Go big or go home... Rit Dyed Sheets

I have a big bottle of Black and a couple packages of Pearl Gray Rit Dye for awhile now. I have scoured blogs for folks who have used it, looked on the Rit Dye website for tips and tricks, and stared at this bottle longing for the courage to just do it! I didn't want to start small, I mean, why dip your toe in when you can just dive right in and get the possible initial shock out of the way, right?!

We used to have a king size bed, but it took up too much room in our bedroom so we downsized to a queen. We have some king sized sheets left over that I have some plans for but they were a taupe color and I wanted them to be gray. To match everything else in our room.

My husband is so supportive! He helped me and stuck around the whole time, saying, "You are crazy, you really do some crazy things and I like that." haha! Thanks, babe! We decided that dying them in the washing machine ran the risk of our other clothing getting stained and we were not so interested in that. We decided to do the bucket method using a huger Rubbermaid container that held some of my bags out in the garage. We followed the tips and tricks on the website referencing the bucket method and here is documentation of our shenanigans:

Here is the color of the sheets before they were dyed:

Here they are sopping wet in our "bucket"

Here David is measuring out the water with a left over bottle that he had from some washer fluid.

I seriously worked up a little sweat churning and stirring these sheets in the dye bath for half an hour!

We rinsed them with the garden hose...

Here is Mr. P all wrapped up in our new gray sheet!!

This photo really gives the best portrayal of the color.

All in all, I'd use Rit again, it was super duper exciting and I kinda felt like a teenager out past her curfew. This large amount of fabric was a little challenging, but I adore the color. The gray is even on the sheets for the most part, on the fitted sheet there are a couple patches where the color is a bit darker, I'm not too sure what happened, maybe I didn't stir the dye up well enough in the beginning?? I don't really think this will affect the over all project though. I am one happy camper and I'm ready to get onto the next phase of this little project. Stay tuned.

Have you ever dyed anything fun with Rit?

Inspiration for the day: Do something big, especially if it scares you. The reward or the lesson will be greater than you ever imagined! xo

Lauren D.

We Made Butter :)

My bonus daughters were here this past weekend, and it was a really great visit. 

We made butter!

 I found a recipe on pinterest where you pour whipping cream into a jar with marbles and shake, shake, shake... but that was taking way too long and as I mention in almost every post... I'm impatient!!

I poured our whipping cream in the blender and blended it on the highest setting. I could feel it getting thicker and thicker as it separated, it took a couple minutes. It was really cool to watch.

We let the butter set for a couple minutes while the buttermilk continued to separate and sink to the bottom. 

We then drained out the buttermilk. Do this carefully, our butter actually dumped out onto the counter, no one minded though.

We then washed the butter. What?! We poured ice cold water over the butter into the blender and blended for about a minute, then poured the water out and dumped the butter into a small strainer for the rest of the water to drain out of the butter. Washing your butter is supposed to make it keep longer.

We tossed our butter into a bowl and mixed in some sea salt.

Here's what we got!

We made cookies and popcorn with our homemade butter!

We will definitely do this again!

Delicious Healthy Chocolate Dessert Smoothie!

I always feel guilty that my little guy is allergic to everything under the sun! 

I want him to know chocolate :) 

We both really enjoy smoothies and I always take it as an opportunity to incorporate a little chocolate into our diets with out the refined sugars, I also like to throw in some sort of green veggie for an extra little boost.

So here is what I came up with and it was a huge hit!

1.5 sliced frozen banana

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 C frozen blueberries

2 stalks kale torn (stem removed)

about 2 C organic rice milk (enough to cover other ingredients)

Blend away...

And serve!

Here is Mr. P enjoying his chocolate smoothie:

I enjoyed it just as much too!

How do you get your picky eater to mow veggies?

 xoxox

Lauren

Twenty "dine" napkins :)

Where have I been?

I have 8 million projects that I'd like to complete! It seems that whenever I get busy, my mind starts going nuts with ideas. Do you have that experience too? 

I have mentally designed about 15 different styles of napkins and I am thrilled about it, I tell ya!

Back to the original question, where have I been?

I have been scavenging this city for old beautiful linen, cutting, stitching and hand block inking an order of 20 of my dine napkins! I am so excited about this order for a lovely etsy customer. This project has really pushed me in many aspects, it has challenged me and I have learned a ton in the process. 

You see, this is the first time I have made these(entirely by hand!) that I have overcast the edges myself. It took about 6 trial and errors to really zero in on the look and feel that I wanted. I feel like this is an incredible milestone for my brand and business. I had no idea that this order would turn into this and I am so grateful for this order/customer/challenge. I am proud of my business, my very hard work, and the support of my patient and adoring husband. 

