Washi Tape Headphones

I decorated the headphones I keep on my desk with washi tape. By using paper washi tape I have a plastic free craft and the option to easily change the design in the future.

After awhile I wanted to step up my washi tape craft game from covering an object with the same washi tape design to projects that mix and match different tape patterns and colors. But here’s a little secret you don’t know about me: I choke when it comes to mixing and matching patterns in my décor projects. Also I only have two rolls of washi tape and they don’t coordinate.

Pin this post for reference!

Luckily, I received a review copy of  Washi Tape Crafts: 110 Ways to Decorate Just About Anything by Amy Anderson, the author of the book Mod Podge Rocks! I knew Amy was writing a washi tape craft book but what I didn’t know is her book comes with 10 rolls of custom design washi tape.

A Non Toxic Cleanser for Challenging Skin: Block Island Organic Purifying Facial Cleanser

Recreating history for your entertainment can be a dirty business.

We try to stay as authentic to the period as possible but sometimes we have to make allowances for  climate (there is no way anyone can wear 15 petticoats or more during the summer in the US and not get heatstroke.) So while I build my costumes and do my hair and makeup with attention to historical detail, I will not be achieving the pale white skin of a noblewoman according to the period by washing my face with mercury for a period – and poisonous – Elizabethan face wash.  No thanks.

 But I do have to wash my face at the end of a long fair day with something. It has to be something that contains ingredients that are not harsh which makes my rosacea flare. My cleanser also has to be strong enough to remove makeup mixed with sunscreen, sweat, and grime and clean my skin.  I told you living history is a dirty business!

I clean up pretty good, don't I?

Cedar Point Halloweekends Halloween Easter Eggs

Last weekend I went to the BloggyConference blog conference to learn how to be a better blogger for all of you, the greatest community on plant Earth.

BloggyCon is a little different than the blogging conferences I attended in the past because it was held at Cedar Point. During the day, I took a ton of notes during the sessions and networked with bloggers and brands to bring you the best content possible. At night, I rode all of the roller coasters and saw the sights at Cedar Point. It is right next to the conference hotel, how could I not?

Keep reading and pin this post! I made a video about Halloweekend and embedded it in this post!

Just so you don’t think I’m biased because I got free stuff, I here to tell you I didn't get free stuff. I paid for my tickets to Cedar Point. My enthusiasm in the video is fueled with 6 hours sleep for the weekend total and a ton of coffee.

Sporty Safe Sun Sunscreen with Goddess Garden Organics (Review)

This post is sponsored by Green Sisterhood but the opinion is of my own.

I seriously need to up my safe sunscreen game. My allergist gave me a new medication that makes me extremely photosensitive and I will be for most of the summer while the meds do their work.

No big deal. Sunscreen is a way of life because I’m pale.  I’m very familiar with the affects of UVB sun rays because you can see how they damage the top layer of your skin with the naked eye. For me UVB rays always cause a sunburn but for some of you hardier types the skin damage shows up as a sun tan.

My doctor told me that is a good start but I have to be just as concerned about UVA rays too.

Pin this info  for later!

Mother’s Day Tool Giveaway with WORX Tools: 3 Winners!

One of the benefits of living in a condo is having a homeowner’s association that mows our yard. Unfortunately sometimes the lawn guys are more about doing the job quickly than accurately.   Husband and I figure it time to invest in lawn tools so we can trim and tidy up the edging the lawn service hits and misses.




Husband and I checked out the WORX 20V MaxLithium GT Trimmer/Edger/Mini-mower and it’s pretty neat. It take the place of three power lawn tools in your garage, a grass trimmer, an edger, and a mini-mower, very nice for those of us with limited tool storage space. The other feature Husband and I appreciate is the how easily the telescoping shaft adjusts to the user’s height. When it comes to yard work Husband and I trade off jobs as our schedules permit (and who gets tired of wonky edging first.)

Outdoor Christmas Décor: Modern Lighted Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

For as much I enjoy looking at Christmas light displays you’d think I’d do something fancy outside of my own home.


Nope. I keep it simple.

Why?

Because it is always too cold outside to put up and take down elaborate Christmas decorations!

Peace, love, joy, and warmth. That’s what my outdoor Christmas décor is all about.

And by warmth I mean not freezing my legs off while I’m outside or in the garage building new Christmas decorations.

This year I made a few changes in our outdoor Christmas décor and especially in what I used to display them. I wore the right work pants for the job, my Duluth Trading Company Women's Fleece-Lined DuluthFlex Fire Hose Pants.

Did I mention these multi-pocketed wonder pants are lined with warm and soft fleece, one of my favorite cold weather fabrics? Oh yes, my friends. My new fancy pants kept me warm while installing Christmas decorations. They proved their worth later that evening on a walk with Lacey to look at Christmas lights a local park. We left early because Husband wore jeans and got cold. Me? Not cold at all.

