Sparing my Sperry's

      I got Sperry Topsiders last year. They are in terrible condition. Don't get me wrong, they are great and durable shoes, but I was extremely careless with them. I wore them to gym, left them untied, threw them around, et cetera. I really love how Sperrys look on me, but I didn't want to get new ones since I had some that fit me at home. Plus it's usually really hard for me to find shoes with size 11 (!) feet. The perks of being tall, huh? Anyway, like I said in my Pinterest post, I am feeling really DIY ready so I fixed up my Sperrys and saved about seventy bucks. Sorry I wasn't able to get any before pictures or very many during pictures :/ For a tutorial with pictures, go here: http://snapguide.com/guides/clean-your-sperry-top-siders/

Steps:

1. Remove the laces. It might help to have a lacing needle ahead of time.

2. Put the shoe in a bucket or sink full of water. (I did mine one at a time.) Add some soap and use a scrubber brush to scrub the shoe as much as possible.

3. Soak a cotton ball (or ear-cleaner-thing in my case) in nail polish remove and rub on any spots that didn't come out with soap and water. (This works really really well on the lighter parts of the leather)

4. If you can, remove the insoles from the shoes. (I didn't because the insoles on mine were sewn/glued down.)

5. Pop 'em in a pillow case and put the pillow case into the washing machine along with detergent and such. Make sure it is the cycle uses cool water to avoid shrinkage

6. Stuff your  shoes with plastic bags so they will keep their shape and allow them to dry. If you don't want them to shrink, keep them inside.

This is the finished, clean product:

I apologize for the sucky lighting and lack of shoelaces. Anyway, they look really good! Not brand new, but pretty close to it. I just need to buy the laces and lacing needle

xoxo Ife

Stick to it.. and learn how to make white glue

I told y'all about my room make-over in this post. I haven't been able to find a cheap or free dresser so I've put that project on hold in favor of a project that will take less time: customizing my switch-plates and outlet covers! I liked the one with the pages of books and it looked relatively easy, so I said, "Why not?". I decided I would post a how to with how it worked out for me, so I went and gathered materials, only to find that I had no white glue. I was going to give up, but I decided I would find out how to make my own white glue. And I'll share how to do it with my lovely and faithful readers. So here's how:

1. Materials: coffee filter, baking soda, vinegar (I used apple cider), milk, measuring cup, tablespoon, and two bowls or cups
2. Measure out 1/4 cup of milk and pour it into a bowl
3. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the milk
4. Mix it until it starts to curdle (For about 1 minute)
5. Put a coffee filter into the second bowl and pour the curdled milk into it. What I think is vinegar will drain and you will be left with what it apparently "whey" after about an hour (it took 50 minutes for me)
6. Pick up the coffee filter, hold it in one hand while you attempt to rinse out the bowl you just used or get a new bowl and scoop the whey into it. Add a pinch of baking soda and stir it up. If you don't get desirable results check out this site for tips.

I hope you got great glue! Maybe use it to make a custom switch-plate. Does this Spark an Idea? (If you don't get this reference, open up any article on Ehow.)

Until next time, 
xoxo Ife

How to make an English Binder Cover

I'm sure you guys saw my previous post on my binder covers and were jealous, angry and confused. Don't worry; I am here to show you how you can get binder covers as awesome as mine.

Final Product

Materials Needed:

• Photoshop or Microsoft Word (Photoshop preferred. Remember that you can download a free 30 day trial.)
• Creativity
• Starting Picture

Directions:

1. Download your starting picture. I am using one from deviantart.com: http://ome-13.deviantart.com/art/English-Binder-179043247
2. Open the picture on Photoshop.
3. I will assume you are using my starting picture. So crop out the binder spine with the crop function (The fourth button.)
4. Right now the picture is pretty boring. It needs some color. What I did is highlight random words, but you can also add a border, underline, or whatever. Since we didn't take the time to type this ourselves, we'll have to add a shape, which will require finesse and precision. Haha just kidding, it's not that hard.

• Create a new rectangle shape. 
• Drag it over one of the words you want to highlight. 
• In the layers path on the right, bring down the opacity until it is to your liking. 
• Duplicate the layer and move it over whatever other words you want highlighted. 
• To change the size, transform the shape (Ctrl-T) and drag the corners to an appropriate size. The process is similar for an underline. (If you want to underline, do the same thing just create a line shape instead of a rectangle.
• Add your name, using the Arial Black font. If you want it to be similar to the text "English.", make it all lowercase and don't forget the period.
• Do the same thing in Word, but copy and paste instead of duplicating the layer and all that jazz.