My Dry Erase Board is Better Than Yours :)

So, I recently got a new job in order to help out with our finances and it's kept me pretty busy.  (Hence the time between this post and my last.)  The new job consists of going on lots of appointments, and there have been a few times when I've made the mistake of scheduling them when the hubby is supposed to be at work and no one's home to watch the babies, so I thought it might be a good idea for us to have a big dry erase board on which to lay out our schedules for the following week!

I remembered seeing this post a few months ago and I thought it was a really easy, cute idea so I tweaked it a bit to fit my personality/kitchen decor a little better.  :)

Supplies needed:

cute fabric
old nasty frame
tape

I already had the tape and the frame, so I went to Hobby Lobby to find some fabric.  I debated whether or not to get fabric with a pattern on it since I was worried about being able to read whatever was written over it but in the end I couldn't settle for the plain solid kind.  I wanted it to be more fun than that!

I brought the nasty frame up from the basement, dismantled it, and got to sanding.

As you can see, much distressing had already happened naturally :)

I couldn't find my regular style sand paper, so I used one of the replacement papers from the hubby's power sander (I have yet to break that bad boy in!)

My original plan was to sand and then paint the frame, but once I wiped off all the dust I kida liked it as it was so I decided to leave it.

I put the glass back into the frame, wrapped the fabric around the cardboard frame insert and just taped it to the back because I'm ghetto like that.

And voila!

All in all, this project cost me $4.50 to make. (Money spent on the fabric.) While I was at Hobby Lobby, I checked out their plain dry erase boards and the cheapest one (same size as the one I made) was $8.00.  So mine was way cuter and half the price!  I love DIY!

And despite how it may look in the picture, it's actually really easy to read what's written on it, so I don't regret going for the printed fabric at all.  I love it!!  I keep going into the kitchen just to look at it.  No, really!

I think this project would look nice with plain white linen or burlap, too.  The next time I make one of these, I want to get some of that glass etching solution so I can etch the days of the week onto the back of the glass.  Classy!

Uncharted Territory

Hey guys!  I had a bunch of things I wanted to blog about today (I found another reason to love baking soda and vinegar!!)  But that will have to wait since time completely got away from me today. Instead, I leave you with this post from a while back!  It's been on my mind lately because, although the weather in Utah would have us believe otherwise, Spring is on it's way and it's the PERFECT time for one of my favorite hobbies:  making homemade fabric dye!

I can't even tell you how much fun I had with this.  I got to pick flowers and experiment in the kitchen and create beautiful fabric for my sewing pleasure all at once!  I can't wait till my kids are old enough to help out with this stuff because I think they'll get a kick out of it.  It certainly appealed to the kid in me!

I started out by doing a little research online.  Just googling "homemade fabric dye" brought up plenty of cool links.  I found out that you can use pretty much anything to dye fabric (flowers, grass, bark, roots, fruit, veggies, spices, etc.) 

All you need is:

a big pot

water

whatever you're using for color (in this case, dandelions, mango skins, turmeric and strawberries)

salt

a strainer

First, I went out to our backyard and harvested a small portion of our flourishing dandilion population.

I was worried that the dandilions wouldn't produce a dark enough color, so I cut up a mango and threw in the skins.  (After eating what was inside, of course.)

Next, I added about a tablespoon of turmeric.

I threw it all in a pot and covered it with water, brought it to a boil, and let it simmer for about 30 mins. (It should be noted that if you plan on trying this with other plants, you should use a pot that you don't plan to cook with again as some plants are poisonous.)

Next, I strained out the boiled flower bits and all that other good stuff.

After which, I was left with this!

Meanwhile, I prepared the fabric by boiling it for an hour in a salt water solution (1/4 cup salt for ever 4 cups of water) because apparently that helps it to hold the color better.  The salt solution is for fruit dyes, there's a vinegar solution for flower dyes (4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar).  Then, I rung it out and poured on the Turdango dye!  (Get it? Turdango?  Bahaha....)

Now, the fabric always dries a little lighter than what you see in the pot.  So, this light yellow tint worried me.  I whipped up another dye concoction of straight turmeric (4 tablespoons) and water, and gave the sheet abother bath.  (Results at the end of the post.)

Next up, I figured I'd use the strawberries at the bottom of the strawberry carton in my fridge.  You know, the ones that go mushy and grow mold but you never notice it in the store, no matter how hard you look?  I wasn't planning on eating them.  Waste not, want not!

...threw in a few splashes of balsamic vinegar.

And a little kool-aid, for good measure.  (Why not?)

Boiled it, let it simmer for 30 mins while i prepared the fabric in another salt bath, and after wringing out the fabric, I poured on the dye!  (Vinaberry-Aid?  Meh?)

And here's what I ended up with!

I liked that turmeric dye so much, I saved what was left and put it in the fridge (labeled, so the hubby doesn't try to drink it).  It should keep for a couple of weeks, while I look for something else to turn yellow :)

I whole-heartedly encourage you guys to try this out at home.  It's so much fun!!  So fun!

Progress Report

Alright!  I haven't had much time to work on the rug lately, but here and there I've been able to make some progress.  The more it comes together, the more excited I get to see it finished!

The Bot has also taken to hooking!  He likes to carry my yarn around and hug it and say "Mmmm!"  It's pretty cute.  Here he is trying to help with/destroy my work.  :)

I'm entertaining the idea of maybe having a giveaway once I've finished it.  In order to enter, people could do a blog post about it and link me to it in my comments, and/or follow me.  Do you think anyone would be interested?  Let me know!

(Oh and Jen, girlfriend, you would get an extra entry for being my first follower!  That made me so happy, haha.)

Slowly but surely...

Comin' Right Along!

I know I JUST posted, but I started putting some yellow in to see what it was going to look like and I couldn't wait to share.  I know, I have no life.

(And so you can get some perspective on the size...)

Happy hooking!  (But not that kind.)

Project Numero Uno is underway!

Yesterday, my husband took care of the boys for a bit so that I could get a little break from mommyhood and maybe go catch a matinee at the nearby outdoor shopping mall.  I've been wanting to see "How to Train Your Dragon" but as I made my way over to the theatre, I realized that a matinee showing for that particular movie would likely be full of crying babies and noisy toddlers.  If I wanted to hang out with babies and toddlers, I could have done it for free at home!  Instead, I dropped by Hobby Lobby (or, as i like to call it:  Heaven on Earth).

I figured, I could put my movie/lunch money toward my first project - learning to hook rugs!  All I needed was:

some yarn
a piece of burlap
a hook
an embroidery hoop.

I came home and traced a pattern onto the burlap.  This particular pattern was cut out and traced from a pretty piece of scrapbooking paper I had leftover from when I made baby shower invitations for a friend.

After watching a how-to video on Youtube, I got crackilackin!  Turns out it's relatively easy, albeit time consuming.  I'm sure it'll go a lot faster once I've really gotten the hang of it, though.  Instead of making the big 4'x6' rug for my living room (as pictured in my previous post) I'm starting out a bit smaller, with what will eventually be a bathmat or maybe something to put down in front of the kitchen sink.

I'll keep you posted as my work comes to fruition!  Tell me what you think of it so far!