Woodworking

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love DIY stuff, and I'm not picky about what I try.  If it can be homemade, I'll try it at least once. 

Two years ago a friend of mine introduced me to http://ana-white.com/ (it's the same website as knock-off wood if you have heard of that one) and I have fallen in love with building my own things.  I'm not very good at it, but I love it.  Some people have suggested that I add some of my items to this blog but I don't think it would be very practical to give a verdict to a blueprint that I messed up.

But what I will do is give praises to this website and tell you why I love it. If you have ever been interested in woodwork then this website is a fantastic place to start.  You can find  countless plans for building anything from a simple picture frame to a bunk bed.  You can search plans by categories, room, skill level, price etc.  And if you have zero knowledge of tools and working with wood, there are a lot of great tutorial videos and forums that will answer any questions you have.

"But wait, I don't have any tools" you might say.  Well guess what my friend, all you really need is a power drill.  Lowe's and Home Depot will cut the wood for you and if you bat your eyes at the workers, they will even pick out the wood for you and haul it around the store.  Ok, they will do that without the flirting,  all you have to say is "help please" and usually they are ready to jump in.  One time a worker spent 20 minutes telling me all he knew about drill bits.

Having a sander is nice because it cuts down a lot of work and time, but you can sand everything by hand.  I have used a jigsaw on many occasions but most of the time it wasn't necessary, usually it was because I messed something up and had to adjust things. 

Before you start any building project I suggest that you read everything about that project.  Even the comments.  Even though it takes time, and sometimes there are more then 100 comments I have always found something helpful by reading them. 

Let me show you the projects I have done so you can see the great variety the website has.  Again, they aren't great, but when I started all I knew was how to use a power drill.

This library cart was my very first build.   The wheels have since broken off (Trying to wheel it with 50lbs of books on it wasn't a  good idea) but it has held up great.  It holds a lot of books and it's right at the kids level

This end table/mini TV stand was a little bit more challenging because of the drawer.  You can see that it's a bit crooked.  This project also taught me how unforgiving stain is.  It highlights any scratches you have and I don't care what the bottle says, there is no such thing as stainable wood filler. 

Dog food bowl.

The kids have a cute little table I bought on craigsilst a few years ago.  One of the chairs broke, so I made another one using scrap wood I had. 

My sons platform bed.  

 A play kitchen for the kids

My daughters bed, and the source of my concussion.  That 5 foot, 50lbs headboard was leaning against the wall and I was crouched below it messing with the railings.  I'm not sure what happened, but that thing came down and got me in the back of the head.  I don't think i was fully knocked out but I have no memory of crawling out from under it and laying down next to it.  Apparently when working with wood I should start wearing a helmet.  It will look good with my oh so attractive safety glasses.

The Bad Side of DIY

Short story shorter, I have a concussion brought on by DIY project. Looking at computer screen and reading causes a good amount of pain. This guinea pig needs to take a break. I'll see you all in a week or so when I can look at a computer screen again without little stars showing up in my peripheral vision.

Bathtub Paint

I was looking at old blog posts and I realized that I have introduced my sisters through various posts but I have neglected my brother.  

He is also a fan of DIY projects, but his aren't exactly every day practical things.  Let me explain through a video.

What does this have to do with bathtub paint?  Absolutely nothing!  I just think it's hilarious that a successful business man and father of 4 has a DIY bungee jump in the middle of his living room. Did you notice the girl sitting on the crash pad acting as though someone flying above her head is a very normal thing?  That would be my very patient sister in law.

Bathtub Paint
You Will Need:
1 Tbsp cornstarch
4-6 pumps baby shampoo (about 1/8 cup)
2-3 drops of food coloring
1-2 tsp water

Directions: 
Mix all the ingredients together until you get the consistency you like.

I'm going to cut right to the chase
The Verdict: This stuff is great. The kids love it and have requested it many times.  It's very quick and easy to put together and you really don't have to measure the ingredients.  Just start putting it together until you find a consistency you like. 

Eventually it starts to dry out and the kids can no longer paint with it.  But they get about 30 minutes of painting time before that happens.  When they are done, I grab the shower head and blast the paint with water. It comes right off.  If the paint is really dry then I have to scrub a tiny bit, but mostly it just washes away by itself. 

