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I was pretty excited by this pin, thinking that it was a DIY project similar to my last one. Unfortunately, when I followed the link, I got to a condescending little page that says something like “Oops! We couldn’t find that page, you big moron.”

So, being handy with an old t-shirt and a pair of scissors, I tried my hand at recreating it without any instructions. And, of course, I came up with my own instructions and a variation idea to pass on to you.

DIY Tie Shirt

Tools: T-shirt, scissors (the sharper the better), washable marker or pencil
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Step 1: Because it was my first go at making a shirt like this, I used a lot of guidelines to keep me on track. Of course, you can adjust your markings as you see fit, but I put the shirt on and marked where I wanted the bottom to be first. (NOTE: It will be a little bit shorter than where you mark.) Then I marked the outside edge of the straps and the lowest point in the neck hole. I made the rest of the guidelines with the shirt on the table. Notice that my slit is exactly in the middle (folding the shirt in half helps) and it doesn’t go past the bottom markings.

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Step 2: The markings on the back are a lot easier. Simply continue the markings from the front onto the back and mark the lowest point of the neck hole in the back.

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Step 3: I cut the neck hole first. Starting inside the neck hole, cut along the shoulder seam to the inner strap marking. Then, cut from the inner strap marking and curve towards the lowest point in the neck hole. Stop at the lowest point.

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Step 4: I like to fold the neck of the shirt in half so that I can use the cut curve as a template. It helps keep the neckline as symmetrical as possible.

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Your neck hole should look something like this.

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Now, flip your shirt over and repeat Steps 3 and 4 on the back.

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Step 5: With the shirt face down, start cutting at the outer strap marking. Cut parallel to the sleeve seam and meet the armpit marking. I stayed roughly an inch away from the seam. Go ahead and make this cut on both sleeves. NOTE: Want a shirt that looks more like the featured image? Don’t cut off the sleeves.

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Flip the shirt over and repeat Step 5 on the front side.

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Your shirt should look something like this.

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Step 6: Starting at the bottom of the slit marking, cut straight towards the bottom edge marking. Do this twice, so there is now a wide “V” cut into the bottom of your shirt.

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Step 7: Flip the shirt over and cut straight across from one bottom edge marking to the other.

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Step 8: Flip the shirt back over. Cut from the tip of the “V” along the slit marking until the top of the marking.

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Step 9: Tie the two halves of the “V” in a basic knot.

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Ta-da! Your old, unworn t-shirt is ready to wear in a new, trendy way. I’m a little wary about wearing shirts with too much midriff, but tie shirts are perfect with a pair of high-waisted pants or skirt. Of course, if you are blessed with a great set of abs, I’m sure you can rock it in just about anything. Here are a couple of ideas I found online.

Eva Mendes

Nadia Aboulhosn

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I’d love to hear how your attempts turn out, especially if you come up with any other variations of the pattern. Best of luck and happy upcycling!

Once upon a time there was a poor college student. Let’s call her Wachel. Wachel was lucky enough to land a full-time, paid design internship in the great city of Des Moines. She was thrilled. Of course, this internship meant that Wachel now had to pay for her own rent, utilities, food, gas and clothing. This left Wachel with very little money. 

But she took the internship, arriving each morning at 8 a.m. with a computer bag over her shoulder and a sack lunch in her hand. And each day at noon, she would enjoy a Lean Cuisine or chicken sandwich. Still, Wachel longed for a day when she could afford one of the magnificent restaurants surrounding her office. 

And then a kind gentleman told her tales of a promised land called Americana, where the menu is rich with American/Continental classics like macaroni and cheese and pulled pork. More importantly, he spoke of Americana’s half-priced lunches before 11:30 a.m. Her prayers answered and her stomach eager, Wachel explored the many wonders of her new world.

