A Rit Dye 4th of July: DIY Patio Lights, Poms & Tags

Red, White & Blue Balls—This was the original title I wrote in the bar above. Oh. Wait just a moment. That may not be the best way to go with a title. Don't want it coming up in the wrong search engine results. I have to admit, writing a post about dying my balls reminded me that my sense of humor is stuck at that of an adolescent boy.

Awe, yes. An oldie but a goodie. 

I assure you I'll do my best to act my age from this point on, as I think you're going to enjoy this money-saving approach to outdoor (or indoor) 4th of July holiday/summer lighting.

Project Sponsor: Rit Dye. Thanks, Rit! I so enjoyed taking this dip with you!

This project was inspired by this blog post, which I happened upon via Pinterest, where This Journey created faux patio bulb lights using ping pong balls. Later, I was at Crate & Barrel, where I fell in love with this set of lights.

image credit: Crate & Barrel

I put two and two together, and, voila, I had an idea. I'll dye my balls in red and blue to create my own custom set at a less than half the cost of the beautiful C&B set.  Intrigued? Here's how you can...

Do It To It!
Beyond basic household supplies, all you need for this little project are:

* Rit Liquid Dye, 8 oz: Royal Blue  (or Navy, for a deeper blue)
* Rit Liquid Dye, 8 oz: Scarlet Red (or Cherry)
* Ping Pong Balls (Actual ping pong balls, not the generic version lacking texture [more on that soon].)
* White Strand of Holiday Lights

Optional Extras
* White Yarn
* Large, White Shipping Tags
* Roll of Extra Wide Washi Tape (I used a Fat Roll by Hazel & Ruby  and a chalk roll by Fancy Pants Designs)
* Clover Extra Small Pom Pom Maker


Step 1
Following instructions on dye bottle, prepare your dye in a large pot on the stovetop. Ideal temp: 140-degrees.

Step 2
Place balls in dye for 30 min (or more, depending on desired saturation).

Tip: The balls will float, which simply won't do. To keep them fully submerged, I placed a colander over them and used long-handled tongs to push them below the surface. Six balls seem to stay put. Seven caused too much resistance and pushed everything above the dye's surface.

Note: I dyed one package of red balls and one package of blue. It wasn't enough for my particular strand of lights. Count the number of lights on your strand to determine how many you'll need to dye in each color. Don't forget to factor in the white, un-dyed balls if you plan on including white in the mix.

Step 3
Remove balls from dye and immediately place them in a cold-water rinse and set aside to dry.

Note: Use a bowl you don't mind possibly dying. I used an inexpensive plastic bowl for my rinse. So glad I did, as it has a line of red dye around it now that doesn't seem to want to come off.

Step 4
Puncture balls with craft knife or sharp paper piercer (proceed with extreme caution) to create opening in ball.

Tip: To keep your lighting consistent, always puncture hole along ball's seem.

Tip: Place the ball on something stable when puncturing (vs holding it in your hand) to help avoid injury. Yeah. Learned this one the hard way. #ouch

Step 5
Position balls over lights in desired color pattern. Since I didn't dye enough colors, I placed a white ball over every other light—red, white, blue, white, repeat

Tip: Keep a paintbrush (or something long and thin with a rounded tip) handy so you can push out any areas that may cave in as you're trying to insert the lights.

Ta da! String lights!

Learn from my Mistakes
This was definitely a trial and error experience for me. Here are a couple of the what-not-to-dos:

1. Stick to the recommended 140-degree dye temp. I accidentally let my dye get hotter than this and my blue balls exploded. Eeep! THAT was a wild ride.

Tip: Use a food thermometer to gauge the dye temp.

2. Thought I'd save some money and dye the Dollar Store variety of "table tennis balls." Not a good idea. Their surface was smooth. Too smooth. And the dye would not adhere. Instead, I spent a whopping $1 more per package, bought the real deal, and it worked like a charm.

MESSYBALLS

3. If you opt to do do Bonus Idea #1 below, use washi tape with an extra strong hold. Otherwise, the tape will come right off in the dye, which means no more mask.

4. Pay attention when the box of dye says to cover your work area, wear old clothing, and sport plastic or rubber gloves. This dye, while SO fun and easy to use, can get messy. Let's just say I now have a new pair of tie-dyed (minus the tie) pajama pants. Eep!

Bonus Idea #1
I thought it would be fun to create patterns on my lights, so I tried these little trick:

Step 1
Adhere washi tape to wax or freezer paper and punch star shapes. This creates star stickers/masks.

Step 2
Adhere stars to ball, rubbing thoroughly to ensure tape is secure, and dye balls.

Outcome
It's subtle, and not as clean as I would have hoped. But it looks better when it's dark and the lights are fully lit.

large star

small stars

Bonus Idea #2
Create matching yarn for a more homespun look. Save money by investing in a single roll of white yarn, and simply dip and dye that yarn while you're waiting for your ball dye to set.

Step 1
Place yarn in dye for 2-5 minutes; follow dying steps above (cool rinse and dry) to finish.

Step 2
Gather three strands of yarn (one red, one white, and one blue) that are each 6"-12" longer than the length of your twinkle lights. Wrap yarn around light cording for added patriotic pizazz.

Bonus Idea #3
Inspired by fireworks, I wanted to create pom bundles to dangle from my lights. To do this, I simply followed the directions on my Clover Extra Small Pom Pom Maker.

