we are under construction and spending some time refreshing and being inspired

back soon, i hope!

lem

Taking the rubber bands off to see that design that was created is like opening a bunch of little Christmas presents, a pile of small mysteries.

I decided to tie dye dish towels for my mom and I because:

1. it gave me an excuse to tie dye again and,

2. the small, bright colored towels will brighten up anyone’s kitchen and cooking/cleaning experience, and

3. the random designs and multi-colors will hide any stains that could come your way (in my case a lot of stains)

Materials you will need to do this yourself:

-towels  (I recommend terry cloth because they are better at drying, but anything that is at least 50% cotten should take the dye)

-rubber bands  (I like the fatter ones because I can get them off and reuse them, but any shape or size should work)

-buckets (I have plastic buckets that I use now.  Tin pans work also, but you have to throw them away after each use…)

-dye  (I use Rit dye, they have every color you can imagine and mixing them just makes even more colors)

-salt  (supposedly the salt helps the fabric take the dye better…I just follow the directions and throw some salt in each dye bath)

-gloves  (or you will end up with smurf hands)

-stirrers (I use those wooden paint stirrers you can pick up at the hardware store)

-hot (super hot) water

-washing machine (or your parents washing machine if you don’t have one)

Steps:

1. rubberband each towel with the design you want (when I first started I looked up different designs and ways on youtube)

2. prepare your dye baths: hot hot hot water, salt and dye, mix it up with your stirrer

3. place towel in the dye-bath (the longer you leave the dye soaking in before washing, the more vibrant the color)

4. remove rubberbands and rinse towels in sink until water runs clear (I can never get the water to run totally clear, so I just rinse it for a minute or so)

5. if you have achieved the color/pattern you want, the towel is ready for washing, but you may want to re-wrap it and place in another color for your own design

6. when your towels are done dying, make sure all rubberbands are removed and wash the towels in the washing machine on cold

7. dry them and enjoy!

I may have left out some steps, and I left out about a million photos I took of the process so if you are confused and need some clarification I am here to help!

Happy tie-dying : )

lem

however, if the “weed” is growing somewhere that is belongs or somewhere it is wanted, it doesn’t keep its negative connotation – it is no longer a weed

I guess what they say is true, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but how could anyone think these awesome weeds growing in my front yard are anything but beautiful?  How did God come up with all these crazy, beautiful, intricate things?  And I’m only talking about the weeds…

My dear friend Katie took this lovely picture on one of her many amazing adventures this year, so I HAD to participate in travelingmama‘s challenge, even if it is a very belated entry…

I love the color of the flowers!  And I just started looking closer at the picture and noticed the bridge, with the arches and the stone, now that could make a cool card!  Anyhow, obviously on my card I drew the inspiration pretty literally from the flowers, but I like how it turned out : )

This one’s for you Katie!

lem

I love the colors and the simplicity, it seems like life would be so much less complicated and laid back if I just lived on the beach…

For my card I was inspired by the colors most of all.  I haven’t been using a lot of greens recently and green is my favorite color so I was eager to throw some green in.  I decided to try and draw my version of some islands – this might be how they would look from space…if you were in cartoon space looking down at the cartoon world…

Beach trip anyone?

lem

So…I gave up on the card!  I switched my focus over to another fun thing I love to do instead and made some jewelry!  (I hope that fits in with the guidelines…)

I was inspired by the gorgeous colors first – I only wish my markers came in these colors!  Then I played on the shapes in the photo with the beads I used.  There was the angular design of the orange wall as well as the blue, square shudder that can be translated into the square beads I used – the green and the orange.  Then there were the round shapes in the arch of the doorway and the wreath on the door that are mimicked in the round beads.

Thank you travelingmama and Savitri for the inspiration!  And special thanks to my mom for being my model!

lem

For the {3rd} challenge, the photo came from Amy over at Tethered 2 Home, from a family lake vacation.

My eyes always seem to be drawn to color before anything else, I’m one of those people that picks up a book because I like the color of the binding or the cover, haha.  I especially liked the red and orangy (my computer doesn’t think that orangy is a word, but I’m sticking with it)  colors of the board shorts and that is where I drew my inspiration.

Thank you to everyone for the sweet comments last week on my card – usually my family provides all the comments on my stuff and I think they are a little biased, so it is nice to see what other people think.  And thank you for all the advice on taking photos of my cards – the natural light has been working out way better than my light box.

lem

The inspiration photo comes from Anthonette of Chavez Designs of the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico.

All these travel photos are making me miss traveling!  At least I can live vicariously through other people’s fun trips…

The inspiration I drew from the photo was the colors – browns and blues are some of my favorites!  I also loved the rounded edges on the pueblo – translated into the petal shapes.

I am having some trouble taking photos of my cards – they just don’t come out true to how they really look – any suggestions?  I already use a lightbox, but maybe I need to just shoot them in natural light…?  I’m not sure, but everyone else’s cards come out great in their photos so please pass on your tricks!  (I just switched out my lightbox photo for an outdoor shot and it is SO MUCH BETTER, maybe that’s just what I need to stick with)

lem

I have been needing some inspiration (and desperately needing some time) to get back to my blog this summer, I thought Tina’s fun challenge over at travelingmama.net (I have a link to her blog on the side of the screen…I need to learn how to make it link inside my post!)  After looking at the cards other people created from the inspirational photo I was feeling less confident about mine, but I wanted to share anyhow to get myself out of my no-blog rut.  So, here is my card inspired by Tina’s lovely photo of the Moroccan slippers…

Today was our last day of short course swimming, so of course we had fun day!  And, a day isn’t fun without snacks so I channeled my inner 9 year old and decided we had to make cups of dirt – chocolate dirt, that is.

Cups filled with brownies, chocolate pudding, oreo crumbles, and gummy worms.

When I asked the kids how it was, the chocolate mustache and goatee covered kids replied “it’s aaaaaawwwweeessoommmmeeee!”  I love that, I never get that great of a response when I make stuff for adults, they can always seem to find something to critique.

So, Tuesday starts the long course seasons which means days that start with waking up at 5 am and much colder water than I want to think of.  It should be interesting…

I had some really great photos of the kids and now I can’t find them anywhere!  They were on my camera, then they were on my computer…I don’t know if I accidentally deleted them, but they are missing and I am sad – I can’t retake those photos!

lem