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January 23, 2013

Valentine's drop cloth door knob posies

If you got a glimpse of my drop cloth swag for Christmas then you know why I am in love with these flowers. Go check it out and then come right on back so I can hopefully inspire you some more!

So many of you loved the swag and commented that it could be left up all year round. You guys are brilliant! I agree and so it stays.

As far as holiday decorating goes, I am a huge Christmas decorator, somewhat for Easter, more for Birthdays (yes birthdays are holidays in my book) but not really for any other holiday. I know others like to do it up for every holiday and really, more power to ya' if you can do it. I don't have but a few "all out" decoratings in me so they have to be used wisely.

But as I was digging through the few sorry excuses for decorations that I do hang up for Valentine's day, I thought I should at least try to make something more pretty and lovely, because really, nothing says LOVE like red tattered paper hearts.

I decided to tweak the holiday swag a bit and then I realized I had never really shown you all how I made the flowers so.....wait for it,....... 
I am going to to do a three part series and give you a glitzy tutorial for each flower! 

Yeah! Cue the balloons and the confetti dropping all over ya!

Just spit out any of the confetti that may have gotten in your mouth and move on.

Here is what I came up with. I call them Doorknob Posies and they really do make you fall in love.....with them!
 The pink color is so romantic.
I wanted to do a series of small roses and then glue them to a heart form but I wound up making huge flowers and I got bored so this is where it ended. Does anybody else get bored with an idea after they have come up with a dozy? No? Oh, so it's just me and my ADD crafting.

okay let's move on.
A few things first:
You can buy canvas drop cloths at any Home Depot, Lowes etc. Basically anywhere they sell paint.
If you are using these to make slipcovers , or cover a chair, or make slipcovers for a lampshade, then buy big and you will get many uses out of them. Then you will use the scraps for this project and probably many more.

If you are only buying a drop cloth to make these flowers then buy as small as you can, unless you intend to make a football field of these.

Wash your drop cloth so it is nice and soft. No need to iron, the wrinkles give it character. Snip an edge about 2" wide and then rip a strip off. Do this a few times.

So your first step is to dye some of your washed drop cloth scraps. Leave some grey so you can mix and match if you like.

When you see what I used to dye the drop cloth you may officially commit me.
Please don't laugh at me or if you do, do it silently, and behind my back. 
We bloggers don't take rejection well. 
Just kidding. You are gonna think I am brilliant! 
And you will thank me for re-using a common household item.

Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash
 Soda!
Pop!
 Soda Pop! 
It means the same thing no matter where you live in the U.S of A.
How did I make the jump to use cranberry soda as a dye.....
Hmmmm. Where to begin. 
My man drinks a LOT of soda. And I  am often cleaning up the half-used cans the next morning as I make my rounds. Usually after I have picked up one of the Cranberry Splash cans, there is a distinct "pink" ring on the counter that I have a hard time removing even with a scrubber pad. It does eventually fade. But in the midst of one of those marathon scrubbing sessions, an idea had been planted. 

"Red#40 is an awesome dye!"

So here's the dying tutorial.
Don't blink or you might miss it:
pour soda into pot
add cloth strips to soak
Le them dry

For those who want it in slow motion:
1.  Simply pour your leftover soda into a pot and add your strips of drop cloth, submerging them completely
2. Once your strips have reached your desired shade of pink, remove and wring them out
3. You can rinse slightly if you would like, but not necessary
4. Lay flat to dry
5. Use iron set heat set the color


Don't panic when you first remove the strip and it looks like the second one and you say "Ugh, this looks like Pepto Bismal!"

 It dries much lighter.

Soda. 
Who knew?

Go dye your drop cloth and get it ready because you are going to want to come back tomorrow for the first of the flower tutorials. Can't wait to see you!
Come thirsty,  I'll be serving Cranberry Splash, on ice....

Always being renewed,



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12 comments:

  1. LOVELY!!!! Cranberry is one of my favorite natural dyes!!!!! www.sewsweetvintage.com

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  2. LOL I love it....red #40 is a lovely dye! This little door hanger is so cute, and I think it would be fun to make several for all around the house!

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  3. Sweet little flowers - never thought to use cranberry juice / drink as a staining agent - I will now ;-)

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  4. They look wonderful, never would have thought to use soda as a dye. We drink loads of soda at our house as well. I am keeping that in mind the next time I am thinking of dying some fabric.

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  5. How adorable!!! Love the details.Thanks so much for sharing! Would love to have you visit me sometime.
    Have a fabulous weekend!
    Hugs from Portugal,

    Ana Love Craft
    www.lovecraft2012.blogspot.com

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  6. This is beautiful. I love it. I have a link party called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop and would love to have you share this and any other posts with everyone. It runs from Tuesday night through midnight Sunday. Here is the link to the party.
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/01/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_22.html
    Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above

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  7. Very very pretty! I would of never thought to use pop to dye the fabric.
    I just started a new link party and would love if you would come on over and share your post or social media sites. http://designeddecor.com/talkin-about-thursday-link-party4/

    DeDe@DesignedDecor

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  8. Brilliant! And the posies are pretty too! I think I like it more than the Christmas swag - the pink is so sweet :)

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  9. Oh, wow, Kim...I just LOVE these flowers! I think your dyeing product is genius. I did go back and look at your Christmas garland and it is great too. I will look forward to seeing how your make your flowers. I have not gotten on the drop cloth bandwagon yet but this may get me on it. I saw your post over at Mod Vintage Life link party.

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  10. Hey Kim,
    Thank you so much for linking with my Wednesday Adorned From Above Blog Hop last week. We have listed your posting as one of our featured links for this week.

    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2013/01/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-blog-hop_29.html

    You can grab the featured blogger button in the sidebar.

    Thank you again for participating, and the link party is opened for this week.

    Sincerely,
    Debi and Charly
    www.adornedfromabove.com

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  11. HAHAHAHAHAHA! LOve your sense of Humour, Kim!
    Just came from Debi's party!
    I will check your blog for the flowers tutorial, it looks adorable!!!
    I am going to make some!
    Claudine
    www.restory.ca

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  12. Love it!! Thanks for sharing this at What's In The Gunny Sack!

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