Flight mh17

This is not a political post. This is not a "blame this one or that one" post. With all the horror surrounding this unimaginable act, let us not forget to pray for the 298 lives lost. 

This has honeslty weighed heavy on my heart since I had first heard the news. I guess this is my way of saying, may God bless the souls on board Flight mh17 and their loved ones. 


-S

DIY Mini Pallets

DIY Mini Pallets



What you'll need: Popsicle sticks, paint, hot glue. 

I love, love, love, pallet wood. So when I found DIY pallet wood coasters I knew I had to give these bad girls a shot. 

I bought a pack of popsicle sticks in the craft section at Walmart. When I got home I realized the sticks were too skinny, so I glue two together and they ended up being perfect. I avoided the round edge popsicle sticks because I didn't want to spend an hour cutting the ends off... and knowing me they'd be completely uneven and the whole project would be a wash.  

The sticks were a pretty light color. Too light for my liking. So I decided to try soaking the popsicle sticks in black coffee, a method I've seen online. I let them soak for about an hour, but I could barely notice a difference. It may have stained the wood better if I left them in over night, but I was working on borrowed time since my son only takes about a two hour nap, and that's on a good day. Anyways, total bust. 


Coffee stain attempt 

I've seen some people use an actual stainer with this project, but I didn't feel like getting a chemical high, so I decided to stick with some basic Apple Barrel and Folk Art paints. I used two colors to give the wood a stained look. A basic black from Apple Barrel and a color by Folk Art called 671 Peridot. The Peridot has a metallic, almost gold/green base. I applied the Peridot first, then brushed on the black (while Peridot wasn't quite dry) to give the wood a more rustic look. I was hesitant to use a metallic paint but the combination of the two turned out much better than I had anticipated. 

After the pop sticks dried, I lined up the base of the pallet. Six sticks total. I used four sticks for the base and hot glued one on each side. After the base set, I hot glued another six on top to make the pallet complete. 

I haven't used the mini pallets as coasters yet. They've mostly been keeping my candles company...

- S 

DIY Distressed Jeans

DIY Distressed Jeans

What you'll need: old jeans/shorts, scissors, a fork, and some bleach.

I follow a lot of mom's and kids boutiques on instagram, and I've been eyeing up the distressed crop jean for a while. However, with my son growing like a bean sprout everyday, i refuse to pay $70.00 on jeans that he'll outgrow by next week. Plus, $70.00 on toddler jeans... seriously?! 

This was actually a very impromptu DIY moment that turned out pretty well. I was scrolling through IG and he was being relatively calm over our breakfast routine this morning, so I decided to try and sneak a project in.  

He has so many pairs of jeans that still fit him in the waist, but he's too tall for now. I figured since he's outgrown most of them length wise, and I don't put him in long jeans in this heat, I didn't have anything to lose if this project was a total bust. I made three pairs. 

I started by cutting slits in front of where the pant pocket sits (I should have taken more pictures) and on the pant knees. Since this was my first time distressing jeans I hadn't the slightest clue what I was doing, but I just went with it and started scraping away with the fork. The cuts in the jean will start to fray, plus you get a little bonus arm workout in. I made big holes, small holes, and just a few extra distressed marks. I pulled the pant pocket out of the new frayed hole and cuffed the bottoms of the jeans. Sinice I'm not a sewing kind of girl (yet), hot glue is my go-to. I put a dab of hot glue to keep the pocket from riding back up, and another dab to keep the cuffs folded upwards. When I fished the cutting and fraying I filled my bathroom sink with bleach and water (bonus sink clean) and let the jeans soak for about 2 hours. I didn't measure the bleach to water ratio, but you can find that on the back of most bleach bottles. The bleach made the jeans look completely different. If you're going to distress jeans I highly recommend this step. 

After the jeans were done soaking I double washed them in hot water. One cycle didn't get the bleach smell out good enough. Threw them in the dryer and viola... distressed jeans that didn't cost a penny. 

I may have to try this on one of my old pairs of jeans. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Here's the before and after pic... 

-S