7 Back to School Craft Projects

I always think of Back to School season as an unofficial New Year's Day. It is full of new possibilities and new school clothes, shoes, and supplies. My parents bought me new consumable school supplies like pens, pencils, and notebooks but for the big stuff like lunchboxes, binders, and backpacks they had a One and Done policy. I had to take care of it because I wasn't going to get another for the following school year if I trashed it that year.

Looking back, it was a great green lesson about taking care of what you have so it will last. It was also a lesson in creativity. Sometimes I jazzed up last year's school supplies makes them feel bright, shiny, and new for the new school year with a craft project like my washi tape USB Flash drive.

 Them: "Hey, where did you get that cool Flash drive?!" Me: "Oh, I made it."

When you want to be crafty for Back to School season it helps to start early. Especially if you have a student going back to college since most college start before summer officially ends.

DIY Downton Abby Doorbell

Sometimes putting a bit more effort into the design of the day to day functional bits of your home pay off in unexpected ways. For example, doorbells.

Most people, including myself, take that plain Jane button beside the door for granted. As long as it connects to a functional door chime unit inside the house doorbells are something you typically don't think about replacing until it breaks.

That's a shame. Especially if you are lucky to have a period home.

 Is it possible to fall in love with a doorbell? I think I have.

 Photos courtesy of Home to Cottage

Cheap and Easy No Slip Tool Chest Organizer

After I built my recycled pallet and cabinet workbench, I needed to organize and load in my tools.

Pin me!

The power tools were easy to organize. I already keep my power tools in their cases. I stashed those in the workbench cabinet. Boom. Done.

Tiny Treehouse House Tour

 Tiny houses are all the rage. They are cute, twee, and have a ridiculously small carbon footprint.

What could be better?

How about a tiny house built in a tree that's a little B and B? That was originally built to be a tiny tree house brewery until the owners converted it into a rental cabin?

 I am completely smitten with the gorgeous arched stained glass window!

Photo courtesy of The Mohicans.

DIY Fire and Ice Fire Bowl

The first time I saw fire stone was in a gas burning fireplace on HGTV. When they lit the fireplace it looked like the cheery orange flame danced above a field of clear ice shards.

It was just the thing I wanted to replace the ceramic fake logs in my gas fireplace.

I put the fire stone idea aside when my research told me I'd have to replace the entire gas fireplace insert to a specific insert that works with fire stone. I put the fire and ice desire on the back burner since it wasn't the quick fix I thought it would be.

Until I read Kim's tabletop fire bowl idea on her blog Today’s Creative Life. She made a fire stone fire bowl for her deck in less than 30 minutes.

Just look at that blue! It looks like ice from the Caribbean ocean is on fire.

Which is a pretty good trick since the only ice I ever saw in the Caribbean has been in my drink from the hotel ice maker.

I can totally do this!

So can you. Read Kim's tutorial

DIY Tabletop Fire Bowl

on Today's Creative Life!



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15 Non Alcoholic Cocktails for Summer

After the gray winter days, I dance with joy when the sun shines bright in summer.

Except  this summer. We had 19 straight days of rain in June.

We are following that trend this July. We're lucky if we get one day a week that it isn't raining. When that happens, it is more likely to be overcast rather than sunny.


As a treat, I mix up a pitcher of liquid sunshine - a fancy pants juice drink that's alcohol free. A mocktail! It's the perfect refreshing drink when you want something a little more than water and not as sweet as pop.

 

I'm sharing 15 of my favorite mocktail recipes on my food blog Lazy Budget Chef. Click here to read:

15 Summer Mocktail Recipes That Will Make You the Queen of the Cookout on Lazy Budget Chef!

What is your favorite summer drink?

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