Hey all you crafters out there! I just heard about a new product and thought I’d give it a try. I would refer to myself as more of an upcycler or Do It Yourselfer, but I do dabble in crafts and homemade gifts. This product may not be totally new, but it is new to me and maybe to you too. I already love Modge Podge, but this stuff is really cool. I actually bought it specifically to use for a school project.
Modge Podge Dimensional Magic
This medium is impressive. Basically you can use it to add dimension to crafts, jewellery, cards and other projects. When you apply it, it appears milky, but will dry clear. The Craft Critique gives a really good description of the product and how it’s used.
Upcycled Medals
I was at a thrift store recently and they were selling old sports medals for 50 cents each. I thought that maybe I could upcycle them and use them for awards at school. (I bought an old trophy as well, but couldn’t figure out how to keep the new paper plate I made level enough to apply the Podge.)
I decided to cover the surfaces of the medals and the trophy plate with awards that would fit with my program. I made them out of paper, but knew that they would not be very durable if left like that. When I heard about the dimensional podge, I thought it would be perfect for this project. I simply applied an even layer over the entire paper surface on the medals and got down in the little groove between the paper edge and the medal. I let them dry for 24 hours and they look good and feel hard as rock. I am hoping that they will be as durable as they seem. You will notice that the paper seemed to be curling slightly when I applied the podge. (See wet podge slide.) I was a bit worried about how this was going to turn out, but when it dried, there were no issues with the paper bubbling up or appearing warped.
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Although you might not be interested in upcycling sports medals, this product could work for a variety of other projects. It was easy to use and I am really pleased with how they turned out. It is a bit hard to see the dimensional surface on my project, but if you good Modge Podge Dimensional Magic, you will see lots of great ideas under Google images.
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This isn’t the first time that I have posted about the power of the outdoors. In a post I made earlier this summer called Summer Camp ~ The Ultimate Score!I talked about the powerful influence that technology is having on our children and how important it is to immerse them in “nature” whenever possible. The section below has been taken from my previous post because it relates so well to the video below.
Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
Check-out this video to see how else our health might be affected, if we stopped going outside altogether.
Vitamin D
A few years back, I was seeing a naturopath and had my vitamin D levels checked. I wasn’t feeling great at the time and he suspected that I may be low in Vitamin D. My results came back and my levels were very low, indicating that I was Vitamin D deficient. On his website, Dr. Frank Lipman talks about Vitamin D, appropriate levels and some symptoms of deficiency.
What are the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency?
There is no clear pattern of symptoms. In fact many people remain asymptomatic despite low levels. But here are the more common symptoms
Fatigue
General muscle pain and weakness
Muscle cramps
Joint pain
Chronic pain
Weight gain
High blood pressure
Restless sleep
Poor concentration
Headaches
Bladder problems
Constipation or diarrhea
Of course, our very best source of Vitamin D is that which is received via the sun, but many people are needing to incorporate more Vitamin D by taking supplements. Dr. Oz recommends 1000 IU a day, as do many health care providers. However, my levels were quite low and some doctors/naturopaths believe that Vitamin D deficiency has reached epidemic proportions. My initial test result was in the upper 20’s (28 I think) and well below what is deemed to be a healthy level. The chart below shows Vitamin D levels and what they mean in terms of your optimal health. Although this chart was not shared by my naturopath, this fits with the numbers and plan we had for achieving optimal levels for me. He felt that I should be within the 80 to 100 range due to the medication I take and other risk factors that I have. (However, another site I found stated that 50 ng/ml was the optimal level ~ so there are definitely different schools of thought regarding Vitamin D and supplementation.) I have been monitored for the past 2 1/2 years, but for most of that time have been on 10, 000 IU per day. I am due for a follow-up test and so I have currently reduced my dosage to 6000 IU. In the time I have been taking this large dose, I have never tested much higher than 70. Keep in mind, that I live in Canada and work almost full-time, so my exposure to the sun is very limited in the winter. Vitamin D levels must be closely monitored by your health care provider as excessive amounts (above 100 ng/ml) can be harmful. The important thing to consider is whether or not you might in fact be deficient and need to get your levels checked and monitored.