Excuse the drama, I have been meaning to write about Americana [1312 Locust St.] for about five weeks so it got a bit theatrical. But honestly, no other restaurant has affected my lunching experience in Des Moines more than Americana. Their food is consistently delicious and ridiculously inexpensive if you arrive before 11:30 a.m. — you can walk in the door at 11:25 a.m. and you will still get the deal. And their restaurant is within walking distance of countless downtown workplaces — namely Meredith, Nationwide and Principal).

Over the past few weeks, I have been to Americana four times, with every intention of blogging about it. But each time, I devoured my meal before taking a picture of it. On the fourth try, I managed to snap a quick pic of my grilled chicken sandwich [$5 at half-price].

Although I didn’t manage to get pictures, over the past four visits, I also thoroughly enjoyed a BLT on focaccia bread [$5 at half-price], the club also on focaccia bread [also $5], and the rise and shine burger with an over-easy egg, hickory-smoked bacon, dijon mustard and cheddar [$6]. Beyond the sandwiches, the house-seasoned fries are to die for. Do not spoil them with ketchup. Wachel will come after you.

Pleased with her new feasting grounds, Wachel settled near Americana. She spent the rest of her summer eating to her contentment and jingling the coins in her pocket.

This past Saturday, my new roommate, ex-roommate and I headed to Zombie Burger and Drink Lab [300 E. Grand Ave.], a zombie-themed restaurant in downtown DSM. Remembering my last trip, I was careful to wear clothing that would disguise an inevitable “food baby.”

Zombie Burger is divided into two halves: a full-service, sit-down dinner and a quick-service counter for grabbing a bite on the go. Both sides maintain a traditional burger joint decor [not too far from your typical Steak & Shake] with a distinctly zombie twist. My favorite touch was the wall of zombified movie posters–Toy Gory, The Horde of Dead Things: The Tomb Towers, and Bleak is the Future–and the mural of Des-Moines-inspired zombies, including one undead fellow who was rocking some Drake apparel.

We decided to grab food at the quick-service counter and eat outside [Partly because we wanted to avoid tip]. The menu varies from your basic Zombie Burger, an American cheeseburger [$5 for a single, $7 for a double], to the more complex “They’re Coming to Get You Barbara” which includes a two grilled-cheese-sandwich bun, American cheese, caramelized onion, bacon and Zombie sauce [$7.50 for a single, $9.50 for a double]. But I settled on a single “28 Days Later” burger with blue cheese, caramelized onion, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo for $5.50. My dinner guests both bought single Flamethrowers for $5.50 each; their burgers included buffalo sauce, blue cheese, onion rings and ranch dressing. We split a fry basket between the three of us for $3.29. One basket was plenty big for three college girls.

Although I did not purchase them this time around, I have previously enjoyed the sinfully delicious chili cheese fries for $5.50; they can be easily split between three people as well. I would also recommend the Zombie Bride Wedding and Red Velvet cake shakes for $5 each, they were both to die and undie for.

In the end I spent roughly $8.50 on a decent burger, fountain drink and one third of a fry basket, not bad for a Saturday night dinner downtown. And where else are you going to eat an Undead Elvis for just $6?

With Drake Relays getting into full swing, Drake spirit is through the roof. And what better place to celebrate our Drakehood than in the Drake ‘hood? So my roommate and I dropped by Drake Diner for a bite before sitting down to watch the men’s and women’s 10K. Nothing like a burger and fries before watching other people run their tails off for 10,000 meters.

But Drake Diner [1111 25th Street] is the place to go for burgers and fries or pancakes and hash browns year round. Even when the Drake spirit isn’t at its annual peak, the diner has cheap, tasty, Iowan food.

Most entrees range between $7 and $10, so having an entire meal for under $10 is a little tricky. Breakfast tends to be cheaper. My cheeseburger was only $8.79, but a fountain drink put me over the $10 edge. Regardless of my slight overage, Drake Diner is a great place to go for a variety of good food choices and a friendly family atmosphere.

