Tag Archives: tutorial

Quick & Easy Mosquito Bite Relief

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Pretty much anyone who has met me knows that I react pretty badly to mosquito bites.

After many attempts at trying over-the-counter meds and at-home remedies, I have only found one thing that soothes an itchy bite: kosher salt.

Seriously, that’s it!

Mix about a teaspoon of kosher salt with a little bit of water (enough to make a paste) in the palm of your hand and rub the scrub into the area of the mosquito bite.  Leave the scrub on your skin for a minute or 2 then rinse away.  Kosher salt acts as an abrasive and dries out the bite – The itch should stop almost immediately!

On days when I am dealing with a lot of bites, I bring a mug of salt into the shower with me and apply the scrub there for easy clean-up.

If you have particularly dry skin, try mixing a little honey with the salt before applying.

Give it a try – Let me know what you think!

DIY Simple Polymer Clay Bead Necklace

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My sister and I wanted to get a little crafty last week and decided to make some polymer clay bead necklaces!

I don’t typically wear much jewelry, so I came up with a design that was simple, customizable and could be worn with pretty much anything:

Materials (all of these can be found at your local craft store or in your kitchen):

  • polymer clay (we used Sculpey Premo)
  • aluminum foil
  • baking sheet
  • toothpicks
  • paint brush
  • glaze (we used Sculpey Satin Glaze)
  • thin cording
  • scissors

Directions:

1. Roll clay into approximately 1-inch balls and poke a hole through the center using a toothpick.

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, place beads onto the sheet and bake the clay according to the package directions.

3. After beads have cooled, paint with two coats of glaze.  Hint: Use a toothpick to hold the bead while glazing to prevent it from getting all over your fingers.  (Skip this step if you want your beads to have a matte finish.)

4. Measure and cut cording to your desired necklace length.  Remember: Necklace must be long enough to fit over your head!

5. Once beads are completely dry, thread both ends of the cording through the center of each bead and knot to secure them.

6. Show off your new necklace!

Got questions or suggestions?  Leave them in the comments – I’ll meet you there!

DIY: Lumpy the Christmas Coal

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You’ll want to be “naughty” this year if it means Santa will bring you one of these little lumps of coal:

Just picture those eyeballs peering over the top of your stocking Christmas morning … Cute right?

Today I am going to show you how you can stitch up your very own one-of-a-kind Lumpy!  Let’s get started …

Lumpy the Christmas Coal – Plush Pet Rock Tutorial

Materials:

  • paper pattern (download here)
  • black and white felt
  • black, dark grey and light grey embroidery floss
  • stuffing (polyester filling, etc.)
  • scissors
  • embroidery needle

Instructions:

1.  Cut pattern from paper.

2.  Trace and cut pattern from black pieces of felt – You will need 1 front, 1 back and 1 bottom.

3.  Cut two small ovals from white felt and two small circles from black felt – These will be used to create Lumpy’s “googly eyes”.  I typically do this step freehand because it gives each Lumpy their own individual personality!

4.  Sew eyes to the front piece of black felt with a simple cross stitch using black floss.

5.  Embroider lines using a back stitch on the front piece of black felt using light grey and dark grey floss to give your Lumpy some texture.

6.  Line up the front and back pieces of felt and use a whip stitch to sew them together with black floss. (Helpful whip stitch tutorial here.)

7.  Continue to use the whip stitch to adjoin the bottom to the front and back pieces.

8.  When you are about 2 inches from completing your Lumpy, stop and firmly stuff the pet rock firmly with filling.

9.  Finish the stitching and secure with a French knot.

10.  Tuck in the end of the floss and snip the leftover thread.

11.  You now have a Lumpy to call your very own!

These little guys make awesome secret Santa gifts and can double as pin cushions!  I prefer to perch mine on a shelf somewhere to make me giggle throughout the day – Great for everyone on your list!

Questions?  Leave them in the comments and I can help you there.

Needlework not your thing?  You can purchase a pre-assembled Lumpy here!

Enjoy!!

Autumnal DIYs

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Cozied up inside and looking for something to do on these brisk fall evenings?

Here are a few of my favorite cool-weather DIY projects I’ve found in recent weeks (click photo for source):

PS – Speaking of DIYs … I have an awesome one planned for you guys in the coming month – Can’t wait!!