9 Ways to Replace Plastic Wrap in the Kitchen

I have a like – hate relationship with plastic cling wrap. I like on those rare occasions that it actually and fully sticks to a container to keep food fresh. I also hate it most of the time because, no matter what type or brand, it never sticks, food dries out or gets freezer burn, and I end up tossing the spoiled food and the plastic wrap in the trash.

So it was no great stretch for me to find a way to keep food fresh without plastic wrap. Once I started using my Swiss Army knife of easy alternatives,  I noticed we also reduced the amount of weekly household trash by quite a bit. Yay!

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How to Make a Brick and Pallet Rain Barrel Stand

There is an issue with the French drain in my side yard which leaves my side yard is wet and spongy days after it rains. I installed a rain barrel as a temporary fix until I can get my Homeowner’s Association to repair the poor drainage problem. Not to mention being able to capture and use rainwater to water our flowerbeds. A quick drainage fix, free plant water, and being green – high fives all around.

Originally I planned to hook a soaker hose up to the rain barrel as a lower waste way to water the front yard and garden but it didn’t work as well as I hoped because the rain barrel water pressure was practically nil. Turns out the height of your rain barrel determines how much water pressure flows from it and not what I thought – the amount of water in the rain catch system.

How to Increase Rain Barrel Water Pressure the Quick and Easy Way

Friday Favorites Linky Party 368

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Renaissance Noble Dress Project Part 3: Princess Dress Reveal!

I blogged about designing a new Elizabethan Nobility Dress to perform with Husband at Renaissance Festivals. This project was harder than any other costuming project I’ve done. I like the finished dress for the most part, but I don’t love it as much as I do the costume it replaces. There are a bunch of mistakes, and the bodice fit (among other things) needs tweaking which is why I haven’t shown you the finished project.

But I promised you a DIY renaissance festival princess dress and that you shall have, warts and all.
I started with a sketch after pouring over my favorite Elizabethan costuming books working backwards by buying the fabric first and coming up with a dress design second. I like to work the other way around.

Disclosure: affiliate links appear in this post for your convenience.

I started with the overskirt and underskirt (forepart) first. I attempted hand embroidering the brown velvet trim but didn’t liker my test pieces, not to mention  that kind of hand embroidery means an extra year for construction I didn’t have.

Friday Favorites Linky Party 367

Have you started Spring Cleaning yet? I've been cleaning and reorganizing a cupboard shelf, closet space, and such bit by bit for the last couple of months or so. I like to think of it as "shopping the house" because I always find something I misplaced or forgot about. It's almost like getting new stuff even though it's my stuff already.

Small projects like this keep my Cabin Fever which rolls into Spring Fever in check while I'm waiting for it to be warm enough to work on projects in my garage workshop.

It not only pays off in more organization, and clearer shelves and closets (after I drop off the donation box) but this year it paid off in cash money. I tossed the stray coins I found while cleaning out my drawers and purses into my Travel Fund coin bank instead of chucking them back into the drawer.

I put over ten dollars in my coin jar without even trying. I don't know if I should proud or embarrassed we had so much money laying around the house. Oops.


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DIY Magnetic No Soliciting Sign

One of the few downsides of living in a condo community with neat little sidewalks is we are an easy target for every single organization that thinks door to door sales is a fabulous way to pester people in the middle of their day with stuff they don’t want.

Like most of neighbors, I put a No Solicitors sign on my front door. Sometimes it works.
Often it doesn’t.

Every surveyor, free offer, or people offering to register me to vote (only me, never my husband, and even though I have been registered to vote since I became of age,) ignored my No Solicitors sign because they clam they “aren’t selling something.”

Even thought they end their spiel with some sort of sales pitch. Every. Single. Time. Grr!

How to Make a Quick and Easy Front Door No Sales Sign

 

Pin this tutorial for later and to share with your friends!

 

Friday Favorites Linky Party 366

I can't wait to see what super fantastic awesome projects, recopies, and idea you have to share with us this week so let's jump right into it!

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What’s in Your Trash and How Do You Reduce it (or Not?)

I’ve been thinking a lot about trash lately. The stuff in the bin outside your house, not about tawdry things. Lacey is a genteel lady who not tolerate dirty things in her home (unless it is something muddy or smelly to roll in.)

 I love mud!

I’ve been mulling over ideas to share how to reduce your household trash since the New Year.  I’m coming up short because every draft I write sounds like some big green guru sitting on a mountain top looking down  her nose at the world thinking that my Swiss Army knife of low waste options are the Pinnacle of One Size Fits All Solution to reducing household waste.

Or at least it feels that way and that is not my intent at all.

I want to offer options not absolutes because, honestly, there aren’t any one size fits all eco friendly low waste living solutions. It all depends on where you live, how you like to live, family size, etc.

How to Make a Farmhouse Industrial Wine Cork Wreath

Many (OK, most) winter weekends husband and I mull a bottle of table quality red wine until it gets too warm outside to drink hot drinks then we switch over to making sangria. So between that and enjoying a bottle of the good stuff from time to time, I have several vases full of wine corks in my craft room.

Quick and Easy DIY Wine Cork Wreath Idea

My wine cork stash is getting high, my door wreath stash is letting low so with my creative powers combined (just like Captain Planet and The Wonder Twins!) I made a quick and easy wine cork wreath and you can too!

 Pin this recycled wine cork craft idea for later!

Friday Favorites Linky Party 365

Husband and are I in the middle of planning our travel schedule for the rest of the year. Part of that is double checking we have all of the travel organizers and accessories we need to pack for our trip.

 The one thing we never seem to have is enough luggage tags. So I made this music lover's luggage tag for my shop LNW Creative Gifts! You can personalize it with your first name on the front or leave it plan and print your contact information on the bag of this sturdy tag.

We're have a20% off  sale starting today, Thrusday March 30 to April 2, 2017 when you use this code at checkout: ZAZDETAILS17. No Foolin'!

Personalized Bass Treble Clef Heart Luggage Tag
by LNWCreativeGifts

 I have one on my instrument case to make sure my black case isn't mixed up with the rest of my band's black instrument cases. If you want to keep you bag - tag it!
 
Sale ends in Let's Party!

How to Make an Easy DIY Floor To Ceiling Shoe Rack Organizer

The over the door shoe rack similar to this one on the closet door and stackable shoe rack similar to this one worked for awhile. Well actually, it worked for Husband’s shoes rather than mine. My shoes are so small they would often slip through the split shelves and end up in a pile on the floor. (I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

And after years of wear and tear, there came a time when even Gorilla Tape wouldn’t put our dilapidated shelves back together again. Which, frankly, I only put them back together every time they fell apart because Husband and I have grand plans to make this closet a cedar closet and pimped out with a custom closet organizer system.

Someday.

That keeps getting pushed down the punch list because blah, blah, yadda, yadda.

Does this happen to you or am I the only one?

After two months of shoe clutter barfing out of the closet and not being able to shut the door I had enough. This project doesn’t have to be my perfect dream of custom wall to wall floor to ceiling shoe storage, it just needs to be done. Now.

Shoe Closet Before. I am not proud of this.