So remind your mother how much you care this Mother’s Day with a cute, but easy card [you will have to provide your own sappy message] and save yourself the extra $3 in the greeting card aisle.

Envelope Greeting Card

Tools: 3 sheets of different paper, glue stick, tacky glue, hot glue, glitter, one button, 8 inches of string, paper cutter if you have it, if not ruler and a knife

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Step 1: Cut out two 6 x 12 inch sheets of paper.

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Step 2: Fold both 6 x 12 inch sheets of paper in half so that they are 6 x 6 inch sheets.

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Step 3: Now take the paper that you intend to be the inside layer. Divide that paper in half parallel to the crease. Mark the centerpoint of that line. These will be your guides to cut out the triangle.

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Step 4: Cut out the triangle using a paper cutter or knife and ruler.

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Step 5: Use the glue stick to glue the inside layer to the inside of your outside layer. The triangle flap should be across from the crease folding upwards.

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Step 6: Place the string so that it lays perpendicular to the crease across the triangle flap. Use a glue stick to glue the third layer of paper over the string. Then fold the back of the third layer back and glue in place.

This third layer is a good place to have fun. Try a using a more creative edge like a paper doily or a bolder pattern like a sheet of newsprint. As always, feel free to find stuff around the house.

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Step 7: I am often a believer in the power of glitter. While I’m not crazy about the color pallet that I selected for this project, the orange glitter helped give it a little extra pizazz. Feel free to improvise with your own embellishments.

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Step 8: Finally, add the button. A brad would work just as well, it just allows you a place to close up the card with the string you attached earlier. I used a hot glue gun to help push the button up a little bit, giving it a little room for string to wrap around it.

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Cards are great crafts because you are free to let your imagination roam. This card idea can be varied an infinite amount of times. I’d love to see some of your variations! Post a picture or a description of your cards below. I’m always looking for more ideas.

Saving money is not as exhausting as it is made out to be. Sometimes it is the little change in lifestyle that can help the most. Here are 5 easy money-saving techniques that you can start today:

1. Collect change. Its easy, its smart, its practically free money. A few months worth of change can add up to big bucks. I like to keep one jar in the laundry room, to empty jingling pockets, but the kitchen and bedrooms are good places too.

2. Avoid impulse purchases Using the 30 Day Rule, consider a purchase for 30 days, if you still want it after that time then it is worth the cost. Or, if you are pressed for time, the 10 Second Rule often works just as well, look at it for 10 seconds and evaluate the price and its usefulness. Decide for yourself if it is worth the money.

3. Collect aluminum cans. If you’re buying your pop in cans you are already paying for them to be recycled. But after they are empty you can sell them to local recycling companies that will pay you back for recycling. At approximately 6 cents per ounce of aluminum, you can earn some green while being green.

5. On date night, head out early for a matinee movie show and grab dinner afterward. Often the shows after a certain time are $2 to $3 more expensive. Carmike Cobblestone 9 adult tickets are $7 on a regular night and $5 for a matinee show. Carmike Wynnsong 16 adult tickets start at $9 from Sunday to Thursday and jump up to $9.75 on Fridays and Saturdays. But those prices drop to $6.50 and $6.75 for matinee shows. Also, both Carmike theaters offer $4 tickets on Tuesdays and during Super Bargain Matinee hours. Most other Des Moines theaters offer similar deals for matinee shows.

If you are like me, you like music and lots of it. But, like most things to a poor college student, music is expensive. Luckily, free music is not that difficult to find when you know where to look online.

A quick tip before we get started: Keep an open mind when you are browsing. Free music is free, so go ahead and download it, give it a spin and delete it if you don’t like it. You may find something new and fabulous a little bit off the beaten path.

A few of my favorite free or discounted music sources:

Twitter is an excellent resource for finding new music. Follow @Urban Outfitters for a set of free songs every Monday. Their music tends to be from independent artists, but varies in style. If you don’t have a Twitter account, Urban Outfitters posts every Music Monday to a blog. From there, you can access and download all of their previous songs. Follow @amazonmp3 for updates on new album releases, deals and give-aways. Their 25 Days of Free Holiday Music was a blast this past December.