The first time we did it I was worried about the paint staining the grout.  I took a few dark colors and rubbed them into the grout as hard as I could.  I then left it there the whole time the kids were playing.  The blue left a very light stain on one spot, but it faded within a few days. 

So if you don't have a bungee jump of your own, then this is a great rainy day activity.

Dry Shampoo or Halloween Makeup?

Personally I have never understood the purpose of dry shampoo.  I figure if my hair looks like it needs a cleaning, then I should clean it...... or put a hat on. Even on those days when I've hit the snooze button to many times and my hair looks like it's been dunked in oil, I will still wash it, give it a quick blow then put it up in a pony tail.

I did try a store bought dry shampoo once, but it didn't seem to do anything.  When I saw a Pin about making your own homemade dry shampoo I decided what the heck, I'll give it a try. There have been a few times were it would have been nice to just slap something in my hair and run out the door.

Homemade Dry Shampoo
Choose one or combine them if you’re feeling frisky:
Cornstarch
Cornmeal
Baking Soda
Ground Oats

For one application, you need only use a tablespoon or two. Take the powdery substance of choice and apply it to your hair roots. Scrub it in with the tips of your fingers, and run your fingers through the length of your hair. With a fine-bristled brush, briskly brush the powder out of your hair

I didn't have any cornmeal, so on two separate occasions I decided to try the cornstarch, baking soda and ground oats.

My hair can go about 2 days without washing it. On the third day it always looks nice and shiny and in desperate need of a shampoo.  So I picked one of those mornings to try out the baking soda and corn starch.

Baking Soda Verdict: My camera didn't go a good job of emphasizing the greasiness of my hair, but if you look closely on the left picture you can see the shine by my ear.  Because I was doing this on one section of my hair, I used 1/2 Tbsp.  I rubbed it into my roots, shook my hair, brushed my hair and was left with hair that looked like I had put baking soda in it.  My roots were several shades lighter then the rest of my hair.  I let it sit for an hour and kept playing with my hair and brushing it but it still looked pretty gross.

Cornstarch Verdict: This one was my favorite.  Not because it worked well, but because it was so bad. After rubbing in 1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch I looked in the mirror and had a good laugh.  My DIY dry shampoo turned into a DIY powdered wig.


















After an hour of flipping, shaking, brushing and combing, my hair looked a lot better then it was, but it was still pretty bad looking.  I had streaks of white and a lot of little flakes. 

Ground Oatmeal Verdict:I put the oats into the blender on high until I had a fine powder then rubbed it into my roots.  The only thing the oats did was leave little flakes in my hair that kept showing up for several hours.  My hair was just as greasy as it was before. 

Overall Verdict: Even though these failed miserably, I now have a method to create my own powered wig , give myself a lovely dandruff look and I now know what I will look like with gray hair..... it's not pretty.

No Grate Laundry Detergent

A friend of mine once told me that she would like to make her own laundry soap, but she hated the grating part.  It was so time consuming and frustrating for her that it wasn't worth the effort.  When I saw a website about making your own laundry detergent without having to grate a bar of soap I thought, Eureka!  This could be the perfect solution for her.

No Grate Laundry Detergent
You Will Need

3/4 cup Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap (For laundry, I like to use the lavender, almond, and citrus varieties)

1/2 cup Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax OR substitute with Baking Soda

 20-50 drops of lavender

2 one-gallon containers in which to store the detergent (I recycled an old laundry detergent container and a vinegar jug)

A measuring cup or two

A two-gallon bucket (I used my old mop bucket)

Funnel to pour the detergent from the bucket into the containers (not necessary but certainly helpful!)

 

Directions:

Take your two dry ingredients first – the Super Washing Soda and Borax or Baking Soda, and pour them into the bottom of the bucket.  Stir well.  Add enough hot tap water to cover the dry ingredients. It’s important to dissolve the dry ingredients BEFORE adding the liquid Castile Soap. Otherwise, it will get super clumpy and your batch will be ruined. Then, either add your liquid Castile Soap OR the water. The soap does suds up pretty well, so if you add it first, slowly add water. Otherwise, add the water first, then at the end, add the soap and stir it in with a long spoon. Fill your bucket up to the two gallon mark with hot water (or add your Castile Soap) Use about 1/3 cup for each load

 

The instructions say that you can either use borax or baking soda.  I chose to go with borax since that is the main ingredient in most homemade laundry detergents.  After mixing everything together I decided that this was going to be a fail.  It looked so watered down that I wasn't sure if my clothes were going to get clean, but only one way to find out.

