Crafty Upcycle #1: Ombre Bleached Jeans Tutorial

I am totally on board with this explosion of the ombre trend.  So, I decided to give a few pairs of old jeans a new look...one successfully and one not-so-successfully. 

Here are the before looks:

 This was a pretty easy, yet time consuming process. 

Supplies Needed:

Old (or New) Pair of Jeans

Bleach

Large Bucket or Bin

Pants Hanger with Clips

A word of warning...if you are planning on doing this, try to organize it when you can do it outside.  I was not that smart and bleached these in a bucket set in the bathtub in a bathroom with no window.  By the end of the night my eyes were burning so bad that I was having a hard time focusing on my bleach fumes induced hallucinations.  

Step 1:  Mix 12 cups of bleach with 6 cups of water in the large bucket or bin

Step 2:  Attach hanger to jeans on the end you are not going to bleach (I recommend you leave the waist the darkest and go lighter towards the bottom)  The hanger will help you control how evenly  the jeans are set in the liquid.  

Step 3:  Once you have decided where you want the first layer of faded color to be, fully immerse the jeans in the bleach/water mix up to that point.  Leave the area that you want to remain the darkest out of the mix.  Let the jeans soak for at least 10 minutes.

Step 4:  Remove the jeans from the mix and let hang dry for at least 30 minutes to allow the bleach to take effect.

Step 5:  Repeat Steps 3 & 4, but each time leave a larger section of the jeans out of the bleach/water mix.

Step 6:  Once you have bleached the entire pair, let hang dry over night.  Wash the jeans and they are ready to wear.

Note:  One pair that I bleached turned yellowish in the area that was supposed to be white.  I soaked them in liquid dish soap for a few hours and then washed them with OxiClean twice and they came out white. 

Here is the final product: 

Let's start with the bad news first....my failure jeans:

(Please don't judge me on my lack of a pedicure)

This look just didn't work.  So...I guess now I shall try, try again.  Maybe a denim skirt or a coin purse.  To be continued....

Now on to the good news...my success jeans:

This worked so much better!  I was thrilled with the final result and now I have a pair of jeans that are a little  more exciting than the rest of them.

 

Table: 1 Jenni: 0

A year ago I stashed this little side table in my garage because I didn't know what to do with it.  It has a formica top and at the time I didn't know how to deal with that (now I know better).  It wasn't anything special...no ornate details or character.  It was just an old table that used to be in the waiting room of my parent's dental office.

Finally, I decided to mod podge it with sheet music and give it a little character. 

I covered the top and the legs, but it didn't seem to be working.  It was bumpy and the pages were too thick.  It just didn't feel right.  I tried sanding a little on the top and instead I ripped a few pages. 

I decided to finish covering the whole table and then I would worry about the texture and fix the problems later (aaahhhh...wrong...bad idea).  I got about 90% of the table covered and as I was trimming back some of the paper, I cut it too short. 

That was it.

The straw that broke the camels back.

I just started ripping all the paper off.

Now it is back to the boring table I started with and it is going back in the garage while I move on to another project for awhile.

AAAHHHH!!!