Gold Leaf Bar Glasses

Now that I'm an "adult" I think a lot more about our home as a whole. No longer am I buying lots of random knick-knacks, or the cheapest decor I can find that looks cute. Nowadays I'm on the look out for things to build our life around. The purchases that will stay with us through all our adventures. That being said, we're still newly weds and broke as a joke. I've always loved the the gold dipped look for glasses and goblets, but it wasn't until recently that I realized I may be able to create something similar for myself. While treasure hunting a couple weeks back Ryan and I stumbled upon a couple of mismatched snifter glasses and I decided to try my hand at gold leafing their bases for a similar dipped look. Here's what I did.

For supplies you'll need: Spray adhesive, masking tape, newspaper, clear varnish spray, paint brush, gold leaf, and goblets/glasses/snifters whatever you desire to gold leaf.

Step 1: Grab your glasses and wrap them in newspaper. Make sure to tape off the ends, and double check no glasses is showing through. You don't want any spray adhesive getting on the glass bowl.

Note: I scraped off the gold paint from the second glass before covering in gold leaf, it made the glasses look more cohesive.

Step 2: Pull out a couple of sheets of gold leaf, you'll need to work fast so it's best to have it ready to use immediately after spraying.

Step 3: Spray the base of your glass (outside somewhere) with the adhesive, and quickly bring it back to your workspace.

Step 4: Pull off a small strip of gold leaf, and lay it on to the base of your glass. Using the paintbrush gently brush it down and smooth the edges.

Step 5: Continue placing strips of gold leaf around the base, smoothing and brushing until the entire base is covered.

Step 6: Let everything sit for a minute or two. Now, with the tip of your finger gently rub the gold leaf, knocking off any rough edges and giving it the slight appearance of wear.

Step 7: Spray with the clear varnish and let it set for at least an hour. It's important to note that you'll need to be very gentle when washing the glasses in the future, and they should not under any circumstances be put in a dishwasher.

Voila, our .75 cent glasses now look like a million bucks, and I'm a happy wife. I love that I can continue gold leafing the additional snifters we find in the future to make a full set. This would make a great gift for friends or family getting married. The ideas are really endless. Happy crafting. big kiss, bekuh

Lacy Clutch DIY

I'm so excited about this DIY for two reasons. One this involves updating a vintage item that would have otherwise been thrown out; two it combines both my love of crafting and vintage in a super practical, and pretty way. What more could a girl want out of a project, am I right? I think you'll like this project too because there are a lot of faux leather purses to be had in thrift stores and a lot of them are in need of a facelift. So here you go, a remade clutch lacy DIY.

I really liked the lace for this project because it covered the flaws, without completely obstructing the design of the purse, but that being said you could easily substitute the lace for a pretty patterned fabric too. My lace and trim came off the bottom of a dress I was restyling so this whole DIY cost me less than $5. You'll need less than a half yard of fabric to cover a clutch or handbag similar in size to mine. Woo hoo.

Step 1: Open the flap of the clutch and drape the lace around the main body of your handbag, making sure that there is excess lace around all of the edges.

Step 2: Cut your lace so that there's at least 1/4 inch excess around the tops, and side of the clutch. 

Step 3: Now grab your lace trim and using the clutch as a guide measure and cut pieces for the tops, and sides of the handbag with at least 1/4 inch excess, like you did with the lace. Set aside.

Step 4: Rub off any dust or dirt from the purse to prep it for the spray adhesive. Take everything outside.

Step 5: Covering the inside flap and button with scrap paper or newspaper spray the front of clutch with the spray adhesive. Let it set for about 10 seconds and then apply the lace to the front, smoothing and realigning as you go. Don't worry about covering the button, you can trim that out later. Repeat on the backside, making sure to remove any bubbles, or creases before the glue completely sets.

Step 6: Let the spray adhesive set under the lace for at least a half hour before continuing.

Step 7: Using your scissors trim off the excess lace around the edges of your handbag, as close to the handbag as possible without cutting into it. Also carefully cut around the button, if your scissors won't work try an exacto blade.

Step 8: Grab your lace trim and liquid stitch. Draw a line of glue along one side, pressing the lace trim slightly over the edge, covering up where you trimmed the excess off.

Step 9: Repeat along all four sides of the lace covering.

Step 10: Where the lace trim meets in the corners cut off any excess, and round the corners to finish the trim. Let the lace set for about a half hour.

Step 11: Enjoy your "new" clutch ready for use.

I'm pretty much obsessed with this project, and love my clutch for date nights, and girly nights out. I've already used it in an outfit post on My Modern Vintage! I really want to try this on all of my handbags, but it would probably be over kill, no? I hope you enjoy this project! big kiss, bekuh

PS- Don't forget to enter the $25 Anthropologie gift card giveaway!

