DIY Music Christmas Ornament

I don't know if you know this about me, but I love music. I started playing the piano at the age of 3. I've played ever since. Music has always held a very special place in my heart. When I was little, anytime I was sad or having a bad day, I would sit at the piano and just play. Within a few minutes, my mood was always a little better and my burdens a little lighter. To this day, music still touches my soul with it's power to move people.

I've always wanted to do a music themed Christmas tree.  I saw one at The Festival of Trees here in Utah last year and LOVED it. So when my sister asked me to help her make homemade Christmas ornaments last week, I knew I HAD to make a music themed ornament. We had to make 40 ornaments in one night, so I also knew I wanted it to be SUPER EASY and not very inexpensive. I created THIS little beauty. I love it SO much. You can use any sheet music inside you want. I was making 20 ornaments, so I printed off 5 sheets of 4 different Christmas songs. I downloaded them for free online {click here for the website}. The rest of the supplies you need are clear ornaments {I bought mine from Michaels - use a coupon!}, scissors, ribbon, bakers twine. That's all! The tutorial is below. Get your craft on!

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How to Dye Fabric {with your washing machine}

Why would anyone possibly want to dye fabric?? I get for making your own clothes, or maybe quilting, or sewing, or something else that this girl doesn't do. But seriously - I never thought I would be purchasing fabric dye - using it - and loving it. But I did. To make a DIY Baby Wonka Bar Costume. Click the link to read all about that little Halloween chocolatey adventure! I needed a brown baby nightgown, but that kind of didn't exist either. Anything I found was too patterned or way too pricey. ENTER: FABRIC DYE. I ordered a white, cotton baby nightgown off Amazon for $13 {plus free shipping through Amazon Prime}, plus the $3 bottle of fabric dye and my project is costing me less than $20. And it REALLY WAS EASY! The fabric dye instructions are clear and, if you follow them, you won't fail. Oops. I didn't follow them the first time and, yep, I failed. Turns out - fabric dye does not like polyester. So don't do it. Don't try. Don't think you'll be the magic exception, because you won't be, like I wasn't. Just stick with the approved fabrics. CLICK HERE for a link to the FAQ section of Rit Dye's website. It was super helpful and answered any questions I had! I only used RIT Dye, because it is sold at Joanns, so easy to obtain that first errr second bottle of dye.

Supplies

• Fabric dye
• Fabric
• Washing machine {I used my washing machine, but you can do it by hand!}
• Dr Pepper {yep, a total necessity for the wait time during washing}

 The Fun Part

• Set the temperature to wash HOT and rinse COLD.
• Set the cycle to wash twice and rinse once. My washing machine has an 'auto soak' setting, so it basically washes it for a long time, then rinses once. If yours doesn't have this setting, just watch for when the wash cycle finishes, then RESET to wash again.
• Start the water running. Wait until it gets about half full, then add the fabric dye. I used the entire bottle, just to be sure, and I knew I wouldn't need to save it for any reason. The link above to the FAQ section of RIT Dye gives details on how much to use depending on what you're dying.
• The fabric needs to be unfolded and damp before adding to the dye. This is super important! I didn't unfold my fabric on one item and it came out splotchy! I just use the running water to dampen my fabric.
• Once your fabric is damp and unfolded, add to your lovely dyed water.
• Sit back - drink that DP - and wait for the magic to happen.

That's it! If you have to reset your washing machine after the first wash part, remember to pay attention, so you don't miss it. I hang my fabric to dry. The End!

SOOO easy, right?? I can't wait to try other fabrics for other projects. Fabric dye has kind of opened up my mind to a whole new world of color. Don't let not finding the right color of fabric or clothing item for your project stop you from fulfilling your chocolatey Wonka-y dreams.

"We are the music makers...and we are the dreamer of dreams." - Willy Wonka

 

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Féline Meow outfit

Ooops, I did it again! I knew what my first outfit around this cool tshirt from Ruvix would be the moment I got it: a pleated miniskirt suspend tights and spiked heels – everything in black. Since I didn’t want to attract every pervert in town I added my vintage green coat on top of everything. What I can tell you it’s that this get up was a crowd pleaser...big time!:))))

I also suspected you’re going to love the tshirt so you’ll have the chance to win one as Ruvix is giving it away for one of my readers. They carry hilarious thirts with ironic brand names prints. You can pretty much choose anything you like in the comments section.

Am pregatiti si o surpriza pentru cei carora le place tricoul meu – aveti sansa de a castiga unul la alegere pentru ca Elena pune la bataie unul si pentru cititorii mei. Nu trebuie sa fie cel pe care il port eu – puteti alege ce va place cel mai mult de pe siteul Ruvix (print, culoare si marime). Am facut un colaj cu preferatele mele, dar exista si mai multe optiuni amuzante.

