50 Fun Things to do with Paint Chip Samples « Diy Decorating « Home Life « Broke & Healthy Ande has made mistakes in the kitchen since she could reach the countertop. From a restaurant head cook, to cooking meals for friends, to her own solo plate, experimenting & learning drives her. She's also a freelance graphic & web designer, photo/videographer, guitar player and wanderlust-er. In her spare time, she works a full-time 8 to 5 cubicle job. She's the creator of Broke & Healthy. Browse Archived Articles by Ande Truman Categories: DIY Decorating, Top Carousel Tags: art, cheap, chip, chips, day, decor, diy, etsy, free, how to, paint, pinterest, sample
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. I am a professional organizer and blogger based out of the San Francisco Bay Area and today I wanted to inspire all of you to get your emergency kits ready in honor of Emergency Preparedness Month. 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. Next let’s talk about emergency kits for your pet. Living in California I thought more people would have an emergency kit in their homes but I rarely see one.
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. 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). So, go make your own play mat and check out the different versions of Kimbo’s at A Girl and a Glue Gun. Krista
22 Great Projects Using Chalkboard Paint By gabrielleblair | Chalkboard paint is everywhere it seems which makes me happy because there are just so many fun ways to use it! Paint a wall, paint a flower pot, paint a fridge (seriously!)… you can even make your own if you feel so inclined. Click through the gallery below for 22 great chalkboard paint projects to get your creative juices going: nggallery id=’122933′ Chalkboard Container Labels Dress up your basic kitchen containers with these chalkboard labels spotted at Better Homes and Gardens. click here for more info Personalize Your Chairs With Chalkboard Paint Lead Photo Credit: The Style Files
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. 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 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. Every car needs a gas station. Our church. Our Temple. Next up...
Refashion As you might have noticed around here, I don't wear mini dresses. So when I'm shopping, it's majorly annoying to find and fall in love with a mini dress in a gorgeous pattern or color, cause throwing on a pair of leggings underneath it totally changes the look for me, and not usually in a good way. So I was thinking about this annoying situation a few weeks ago, and then I ran across this pin that I'd pinned ages ago and it sparked an idea. Instead of fighting the mini dress, how about I just make it work for me? Such was the case with this darling dress from Lulu*s that they sent me. Here's how I styled it, and a super easy tutorial is at the end of this post! This tutorial doesn't work for every mini dress, but it works for many of them, especially shift dresses that have one color or print all over the dress, like mine. Step 1 // Start with a mini dress, obviously. Step 2 // Lay it profile, flat on the ground, and cut according to your pin marks, making it a hi-low hem. Step 3.
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! You can make your own survival candles at home for cheap, using high-quality, long burning soy wax. It's an easy project - the materials are easy to buy and you won't need any specialized tools. 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. Including the purchase of new jars, my cost per candle is around $1.62. Anyways, give it a shot and let us know how it goes!
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. 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
Shrinky Bracelet If you grew up in the 80's, like I did, you're probably already familiar with the awesomeness that is Shrinky Dinks...but did you know that you can still buy Shrinky Dinks? Yep, they're still out there - in craft stores, hobby shops, and even on Amazon. But you don't have to buy a Shrinky Dink kit to have all the fun. There is a great tutorial on Instructables (courtesy of Dabbled) with all the instructions for making your own shrinky projects from #6 plastic containers, so I won't go into too much detail here. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Use a pair of pliers to open the rings. 8. Surprise mom with a priceless piece of jewelry made by her little artists! I was also able to make a pendant from a long, skinny piece I had left over after cutting apart the "beads" for the bracelet. Cute, right?
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
t-shirt shag rug tutorial | Molly Kay Stoltz Here it is, finally! My shag rug is complete. I love how it feels under my feet, and if it starts to look a little flat, I pick it up, shake it, and it fluffs right back up! It took some time but I finished it and I’m glad I decided to make one. You can too, especially if you like to cut up t-shirts but never know what to do with the scraps afterwards. The scraps from my scarves are perfect candidates for making a rug. Feel free to message me with any questions. How to Make a T-shirt Shag Rug Supplies: 1 XL t-shirt, cloth scissors, and lots of small t-shirt scraps the base with a few scraps threaded through 1. For the base of the rug, lay the X-L t-shirt flat and cut a large rectangle out of the shirt, as large as you would like the size of your rug to be. a rotary board makes cutting easier perfect sized scraps! 2. If you are me, you have scraps of t-shirts all over your apartment. Cut these t-shirts into strips that are approximately 5-6’’ long and 1-1 ½’’ wide. 3. 4. 5.