DIY Instant Watercolor {No Brushes Needed}

You may have already heard of Waterlouge from all over the great blogesphere or seen watercolored photos of your friends pop up in your Instagram feeds. For those of you who haven't, I am super stoked to show you how to get instant, custom, watercolored versions of your photos with no paint or brushes needed. 

There is absolutely no substitution for a real watercolor or for the personal energy or "touch" that goes into a custom piece of art, but this new app comes pretty dang close. It is for those of us who want custom pieces of art from a picture we took, but aren't on the budget to hire someone. Fortunately, there is an incredible app called Waterlouge that you can purchase for your phone for $2.99 that allows you to create completely custom "watercolored" versions of your photos. I have literally spent the past 6 hours converting pictures from our travels to watercolor and I can't get enough of this crazy app. I have included before and afters of many of the paintings, but not all of them since there would simply be way to many pictures for this one post. The amount of "watercolors" I "painted" is absolutely ridiculous... brace yourselves...

 The few pictures below are pictures I took of a textile... These would be gorgeous blown up on canvas and paired together in a collage!

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And here are some other textiles... I love how the watercolored version came out!

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 Here are some gorgeous flowers I spotted at the market and snapped a few pictures of... 

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What do you think?? Have you started downloading it yet? I would love to see what incredible, custom  pieces of art you come up with! Tchüss!

DIY Holiday {Or Anytime} Pedestals {Handmade Giving Series}

Are you all getting in the Christmas spirit yet??? I am so thrilled for this holiday season, happiness is beaming out of my ears! Anyhow, today I am doing a tutorial over at the incredible blog, Le Famille, for Alicia's Handmade Giving Series. If you haven't had a chance to see all the gift tutorials done by these incredibly talented women below, click on over to Le Famille to check them out and be inspired! Alicia is an absolute sweetheart and has a gorgeous and inspiring blog that I just adore. 

Today I am showing you all how to make these fabulous, eclectic and totally customizable cake, organizational and decorational pedestals. They make the perfect gift for anyone and everyone.

You will just have to head over to Le Famille and see why they are great for everyone and all the zillions of ways to use them.

Let's get gifting, friends!

If you haven't seen our Barn Holiday Tour yet, click the image below to cheek it out! 

Ombre, Ombre, Ombre Series! {DIY Ombre Napkins}

The word ombre (yes, yes, I know the e has a little dash over it, but my font wont let me do it...) is French and it means" to shade". Ombre is gaining popularity all over the world from hair to clothes and has hit the design scene too. Ombre is such a gorgeous look, It appears to be watercolored...I just adore it! It is a great look that can be added in any style home, and is easy to switch out seasonally! These napkins make beautiful gifts too! I decided to play around with the technique myself. I went from dying a few napkins, to a tablecloth then got carried away and dyed my drapes (and accidentally my white dog...oops). 

I created a tutorial for you all, so that you can ombre away with me. You will want to start with something small so you can get the technique down. It is super easy, folks and isn't very messy at all if you prep correctly!

I think napkins, a scarf or a table runner are the best things to begin with...

Let's Begin, Sha'll We?

The first thing you will want to do is wash your fabric so that it will accept the dye. 

After you wash your fabric, start out by preparing your dye according to the instructions on the dye box. It will call for extremely hot water and may call for salt.  I also made some wine colored napkins as you can see from the color on the box below! For those of you that live in Europe, I purchased the dye while in The States. If you can't find it locally, try ordering it online. 

Once everything is prepped, you will dip your fabric in warm water.

If you want your napkin to be gradient from both ends when open (it will appear only one ended when folded) like the picture below.....

...then you will start by folding your napkin or runner in half.  

You will then 

fold it a few times vertically so that it looks like a hot dog.

You will dip your napkin 2/3's of the way in the dye for about 3 seconds. Pull it out of the dye and dip about 1/3 of the way in for about 15-30 seconds depending on how dark you want it. Then pull that out and leave just the tips in for about 15 minutes. I did this in blue than did the same process in green to create an aqua color. The longer you keep it in the dye, the more saturated color you will get.

 If the sun exists in your country, you can let it cure in the sun. I gave it a shot but not much happened since it was just cold and wet out. 

Penny is guarding my napkins for me...

Once your finished dying you will rinse your napkins out, holding the lightest part up so the stain doesn't drip into the white part of the fabric. You will rinse the dye away until the water runs clear. Wash it in hot water with detergent and your napkins will be all ready for your next soiree!

I ironed them for you all, but I especially love how they look crinkly... It gives it more depth and texture! It reminds me of the ocean.., So lovely!  I think my next round will be fall colors, and will look like a sunset! 

Next up, I will be giving a tutorial on how to ombre your drapes! Stay tuned, my loves!

Will you be ombre-ing anything today?? It's actually quite simple, so get to it,  creative one's.

OOooooo, one last thing, don't forget to enter my epic giveaway by clicking the picture below!