 

 Using a funnel I poured my solution into an old laundry container and started some laundry that afternoon.

 The Verdict: I used it on the kids clothes first and when I pulled them out of the washing machine I couldn't tell if they were clean or not.  They seemed clean but they also didn't.  They looked clean but they sort of smelled like dirty water.  So I needed a better test subject. 

Instead of washing my rag pile that day, I decided to let them sit and fester until they had a lovely rotting odor to them.  When I finally washed them a few days later I used 1/3 cups.  I pulled my rags out of the wash and they still smelled.... a lot.  So I washed my rags again using 1 1/2 cups of the detergent, they still smelled and some of them still had dirty spots on them. The only thing this detergent is good for is to waste your time and money. 

I'm sort of 2 for 2 with laundry detergents right now.  I hope the next one has a better success rate.

Dye Those Eggs

I don't know about you, but my stomach is about to explode.  Between the kids "sharing" their Easter candy with me, and going to a fondue get together last night, I think I have eaten my weight in chocolate in the last 18 hours.

So before I slip into a chocolate coma, lets quickly walk through a homemade Easter egg dye.

DIY Easter Egg Dye
You Will Need:
Water
Vinegar
Food Coloring

Directions:
Take a bowl or coffee cup and mix water, vinegar & food color (80% water, 20% vinegar and 2 to 4 drops food color) You don’t have to be exact with this recipe as I generally just sort of “eye” it.

 I've heard about this method many times over the years but never bothered to try it because I can get egg dye and fun stickers in a pack for only a few dollars. But this year my daughter was old enough to dye eggs so I decided to let the kids each have their own set of dye and hope this minimized any fighting.  My son had a store bought pack and my daughter got the DIY stuff. 

The Verdict: The darker colors worked pretty good but the eggs had to sit in the dye for a couple minutes for the dye to do anything.  The lighter colors didn't do very well at all.

This is an egg that sat in the yellow dye for about 3 minutes. 

The egg on the left was put in the blue store bought dye.  The egg on the right was put in the DIY blue dye.  They were both left in their containers for the same amount of time.  

I think part of the reason for the lighter color on the eggs was because I had a lot of liquid.  I probably should have put in more then the 4 drops of food coloring for the amount of liquid I had.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Have Eyeliner On Your Walls? Try This.

I was getting out of the shower one day when I heard my son yell, "Mom!!! mumble mumble Eliza mumble the wall!"

Even though I could only understand a few of the words, the fact that he said 'Eliza' and 'wall' in the same sentence could only mean one thing, she found something and drew on the wall again!

I threw on my oh so unflattering mom bathrobe, ran out the door and saw this

She was down the hall holding two eyeliner pencils and looking very guilty.  I wish I could say that I reacted calmly and rationally, and that I lovingly corrected her behavior in such a way that resulted in a beautiful mother daughter bonding moment that is worthy of a Folgers commercial from the 80's, but I didn't. I pretty much reacted like this.

 That afternoon I grabbed my mayonnaise to try and clean it up but it didn't even smudge the eyeliner.  I tried make up remover, but surprisingly that didn't do anything either.  So I got on yahoo.com and posted a question on one of their forums.  I got several suggestions and decided to try a few.


 Baby Oil's Verdict: It came off very easily without taking any paint off, but left a nice greasy spot that wouldn't come off. Pass

 Nail Polish Remover Verdict: It worked so well that the paint came off with it. Pass

Hand Sanitizer Verdict: It got a little bit off but I had to scrub pretty hard and it started to take the paint off. Pass

Witch Hazel Verdict: It just smudged the make up a little bit. Pass

Rubbing Alcohol Verdict: This was a big fail.  A couple of rubs and I had wiped off all the paint and primer.  Big Pass

Hot Water and Soap Verdict: We have a winner! It took a little scrubbing but it got the make up off without hurting the paint. The cloth I was using had to be hot.  When it started to cool off I would have to scrub harder and harder until eventually nothing would come off.  I would rinse the towel in hot water, throw a little more soap on and start scrubbing again. 

I hope this is the last post I have to do about getting things off the walls, but the odds are slim.