Summary
If you find that you are feeling “off” or are experiencing some of the symptoms mentioned above ~ get outside. For many, just being outside, can make you feel better. The fresh air, sunshine (Vitamin D) and immersion in nature can be the best medicine of all. However, if you feel that you may need to supplement, check with your health care provider. (I am not sure if medical doctors actually do Vitamin D testing or if you need to have them done through a naturopath and pay for them. I did the latter.)
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We recently refinished a beautiful antique oak teacher’s desk for our library. It was so great to finally get that melamine desk and purple wash stand out of our library/office. I didn’t want to spend much time on this project as I didn’t really have a plan or destination for it. What I did know was that although I love purple, it currently has no place in my home.
Antique Wash Stand ~ Before
The camera flash makes this purple wash stand look extra bright. This is a before shot of our library with the stand and old desk.
Hmmm….you can still see the dust from around where my printer used to sit. That’s revealing isn’t it?
One of the things I hated most about this cabinet was the handles. What was I thinking when I stained it purple (about 15 years ago) and chose those handles?
Wash Stand Make-Over
I removed the handles and gave the cabinet a quick sand, just to scuff the surface to ensure proper adhesion of the paint. I also put a bit of wood filler in the holes for the drawer handles as I had planned to replace them. I recently ran out of white paint, so I had to purchase a new can of Benjamin Moore Simply White. (Have I told you white is my favourite colour? Some day, I want to have a white chaise. I think I’ll wait until I know that there won’t be any greasy popcorn hands or spilt cereal on it ~ the last thing I need is to worry about a piece of furniture getting dirty.)
Sanded wash stand
Antique Wash Stand: The Fresh Clean Look
I simply painted the cabinet with two coats of paint and added shelf liner. I decided to give the old handles a try and didn’t find them nearly as offensive with the white on white look.
I am not sure if this is where it will stay, but currently it has been placed in my living room next to the fireplace.
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We were so lucky when we did this bedroom make-over, as my son’s room was already navy and beige with a red stripe. The colours matched perfectly with the Winnipeg Jets colour scheme, so it was pretty easy to pull together. We made the hockey coat rack and hockey shelf for Shay for his birthday, and told family and friends we were doing his room as a surprise. One of his Aunts bought him a Jets flag and another bought him a clock for his room. He already had a few posters. I picked up the garbage can, piggy bank and even a kleenex box at our local dollar store. The red unit was a recent upcycle project that we just moved up to his room and the folding chair at the desk was recovered to match his decor. I upcycled an old Winnipeg Jets t-shirt into a pillow sham for his bed.
Hockey Stick Shelf
Hockey Stick Coat Rack
Jets T-shirt Upcycle
BEFORE: Entertainment Unit
Hockey Room Reveal
The room has finally come together! Here are a few photos that show the overall design of Shay’s hockey themed bedroom. Like my daughter, he has a good-sized bedroom with a walk-in closet. He also has many beautiful windows and an abundance of natural light. (A painter’s nightmare, I might add.)
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Before blogging, I often check-out what’s trending to see if there is anything interesting or great to share with my readers. Today, I found this video and it really warmed my heart. I lost my mom when I was 30. My parents had been married for 35 years when she passed away. I know how hard it was for my dad to pick-up the pieces and carry on after losing her.
After 75 years together, Fred’s wife passes. While struggling through his loss, he begins to write the lyrics to a song in honor of her and their time together. He enters the song in a local contest and his song is brought to life. It really is a true love story. I was so touched by Fred and his story. I just had to share. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.