Amazon.com also does a great job making free music accessible and has a great selection of cheap albums. They offer a variety of albums for $5 including a list of 100 editors’ picks. They also have a handy-dandy price scale that will show you every free MP3 that Amazon offers. The selection is not ideal, but it makes browsing easy and fun.

In comparison to Amazon, cheap music on iTunes is difficult to find and very limited. From what I could find, iTunes only offers five free songs that are updated every Monday.  The discounted selection of music offers a much better selection than Amazon, but iTunes charges $7.99 for discounted albums in comparison to Amazon’s $5.

In order to find the free and discounted music on iTunes, scroll almost all of the way to the bottom. to the More in Music menu.

If you’re not really looking for music to download, but want access to more music. I highly recommend downloading Spotify. Spotify gives users access to a collection of millions of music tracks completely free of charge. If you are hesitating to download it because it posts directly to your Facebook account, don’t. It is easy to turn that off. I check out every album on Spotify before buying it to be sure it is worth the money. There are advertisements and some limitations without paying for the service, but I’ve never had a problem with the free version.

Those are obviously just a few of the many places to find cheap and free music, leave me a comment with your favorite places. Happy browsing!

Although there is already a set of instructions, I  came up with my own to help you avoid a few of the problems that I ran into along the way. Transform your old T’s into tanks by following the instructions below.

DIY Tank Top

Tools: Tank top, scissors, pencil (preferably not mechanical)
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Step 1: Pick a shirt. Any t-shirt will do, but I found that a shirt that is slightly big on you works better than one that is tight.

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Step 2: Cut around the ribbed collar of your t-shirt until it is completely off. Make sure to stay close to the seam.

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Step 3: Remove both sleeves by cutting around the seams that attach the sleeves to the main body of the shirt. Again, make sure to stay close to the seam.

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Step 4: Cut the neck hole about an 1.5 inches deeper. I recommend cutting to the halfway point and folding the cut strip onto the other side. Then you can use the part you’ve already cut as a stencil for the other part; this way the neck hole isn’t lopsided.

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Step 5: Now cut the sleeve holes about an inch from the neck line. The tutorial I found said to make a cut like the one here. But I found that this cut makes the shirt gape a little awkwardly on the sides. I recommend turning the shirt over and cutting more onto the back than on the front.

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Step 6: Using the scraps from the sleeve, cut a strip about 2″ wide and 8″ long.

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Step 7: Pull on each end of your 8″ strip until it curls up. This will be the tie on the back of the shirt.

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Step 8: Put the strip through both sleeves and wrap it around the back of the shirt twice and pull it tight. Tie it up with a simple double knot. You can then shift the knot so it is on the inside of the shirt.

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The frozen yogurt (also called froyo or frogurt) phenomenon is sweeping the nation. Offering froyo as a low-fat alternative to ice cream, froyo shops are becoming popular hangout spots in Des Moines and in major cities nationwide. But who doesn’t like frozen yogurt when there is an accompanying topping bar?

West Des Moines, home to Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt and Orange Leaf, has jumped on the froyo bandwagon. You can also find frozen yogurt nearby at TCBY Yogurt in Clive, Lemon Tree Frozen Yogurt in Ankeny and Yo2Go in Urbandale. But with so many options, I never quite knew where to go. So with the help of my roommate (a self-proclaimed froyo expert), I set out to find my favorite frozen yogurt spot.

After visiting Menchie’s (4825 EP True Pkwy) and Orange Leaf (6630 Mills Civic Parkway), I decided that I much prefer Orange Leaf.

For me, Menchie’s was alarmingly cutesy; there was a wall mural featuring an entire cast of anthropomorphic food. It may be a better place to go with children, but I went with a few friends and felt awkwardly old sitting next to the marshmallow man. It is the kind of place where they force their employees to tell customers to “have a smiley day.”

