Adventures in Leather Dyeing

I've been wanting to try a leather dyeing project for some time now, but hadn't gotten around to it until now.  When I got this bag from Bali ELF, I knew it would be perfect in a sweet candy color.  Here's how my adventure went:


After I rubbed the preparer all over the purse, I went to town with this rose pink color... and hated it.  It wasn't what I was imagining at all (even though it's pretty identical to what's in the bottle), so I went back to the leather store and asked if there was any way to remove the color.  The guy at the store basically said, "Sorry, you're out of luck" (in a nice way, of course) and I headed home.

I'm not great at abandoning diy projects until I've wasted many hours trying to salvage them, so I bought another color dye and decided to try and cover the pink.  I was imagining that I may get left with a lavender color, and that was a-okay.


After about a million coats (but only one bottle of dye) it covered the pink!  I wish I had a picture of the cover up process, but apparently I forgot to snap one of those.  Whoops!

You can still see the pink peeking through in places, but I really don't mind it.  I'm happier than happy with the new color of this bag!  It suits me much better than the pink.


Have you ever dyed leather before?  How did your project turn out?  Next time I will be more careful with color selection so I don't have to work so long to get a decent result!

**You can find this purse right here and the dress right here.

Felt Doll Family DIY

We are big fans of felt dolls around here.  Poesy and Hope have quite the collection of store bought and handmade felt dolls and accessories, and we have this nifty board that Rachel made a while back.  We decided it would be funny and fun to make some very personalized dolls for the collection.  Today I'm teaming up with Canon USA to show you how to make your own personalized felt doll family at home!


Alright, first things first:  I wasn't sure if this DIY was even going to work, because I wasn't printing on paper like I normally would.  I bought the extra rigid felt sheets from the craft store (regular felt probably won't work because it's too soft) and put it in my PIXMA iP8720 printer, just as if the felt sheets were paper.  I chose my images for print and resized them in Photoshop.  Then, I held my breath. It took a little bit of helping, but the felt went through the printer just as paper would.  Whew.


This is what the images look like all printed out.  Obviously they aren't as sharp as they would be on paper, but they still look good for being printed on a fuzzy piece of fabric.  Success!


The images were bleeding onto my fingers, so I sealed them with a matte sealer.  You can get a sealer at any hobby store.  After everything was dry, I cut the heads from the fabric.


Next, I cut out bodies for the dolls and Hope helped me design and cut out clothes for them.  I used a tiny dab of hot glue on each one to affix the head to the body.

Poesy was pretty tickled with these "Mama, Daddy, Hope, and Poesy" felt dolls, and Hope had a good time designing clothes with me.  All-in-all I'm going to call this one a DIY success.  xo.

Weekly Wears: Feels Like Summer

Oh, hey, Summer.  I didn't notice you lurking around the corner, but then you popped out like a force... a force that won't allow the upstairs AC to keep up in our old, poorly insulated house.  That's okay, though.  You allow me to wear cute pineapple sundresses and help me keep my coffee/caffeine intake at a minimum.  We can be friends, I guess.

Pineapple Dress: Choies  //  Shoes: ABM for Swedish Hasbeens  //  Necklace and Scallop Bracelet: Shlomit Ofir  //  Sunglasses: ModCloth  //  Flower Crown: handmade  //  Backpack: Bali ELF

It has been a little warm around these parts, but we really don't mind.  I'm in love with all seasons (even when they can be a little miserable) and summer is no exception!  Swimming, watermelon (and pineapple, of course), late nights, fun trips-- just a few of my favorite summery things.  How about you?  Is there anything great going on in your neck of the woods lately?

Happy Tuesday!

Snapshots

We had another beautiful/crazy weekend.  Johnny and I went floating and camping with some friends before the weekend even started, so it felt like an extra long one.  We ended up being so busy the rest of the weekend with projects and a very special wedding, that I took an accidental break from the internet.  I still used IG, but Sunday night when I opened my computer, I realized that I hadn't really touched it in 3 or 4 days.  It was a nice little break.

The wedding Saturday was one of those amazingly special nights where you wish you could snap all the pictures and hang onto the feelings forever, but it's better to just put your camera down and soak up all the magic you can.  It leaves you feeling lovesick (in the good way) and inspired for days.  So many congrats to our best friends, Summer and Brittany!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  I can't believe it's Monday already!  xo.

We Love Donuts, Yes We Do

We took the girls on a little donut date this week.  We usually let them pick donuts one day out of the week (it used to always be a Saturday tradition, but a we're away from home more these days).  I stuffed my camera in my bag, not sure if I would use it or not, but I'm really glad I pulled it out. Sometimes the best moments on camera are the super simple ones.  You know, like donut dates or breakfast dates.

Oh, and Poesy carried that donut box like precious cargo until we got home.  She knows what's important.  ;))

Happy Thursday, friends!

**Backpack by Bali ELF, glasses are BonLook, coin purse by Misala Handmade

Weekly Wears: Chase Those Dreams

I think it's such an honor to be able to support handmade shops and local designers.  I think it's even more special when those people are your friends, just living their dreams.  You may have noticed that I have a love for Swedish clogs (maybe I've worn a pair once or twice around here ;)), so I was a little starstruck when I first saw the ABM + Swedish Hasbeens collaboration.  My friends just designed their own beautiful shoe.  Crazy.

My friend, Laura, along with her husband James, run a shop called Skyline Fever, and from what I've seen on IG, this shirt has been a huge hit.   Every time I wear it, I want to give her a high five.  Pursuing your dreams is one of life's greatest pleasures, don't you think?

Shirt: Skyline Fever;  Skirt: ModCloth (similar);  Shoes: A Beautiful Mess for Swedish Hasbeens; Necklace: c/o Shlomit Ofir;  Sunglasses: BonLook

We are taking a little middle of the week break tomorrow and going on a float trip with some of our friends.  Johnny and I  haven't taken a real day off in so long and I'm looking forward to this like you wouldn't believe!  Hooray for summer activities!