 All you have to do for a chance to win is (all 3 conditions are mandatory):  

♥ Like Ruvixand Pop Culture&Fashion Magic on Facebook

♥ Leave a commentwith what thirst you want from the Ruvix shop (and make sure to leave an email so that I can contact you)

 

Pentru a participa este suficient sa (toate cele 3 conditii de mai jos sunt absolut necesare) :

♥ LIKE Ruvix si Pop Culture&Fashion Magic pe Facebook

♥ Lasati un comentariu la acest articol in care sa ne spuneti ce tricou doriti de pe siteul Ruvix (nu uitati de adresa de email ca sa va putem contacta)

For extra chances to win you can also (these are not mandatory and each one will count as an extra entry):

 ♥ Share the giveaway on facebook with a @Pop Culture&Fashion Magic tag

♥ Follow Pop Culture&Fashion Magic via Bloglovin, Twitter, GFC, Tumblr  and/or Pinterest  (mention which of them in a comment so that I can check and count them as extra entries).

Pentru sanse suplimentare de a castiga puteti sa: 

 ♥ Share (sa puneti link) acestui articol cu giveaway-ul pe peretele vostru de Facebook cu tag catre @Pop Culture&Fashion Magic

  ♥ Urmariti Pop Culture pe Bloglovin, Twitter, GFC, Tumblrsau/si Pinterest(mentionati in comentariu care ca sa pot verifica si sa le pot adauga ca inscrieri suplimentare).

 I’m wearing:

tshirt /tricou - Ruvix

  green trench / palton verde - vintage

pleated miniskirt /fusta plisata - vintage

spiked stilettos /  pantofi - random brand

suspender tights / ciorapi - New Look

   chains ankle pumps / pantofi cu lanturi - random brand

  bag / geanta - vintage

earrings / cercei - Asos

 The giveaway ends November 14th. The winners will be sorted out randomly. This is an international giveaway – anybody can join in!

The Winner

 I just want to thank you all for taking the time to enter this giveaway! I have to rely on the Gods of chance to choose the winner. This is the list I made with all the entries (the mandatory one and the extra entries):

 …and the winner is... 

   No. 57 - that's Bev! Congratulations!

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DIY Baby Wonka Bar Costume

It all started when a certain spouse of mine decided Ava should be a WONKA bar for Halloween. *sigh* He might have a slight obsession with the Willy Wonka movie -- the old one -- not the Johnny Depp version. Well, you can't just go out and BUY a baby wonka bar costume. They don't exist. Even if you could, I wouldn't, because Halloween costumes cost one gajillion dollars. So I knew I had to get my craft on if I was going to make my husband's Halloween dream come true. And it really wasn't even that hard. I can't sew. Nope! I even have my grandmother's sewing machine, but I've never learned. That's definitely on my TO DO list. But, until then, it's a no-sew life for me. I decided to use fabric dye and fabric paint to make Ava's wonka bar costume. Like I said earlier - it wasn't even that hard. YES - I did fail the first time I tried fabric dye. And YES - I thought about giving up. And YES - I did eat almost 100 mike & ike's out of frustration. But it all worked out in the end.

SO.

To check out how to dye your fabric brown, click HERE for my Fabric Dye Tutorial.

In order to do this, you will need my Wonka Bar Costume stencil. You can find it {along with my other Free Printables & Stencils} by clicking on the links below:

WONKA BAR STENCIL {freezer paper}

WONKA BAR STENCIL {silhouette studio file}

Now, don't you feel super special knowing you are one of the ONLY people on the planet to have a Wonka bar baby costume stencil??!!!! Welcome to the cool kids club.

I'm definitely a visual learner, so the rest of the tutorial will be through pictures. Have fun! And remember -- candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.

**Note: I used fabric paint, because I'm kind of obsessed with it, but you could use heat transfer material, too. Just cut out the different shapes and letters in the colors you want. That would work quite splendidly!**

Pull up the stencil file in Silhouette Studio. You'll have to change the settings to looks like these. The main ones to note are:  change the width to 9 and the height to 15 and change the cutting mat to NONE. These are the settings I used for a 6-12mths size baby nightgown. You can adjust to whatever size you need. 

**Hover over top left of photo to PIN!**

1. Load your vinyl in your Cameo or Portrait. I used 9" vinyl, but you can use 12" as well. 

2. In Silhouette Studio, send the file to the Cameo to cut. Once you choose the Vinyl as the item you're cutting, the rest of the settings change for you. Remember to make sure you have your blade in your Cameo set to what setting it shows on your computer screen. Once it's all set, press CUT! Sit back, and watch the magic.

