Wizard of Ozsome!

All of these garden projects I have worked on were leading up to my annual garden party. You may recall some of my previous parties. The first was Enter Eden, followed by the Blogiversary, and last year's 50 Shades of Fabulous! My girlfriends have come to know that I always throw a party with a theme, so they were especially excited when I announced this year's theme was inspired by the Wizard of Oz. My dear friend Melissa dubbed it "Wizard of Ozsome"
The inspiration for this party actually began a few years ago. One of my "long term" garden projects was to transform my ugly concrete into the yellow brick road. I want to create the magical whimsy feel in my yard and the yellow brick road was one way to do it!
Last summer I tried using a yellow tinted concrete stain but it did not achieve the look I wanted. So this year I went over the stain with a darker stain, and then used exterior paint that I sponged onto the sidewalk. The results were fantastic! Here are some before and after pics.

 

BEFORE

AFTER

  

With a sidewalk like that the Wizard of Ozsome party was only natural!

Unfortunately it was really windy that day so my rainbow backdrop didnt look as neat as I would have liked. But the effect was still phenomenal! 

 

Its not a real party unless I've got glittered wine bottles somewhere!

 

 

I had some bricks in the garage that I painted yellow. I used stained glass paint and a Dollar Store vase to create the Emerald City candle centerpiece. The poppies were also handmade out of crepe paper.

   

The buffet table

 

I made sure to add some whimsical touches to the buffet as well!

 

I made the Tin Man from soup cans and designed a custom wine bottle label too!

  

My Mom had made me a Dorothy inspired hostess apron, which went along perfectly with my current foster dog, Moxie.

 

 

We of course had to have a photobooth set up inside too! This is one of my favorite shots of the group.

Lastly, here is another one of my favorite photos that I instagrammed that night.  

 

This may be my favorite of all of the parties I've thrown! We had such a magical time!

Pinterest Project: Dip Dyed Ombre Shoes

Earlier this season a couple of my girlfriends came over and both were wearing these super cute canvas shoes. They were different styles of course but I was having some serious shoe envy. I don't get shoe envy often and its almost never about casual shoes. I happened to be on Pinterest the next day and saw a variety of pins about DIY dip dyed canvas shoes. Low and behold Wal-mart was in stock of some simple white shoes for the wondrous price tag of $5.99! I couldn't help it, I had to try it out. So I picked up the shoes and some teal color dye.

  

Make sure to read the directions on the dye, and have any supplies for that. In this case I just needed water and salt.

   

I read several tutorials for how to do this. One them suggested putting Vaseline on the soles of the shoe to keep that part from being dyed. I decided that was the best option because I wasnt sure the rubbery sole would really absorb the dye.

    

From here, its actually quite simple, just dip them in!

    

At this point I used a scrap of old fabric and dipped it in the dye, I continued to layer it onto the shoes to blend the dip line and create the gradual ombre effect. There really is no magic method, just keep dipping and spreading until you get an effect you like.

   

I left the shoes to dry overnight. You can expect that the color will tone down quite a bit as the fabric dries. 

 

This is the end result!! I love them!!  

  

These shoes are super comfortable and I love the bright color and ombre effect! Super easy, inexpensive summer shoe! 

YAY! Pinterest Project WIN!