Gold Leaf Everything. But, Really.

Do you ever have a pair of shoes (/bag/necklace/whatever) that you just adore, and they get damaged beyond being able to actually wear them again? I mean, you could wear them… but it may not be the look you are really going for if you know what I mean.

That, lovelies, happened to my brand new black glitter slip-ons. I wore them maaaaaybe three times and the glitter started falling off in masses. The worst is that the base material is this awful dull grey, which just made it look even worse (why couldn’t they have used black?!). But alas, after I got back from NYFW I was really inspired by the shoes that  Eleven Objects used in their presentation, as well as the creative use of Gold Leaf in their Fall 12 collection overall.

Enter my stash of gold leaf I had from an old project. I figured, “What’s the worst that could happen?” and started my Saturday project. To be honest, it was super easy and relatively quick, I highly recommend gold leafing everything you own… I’m about to.

You can find this standard Gold Leaf (it also comes in silver and copper) at any craft store.  Mine had 25 sheets in the one pack, so be ready to see more gold in my future. DOn’t forget the spray adhesive, it’s the best!

Shoes pre-leafing.

Partially through the process. I used a large makeup brush to dust off extra gold, and tweezers for any gentle touch-ups. It’s very brittle, but can be laid on in tiny sheets if needed. I was also going for texture, so I didn’t mind multiple small pieces.

Finsihed product!  I hadn’t sealed it yet at this point (don’t forget to buy sealer, I did!) so it actually ended up looking a tad smoother and shinier than pictured here. After wearing them a few times, they are pretty durable and the bonus is that the sealer is now keeping the glitter on the remainder of the shoe.

I have a feeling this won’t be the last thing I take my gold leaf supplies to, so stay tuned. As always, I post a lot of my home projects on my instagram (@hot_on_a_dime) as I’m working, so pop over there to see things a little quicker than they show up here!

xoxo,
E

tumblr update!

Happy Monday lovelies!

I hope you are all having a great start to the week. It’s sunny and gorgeous here in Portland, and is rumored to hit 79 degrees by the end of the day (!!!) so everyone has been flocking outside. It seems like every meeting you go into there is a set of pink shoulders 9our Portland skin isn’t used to this!).

I wanted to take the chance to do a quick public service announcement that I re-designed my tumblr over at hotonadime.tumblr.com. It’s my visual diary of sorts cataloging some of my favorite inspiration images from around the interwebs, and now it just feels like it captures that intention a little better than it did before.  Check it out if you get a chance, and hopefully you’ll find something fun on there that inspires you too.

I started a few projects this weekend that I can’t wait to finish up and show you on here, but if you are following me over on instagram (@hot_on_a_dime) you may have seen a sneak peek or two, including my little helper. More on that soon!

Good luck this week.

xoxo,
E

when life gives you lemons…

…glue some fringe to it?

Or is that just my solution? My go-to black shoes (which I always have such a hard time finding) were subject to a Pickles attack a few weeks back. As you can see below, the heel on one of them was mangled completely. I had been kicking around this idea of a DIY project for a while, and figured, “Why not? What’s the worse that could happen I throw them away?”

So that is precisely what I did… and just went with it. I took some extra long fringe I bought awhile back for this very occasion, and ended up gluing it along the bottom edge, then trimming it flush to the ground.

I was pretty excited about the finished product… and the best part? They look like a wedge until you start walking, then it’s like a flapper dancing on your feet! It makes you want to do a little dancing yourself just to get the fringe to move!

Getting Crafty

So this weekend D had signed me up for a handbag construction class out at Oregon College of Arts and Crafts (it was one of my Christmas gifts!). SO I set out with an open mind, not really knowing what to expect, but thought that this might be a great opportunity to learn a new craft and save money making really great bags myself (and heartache when I can’t find the ones I picture in my head).

The class was definitely geared more towards “purses” so to speak… and crafty ones, but luckily the teacher allowed us to adapt our patterns however we felt inclined to, and thus I decided to make a clutch. A nice, architectural almost, brightly colored clutch. I’m not sure she had encoutered working on a design quite like this before, and we worked through some issues toegther, but it was really great too learn the construction techniques, as well as the details on how to put together something like this myself. I think it will be useful as I have already purchased the supplies again and plan on attempting round two this weekend (let’s just put it out there… you could tell this was round one).

Stay tuned for the next experiments… maybe you’ll see them pop up in outfits soon!

And of course I forgot to take a finished photo… But you can get the gist-of-it from that last shot 😉