Dyeing. This is work?

CONTEST CLOSED:
The amount of dyes I used for the 10 colorways was 29! No one guessed 29, but there was one guess that was closest, so the winner is:

Lynne Douglas on April 1, 2013 at 10:29 pm said:

30.

Congratulations Lynne! Email me at homesteademporium@gmail.com for a coupon code, or simply shop without a coupon code and email me afterwards for a 20% OFF refund!

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One of the things I absolutely LOVE about my job is that I am able to combine my love of art & all things color, with creating an income.

We try our best to teach our children to not just love what they do, but to do what they love! The best way to teach it, is to live it out ourselves!

One of my favorite parts of creating here at Homestead Emporium is to take a completely blank piece of fabric like this…

And turn it into something full of color!

It always takes great patience to wait and see how the finished fabric looks!

Now let’s have some fun!

While dyeing today, I dyed 15 pieces of fabric, in ten unique ‘colorways’, meaning ten different variations of colors mixed together.

Here’s a little guessing game for anyone who would like a chance to win a 20% OFF coupon for Homestead Emporium!

Leave your best guess in the comments as to how many different dye colors I used to create the ten colorways.

I’ll give you a hint. It was between 1 and 50 dye colors!

*I will choose one winner who either guessed correctly, or came the closest. If more then one person guesses correctly, I will use random.org to pick a winner from those correct answers. Contest closes in two days! I will announce a winner before Friday’s stocking!

Ice Balloons? Ever tried it?

Last spring or summer I had seen this idea shared on Facebook and couldn’t wait to have cold weather so we could try it!

It’s simply balloons filled with water, and food coloring. We put them outside to freeze and hopefully before tonight’s birthday party we can peel the balloons off. They should look something like pretty ice marbles!

I’ll share ‘after’ photos later! Hopefully it works!

A guest post from Shaylah- Needle Felting

I learned this craft from Kim (from the Felted Fern). 

I met her at a craft show when we were selling some of our crafts.

She helped me get started by giving me some wool, and showing me how to use it!

I cant believe that I, or anyone who tries needle felting can turn this….

…into this!

This is Walli he is the very first needle felting I did. It takes time to create something like this but you’ll get it done, sure you poke yourself a few times OR more, but its worth in the end.

These are my needles. The little one broke from too much use, and the big one went missing while we moved. I hope I don’t find it by accident, by stepping on it or something. If you know what I mean! LOL

I don’t know why I chose to put a bow tie on him but I am glad I did.

This is Ping and Moe. Moe left, ping right. The bow tie on ping was simple to make. Again, you get poked but it is worth it!

This is Rudolph the reindeer/mouse looking corgi.

And this is Betsy. I gave her to a friend. Her shawl and hat weren’t the easiest, but it was fun!

This is shroom my, mushroom it was fun making it with the last of my red wool.

This craft is simple and hard at the same time. I am not selling these ones, but I will be selling others in the future when I get more wool and needles.

You will be surprised  with what you can create if you try it!!

Happy poke-ing!

Homemade Playdough, for those in need of a quick addition to their gifts!

If you need a quick addition to your children’s gifts this year, make playdough!

I used this recipe, and it turned out AWESOME! http://pinterest.com/pin/23432860530808019/

My  youngest girls may be 12, 12, & 13, but you’re really NEVER too old for Playdough!

We put our playdough in one of my glass containers, and sent another batch off to their cousin in a red coffee container.

So if you’re in need of one last fun gift, or even if you’re staying home on Christmas and would like to make something with the kids, this is a great recipe! For the red, we used a package of koolaid, so it smells especially wonderful!

 

I feel like I should delete my previous post!

Since now… Graydon (dh) IS coming home for Christmas!

It’s times like this that I try to remind myself that the NEXT time I’m feeling completely hope”less”, I should stop, and remind myself that things can change.

Things can change… in an instant.

I spent about 3 days moping around, fighting tears 24/7 (this is so NOT me, really, you have to know me to know how UNlike me that is lol) and feeling totally hopeless.

I mean this path we’ve chosen, to have Graydon go on ahead of us to the prairies for work, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy! But… to have him gone for three full months before he was able to come back for a short visit last month, then to find out he wouldn’t be able to get back at Christmas? It was just a bit too much.

No, it was much too much.

I had reached my breaking point.

But, today is a new day! Graydon IS going to be with the family here for Christmas and I am SOOOO glad about that! So very very glad! I’m very thankful for family and friends who have made this possible!

I’m also thankful that our children were so willing to give up Christmas gifts, so Daddy could be home. We all KNOW that’s what Christmas is TRULY about, but when it comes down to it, our children PROVED that’s what Christmas really IS all about for them.

Christmas is about being together, and together, we shall be!

So in the meantime, I’ve got one month to come up with some totally awesome gifts for each of my children (and most everyone else on my list) that I can make with my own two hands, and my humongous fabric stash. That’s not hard really! I’m always printing finding cool ideas online of things I want to make. When Christmas comes around, I finally force myself to get creative not just for business, but for US!

And speaking of which, I was over at http://www.lilblueboo.com/ checking out her stocking stuffer idea posts (she’s got some really great ones!) and found a few I think I may just add to my very long list of things to make.

