Crafternoon!

Melted Crayon Art

T-shirt Scarf

 I am so excited! A friend of mine organized a Sunday Funday Crafternoon -- wonderful ladies meeting once a month to craft! Though it's only been going for two months, I am so happy that I am finally getting to those cool craft projects I keep putting on my boards on Pinterest. Many of the lovely ladies I am meeting with are artists so it's fun to be around such creative minds, especially since I am such a step by step, inside-the-box kind of person. I have never considered myself a crafter, but now I am! Check out my t-shirt necklace/scarf I'm wearing today! If you have not checked out Pinterest -- please do! It's a great, easy, and visual way of sharing recipes, DIY projects, animal pictures, teaching ideas, and inspiration all in one place with strangers and people you love. If you need an invitation to the sight, just let me know. I'm a little sad this wasn't around for wedding planning, but honestly, it probably saved me some screen time! Crayon Art - hot glue crayons to canvas and heat with a heat gun or hair dryer. Guthrie was relaying the steps to a friend and said we used a blow torch -- that might be too much heat :)  For the t-shirt scarf/necklace, there are many DIY websites with instructions (including a Martha Stewart video). I used this one here. I thank my parents for the old t-shirts they don't wear anymore; happy to find a new use for them. Have a great week! Peace!

T-shirt Scarf #2

Natural Clothing Dye

I got a new white H&M cardigan from a clothing swap last spring. Unfortunately, I wore it about three times and then noticed that some of the sleeve had turned blue due to a laundry mystery (we had some other victims from that load, and I still don't know what happened. I blame my neighbors...) I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't want to just throw it away. I thought that maybe I should just dye it something dark blue or purplish, but I didn't want to buy a box of strong chemicals. I did some research and found these two articles about DIY: Natural Non Toxic Dyes and this article on color inspiration. I know that the color won't absorb as well for this fabric since it is a cotton/nylon blend, but cotton, wool, anything natural will work well for home dying with natural ingredients.

Basically, I started by simmering the sweater in a fix of 1/2 cup salt in 8 cups of cold water for an hour. Then I rinsed and rung dry. Meanwhile, I skinned a cup of blueberries (took a long time) and had them simmering in a solution of water and vinegar (4:1). The whole apartment stunk. I did that for an hour, strained out the blueberries, and lightly heated the sweater in the deep purple solution for another hour. I am actually do this for a second time because I made the mistake of not letting the sweater dry flat, so you won't have a picture of me wearing the sweater until next week, but I promise I will update! Doing it a second time is also making it a little darker since I only used the cup of blueberries. It's a pretty pinky- purple right now.

Next week, look for info on Sunday Crafternoons and a home ownership update!

Peace!

1/9/12 Update! It's done! In the end it turned into the light lavender color that, though I was not expecting, I am very pleased with. I definitely think more blueberries would have equalled a darker color, but since they are not in season, I was a bit cheap. The stains I was trying to cover up are not noticeable and my former white cardigan with blue spots has new life as a lavender sweater. You can tell the contrast between the buttons and the sweater (the bottoms were white, as it was before). Peace!