There will be some new things coming once this big order is completed! In the meantime, be sure to check out my shop, and remember, I can create custom deer plushies for you as well, just check out my Custom listing on Etsy!
29.4.11
UnicArmy Trooper...
Been working hard on this army of Unicorns these past few weeks! They are just about ready to be shipped back out to Shana Logic as a re-stock! The others sold so well last time, so I am excited about getting these ones back up there for sale!
There will be some new things coming once this big order is completed! In the meantime, be sure to check out my shop, and remember, I can create custom deer plushies for you as well, just check out my Custom listing on Etsy!
There will be some new things coming once this big order is completed! In the meantime, be sure to check out my shop, and remember, I can create custom deer plushies for you as well, just check out my Custom listing on Etsy!
18.4.11
How To Dye Buttons
I ran into a dilemma last week. I was completely out of a specific colour of buttons and I needed some ASAP! After frantically searching the internet for the exact same buttons (same size, same colour, same shape) I came out empty handed.
I was at my wits end when I decided that the only route to take would be to dye some existing buttons I had in a different colour that were the exact same shape and size. After doing some research, I found out that RIT dye was pretty much the only dye that would work on plastic buttons properly.
Then came my adventure to find said dye in my little town. Five stops and 4 phone calls later... thanks to stores directing me to other stores, who directed me to other stores... I finally found my RIT dye! As luck would have it (eyeroll), they didn't have the colour I needed, but I managed to grab a couple of alternate colours to mix.
When I got home I started on it. Before I begin my little tutorial though, I wanted to explain some things I learned as I was attempting this. The directions I was going by said to mix the dye with hot water and let the buttons sit in it for 2 to 5 minutes. So I did this. And nothing really happened. The buttons changed colour only slightly and after about 5 attempts with different dye-to-water ratios, I was about to call it a bust. That's when I started thinking about the "hot water" step. There was some reason that the water had to be hot... so I started over with the goal of making the solution BOILING HOT and keeping it that way until the buttons were done. Well, guess what... it WORKED AMAZINGLY! On to the tutorial...
You will need:
Step One
Prepare your area with newspaper because things are gonna get messy! Wear some rubber gloves to protect your hands. Then grab some white or lightly coloured buttons. Mine were a very light pink:
Step Two
Line a bowl or a mug with tinfoil. Use a dish that you don't care about, because it WILL get dye on it. Unfortunately there was little way around this even when lined with tinfoil. I decided to use tinfoil to help "trap" the heat.
Step Three
Take a plastic microwaveable bowl and fill it with water. Pop it into the microwave for about 2 minutes or until you can actually see it boiling. This is SO important that you have the hottest water! Be careful taking it out!
Step Four
Grab your Rit dye! Pour the boiling water into your tinfoil lined mug or dish. Add your dye. I used about a tablespoon for a mug full of water. Your buttons will be darker if you add more dye, or lighter if you add more water. I used green and navy dyes to make a dark teal shade.
Step Five
Add your buttons to the mix, and stir! If you can, try to keep the buttons separated because I noticed that if you have a lot of buttons in there at once, and they clump together, you get weird un-dyed bits of pattern on some of them.
Step Six
Cover your boiling hot mug or dish with another piece of tinfoil. I did this to "trap" in the heat. Leave the buttons for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to mix them around a bit.
Step Seven
When they get to a shade you like, pull them out with a plastic spoon! Rinse them all off under cold water with a little dish soap.
VOILA!
New buttons!! Give it a try and let me know if it worked for you! Just remember: heat is the key! I would have tried this on the stove in a pot if I wasn't so scared of ruining everything with dye, but the tinfoil definitely helped hold the heat!
xox
Dana
I was at my wits end when I decided that the only route to take would be to dye some existing buttons I had in a different colour that were the exact same shape and size. After doing some research, I found out that RIT dye was pretty much the only dye that would work on plastic buttons properly.
Then came my adventure to find said dye in my little town. Five stops and 4 phone calls later... thanks to stores directing me to other stores, who directed me to other stores... I finally found my RIT dye! As luck would have it (eyeroll), they didn't have the colour I needed, but I managed to grab a couple of alternate colours to mix.
When I got home I started on it. Before I begin my little tutorial though, I wanted to explain some things I learned as I was attempting this. The directions I was going by said to mix the dye with hot water and let the buttons sit in it for 2 to 5 minutes. So I did this. And nothing really happened. The buttons changed colour only slightly and after about 5 attempts with different dye-to-water ratios, I was about to call it a bust. That's when I started thinking about the "hot water" step. There was some reason that the water had to be hot... so I started over with the goal of making the solution BOILING HOT and keeping it that way until the buttons were done. Well, guess what... it WORKED AMAZINGLY! On to the tutorial...
You will need:
- Lightly coloured plastic or nylon buttons
- Newspaper
- Rubber gloves
- RIT dye (powder or liquid)
- A non-sentimental mug or dish
- Tinfoil
- Microwave
- Plastic spoon
- Paper towels
- Water
Step One
Prepare your area with newspaper because things are gonna get messy! Wear some rubber gloves to protect your hands. Then grab some white or lightly coloured buttons. Mine were a very light pink:
Step Two
Line a bowl or a mug with tinfoil. Use a dish that you don't care about, because it WILL get dye on it. Unfortunately there was little way around this even when lined with tinfoil. I decided to use tinfoil to help "trap" the heat.
