DIY: Kitty Car Freshener

A few months ago I got my first car (with a little help from mom n' pops; thanks!). I got those little packs of trees to keep my car fresh, but they only last a week or so each....And I'm not too fond of having to keep buying more. So here's my little kitty for my car!

everything you could possibly need for this project

Materials

• Felt
• ribbon
• liquid stitch/fabric glue
• essential oil
• scissors
• chalk
• pins

my choice of scents

You can also use...

• any scrap fabric (if it's thin, use cardboard in the middle to hold it's shape)
• perfume
• cologne
• body spray
• fabreeze
• needle and thread
• glue gun
• elastic (instead of ribbon)

On to the kitty cat!

For the kitty, I first layered two pieces of felt. I kept them together until all of my pieces were cut out. I traced a 4'' diameter circle using a ribbon spool. Then I added the ears. Pinned it together, and snip!

For the face, I cut out two circles for eyes, two triangles for the inside of the ears, a smaller triangle for the nose, six skinny rectangles for whiskers, and a "3" shape for the mouth. All the pieces were still doubled, so I had a set in pink and a set in blue.

Using the liquid stitch, I glued the two kitty head pieces together, and then glued the face on using the opposite color set. Once the glue is dry, I cut a slit big enough to string the ribbon through (18" to 24" will do) After that, I used roughly 20 drops of essential oil on each side. That's it! ready to hang!

I named my car Freddie :3

These photos were taken right after I dowsed it in essential oil, so you can still see the drops. They disappeared after a couple of hours, but the scent was just as strong. Now every time I open my door, I get a whiff of tangerine and lychee, *yummmmm* It's been about a week and a half so far and the scent has yet to fade. I'll report back when I have to add some more essential oil.

The best part about it is you can use scraps and don't have to buy a thing! Even if you do want to splurge, it'd run you about $3 for materials, and anywhere from $5 to $15 for the essential oil. Also, I love that this is reusable!

I think I might make a Green Lantern logo for my brother, and maybe Jake for myself. Let me know if you try this out! I'd love to see :D

***UPDATE***

Today, August 17th I finally had to re-saturate my kitty. That's a total of 52 days of tangerine goodness in my car! The freshener shows no signs of wear or melting. :)

TTFN<3

DIY: Ombre Canvas Shoes with Sharpies

I've been wanting to alter these plain Jane canvas shoes for quite some time, and I've finally found a fun and easy way to add some color. Just in time for summer!

You will need:

• Canvas shoes
• Rubbing alcohol
• A sponge, cotton pad, or dropper (something to drip the rubbing alcohol onto the shoe)
• Your choice of Sharpies
• Tester fabric (optional)
• Newspaper
• Bowl

Inspect your shoes if they're not new. Make sure they're relatively clean! I had to wash mine. They'll be fine in the washer machine with a couple of old towels. Remove the laces, get your stuff and head outside for this super fun craft! (if not outside, A well ventilated area is cool too)

What colors and fades do you want for your new kicks? I recommend a tester fabric because I found out later on that some colors don't spread at all, and some colors spread into other unexpected colors; although the surprise outcome is part of the fun.

To get colors to fade, color across the shoe with one or two colors, and immediately drip the rubbing alcohol over the color. To do this I poured some rubbing alcohol in a bowl, used the cotton pad to soak some up, and squeezed the pad over the color. The more rubbing alcohol, the more it spreads. You don't want to wait too long to drip the rubbing alcohol, because the sharpie ink could dry permanently. 

~ Color and drip, color and drip... ~

The teal in the middle didn't spread well, so I went back over with a blue that did

A few tips: 

• If you want to go back over a section, try to wait till it's a little dry at least. If you color on parts still really damp with rubbing alcohol, you'll dry out your marker.
• If you must and you're impatient like me, then go ahead. When the marker appears like there's no ink coming out, then grab a scrap sheet and color till it's revived.
• The ink spreads in all directions; experiment with other shapes and patterns if you'd like!
• Sharpie.com goes into greater depth about this technique.

Once you're all done, leave them out to dry over night. Once they're completely dry, the ink will stop spreading. Don't be afraid to go over a few spots if you feel like it! I did a OOTD post earlier with these shoes, if you want more pictures. I think they came out pretty great; I want more!

Let me know if you make these and how they turned out for ya! Hope you liked the tutorial; feel free to post any questions.

TTFN <3

DIY - Secret Compartment book!

You will need:

• A book
• an exacto knife
• a glue gun
• a glue stick
• felt or a thick fabric
• ruler
• marker

1. open the book about 20 pages in and decide your margins. An easy guide would be to reference your cuts around the text. (ie 1mm away from text)
2. using the exacto knife, carefully cut out pages a few at a time until the pocket is as deep as you'd like it. I applied heavy pressure until I got towards the end. If any of the pages rip (common with older books) use the glue stick to patch things up
3. hold the book as straight as you can and glue the inside with the glue gun. By gluing the inside rather than the outside edges, it looks more believable. Glue on the outside is a dead give away!
4. Measure and cut out a piece of felt using the template described in the video. Glue down the bottom first, then the edges.
5. Take the next four pages or so closest to the compartment and glue them together, and then to the edges of the compartment. 
6. Use the exacto knife to cut out a flap to enter the compartment. Voilá!