Bonus Idea #4
Dip dye basic shipping tags to add to the light garland festivities. I did a few combinations.

Dip one portion of tag in red dye and let tag dry.

Next, time for a blue bath. 

Cory and I agree that my tags look a little more French-fancy than USA-awesome.

Washi tape masks worked wonderfully on my tags. I little leakage, but I have a solution for that below.

A little glitter glue to disguise the dye bleed and add some sparkle. 

Cheers and happy July 4th, friends!

Monochromatic Madness with Whisker Graphics: A layout & a card

I've gone mad, I tell ya! [said in my best mad-scientist voice] Okay, perhaps I haven't completely lost it, but I am pretty coo-coo for color. Especially the various trends on the crafting scene that incorporate painting. So when the awesome loves at Whisker Graphics asked me to select a few products to work with here on the ole blog, I was instantly drawn to these gorgeous tags!

They were just the right size for putting my new Instax Share Printer to work on a layout. Here's how my page began:

Do It To It: The Photos
Knowing I wanted to document a few photos I snapped of Mags in front of a cool rainbow wall downtown, I added those pics to my photo's camera roll and printed them to my Instax Share Printer using the free Instax app. I'll have to go into this in more detail in another post. But I can tell you this printer rocks my socks!

The Polaroid-style film fits perfectly on the large tags, and my prints were ready in minutes!


Do It To It: The Background
For the background, I grabbed my Watercolor Wonder Crayons from Stampin' Up! and set to work on creating my own colorful cardstock, using the colors of the tags as my inspiration.

First, I colored four columns—no fancy business here, just some shloppy scribbles will do.

Then I took my brush, some water, and set to blending the crayons, creating a soft, watercolored backdrop for my tags.

Once things were dry, I trimmed the 12x12 down to 11x11 (approximately) and matted it to heavy-weight gold cardstock, using my sewing machine. The reason being, the paper curls a bit when you watercolor, and anchoring it to heavy-weight cardstock keeps it flat and secure.

Next, I applied a bit of spray ink to the page for a splattered effect. I did my best to stick with the monochromatic-ness of it all, but the ink tends to wander. I'll be honest, I'm not in love with this detail and would probably change it if it were a simple fix, but I'm not about to start the page over now when I only sort of dislike. KWIM?


Do It To It: The Title
Inspired by the first line in John Mayer's song, "Daughters," I reached for my spray ink again to write "I know a girl." Like this idea, but the yellow tone-on-tone proves a bit tricky to read. Especially in the photo. It's not so bad here at home.

For "She puts the color," I used a large white shipping tag from Whisker Graphics.

I actually wrote "color" with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and used a water brush to blend the letters—a very cool way to create a watercolored brush script. You should try. Just go easy on the water and don't be afraid to apply more crayon color as needed.

I completed the line—"inside of my world"—by adding Studio Calico stickers to the tags holding my stickers.

Is the song stuck in your head now? It's been in mine for days. If not, let's see if I can help you out. ;)





Do It To It: The Journaling
Wanting to tell the full story of my lovely rainbow-wall I find in downtown Salt Lake City, I knew I'd need ample page space, but I didn't want to disrupt the simplicity of the design, so I incorporated hidden journaling beneath the tags.

It's an easy approach. Simply score the tops of the tags and stitch above the score line using a sewing machine to adhere them to your background.

Now the tags work as flaps!

And I selected pens that matched the colors of my columns to keep the monochromatic feel going. (Except for the yellow. Learned from my title that yellow-on-yellow isn't ideal, so I went with a tan Sharpie.)

There you have it. This page was a fun afternoon art project, and I love the way the Whisker Graphic Tags work to both mat my photos and house my journaling. Thanks for that, WG!

Whew! That looks like more work than it is. Promise. I just like to really break things down for sake of explanation. I actually completed this page in under an hour, which is a massive record for me. I hope you'll give it a try. Or at least aspects of it. Especially those pretty Whisker Graphics tags. Thanks for sending them.

Birthday Card Quickie
I could seriously play with Whisker Graphics goodies all day. (If only time were more accommodating), so I put together one more little project. This time, using these amazing bitty treat bags.

Image credit: Whisker Graphics

It's a little flip, interactive birthday card. It's for a sweet two-year-old, so I wanted to make it colorful and fun. Enter: doodling!

For her name on the front, I simply used the brush-script approach I've so enjoyed these days. For the inside pages, I turned to my awesome Sharpie assortment. Gotta love da Sharpies!

Creating the pages is as easy as stacking the bitty bags evenly on top of one another and sewing along the left (closed) edge. I used a zigzag stitch for extra reinforcement.

I had the idea of tucking a Whisker Graphics tag (large) into each pocket but found I didn't need to after doodling on each bag front, so I saved that surprise for the last pocket, where I placed a little love note.

I'm definitely going to take this card approach again soon, as I can see it being an awesome gift-card holder, money holder, etc. And it was so super easy and fun to make. What a treat!

Thank YOU for stopping in today! And thanks to Whisker Graphics for inviting me to be part of their May fun. Between my Mother's Day card and these projects, I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. Your goodies rule!

Cheers!
Megan

Quick Follow-up Question: I'm currently preparing an interactive card class (so fun!). Tell me, would you make a card out of treat bags like this (and this)? Your feedback on my last post was SO helpful (thank you!) that I thought I'd seek it here as well. Many thanks!