The best thing about Duluth Trading Company clothes is they realize women need just as many pockets in their clothing as men.  DuluthFlex Fire Hose Pants have six packets: 2 front pockets, a zippered thigh cargo pocket, 2 back pockets, and a Pokey Things Pocket (their name, not mine) on the right back thigh.

Craft Fail, the Book!

Craft FAIL When Handmade Goes Horribly Wrong by Heather Mann

In my crafting and DIY life, I have projects that come together just as I imagined. If I am really lucky, the beauty photograph comes out on the first few tries and I look like a clever, clever girl.
More often than not, in between the coming up with a crazy scheme stage and the perfect beauty shot stage there is an epic fail stage like the time I tried to make homemade shaving cream and it exploded all over my kitchen.

The fuzzy spots in the photo are shaving cream on my camera lens.

Nine Uses for Nine Naturals Repairing Body Balm

Friends in my community marching band pestered me so much about joining concert band that I finally gave in. I dusted off the flute I haven’t even looked at since high school.

Needless to day, the flute joints were dry. After a long household search I found a jar of petroleum jelly buried in the back of a cupboard I was going to use to grease my flute joints.

That got me thinking. Are there were any eco friendly and non toxic alternative to petroleum jelly?

Google told me that my middle school music teacher was wrong. I should polish the joints on my flute to make them fit smoothly, not grease them with petroleum jelly. Good to know.

I was still curious about nontoxic petroleum jelly alternatives because there are times when I need to use it as a skin barrier.  Nine Naturals offered to send me samples of their no bad stuff added Simply Natural Lip Balm and Repairing Body Balm to try. I like that Nine Natural products are 100% Natural. Sulfate-free, Paraben-free, Phthalate-free, BPA-free, Triclosan-free, DEA-free, and Petrochemical-free. Natural products don’t contain artificial chemicals, dyes or synthetic fragrance either.

I have a very bad history with natural ingredient lip balms chapping my lips because they often contain honey. Not to mention I was confused about the difference between the Repairing Body Balm and their Unscented Moisturizing Pregnancy Body Cream both sounded like heavy duty moisturizers. I mentioned my concerns because I was tipping toward, “no thank you.” Nine Naturals quickly sent me answers to my questions.

• Nine Naturals products can be used by anyone. You don’t have to be pregnant, nursing, or even a woman to use them.
• Simply Natural Lip Balm is vegan. No honey in it to potentially chap my lips! I was intrigued. I use lip balm constantly. Would a vegan lip balm works on my I-don’t-care-if-you-want-safer-products-we-want-parabens lips?
• The Repairing Body Balm is a vegan and non-toxic alternative to petroleum jelly. 

I decided to give Nine Naturals a try.

9 Health and Beauty Uses for Non  Petroleum Jelly Balm

Seven Tools to Remove Shower Tile Grout

The grout in between the tiles in the Master Bathroom is cracking and pitting.  I patched the tile grout when I found an issue, knowing that eventually, I would have to remove all of the shower caulk and tile grout and regrout the shower.

I wasn’t looking forward to removing all of the grout in my bathroom and replacing it. Not because removing grout is hard but because removing bathroom grout is time consuming and messy.   Putting grout in between the tiles is easy and the clean up is well, as difficult as cleaning up usually is after a big project – better if you can get someone else to do it. If you can’t rope someone else into cleaning up your mess for you, a wet/dry vaccum makes the job easier. I mentioned dust flying everywhere, yes?

Two Recommended Power Tools for Removing Tile Grout and Three that Aren’t so Great

How to Paint a Wavy Side Table

This post brought to you by FrogTape. All opinions are 100% mine.

I needed  to repaint the side tables on my porch. I didn't want to paint them a solid color (again) and call it a day. I wanted to jazz them up with some decorative painting.

Saint Patrick’s Day Shamrock Skirt

Saint Patrick’s Day is right around the corner. I figure I better get some green duds in my new and smaller size or I will run the risk of getting pinched. No Saint Patrick owies allowed!

Sawdust Valentines with Mod Podge Stencils

Sometimes it is hard to find Valentine's Day cards for men. After a day of card shopping, I came home without a card for Husband because most of the cards I found were a wee bit too girly for a guy like him.

I decided to make a masculine Valentine's Day card featuring the manliest craft material I can think of - sawdust!

How to Make Outdoor Flying Bat Halloween Decorations #HalloweenMP

Husband and I are decorating the house for Lacey’s first Halloween.

I asked Lacey what type of  Halloween decorations she wante on the front porch she asked for a swarm of 3D flying bats she can chase. Typical spaniel. Lacey loves to “hunt” anything that flies.