I wanted to post this as a blog to share this accomplishment with you as well as to inspire you to push through the project(s) that you are working on or wish to accomplish. Go forth and conquer! You can finish it!

These napkins have become so popular that upon completing this order I received another order for four more! I'm feeling a dine napkin giveaway in the very near future ;) stay tuned for that!

Here are photos!

Because sometimes your table wants to feel pretty too!

The amazing thing about handmade is how authentic each piece is!

Isn't linen so refreshing!

Keep checking in with my blog/shop/Facebook , I'm on a roll and there are many designs that I'll be releasing in the near future!

If you're interested in some dine napkins, I'd love to make some for you! Just leave a comment and make sure that you leave your email address. If you follow my blog or Be Sweetly Inspired on Facebook, I'll give you a coupon code. (*wink, wink*)

I'll be giving away 2 dine napkins soon, so keep checking in! (Near future!) 

Please tell me about something you have accomplished that was challenging that really fulfilled you?!

Seafood Chowder- in the crockpot!!!

There have been times that I have felt like all I do is work in the kitchen. It's so lame when David gets home and one of us entertains Mr. P while the other one cooks then we with off to clean. After P goes to bed we get about an hour of each other's company then hit the sack. We are in love. We must have more quality time than that! 

I posted a status on Facebook asking what people did to cut back on time in the kitchen. I heard of companies that meal plan for you, freezer cooking, cooking in jars for the week, once a week food prep and... the crockpot!

David and I received a crock pot as a wedding gift and had only used it once or twice. I decided it was time to dust it off and do some lazy lady cooking on my busy days (Monday & Wednesday). While this is not the only or permanent solution we came up with, it really is taking care of some business!

We have made some ok things, but this Seafood Chowder was the absolute best, so I must share it!

I found the recipe for the seafood chowder here at A Year of Slow Cooking. 

But as always, a recipe is only a suggestion, so I changed it to suit our likes/needs/wants/inventory!

This is what I came up with:

4 cups of water and 2 veggie bullion cubes

5 or 6 yukon gold potatoes (more than original recipe)

1 cup of frozen corn

1/2 sweet onion (we now chop ours at the beginning of the week and store in jars!)

2 stalks of celery chopped- although I'd add more next time since it isn't strong tasting at the end

handful of baby carrots

1 tsp garlic powder

3 cloves of chopped garlic (I wanted more garlic flavor, but didn't have time to cut a whole bunch so I stopped at 3 and added the garlic powder)

1 swai filet left over in the freezer

3 small filets of... was that tilapia? frozen

I think the point I'm making is that you'll add some sort of deboned white fish but it really doesn't matter what kind. Throw all of these ingredients in the crock pot and add a little salt and pepper "to taste" although, like most things I just guessed ;) 

Cook on low for however long, 6 hours or so.

30 minutes before serving add:

1 bag Frozen shrimp (without tails!)

1 cup heavy whipping cream or even half and half

so. freakin'. good.

It kind of looks like there is butter in it, but there is not. That's the veggie broth.

Sad it's all been eaten...

Look at all of those potatoes!!!

hope you make it and enjoy it!

What is your favorite crock pot meal?

My little sewing nook- and cabinet glazing love!

I have something very romantic to share with you today!

I have been procrastinating on posting this blog. Why? Maybe I really love my nook and I am worried what other folks will think of it? Because I took a ton of photos that will be in this post? Maybe because the painting and treatment of this gorgeous cabinet took so long that I am ready to be finished with it? haha

Our bedroom has needed some attention for awhile. We got a Baby Lock Tempo sewing machine as a wedding gift and I have been doing my stitching in our bedroom with out a proper way to store my fabric, scraps and current projects. It was so hideous that I did not take a before photo. I'm pretty bad about that. Just imagine the finished space with out the cabinet and with fabric, thread, pins etc all over the place!

We measured the wall above my sewing table, then I went to my favorite place, The Rebuilding Center and purchased a cabinet for $10. There was really nothing special about it. There were no shelves in it either, so we grabbed 2 melamine shelves that had to be cut to fit for only $2! I love that place!

Here are the before photos:

Y'all know how impatient I am, I didn't get a photo of the cabinet with the door still on. Glad I caught myself to take the before photos after I'd taken all of the hardware off.

It is really just a basic white cabinet, the sides are laminate. Hmmm I'd never finished laminate furniture before, but I figured it would be about the same as everything else since I planned to sand and prime everything anyway.

This is my inspiration piece!! 

(source)

It looks very romantic doesn't it?!

Here is a list of my supplies:

$10 cabinet and $2 shelves from Rebuilding center

320 grit (fine sand paper)

Foam roller

Foam brush

Scrap cotton fabric

Synthetic Bristled paint brush (I LOVE my Purdy Brushes!)

