Color Stories

Create your own monster mash with these crafty little monsters that will scare or more likely bring smiles to unsuspecting family and friends.  Whether they’re perched on a shelf, peeking through windows or adorning a table, they’re sure to add to your Halloween fun! Suzy Myers of Suzy’s Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom is a Ukranian egg artist so it was only natural for her to think of dyeing hand-blown eggs to make the monsters’ bodies.  Suzy was especially happy to see how closely the finished color of the eggs matched the color on the bottle. 

Hop over to her blog to see the full tutorial, including dye-painting the wooden shelf and wax-less batik dyeing on the monster potholders.

Wool felt dyes beautifully and is so easy to cut and glue into shapes. Kathleen Walck of Katydid And Kid is a former art teacher who enjoys teaching and sharing art with others, especially young children. Inspired by her love of Suzani textiles, Kathleen created this striking Halloween wall hanging of simple dyed wool shapes. She started with a full moon in the center, followed by jack-o-lanterns, skulls and bats radiating from the center. 

Stop by her site for the full tutorial and more inspirational ideas! 

Just because it's Fall doesn't mean you need to give up on your lovely Summer flowers. That's what Gail Wilson of My Repurposed Life must have been thinking when she decided to give her beautiful hydrangea blooms a second life with a fresh dip of color. She'll be enjoying her Sunshine Orange dyed blossoms all the way thru the holidays. We think they're quite stunning especially paired with these matching ombré-dyed placemats. It sets just the perfect mood for Autumn entertaining with a hint of rustic elegance, don't you think? 

Stop by her site and you'll find more repurposed, recycled and reused cleverness. It's always great to see an eco-minded approach to home-decor crafting. Big kudos for going green, Gail! 

Laura Kelly-Walters & husband Ryp planned a colorful wedding on the beach!

Laura Kelly planned an amazing wedding weekend full of activities on the beach in North Carolina.  For many of her guests, a wedding at the beach was a destination wedding.  What would she do with all her guests the day before the wedding?  Laura remembered many family gatherings on the beach and how much fun they had tie-dyeing on the beach.  So she thought this would be an awesome activity for her wedding guests to try the day before the wedding to create an opportunity for everyone to get to know one another.  Who would ever guess the heat from the sun and the salt water would make it possible to tie-dye at the beach?

Here’s how she did it!

Laura needed black plastic buckets to do the tie-dyeing so when the word got around, Romanoff products sent them to her as a wedding gift.  To dress them up for the occasion, Laura tied tulle ribbons to the handles along with a welcome tag and instructions on how to tie-dye!   Before the guests arrived (at least an hour ahead), she asked friends to fill up the buckets with salt water so the sun would heat up the water.  Black heats up quickly and doesn’t show the dye stains so you can reuse them.  Clever! 

Then she set the bottles of Rit dye beside the buckets in the warm sand.  Plus, she had some extra buckets of warm water on hand, just in case someone quickly needed more water.

Here’s Laura telling guests what to do.  Laura offered her guests a choice of white cotton T-shirts, cotton pillow cases or bandanas.  After making their choices, guests wrote their names or initials inside their selection using a customized wedding gift from Sharpie -- permanent markers with names and faces of the new blended Kelly-Walters family!  Laura is a doodle artist and a member of the official Sharpie Squad.

Next she demonstrated some basic tie-dyeing techniques with rubber bands.

When everyone was ready to dye, they chose a bottle of Rit and poured the bottle in a bucket of water (half bottle of liquid dye will color 2 T-shirts).  Then they stirred the dye and water with paint sticks.  Another clever idea and disposable, too!

Then the tied shirts and other items were immersed in the dye buckets for 15- 30 minutes, stirring them occasionally.  The longer the items remain in the dye, the darker the colors will be.

Later, wearing latex gloves, friends and volunteers removed the items from the dye, squeezed out the excess dye and cut the rubber bands.  Then they laid them out to air dry in the warm sun while everyone was swimming and having fun.

At the end of the afternoon activities, friends and guests gathered up the tie-dyed projects and transported them in left-over grocery bags.  Then they were rinsed in cool water to remove the excess dye and washed in warm water with mild detergent, rinsed and dried.  

Guests were given their items the next day to wear for the day’s activities before the wedding.

The bride and groom wore their tie-dyed T-shirts on their honeymoon while taking a kayak ride in search of manatees.  They also made each other tie-dyed pillowcases embellished with love messages written with their Sharpie permanent markers.  The pillows now have a new home on their bed to remind them of their colorful, happy wedding!

Supplies Needed    (for 100 guests)

• Assorted Items for Dyeing   (white 100% cotton T-Shirts, pillowcases & bandanas)
• 5 dz. Bottles Rit Liquid Dye (colors of choice) 
• 30 Black Plastic Buckets by Romanoff products 
• 30 Paint Stir Sticks
• Box of Latex Gloves
• Rubber Bands
• Sharpie Markers 
• Left-Over Grocery Bags (for guests to transport dyed items)