I knew how I wanted Lacey's bats to look but I wasn't sure what materials I could make them from. I can shape paper but it won't hold up outdoors in damp weather (is was drizzling when I took the outdoor photos for this post.)

Hm…think, think, thinkidy, think.

One Eco Dress, Three Looks, and a $75 Giveaway!

Happy news! I met my weight loss goal! I am now back into what is considered the healthy range of my Body Mass Index (BMI.) I realize BMI measurements and numbers aren’t a perfect indication of health because there are other factors in play such as muscle mass that can skew BMI numbers to the overweight range of a perfectly healthy and fit person.

I’m using BMI as a healthier target range for my height instead of  picking an arbitrary weight or saying that I want be a size 2 like I was in high school. Not realistic and probably unhealthy skinny for my only slightly older than high school body. (I may not lie about my weight but age is fair game!)

Eating a whole foods, no trans fat, no hydrogenated oil, no processed food from a box diet to lose the weight wasn’t difficult. In fact, I’m following the same no bad stuff diet that made me gain the extra 25 pounds I had to lose. I’m proof that if you eat too much of anything, even very good for you things, and get little to no exercise you will gain weight.

Thanks to my trainer and high energy exercise buddy Lacey, I lost the last of those 25 extra pounds. I feel better (especially now that my waist is no longer larger than Husband’s.) I also have a new problem. My clothes don’t fit! I need new duds.

How to Clean Dog Pee from Carpet WITHOUT a Carpet Cleaning Machine

Potty training Lacey is a challenge. She was litter box trained and could go pretty much when and where she wanted in her former home.

Guess what? She does here too.

Potty training Lacey to go outside was even more difficult because all of her barks where the same high pitched and loud (girlfriend is part dachshund. They are not exactly soft barkers) freaked out alert barks that we couldn't tell which one is a potty bark and which one is a  freaking out over the noises of close neighbors bark.

The result? Cleaning up a lot of pee and poo accidents might ruin the current and all future carpets in our house. Most some days we're cleaning up more than one and are frustrated and tired to haul the carpet cleaning machine from the closet to clean up the mess.

Opinionated? Share Them for Rewards @Yappem

I stumbled upon a screaming good clearance sale while running errands – heavy cotton t shirts for 50 cents each. I snapped up several for future t shirt projects – the holidays are coming up soon. I wanted to get the word out quickly and to my on line social networks since it is an unadvertised sale. I figured now is as good as time as any to share the experience using Yappem (since they asked me to help them get the word out. I figured I better give it a good test!)



I learned about Yappem when I attended the Awesome Party in Chicago last month. Yappem is a new social media network where you can post your retail and brand experiences and share the  information to your Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, email, and my Yappem followers at the same time using one app. 
As much as I love technology and being an early adopter, I wondered if we really need another social media network to keep tabs on, I mean, isn’t this what Yelp is for?

Well, no.

Craft Room Remodel: Painting Damaged Walls

When the cat's away, this little mouse drags her tools out to play.

While Husband was out of town on a business trip, I painted the guest room/craft room. Good times!

Of course, I want to live in a bright crayon box. Why do you ask?

I'm a wild woman. This is how I party it up when Husband is out of town.

First, I had to unload the room. I ended up stashing stuff in every.single. room.of.the.house.

Easy Blog Conference T Shirt

Summer is blog conference season. Yippie for meeting on line friends in person and networking and learning how to be a better blogger!

Not so yippie in trying to find your on line friends in the crowd and making sure they can find you. Last year at Blogher12 Laura from Pet Scribbles and I kept missing each other all day every day of the conference although Margaret from Nanny Goats and Panties and I always seem to find each other each year. Do you know why? Because Margaret is as smart as she is funny. Margaret wears a shirt with her blog name on it.

My new Condo Blues t shirt! I'll get to the kooky color hair in a minute.

While I'm a DIYer all the way, most of the DIY t shirt options are not as professional looking as I want when I'm advertising my blogs.

How to Keep Dogs Out of the Garden

I took advantage of an actually-feels-like-Spring day to clear the flowerbeds of leaves and weeds. Like most DIY projects around here it:

1. Snowballing into another project - Operation: Keep Lacey Out of the Flower Beds

2. Required a  trip to the store for supplies.

Do Low Flow Showerheads Work?

I learned not to be picky about showers. When I was a kid, my family had a camper. Piddly water pressure and sprays from the showerhead were a given.

It prepared me for renting apartments. Showerheads in a rental fall under You Get What You Get and You Don’t Pitch a Fit.

I didn’t give the piddle showerheads that came with our condo a second thought because showerheads are supposed to stink, right?

While cleaning the linen closet, I found a new in the box showerhead. Then it dawned on me. I can change my showerhead to one that works. Maybe I can get one of those fancy water saving showerheads while I’m at it!

I’m a real rocket surgeon. I know.