Monthly Archives: January 2014

SCARFtacular!

I am so glad the weather finally broke and we have been blessed with some milder temperatures. When I was driving to work yesterday, you could actually feel the positive energy permeating from the other drivers on the road. Our weather and road conditions have been so horrible for so long, that tension seemed to just linger in the air. It felt like “the big black cloud” finally lifted and everyone seemed to have a bit more spunk and joy! Despite the fact that we have some reprieve from the severe cold, I won’t be giving up my scarves anytime soon.

Scarves are More than Just an Accessory

It took me a long time to join the ranks and become a “scarf” wearer. I always used to feel kind of stupid when I put on a scarf because I was never really sure what to do with it. I always wore a scarf with my winter coat, but in terms of accessorizing with a scarf, it didn’t seem to fit my personality.

Last winter, I was travelling with my best friend Robin and she suggested I bring a scarf. She told me that she always travels with a scarf because it is small to pack and really helps to keep you warm. Whether you be over tired from travelling, trying to get comfortable on a cool airplane or feel under dressed for the weather conditions, a scarf can not only accessorize, but also help to keep the “draft” off your neck and make you feel much more comfortable. I took her advice and found that it made a huge difference. I am always cold and having a scarf along really seemed to allow me to “cozy” up without having to wear multiple layers of clothing. I had never really considered taking a scarf along before her suggestion, but it will now become a “must bring” on my packing list.

Since that time, I have found myself wearing scarves quite regularly. Our winters are very cold and it seems that even a light scarf around my neck helps me to make it through those days at work when I just can’t seem to shake the chills. So, if you are like me and feel a bit unsure of what to do with a scarf, check out this video.

There are many great websites and suggestions for how to wear scarves and they really are more than just an accessory! Get out a scarf and start to play around with it. Have fun and keep warm!

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Fool Yourself Into Eating Less

This viral video contains some great little weight loss tips…. some of them new and some that you have probably heard before. I am not sure that I would call the tips “amazing”, but I am guessing that if you were to do some or all of them, you would see some results. I know that we switched to smalller plates a few years ago and rarely use our full-sized dinner plates anymore (except to take snap shots of meals for the blog).  So, for all of you who are trying to establish better eating habits in 2014, check-out the video and see if you can pick-up a few ideas to aid in your quest. Most of the tips are psychological and involve playing tricks on yourself.  I do believe that it many cases, it is the little changes that make the most difference.

I have found that drinking adequate amounts of water each day has made a huge difference in managing my weight. Lyn-Genet Recitas (The Plan) recommends dividing your weight (in pounds) by 2 and drinking an equal number of ounces of water.  For example, a 140 pound person would drink 70 ounces of water per day. I stick to this and have been very impressed with the results. I notice a difference on the scale the following morning, if my water intake was either too low or high on the previous day.

 

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De-clutter Your Counter with Antique Cast Iron Grate

Our home was built in 1921 and it truly has a lot of character and unique features. I love old homes and have always been attracted to antiques and items from the past. This idea was not mine, but borrowed. I picked up this antique cast iron heat register grate at the old house revival company for around $45. It wasn’t cheap, but I had been looking for quite some time and knew that the price was very comparable to what I had been seeing on kijiji and on the internet. I chose this one because it had a great design and the size was perfect.

It was in pretty rough shape, so I had to scrub it with a heavy-duty wire brush to get all of the loose paint off. I then spray painted it with a flat black spray paint. I flipped it upside down and had Tim mount it on the wall above the counter in our kitchen. (This was before I learned how to do wall plugs on my own.) It now serves as a “mail” holder for all of the kid’s notes from school or pieces of paper we need at our finger tips. It may be hard to tell, but we also have a few pencils and pens stuck in the end of the grate. They are very accessible, but up and off the counter. Love this project!

An antique heat grate was painted and converted into a mail slot in the kitchen.

