Blue Dye, Kool Dye

 

This is a picture of some pretty blue lace. Well I'll have you know it wasn't always this pretty shade. Nope it was plain and white and now it is a beautiful shade [if I do say so myself] and this is how I did it.

For those of you who don’t know I am a broke college student. As such I need inventive ways to support my costume designing habit. This is where Kool Aid come to my rescue! You see I had this white lace that was pretty in design… and really boring in color. Well if I want it to look awesome with my fairy outfit I need it to BECOME LESS BORING. I’m sure you guys could relate.

So yeah I got a few packets of the stuff for like 10cents each. So, really, this cost me 30cents to do! Perfect for the college kid budget! Or what I would like to call the "even you if CAN afford expensive stuff we all love a discount. Plus it's super cheap so you don't have a reason not to try it 'cause it will literally not cost you much" Budget

I boiled some water to be rather hot and mixed together all my packets! As you can see in the pictures it was a rather pretty blue color. This came about from 1pkg Strawberry Kiwi and 2pkgs Berry Blue. While I was mixing this I was soaking my lace in regular water to prepare it.  Sorry I don't have a picture of that step... kinda forgot. Whoops!

Once it was soaked I put my lace in the boiling kool aid mixture and put my lid on it. let it simmer for approx. 10 minutes. You can do more if you want to try and make sure you get the shade you want but from this experiment it didn't take long for the color to soak and I'm not sure leaving it in longer would have made it darker.

Because everything is rather hot at this point what I did was roll it all up on a wooden fork and let it cool. Then just take it, put it in the sink and wash it off. You’ll get some bleeding but just keep running it under until the water is clear. There is also some controversy over whether or not you should soak it in vinegar to set the color. Some people say yes, some say no. To play it safe I poured a little bit of it over my lace after I rinsed it out; can't say if it's going to help yet but it definitely can't hurt.

TA-DA YOU HAVE DYED SOMETHING WITH KOOL AID~!

Piece of CAKE

This is cake I made a couple of years ago for a friend of mine. Well... I didn't bake the cake [don't trust my baking unless it comes out of a box first] but I did decorate it! Star Wars is one of Dante's favorites and thus R2-D2 was a must! We also kinda ran out of time/fondant when it came to the legs so we just left them mainly bare. Oh well, it was still delicious!

I didn't use a template or whatever, I just have a picture of our little bot and tried to get it as close as I could to him. It was hard but VERY worth it!! Also that silver edible glittery stuff is so much fun to paint with. I can't remember the name/brand we used but... so great! It also made it at least 120% more awesome. He loved it and I was so happy to be able to help him out. We totally surprised him and it was a great moment [especially when we all hid out in his backyard when he came home from work. He didn't know we were there!]

Sonic Quest

Now it might not seem like it but this picture represents the start of one of my quests! I made My Little Whovian and inside of it was this Sonic Screwdriver. For those of you who don't know it is based off the series Doctor Who and the Screwdriver is one of his main gadgets. Some one inquired if they could get just the screwdriver from the book and I made it for them! Thus it is now listed alone in my Etsy shop.

I have decided that since I have created the 10th Doctor's sonic I need to branch out from there. Thus I will be seeing if I can make the other Doctor's toys out of felt as well. A few of them are going to be a challenge, but hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. Also I think it's going to be fun to recreate some of the more classic-Who props!

So as I go on this journey you'll probably be seeing more posts! Also if people are interested in tutorials you might be seeing those as well, yay! Anyway I need to wallow in how much work I have just made for myself and also put the reminder out there that I don't have to do it all at once. Eventually, and even eventually soon, but not in the next few weeks [school kind of takes 1st place on that one]

Soft Baby Block Tutorial

I am going to a baby shower this weekend for a family friend. We're all very excited for her! It's a boy and I just know he is going to be very cute. So I wanted to make something really awesome for the boy coming so I came up with this soft block! With the ABC's and pictures of something that starts with each letter; Apple, Ball, and Cat. Want to know how I made it? Well here you are! My soft block tutorial

First start off by making 6 squares that are the same size. These are 7x7 so the square at the end will be a good pillow side.

Then you put whatever design you want onto the squares. Leave about an inch around the design on each side so when you sew it all together it the designs are still clear.

Then all you need to do is sew the sides together in the T pattern.

Sew together the two ends of the T. It doesn't really matter which way you go as long as it makes a loop like this.

Sew together the rest of the sides so it looks more cube-like! It really starts taking shape at this point.

