The Adventures of RIT and Bleach

Someone should let me name a TV show.

Once upon a time, I had an orange sweater that was THIS color:

Kind of a so-so faded orange.

But THEN.....

I mixed up some bleach solution {10 parts HOT water to 1 part bleach}and soaked the orange sweater for half an hour. {for more tips on bleaching, go HERE}{i love her. she is my hero.}

When I pulled it out, it was now THIS color:

{off-white....ish. sorry these first few pictures are crap. couldn't find my camera.}

Next, with a handy bottle of  golden yellow RIT liquid dye {instructions on bottle}, I mixed up some dye solution in which I proceeded to swirl said sweater around for approximately fifteen minutes. {you don't have to leave anything in for the full amount on the bottle, just pull it out when it turns the color you want}

Now, I have a yellow sweater:

Are you amazed????


Let me tell you, when I pulled that sweater out of the dye and rinsed it out, I swear I saw millions of doors opening before my eyes.

Maaaaaaaagiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.

Go dye something. It'll change your life.

On a somewhat-related topic, that picture you see above was taken at my friend Kim's baby shower. {awww, babies!}

Having been on a sewing kick, I decided to make her something for the shower. {who doesn't want something that no one else has??!}This is what I came up with:

Blanket {my first!}:

Burp cloths:

And the part of which I am MOST proud....a FISH:

Remarkably easier than you'd think. I just pulled up a silhouette on our computer, then held a paper up to the screen and traced the outline. {i suppose if you want you could actually print it off.}Then I cut it out, pinned it to some fabric, and cut out two shapes. I decided to get a little fancy at this point, and used a narrow zig-zag stitch to attach some strips of cloth leftover from the burp cloths and blanket. Then, I pinned it right sides together and sewed everything except a small gap to turn it right-side-out. Turned it the right way, stuffed it full of stuffing, and then used a handy ladder stitch to close the opening. Ta-daaaaaa!

I'm so proud.

It's Thursday

Today was just one of those days. 

You know, where the only thing going through your mind is "Blaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhh....."

Maybe it was because I worked 6 hours by myself. Maybe it was because I was tired. Whatever it was, when I got home the only thing I was motivated enough to do was make myself a cup of hot chocolate {no, it is not too warm for that yet}, sit on the couch, and watch Modern Family. 

Most of the time I wasn't even motivated enough to laugh out loud {though i DID enjoy some long chuckles in my head}.

Blaaaaaagggggghhhhh.

Then the husband came home, and offered to make me a fire to sit by outside. That motivated me enough to grab a few hot dogs and roast us some dinner. 

I love sitting by the fire. 

One of the benefits of living in Cedar City is that it's pretty dang easy to build one in your backyard. Or in a barrel, because we're wanna-be hobos.

Also, Carl's Jr. makes me laugh.

DIY Booty Bling: Adding Bling to Jeans

Sooooo.....

I have no clever way of introducing my post today. 

Oh well. 

Recently I've been seeing a lot of jeans that have just a little bit of snazz to them--you know, small jewels and bling. Of course, I wasn't going to buy a new pair of jeans, so I started trying to figure out how I could do it myself. 

I found THESE babies while browsing at JoAnn's:

Lovely.

Then I took these jeans....

And sewed on these beads.....

And now I have DIY bling.

One on each side of the front pockets, and two on each back pocket--six total.

Plus, then I got to tell my husband I needed him to come home and take pictures of my butt. 

{to which he responded with gusto.}

DIY Lace Sleeves

Okay, so, when I make things they are absolutely not even a little bit close to being perfect.

But then, because I made them, they sort of are. 

{and i made up how to do it all by myself.}

{aw, i'm growing up.}

I saw a girl in church the other day with this super-cute pink shirt with lace cutout sleeves, and I thought to myself, "I bet I could do that." And the best part? I did. 

Okay, so you're going to need:

1. A shirt

2. Some lace

3. Fabric scissors / seam ripper

4. a sewing machine {unless you want this to be REALLY hard}

Originally, I had a long sleeve shirt, so I measured the sleeves against another shirt with sleeves that I liked the length of.

Make sure you leave room for seam allowance.

Then, rip out the shoulder seams where you want to put your lace in. 

Once you've got your seam ripped out, cut out the sleeve where the lace will go. I ripped out the seam and cut the sleeve approximately 3 1/4 inches across.

Cut your lace to the width and length of the space you cut out of your sleeves, leaving room for seam allowance.

Sew the lace in!

{note: i actually layered my lace, putting in 3 layers rather than just one}

Cut off the excess, and hem!

Finisshimo!

{is that a word? it should be.}

Easter Kicks

Man, I sure do love making my husband do things he doesn't really want to do.

Like search for his "Easter basket." {in quotations due to the fact it wasn't actually a basket...more like a pile.} {but it was a pile of presents, so it had it's redeeming qualities.}

Doesn't he just look so curious?

Yes, it is a rather odd assortment of things, but Chris has a rather odd assortment of tastes at times.

You gotta admit those are some stylin' pants, though. 

As today I had the whole day to kick back and do absolutely nothing productive things, I decided to try out a simple hair mask made of olive oil and honey. Chris walked into the bathroom to find me slicking back my hair and yellow drips splattered all over the counter. 

Don't worry, I responsibly cleaned it up.

The results weren't bad--my hair was softer, and it may have been a little shinier than it was before. {or it may have been that i was standing directly under a bright light.}

Either way, Chris liked it. 

Boom.

Success.

So now that it's two days after Easter and all our Easter candy is gone {i swear i could eat my weight in Starburst jellybeans}, I've taken up a new addiction:

Right now I'm trying desperately not to drip on my laptop as I try to cram whole chips into my mouth. {yeah....not gettin' a picture of that one}

It's soooooooo deliciously addicting. {thanks a lot brea}

Anyone got any other amazing snacks?

You can never have too many.

APAAHWLOPASIWATVB

Meaning....

A post about a hike with lots of pictures and some insignificant words at the very bottom.

It was too long to fit in the title. {hooray for acronyms!}

And last night, I got to have a girl's night with my lovely friend Brea! Thanks to ingenuity of Pinterest, we figured out how to do newspaper nails:

See the words? 

So. Cool. 

Man I love Pinterest. It gave me the tutorial on how to make a very awesome maxi skirt. 

More hiking pictures here.