It’s chilly here in PA this week!

Between the extra cool fall weather and getting into the trenches with our homeschooling, it makes me miss being in the classroom.

I wanted to share a super easy 5 minute craft with you. It also doubles as a science project. (Chemical reactions, anyone?)

I learned about this in a college art class for elementary school teachers. This craft is better for older kids, ages 8+, I would say.  (P.S. When I did this in the classroom the kids had to wear safety glasses and gloves. It’s always best to be overly cautious when it comes to kids and chemicals.)

You only need 3 supplies:

• a very small amount of bleach
• a q-tip
• dark construction paper

Dip the Q-tip in bleach. (It’s probably best to let an adult do this part, just in case)

Draw a winter scene on the paper.

Wait 30 seconds or so and ta-da. Magic.

It’s more even more fun if you don’t tell them about the bleach and make them try to guess what you are using, or if you use a disposable “magic paint brush” and do it as a demonstration for little ones. 🙂

Save your paintings and use them as fun homemade holiday gift wrap!

I’ve seen Cheri from I Am Momma Hear Me Roar design t-shirts using a bleach pen. It might be fun to have your kids make their own.

Let me know if you try it.

Linking to Somewhat Simple 
Serenity Now
A to Z

 

One of the things we are doing to prepare to put our house on the market is to update the very dated wall paneling in our lower level.

This stuff is nasty. It’s not even real wood. It’s a shiny, plasticy, fake version of wood that has seen better days since it was first installed sometime in the late 60’s.

Here is a before picture, mid-remodel and pretty messy. Sorry.

I did this section of our basement about a year ago and it has held up very well, despite daily use. There hasn’t been any peeling or chipping.

I will tell you that it is a giant pain in the you-know-where.

There are many ways you can go about painting over paneling, but a lot of them involve pretty nasty chemicals and strippers. I was pregnant and I had two toddlers in the house when I started this project, so those methods were quickly crossed off my list. This is the method I used.

Step 1: Wipe down the walls with a damp rag to remove any dust or residue.

Step 2: Use a high quality zero VOC adhesion primer. I used the Olympic brand from Lowes. Unfortunately, I found that I had to use a paint brush for this entire process because, no matter what kind of roller I tried, it either splattered or wouldn’t get into the spaces in between the panels. Don’t be scared because the first coat looks terrible. The most important thing is to get the cracks between the walls completely covered. Some people caulk the cracks and sand them for the look of a flat wall, but I actually like the texture of the paneled look. (Plus, I’m lazy.)

The Olympic primer worked great but I found that I had to wait at least 24 hours in between coats or else it would start to clump and peel off the wall while I was applying the second coat.

Step 3: After 24 hours, apply the second coat



Step 4: Wait another day and apply the 3rd coat

Step 5: Paint. It took me three coats of primer and 3 coats of paint until I was satisfied.

I’ve been working all weekend on the paneling in the rest of our lower level. I hope whoever buys this house appreciates all of this work. I wish I would have sucked it up and done this 3 years ago so that our own family could have enjoyed a prettier space.

C’est la vie.

I think it’s 100% prettier than it was before.

That’s me and Abby with my dear friend Lauren. She is my oldest friend. We met in elementary school 20 years ago! (We are getting old, y’all.)

Lauren’s birthday was at the end of July and I wanted to make her something that she actually requested a while ago.

When we were in Nashville on our girl’s trip last year she was telling me about a problem she had while traveling. Lauren travels A LOT for business and for pleasure, as in over a dozen foreign countries in a year, and she was telling me about how she was constantly having to get ready in fancy hotel rooms paid for by her company. (Bummer, right? We all feel sooo bad for you, Lar.) But after she showered and did her hair in the morning she kept having to put her still-hot flat iron back into the suitcase so that she could check out of the hotel.

She asked me to make a cover for it.

I was like. “Sure, no problem.”

Then I hit a snag.

I wanted it to be heat/flame resistant for obvious reasons, but have you looked at flame resistant fabrics? They cost hundreds of dollars and are pretty much the ugliest fabric on Earth. The heat resistant sprays are also really pricey. Sorry, Lar, I’m not dropping 100 bucks on fabric for your flat iron cover. I guess I could just buy one, but that’s kind of a cop-out since she asked me to make it.

Hmmmm….

Duh! You know what is really cute, cheap, and flame resistant? Children’s pajamas!

(You can see the federal guidelines for flame resistant sleepwear here)

Now that I’ve done a little more research, I would make sure to buy size 9 months or larger. Kohl’s seems to be the best place to get them because they tell you when the pj’s are flame resistant. Some other companies (ahem, Tar-jay) only seem to label when clothes are not, which I didn’t find very helpful at all. Is a Sleep N Play specifically designed for sleeping? I don’t know. It says it’s also for playing, but it does say it’s for sleeping & it’s not labeled as not flame resistant…annoying.

Anyway, it’s a pretty easy project. I got it done in less than an hour.

Just cut out the sides of the pj’s in a shape similar to your flat iron.

Next, unfold each side and insert a piece of quilt batting cut to size.

Then refold it, sew the sides shut, and do a little quilting action. (I’ve never quilted anything & mine turned out fine, so yours will too, promise. Just use a heavy duty needle on the machine because you need to go through a lot of layers.) I just did large random circles because that motif went with the fabric I chose. I wanted it to look Vera Bradley-esque.

You should have two identical quilted pieces. Now sew them together, leaving the top open. Then hem the top. I also used the trim from the pj sleeves to add a little loop that could be used for hanging or carrying.

Basically, it’s like a skinny oven mitt without the part for your thumb, so I guess you could also use this technique for making oven mitts if you could find large enough pj’s. Pretend kid-size oven mitts, anyone?

There you go. Now we can all make cute covers for our flat irons, curling irons, toasters, and whatever else you can think of. Just please be careful. I’m not liable if yours catches on fire.