AND she's having a giveaway to celebrate 100 snood sales - what a sweet prize it is!! Go say hi, leave her a comment and maybe you'll be the lucky gal or guy to win this prize!!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Blog Love: Arthelia's Attic
Ladies and Gents, please take a few minutes to visit my friend Naomi at Arthelia's Attic - home of some seriously lovely snoods, of which I am a proud owner of two and pondering a third one in green of her new headband style all available at her Etsy shop.
AND she's having a giveaway to celebrate 100 snood sales - what a sweet prize it is!! Go say hi, leave her a comment and maybe you'll be the lucky gal or guy to win this prize!!
AND she's having a giveaway to celebrate 100 snood sales - what a sweet prize it is!! Go say hi, leave her a comment and maybe you'll be the lucky gal or guy to win this prize!!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finally In A Finished Frock!
Frock. I love that word. Why don't we call dresses frocks anymore? I am starting a campaign!
Any who, here I am in my finished frock before heading out to the blues show/dance. I love this pattern and the frock is so comfy and easy to wear.
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I call this my Fedora Friends Frock because the pattern was gifted to me by the lovely Cherry Bubbles and the red skull bandanna print was a gift from my dear friend Kitty Von Purr. Aren't they lovely friends indeed!!
The black fabric is a poly/cotton blend and the four black buttons are from a huge button collection I received from another friend back in the early 90's after his grandmother passed away. Her lifetime of button collecting is one of my treasures. These buttons are very cool as they look just like the buttons of a Swirl dress!
The pattern is Anne Adams 4799, size 44. The only modification I made was to leave out the side zipper. It wasn't really necessary and I wasn't looking forward to putting in a side lapped zipper on a curved waist area - avoid sewing pitfalls whenever you can (and hi, i'm lazy).
I definitely want to make another frock like this - i'm thinking gingham with white pockets and eyelet trim - summery and fresh. what do you think?
Any who, here I am in my finished frock before heading out to the blues show/dance. I love this pattern and the frock is so comfy and easy to wear.
I call this my Fedora Friends Frock because the pattern was gifted to me by the lovely Cherry Bubbles and the red skull bandanna print was a gift from my dear friend Kitty Von Purr. Aren't they lovely friends indeed!!
The black fabric is a poly/cotton blend and the four black buttons are from a huge button collection I received from another friend back in the early 90's after his grandmother passed away. Her lifetime of button collecting is one of my treasures. These buttons are very cool as they look just like the buttons of a Swirl dress!
The pattern is Anne Adams 4799, size 44. The only modification I made was to leave out the side zipper. It wasn't really necessary and I wasn't looking forward to putting in a side lapped zipper on a curved waist area - avoid sewing pitfalls whenever you can (and hi, i'm lazy).
I definitely want to make another frock like this - i'm thinking gingham with white pockets and eyelet trim - summery and fresh. what do you think?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Blog Love: Grosgrain
Monday, April 19, 2010
Make Do and Mend: Dying Leather Shoes
In the interest of making do and mending, as well as No Spender Bender, I decided to dye a pair of shoes blue because, well, every girl needs blue shoes (and yellow and green and red, especially red!!).
I had a pair of neutral colored hand-tooled wedge sandals I'd purchased last year on Ebay and I rarely wore them because I'm not really a neutral kind of girl, plus I also have the same wedge shoes in a neutral with hand painted flowers and that's good enough for me.
After a bit of research and bitching that I don't have a decent shoe repair near me (there is one in San Luis Obispo but I wasn't going up that way anytime soon), I decided to order from Kit Kraft in Southern California. They promised same day shipping and with US Priority mail, I knew I'd have it the next day. Excellent service and a vast selection of interesting supplies. I recommend them highly.
I ordered Angelus Leather Deglazer and Preparer and Angelus Blue shoe dye (not listed on their site at this time). The Deglazer smells a lot like acetone and I wouldn't be surprised if that's all it is. The blue dye is odorless and applied with a soft round dauber that is included.
I prepped my work area to prevent accidental messes and gathered latex gloves (no blue fingers!!), q-tips, an old towel, old socks (for applying the deglazer) and a small paintbrush.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a shoe-dying professional. This was a first attempt and I am pleased with the results. If you choose to follow/use these steps, your mileage may vary ;)
Step One:
Clean with Deglazer/Preparer product. I applied it to an old sock and rubbed it on the shoe. This left the shoes dull and it dried rather quickly. I did this twice to make sure the shoes were clean. Be careful to use this in a well ventilated area and also please note it melted my latex gloves - I ended up wrapping the wet sock in a another cloth for the second cleaning so my gloves wouldn't dissolve. (This photo is prior to the cleaning step, but they didn't look much different afterward, just slightly darker and dull.)
Step Two:
Shake the leather dye well. The Angelus brand has a clever box that also doubles as a holder for the bottle to prevent spills. I used the dauber that came with the product and a small paintbrush to get the edges and any hard to reach places. Two light coats are applied, letting dry between coats. It doesn't say how long to let it dry, but it seemed to dry fairly quickly (it was a warm day today).