For those of you making doll clothing this year, how about adding a diaper, or 2, or 3, or 12?

http://www.happytogethercreates.com/2011/08/felt-baby-doll-diaper-pattern.html

I thought this “first sewing kit” idea was fabulous!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Sewing-Kit-in-a-Jar-1/

Then there was this!

http://www.marthastewart.com/269911/canvas-checkerboard?czone=crafts/kids-crafts-cnt/favorite-kids-crafts

How cute is that?

Needless to say, I’ve got more then enough to keep my busy while I wait for these four weeks to pass before we see Graydon again!

I won’t even begin to mention the baking we’ll be doing… that’ll have to wait for another post!

Another art I’d like to truly master

There’s another art I would truly like to master one day.

Quilting.

I’ve always dreamed of creating a great big beautiful quilt for our queen sized bed.

However, there never seems to be enough time.

So instead, occasionally I create children’s blankets for the shop, and for custom requests.

It’s a lot of fun, to play with all the different fabrics.

To take a customers requests, and put it all together.

And turn it into a child’s special gift.

Or to simply have fun with some of my own personal favorites!

For little girls, and boys.

However…

One day, I will create that great big quilt for our own bed.

I’m not sure when, or how, but it’ll happen!

One day!

Too much to do, so little time.

Whenever I hear, or read, someone say that they are ‘bored’ I almost shudder.

Honestly, how can one be bored when there is SOOOO much that can be done, and always so very little time to do it!?

I have so many things I still want to learn. One thing I’ve been wanting SO badly to learn, but admittedly lessens a little as summer is near, is knitting.

Oh, I can knit. I’m actually fairly good at it too. My knitting is nice and neat, and I really enjoy it.

However, what I can’t seem to do is follow a knitting pattern very well, and there’s really only so many scarves one can knit, or use.

Even if you start knitting them for your children’s dolls.

I did eventually knit some hats too, and even a couple of pocket purses.

Cute, but not really all that practical.

But what I REALLY want to do, is learn how to knit things like sweaters!

A while back, I had Lisa of Selah (now Becoming Art) dye up a custom colorway for me, we called it HomemadeMama as a tribute to my small, but wonderful, beginnings in the business world.

This poor yarn still sits on my shelf, instead of in my closet as a sweater.

And then there’s HomemadeMama’s twin, waiting to be created into a bag, or some other such pretty.

One day, I WILL conquer knitting patterns.

When that day comes, I’ll be knitting more then simple hats, scarves, pocket purses, and the like.

And once I’ve mastered knitting, I’ll learn how to spin…

See, I’ve got no time to be bored. There’s just too much to do!

I love color

I love color.

Whenever someone asks what my favorite color is, I’m at a loss.

I truly don’t know what to pick! ONE color?  Impossible!

I love the color of the sunsets from my balcony when it’s blazing orange and gold.

I love the color of the sky and ocean when both are so blue you can barely see where one ends and the other begins.

I love the color of the grass, and the trees, when they are thick with green all around our yard!

I love the color of flowers…

SO many flowers…

TOO many to choose from!

I can not even choose one favorite flower, let alone a favorite color!

I just love ALL color. Mix up those colors, and I love them even more.

When I first began using dyed fabrics for our products, I only used fabrics that others had dyed. Those who were much more experienced at dyeing then I was. It gave me the options of lots of color, without having to do the dyeing myself. I didn’t know a whole lot about dyeing at all and wasn’t even going to try to pretend I did!

However, that became very costly. On top of the high cost of fabrics like bamboo velour, I was now paying more then two- four times the fabric cost, for the cost of having it dyed.

It really cut into the profit margins! I just couldn’t do it any longer. Plus, I was just DYING to learn how to properly DYE on my own.

All that color! All the ENDLESS possibilities!!!

I just couldn’t help myself any longer, ordered some professional grade dyes, and started having some fun!

Now, I can’t believe I ever paid someone else to do what has now become one of my favorite parts about the business!

At first, I just tipped my toes into the whole dyeing experience…

Trying out one color at a time. That didn’t last long though. Hee hee.

Soon I was experimenting with LOTS of color. Watching in amazement at how they all came together.

Watching how they mixed and mingled.

I developed some favorite color combinations.

*a small pillow I made, for me! Sometimes it’s good to pamper oneself too!

At first, I never wrote ANYTHING down, no recipes.

I wanted to just play, and have fun, and not be too serious about it all.

And it was fun, and I did play. I played A LOT!

And I learned a LOT!

I learned what I liked, and, what I didn’t like so much.

My ‘stash’ of dye colors began to grow… and grow…

My stash of fabric colors grew …

and grew…

and continues to grow!

I’ve begun experimenting with other fabrics, like our dundies fabrics!

And finally, I’ve even began writing things down.

Once I got to a place where I realized that sure, it was a lot of fun to just play, but it wasn’t so much fun when I played and found something I really LOVED only to loose it, because I just couldn’t remember for the life of me what colors I had put into that particular concoction!

At times it almost made me want to cry!

*mystic gem colorway, the colorway that changed it all for me. The very first colorway I ever wrote down because I couldn’t bare to ever forget how it had been created.

And now, I realize I can write it all down, and still have LOTS of fun with it! I can write it all down, and mix it up just a tiny bit, to get TWO colorways I love from just a little bit of change.

Yet some times, I do find myself going back to having some fun and throwing a bunch of colors into the mix to see what turns up!

Dyeing for the business, has become great fun!