Sunday, November 25, 2012

Dye your leather wallet black

Look what I did...oops.
I was dyeing the outside of my patent leather wallet and didn't realize I was getting dye on the inside. This is so easy, you will want to give a makeover to all your wallets.

1. Wipe the surface down to clean it. 
I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to roughen up the surface a tiny amount, so the dye can seep in easier.

3. Go fo it! Dye it. The man at the shoe repair store sells Angelus Brand - Jet Black leather dye, so that's why I chose this this brand. Q-tips were perfect to get into the hard to reach areas. Let it dry and DO A SECOND COAT OF DYE.







4. Rub some Mink Oil in with a soft cloth and get ready, because what you are going to see is so fabulous...






This is like a brand new wallet, for $5.00 (which is what the dye cost me).


Now... Go dye something! Stop buying new stuff and fix up what you already own. It's so fun!



Saturday, November 24, 2012

Dye patent leather

I was the ONLY bidder interested in this beautiful Louis Vuitton wallet which retails for $800.00 and I took home for $25.00. I just had to include the auction sheet, because this is the stuff I live for...



1. Rub the patent leather with nail polish remover, all over the outside. I chose acetone, since I know it's stronger than non acetone.





2. Cover the wallet in leather dye. I chose Angelus jet black leather dye, since it is the only dye my shoe repair guy carries. It cost $5.00.







3. Let it dry, then put on ANOTHER COAT.


4. My friendly shoe man told me to buff it with a soft cloth and hand lotion. I only chose this lotion because it was in the bathroom.



5. While rubbing the lotion in, a lot of dye was coming off of the wallet and the color was not even.


6. I put some acetone nail polish remover mixed with water on a Mr. Clean magic eraser and rubbed all of polish off. Make sure to use the magic eraser on the rivets to polish them up. I poured a little water on the wallet and scrubbed with a toothbrush to get the dye out of every indentation of the LV pattern.


7. I am so happy with the color and the shine! This went from being a stained, unsalvageable wallet to a custom color.











This was my first time dyeing patent leather. I'm going to try this on my shoes next.... This project cost me $5.00 for the shoe dye + $25.00 for the wallet. Plus a new manicure, yikes!













Kids party favor cookie

Junk. That's what our kids goodie bags are full of. I order online at Oriental trading co., dig through the dollar bins at target, hit the dollar store... Finding little trinkets to fill the little bags, the kids grab heading into their parents cars. My kids hunt for theirs at the end of every party, rummage through it, then it stays in my car, usually kicked under the seat, until our dog finds it and I have to pry it out of her mouth.

My friends 6 year old daughter came up with fabulous idea in lieu of a goodie bag. She drew it, her mom emailed it to the bakery and they printed it onto the frosting.

Does this also count as a thank you for the present...? If so, I'm definitely doing this for my kids next party.

Paint over glass blocks

When we bought our home 4 years ago, we had 3 year old twins, Erik and I were both working full time and we didn't have any money left for construction. One more thing, we were not "handy", For instance, my dad showed my husband how to use a screwdriver, true story.

6 months ago I left my job (medical device sales) because I couldn't do it all. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about.

When we moved in we had a list of things that needed to be remodeled, ripped out....
Starting with the glass brick windows, straight from 1994. I was painting the living room and was getting paint all over the glass bricks, so I decided to go for it....

I just took the roller brush and painted over the window.

It looks so much better.