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Scrapbooking Organization

I am fortunate to have a designated scrapbook/project room in our house. I love that this room is all MINE! Although it is small (about 6′ and 9′) and there are still some things I would like to incorporate to organize it even better, it is one of my favourite rooms in the house. The west wall is banked with windows, so there is beautiful natural light and a very cozy feel to the room.  I have not done anything to really “decorate” this room, but it is functional. Someday, I hope to have a perfect spot for everything and a more appealing decor, but for now there are a few things that have worked well for me at very little cost, and so, I thought I would share some of the ideas. (It is always difficult to keep this work space tidy as I nearly always have a project on the go.  This is pretty much as tidy as it gets and it never stays like this for long!)

Organizing Your Scrapbooking Supplies:

  1. PAPER: One of the things that used to drive me crazy was all of the scraps of paper. The bits and pieces that were left over from a project. You know the pieces that are too small for most things and yet too big to recycle. I tried several organizing systems, but this is by far the best. I basically created a bag  for each of the main colours. The bags are ziplock type bags, but were not bought in a store. They were passed onto me and were originally the packaging for computer parts (I think). The bags are about 8 3/4″ wide by about 12″ tall and the plastic is actually a little heavier and thus more sturdy than the store bought bags. The size is perfect, but I am sure store bought bags would be fine as well. (I also wonder if clear page protectors might work as you can purchase some that are a bit thicker.) I punched a small hole in the corner of each bag and then set an eyelet in so that the plastic wouldn’t tear. I then tied a ribbon to each bag, indicating the colour of paper it would contain and lined my wall with those little screw in hooks. Each bag hangs on its own hook and all of my scrap paper is organized by colour. I still have to sort through the bag to find the exact shade I am looking for, but it is so much more manageable and the system is really easy to stick to. If you don’t have a room, you could always keep the bags/page protectors in a binder.
    Here is a close-up shot of the eyelet and ribbon tie on a bag.
    I now use my “Big Bite” tool from Crop-A-Dial for setting eyelets and hole punching. This tool is super handy.
    I used to use this “eyelet set” before I had my Big Bite. It works fine and could be used in lieu of the Big Bite tool.
    Scrap paper storage system.
  2. EMBELLISHMENTS: What do you do with all of the little knick-knacky items like brads, buttons, tape, eyelets, rhinestones, etc.? Well, what works for me is this screw/nail chest that I picked up at Canadian Tire for under $20. I think I got it for 60 or 70% off and it seems to do the trick. I don’t love the navy colour and could easily spray paint the cabinet, but thought I would wait until I actually have a colour pallet to work with and then paint it to coordinate with the other elements in the room. The little drawers work perfectly to hold all of the little odds and ends that I use to dress-up a page.

    embellishment storage

    Screw/nail cabinet used to store my knick-knacks. (You can also see a few jars of ribbon on the white shelf.)

  3. RIBBON: I have quite a bit of ribbon and have not yet got the perfect system for organizing it. I have some of it in jars which works well, but I would need way to many jars to store all that I have. I have some in ziplock bags, similar to the paper, but I don’t find this works very well and the balance is in a drawer. I think that if I had the space (or set-up) the jars would be ideal. You can easily see what you have at a glance and organize the jars according to colour. Maybe some day!

    scrapbooking room

    You can see a few of the ribbon jars and the bags hanging on the bottom hook of the little white shelf.

  4. SECRETARY STYLE DESK: The white secretary style desk in this room was a cheap Kijiji find. You can check-out the before and after shots by following the link. I love that this desk provides additional storage inside and an extra work surface when open. It works great for a small space because it can be closed-up when not in use.Secretary Style cabinet
  5. CRICUT DRAWER: I repurposed a drawer from an old desk and incorporated into my existing scrapbooking room because I loved this feature in my old desk. (Actually my new desk is older than my old desk which might be a bit confusing). This drawer allows me to tuck my Cricut away, without the hassle of having to haul it in and out every time I go to use it. The drawer feature allows me to keep it plugged in and ready to go at all times, but also allows me to put it away so that it is not in my way. Love this!

    scrapbooking room

    The drawer is the big beadboard unit below the desk.

