Have I Thanked You Lately? Because I Should

This post has been in the back and front of my mind for a long time. Last night I had a mild panic attack when I realized Thanksgiving is next week and I am unprepared. This is unusual but well, I’ve been a little busy fighting and losing to canine cancer this year.

These past five months I’ve been on a see saw. Feeling OK and moving within the online world only to retreat to my cave the following day. I feel guilty and selfish because I haven’t truly thanked you for what you did for us and before, during, and after Blitzkrieg’s cancer battle.

I’m thanking you now.

 Husband said I should share the photos I took of our visit to my hometown's beach. We let Blitzkrieg sniff and experience the smells of a Lake Erie beach after the winter storms and before the spring beach clean up. 

How to Install an Under Sink Water Filter System

We are a tap water house. It is cheaper, greener, and lazier because I don’t buy and lug bottles to and from the store or send them to recycling limbo.

We’re also a filtered tap water in the refrigerator house. In theory. Unfortunately, the filtered water pitcher is the first thing jettisoned from the refrigerator when I need to make room for food after a shopping trip.

How to Make Color Denim Jeans for Five Dollars

It is officially jeans weather and I got a little surprise. Turns out the Kidney Stone Diet followed by the My Dog Has Cancer Diet followed by the Grief Diet (I do not recommend these diets At. All. It isn’t healthy and stinks on ice) made me lose enough weight to make my fat jeans too big.

I need a pair of temporary transitional size jeans. Colored denim jeans might be fun because now things are settled and I plan to start Wii-ing and biking on our new bike trail my way back to the normal range of my Body Mass Index (BMI). By then the colored skinny jean trend may have jumped the shark.

Thanks to a thrift store sale and a Michael’s coupon, I made a pair of purple denim jeans for $5.00.

You can too!

Here’s how.

32 Gifts for Crafters and DIYers

I asked a bunch of my favorite craft and DIY bloggers what cool gifts for women they received or are on their gift list. While we all agreed gift cards to our favorite home improvement and craft stores are always winners, sometimes the people in our lives are looking for new and unique gift ideas because they have gone to the gift card well a little too often.

Ironically, most of the gift ideas we talked about I've gotten or given as gifts myself. True story.

Gift Ideas for a Quilter

DIY Spray Paint Booth

Sandy and her crazy cold nor'ester is trying to end outdoor spray paint season early because you can't spray paint in temperatures below 40 degrees (F) and expect your project to come out well. Guess how I know?

Eeking out a few more months of spray paint time in the garage doesn't work around here because Husband doesn't like the idea of spray paint splatter on the car. (It was ONE time, barely noticeable, and on MY car -  yeesh!)

That's why I pinned A Crafty Nest's spray paint booth to my Pinterest boards (follow me on Pinterest? I'm kinda lonely over there. Thanks.)

Easy Citrus Basil Aloe Soap Tutorial

We used up the butter maple shea butter soap I made and colored with kitchen spices. A ton of people asked if the turmeric I used to color the soap turned our skin yellow. I’m happy to say, nope not a bit.

I have a bunch of  soap making supplies left from making my first batch of melt and pour soap. I also have some end of the season basil from our garden that doesn't taste that great in cooking. I put them together and made an orange citrus basil soap using an Aloe Vera vegan glycerin melt and pour soap base.

 Save this easy soap tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

The result is scrubby dubby good and something I plan to make now for holiday gifts later. Hint: Citrus Basil soap makes great stocking stuffers and teacher gifts!

How Make Aloe Soap

How to Hang a Heavy Picture without it Crashing to the Ground

 My new living room accent wall looks good but adding a few pictures to the wall will make it look better.

Especially if I rehang this amazing gift from Michael. He painted it as part of his senior show at Parsons (yes, that Parsons The New School for Design Project Runway fans.) Michael gave us the painting to remember him by before he moved -sniff!