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One week to go and a long list of “to do’s” in the days ahead. I will continue to put the finishing touches on our 6 week menu plan that was mentioned in yesterday’s post, but today it is time to update our September calendar and get back to using our weekly calendar. For us, late August is not only time for back to school shopping, but it also involves fall registration for the kid’s activities. This week, we will register the kids for dance, swimming and hockey. Piano and Girl Guide registrations were done in the spring, so the times for those have already been set. The registration process not only involves paying the fees and filling out the forms, but also examining the “family” schedule as a whole to see how we can juggle everyone’s individual schedules. Like other busy families, this includes quite the balancing act to fit in both of our regular work schedules plus additional meetings and work commitments as well as all of the other activities that we are involved in. For September, we are looking at juggling the following:
Tim’s work schedule and meetings as well as compulsory over-time shifts
my work schedule and extra meetings/school events like “Meet the Teacher” evening, Thursday night volleyball, volunteering at church
Shay ~ soccer (extended play from the spring) and hockey try-outs (swimming starts in October)
Eden ~ Girl Guides, dance and piano (swimming starts in October)
Eden and I ~ “Mother’s and Daughter’s in Touch” program
Additional events
General Organization and Planning
We purchase one of those large family calendars that have ample space for writing. In late August, once registrations have been completed, I sit down and fill-out the calendar as far in advance as possible. Generally, I will complete as much of the calendar as possible leading up to the end of December. I go through the calendar and add in all of the kid’s activities, my activities/meetings as well as Tim’s. Once the monthly calendar has been filled with those commitments that are not flexible, it is much easier to make decisions as to what other things we can commit to and when will work. I am a very visual person and need everything organized and neat in order for it to make sense to me (hence the colour coded system in my classroom). We keep our main calendar inside our basement door which is located in the kitchen. It is very accessible, but hidden so it is not out in the open and messy looking. You can see that the whole family writes on our main calendar. It always becomes very cluttered and full of scribbles as schedules change and adjustments are made. Here is an example of our April calendar. Not one of our busiest months, but still lots to keep track of.
Weekly Calendar
Being a very visual person, I like to have a less cluttered version of the monthly calendar that gives us a “week at glance” instead of the whole calendar. Every Sunday, I transfer all of the items from our monthly calendar onto our weekly calendar that is posted on the wall in our kitchen. Like the menu board, the weekly calendar helps to give me an overall look at the week ahead and plan accordingly. It helps my husband and I figure out who needs to be where and which one of us needs to be the “taxi” driver. Here is our DIY weekly calendar. I originally got the idea from Pinterest (not surprisingly) and then made my own version of their weekly calendar. Here is the link to the original source for the idea.
Weekly Calendar Tutorial
This is an easy DIY project and the final look is “clean” and visually appealing.
Purchase a multi-picture frame similar to mine. I think I bought this one at Wal-Mart for around $15. You need to have at least 7 frames to accommodate the entire week. I chose 8, but I have seen them done with more frames. The additional frames can be used for titles (like mine), message boards or just embellished to look pretty.
Purchase coordinating paper that will fit with the decor of the space where you will be mounting the finished calendar.
Purchase lettering or use your Cricut to cut-out the letters you need (that’s what I did). I chose to use a the initial letter only, to represent each day of the week. You may want to use smaller letters and spell the whole day. For the title, “THIS WEEK”, I used teal and black. I cut the teal letters on my Cricut, but changed the setting to shadow for the black letters, to make them slightly bigger.
Assemble your frame with your new calendar pages.
Use a dry erase marker to print the date (top right corner) and add in your schedule for the week directly on the glass. Use a kleenex, cloth or eraser to erase the board every Sunday and start all over again.
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September is crazy busy at our house and I know that I need to plan ahead in order to remain sane. My job is always demanding, but September is generally off the charts in terms of work load. I tend to put in very long hours and bring quite a bit of work home with me as well, so I always need to try to get life at home organized in preparation for the pending mayhem that will follow in the weeks ahead. I have found that menu planning really helps.
Menu Planning:
I must say, that for me menu planning helps to keep me organized and takes the stress out of deciding what we should have. Often at the end of a long day, it is not so much the making of dinner, but rather making the decision about what to have. With the menu, I know what groceries need to be bought and what needs to be taken out of the freezer the night before. Sometimes I will even do a few make-ahead meals and freeze them for those evenings when we are on the run to activities and such. Some simple make-aheads are cooked ground beef (used for tacos, soup, spaghetti sauce, etc). I sometimes will make double batches when cooking the week before school starts and during the school year. By doubling things up, I always have leftovers to freeze for future meals. I have to admit we don’t always stick completely to the plan, but it provides a great frame-work for most of the meals throughout the month. We don’t use a monthly plan every month, but always in our busiest months of the year (September, December and June). I have used several variations.
