Play Silks!

I was reading a thread on a forum, when a friend offered to put up on her blog a tutorial on dyeing playsilks with Kool-aid.

How very neat! A way to dye silks, and I didn't even have to wear gloves or worry about fumes? I could do this!

I proceeded to convince the husband to order me some silks from Dharma Trading, so that I could dye them for Sunburst. He obliged, which shows just what a great guy he is, because I often make grand plans craft related, buy lots of materials, and then fall very short on the follow through.

So, I got my silks, and then, I raided our Kool-aid stash.

I used Lemon-Lime (green), Pink Lemonade (pink), Lemonade (yellow), Grape (purple), Orange (haha - orange), and Ice Blue Lemonade (Blue).
Huh - we have a lot of lemonade variations, don't we?

Anyway, you soak the silks in a water/vinegar mixture for a short while, then put water, a splash of vinegar, and Kool-aid packets into each bowl. For instance, the blue and green only had two packets, whereas I used 4 each for pink & yellow, figuring they were lighter colors.




The coolest part was the way that the water in the bowl turned clear as the silk soaked up the dye. Before I put in the silk, the purple looked black, and when I was done, the water was basically clear. Very neat.



After rinsing with cool water, hanging a dry, and a quick run through the dryer, I have the finished product!
They came out with a lovely variegated pattern, that I was hoping they would have, but wasn't sure how to achieve on purpose ( I used small bowls, so some sections pulled in a lot more color.) The pink/yellow was the only one I did multi-color on a single silk, and I am really pleased with the results.



So, Thank you Mary! This was so much fun, I am really wanting to do more. I love easy crafts, and the whole kitchen smelled so fruity too.

webkinz

Do you know about Webkinz?

I didn't.

Maybe we do *occasionally* miss some of the latest fads because we homeschool. But usually, I am at least aware of current trends. I had no idea how popular these plush little things are.

They are like beanie babies, but on steroids. Really. They are desperately cute, and oh-so-cuddly.

And like crack for small children.
 I'm not kidding.

Webkinz = Kiddie Crack.

 Because, when they get a Webkinz, there is a code, and you take this code and go online and there - on the screen - is a virtual version of your pet! How cool! And you can buy them clothes, and play games with them, and take care of them. Wow!!!

And then, you find out that there are codes everywhere, on all sorts of things. Special codes. Codes that get you special treats, features, etc in Virtual Webkinz Land. And then the whining begins...

"Moooommmmm, can we get on webkinz.com?!? I need to tell my pet I love them everyday, or they will get unhappy!"

"Moooommmmm, I need to get: (the lip gloss, the body spritz, the charms, the clothes, the bookmarks - each with its own SPECIAL SECRET CODE!!!) for my pet, pleassssssse?"

"Moooommmmm, when my year is up can I have your credit card so I don't lose all the prizes I have won?" (Seriously, my child just asked me that. I laughed. Hard.)

Now, you may wonder why we even have these little critters. My Uncle, who I will now refer to as Uncle Dealer, got them for my children, in an attempt to have all the grandkids/cousins have a way to stay in touch. I figured, oh, okay, sounds cute, and they can connect with their cousins online.

But instead I have strung out little junkies who need their webkinz fix.

However....

it is a good motivator...

"Finish your Math, or no webkinz."
"Do your chores, or no webkinz."
"Stop whining, or no..."

...you get the idea...

bad Mommy :)