My New Cross Stitch Phone Case

Posted in craft, diy by peppermintsandhoneybees

So I’m kinda bad at finishing things I started sometimes, or things I haven’t started in this case! I bought this phone case from Rue 21 about a year ago because I knew I could do a cool DIY with it, also it was only about $1 on sale. It came with some patterns but I made up my own and really like the way it came out! I was able to find some of these cross stitch template cases on Amazon made by Coats and Clark if you are interested. I was only able to find some for 5 and 4 and no other brand of phone but you might be able to find some if you search. If you make one send me a picture so I can see!

20Dec2014

Bleaching and Dyeing Bottle Brush Trees

Posted in diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve been seeing lots of bottle brush trees all over Pinterest this Christmas season and love all of the different colors. I love the vintage-looking scenes that can be set up with bottle brush trees and I’ve always preferred to decorate with pastels and bright colors instead of the usual red and green themes. I had some bottle brush trees left over from the snow globes I made last year and also bough a bag of small bleached trees from Michaels.

I bleached the trees I had that were green with the intention of dyeing them after I was done but was pleasantly surprised when the trees I had from last year turned light pink before bleaching completely and the one green tree I had bought this year turned a light mint bluish-green. Since this was the colors I wanted to dye them I left them this color and then fully bleached a few.

I used my hurricane glass vase to bleach because I wanted something that was tall and narrow to stick the trees is, normally I wouldn’t use my good glass but ya know, use what you have! I used 1/3 bleach to 2/3 water in the glass and used tongs to dip them in. It really didn’t take long for them to start bleaching and I swished them around in the bleach water to help with the tongs, just wear rubber gloves and be careful. After I bleached the trees I soaked them in soapy water to get the bleach off.

Most of the tutorials I read said to use Rit dye to dye, or food coloring or cool-aid would also probably work, but I used this spray on dye by SEI Tumble Dye that I already had. I love this because it is already made and you can just spray it on, it’s perfect for small dye jobs and comes it tons of colors. You can find it at craft stores or online at www.shopsei.com.

I also touched up the happy accident trees a bit with the spray dye and mixed a bit with water in a spray bottle to get different shades. On the biggest tree I sprayed a couple different colors for an airbrushed ombre effect. That was another reason I used the spray, for the ombre effect, but if you’re going for one solid color, I’d recommend the dip dye method.

I love how they turned out, and I also sprayed a bottle brush wreath I found at Joanne Fabric! Show me yours on Instagram with the hashtag #peppermintsandhoneybees.

Happy Holidays!

6Apr2014

How to make an old apartment a little less ugly

Posted in Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

I’ve lived in quite a few apartments now in my 26 years, ever since college I’ve pretty much moved every year or so at the end of my lease, and have not been lucky enough to own my own home, but I believe in making the best of what you have. We spent all of last summer looking for a house or townhouse to rent and after getting no where, (we live in a very expensive area where nothing stays available for long) we settled on our current apartment. It has lots of space and two patios, but is older and not as nice as our last that was tiny and had no outdoor space at all. I wasn’t thrilled but after I got my own stuff in and started to find what worked where I began to change my mind. I’ve learned a few tricks over the year, and here are a couple.

…and my owl collection

I’ve lived in apartments before that have the phone jack right up on the wall which I will never use. Ben and I just have cell phones and most people I know don’t have land lines either. My solution to this ugly thing on the wall is to put up a vintage phone. It is a phone jack after all! I was lucky enough to acquire a box of old phones when my uncle moved into a house that had been abandoned for quite a while, but they can also be found at antique stores or on Etsy.

Another thing I didn’t like about the apartment was the huge intercom and ancient thermostat. My solution to this was to hide them a little with lots of small frames around them, so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb quite as bad.

White walls are boring but I don’t always mind because then I can add whatever colors to a room that I want. Decorating should be fun and I’m still getting things to look how I want. I’ll probably never be done, but that’s half the fun!

Let me know if you have more ideas, cheers!