How to Put Together an Emergency Preparedness Kit Posted by Laura on October 5, 2011 · 211 Comments Welcome! Simplify your blog reading by signing up to read my blog via RSS (get updates in a feed reader) or via email (get updates delivered daily to your inbox). Hi, I am Amanda Kuzak from Kuzak’s Closet. It doesn’t matter where you live, you are susceptible to an earthquake, hurricane, snow storm, power outage, flood, etc. and any of these things could leave you and your family stranded at home for a few days without power or electricity. Before I talk about the emergency kit you need to have in your home, I want to talk about the emergency kit you should have in your car. This is what my emergency kit for my car looks like, it has a blanket, an extra pair of sneakers and socks (just in case I am wearing heels or sandals and need to vacate my car and walk), a flashlight, a power flare, and water. Next let’s talk about emergency kits for your pet. This is what my kit looks like. Do you have an emergency preparedness kit ready to go?
Felt Play Mat I first saw this idea a while back at A Girl and A Glue Gun. I’ve blogstalked her for a long time. She has since made several different versions and has inspired mommas all over blogland to try their hand at it. I have been waiting for Little Monkey to get to the age where he’d appreciate, and actually play with, this rather than seeing how long it takes to destroy it. Here’s the How: 1) First, you will need two large sheets of felt, one black (for the road) and one of your color choice. 3) I then placed all my town pieces on my pinned mats, in the reverse layout of what I wanted the final project to look like. 4) Then I flipped everything: the road I turned over so you couldn’t see the chalk marks and the town pieces I moved to the opposite side of the mat. 5) Then comes the fun part: glue everything down. 6) After it’s all glued down, grab some cars and test it out. The only thing I had to buy was the big felt ($4) and the Puffy paint ($1). Krista
The Smells of the Season Making my home smell wonderful is so important to me this time of year. The smells of the evergreen, cinnamon, orange and spice all mean the Holidays are here. A stove top potpourri mix is an easy inexpensive way to make your home smell wonderful. Packaging the mix in a Holiday bag makes a wonderful gift for friends, neighbors, teachers and co-workers. Here’s how I make my concoction: Holiday Stove Top Potpourri Mix one whole orange or just the orange peel1/2 cup cranberries1 Tbsp. whole cloves3 sticks of cinnamon or a small handful of small pieces of cinnamona bit of grated nutmeg if desired Quarter the orange. It’s just that easy. I love to use an orange that is starting to get old… or just use the peel of an orange. Another important tip is don’t allow the water to completely evaporate. It’s not the Holidays without the delicious scent… it makes me think of cranberry sauce or wassail. A stove top potpourri mix makes a perfect easy gift this season. P.
Car Mat...Part 1 Houses & Buildings Growing up my siblings and I had some awesome toys. Besides Legos, our favorites were all homemade. I loved Barbies, and had amazing hand made clothes for each of them. My dad made us lincoln logs. One Christmas my sister and I, with help from my Dad, made blocks for my brothers. One of my favorite things my mom made us was a car mat. Last week my parents came out for a visit and my mom brought the fabric and her sewing machine. We spent two full days designing, cutting, and sewing the car mat. For each house or building we found a fun fabric and coordinating (or not) fabric for the roof. The flag is sewn with a small zig-zag stitch and different color thread. Give a little room so the bigger cars can fit in. If you zoom in you can see the daisies on the left side of the house. I found hydrangea fabric for big bush at Grandma's house. This is my little guys house, he loves orange and green. This is Home Depot I'm sure you know what store this is :) Or this? This is Daddy's work. Our church.
DIY Survival Candles Candles are an easy-to-use source of emergency lighting and a little bit of heat. I'm shocked to see some of the prices that are charged for long burning candles sold for survival or emergency preparedness - if you want to buy a dozen or so candles, the cost really starts to add up. Never fear! The materials you will need are:Soy wax flakes. First, you'll want to get your wicks ready. Put your wicks in the jars. This is my "double boiler." Here are the flakes beginning to melt. And now fully melted. Carefully transfer the melted wax into your pouring container. Don't fill the jar up the whole way - leave some room between the wax and the top of the container. Last step. While some advertise 70+ hours of burn time for 8 ounce candles like this, they're more in the ballpark of 40 to 50 hours, and you'll get the most life out of them if you burn the candles four hours at a time. Including the purchase of new jars, my cost per candle is around $1.62.