Overall, this little space works really well and I know I am very fortunate to have it. I will continue to make this space all that it can be in both function and visual appeal. It is a work in progress, but it is all MINE and I love that!

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Upcycled Play Kitchen: Part 3 ~ The Final Chapter

Yay! It is finally done. I have to say, that this play kitchen project seemed to drag on for way to long and I found it very hard to get the job done. Obviously, I didn’t really have a reason to make it in the first place and have no plans for what I am going to do with the now finished project. The play kitchen was really all about stepping-up to the challenge because it was something I had wanted to do for a very long time, regardless of the fact that my little girl will be 12 in less than a month. I have seen so many cute little play kitchen upcycles and I just had to try one out. In the end, I am not sure how much the project cost me out-of-pocket, but I do know that I spent many hours on it. I can’t say that I will be doing another one of these “just for fun” projects again, any time soon. I am pleased with the final project, but did have a few bumps along the way. I am not going to provide much of a tutorial here, but will add a few captions here and there where necessary.  If you are interested in checking-out some of the steps and tutorials that led up to this reveal, you can check-out some of the previous posts. (Remember to click on the images if you wish to enlarge them.)

Upcycled Play Kitchen: Part 1

Upcycled Play Kitchen: Part 2

Ruffled Apron Tutorial

Upcycled Chalkboard/Frame

Before Pictures:

The play kitchen was made from two old furniture pieces: our old T.V. stand and an old stereo cabinet. Both were old and dated, but in otherwise good condition.

This is a shot of our old TV cabinet, before the upcycle.
BEFORE: Stereo Cabinet

Upcycled Play Kitchen Reveal:

Stove/sink
Faux tiled backsplash
Top view of sink/stove unit.
There is one shelf behind the curtain, below the sink/stove top.
I added a little ruffle to the top of the shelf above the fridge just to add a bit of colour and pull the two pieces together. (Clearly, I should have dusted the fridge a bit!)
I used a recycled metal bowl for the sink, garage sale taps/faucet ($5), painted wooden circles for the elements and antique stove knobs. The “elements” were thin wooden circles that I bought from Michael’s. I primed and painted them and then speckled them with white paint using a toothbrush.
Here is the coordinating ruffle apron.
This sign could be used to announce the menu or say who’s kitchen it is: “Cindy’s Kitchen”.
The menu stand is from the dollar store and was just spray painted black.
Upcycled Play Kitchen: The interior of the fridge. These hinges were a bit pricey, but I wanted them to be good quality.
AFTER: Upcycled Play Kitchen

I must say that I feel a little sad that this will never be used in our home. Eden is far too old to play with this and yet I still have so many ideas for what you could do to make this absolutely amazing. I even considered taking it to school, but I don’t think it would withstand the 45 five-year olds that grace my classroom each day. I think I’ll stick with the commercial set that is already there. So, the future of this little project is still up in the air, but at least it is now off my “things to do” list. I am sure it will find a good home with a little girl to enjoy it!

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Got static?

We have a huge problem with the very dry air in our 1921 home. We used to have a humidifier, but it died a few years ago and we just never got around to replacing it. Our son tends to get lots of nose bleeds, especially in the winter when it is so dry. Needless to say, this record-breaking season of endless days of minus 3o temperatures is taking its toll. Despite the fact that I could probably count the number of times I left the house in the last two weeks (on one hand), I decided to brave the cold and spend most of Friday out doing errands. I was literally gone for about 6 hours, but I guess that’s what happens when you avoid going outside for such an extended period of time ~ the errands add up! So, on this very cold day, I went to not one or two, but five stores looking for one of the two humidifiers that seemed to have the highest customer ratings.

