Inspiration for the "Non-Crafters"

We get so many emails from people with this line: "Let me start off by saying I'm not crafty" which is often followed by this line, "I don't know what else I was expecting." On one hand it makes me chuckle...we've all felt like that about something in our life. On the other hand it makes me want to hug them and tell them to keep trying and not to give up and other sappy cliche lines. I've been trying to think of a way to do a "motivational" post, but I just wasn't motivated too yet. Today I read an email that was perfect. It made me want to get my act together, pull on my big girl panties, and finish these projects I've kicked and thrown into a box so I could ignore their less-than-perfectness (there are 2 or 3 quilts in there, paintings, Christmas projects, etc.). I just wish I could jump on these projects now while I'm feeling enthused...but responsibility takes over and I really should show up to my doctor's appointment and work today (who said growing up was a good idea?). So I'll just have to re-read her email on Saturday when I'm home again. But in the meantime I'll share Mohria's story with you and maybe it'll hit a few of you like it hit me. Take it away Mohria:

Hi Pinstrosisters!

I'm a long-time follower of your blog, but just haven't worked up the courage to submit anything, until I saw your "calling all pinners" post.  I'm not what one would call, "crafty."  Most of the things I pin are just stared at wistfully, hoping the creative-fairy will have mercy on me and wave her magic wand to give me even half of the craftiness I see in these pins . . . Sigh . . . 

But I digress.  

My first Pinterest project that wasn't a recipe turned out surprisingly well.

We recently gave our bathroom a MUCH needed update.  We bought our house when I was 7 months pregnant with my son and it needed a LOT of work.  Needless to say, the bathrooms were functional and so they took were low priority.  6 years and another baby later, we had finally scraped together enough fundage to remodel our horribly out-of-date bathroom. How out of date you ask?  Well, so much so, that I have no "before" pictures to share with you.  Only one pic early on in the destruction process (check out the flooring, can you blame me?)

So when the remodel became a reality, I naturally spent WAY too much time on Pinterest searching for inspiration.  I finally found it in the two pins below:

http://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/03/bathroom-renovation-adding-character/

The idea of this pin is to put decorative tile above the shower - cool idea, right?? It turned out FABULOUS.  My only regret was letting the grout sit too long before wiping the tile down.  

My other inspiring pin is the clever built-in storage unit for bathroom cleaning items.  Those always GROSS me out!

http://www.remodelista.com/products/hy-dit-toilet-plunger-storage-cabinet

It was a last minute find and since my parents were only here temporarily to help me with this project, time was of the essence.  After some investigation, we learned that the specific unit in this pin had to be ordered online.  "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

So we built our own.  

I'm a mom of two, so my time in the bathroom is sometimes as close to a vacation as I can get.  So my design was inspired by the most relaxing vacation getaway our family of four has experienced.  Tybee Island, Georgia.  The pictures above the toilet are from when we wrote our kids' names in the sand next to their tiny footprints, and the lighthouse on the Tybee lighthouse.  (What do you think, do the tiles above the shower look like pixelated ocean waves?  Well, if you squint . . . and tilt your head ...a little)

Enjoy.  I know pin-wins aren't used as often as the Pinstrosities, but it's fun to share, anyway.  Hopefully I can help inspire other "non-crafters" that beautiful things are indeed possible.  The hardest step is the first one:  actually trying.  :)

                                                                            -Mohria

I love it. That took a lot of guts to jump into a project that big and it turned out beautifully. Don't let your fears or self-perceived limitations hold you back from trying. You may be surprised at how good things actually turn out! Thank you Mohria for the wonderful story. Your bathroom looks beautiful! Looks like somewhere you could just sit a while and relax. Well done!

Sugar Wax and Cracked Glass

Fair warning men this post is about shaving legs!!

So I know I can't be the only lady out there who's least favorite thing in the world is shaving her legs. Don't get me wrong I still shave everyday because I hate the way it feels if I don't but it isn't the high lite of my day for sure.

There are a million different things out there to get rid of that pesky leg hair, and Jasmine tried one that she found on Pinterest. This pin definitely didn't go her way though!

The Original

http://www.bubbleteafordinner.com/2013/01/14/how-to-make-sugar-wax-at-home-without-a-thermometre/

So the original uses sugar, lemon juice or vinegar, and water. She says you can combine all to a boiling point and you don't need a thermometer because it is ready whenever you drop it into ice cold water and turns into a ball. However I would probably use one if you had it on hand. She says you then put it into a clean glass jar, let it solidify and then microwave it until it becomes like a thick honey consistency.