Car Mat...Part 2 Trains, Planes, Mountains & More Now that all the buildings and houses are sewn (but not sewn to the mat) it is time to add the big items. This building is the airport. The control tower has a referee from one of my I-Spy squares. *Don't draw the runway until you have marked the railroad. I've always been attracted to mountains--hiking, camping, fishing, the directional sense they give and the beauty. So my car mat needed a mountain too. My Mom added the "Y" I added the butterfly. My mom sewed the mountain on to the mat. Every child needs a sand box or dirt to play in, right? This is just a dirt pile, lift the flaps to find... A treasure... or Fossils! Once all the big items (zoo, mountain & lake) spread the mat out on the ground and lay out all the buildings and houses. Use a long yard stick to make sure your lines are straight. I used the lid for a candle to mark the rounded edges. After penciling in the railroad use a permanent marker to make it official. Next Up... Part 3...Mark it up and Play
DIY Emergency Documents Folder You can even go through the series a few times over a year or two adding just the most basic supplies the first 6 months and then a few more “extra” supplies each time you cycle through it again. No need to get overwhelmed. Just do what you can! Last Week: I hope all of you were able to get all prepped for your pets last week. Week #23: Important Documents It is unlikely that any documents you choose to include in your kit will keep you alive. (-: However, having them all organized and together can make your life so much easier now! Making insurance claims, searching for missing loved ones (heaven forbid), staying in touch with family and friends, traveling around the country and accessing your financial accounts will all be much easier if you have some essential documents at your fingertips. I’m simply going to walk you page by page through my “emergency documents binder.” Family Evacuation Plan: The front cover: Download it: Important Phone Numbers: The first page: Socials & Insurance IDs
"Cars" Felt Car Mat My friends little boy turned 2 last week! When they come over he likes to play with He had a "Cars" themed party, so I thought I wouldmake a Cars themed play mat. I got all the felt at Joanns The green base is 1 yard The red trim is 4 inch strips folded in half. All the writing is done with fabric paint also purchased at Joanns. Tow Mater is definitely my favorite character so I knew he had to be on it. Here is the inspiration. I was not talented enough to make the car inside the cone but I think you can still get the picture. Inspiration I turned the movie on while making this and just watched for inspiration. It was fun pausing..rewinding..pausing.. More Inspiration The flags were a slight challenge for my shaky hands. I cut out one big piece of black then glued on the little white squares. They are so not even or lined up but I don't think its super noticeable. All the signs I found online were way to hard to do.. But in the movie it has a pretty simple sign on the way into town... So I copied it. xoxo
Fabulous Floorcloths Part 3 and a Style file Segment! Happy Monday all! Things have been silent here at Design Share for a little bit. One of the things I read about starting a new blog is to be consistent with your posting, and I have tried to post at least once a week, but sometimes life just gets in the way, ya know?! I have had some major upheavals and life changing events these past few weeks and boy let me tell you, the wind just doesn't seem to fill my sails most days. Some clear, satin finish WATER BASED polyurethane.... And the aforementioned, fabulous, Suzani Print tablecloth..... ......combined, would make a great floorcloth! Straight out of the package (I didn't wash it first since I was going to be coating with poly anyway, I wasn't worried about shrinkage) I laid the cloth out on my garage floor. About 10 minutes after the first coat, I lifted the whole cloth off the floor so it wouldn't dry stuck to the floor and laid it back down lightly where it was. Some wrinkling occurs, but don't let it worry you.
Wall Art for Sienna's Room First off, let me just say, I really love photos printed onto a canvas. Really. I knew I wanted a set of them in Sienna's room, but as most of you know, we are still students so our decorating budget didn't exactly cover printing four 8"x10" photos onto a canvas. Thus, my idea was born. What you need: Canvas (however many you are using, I used 8x10's) White tissue paper (I only needed one regular sized sheet for four pictures) Printer *with ink* :) Regular printer paper Scissors Tape Mod-Podge Brush Step1: Take a piece of printer paper. Step 2: Trim up the side of the tissue paper so it's the same width as the width of the printer paper. Step 3: Put printer paper in the middle of the tissue paper so there is one half inch overflow on each side. Step 4: Perform a test on your paper in your printer, if you don't know what side it prints on. Step 5: Print off your picture to however big your canvas is, stand there while it prints to make sure it feeds through right. Step 6: Step 7: Step 8: Step 9:
Stamped Tea Towels Howdy y’all! I hope you had a fine weekend. Ours was spent organizing and planning, planning and organizing, but mostly tinkering around the house, cleaning up the remnants of Christmas and tucking it away in bins for next year. Lots of neat things happened in the peace and quiet, we made plans to take a vacation this year and to make more changes to the house, it was both productive and relaxing. Another project I worked in the midst of all that was these stamped tea towels. To make your own, you’ll need the following: tea towels, non porous flat surface, paint for fabric, fabric medium, sponge roller, rubber stamps, iron. I used the Martha Stewart paints since they’re inexpensive, readily available (found mine at Michaels), designed for use on fabric, and they come in such nice colors. 1. Next, roll your paint on a nonporous flat surface (I wrapped a piece of plywood in aluminum foil). 4. Next, apply your stamp in your pattern of choice. Change colors and sizes to add interest! xo,
Building It On Pennies: Saving Pennies (Dollars in this case) Last night I had my first speaking engagement. I was the guest speaker at a honors dinner for parents and teachers. I was so excited to be able to share a few money saving tips and had a great time. I feel so blessed and honored that I was asked to speak, and ready to do it again! I was asked to speak about making homemade soap and other items that can help you save some money. Aren't they cute? Besides for laundry soap and fabric softener I shared a few other items I have been making and the money I have been saving. Dish Washer Soap 1 cup of Borax 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda 2 packets of no sugar added Koolaid Lemon Aide Mix together well and add 1 tablespoon to each load! (If you are making your laundry soap you already own everything except for the koolaid) Cost to make this is $0.78 a batch and does 32 loads of dishes! Rinse Aid Never Buy Rinse aid again use White Vinegar (Works perfect with no smell) Rinse aid runs $3.99 you use about $.04 of Vinegar Daily Shower Cleaner Fabreeze
the DIY: "DIP" DYED HAIR (UPDATED) 78K+ *DISCLAIMER- I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL COSMETOLOGIST/HAIRDRESSER/COLORIST. THIS WAS JUST AN EXPERIMENT GONE RIGHT.* So if you saw our Candy Hair Color post, you know that Casey and I are pretty obsessed with fun-colored-hair right now. It's not a reasonable obsession but hey, are any obsessions really that reasonable? This is the stuff I used. I separated the piece I wanted to lighten first and then I worked my way around my head. I put the bleach in lines that started at different places so it wasn't a straight line across my hair. After I washed my hair out I dried it completely and started adding the color. Repeat until you've done all of your hair. This is probably my favorite picture of the new pink hair. Looking for a less permanent way to add color to your hair?