3. Cut off your vinyl stencil!

4. Using your hook tool for assistance, peel away the letters and border, so you have the negative space left.

**here's a tip. if you don't have a hook tool {yet!}, i've used a fondue fork or even scissors to help peel away the vinyl. but the hook tool works the best!**

5. Apply the transfer tape to the front of your stencil. I peel a small portion off and press it on the end of the stencil, then peel & roll the rest of the tape over the stencil. Peeling all the tape off and then applying it to the stencil makes for lots of wrinkles.

6. Flip the stencil over and use your scraper tool to adhere the vinyl to the transfer tape.

7. Peel the transfer tape backing off. I use my hook tool to help press down any vinyl that didn't stick.

8. Keep that shiny backing piece. You'll use it later!

 9. Apply the stencil to your fabric. Carefully remove the transfer tape. Press over your stencil to make sure there are no bubbles.

10. Insert the shiny backing from the transfer tape you saved in Step 8 inside the nightgown. This will keep any fabric paint from bleeding through to the other side. What's nice about using this backing is that it doesn't stick to the dried paint!

11. Use your fabric paint to paint over the stencil. This is the fun part! Let dry for several hours {I usually leave mine overnight}. Peel away stencil and view your beautiful, delicious, scrumdiddlyumptious Wonka Bar!!

 As you can see, this is fun for a family Halloween costume set, but I think it would be cute for a Wonka themed birthday party! Which, knowing that certain spouse of mine, I could see being requested in the future.

xo

Here's more spooky inspiration for you {the coolest person ever!}:

Halloween Maternity Skeleton Shirt

Dinner in a Pumpkin Recipe

Candy Corn Cocoa {Halloween gift idea!}

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Today's mood

If you're anything like me and you have a deadline then you will pretty much do anything else except what you are supposed to do. Why avoid the sweet panic and miraculous inspiration that comes in the last two or three hours before something has to be delivered?! Besides someone has to look for cool things to order online and I might as well play my part! 

I didn't really need any more shoes when I started the distraction process but I ended up feeling like my life would be so much better with these electric blue pumps in my feet. I love the animal print on the inside and the scalloped edges - these kind of details make a fool out of me!:))))

This is what I felt inside when I saw them and the complex reasoning that came to mind on why should I get  them - you now have an inside into my mind (and what a truly wonderful and horrific place that is):

gifs: 1.

Hopefully I got my feelings through to you guys!:))))

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Trend alert – running shoes

Started a few seasons ago, the mixing of sport elements into everyday outfits trend has evolved into full blown madness (the good kind that is).

The first step was marked by adapted/enhanced sport items insidiously finding their way into our wardrobes and everyday outfits. That’s how clothes traditionally worn to the gym or reserved for outdoors activities like caps, hoodies, sweatshirts, sport pants started to be combined with girly dresses, voluminous skirts, tailored pants, statement jewelry and high heels. Granted most of these were somehow modified to appeal to a more fashion oriented crowd but sport chic was suddenly not just accepted but cool and original.

 

The platform sneaker is the perfect example to illustrate my case. Heavily sport inspired but with the heel/height element added in the mix it was a huge hit. And while many girls are still wearing the Isabel Marant model or the many variation inspired by it, even more of them have moved on to the running shoe which is the next step in the evolution of this trend. Now it’s the perfect time to wear your Nike shoes instead of high heels around town – they are not reserved for jogging or gym anymore. You can look at it as a purification of a trend that’s getting more and more literal every passing season. It might even have something to do with the general direction towards casualness the entire society stirs towards.

I actually collected quite a few inspirational outfits featuring cool running shoes as the main attraction and most of them were photographed outside this year’s Fashion Week crown around the globe: New York, London, Milan and Paris.

   Photos: 1, 2.

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Little Red Riding Hood in the city

First of all my hair is out of control! He has a life of its own and acts up something crazy. Secondly I have this dress in white as well as you might remember from here where I wore it with leather pants. When I like something I tend to buy it in multiple colors so there you have it! :)

Other than the dress this outfit it’s all about the accessories. I know people tend to avoid mixing silver and gold jewelry but I don’t really care for that rule so as soon as I got my bracelets from BellastI couldn’t wait and had to wear them together.

I guess we should also talk about the cat over the knee tights I have on – I thought they were too cute to pass and ordered them without thinking twice! Never looked back!:)))

 How pretty are these two delicate silver bracelets? I don't even know which one I like best: the crown bracelet or the dragonfly bracelet!

Photod by Costin and Denisa.

I’m wearing: 

 bracelets / bratari - Bellast

black pumps / pantofi - random brand

over the knee cat tights / ciorapi - here

  bag / geanta - Debenhams

  belt / curea - here

  asymmetric dress / rochie - Asos

leather jacket / geaca piele -  H&M

 

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