Painting & Staining - Lots going on!

Hmmmmmm. I'm thinking I've got too many projects going on at once but I'm really trying to take advantage of the weather and my kids being away visiting their grandparents. Right now it is sunny out and I want to get as much of my spray painting done before it rains. I am getting to the point though where I am walking around aimlessly because I can't focus on one thing. Hmm There are several things in different stages and I'm waiting on paint to dry. Here is what I am talking about!

I'll share all when they are complete! Happy Thursday!

 

 

Instructions To Giving Tie Dye A Whirl!

Kick starting the summer with tie dye has been fun! I took this picture because I was so excited about the pattern. This was just after the rinse job BEFORE the shirt was dried and I was hoping it would turn out half way decent. I think it did! I've done tie dye before but the patterns never turned out so great.

 

I will show you how to get this classic spiral design. It is very easy!

 

What you need to do this project:

white t-shirt

tie dye kit - comes with rubber bands, rubber gloves, soda ash, and three bottles of dye

large bucket

 

I used a kit by Jaquard.

 

 

I am using a tank top BELOW to show you the BEFORE steps because I forgot to take pictures as I was going through the process. I was a little excited! Before you do anything follow the directions that came with the tie dye kit. I washed my t-shirts with regular detergent on cold before I did anything. Next you mix soda ash with warm water and soak your shirt for 20 mins. Follow the directions on how much to use. I made 9 shirts total and the one batch of soda ash was perfect!

Once you have soaked the shirt in soda ash for 20 mins, remove it and squeeze the water out of it over your bucket (you can reuse your soda ash mixture for future shirts! Next lay the shirt out flat and grab a spot and start turning the fabric in a circular motion in one direction.

  Continue spinning the fabric until you have a cinnamon roll shape.

Here is a quick illustration of how to wrap the rubber bands and apply the color. It helped me when I was outside applying the dye so I made sure I put the colors in the right place.

 

Use 4 rubber bands crisscrossing them like below. Make an X with two and then use the other two rubber bands crossing one thru each X. Add warm water to the dye bottles (following the directions) when you are ready to dye the fabric. Apply the dye generously and overlap the color. It doesn't matter if it splatters or you get spots on the shirt. It adds to the fun of the design! After applying the dye, store each shirt in its own gallon size zip lock bag. Let the bags sit with the shirts for 48 hours. Once you are ready to open the bags, rinse all the dye out squeezing the shirt over the sink. Once you see that the running water is clear, you are ready to throw in the washing machine and wash. Follow the directions on washing your shirts in what temperature. I have read that you can wash the shirts in cold water or in warm water. I used cold. You can put multiple shirts in the wash too by the way!

 

For an added touch, I added Mickey Mouse using a template of the logo with a permanent fabric marker to the bottom left corner of my shirts after they were dry! These shirts were for a  Disney trip and I am not trying to sell them so it was a little personal touch for our family.

 

The shirts were a big hit at the parks. We stood out in a crowd which was awesome because could keep up with each other with no trouble! YAY for homemade tie dye!

Giving Tie Dye A Whirl!

 

I'm sooooo excited! Nothing like kick starting the summer with a little tie dye! I'm not totally finished with the process but as soon as I complete it I'll share how you make this pattern! First I want to be sure it turns out nicely. Just super excited! Hope this finds you doing well. Happy Hump Day! 

 

 

Car and Truck Wall Plaques As Decor For Boy's Bathroom

How are you on this beautiful Monday? Hopefully you had a great weekend and are ready to start the new week. It's been productive here so far. I've gotten my workout in and already have a load of laundry going. Lots to do today so trying to get a head start!

 

I have been doing more purging lately than decorating. It has gotten to a point with our house where all the rooms are decorated and have been for a while and I'm trying to maintain and keep it clean and organized. That is a job in itself but I did find a little project to share.

 

Below is a cheap and easy way to decorate a wall. I did this a while back... I wanted to do something boyish in our kids' bathroom and didn't want to spend a lot of money. I didn't want anything that had framed paper because with it being a bathroom, I didn't want steam to ruin any picture I hung.

 

So I found two unfinished wooden plaques at a craft store then saw these unfinished wooden car and truck cuts outs. They had brass hangers at the top so they could be hung alone but I wanted to add a little more depth so I plucked them off. I painted the plaques and trucks using leftover white paint from the garage for the plaques and navy blue spray paint on the trucks.

 

I sanded the plaques to antique them on the edges then glued the car and truck on with wood glue and let sit over night.

Using 3M Velcro stickies I hung them on the wall over the towel rod. I think it goes nicely with the cars and trucks theme of the room. It's a very simple design for the boys!

Dining Room Table - Staged For A Different Purpose

Happy Friday to you! It has been a week here and it's not over yet! Our oldest is on the swim team for the first time ever and WOW is it an experience! I never did swim team as a child and it amazes me how many people it takes to run a meet and make it happen. It's pretty awesome to see it all come together on meet days! I'm very proud of our son too because he has come so far in his swimming. Not sure I could do a lap myself!

 

Getting back to the reason for my blog, I wanted to share my staged dining room table. I know it probably looks really goofy all set up every day with the place settings out. We are HORRIBLE and I mean HORRIBLE about piling things up on the table. It's a room you can pass through from the front door or staircase to the kitchen, and we were being especially bad about putting mail or just junk on the table.

 

 

The purpose of keeping the table set is to keep it nice and neat and not totally junked up. So far with the dishes and silverware out, we have managed to keep a single room fairly picked up. Sad isn't it that I've staged a room for this purpose?!? We tend to use the kitchenette more when it's just us and the kids. Do you ever put your china out for this purpose? Laughing Out Loud! Have a great Friday and talk soon! 

 

Steam Clean Carpet Without Chemicals!