Step Three:
Second coat applied. At this point I completely freaked out as the color had oxidized to a bronze-blue color. EEK!! A friend who is a talented leather mask maker has since told me this is caused by either to thick of a coat of dye or using the tail end of an old bottle. This was a brand new bottle and since this happened on the second coat, I suspect it was not as light of a coat as it should have been.
Step Four:
Hoping for the best, I proceeded to the last step - waxing and polishing the shoes. I'm a fan of Meltonian shoe polish and always have several colors on hand, as well as their "neutral" polish. The only blue shades Meltonian has on their color chart seem too dark for my use, so neutral it was. Here it is applied to one shoe - thankfully it fixed the oxidizing problem as well.
Step Five:
I polished the shoes with a soft flannel cloth and horsehair brush (and a little elbow grease!), and behold my new blue shoes!! They are not quite as bright as the flash picture indicates, but they are definitely blue and look great! All in all this was an easy, affordable and satisfying way to bring life to a pair of shoes that were just taking up space in my closet.
I had a pair of neutral colored hand-tooled wedge sandals I'd purchased last year on Ebay and I rarely wore them because I'm not really a neutral kind of girl, plus I also have the same wedge shoes in a neutral with hand painted flowers and that's good enough for me.
After a bit of research and bitching that I don't have a decent shoe repair near me (there is one in San Luis Obispo but I wasn't going up that way anytime soon), I decided to order from Kit Kraft in Southern California. They promised same day shipping and with US Priority mail, I knew I'd have it the next day. Excellent service and a vast selection of interesting supplies. I recommend them highly.
I ordered Angelus Leather Deglazer and Preparer and Angelus Blue shoe dye (not listed on their site at this time). The Deglazer smells a lot like acetone and I wouldn't be surprised if that's all it is. The blue dye is odorless and applied with a soft round dauber that is included.
I prepped my work area to prevent accidental messes and gathered latex gloves (no blue fingers!!), q-tips, an old towel, old socks (for applying the deglazer) and a small paintbrush.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a shoe-dying professional. This was a first attempt and I am pleased with the results. If you choose to follow/use these steps, your mileage may vary ;)
Step One:
Clean with Deglazer/Preparer product. I applied it to an old sock and rubbed it on the shoe. This left the shoes dull and it dried rather quickly. I did this twice to make sure the shoes were clean. Be careful to use this in a well ventilated area and also please note it melted my latex gloves - I ended up wrapping the wet sock in a another cloth for the second cleaning so my gloves wouldn't dissolve. (This photo is prior to the cleaning step, but they didn't look much different afterward, just slightly darker and dull.)
Step Two:
Shake the leather dye well. The Angelus brand has a clever box that also doubles as a holder for the bottle to prevent spills. I used the dauber that came with the product and a small paintbrush to get the edges and any hard to reach places. Two light coats are applied, letting dry between coats. It doesn't say how long to let it dry, but it seemed to dry fairly quickly (it was a warm day today).
Step Three:
Second coat applied. At this point I completely freaked out as the color had oxidized to a bronze-blue color. EEK!! A friend who is a talented leather mask maker has since told me this is caused by either to thick of a coat of dye or using the tail end of an old bottle. This was a brand new bottle and since this happened on the second coat, I suspect it was not as light of a coat as it should have been.
Step Four:
Hoping for the best, I proceeded to the last step - waxing and polishing the shoes. I'm a fan of Meltonian shoe polish and always have several colors on hand, as well as their "neutral" polish. The only blue shades Meltonian has on their color chart seem too dark for my use, so neutral it was. Here it is applied to one shoe - thankfully it fixed the oxidizing problem as well.
Step Five:
I polished the shoes with a soft flannel cloth and horsehair brush (and a little elbow grease!), and behold my new blue shoes!! They are not quite as bright as the flash picture indicates, but they are definitely blue and look great! All in all this was an easy, affordable and satisfying way to bring life to a pair of shoes that were just taking up space in my closet.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Changing....
The only thing you can change
You can’t change your entire life.You can only change your next action.
—
You can’t change a relationship with a loved one.
You can only change your next interaction.
—
You can’t change your entire job.
You can only change your next task.
—
You can’t change your body composition.
You can only change your next meal.
—
You can’t change your fitness level.
You can only start moving.
—
You can’t declutter your entire life.
You can only get choose to get rid of one thing, right now.
—
You can’t eliminate your entire debt.
You can only make one payment, or buy one less unnecessary item.
—
You can’t change the past, or control the future.
You can only change what you’re doing right now.
—
You can’t change everything.
You can only change one, small thing.
And that’s all it takes.
--courtesy of mnmlist
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Pitter Patter.....
Just got a call from the Doctor's office and found out why I have been feeling out of sorts lately.....
I'M PREGNANT!!
Oh. My. God...... NOW WHAT???
JUST KIDDING .... APRIL FOOLS!!
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