This recipe worked wonderfully for the original blogger, but somewhere along the way something happened when Jasmine did it, and hers didn't go so well.

The Pinstrosity

What your seeing here is the sugar wax that cracked her glass container after she microwaved it, it then preceded to get all over her glass top oven. Then it hardened to a rock like consistency. Bad business.

"[I]...microwaved the mixture, took out dangerously hot glass bowl simply set it on the counter and watched it shatter into a million little pieces sending the gooey concoction ( that was the consistency of concrete and the stickiness of gorilla glue) all over the beautiful glass stove top hardening itself for impossible removement."

I think the problem here is that either the glass didn't get evenly heated in the microwave for some reason, or it may have had a small crack somewhere Jasmine may not have seen. Also a lot of times if a glass goes from really cold to really hot in a short period of time I think problems can arise there as well. From everything I have read those are the most common reasons for glass to crack in the microwave. 

Please keep that in mind when trying this pin, often times we get Pinstrosities where there is a warning we can give out, and I like to do so! If we have the option to make sure someone doesn't get hurt than I always take that option!

Please be safe DIY'ers!

Happy Friday Pinstrosipeeps!

DIY 1/2 Gallon Body Wash From 1 Bar of Soap, Too Good To Be True?!

Em here, so Debra sent us this project in two parts, part one, the epic failure. So then Debra decided to do some research and find out what went wrong and then fixed her own Pinstrosity, part two total success, you go girl! So many times we see on Pinterest how to "Make Your Own Soap", "Make Your Own Laundry Detergent For 10 Cents A Gallon!", make your own everything is the new way to be super frugal, however sometimes these projects just turn out to be a waste of time, money, and high hopes for a money conscience household. Debra did the footwork here, and will definitely be reaping the reward!

The Original



http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/his-and-hers-no-grate-homemade-body.html

Debra uses Dove, so she went ahead and followed the directions for the "Girly Body Wash", and added lavender essential oils, I am a TOTAL essential oils junkie and can I tell you I am sure her soap smells FANTASTIC! The directions (if you are going to try this at home please visit the original site and follow the directions to a T, I am only giving a synopsis of what to do here) say to use three soap bars and 6 cups of water, bringing the water to a boil and then microwaving each bar for 90 seconds and then stirring it in the hot water immediately.

  Debra decided to get her husband on the DIY body wash band wagon since her first try went so well, he is an Irish Springs man she said, so she tried with this new soap brand. He suggested using only one bar of soap so if it doesn't work they are only wasting one bar, not three. So she adjusted the proportions of water to the one bar she was using and here is what happened...

The Pinstrosity

**This picture is for added dramatic effect, she didn't check to see if the container was microwave safe. Soap 1-Debra 0, remember to check first! The soap will be HOT when you get it out of the microwave, Debra burned and blistered herself during the process so please be careful**

Here is the actual Pinstrosity. Debra added the soap to the water, and it turned to complete solid mass. No good.

Here however is where she went the extra mile, she did some research and after finding a forum about homemade soap ( http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/household-tips-tricks/473954-diy-homemade-flop-not-such-flop-after-all.html) she found someone who had made Irish Spring Body Wash! Win! So the problem was that she didn't use enough water, so on try two she added the complete 6 cups, and then added some glycerin and coconut oil (apparently this soap is REALLY thick once it turns into body wash, this was to help the mixture thin out a bit). She made the concoction, let it sit for 24 hours, came back to check on it...and success! She says it is VERY thick still, but is in body wash form none-the-less.

The trick to this is the amount of water, for some reason the makeup of the Irish Spring just needs more water, so when doing this project try to shy away from changing up the water to soap ratios, and stick with the tried and true, here is Debra's Pin Win, this is the original Dove that she did first:

According to the original site, she says after calculating everything out you save about 75% on soap if you use the DIY recipe, pretty great right!? So there you have it, a Pinstrosity, a Pinvestigation, and a Pin-Win all in one! Thanks so much Debra! Happy Monday everyone!

                                              -Emilee

No Go Glow Bath

Glow sticks have made a huge comeback lately with all sorts of DIY projects and fun. Victoria found a pin for putting glow sticks in the tub for her children, but things didn't quite go right. 