Step Three
Take a plastic microwaveable bowl and fill it with water. Pop it into the microwave for about 2 minutes or until you can actually see it boiling. This is SO important that you have the hottest water! Be careful taking it out!
Step Four
Grab your Rit dye! Pour the boiling water into your tinfoil lined mug or dish. Add your dye. I used about a tablespoon for a mug full of water. Your buttons will be darker if you add more dye, or lighter if you add more water. I used green and navy dyes to make a dark teal shade.
Step Five
Add your buttons to the mix, and stir! If you can, try to keep the buttons separated because I noticed that if you have a lot of buttons in there at once, and they clump together, you get weird un-dyed bits of pattern on some of them.
Step Six
Cover your boiling hot mug or dish with another piece of tinfoil. I did this to "trap" in the heat. Leave the buttons for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to mix them around a bit.
Step Seven
When they get to a shade you like, pull them out with a plastic spoon! Rinse them all off under cold water with a little dish soap.
 |
| (These ones were a little too "green" for my liking so i popped them back into some navy dye afterwards) |
VOILA!
New buttons!! Give it a try and let me know if it worked for you! Just remember: heat is the key! I would have tried this on the stove in a pot if I wasn't so scared of ruining everything with dye, but the tinfoil definitely helped hold the heat!
xox
Dana
15.4.11
Digging digging...
Just when I thought the weather was warming up, it drops to near freezing again. At least we managed to get some yard work done earlier in the week. We're working on landscaping our front lawn, but before that could be done we needed to add a drainage system to direct water out of our downspout, away from the garden, and into our ditch. Otherwise, the garden becomes a huge mess of mud and flows over our front walkway.
It only took a couple of hours, and you can't even tell it's there now! (horray for newer sod and it's ability to be ripped up in pieces and placed back down!)
The process:
After digging and laying the pipe about 40 more feet towards the ditch, we filled it all in VOILA! Invisible piping! There will be a garden where the dirt wraps around the walkway. There are no "after" pics yet because the garden isn't finished! No one has their plants out for sale yet and I'm getting anxious!!
What is your favourite thing to do in spring?
It only took a couple of hours, and you can't even tell it's there now! (horray for newer sod and it's ability to be ripped up in pieces and placed back down!)
The process:
After digging and laying the pipe about 40 more feet towards the ditch, we filled it all in VOILA! Invisible piping! There will be a garden where the dirt wraps around the walkway. There are no "after" pics yet because the garden isn't finished! No one has their plants out for sale yet and I'm getting anxious!!
What is your favourite thing to do in spring?
10.4.11
Easter Bunny Sale!
Hi everyone! I am having an Easter sale at my shop! All bunnies are only $25 for a limited time! You can also still use coupon code 10OFF for an additional 10% off your purchase!
I added a new Tan Bunny to the shop as well, what do you think?
Happy Spring!
Dana
I added a new Tan Bunny to the shop as well, what do you think?
Happy Spring!
Dana
4.4.11
post weekend wrap-up
Despite being sick lately, I had a great post-birthday get together with some friends over the weekend. Last week was tough because the family is currently dealing with having to say goodbye to my grandma, so I'm glad I was able to see them since I rarely get to due to distance. They brought me some delicious cupcakes from a cupcake shop that I ended up eating too quickly to take pics of! D helped, so I can't take ALL the credit for stuffing my face ;) They all had different flavours like cotton candy, smores, smarties, and red velvet. yum yum!!
After getting lots of requests to make squirrels, I came up with these little guys! What do you think?
The grey one is my fav I think :)
I also switched my shop currency over to Canadian dollars over the weekend. I'm sure other Canadians know how much extra $$ Paypal takes from us on US dollar transactions, so I had pretty much had enough of that. They use their own exchange rates, and also charge a 2.5% fee on top of that. Since the Canadian dollar has been stronger than the US one for the past year or more, I found myself losing so much money by having transactions completed in US dollars. SO, if your default currency is USD on Etsy, that is why some of my prices might look a little wonky with some cents at the end due to the conversion rates ;). Just wanted to explain that!
How did you spend your weekend??
xo
Dana
After getting lots of requests to make squirrels, I came up with these little guys! What do you think?
The grey one is my fav I think :)
I also switched my shop currency over to Canadian dollars over the weekend. I'm sure other Canadians know how much extra $$ Paypal takes from us on US dollar transactions, so I had pretty much had enough of that. They use their own exchange rates, and also charge a 2.5% fee on top of that. Since the Canadian dollar has been stronger than the US one for the past year or more, I found myself losing so much money by having transactions completed in US dollars. SO, if your default currency is USD on Etsy, that is why some of my prices might look a little wonky with some cents at the end due to the conversion rates ;). Just wanted to explain that!
How did you spend your weekend??
xo
Dana
Labels:
birthday,
etsy,
family,
paypal,
squirrel plush,
stuffed squirrel
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