Renewed Relics

Get a Grip!

2012-03-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Throughout the ages man has been faces with an annoying dilemma. Certain clothing items were not designed to stay put on hangers. Wide neck openings, silky materials, thin straps, all prove problematic when organizing your closet. Never fear! I will provide you with a simple solution requiring supplies you most likely have laying around the house.

For this project you will need:

-Hot glue gun and glue sticks (Low temperature is best)

-Scissors

-Permanent Marker (optional but helpful)

-Non slip Drawer liner (If you don't have any laying around you can find it in just about any store's kitchen department.)

-Hangers to non-slip-ify

Step 1:

Cut strips of the drawer liner about 3" long and wide enough to cover the top and sides of your hanger. I have wooden hangers so my strips were about 1.5" wide. For plastic hangers 1/2" wide strips should work well.

Step 2:

Place one of the strips toward the outer edge of the hanger. Use a permanent marker to mark where the ends of the strip lands.

Step 3:

Line up your hangers and use the marked hanger as a guide to marks all the other hangers on both sides.

Step 4:

Apply hot glue around the edges of the hangers where the strip will be, using your markings as a guide. Quickly place the strip on hanger. Be sure to use a little pressure to make sure the glue has adhered to the strip. You can touch up any edges that didn't stick completely.

*WARNING*

The hot glue is hot! The drawer liner has holes in it that the hot glue will seep through. That is why I strongly recommend using a low temp hot glue gun. You will get hot glue on your fingers during the adhesion process. High temp hot glue will burn you. Low temp hot glue reduces the risk of burns.

Step 5:

Once the glue has completely cooled your hanger is ready to keep hold of whatever clothes you need it to keep hold of!

Shoe Love

2011-04-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I was visiting the love of my life. During this visit I got a pair of shoes (every girl's dream!). I must give credit to my sister for introducing me to this very special addition to my life. This love of mine is not a man...someday my prince will come...it's a store. The Goodwill Outlet is magical land where treasures are sold by the pound. If you don't mind a little digging (okay, a lot of digging) you will find amazing deals on everything you didn't know you needed. So, back to the story...

While on my most recent trip to the Goodwill Outlet I found a pair of Ralph Lauren Polo brand canvas shoes. They were in fairly good shape, but looked as though they were left out on the porch all summer long. What had once been a dark navy blue had faded to splotchy shades of purple and red. The rubber soles were a little dirty and the white color was yellowed with age. You can see why these shoes had been passed by in the regular Goodwill stores. But, at $0.99/lb these shoes cost right around a buck. I can work with that! Below I'll show you step by step how I am giving new life to these shoes.

In The Beginning:

Bath Time:

The soles of the shoes are taking a leisurely soak in hot water with some laundry detergent
to help remove some of the dirt stains

An old tooth brush is a great tool for scrubbing the textured rubber soles.
The bristles easily get down in all the little grooves where dirt likes to hide.

If you've never used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, or a store brand equivalent
you are missing out on a miracle of modern engineering. It basically acts like
the finest grit of sand paper in the world, gently removing a micro-thin layer from whatever
you're scrubbing. It easily powered through the yellowed rubber.

Look how white it is now!

So clean and pretty. If you are attempting this sort of project I would recommend
holding off on deep cleaning the rubber until the very end. While dying the shoes
some smudges appeared and I had to spot clean them again...live and learn, right?

"Why yes, I'm a natural blue":

I picked up a bottle of Rit Dye for a few bucks. I chose the liquid form because
I wanted to use the dye in a super concentrated form. I didn't have to mess
with a packet of powder and I can save the rest of the dye for later use.

In my handy dandy glass bowl I mixed about 1/4 of the bottle of dye with
3/4 cup of hot water and about a tablespoon of salt. The original instructions
call for 1/2 the bottle mixed with 3 gallons of water. My mix is super, super
concentrated.

With a stiff bristled nylon brush (it holds the liquid dye well) I painted the dye onto the damp shoes.
The dye soaked through to the inside canvas, originally an ivory color, so I improvised and painted the
inside walls of the shoes with the dye as well. A little wee bit found it's way to the bottom of the shoe
but I will clean that up later (besides, it's inside the shoe so who will know?)

Time to make a nice shoe sauna. Normally when dying fabric you soak your item in boiling hot water.
This helps the color to adhere to the fabric. Had I done this with the shoes, the soles would have been
stained blue and the canvas would have shrunk quite a bit. That is why I painted the dye on. To emulate
the hot water bath, put my wet shoes in a plastic bag to keep the moisture in.

I then put an electric heating pad over the shoes to keep them hot and help the dye set

A towel wrapped around the bundle insulates the shoes, keeping them warmer and
creating a nice spa like environment for them. I let my shoes rest for about an hour.
To test the color, I rinsed one of the shoes thoroughly and then blow dried
a spot to see how it looked dry. The color was still a little pinkish so I gave both shoes
another coat of dye and let the sit for another hour.

A Shoe Emerges From its Cocoon, Transformed:

The color didn't turn out quite as blue as I'd intended..it's more of a dark purple.
That's alright though. I love purple and they don't look sun bleached anymore!

The moral of this story is that you can take a pair of shoes that have seen better days and just like Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, you can snazzy them up again. Cleaning and repairing what you already own saves you so much money compared to replacing them. Or, like in this tale, you can buy pre-loved items from thrift stores and make them your own. I spent a total of $5 on these shoes and supplies and I ended up with shoes that look like they did when the first owner payed $50 for them. Go forth now and Renew your Relics!

Upcycling Egg Cartons

2011-04-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Renewed Relics' first blog post. Today, I thought it would be fun to give you instructions on how to make a string of flower lights out of empty egg cartons. This project is pretty simple, but it can be time consuming. Have a go at it yourself or check out the floral string lights I've made in my etsy shop.

Materials for this project:

Egg Cartons (Cardboard or Styrofoam), Acrylic Craft Paints, Sharp Utility Knife,

Foam Paintbrush, Hot Glue Gun, String of Christmas Lights, Cutting Mat

Step 1:

Using the utility knife cut the egg cartons along the red lines in this picture. With a styrofoam carton, not every cup will make a good flower shape. This carton yields 16 poppy shaped flower. The cardboard carton on the right will yield

5 lily shaped flowers. Save up your cartons or ask your friends and family to donate theirs to your project.

Step 2:

You will want to trim the edges of your carton cutouts to clean up the rough edges. On the styrofoam flowers I have shaped the edges to look like the top half of a heart. The cardboard cartons will sometimes have fuzzy edges. You can also round the pointed corners to give your lilies a different look.

Step 3:

Now it's time to paint your blossoms! I've found that sponge paint brushes work best to cover the irregular surfaces and works the paint into the little creases and dimples well. As you can see on the orange flower, the styrofoam will show your brush strokes. This gives the flowers a watercolored look. The cardboard will paint up nice and evenly. I recommend painting the insides of all the flowers first. By the time you've painted the last flower, the first should be dry and you can then begin painting the insides.

Step 4:

Once all the paint has thoroughly dried, use the utility knife to cut a small X shaped slit in the bottom of your flower. This slit is where you will insert the light bulbs.

Step 5:

Insert one of the light bulbs through one of the flower just far enough that you can remove the bulb and change it if it burns out.

On the back side of the flower, hot glue the flower in place. It helps to hold the flower in position until the glues is set. Repeat this step for each flower, making sure the glue is cool before moving onto the next light.

Final Product:

These lights make a whimsical decoration for your room. They also make wonderful night lights, providing a delicate and colorful glow.