Month: March 2014

DIY Bleach Fringe Crop Top

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Hello World,

Are you heading to Coachella or any fun festivals this year? Maybe you just love the fashion from these events, like I do. My style is usually a little edgier, but in the summer I do like to embrace my inner flower child, and throw in some boho pieces. And I might have a weakness for anything with fringe. Every time I go thrifting, I search for a white leather, fringe jacket- like the one Lana Del Rey wears in “Born to Die.”

I made the fringe top below with a $1.80 Forever21 tank top, but this could totally be done with a shirt you already own.

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1. Gather your supplies: bleach, a container partially filled with water, a tank top, paintbrush, scissors, and cardboard.

2. Slide your cardboard into your shirt, so the bleach doesn’t bleed through inconsistently.

3. If you use straight bleach on your shirt, it might eat right through the fabric. Dilute it by first adding a tablespoon to half a cup of water. If that is too weak, add more bleach. Also be sure to do this project in a well-ventilated area.

4. Dip your brush in your diluted bleach, and start ‘painting’ your design on your shirt. Tip: draw your design smaller than you desire, the bleach with spread slightly. That’s why my cheetah spots are a little bloated.

5. Continue until you have painted out your entire design. If you want spots brighter, you can go over them again with more bleach.

6. Cut the bottom hem off your shirt.

7. Cut up towards the top of your tank, in either half inch or quarter inch sections. Make your fringe as long or short as you want.

8. Once you have completely cut your fringe pieces, gently pull on each string so it curls up on itself.

9. Tie a knot at the base of each fringe piece if you want your fringe pieces to be skinny all the way up.

10. You can leave your tank like this, or create a crisscross pattern like I did. I just knotted each fringe piece with its neighbor.

11. I did this a second time by tying each fringe piece again with its neighbor. You could continue all the way to the bottom if you wanted a weaved look.

12. Trim any pieces that seem a little too long. Pop that baby on and twirl around- you know you want to. 🙂

Happy Crafting!

Chevron Friendship Bracelets

Hello World,

I’m back! I was having server issues for the last week, and finally have my blog back up again. Not going to lie, I was feeling a little sad last week as I had so many DIY ideas, and didn’t have my blog to post them on. While my DIY ideas were homeless, I did make some fun friendship-style bracelets, and they are now for sale on my Etsy shop.

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Summertime Chevron Chain Friendship Bracelet

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Pink Ombre Chevron Chain Friendship Bracelet

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Blue Ombre Chevron Chain Friendship Bracelet

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I think they are so fun! Now that I have made a few of them, I am getting so much faster at weaving. At first, I had to dig into my preteen brain to remember how to make a friendship bracelet. And since they have chain and close with a lobster clasp, you don’t have to cut them off like a traditional friendship bracelet.

 

Sweet Irish Soda Bread

Hello World,

Welcome to my first post on my new layout! You probably notice that now I am on my own domain instead of a blogspot address. All past blog posts have been migrated over to this new site, and I am currently working on the “tutorials” page. Favorite part of this new design? The design is responsive! Responsive design is design that adapts to the device and browser width. So instead of chopping off the side of my site on a smartphone anymore, everything scales to size.

Now onto the title of this post, sweet irish soda bread! St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, and my heritage is mostly Irish and Italian. In celebration of my Irish roots, I wanted to share my family’s irish soda bread recipe:

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Ingredients:

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
  • 4 tablespoons of softened butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1.5 cups buttermilk (or make your own by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar to milk)
  • 2 cups raisins
  • Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top once cooled.
  • Optional add-ins: dried cranberries, grated lemon or orange rind, poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a ceramic casserole dish, or glass loaf pans. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Spoon into greased baking dish(es). Bake for 45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean.

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This sweet Irish soda bread is delicious all by itself, or you can do what I do and spread butter on it.

moss_in_a_teacup

I went strolling around my yard the other day, and found moss growing all over the back of my barn. I picked some off and repotted it in this cute thrift store tea cup. I think it looks like a little slice of Ireland.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!