My Bike, Lolita

Guys I have the best news! I finished my bike this past weekend, and I love her sooooo much. I've decided my green beauty with her red name plate just has to be called Lolita. It fits her no? This has been one of the longest DIY projects I've ever undertaken and the time, and patience required to do it really paid off in the end. I almost didn't share this post with you because the lovely Kaylah painted her bike the exact same color, and it looked so good. But, you know what I've been planning this since March, it has been a huge part of my summer to-do list, and I'm proud of what I've done so who cares if another blogger had a similar idea? You can see the first part of this project here.

   

I finally settled on spray painting the bike celery green, with cream accents. The light green and cream really accentuated the buttery brown seat and handle bars I'd bought, and made the chrome details really pop. The first step was taking the bike apart, which I did ALL by myself. I made a point to put all of the nuts and bolts in a special tray to avoid losing them in my tool box.

Next I taped, covered, and bagged anything I didn't want to prime or paint and went to town. Priming ended up taking a lot longer than I'd initially planned because of our daily afternoon showers. After priming I lightly sanded everything with a really fine grade sandpaper and wiped it clean. Then it was time to pull out the pretty paint. 

I worked in sections, painting the front side and then the back side, letting each coat dry a full 24 hours before working on the next. I had to sand some areas a couple of times to get the finish as smooth as possible. All in all I used 1.5 cans of the celery green and probably did a total of three solid coats on the bike. After I finished painting the green I painted the chain cover and back rack cream. Once the final layer dried I applied two coats of clear varnish to seal everything and make the bike shine.

Once I was sure that the bike was ready to go I asked for Ryan's help to ensure that I didn't scrape off hours of work reassembling it myself. We reattached the chain, tires, and added the front basket and back rack to balance everything out. I love love love the way Lolita works and I've already given her a twirl in the neighborhood. The only thing not pictured is my goofy white helmet I wear to keep my brain in tact.

Have any of you recently finished a huge project that seemed to last forever? Anyone out there refinished a bike? I'd love for you to link through to your summer projects, so I can see what everyone has been up to. big kiss, bekuh

A Hobo Dinner on Our "Fire Pit"

It's no secret that Ryan and I love good food and the outdoors, I talk about it all the time. So it shouldn't catch any of you off guard when I say we loooovvve to cook outdoors. There is little else in life that can bring as much pleasure as food cooked over an open fire. Unfortunately Ryan and I don't own a fire pit, or land to build one, but "necessity" is the mother of all invention and we decided to make a "faux" pit out of our charcoal grill in order to make Hobo dinners one night. What are Hobo dinners you ask? Read on and find out.

Ryan is my resident master fire builder and I usually leave the grilling to him. I was able to help by walking with him behind our house collecting sticks for the fire. We filled a bucket full of smaller sticks, and carried a few smaller logs to chop down into grill sized chunks. In less than an hour we had a nice hot bed of embers and a roaring fire to make our dinners on.

For our hobo dinner packs we used turkey kielbasa, potatoes, kale, onion, salt & pepper, paprika, garlic cloves, and olive oil. Roughly chop everything and make sure it gets a good coating of oil and seasonings before closing the aluminum foil. Once the packs are made you just toss them into the fire.

Make sure that your packs are sealed tight, you don't want the oil to leak out, or your veggies to tumble into the embers. Cook the packs on each side for about 20 minutes, 40 minutes total, and voila dinner is served. The hardest part is resisting the urge to check inside the packs, don't do it! You have to let all the yummy ingredients steam and cook in merriment.

For a touch of class I brought out our nice plates and cloth napkins to serve. Ice cold beer is the perfect beverage to go with this dinner (if you're asking my opinion). We love enjoying a simple meal together outdoors. big kiss, bekuh

PS- If you haven't already, you should click around on my right sidebar. There are a lot of amazing bloggers, waiting for you to find them, hanging out in that space.

Dip Dyed Ombre Totes

I'm pretty excited about today's DIY post, because not only was this super easy to do, but the totes are the perfect catch-all size for everyday messes. Whether you need a bag for carrying produce or your favorite beach reads this will be your new favorite summer staple. Today I'm going to show you how to make a dip-dyed ombre tote bag. Are you ready?

First you'll need to collect your supplies. You'll need: rubber gloves (or latex)//medium sized tote(s)//dye, I used Dylon but RIT also works//salt//water//stainless steel sink or bucket//measuring cup//plastic spoon or spatula//timer

To complete two totes it took 2 hours, but I had to dye each separately. If you can do two at a time it will only take 1hour. I just followed the instructions on the back of the dye pouch, with the exception of the amount of stirring they recommend, but I'll let you know when I'm steering away from their suggested steps.