The Original Pin

The source Victoria followed led her to this page: http://happyhomefairy.com/tag/glow-sticks/

but this photo was taken by Julia Galdo and can be found on her website http://www.juliagaldo.com/photography.html and is photo number 22 in her personal gallery (went through all 93 of her tumblr pages looking for this...I should have just gone straight to her site. And...her photography is lovely, but it does contain nudity, just warning you if you click over to her site). 

Victoria said, "I wanted to do something fun for my 5 year old since we had been going through a lot as a family.  [We] had a bunch of glow sticks from a party, and I thought she would love this."

She filled up the tub, bent the glow sticks to get them glowing and then she cut them open and dumped the glow liquid into the tub. While it didn't mix with the water like she had hoped, rather it just stayed where it splattered, her daughter was still excited to hop in the tub. 

The Pinstrosity

We actually don't have a picture for this...and while we normally always ask for a photo, we thought this one was worth posting sans photo. 

Victoria shared the following: "As soon as she stepped into the tub and sat down she started crying.  Said it hurt.  I was worried there was a chemical or something in it.  I washed her off and got her out and she had these little nicks and cuts on her legs.  I couldn't understand it.  It wasn't until a few weeks later after our drain started backing up that my husband got down and found little broken pieces of a hollow glass tube in the drain.  Now I realize that the crunch noise to activate the glowing is a small glass tube within the plastic tube being broken.  That was what had cut my baby girls leg.  Utter fail and worst of all dangerous.  I never knew those even had glass in them.  I dunno, maybe we used the wrong ones.  But, we used the glow sticks that can be used as bracelets.  I think this is important to let others know because it's not safe."

I discovered the glass tubing during my attempt to make the glowing bubbles and cringed a little as I read Victoria's email as I knew right where this was going. Most of the glow sticks have those glass tubes in them. The glass tubes keep the chemicals separate, and bending the glow stick breaks the glass and allows the two chemicals to mix producing the glow. 

The post Victoria found doesn't actually suggest opening up the glow sticks into the tub. It says, "Glow Stick Baths!  Fill up the tub, pile all your Happy Buddies in, turn out the lights, and throw in some Glow Sticks. You will not believe how cool this is!"

So...if you're using glow sticks DO NOT cut them open. 

**Some glow sticks are toxic and others aren't...we don't know which kind Victoria used. But that is something to think about with glow stick projects in the future. Also, everyone has different views and feelings on the varying levels of chemicals in their lives. While putting glow liquind straight into the bath may seem like a bad idea to some, it would be pretty run of the mill with others. So, please be kind in your comments regardless of whether you are on the "Chemicals are the devils tools" side or the "Who cares?" side (or even someone in the middle).**

Other ideas on how to make bath water glow can be found here: http://chemistry.about.com/od/glowinthedarkprojects/a/glowingbubbles.htm. 

I know that's a link for bubbles, but it could be adapted to the bath.

You can also check out this idea (using highlighters and a black light bulb) http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/03/outer-space-themed-bath.html.


                        

Ivory Soap Experiment- A Total Wash Out

Em here. So we got this awesome entry from Trina, maybe you have seen it, turning Ivory Soap bars into moon sand. What the awesome, yes please!!! However it, as many crafts and DIY projects are, is a finicky mistress and cannot always be trusted. Check it out!

The Original

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/04/kitchen-craft-soap-clouds-and-homemade-kiddie-tub-soaps/

The blog explains that this is supposed to be a fun experiment with your kids. They call it a "Soap Cloud", you can play with it, smoosh it to a billion pieces, or smoosh it and then make it into tiny soap bars (complete with fun colors). This stuff really does rock! Anyway, Trina and her kids did this and had some disappointing results.

The Pinstrosity

http://afewmineradjustments.blogspot.com/2012/06/ivory-soap-gone-wrong.html

Trina tells her tale of everything going according to plan, they microwaved it for the appropriate time (see the original blog for full detailed instructions), took it out to play with and mold into shapes, and that is when everything literally fell apart. They pulled it out and smooshed it, but it didn't do anything but fall apart. Her kids played with it for maybe 2 minutes and had had their fill she said. Bummer city. The directions say to smoosh it, then put it into a food processor which makes it fine enough to be made into tiny bath soaps, seen here:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/04/kitchen-craft-soap-clouds-and-homemade-kiddie-tub-soaps/

Trina missed that line, and ended up with lots of crumbly soap, a house that smelled oh so fresh, (and not necessarily in a good way, she said the smell lingered and was STRONG, headache STRONG).

