Handpainted baby leggings, 3 ways

 

Have you noticed the baby leggings craze?  How could you NOT??  They're E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.  And even though there are TONS of adorable baby girl leggings to be found, you can't deny there are some super cute boy designs out there, too! 

 

Since I've got a tiny guy of my own, I decided to board the leggings bus-- just to see.  I spied a simple grey pair at a thrift store one day and decided to jazz them up a little before I went all leggings loco.

 

Lemme show ya what I did.

 

First I gathered my supplies:

craft paint

textile medium

a sponge brush

stencil plastic (not shown)

exacto knife (not shown)

cutting mat

 

Using the stencil plastic and exacto knife I cut out a simple, imperfect chevron design.  The grid on my cutting mat was helpful in getting my lines straight and evenly spaced.

 

Next I slipped a piece of poster board into one leg so the paint wouldn't bleed through.

 Then I got to stenciling!

I made my way around the leggings and eventually my design met up in the back.  It wasn't perfect, but so what? 

I made the lines of the zig zags uneven on purpose because I knew I'd never get a perfectly printed design like you see on store-bought clothing.  So I figured if I made it look intentionally flawed then perhaps my mistakes and flubs wouldn't be so noticeable! (???)

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Don't worry- he likes the leggings, too.  He just doesn't like photo shoots right before lunchtime.  :)

"Please, Mama!  NO. MORE. PICTURES!!  I just want a flippin' CRACKER!"

 

My brother gave me the idea to make some Lego leggings (Legogings?), so I cut up an old knit skirt I had and stamped it with-- what else?-- LEGOS!

Again I used paint and fabric medium, but this time stamping on flat fabric allowed me a lot more control over how the design came out. (See one of my little Lego stamps in the corner of the photo below?)

Then I sewed them up and there you have it!  Another pair of hand painted leggings! 

 Unfortunately a little tragedy befell this adorable pair.  I forgot to heat set the paint with my iron before they got tossed in the wash, so a lot of my painstakingly stamped Legos faded.  Some quite a bit.  They're still cute and wearable, just not as vibrant as before.  *sigh

 

Here's another pair that's in the works.  Just need to add elastic for the waistband.  This time I drew on my design with a fabric marker. 

 

Sorry these photos aren't very clear.  Rowan has decided that it's hilarious to try running away from me before I can take his picture.  The turkey.

 

 

Okay, so now you can see that it is possible to make your very own adorable baby leggings using 3 different methods BUT

what if you don't sew?  What if you don't have the supplies to make these?  What if you the design you want would just be impossible to recreate yourself?  Or what if you just plain ol' don't feel like making them??

No worries.  I got ya covered.  :)

 

 

I happen to know the most affordable and A-FREAKING-DORABLE baby leggings are available at

 

THE LITTLE SPOONS on etsy.

 

Check out just a few of their items:

 

camo

 

wide blue & white stripe

grey and neon

 

ikat 

 (do you recognize this little model?  heehee!)

mustard chevron

 

 grey mustache

 

Most of the leggings I've shown you would be fantastic for boys, but I couldn't resist adding a photo of their precious floral leggings, too.  Seriously, they're my favorite.

 

There are many more designs in their shop, and new designs being listed often.  Go take a peek!  And next time you're out thrifting, keep in eye out for a plain pair of leggings that you can jazz up yourself!



Before and After: A Roadside Rescue (Antique Dresser)

It's been a little while since I've been able to share a good "Before and After" with you guys.  And let me tell you, this is a good one!  I had such a good time working on it and am super excited to share it!

 

Back in the fall, I was driving my son to school one day and got a little turned around.  We were new in town and I wasn't sure of the best way to go to get to the school.  As I was winding my way through a neighborhood, I spied a pile of furniture next to the curb.

 

Of course I had to slow down to get a look at what was being tossed out, and my heart practically leaped out of my chest when I spotted this beauty among the cast offs.

 

I quickly took my son to school and hurried back to get a closer look.  Upon closer inspection I found that both front legs were broken, pieces of trim were missing from the bottom drawer, the piece that extends between the front legs was broken (but had been somewhat repaired), and while it had a mirror stand, the mirror was missing.  Generally, it was in pretty sad shape.

 

In spite of all its flaws and needed repairs, I could not believe my luck!  I couldn't fit the whole thing into the back of my car all at once, so I decided to bring the drawers home first then go back and get the rest, all the while practically hyperventilating with excitement and anxiety that somebody would snag it while I was gone.  Luckily it was only a few blocks from my house.

 

Once safely in my garage, there it sat for a few months.  Finally, sick of the precious space it was hogging, my husband encouraged me to tackle it.

 

I repaired the things that needed it, then got to work on the fun stuff!

 

I started by sanding down the top and restaining it a nice medium tone.

 

The body and drawers got painted with a custom mixed bluish grey and I highlighted some of the details with crisp white.

 

A light distressing brought out its lovely details even more.

While I couldn't replace the missing trim pieces on the bottom drawer, I decided that filling in those gaps with white paint would help camouflage them a bit.  Unless you look closely, you don't really notice that it's just paint there.

 

Decorating the top was a fun little adventure, too!  I love shopping the house to see how I can pull things together.

I'm still trying to decide if it's really "done" at this point.  The top needs to be sealed somehow, and I'd intended to use a dark brown glaze on it but haven't brought myself to apply it.  I really like it the way it is, but I also like the effect that glaze has on a piece.  It gives it more depth.

What do you think?  Glaze or no glaze?

Maybe I'll live with it for a while and see if the fancy strikes to glaze it later.  Meanwhile, I LOVE my rescued antique dresser!

My painted lamp (a Diddle Dumpling first!)

Have you ever spotted something in a thrift store, be it an item of clothing, accessory, decor item or piece of furniture and thought, "Hm.  Not bad.  But it could be BETTER!"  That's what this lamp had me thinking. 

 

Gourd table lamps seem to be all the rage lately, and while I didn't feel a burning desire to hunt down and purchase a gourd-shaped lamp of my very own, when I came upon this nice big one with its $3 price tag, I just couldn't pass it up. 

 

It's not that I disliked the ivory color.  Ivory is safe, and in the right space it would have been lovely.  But knowing where I wanted to put this lamp, the color felt boring to me.  And I definitely wasn't loving the brassy accents.   Besides, I've been dying to try painting a lamp for the longest time!

So I cleaned it off real good, covered the parts that I wanted the paint to stay off of with plastic bags and painter's tape...

...and got to priming!  I had to FORCE myself to be patient on this step.  When I'm working on furniture, normally I apply one somewhat heavy coat of primer, covering everything pretty well and then call it good.  But with this super glossy lamp I decided to go slow and applied 3 light coats of primer, allowing each coat to dry for about half an hour before applying the next.

Next came the color- a happy, glossy yellow from Krylon called "Bright Idea"- that I picked up at Wal-Mart.  Again, I tried to be patient and applied about 2 1/2 coats before I felt like it was good and covered.

 

I had kind of a hard time photographing the end result, so I apologize.  I topped the lamp with a nice big drum shade that I got at Target on clearance a while back.  The proportion was perfect for this bottom-heavy lamp. 

But then I noticed that my sweet shade had sustained a few bruises in our move that are painfully apparent when the light is on.  Between the seam on one side and the dents that seem to be spread out all the way around the shade, I can't just turn the unsightly part to the back.  Grr.

Can't see 'em when I use my flash, though!  Ha!

I can't stand the dents in the shade.  I'm scheming how I can camouflage those somehow.  In the meantime, though, I'm enjoying my happy new lamp.