Making your house a home - veggie and fruit boxes

Get your favorite colour chalkboard paint and cover your fruit and veggie boxes and then play around with different fonts to fill your house with uplifting words

Clothes you love without the costs you hate - crochet jean skirt

Ok, I won't lie the time cost of crocheting this is big, but ultimately worth it

Pattern was off etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/116168684/pattern-crochet-skirt-poncho-neck-warmer?ref=transaction_complement_original

But used thinner thread and 2.5 mm needle

Because i used a thinner thread and needle the length of the crochet skirt wasnt long enough to reach from my waist to my knees. So I sewed the crochet skirt to the jeans just where the undertops I always wear (with lace at the bottom) reach to, to cover the plain jeans

Note: Don't sew with a machine! See by hand first in case u aren't happy with the lay of things

In terms of cutting the jeans:

1. Cut off the legs to match the length of the crochet skirt once attached

2. Cut up the legs 

3. Overlap the front parts of the two legs and back parts of the two legs and sew...there will be more overlap near the crotch. Note: try the pinned skirt on before sewing to make sure it still fits you!!

Making your house a home - new containers for old things

Fished these out the dumpster outside School of Geoscience #usefuljunk 

Remember using these…used to be so expensive to take pics! Now we don't even bat an eyelid

Making your house a home - make your own bunting

Buy your own: https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/TheArtofSALiving/onboarding/listings/244672533

Equipment:

Material Ribbon

Stapler

3 different coloured cardboards (3 different pieces of cardboard give you about 1.5 m of banting)

Scissors/craft knife and ruler

Time to make: 45 minutes

Steps:

1. Cut cardboard triangles (3 per page)

Easiest way I found to do this:

a. Bend your paper in half, but don't fold it completely...just make a small indentation at the top and bottom of the page to mark half way

b. Again bend these halves in half...just make a small indentation at the top and bottom of the page to mark a quarter of the way

c. Use your ruler to connect up these indentations and the craft knife to cut

2. Lay out the ribbon

3. Place the triangles the distance apart that suits you (about 5 cm for me)

4. Staple  them down

Making your house a home - Balloon lights

1. Take a hanger attach pegs (pegs must be hooked far enough over the hanger bar to close at the bottom). 

2. Blow up small water balloons. Try keep each hanger for a separate colour (to avoid worrying about them touching each other). If your water balloons are hard to blow up...then stretch them and blow while stretching (be careful not to close off the opening)

3. Mix wood glue with water (3 to 1 ratio) in a plastic container. Add as much food coloring to make it as dark as you want

Once you are finished with the mix, save the container for next time!

4. Put down newspaper to catch the drops

5. Cut 1m long lengths of strong. Hang them over the arm of the chair to make sure they don't get tangled

6. Dip the string in the mix. Start wrapping it around each balloon. I do around 4 strings per balloon. Try cover as much of the balloon surface area as evenly as possible. 

Repeat with different colours on different hangers

7. Leave the balloons to dry for two days

8. Pop the balloon and the balloon surface should pull away from the string leaving a ball

9. Slide fairy lights into the smaller holes, alternating colours

If you make your glue a bit thicker then the balloons don't pop and you get a semi stainglass window effect :)

Making your house a home - picture frames

Found these cardboard boxes in the dustbin at work! Turned into awesome photo frames. I assume they were from some software? Still need to find an image for the top one. The bottom one is a beautiful sketch we bought from a student selling on the streets of Melaka, Malaysia...showing the buildings in the old town

And then there are always clipboards! These are some awesome postcards I got at a Tim Burton exhibition in Prague

                                         

The left hand one reflects what several years of marriage will do to you...you melt into one big pile of goo :) the right hand one was to cheer Scott up cause he was over in South Korea with a broken foot while I was galavanting in Eastern Europe 

Looking after your body - The amazingness of apple cider vinegar

Taken from: http://www.putihome.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=34683

Check out this extensive list! http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/apple-cider-vinegar-4.html?t=DM

So far I have used it to:

1. Wash my hair…It is the conditioner in the mix

2. Make my tummy more alkaline…though I can only drink half a cap full in the morning with very cold water. Can't say whether it is helping or more…but I am starting to enjoy drinking it!

3. Clean the toilet and shower walls

4. De-flea the cats…not sure how well it worked since Andrea and Carrie bought anti-flea shampoo the same day

5. Remove a tick from Shingo's back…again, not sure of the success because they became impatient and pulled it out…leaving the head in by accident!

6. Reduce the size of the pores on my face…i think it has helped!

7. Awkward, but it has worked wonders correct the flora in my nether regions

8. A late addition…it helps with pet constipation! Gave a teaspoon fill to Mika in a plate of milk. I didn't know if it made any different, but a while later Andrea (her own) suggested that was the reason for her more friendly behavior…and no longer cringing every time you touch her!

9. To deter termites (very important when living in a wooden house)! I put it across their path and the next day they had moved...though sadly were not gone all together!