In the end, I gave up and bought the Honeywell Quiet Care unit that was on sale for $60 at Target. It was 50% off and I was starting to believe the two units I sought (Sunpentown SU-4010 and the Air-O-Swiss A0S7135), didn’t actually exist in Winnipeg. I brought home the Honeywell and Tim set it up. I also purchased a little humidity reader and it said that our humidity level was at 3%, so I figure we were just a smidge above the level in which one dries-up and turns to dust. (I am not sure, but just guessing that is what happens when you reach 0% humidity??) Luckily the Honeywell seems to work quite well and within several hours, we had already reached just over 20%. This of course is still at least 10% below what is deemed to be the “comfort zone” which is denoted as being between 30 and 50% humidity. However, when you’ve been living in 3% humidity and your hair has been standing on end for 3 weeks straight and any physical contact results in an electric shock that has you constantly recoiling, 20% feels pretty good. It is now Sunday evening (two days later) and we are hovering around 28% on the main floor of the house. I must say, I feel like a new woman! Who knew that humidity could make such a difference!

Our Honeywell Quiet Care Humidifier:Honeywell Quiet Care Humidifier

  • we need to fill it about every 20 to 22 hours, but have had it set on “high”
  • it seems to work well and has resulted in raised humidity levels throughout most of our main floor which I am guessing is about 1600 square feet
  • it is a bit awkward to fill as the top of the water tanks are not level and thus when turned upside-down to fill, you must hold the tank to keep it from tipping over ~ not a big deal for us, but perhaps annoying to others
  • we have only had it two days, so can’t comment on the long-term functioning of the unit, but so far so good ~ I would recommend this humidifier to others looking to buy one.

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Upcycled Picture Frame/Chalkboard

You know how I love a good deal. Well, I have used the same technique to upcycle both picture frames and dollar store slates. Basically, you are taking a somewhat inferior product and kicking it up a notch.

Upcycled Frame:

For this particular project, I used a dollar store slate, paint, homemade chalkboard paint, Modge Podge and some scrapbooking paper.

  1. First, tape off the slate portion. Give it a very gentle sanding and then add a fresh coat of homemade chalkboard paint. (I often find that the dollar store ones are not very user-friendly and the surface does work well with chalk, so I give it a coat of my own paint.)
  2. Once the chalkboard paint is dry, remove the tape and paint out the back and edges of the slate with a colour of your choice. (If this is being mounted on a wall, you can omit this step and leave the plain wood.)
  3. Cut a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper, that is slightly bigger than the size of the frame.
  4. Add a very thin coat of Modge Podge to the frame. You want the coat to be thin, but be sure to cover all of the frame so that the paper sticks well.
  5. Lay the scrapbooking paper over the frame and firmly press the paper to get out all of the air bubbles.
  6. Once completely dry, carefully cut away the excess paper from both the inside and outside of the frame by running a utility knife along the edge of the frame.
  7. I like to sand the edges where the paper and wood frame meet. This tends to expose the “white” surface of the paper below the print on it. I like the distressed look of the exposed white.
  8. You can add a coat of Modge Podge over top for protection, if desired.
  9. You must prepare the chalkboard surface by completely covering it with chalk and then erasing it. (I usually hold my chalk on the side to prime the surface.)
Back of frame prior to painting.
Painted back.
BEFORE: Cheap Wooden Slate
AFTER: Modge Podged Edge
Dollar store stand that was originally silver, but I spray painted black.

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Life Hacks I Love: #2 Organizing Your Dresser

I found this idea on Pinterest months ago and it made so much sense to me. Don’t you hate it when you go to dig a t-shirt out of your dresser drawer and you either can’t find it or you mess up the whole stack trying to maneuver it from the bottom of the pile? I used to hate that! Not anymore, I decided to rearrange my clothes in a vertical formation as suggested on Pinterest. It works beautifully! So, if you are in the mood to get organized, you have got to try this. It really works and is easy to manage.

dresser drawers

The above photo is actually of my husband’s dresser drawer. He has so many t-shirts wedged in there, you can barely open and close the drawer. He has not yet converted to the new system. You can only see the shirts that are on the top of the pile and it is difficult to get a shirt in and out, let alone find the one you are looking for. Fortunately for him, he really only wears blue and black, so I guess pretty much any one will do!

