D.I.Y. DYE

...Perhaps there's a nerdy craft-person tee shirt just waiting to be made there: DIY or DYE....

Only funny to me? Probably.

So moving on to the real topic at hand: Dying garments at home with Rit Dye. It might sound intimidating, but truly: Super easy, and pretty low-impact in terms of involvement. Really.

I hadn't done it in years, but Nate had picked up a slew of new white socks and, being the color-loving dude he is, was itching to make them less vanilla. Enter a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and a bottle of turquoise Rit liquid dye.

Puggle photo bomb!

If you follow the bucket dying process (aka: not using your washing machine, which is the other option), the most you have to do is know how to boil water and measure salt. Can you do that? I'm thinking so.
So step one is to boil a pot of water (it specifies the amount on the bottle - yours truly just eyeballed it). Step two: Pour the water into your bucket and dunk the dry cloth. Have some tongs handy, and once the items are soaked through, pull them out and add your salt (stir to blend) and your dye (I put in the whole bottle). Drop the wet clothes back in, set the timer, and walk away!

Step three: Once the garment(s) have been in for the allotted time, grab your tongs and (I used a dark old towel here to protect my floors) lift your garments out and into the sink. Rinse until the water runs clear.
NOTE: Rit will absolutely stain porcelain. I dumped my dyed goodies in a stainless sink, so didn't have to worry. If you're concerned, have a second rinse bucket handy.

Step four is the last one (told you it was easy!): Pop your rinsed garments into the washing machine and wash per Rit bottle instructions. Dry in the dryer as you normally would and.... done!

Three things of note:

1) It would be a good idea to snag a pair of rubber gloves before starting if you can. I was careful, but think of it like dying your hair: Avoid contact with anything you don't want to end up the color of your dye (hands, clothes, floor, counter, rug... you get the picture). This stuff is permanent and made to last.
2) No matter what color you choose, it's tough to make it vibrant. 100% cotton garments work better than anything else (as you can see from the darker blue stripes on Nate's socks - They took the dye better than the body of the sock with other fibers in it).
3) I threw in two Shout Color Catchers with my wash cycle and they collected quite a bit of dye. Wash a load of old dark towels or run a load empty to make sure your washing machine is free of dye before doing that load of wedding dresses.... or, you know, other light colored garments.

So there you have it! Pretty simple, right? Boil, soak, color, wait, rinse, wash, dry. You can do that.

Getting Lit

Our neighborhood is lighting up. In a good way. It's the first week of December, and there are now 4 houses in our immediate cul-de-sac that have put up lights, and at least 5 more in adjoining parts of the neighborhood. I'm loving it!

As first timers, we put the lights up on our house in a two-part series...

Here we go!

We lucked out with a couple of dry days.

First Draft - "Not Enough!" says Nate

So, more lights purchased, and up he went.

Success!! (click the image to enlarge and see the excitement)

And the end result. Couldn't be happier!

Random Round Up: Elfing Around

Lots of Christmas elf duties this weekend, complete with trimming the tree and making a few gifts from my list.

Some early a.m. sun put up a Christmas tree for us!*

Fake tree = Need a good tree-smelling candle (thanks hubs!!)

Cozy Puppy

Martha Stewart's crafty ways seduce me again... Tree topper!

Proenza Schouler for the Neiman Marcus + Target collab

Gettin' elf-y with it

Happy December!


*This was photo-worthy for a couple reasons: One, it was SUNNY on December 1st, and two, that tree isn't even in front of our window. The slant of the light hit it just right to center it above the window seat and give us a Christmas tree preview!

All Aglow

One of the first things I said during the initial walk-through of what was to be our house was "that dining room lighting fixture has GOT to GO". And just about one year later, I'm happy to report that guy is history!

And okay, by history I mean in a box in the garage waiting for the next Goodwill trip, but still. It's not dangling from the ceiling like the glittering gold eyesore it was, so I count it good as gone.

I've never been happier to use up the last of a gift card stash. Ready for picture-o-rama?

The old guy...

...with a spotlight in the bottom...

...and lovely black zip tie antennae.

Buh-Bye

And so we were left with a blank slate - well, a blank slate with a hole in it - and utter chaos happening in the adjoining living room (just keeping it real here, folks):

But on to slightly bigger and an enormous amount better!

It's on a dimmer, which makes it look like glowing candles.

And to save you a little scrolling:

I keep pausing to stare at it every time it catches my eye, and Nate's admitted he's been doing the same... Which means we keep lurking in doorways all googly-eyed as we peer at our new pride-n-joy.

Peeking from the kitchen.

And now of course the Ikea dining table with only three chairs and the builder-standard interfacing-like blinds are looking especially janky as the rest of the room comes together, but isn't a never-ending list of to-do's on of the joys of being a home owner?

I kind of love that. Endless possibilities.


P.S. Love our new light? We picked it up at Home Depot, and you can here.

Quick Craft: Kissing Ball

I hit Joann Fabrics this weekend with projects in mind - One being a holiday "Kissing Ball". With dogs afoot and the random visiting kiddo in the house, I wasn't too keen on having real (and really poisonous) mistletoe in the house, so was set on creating a faux version based on this live one by Martha Stewart:

image

My initial intention was to use up one of the styrofoam balls in my wedding supply back-stock, but once I got in the store and found this gem, the ease of use (and 50% off coupon) won me over:

But it was just too... fake. Too plain. So I grabbed a single (and on sale) stem of green ball-y things (yep, technical term there) to fill out the ball itself: 

 A package of faceted silver beads to create the berries that grow on the live version of mistletoe, and a roll of red velvet ribbon later, and we were in business:

See the beads?

I wish the photos captured just how cute and sparkly this really is in person, but you'll just have to trust me... or make your own!

 Here's a list of what you'll need:
1 ball of fake greenery* (or one styrofoam ball and snipped up stems of fake greenery to stick in)
1 stem of green-based embellishment
1 package silver (or white, or red, or clear...) beads
1 small roll ribbon
glue gun
scissors

And as for instructions: Affix your ribbon to your ball (I just tied mine into the interior plastic lattice). Snip apart your stem of green, and adding hot glue to the base of each piece, stick into the ball. Using small drops of hot glue, place your beads to add sparkle. Hang. Done!

Total cost of this project (with discounts): About $12
Total time (not including ladder-balancing hanging time): About 20 minutes

*I can't seem to find the greenery ball I used on the Joann website - Perhaps an in-store only purchase? My guess is a trip to your local craft store's floral section will find you something.

Random Round Up: Let's Eat!

Forget Fat Tuesday - This Thanksgiving weekend was a feast on all fronts... And leaves me actually looking forward to working out this week.

Mini Pumpkin Pies by yours truly.

Antipasto skewers - A huge hit!

Grown up cocoa to kick off our holiday weekend.

Beans prepped...and forgotten in our fridge. Sigh.

Jelly Belly... They tell you in the name. Why can't I stop eating them!?

 And a feast for these nerdy eyes: Massive backlog of projects (Christmas and otherwise) thanks to a double whammy trip to Home Depot and a nearby Joann Fabrics superstore.

 Expect updates on that spread starting this week!

Baby Steps

Mini-progress update!

Because sometimes you have to revel in those small, check-it-off-the-list moments.

Like finding the right fabric to make the window seat cushions (no, it's not ordered yet, and for the record this is a pretty terrible swatch in terms of included colors):

THE fabric, along with a couch cushion and the wall/bench color.

And FINALLY figuring out which white is the right white (say that five times fast...):

These all look "white" in the store. Ugggggh.

Winner!

Like I said, baby steps. And I'm gonna celebrate every one of 'em.