However if done properly, these would make great tub crayons! With the simple adjustment of making sure that after it is microwaved it is put in the food processor, you can add color (food coloring), and then place them in cookie cutters and let them sit and dry in order to harden for just a few days, and voila!! Tub magic!!

Let us know how this one pans out. Did your kids like it? Was the smell worth the adventure? We love your feedback so tell us your tales! Happy Thursday!!

                                               -Emilee

T-Shirt Rug? More like T-Shirt Ugh!

Every now and then we get a Pinstrosity Submission that is quite well written and so we just let them do the talking. Today's is one of those. I give you Deirdre and the T-Shirt Ugh Rug. 

Like many pinners, when inspiration strikes, I must act. Crafting has been a big part of my life since I was a child; I haunt the DIY & Crafts category like most women my age spam pics from the Weddings category. I've made some great things thanks to Pinterest, like coasters out of paint swatches and a vest out of an extra-large T-shirt. But today, I'm going to talk about an abomination. Something that I thought would be super cute, but only ended up being really ugly. 

The craft was a circular rug made out of t-shirts using a hula hoop as a loom. Here's what I expected:

The Original Pin

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/

And this is what I got:

The Pinstrosity

The Chapstick is there to show the size relative to it. Does that look like a rug to you? More like a too tiny dinner table centerpiece or a too large potholder. The directions called for a 33" hula hoop. Upon inspection, the one that I had was only 22" (and it was the biggest one at Walmart. Go figure). I also used the bottom hems of the shirts which made parts of it look extra bulky. You can see in the picture that one of my central yellow pieces was a hem. The directions also said to use a dozen t-shirts, where I only had to use four (though this may be due to the small size of my hula hoop). So now I have eight old t-shirts, boys large from Goodwill that will probably go towards another craft or gather dust at the bottom of my closet. I'm banking on the latter.

I was hoping for this to be a birthday present for my mom. Her bathroom is all decorated in blues and greens-- but this looks way too shabby and looks like a child's craft from the 70s.

Also, to any pinners who have children (I'm 22 years old, a recent college graduate, and spend little time with children): What's up with hula hoops these days? All the ones at Walmart sounded like they had water in them. What happened to the ones with beans in them?

Hey, yeah! Where are the bean hula hoops? Oh well. Another thing to add to the "My childhood was awesome, these poor kids now are missing out" list. Anyway...let's take a look at what we can do to turn this from and Ugh to a Rug. 

• This is one project where size does matter. You really do need a large hula hoop. The instructions at the end say to leave at least 8 inches between your rug and the hula hoop, and if you're already using the 33" hoop, that means your rug is only going to be 17" wide (because you're taking 8" off each side, not 8" off total). That's just under a foot and a half. Now I know the rug in the tutorial looks bigger than that, but you have to remember that the girl holding it is not very big, and she is sitting on a chair. I bet her rug is 2' wide. So this project doesn't make a very large rug to begin with, but then if you use a smaller hula hoop it is really going to start being tiny. 
• Another thing to watch while making this is how tightly you weave the t-shirts. The tutorial says, "As you work, push the weft material toward the center of the hoop and keep it just snug. If you pull the weft tight, the rug will develop lumps or bends." So you want your t-shirt strips snug, but you don't want to pull them tight. The first time I tried anything like this as a kid I pulled them nice and tight and ended up with a lumpy bowl. So get the strips woven in the snugly, but don't pull them tight. 

                        

Glitter is a Girl's Best Friend

Em here, so today I read a post from a reader that spoke straight to my heart...Glitter Everything :) I am a girl who has sparkle on EVERYTHING,  The Mr. Chips likes to say that my style is Bling-ed Out Nature, which in a weird way is exactly what it is, bling-ed out branches, feathers, wood, rocks, you name it. Anyways that is exactly why I LOVE this project, Rachel sent us this glitter project that sparkles, all over her house...

The Original

http://www.iamstyle-ish.com/2012/02/glitter-everything.html

The Pinstrosity

Now it doesn't look too awful, but if you look closely, it is lumpy on the inside and the top edge is all over the place, let's break it down.

