Category: DIY

DIY Art: Cactus Canvases

You know how you can have the most awesome time on a trip, but when you come home the oddest parts stick in your memory? For example, when we took Jack to Disney World almost 10 years ago we did a ton of stuff, but one of the memories that stuck with me is having Jack on my back in his Ergo and me choking up crying while watching the magical fireworks over Cinderella’s castle.

Well, when it comes to our recent Arizona trips, a core memory that stuck with us all is when we decided that each type of cactus needed its own name. So, now we will forever have Bob, Steve, Barbara and Lil’ Jimmy. In order to commemorate those memories, I thought it would be fun to make little canvases of each cactus and then stick a super strong magnet on the back for fridge décor.

Here’s what I used for this project:

And look how cute they turned out!

First up, we have Bob – a saguaro cactus with no arms.

Then, his buddy Steve – a saguaro cactus with arms.

The beautiful Barbara – a barrel cactus.

And last, but not least, we have Lil’ Jimmy – an Arizona prickly pear cactus (aka a “high five” cactus).

The whole project of all four canvases took less than an hour and they make me smile every time I walk past our refrigerator!

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Before & After: Another Rit Dye DIY

As I mentioned in my April Thrift Haul post, I found a pretty Line of Oslo blouse at the thrift store for $6 and immediately decided to buy it and dye it.

Here is the before:

I don’t know if it’s actually a blouse, tunic, swim coverup or dress… it’s flowy and hits about the top of my thigh. I found the brand website and this pretty little top traveled here from Norway, so that’s pretty dang cool. I love the drape of the top, the sleeves, the neckline and the silver accents. However, I don’t really wear white.

So, that brings us to the dye! I was initially thinking I’d go for a dark grey but when I checked my stash, I found a box of purple dye that I had never used. So, I figured why not? Here’s a link to the exact box of dye on Amazon if you’re looking for it.

Anyways, I could not have been lazier with this project. I put on a pair of gloves, wet the shirt, added the powder dye to a pot of hot water (it’s a pot I only use for dying… not for food) and swished it around for maybe 5 minutes.

I didn’t want it to be super dark purple, I just wanted it to be less white. And I wasn’t sure if the silver was going to show through or not. So, about 5 minutes and I was done. I rinsed it and rinsed it until the water was mostly clear. The photo on the far right is the rinsed color, however it always gets a bit lighter once dry.

I threw it in with the rest of my load of laundry through the washer (on cold) and the dryer.

And here is the after:

I love how it turned out and the fact that the silver came right though, so I didn’t lose the pattern at all. It’s still somewhat transparent, so I’ll have to wear it over something more than a bra. However, I’m thinking I’ll use this as a swimsuit cover up (with and without shorts) on our next trip. It also will look really cute knotted over the front of a dress, so I still get coverage but it can pretend to be a shirt.

So yeah, certainly worth $6 and not much of my time!

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DIY: Linen Skirt Makeover

I had a whole pile of items sitting around my sewing machine waiting to be hemmed, dyed or fixed in some way. Before our trip, I gave myself the goal of trying to get through the pile… and one of the items was this Target linen skirt:

I bought it in 2022 because I liked the cinched waistband, the pockets and the lightweight linen fabric. However, I’m not really a *light colored* skirt kind of girl, so it wasn’t getting worn very often.

See, it’s cute but just kind of ‘meh’ and frankly I have better skirts to wear. The light fabric also meant I had to be careful about my underroos situation — as darker bottoms would show through. Also, I didn’t love the maxi length.

I added it to my ‘fix it or donate it’ pile and just kind of ignored it for a while. However, my first thought was that I should shorten it to knee-length so I would wear it more often. So chop-chop-chop, I went ahead and cut off the bottom and hemmed it back up.

Back into the ‘hmmm’ pile it went. And then, I decided to dye it! I ordered the Dark Green Rit Dye off Amazon and added it to a dye bath for about 40 minutes.

Then, I washed in on cold with a load of towels and stuck it in the dryer for about 20 minutes before letting it hang dry the rest of the way.

I really love the shade of green that I was able to get, as well as the fact that the grid pattern still shows through!

And OHMYGOSH, it goes so much better with my wardrobe now. Just the little change of chopping off some inches and dying it green turned this skirt into one I was ready to donate into one that I absolutely can’t wait to wear!

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