Make sure to leave a little gap in the cube so you can stuff it into a pillow!

Get your stuffing and stuff it until you're satisfied. I made sure this pillow was a little bit more firm so if he falls over on it he won't get hurt. Then all you have left to do is sew up the side and you are complete! One really cute gift for a baby boy [or girl!]

Broke Girl's Vase

This girl right here is my best friend. I've known her for what seems like forever and she puts up with my crazy self. In fact she even wears ridiculous hats I make her [aka the one on her head.] This means that I love having her around and thus when special occasions come around I wish to make her awesome things! As an artistic type I made her a decorated vase to put her flowers in [She also really likes flowers]

 I decorated it with old colored pencils! She loves to draw and I thought this would be a really cute way to incorporate both of those things she likes. I also used my pocket knife to widdle away the wood so you could see the colors. She's all about the reassembling of peoples ideas of art, so I thought she would enjoy the symbolism.  Also I'm sorry for terrible phone pictures, it was the only camera I had on hand for documenting this project.

 If you too want to make this vase all you need are some old colored pencils and a small mason jar! You can just attach them as is with double sided tape or widdle them down like I did.

 This is what some of the pencils looked like once I took my knife to them. I liked you could see more of the color! I had a huge box in front of me to catch all the shavings. I would have done it outside but it was pouring rain!

Add a rose and wa-la! Vase! I hope she really likes it when I get it to her

Back from Boston

I got back from my trip to Boston, MA and I can tell you I had a complete blast! The weather was nice and cool, unlike it is back here in Texas. We hiked and ate our way through the city! Oh and a few museums, those were really cool too. But I have come to find that Clam Chowder really is better in New England and if you are looking for some of the best cornbread around head over to the Union Oyster House. It's off the Freedom Trail so it would be a hard place to miss.

Mom and I hiked the Freedom Trail in two days, and boy was there lots of it to see! It was also very nice of them to have a legitimate line across Boston proper for us to follow, it meant we didn't get lost and also have a way to navigate ourselves for the rest of the week. Plus we ran into a few people dressed up in period clothing giving tours and that was pretty fun.

The Old North Church was also on the trail and right next to it was a place called Mike's Pastry that had DELICIOUS "Boston Cream Puff"s. Seriously if you ever find yourself in Little Italy make sure you stop by there, the selection is great and everything tastes really good. You will know you are close because you will see everyone carrying a box.

At the end of the trail was the USS Constitution and our Navy guide was awesome and had some great appreciation for the history. Did you know they still take her out about twice a year? They can only go to the end of the bay but the fact the old girl still can move around from time to time is awesome to me. I'd love to be able to get on the ship when those rare times happen.

 We also went to some awesome Museums, and the Aquarium. I didn't get many pictures at the museum [my camera died on me] but did get a few good shots at these sea dwelling creatures. Wish I had more from the Museum of Fine Arts though because their collection was very well done and massive! We literally spent the whole day hiking around from one room to the other. Stayed until they kicked us out. VERY awesome time was had and I'd love to go back one day.

Boston

There were some super-cheap airfares coming out of DFW and my mother looked at me one night and said "Hey Dianna, do you want to go to Boston?" I've barely been up where our country started, except a trip to New York City back when I was a kid, and the only thing I could say after that was "Well DUH!" So we're going to Boston for a week. Just the two of us, which will be a nice change. I love my Dad and Brother, and really and truly do, but sometimes I want them to just go away. My brother tends to complain, extensively, and my Dad does the internal pout if we don't go by what he wants to do.

I had to juggle a few school things, like tests and whatnot, but that's alright. I figured it out and now all I have to do is pack. The flight leaves really early but I'm alright with that, it was only like $50 roundtrip and I can't really expect optimal leaving hours. I'm just happy that I'm going to be able to try some try New England Clam "Chowdah" and some fresh and awesome sea food.

That and the history of the place, which you just kind of bump into every once in a while. I also want to go to the MIT museum they have there. Mom made a joke that since I was single I needed to bring with me a short skirt and my "geeky" Legend of Zelda hoodie to snag a potential boyfriend who would one day be rich and famous. When I scoffed she just smiled and said "Well Harvard is down the street if that doesn't work." Oh Mothers, what would we do without them?

Anyway I will hopefully have some awesome photos when I come back. I can't grab my Dad's super fancy camera but mine will be decent and I know how to use photoshop to clean it all up a bit. This shall be a good week.