When setting up a menu, I try to consider a few things: our favourites, variety and a good balance of healthy choices. (I am still following The Plan and have not done much food testing this summer, so I am planning family meals, but may not always be eating the same meal as the rest of the family.) This year, I decided to make up a menu with no dates, but rather planned by week #’s. I plan to use the calendar grid and make 6 full week plans that we will work through (and tweak as we go). This way, we can just keep following the weekly rotation and then begin again when we’ve gone through all of the weeks. I have a weekly menu board in my kitchen that I update every Sunday and follow throughout the week.
I am still tweaking the new 6 week menu plan, but it will be a combination of some of our meals from previous years as well as a few new favourites. I plan to have “grilled chicken breast with salad” every Thursday. This is a really clean, healthy meal. I plan to place it on Thursdays because Friday is a bit of a fun food day at our house. When we have salad and chicken breast, we use different variations of chicken (ie different sauces, BBQ, oven baked, etc.). We also change-up the salads to add variety. I also usually cook a pot of homemade soup on Sundays (especially when the weather gets colder). I love having homemade soup on hand for lunches throughout the week. The other thing that the menu does not take into account is left-overs. I sometimes find that we will skip the pre-planned meal and just clean-up the left-overs in the fridge.
DIY Chalkboard Menu Board
In a previous house, I had two long narrow pieces of sheet metal cut for the inside two of my cupboard doors. I loved this as it got all of our little notes and business cards off the fridge door and hidden inside the cupboard. Unfortunately, the style of our new kitchen cupboards would not support the magnetic boards. I decided to use one of them for a chalkboard/magnetic menu board in my kitchen. I thought that the magnetic feature would be great, but in hindsite, we never use magnets on it, so it is a waste of a good piece of metal. I wish I would have used wood and saved the metal for another use. Having said that, the menu board itself is well used and works well.
To make this, I primed the metal and then gave it 4 coats of my homemade chalkboard paint. You must let it dry completely and give it a very very light sand between coats. After the final coat, let it cure for a full day or more. In the mean time, I used my Cricut to cut out the lettering for the board out of white vinyl. It is basically peel and stick vinyl, so easy to do if you have a Cricut machine. If not, you could purchase letter stickers from the craft store. I adhered the stickers to the board BEFORE priming the surface for using chalk. This helped to ensure better adhesion of the stickers. I then primed the surface using the side of a piece of chalk and then erased it completely. I chose to mount my menu on the wall right beside my stove. I really like it and it allows me to make modifications to the monthly menu for the coming week. For example, if we are going to be out for dinner one night, our menu would reflect this. Here is the weekly menu board.
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I purchased this cabinet for $35. It was in really rough shape and extremely ugly, but I thought it would be perfect for my scrapbooking room. The little cubbies were perfect for supplies and the front door opened down as an extra work space. This project was huge work, but it was well worth the effort.
$35 Vintage Cabinet
This is what the interior looked like. Needless to say it required lots of work.
Vintage Cabinet Make-Over
This cabinet needed to be sanded, primed and painted. The worst part was getting inside every little cubby. I chose to go plain white simply because it was so much work and I wanted the colour to be very versatile. I had to buy hinges, but I re-used the handles from our built-ins in the bathroom that had been replaced during a renovation. I always have paint on hand, so this project cost less than $50, but was quite time-consuming.
This make-over was really nothing more than paint and handles, but it made the piece look good and provided a great solution to my organization and storage problem. You will notice that I do not have a snap shot of the interior of the piece. That is only because I am too embarrassed to show the current disarray inside those little cubbies!
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Another awesome Kijiji score! I have been on the hunt for an antique office desk for years. Something inexpensive that I could fix-up. Our set-up had worked okay (at best) and always looked cluttered. When we bought our house, the quaint little 9′ X 11′ room just off our front entrance was introduced to us as “library” and the name has stuck. It’s small and cozy with an antique electric fireplace, original built-in book cases and a wall of windows. It really is lovely, but our computer set-up was barely functional with little desk top space and no storage. The little washstand we were using for our printer looked great in our purple bedroom at a previous home, but horrible here. I was on a mission, but would not settle until I found the perfect fit for our library. (Reminder…click any photo to enlarge it.)
Photos of Our Library ~ Before
Ugly grey office chair, purple cabinet, melamine desk and of course, the clutter.
