Black and Bronze Bottle Cap Christmas Wreath

You need to start DIYing early, If you want to make this year a crafty Christmas and I have just the project for you!

I poked around my bottle cap collection, got some Christmas decoration inspiration from this year’s popular bronze and copper color scheme, and made a glitzy bottle cap Christmas wreath!





How in the world did I recycle metal bottle caps into something green AND glitzy, two words that normally don’t’ go together?

How to Hide an Emergency Tool Box in Your Hair

Husband saw personalized Swiss Army type knives in a shop when we were on vacation one year. In a rare impulse buy we ended up with His and Hers Swiss Army knives. Husband got silly giddy and said I HAD to have the knife with Handyman engraved on it. Husband bought a matching one with his name on it to replace the knife he lost. 

We changed Handyman to Handyma’am with my wood burning tool when we got home.

Husband uses the screwdriver on his Swiss Army knife all the time so yeah, of course, I’m all for him getting a replacement.

Me? I didn’t think I’d use it but if at all but if all it takes to make Husband happy is to carry a Handyma’am Swiss Army knife in the bottom of my purse I get off easy don’t I?

Thing is, the guy knows how handy those little emergency tool kit knives are. He was right and I was wrong. Those little tools have gotten me out of a jam time and time again. For example, if you follow @condoblues on Instagram (click and follow pretty please?) you might have already seen this Doomsday scenario the corkscrew on my Swiss Army knife helped my sister and I avoid on a Saturday night.

Behind the Scenes of My Good Day Columbus TV Cooking Segment

Last Sunday, Good Day Columbus asked me to do a Lazy Budget Chef five minute crock pot cooking segment on their TV show.  I thought I’d give you a peek on some of the things that happen and what you should be aware of when you present a tutorial or recipe on TV.

When I worked in TV, I was on the other side of the camera. This felt weird.

All photos in this post are courtesy of my food blog Lazy Budget Chef.

First, before I commented to anything, I ask the producer a bunch of questions. They wanted me to teach the show anchors how to cook a comfort food slow cooker meal viewers can make later in the week during the upcoming Arctic cold front.

How to Make Bottle Cap Pattern Weights

I use some of the same sewing patterns more than once and if I use straight pins to pin the pattern to the fabric before cutting it out - holy pattern pin holes Batman! My patterns get pin holed to shreds.




Pattern weights keep sewing patterns from slipping and shifting on the fabric when you cut it out. They don't leave holes or marks in your fabric either. I have a lot of Christmas sewing coming up. I figure it was about time I used pattern weights instead of straight pins.

I tried using metal bottle caps as pattern weights. I wanted my weights to be be heavier.  I could have filled the bottle caps with plaster of Paris to add weight but I didn’t want to deal with the mess. 

Santa $1,000 Paypal Cash Giveaway! Closed

One of the things I cherish most is that just like my IRL condo, my virtual condo is full of diversity. You, yes you, the one reading this right now, makes making Condo Blues not just a blog, but a community.

I'm always looking for giveaway opportunities to thank you for being part of the Condo Blues community. A bunch of my blogger friends want to find a way to reward their readers in the same way.

We got together and thought what would people like? The December holidays are coming up. Everyone has a different opinion on what is and is not the perfect gift. Many of you don't celebrate the same holidays  or live in the same country as I do.   We thought....

What would you do with an extra $500 to spend this holiday season?

Santa $1,000* Paypal Cash Giveaway!

I know Santa implies Christmas but that's the majority of us celebrate in December. Please don't let this stop you from entering the giveaway. It is open to world wide entries!

How to Get Rid of the Rubber Smell from Latex Halloween Masks

Husband and I couldn’t wait for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie to come out last summer. Of all of the Guardians, it is no surprise that our favorite is the smart aleck little guy Rocket. (I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience)

It was decided long before the movie came out that Husband and I would be Rocket Raccoon and Groot for Halloween. We only waited until this year because we hoped Marvel would release costume pieces because I didn’t know how to fabricate the character heads.

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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.