle pieces in varying sizes.

 I chose bigger to smaller. Then folded the sweater in half and layed out my pattern, so I knew where to pin the traingles (diamonds.)

Then I pinned down the triangles, and just sewed them down, open, in the middle of the sweater on one side of the seam.

Make sure that you sew all of your pieces on the same side of the seam, I didnt and one had kept falling over so I had to hand sew it down. So, learn from my mistake.

Then I  folded the triangles and sewed the pieces shut.

 Voila! Then have a pant-less photoshoot outside because its 80 degrees a week before Halloween. Ridiculous, but super cute!

This was really easy, and took me maybe an hour from start to finish. Perfect for a last minute costume!!!  But it was really simple and not complicated at all. A beginning sewer could definitely do this. Let me know if you have any questions!!
xoxo, Janean Pin It

Iron On T-Shirt Vinyl

In the past I have used my Silhouette to make stencils with freezer paper so I could use fabric paint or bleach on clothes for the boys. I still love doing that, but recently I have started drawing images in Photoshop and then using iron on vinyl! Hello! Genius! WHY have I NOT done this BEFORE???? Way easier! And I love the way it turns out, and anyone, I mean anyone, can do it. Just open photoshop and draw your image, or I imagine you could scan in an image your child has drawn.

Which would be super awesome and they would looove it! Next save the image as a jpeg, open it in your silhouette program. Then flip the image horizontally, it has to be backwards when it cuts out but then when you place it,. its forwards, and the right way. Make sense? And then use the TRACE feature, its in the top right. I circled it here. Select you image by drawing a square around it, kinda like cropping. It will choose the lines of your images that will be cut out. When you are drawing, try to make all your lines connect so that you will only have to peel out one image, and not a ton of little ones. Refer to my image to see what I mean. There are no separate images, the fire and the hand are both attached to the main dragon image.

And then you are ready to cut. Send your image to the silhouette and make sure to select the correct settings. Iron on vinyl is simple, its just like regular vinyl, it peels off the backing. Except you cut ON the vinyl, not the back plastic part.
And you iron it on! I picked up a few shirts from H&M, they are only $5 and honestly I think the quality is far better than Targets $5 shirts. I used black vinyl and white flocked to make matching shirts for the big bro and the mini.

 I really like the black smooth vinyl. I really wanted these images to keep the hand drawn effect, and I think that this accomplishes it best.

 An example of what the vinyl looks like once the image is peeled off.

 Then go crazy with your drawings and iron ons!!

The skys the limit!! Cant wait to show the boys they will be so excited! The great thing about this is that you only have to draw the image once and then store it on your computer and you can use it over and over!

Hope I inspired you to be creative especially with Halloween right around the corner!
xoxo, Janean

And Ps going to The Voice was fantastic! I am sworn to secrecy so I cant say anything about it, except if you get the chance, then go! It was so much fun and I really enjoyed all 15hrs of our day, only 5.5 of which were taping. Maybe you will see me on tv next spring?? I will let you know...
xo

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Buying a bathing suit online from DownEast Basics. Easy Peasy.

Dear Friends,
I will be spending the day with these folks, hopefully tomorrow, as I attend a taping of one of my fav shows. The Voice!

Oh and a few of my girlfriends, of course.
But in the meantime as you stew with jealousy, let me put your anger at ease and let you in on a little secret. Buying a bathing suit online isnt the horror that its cracked up to be. Of course you would think, WHO would buy a bathing suit online? I barely like trying them on at the store and have to try on about 20 different tops and bottoms to find something thats not only flattering, but also fits. UGH. Its a nightmare for sure. But I did it! I bought a swim suit online just last week. Right now, DownEast Basics is having a HUGE sale on their suits. Tops are $15 and bottoms $5. Now you do have to pay about $7 for shipping and sales tax. But it is SOOO worth it. This is the one I bought.

 

And I bought the matching bottoms too.  And I LOOOVE it. It fits perfectly!!At first I was super hesitant but really thought it was a great deal and needed a new tankini. This one looked super cute, so I just followed the size guide. I took my measurements which is CRITICAL, when you are trying to follow the chart, and low and behold, their chart was SPOT on. Kudos to you DownEast. Kudos. I was so happy, I was thrilled. I really didnt think it would actually be the right sizes from the chart, but it totally was and it makes me for sure more inclined to buy more things from them in the future online, not just swimwear, but they also have really cute tops, skirts and dresses and all are pretty modest which is great. I have bought from them in the past, because they usually have awesome deals on a lot of stuff.  So, when they do I will keep you posted. Here are a few swimsuits that I also think are cute. Hurry up though because they are flying off the shelves, with these deals, are you surprised?

Now its late and I need to hit the hay for The Voice! Im so stoked! I will keep you guys posted!
xoxo, Janean

*this post was not in anyway sponsored by DownEast or Modbe. This is my honest and happy opinion. xo Pin It

Adult Tutu Tutorial Peacock Costume

Last year for Halloween, I was a witch and made myself a tutu for that.

It was so easy and has been so popular among readers that I have decided that this year, I will be a Peacock and upgrade my witch tutu by adding more tulle in different colors.

I added 4 yrds of blue, 3 of green, and 2 of the plum. I chose these colors based off of a Peacock feather. I just went to the flower section of Joanns and held it up to the tulle colors.

 They didnt have all the exact colors I wanted, but paired with the 4 yrds of black and 4yrds of purple that were already on the tutu I think it turned out great! Tulle is about $1.49/yd and you can buy all the supplies you need at Joanns, including the elastic for the waistband.

I made the back longer, trying to emulate a peacock tail. The blue is the longest and green on top of that. The blue is about 27inches long (54 inches, folded in half) and the green, a few inches shorter.

 I will be adding a few feathers to the back and am wearing blue tights and a blue shirt with sparkly sequin shoulders. I am also adding my light brown leather flats that I got on sale from Urban Outfitters, to give it a bird foot look. I am also going to be wearing my lace mask I made. Im not quite sure how Im going to do my hair yet, but I think it will be up and I will probably make some fancy feather clip or something! I will keep you posted!

 Let me know if you have any construction questions in the comments, or check out my witch tutu tutorial. I will respond! Hope this helps anyone out there with adult tutu tutorial questions!
xoxo, Janean

With all the popularity this post is receiving, I have found a few of my favorite and affordable tutus online, you can check out my selction here.

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