DIY: Bleach Dyed Sweat Shirt

If anyone can figure out why oh why

I waited all these years to try bleach dying please let me know! 

I am kinda obsessed with single color 

tie dye which is what inspired this project.

Yet I have never tie dyed anything.

I have had this black sweat shirt for many many years.

It's always been one of my favorites,

but in recent times it's just started to look a little beat.

It needed something.

A pick me up if you will.

So a good bleach tie dye became it's fate.

I found this great DIY on 

Say Yes To Hoboken,

but as many of the things I see on Pinterest,

it didn't really work out for me.

I followed her directions to a T and the only results 

were one or two bleached out marks.

So I became frustrated with the project,

the hubs and I laughed at my waste of a 

perfectly good shirt, and I decided to take this project to the max.

At this point there was no coming back for this top, 

so my fears of "ruining" it went out the window.

I rinsed and rinsed the residual bleach from my first attempt.

I then re-twisted and rubber banded the top while it was still wet.

Part of my hesitation with tie dye or bleach dye in the past 

has been a lack of control, but I shook that off and just 

told myself that this wasn't an exact science.

After the sweat shirt was twisted and banded I

fully submerged the tangled mess into a bowl of straight bleach.

In the previous DIY steps that I had tried to follow

I was told that it would take 12+ hrs to see any change in color.

Well with my way it was almost instant.

With in about an hour I had the top out of the bowl.

I have to be honest with you,

at this point I was pretty sure that the next step for this 

beloved sweat shirt was the trash can.

The entire top appeared to be, well, tan.

I began to cut off the rubber bands on at a time,

as the shirt unraveled beautiful pinks, blacks, and creams were revealed.

Once I got the entire sweat shirt opened up I rinsed it until no more color 

bleed into the water.

I was so pumped up about how this top

turned out that I actually raided my closet for more things to

bleach dye.

Have you experimented with bleach dying?

I would love to see your projects! 

Share your secrets and results! 

DIY: Pot O'Gold Terrarium

This weekend I put my boys to work

to help me make a 

"Pot O'Gold" Terrarium

just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Here's What You'll Need:

A medium sized vessel 

medium sized rocks (enough to fill the bottom)

High quality spray paint

gold decorative glass

cacti or succulents

soil

painters tape

a rubber band

A rock to be painted

Step 1:

Use the rubber band to mark a guide line

around the outside of the jar.

Begin taping the inside of the jar, 

using the guide, making sure 

not to leave any gaps in the tape.

Tap all the way to the top rim and create an

overlap to shield from overspray.

Step 2: 

While holding the glass up to the light,

spray in 5-10 very light even coats on the inside of the inside of the jar.

Make sure to let each coat dry before applying the next.

This is the part where you really need to pay attention.

Be very cautious of your paint running.

Note that we are using a very high quality paint,

NOT Rust-O-leum!

Step 3:

While the hubs was literally watching paint dry,

I had the boy paint a beautiful rainbow

on a white rock.

Step 4:

You are now ready to put it all together,

I would highly suggest waiting a full 24 hrs

before adding your rocks and soil.

You can find a full list of direction 

on assembling a basic terrarium here.

After everything was all together we added 

our rainbow to our "Pot O'Gold"

we are ready for the Leprechaun's to come.

Happy St. Patrick's Day