Kilz Primer

Sherwin Williams Summit Gray (or Behr)

Americana Mississippi Mud

Americana Glazing Medium

Minwax Polyacrylic 

Here are my supplies in all their glory:

1. I sanded my cabinet with 320 grit (very fine) sandpaper then primed it with 2 coats of Kilz. It takes a little under an hour for a coat to dry, so I was able to do this part one day during nap time :)

2. I wanted it to be in the same color scheme as the gray on the accent wall in our bedroom. So I decided that would be the base color. It is called Summit Gray by Sherwin Williams, but fortunately you can get it Home Depot at the fraction of the cost. Please see the photo above of the info sticker. This is the best gray I have ever found, there is no blue or purple in it. 

I slapped on 2 (or was it 3?) coats of Summit Gray. I sanded in between coats with my fine sand paper; it's worth it! I wanted all of my paint to cure before I started layering on all the glaze so I let it sit about 3 days. It was so. hard. to. wait...

3. I then knew that I wanted it to be shimmery, but not too metallic/silvery looking. I decided on Folk Art Metallic Pearl White, photographed above, and just crossed my fingers that it would give the look I wanted that I wanted. And it did :)

I mixed the Pearl White with the Glazing medium according to the instructions on the back of the glazing bottle, although I used less water to thin it out because I like to live on the edge ;)

4. I rolled this glaze mixture onto my cabinet with my foam roller and got in the little nooks with my foam brush. Once the first coat dried, it wasn't shimmery enough for me so I applied a second coat.

5. I wanted a little more texture. The shimmery was beautiful, but I wanted a slightly hammered look. I lightly sanded over the dried shimmery glazing treatment. Holding my breath that I didn't get this far and have to start all over. It looked great! Sigh of relief. I kinda fly by the seat of my pants on these things.

6. I mixed the Mississippi Mud with the glazing medium according to the package and I'm pretty sure I followed the directions this time :P

With my foam brush, I ran this mixture into all of the cracks and creases of my cabinet and dabbed it with my cotton cloth. This is a pretty tedious process and I did it two times over the cabinet. 

I also applied some of the Mud Glaze to the four corners of my cabinet door and patted them until they faded in toward the center, like the drawer fronts in my inspiration photo. I liked this so much that I then did it on the sides of the cabinets and so on. Dabbing with the foam brush and patting with the cotton cloth... I got a little too into it. I decided to leave it alone, let it dry and come back to check it out.

I loved it and didn't do any more!

7. I applied the polyacrylic all over with my paint brush, waited for it to dry according to the can's instructions, applied another coat, then waited for it to cure for three days! I could not wait for my hubs to get home from work on that third day so he could hang it on the wall!!!!

I just attached the old hardware back onto it until I could decide on a handle that I likes better.

Annnnnnnd here she is:

Oh I just love this addition to our bedroom and my sewing space! 

The photos don't even do her any justice!

All of my reclaimed linens have a home on the top shelf!

In this close up photo, you can see the texture and glazing treatment better.

This is the old scuffed up handle that came on the cabinet, I just haven't decided what handle to put on it yet. Now I want to do this to all of our bedroom furniture. Will I have the patience?

These are three handles that I picked up at the Rebuilding Center.

These handles can also be painted any color I'd like!

Help a sister out:

Which handle do you think I should put on the cabinet: A, B, or C?

What color do you think I should make the handle?

Antiquing Wire Baskets

I realized when I was talking photos of these beauties that I am really into making new things look old and old things look new! I Have been looking for something that is not too intrusive to go onto the gallery wall in our entry way that will hold our mail. I found these baskets at Marshalls and loved the rustic look of them:

But the words on them were silly, so I sanded them off.

And now they hold fruits and veggies in our Expedit room divider.

I decided I wanted something similar looking in our entry to hold in coming and out going mail. I found these wire baskets in the bathroom section in Ikea and immediately thought they'd be perfect! Well, with a little sanding and staining :)

They were only $2.99 each! Ya can't beat that with a stick!

Here they are!

Cute, right?!

Here is a before meets after shot.

Up close you can see the spots that have been sanded. I used very coarse sand paper first, then went over it with very fine sandpaper, about 320 grit. The key is to not get all perfectionist on it.

I then took a sponge brush and dabbed on brown stain making sure to get in all of the little creases. I let it dry over night then sprayed it with Rustoleum crystal clear enamel to seal them.

Look how stark this baby was before I showed it a little love and attention. The white is great for perhaps a darker wall, or a different space. But I love the contrast of the aged basket to the cream color of my light wall. It looks more like art.

Now all they need are labels!

How do you store your incoming and outgoing mail?

I linked up!

Friday:

Simply Designing

Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

The Shabby Nest

Saturday:

Funky Junk Interiors