The original pinner says to use mod podge and Martha Stewart Fine Glitter, and a sponge brush. Rachel said she used all the same products, but the one particular post she read didn't mention glue to glitter ratios, so she said she just eye-balled it. Problemo Numero Uno. Next she said she put it upside down (after applying the glitter) and the sides starting "melting away" Problem Number Two, no bueno (The Mr. Chips just started taking this at home Spanish class, so it must be rubbing off on me...apologies). She wiped it off, and said she put another layer on the bare parts of the jar, and then put it on a wire rack to let it dry for three days, first off I admire her patience I would not have waited that long, second off she said it glooped off again, Problem Number Three. She says she uses it anyways but HATES how it turned out, and I would have to agree, not ideal. I have worked with mod podge quite a bit and it can be a tricky mistress, observe:

1. The same blog had the original tutorial for glittering objects around the house, and the first post was a clutch (super cute by the way). In that tutorial she says to use two parts glitter to one part mod podge, if you use to much glue when it dries there isn't very much glitter, and just a lot of bare spots.

2. Rachel mentioned that the glitter was melting away from her project when she flipped it upside down, the glue being slightly runny is to be expected, that is why it is upside down, but not TOO runny. In my opinion, it sounds like there was too much product and it was just too heavy. It's kinda like when you use a dry erase marker over a dry erase marker on the white board, it takes the original away and you are left with nothing. The product on the jar was too heavy and pulled everything away when it was dripping off.

3. In the original tutorial (the clutch) she said to wait 20 minutes and then 2nd coat it. She ended up doing 4 coats on the clutch to get the look desired. It does take patience but I really think the problem here was too thick of a first coat and it just set the whole thing off into a train wreck. I think the key to this project is several very thin coats, not too heavy, won't slide off, and won't gloop onto whatever it's turned over on.

As for the edge, I would get sand paper and gently (very very very gently) slide it across the rim if you still fell it could be less goopy, which might make it feel rough( glitter rough)( like when you paint your nails with glitter polish but don't top coat it), line the edge of the jar with a light coat of pure mod podge (no glitter) and it should get you the desired look. If for whatever reason you run out of mod podge, you can substitute with clear nail polish for the rim.

Small changes and I think that this should turn out better next time. Has anyone done this project and had similar or even different results? Let us know your feedback, it is always appreciated!!

                                     -Emilee

Teeny Soap Saver

Don't you hate when you get to the end of a soap bar? You can't hardly use them at all! Well Chrissy emailed us in a crocheted soap saver pinstrosity she found and made.

The Original Pin

http://www.crazysockscrochet.blogspot.com/2010/05/crochet-pattern-textured-soap-saver.html

The Pinstrosity

What Went Wrong:

" I used the correct yarn, correct needle and followed the directions. The only thing I can figure is that I didn't do the crochet in "round" quite right.  At any rate, it turned out incredibly tiny (in my opinion).  I mean, it's supposed to be used with soap scraps, but still, this is really, really small."

By just looking at the photos, I couldn't tell what went wrong so I decided to do a little investigating of my own. Here's what I came up with:

Doing the actual project gave me a little insight into some possible mishaps. 

• The type of yarn. We all used the same size yarn, but from what I can tell from the pictures, we all used different kinds of yarn. Mine was worsted weight cotton yarn (Peaches & Creme brand). It works a little different from some other yarns (as I have found with other projects). When I crochet with the Peaches & Creme yarn, my crochet tends to be thicker than if I use yarn like Red Heart (just the normal stuff). My bag might've turned out larger due to this yarn difference. 
• I did not follow the suggestion given in the instructions to mark off a starting stitch, so I lost count many times as to how many rounds I did. I think I did 10, but I might have done 9, or 12. Missing or added rows could easily account for size differences. 
• I had to pull out my stitching a few times because I messed up on the rounds. Sometimes I somehow added stitches so my bag was turning into a bowl. Other times I missed stitches so my bag was getting more and more narrow near the top. When I finally got the rounds right (I think) they stayed the same size. 
• I tend to crochet rather loosely. Most of my projects tend to be slightly larger than they probably are supposed to be. Others crochet tighter, leading to smaller projects. 

The palm of my hand is a little small, so the one I made fits just about perfect, but the first thing my husband said when I tossed it over to him was, "That's kinda small, isn't it?". So I think partly this just depends on the size of your palm, and your preference on the size of the bag. 

But now that I've got this made, I'm sitting here thinking that this is rather thick to work up a lather through. That'll be the next test I guess.