What's up? I seem to have a pattern right now to post on Mondays or sometime at the end of the week. So... Here's another quick tip for carpet cleaning! Switch from strong, stinky chemicals to something as plain as good ole H2O and see what it does for you. We have an elderly pooty tat who we love dearly and want to make sure he stays healthy. I know he appreciates this change in cleaning.

I use a tea pot to boil some water for the steam cleaner. I let it sit for a minute or two before pouring it in the canister to the steam cleaner, then add warm water to fill the canister up. I have found that it works very well on our beige carpet upstairs. I got a lollipop stain out of the carpet this morning! Do you have any DIY remedies for carpet stains in your home?

Use Olive Oil Spray To Clean Stainless Steel!

 

Good Morning on this lovely Tuesday! Two loads of laundry done, child at school and one errand completed already! It's a good day. :)

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and took time to reflect on those who served in the military. Our weekend was great! Time to ourselves, time with friends and family. Pool time. Cook out! It was so nice!

Just thinking about how filthy our kitchen appliances get and are and I wanted to share a super cheap way to clean them. I was buying super expensive cleaners for the stainless steel appliances and was looking for something a little cheaper. I found a tip to use olive oil so I tried it but found that the olive oil in a spray can works best for me. It's only a couple of dollars as compared to the $10.00 or more actual cleaners.

 

 Hand prints! Uggghhh!

I spray it on a microfiber cloth to apply it on the surface. I use moderate pressure when applying.

My pictures are very shiny and not the most clear but it comes out nice and shiny.

There is my tip for the day. Maybe you will give it a whirl!

ABSTRACT Angry Birds Cupcakes!

My family was sitting on the front porch two nights ago listening to my husband playing guitar and a bird was squawking from a tree so loudly that my husband said, "Man, that bird sounds angry!" Our two boys looked at each other and then the four of us were cracking up. ANGRY BIRDS! haha. I don't even really know how to play the game but the kids love it!  It made me think of our youngest's last Birthday. He wanted Angry Birds so I made Angry Birds cupcakes.

 

Now I am no expert at cake decorating. Here was my go at cupcakes and I call it ABSTRACT Angry Birds! By the time I got to the Bad Piggies I called it quits. I ran out of black and white icing. The little ones could tell what they were and that was all that mattered! Have you ever botched cakes or cupcakes and made it work?

 

GRRR! Ink On Carpet?!?!?

Soooo, this is one of the stairs on our staircase. The carpet has seen better days and our youngest is a sneak and took an ink pen to the carpet. Nice. He once tried to connect the dots on my parents' dog(Dalmatian) with a marker but had never touched the carpet until now. HMMMM!!! Now to find a solution to the ink marks. I have some ideas on how to get it out of the carpet. So time to test those OR is it time to remove the carpet and stain the stair case like I have been dreaming of?!?!?! That is the question! Have you ever removed ink from carpet?!?!?!

DIY - Staining A Privacy Fence

HAPPY WEEK! Hope this finds you happy since it's a new week!

 

How are you doing? I'm feeling accomplished at the moment. A week ago last Friday I got one of my most grueling jobs done and I finished it before the neighborhood pool opened this weekend! Yippie! I may be a Stay At Home Mom but I keep it BUSY staying at home!

 

Below is a BEFORE and AFTER but the after wasn't even totally complete because I applied a second coat of stain on after taking this picture. We chose a cedar stain to give a nice rich, natural look.

 

 

For a DIY Cleaning & Staining your fence job you need:

 

Cleaning Supplies

Either a pressure washer with cleaner OR if you are like me, I used a car washing broom on a stick (you get them at any hardware store!), a few water hoses and a spray gun and cleaner that is good for wood.

 

I didn't go with a pressure washer because our fence is only 2 years old and everything I read said it's not necessary to pressure wash if it is 2-3 years old. The fence wasn't that dirty to begin with. 

 

I used a wood cleaner made by BEHR that you mix with water. In cleaning the fence, you need to wet down the fence first, mix a half a cup of cleaning solution with water to make a sudsy solution and scrub the fence with it. You are supposed to leave the solution on the fence for ten minutes before rinsing. I worked in panels and kept carefully track of my time so I knew when to rinse. This job took me two good afternoons to complete. I worked on the inside of our fence first so I could contain our 4 year old. The second day I did the outside of the fence but got permission from my two neighbors before going in their yards to do it. :) We have wonderful neighbors so I didn't think there would be any problem.

 

Staining Supplies

an electric sprayer - I used a Wagner one that was $50.00

a wide paint brush for drips

measuring cup or cup with handle for pouring the stain in the canister to the spray gun

baby wipes for clean ups and spills on cup

ladder and enough electrical cords - I had to go buy one extra, a 3 prong one to fit my one extension cord. I needed two cords to get to the outside of the fence. 

 

As for staining, that took me four days total. Note: You must wait 24-48 hours before staining after cleaning the fence! There is a definite technique to staining and using a sprayer. I sectioned off the job, doing the inside of the fence first while our four year old played in the yard. I did seven panels the first day and that was really a day of trial and error. It took me that long to get a real system going for how I would stain and it was a lot of stop and go to refill the canister. Oh I also recommend wearing gloves! The second day I finished the inside completely. Then I did one side on the outside that I had to use a ladder to reach. It was a lot of up and down that day. Next I did the outside of the fence all around the back side of the fence. I love the way it turned out. It has a nice rich color that turned out nice and even. I don't feel like the pictures do it justice, The fence looks great!

I also did the neighbor's fence above to the right. The stain looks a little different because the wood was a different type.

 

We're really happy how the DIY stain project turned out! It was a tiring job but gave me a great work out and a lot of satisfaction. I'd recommend doing it yourself if you have the energy and the time.