Rainy Day Fun

Summer break is quickly coming to an end so the girls and I revisited our Summer Fun List to see what else we should tackle. We decided tie dye would be fun and hit JA today for a kit.

It should be noted that the girlies and I had done quite a bit of YouTube viewing of the various tie dye styles and how to do them. I found the Jacquard lady to be particularly informative, and having done even more research into things (could I not just pick up some Rit dye and go to town?? :sigh: Not I...) I found a couple of science-y sites that said you need to use soda ash to set the dye, so I looked for a kit with soda ash.

So, when I got to JA with my 30% off one regularly priced item coupon, I found the Jacquard kit and decided that was the way to go.

When you have two little girls who are more than ready to get started, the lack of instant gratification is a bit tough. You have to dissolve the soda ash and then soak your items for twenty minutes. AND, once your items are dyed, you have to put them in a bag for 12-24 hours, so you can't just rinse and open to see what you got.

This isn't to say I don't think delayed gratification is a good thing, because I really do. But, the waiting is tough!

I prepped everything while we waited for the items to soak (two kid's t-shirts and four flour sack towels). I cut open a lawn and garden trash bag to cover the table and pulled out B's stash of cable ties because I thought I would use those and leave the rubber bands to the girlies. :o)

What, you thought I was going to let them have all the fun?? :oP

Both girls decided they wanted to do a spiral dye. I helped Bean with hers, since she still lacks some of the manual dexterity.

Lil, however was quite confident in her abilities. :o)

I found the kit included plenty of dye (and, in all the Jacquard videos we watched, the lady repeatedly said you didn't need to use that much dye, so we didn't) for all of our items.

Lil decided to play around with her design.

Is anyone else as tripped out by those big ol' gloves on Beanie's teeny hands? HA!!

Both girls had fun mixing the dyes (magenta, yellow, and turquoise) and Bean knew she needed red and blue to make "dark purple, my FAVORITE!"

This is Lil's shirt all tucked away until tomorrow.

Beanie's. See the dark purple? ;o)

One of my dish towels. I attempted to do a heart...we'll see how it comes out. Bitty assured me there are no mistakes in tie dye, that it will all look cool. I like her attitude. :o)

Our finished mess. Not too awful. :oP

This is my attempt at a swirl dish towel. The blue got some droplets on the inside of the bag and then smeared my yellow. But, no accidents, right? It'll all be okay...;o)

I confess, I was drawn in by the vibrant rainbow colors of the Jacquard kit. We'll open and rinse tomorrow after our friends go home tomorrow afternoon. :o) I can't wait to see how the turn out.

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Sparklies:

1.

After five hours spent at Water Country yesterday, the girls were beat. Miss Bean has started to feel quite snuggly towards her daddy these days and I looked over to find this. She was out like a light. As I wrote on Instagram, I fell in love all over again.

2.

The boys checking out the view.

3.

This is what happens every time I sit on the couch. "I can haz pettings?"

4.

Friday afternoon, the girls and I helped with our church's summer feeding program. Karen and I went out with our kiddos Wednesday to pick up the non-perishable items and then Friday C and I went out with Bean for the perishable goods while K stayed back with the big kids to start sorting Wednesday's haul. :o) The best was when folks came to pick up and the children all helped carry bags to the car (even Bean!). :o)

5.

Hello, sweet lantana!

6.

I was so afraid we wouldn't have any tadpoles this year. All that worry was for naught. :oP

7.

The girls played with chalk Saturday. Guess whose teeny tiny footprint (with a lovely arch, I might add--I have wide, fat, flat feet, the arch makes me all kinds of envious) that is.

8.

The girls came screaming into the house Saturday morning, desperate about a butterfly they had found whose wings wouldn't work.

I took a look at the floppy wings and concluded our friend was simply newly emerged and needed a bit of a breather.

We found a safe place for him up where Holly dog couldn't get him.

However, before we could get him there, I had to remove him from Bitty's hair first. ;o)

9. Sarah, Erik and the kiddos all came to dinner Saturday. The girls all had a blast and Connor is getting SO big!


No milestones.