The first step is to dissolve the dye in four cups of warm water, you don't want to use the sink yet, so grab a bucket or a stainless steel bowl to use. Next you'll want to fill the sink with warm water until the tote floats freely in the water. Submerge the tote and then wring it out so that it's only damp and not dripping. Next you'll scoop 4 tbsp of salt into the sink water and stir to dissolve, add the dissolved dye and stir again until everything is combined in the sink.

At this point, if you haven't already, put on your rubber gloves and pick up your tote bag. This is where my instructions veer a little away from what the dye pouch suggested; instead of continuously mixing for the first fifteen minutes I just let the dye do its thing. I dipped my tote until about half of it was covered in dye, bobbing up and down and then I let it sit for fifteen minutes. I used the measuring cup to hold the tote out of the dye mixture slightly.

After fifteen minutes I stirred the dye a little more and pulled the bag out of the dye letting it drip out. I then replaced the bottom 1/4 of the bag in the dye and again used the measuring cup to hold it out of the sink. Set the timer again, this time for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. By not mixing the dye continuously it helped create a more subtle ombre effect, with the edges being slightly bluer than the bottom portions of the bag.

After your 45 minutes are up, pick the bag up out of the dye and let it drip out, carry the tote to your tub or another sink to rinse. You'll rinse first in cold water and then wash the entire thing in warm water. I did all of this by hand but you could definitely use a washing machine for the second part.

Once you've washed your totes hang them to dry, away from any light. I used my pantry and turned the lights off. It took about 24 hours for the bags to dry completely, and the dye should be permanently set at this point. For clean up I suggest washing everything separate from your normal dishes in case there is any excess dye lingering around. I drained my sink, rinsed it out and then used a little cleaner and steel wool to clean it thoroughly. It sounds like a lot of clean up but it only took about 5 minutes.

I decided to create two versions of the ombre tote, one from the top down and the other from the bottom up. I loved how they both turned out and I'm already using them for grocery shopping. I hope you enjoyed today's DIY as much as I enjoyed creating it. Please let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help. Have a merry Wednesday friends. big kiss, bekuh

Instagram Magnets DIY

Oops I kinda forgot to write the instructions down for this at first. Forgive me, haha. This DIY is so simple the pictures kind of speak for themselves! You only need a few supplies to create these Instagram magnets. I either had all of these supplies or found them at Michaels, you should be able to buy everything from your local craft/art store.

Supplies:

Magnet sheet

Cardstock

Spray Adhesive

Scissors/Utility Knife

Rule

Printer

Instagram images

To make my sheet of instagram pictures I used the contact sheet function on Photoshop and sized all of the images to be 2x2", you could also just create the sheet yourself by re-sizing all of the squares to be 2x2" and then arranging them on an 8x10" sheet of paper. Another option for those non-instagram people would be to  crop your own images into squares and then re-size them according to the instructions above.

You will want to print these out on card stock. Once your contact sheet is printed simple place the images on top of your magnet sheet to ensure correct placement. I had to cut off the bottom row to get my to fit correctly. You'll want to take the images and magnet sheet outside to use the spray adhesive, that stuff gets on everything! Spray the back of the cardstock and carefully smooth your images down on the non-magnetized side of the magnet sheet. Let this sit for a couple of minutes to ensure it's completely adhered.

Next you'll want to pull out your utility knife and ruler and cut away. I highly recommend using a cutting board or piece of cardboard to cut on, you don't want to scratch up your table, or floor, or dresser, or...whatever you craft on.

Once your little intstagram magnets are all cut out you can decorate your fridge in style. I'm loving the way this has personalized our kitchen space and I definitely think I will be making more of these in the future! I hope you enjoyed today's DIY, now go out and make yourself some.big kiss, bekuh

Wedding Week: The Flowers

I've known since I was a little girl that when it came to the flowers for my wedding the rule would be the wilder the better. I'd always envisioned myself walking down the aisle with my hands full of flowers that I'd just picked from a field somewhere. My adult self was reasonable and decided to order the flowers rather than risk waiting to pick them the day of the wedding. Though you'd never know by the looks of them. 

I decided to order my flowers off the internet at Fifty Flowers and my mom, sister, a family friend, and myself put together the arrangements the thursday before the wedding. The bridesmaids and I myself made our bouquets on the Friday before the wedding; we had a selection of over ten types of flowers to choose from but I kept the colors simple so they all looked like they belonged together. Overall I think we achieved the wild, flower filled vision of my childhood to a tee. big kiss, bekuh


(All pictures taken by Ryan Browning and edited by Rebekuh Powers, unless otherwise noted)