Condo Blues: January 2017

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

What is This Green and White Corrosion on My Faucet and How Do I Fix It?

The kitchen sink started leaking from the back side of the faucet handle.  Most of the time the kitchen faucet leaks because the washer in the faucet handle wears out.

Faucet handles get a lot of use all day every day so the wearing of moving parts is inevitable. Replacing the washer with a new one is usually the quick and simple fix.

I removed the screw cover and screw from my single single handle faucet to lift the  handle up to remove it and replace the rubber washer.

It wouldn’t budge.


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You can see a lot of rust inside of the faucet handle. White and green corrosion fused the faucet handle parts together and snapped off in my had. What is this stuff?

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 356

It's too cold to build things and DIY in the garage so I usually turn to more crafty projects I can do on the sofa.

Because Lacey likes to snuggle on sofa with her humans when it is cold outside.

I learned to crochet when I was a very little girl but I've forgotten how. Mother in Law offered to teach me. I'm not sure what I would do with the project because Mother in Law is fantastic about keeping me in hand made afghans (blankets, not dogs,) hats, and scarves already. Instead I decided to try my hand at knitting socks on a sock loom! (affiliate link for your convenience)

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The directions that came with the sock board are written for someone who is familiar with knitting so I bought the Sock Loom Basics to  teach myself how to knit. It's a nice portable project but knitting socks is slow going. Maybe because I'm new at it? Do you have any tips for me?




Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Tiny Recycled Glass Bottle House

Recycling glass bottles into walls isn’t a new idea, glass bottle walls have been around since ancient Rome but seeing a glass bottle house in person rarely happens unless you know where to look. This tiny house made from recycled glass bottles is in Ohio practically under my nose until I stopped while walking past it (for a zillionth time in my life,) really looked at it, and realize it is a tiny store with wine glass bottle walls.



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Isn’t it cute?

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 355

Yowza gang Valentine's Day will be hear before you know it! I always struggle with buying Valentine's Day gift ideas for my main man because I use all of my good ideas for Christmas.

You too?

I'm here to help you! I added two new Valentine's Day metal heat key chains to gift to the man or woman in your life in my store LNWCreativeGifts.



Personally, I buy both and give Husband the set as a gift which we split accordingly.

Do you have any good Valentine's Day ideas? Add to our fantastic link party below!





Tuesday, January 17, 2017

DIY Flannel Pajama Pants

My 2016 World of the Year was Hygge – the Danish concept of what loosely translates as a feeling of happy coziness which I had no idea Hygge became A Thing but it has.

Well, well, well lookit me being all bleeding edge hipster because I wanted to share the concept of Hygge with my family in the form of handmade pajama pants as Christmas gifts last year.

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I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

How to Make Fleece Rain Boot Liners

I have a pair of rain boots standing ready by the front door so I jump into them when Lacey needs to go outside to do her business. This is a great plan during the muddy spring and fall but could be better during winter snow since the boots aren’t very warm.

Putting Lamb's Wool Insoles helps but adding a warm boot liner helps keep the rest of my foot warm and extent the usefulness of my rain boots into the winter. I couldn't find any to buy in a store but fortunately warm fleece boot liner socks are super simple to sew and quick to make because you make them inside out!

DIY Fleece Boot Liner Socks


Pin this tutorial for later!
 

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Sears sells Craftsman Brand and Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 354

Super big news in the tool world last week. According to Business Insider, Sears sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker who also owns the Dewalt tool brand. According to The Motley Fool:


"Rather than buying Craftsman outright, Stanley Black & Decker is buying the rights to use the Craftsman brand outside of Sears-affiliated sales channels. Meanwhile, Sears Holdings will be able to continue producing and selling its own line of Craftsman-branded products in Sears and Kmart stores. Sears will start paying royalties to Stanley Black & Decker for use of the Craftsman brand after 15 years.

Since non-Sears retail outlets account for just 10% of Craftsman sales right now, Stanley Black & Decker is essentially paying for the growth potential associated with making Craftsman products more widely available. The deal was deliberately structured this way to protect Stanley Black & Decker from Sears' ongoing decline."

I can't say I'm surprised because the writing has been on the wall for Sears Holdings for quite awhile. For example, last Christmas Kmart made it impossible to buy a few items I was interested in both in local store and on line. They were little extras so it wasn't a loss that I didn't buy them. Although I know Husband had to jump through a quite few hoops to buy the Craftsman orbital sander I wanted for Christmas. Originally he wanted to give it to me for my birthday but couldn't find it.

I hugged my Craftsman sander like an eight year old girl getting an American Girl doll for Christmas.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

DIY Flannel Handkerchiefs and Friday Favorites Linky Party Week 353

My poor wee little nose just can't take it any more. I blew through a 100 +count box of tissues (literally) in three days and my Plague is now just barely showing signs of stopping. If it weren't for my neti pot (affiliate link for your convenience) I  wouldn't be able to breathe since I'm all stuffed up with a cold AND a sinus infection. Never do anything half way I always say! 

Fortunately, as I felt this ick coming on early, I made a stack of quick and easy flannel handkerchiefs to use in addition to disposable tissues to keep my nose from getting chapped and feeling raw. By bouncing back and forth between the two types of tissues I don't have a chapped nose for the first time in forever! Not to mention, the flannel hankies don't disintegrate after using a neti pot like the paper tissues do. (Ew.)

Flannel tissues are super simple to make!

 Pin this tutorial for cold and flu season!


1. Cut a piece of flannel cloth in the size of your choosing.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

The 10 Best DIY Projects of 2016

We’re celebrating the New Year by taking a look back at some of our favorite Condo Blues DIY projects for 2016.
From the looks of it, we all like to decorate and make things with recycled materials and add green home improvements to our homes, myself included!
 

Our Top 10 DIY Projects and Posts on Condo Blues in 2016


How to Cut Wine Corks for Crafts the Easy Way!