Okay, this is seriously a “no-brainer”. You can see every single shirt in the drawer and they fit in there beautifully. This system gets 5 stars from me! I love that I can easily find what I am looking for without destroying the whole drawer of clothes. A must do for the organized person in your home!

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Bathroom Make-over

A couple of years ago, I decided to make the upstairs bathroom a little more fun and kid friendly. We only have two bedrooms upstairs and so that bathroom is primarily used by Eden and Shay. When we moved in, the upstairs bathroom had recently been tiled and modernized, but not at all what we would have chosen. We were not going to invest in a renovation, but thought that we could change the look with paint and a few minor changes. The biggest issue was that everyone was so thrilled with the main floor bathroom renovation, that the upstairs bathroom was rarely getting used and it was driving me crazy. Eden and I went shopping together as I thought that including her in the design would help entice her into using the upstairs bathroom. I did not want to sink much money into this, so it was to be done on a limited budget.  The tiles had to stay, but were a neutral beige colour that we were able to work with.  We started by picking out a new shower curtain and then built the palette from there.

Upstairs Bathroom Before:

Unfortunately, I don’t have any great BEFORE pictures. These were taken with the project already underway, but in all honesty it didn’t look much better than this.  There was a vent/fan in the middle of the wall, a towel bar below and a plain white waffle type fabric shower curtain.  The bathroom is very small and the vanity that was in there was poorly installed, so water ran down behind it and between the tub and sink all the time.  It was pretty yucky!! Here are the only pictures I have. You can see that the bathroom was very dark and certainly not very fun!

This photo demonstrates a more accurate account of the colour prior to the make-over.
BEFORE: Old Vanity without Tile
This shows more of the tile, but the colour is better in the other photo.

Upstairs Bathroom Make-Over:

It truly is quite amazing to see what a coat of paint and little creativity can do!!  My daughter picked out a colourful curtain (that I loved as well) and this became the inspiration for the room.  My husband installed a pedestal sink which worked much better in the space.  The vent/fan is still there, but doesn’t seem so bad against the blue walls.  I had the shelf above the toilet in the basement, so just had to give it some fresh paint.  I found some cute little square-shaped glass jars at the dollar store that fit nicely on the shelf. I bought a cheap canvas at Jysk and made a simple piece of art for the room. I found some great ideas on Pinterest and modified them to suit the space. You can check-out my previous posts for further instructions on how to do the subway art chore sign, toothpaste holders and the faux tiled backsplash. In a nut shell, the backsplash was done by taping off squares, adding a plaster layer, painting the “tiles”, removing the tape and then urethaning them. The tiles turned out great and have been very durable. I also made a little “wash your hands” sign for the window sill.

We kept the original mirror, but the look is totally different with the faux tiles.
AFTER: Faux Tiled Backsplash
DIY Subway Art
I also made a little chalkboard sign for the bathroom.
You can see the subway art chore sign near the window.
DIY acrylic painting. Who can’t make a circle?

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Mason Jar Toothbrush Holder

In December 2011, I re-did the kid’s upstairs bathroom and one of the projects I did was based on an idea I had found on Pinterest. Tim mounted cheap pipe clamps onto the wall that were sized to hold some dollar store glasses that I had purchased. I personalized each cup with my kids’ names using a white paint pen from Michael’s. The glasses can be slid out for cleaning and have held up well. I have had to touch up their names once or twice in the last two years, but otherwise it has worked wonderfully!

AFTER: Faux Tiled Backsplash

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