Orange Leaf is a much more mature establishment, despite the bright orange, green and white color scheme, and the price is comparable. Both chains price their product by weight, so cost is really up to the customer. I tend to spend somewhere between $3.50 and $5 depending on how much I decide to load on top. Today, I chose the orange flavor with strawberries, raspberries and white chocolate chips; it cost $4.44. (I blame the fruit.)

Orange Leaf currently offers chocolate, vanilla, pineapple, chocolate cheesecake, mango, pomegranate, coconut, peanut butter, white chocolate strawberry, caramel, coffee, snicker doodle, cookies and cream, brownie batter and wedding cake flavors of frozen yogurt, but those flavors are rotated regularly. The rest of their flavors can be found online. Possible toppings include sour gummy worms, swedish fish, chocolate chips, Oreos, peaches, pecans, Fruity Pebbles, marshmallows, graham crackers and a whole bunch of other terribly delicious things.

As an ice cream enthusiast, I give frozen yogurt my stamp of approval, while I still would not rank it higher than ice cream, it is delicious, healthy, and because it is based on weight, cheap. Orange Leaf would be a great spot for a $10 date or a maybe just a less-than-$5 snack.

Give one of Des Moines’ many other froyo locations a test drive and let me know what you think. I’m always up for a frozen snack.

I added a hand-made neon bow to an old salsa jar full of wint-o-green mints to make a cute study gift for any friend, roommate or significant other. Dress up your gifts without having to use another store-bought bow. Make your own by following the instructions below.

Paper Bow

Tools: paper cutter if possible, scissors or knife and a ruler if not, tape, glue, paper of your choice, stapler
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Step 1: Cut eleven 0.5″ x 8.5″ strips from a 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper. Six of those strips should be trimmed to 0.5″ x 8″. Four strips should be cut to 0.5″ x 7.5″. And the last strip should be cut to 0.5″ x 3.5″. These measurements will make a ribbon approximately 4″ in diameter. [Measurements and instructions for larger ribbon construction] I used two colors from a package of Astrobright Wausau paper with 100 sheets.

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Step 2: Set the 3.5″ strip aside. Fold all of the 8″ and 7.5″ strips in half to mark the center points.

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Step 3: Tape the ends of each strip together at the center point in a figure-eight shape with both ends curling upward. Be careful not to make it too tight; notice that my shape curls up off the table and has plenty of space in the holes of the figure-eight.

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Step 4: Stack three of the six 8″ figure-eight shapes so they resemble a six-pointed star. Staple once in the middle. Repeat this step with the other three 8″ figure-eights.

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Step 5: Stack the two stars that you made in step 4, glue them together. I offset them slightly so that the points do not line up.

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Step 6: Set aside the stack you created in step 5. Stack the four 7.5″ figure-eight shapes so they resemble an eight-pointed star. Staple once in the middle.

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Step 7: Stack the two stacks you made in steps 5 and 6, glue them together. Again, I offset them slightly so that the points do not line up. At this point, it is helpful to weigh the center down and allow the glue to dry before proceeding.

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Step 8: Tape the 3.5″ strip that you set aside in the beginning into a small loop, big enough to fill the center of the bow and cover your staple.

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Step 9: Tape the 3.5″ loop over the staple in the center of the bow. Your bow is completed!

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For a fun, memorable bow, try using more than one color together, patterned paper or even ribbon to make this bow. Wrap up your box in a bit of newspaper and make a bow to match! Old scraps of wrapping paper, magazines, or brown paper bags are perfect for making a recycled bow and, because you used things from around the house, you saved money in the process.

If you want to test drive these paper bows, but don’t have any birthdays or holidays on the horizon, they also make great wall decor. My dorm wall is covered in posters, pictures and magazine pages, so I made a bow out of the Sunday coupon section to match. It now hangs on my wardrobe door.