DIY Cigar Box and Wine Cork Storage Box

More often than I want to admit, phone and table cords, earphones, and eyeglasses are strewn about the side tables in my living room.  I put the stuff away. The next evening we need the stuff to read books or watch movies on our tablets and plop it on a table before heading off to bed. I put the stuff away…

It’s a never ending cycle.

A friend found a bunch of empty wood cigar boxes in the basement of her wine shop. I was drooling when I found out. Old cigar boxes are the gold standard of recycled project material just begging for an upcycle!

Needless to say, I made my way over to her shop and came home with a cigar box to make into a decorative storage box with wine cork feet to contain the flotsam and jetsam littering the living room.

 You have no idea how much work it took to to win the eBay auction for these vintage metal frames. I had my optimist fill them with my prescription. I love them!

How to Make a Decorative Cigar Box Storage Box 

How to Cut Wine Corks for Crafts the Easy Way!

Have you ever tried to cut a wine cork in half?
 
Neatly?

Without the cork flaking and shredding?

Or  accidentally cutting your fingers to shreds?

ME TOO!

I need to cut a wine cork in half for an upcoming project. I want to cut the cork quickly, easily, and safely. Most of all I want to cut the wine cork without cork bits shedding all over the place. A nice, clean, cork cut is all I ask.

How to Neatly Cut a Wine Cork in Half

Cutting wine corks for crafts isn’t hard to do. If you want to cut a wine cork without it falling apart, you’ll need to do one simple step before you cut into it.

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Even Organics Can Make You Sick – the EOS Lip Balm Lawsuit is Wrong

Today’s Baseless Internet Outrage of the Day is brought to you by people who don’t realize lip balm made from organic and natural ingredients can cause allergic reactions because – new flash! – most allergies are caused by things found in nature.

Hay fever anyone?

What we commonly call hay fever is an allergic reaction to some form of pollen. Or if you are me, tree, grass, and weed pollen – including the pollen of many plants and flowers we plant inside and out of our homes. So I have first hand experience of having surprise allergic reactions, succeeding - and failing - at avoiding allergic reactions, and how much it sucks sometimes because I have allergic reactions.

The thing is, I don’t think that just because a product uses natural or organic ingredients it is automatically perfect and will not cause heath issues in some people even though products made with organic and natural ingredients are the type of products I buy and use as much as I can.

According to the New York Times article Allergies Can Be Natural, Too:

“While most skincare and hair care is filled with potential allergy triggers, it turns out that organic versions are, to green parents’ dismay, among the worst offenders. “Generally the more expensive organic products have more allergens; they’re in their purest form,” said Lisa Borden, 39, a Toronto-based mother whose 8-year-old daughter is allergic to peanuts, nuts and kiwi.”

How to Make an Office Chair Mat

The plastic mats under the rolling chairs in our home office have seen better days. No matter what kind of office chair mat I buy, it eventually cracks, breaks, and sheds plastic chunks all over the carpet in the office.

I need to use a chair mat under our rolling chairs to protect the carpeting we aren't ready to replace.  Replacing the mats every couple of years isn’t sustainable. More than that it is a pain!

I solved our problem by making durable office chair mats from laminate flooring I bought at the Habitat Restore. I went with laminate flooring instead of plain plywood because I was concerned the plain plywood office chair mats would crack and break. Laminate flooring isn’t my favorite look but it is built to do the job I need it to do – be a floor.

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