If at first you don't succeed, Tie Dye Again!

I have wanted to try my hand at tie-dying for months now.  My eye was on a pair of purple jeans that I always wore with a solid top, and I thought the pants would look great in a fun tie-dye pattern on the bottom.

So the term "tie-dye" is not correct usage in this project.  There was no "dye" involved, only a "taking out" of dye by using bleach.

WARNING-SIDE RANT::  Who knows why I kept putting off completing this project...it was so EASY!  A few months back, when the idea first came to me, I picked up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide at the drug store (thinking I would use that as my beaching agent).  Why H2O2?  I don't now know why.  My brother used to use it back in high school to lighten his hair, but I don't know why I just didn't go straight to using bleach.  DAH!  :FINISH RANT

I found what I was looking for yesterday when surfing blogland: Katherine at MakingChickenSalad, tutorial for bleaching out denim.

As soon as naptime commenced, I was gathering up my materials and starting on my project.

Problem is, I have a real deficiency in following directions.  As soon as my pants were ready to go in to the washing machine, I threw them in and then turned on the water.  Wrong!  By the time I added the bleach (and I threw in the H2O2 for extra power, not sure if adding that was really was worth it) the jeans were already soaked with the hot water...I didn't allow for them to properly soak-up the bleach solution.  DOH!  As soon as I realized my mistake, I went back to the tutorial and read everything sentence by sentence.  What I decided to do was just finish out the wash/rinse cycle, post wash with detergent, and throw in the dryer to see what I got:

Some parts were not bad, but the good areas were mostly up at the waist and nothing done to the legs.  Well I did manage to get one star-burst on the leg, but it was much more subtle than I wanted.  So next naptime, back to the beginning (which included a trip to the grocery store to purchase more bleach) .  I re-banded and this time I added the bleach (I used maybe one quarter of the bottle) to the hot water BEFORE adding the jeans.  I left it to soak for about 2 hours.  When I went to check on it, what came out was entirely pink!  "Oh no!  I've OVERDONE it this time"  But, again, I went through the rest of the steps (wash, rinse, repeat with detergent, and dry).  I'm pretty happy with what I got in the end.

Now I can't wait to wear these and show off my handy-work!  :-)

Closet Wrap-Up

So over a month ago I decided to join the DIY Bloggers in their summer challenge.  I failed at completing the project on time, but eventually it did get finished.  I think I managed to have it at 98% by two weeks past the original date.  I still have some sewing to do at the top, but here it is-in all it's glory...

My closet is now a place of inspiration for me.  I'm not the best photographer, so maybe this picture doesn't do it justice, but I love the combination of gold, hot pink, and tomato red.  The white molding just pops, although I can see it sort of clashes with my off-white dresser a bit.  I finally have a shelf to keep my purfume bottles and earrings up away from my little explorer's hands.  I did leave some items on a tray though that he can get into.  I have a case filled with plastic bead necklaces, big ol' shiny plastic rings and braclets, and bright sunglasses that he loves to play dress up with me.

Some "in-progress" pics:

It's very important to have a "spotter" in case you miss something:

My first time painting stripes on my walls!  More Pinterest inspiration for that:

Source: None via Petra on Pinterest

I painted the shelves as well and installed contact paper on the tops:

I'm so happy with the result!

Before

After

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn...

Oh boy.  Summer is usually my favorite season-just not this year.  I laugh now to see an old copy of InStyle magazine in the bathroom with the headline: "Your Best Summer!"

Should have clued me in to have picked up the magazine at PHX returning home from my grandfather's funeral- not off to a good start.  But after my family of three makes it to the emergency room four times this summer, I think it's safe to say this one was not my best.

So HELLO Autumn!  Thank goodness you have arrived.  I was about lose it.

With the fresh start of a new season, I feel the need to begin again-specifically back to blogging and getting my projects completed.  Now where'd I leave off?

Oh yeah, my closet.  A post will be arriving soon to show off the completion (almost).  I asked my husband last night what he thought of me blogging, and he said it looked like I needed to concentrate more on my projects-less on getting a blog together-and I think he's right.  I noticed during the Pinterest Challenge I was more busy trying to write the final blog post, when where I should have been was with him working on the closet project.  As the blog was finished and posted, I realized my mistake.  I guess that maybe is why I haven't posted anything since.

But I want that to all change and I've got a plan.  I will set longer deadlines for myself, to give ample time to complete projects.  I will limit my projects to one large one a season, with maybe a handful of quick ones throughout.  I will not work on writing the post until the project has been completed.  

What I decided to work on first -my large project- is not another @em_henderson challenge (although this does sound like fun), is a bookshelf for my son's room.  I've wanted to make one for some time now.  I thought maybe I'd go to the home improvement store and buy some plywood and brackets to start, but then I saw this blog post by The Thriftress:

She used her old laundry room cabinets and repurposed them by adding legs and molding around the top edge.  We scored some old kitchen cabinets from my father-in-law, and they have been taking up valuable space in the garage for way too long.  My husband already used what he wanted and was just going to haul away the leftovers.  So tomorrow I'm planning on going to check and see if I can turn them in a child's bookshelf.  We will soon see if they'll even work (keeping my fingers crossed!).

Another project I had in mind involves cut outs.  Our walls are in desperate need of artwork and I got inspired by the cover piece to the AIASF event booklet I've been carrying around with me in my purse:

I'm pretty sure this one was made with a high-tech laser cutter tool.  I'd love to do the same San Francisco map as this one, but that is just too much for lazy me.  But see the Ferry Building sketch in the background of the cover?  I think that is much more attainable.  Plus, I ate there for lunch today so it was meant to be!

Alright Blogland, as if anyone other than myself will read this, I'm back.  Bring it on Autumn!