Rainbow Curtain

You may recall that I was going to keep you in the loop about what I've been doing to the apartment...alas, like all my other blog content it has been largely tied up on the "important, but not as important as feeding and clothing my children" list. ;) Until today!

The girls LOVE the idea of rainbows...who wouldn't?!?! It's all their favorite colors rolled into one! AND since I don't really care about their bedroom in this "temporary" (even though we've lived here 6 months) home I let them have what they wanted...but on a STRICT budget...as in, $0!!!

When I found out about the apartment I started to gather dirt-cheap window coverings at garage sales. I got some teal valances for $.50

They are nice..but not nearly enough to cover these HUGE windows...so I got a bedsheet for $.25. And pulled out the Sharpie markers
...and the rubbing alcohol. Sounds dangerous, right?!

DANGEROUSLY FUN!!! (tee hee!)

The girls and I went after the bedsheet and colored ALL OVER it!

 

When it was all colored, we hung it up in the shower to minimize mess, then  took a no-longer-used nose aspirator (yup, it HAS a name), filled it with rubbing alcohol, and squirted the alcohol all over the sheet.

BOOM! TIE-DYED affect without the actual tie-dying! (Which would have been faster, but the colors are hardly ever as vivid as these are; plus it would have cost mega $$ since we would have needed every color of dye!)

Once it was dry (and the shower was cleaned out...very easy...no biggie; promise) I set the girls up with the serger and had them attach it to the valance to make the curtain.

Yes, we did it first thing in the morning so Jammies and bed-head were the dress code. :)

We pressed it a bit, then hung it up! Hooray for curtains!
I have to be honest that it isn't the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, but the girls LOVE having their drawings on their curtain and the "church window" effect it has on the room....it definitely doesn't block much light, but it works well for privacy, which is what we really needed it for since their window looks out on a busy street.

Snacks anyone?!