Ugly! Need I say more?
Antique Oak Teacher’s Desk and Chair
I was so excited when I found this desk on Kijiji for $75 and the best part was that the seller was including the oak office chair with it! The desk was pretty beat up. The top had some minor water damage, gouges and several dark markings. The opening at the front (where the chair sits) was very beat up along the inside edges where the chair had obviously been rubbing for years. To me, this spelled CHARACTER and I was all over this project. We sanded the surface of the desk. All of the rough edges (that were really worn/damaged) were sanded quite deep, so that they were rounded and safe. We didn’t want to catch our clothes on the splinters or worse yet, get a sliver. The only thing we had to do to the chair was dust it ~ and that rocks!
BEFORE: Beat Up Oak Desk
Top is in rough shape.
Lots of wear and tear.
Refinishing the “New” Old Oak Desk
As mentioned above, we sanded the entire desk down and removed any splinters and sharp edges. We then gave the entire desk a coat of stain and several coats of urethane. I think I put two on the sides and back, 3 on the drawers and about 5 on the top for extra durability. We had the stain and urthane here, so the only cost was the original $75 and lots of “elbow grease”. You may notice that the handles on the top middle drawer are not original. A previous owners must have replaced them at some point. They are definitely more of a modern style, but they are oak (I think) and blend well with the piece. We left them as most people wouldn’t even notice and it does not really compromise the integrity of the piece. We are completely thrilled. The desk is huge! The top is 3 feet deep and 5 feet long. It provides enough space for the printer to sit on top of the desk as well as ample work space. It also has two slide out work surfaces, so there is plenty of room to work. I love the drawer space for storage and the one on the left is actually a double drawer that holds files (it is just made to look like two single drawers).
Refinished Desk ~ Front
Refinished Desk ~ Top
AFTER: Refinished Desk
Refinished Side-outs
The New Look Of Our Library
There is not much extra room, as we also have a love seat in the library for reading, watching movies or just hanging out. It is cozy, but there is still enough room to move in and out easily and gain access to all of the book shelves. Love it!
Library ~ from entrance
Library ~ love seat in front of windows
Fireplace and Built-Ins
“New” Antique Oak Desk & Chair
Library ~ from entrance
Library – desk & chair
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Although this shelf has few materials, it is a bit tricky to build and you may need a second set of hands for parts of the project. It is surprisingly sturdy. We have never put too much weight on it, but it has held Shay’s trophies and stacks of books with no problem. The stability comes from the wall, the floor and gravity. Here is a quick tutorial.
Materials:
3 shelf boards
6 L brackets and 24 screws
2 hockey sticks
chain and screws
Steps:
Cut and paint three boards to your specifications.
The trickiest part is aligning the sticks and then mounting your boards. To do this, you need to lean your hockey sticks against the wall at a natural angle. Take one shelf at a time and hold it against the side of the hockey stick and back as far as it will go so that it is touching the wall for added support. Hold up the L bracket and mark where the holes on the shelf will need to be as well as where the L bracket will be mounted on the stick. You want to make sure that your shelf will sit level, but your stick will sit at an angle, so it is a bit tricky. You must do each shelf individually, because the shelf closest to the top will have the L bracket closer to the back of the board, while the shelf closer to the floor will have the bracket closer to the front of the board because of the lean of the stick. You can probably do the measuring and figuring on one end/side and then use it as a guide to mount the bracket on the other end of the shelf and the second hockey stick.
Mount the L brackets on the under sides of the shelves according to where you marked them.
Mount the brackets (and shelf) to the hockey sticks.
Use a screw to secure the chain along the side of the shelves near the back of the board. The chain will help to make sure that the shelves will sit and remain level, so be sure to have your shelf against the wall and make adjustments before securing the chain to all three boards.
This shows the L bracket on the underside of the shelf. You will notice it is sitting towards the back of the shelf as this is a photo of the top shelf.
This side view shows the chain and the angle of the stick. You can see how the placement of the L bracket sits further forward on the lower shelves.
Hockey Stick Shelf
This project was not expensive, but a little bit finicky. It was worth the effort and the finished shelf looks good and works well. Shay loved it!
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