If you’re a fan of pretty notebooks and use a lot of them, here’s a guide to learn how to make your own stitched pocket notebook for next to nothing! Now you’ll never run out and there are loads of options for cool covers. Think about using atlas pages, old sheet music and comic books as well!
What You’ll Need To Make A Stitched Pocket Notebook
Thick paper or thin cardboard for the cover
Lined or blank paper for the inside
Paper cutter or Exacto knife, cutting mat and ruler
Awl, old seam ripper, or other sharp, thin tool
Sewing needle
Sewing thread
Scissors
How To Make Your Own Stitched Pocket Notebook
First, cut the cover to size. Try using thick paper with a nice double-sided print on it. You can use lots of different types of thick paper or thin cardboard, just make sure that it is thick enough to hold its shape, but still thin enough to fold nicely.
Cut pieces of about 18 by 12 centimeters (7 by 5 inch) for each cover. This results in a finished notebook of 9 by 12 centimeters (3,5 by 5 inch), which is a good size to fit in your back pocket. But of course you can make any size that you like.
Next, cut the paper to fill the notebook. We are using an A4 (letter size) notepad with lined paper and taking 6 sheets of paper for each notebook. But you can also use blank paper or grid paper, and use more or less sheets.
Fold the top sheet in half to mark the center, making sure to line up the lines. Then cut the stack of 6 sheets in half so that you end up with 12 sheets. Make sure to cut the paper right on that fold, in between two lines, so that the lines on the paper will line up when I put the two stacks together.
Leave the sheets the size they are, which is too big for the cover, so that you can cut them to the exact right size once you assemble the notebook.
Fold all the sheets in half, taking 3 or 4 sheets at a time. With the12 sheets of paper, you’ll end up with 24 pages in your notebook, meaning you have 48 sides to write on.
Fold the cover in half as well.
To prepare for the stitching, make holes in the back of the notebook, through all the layers of paper. This will make the stitching a lot easier.
We’re using the sharp point of an old seam ripper to do this, but you can also use an awl if you have one, or another sharp and thin tool. Start in the middle and work your way out, making the holes on top of the lines to make sure they are nicely spaced. Make an uneven number of holes for the best stitching results.
Thread your needle with normal sewing thread and double it up. Start on the inside of the notebook, at what will be the bottom side, and go out through the first hole. Go into the second hole and tie a double knot with the tail. Don’t cut the tail off yet, because you’ll need it later.
While you’ve got your needle and cotton out, you may want to have a look at our 10 minute pillow covers. They’re the perfect craft to practice your sewing skills.
Continue by going out through the third hole, into the fourth, out through the fifth, etcetera. When you come to the top, work your way back down, passing the sections you have not covered yet.
When you reach the bottom again, you’ll end up at the same hole as the tail. Tie another double knot with the tail, and cut off the ends.
With the notebook folded open, cut the top and bottom of the paper to size. You can use a paper cutter or an exacto knife and a ruler will work just as well.
Next, cut the sides to size. Close the notebook first, because if you do this while the notebook is still open, the edges won’t line up when you close it.
And that’s all there’s to it! This is a pretty quick and easy project, and if you set up a little assembly line you can very quickly whip up a whole bunch of these.
How about making your own soap, try out our beer soap recipe as a perfect gift for a father or special man in your life.
This post is based on Pocket Notebooks by Crafts with Ellen and is modified and used under the Creative Commons license CC BY NC SA.
Glass cutting is a fascinating skill that a lot of people try, but quickly give up on. Here is a complete guide to cutting glass along with some helpful hints. The best way to learn to cut glass is through practice.
It is always best to practice on a few smaller scraps before trying your main cut, especially if you are cutting a large sheet which could be costly to replace if you crack it.
The first step is to measure. If you are cutting a piece for a frame, window or a mirror then you probably don’t need to be extremely accurate but it helps to be within a couple of millimeters (1/10″ or so). An important thing to keep in mind when you are using your cutter up against a straight edge is that the cutting wheel is about 1 or 2mm from the edge of the cutter. If your cuts need to be accurate then you’ll need to take this into account when lining up your edge and your measurement markings.
Once you have marked your glass and your edge is lined up for the cut you wish to make, you need to lubricate the line. Spray some WD40 into the cap or a small cup, you can also use any thin type of workshop oil, then use a small brush to brush some along the line you are going to be cutting. You don’t need a lot but it should run the length of the line.
Wear safety glasses when scoring the glass. Although unlikely, there is a possibility that tiny shards are shot up by the cutting wheel which may damage your eyes.
To demonstrate the importance of oil, the below image shows a few cuts made with and without oil. The line on the far left was made without oil, the middle one with oil brushed before cutting and the last (far right) by a cutter with a built in oil dispenser.
If you do a dry cut on thick glass, you’ll actually hear it crackling as the cutter moves over the surface. It also throws up tiny chips and leaves a rough line.
Once you have lubricated the line, its time to score the glass with the cutter. Keep the edge of the cutter pressed up against the straight edge, slight pressure on the tip, the cutter tilted slightly towards you and run down the length of the line in a single stroke.
If by some chance a portion of the line has not been made, you can try to run over that part again but ideally it should be done in one move. Any portion that is run over again is a potential place for the cut to run astray from your cutting line.
To get a good feel for the amount of pressure you should be putting on the tip of the cutter, place a small scrap sheet on a digital scale and zero it. Now press the cutter down onto the centre of the glass until the scale reads around 2800 grams (100oz). Try to keep this amount of pressure on the cutter throughout the cut.
If you’ve done the above steps correctly, you should now have a nice clean score and breaking the glass will be easy. If you haven’t cut glass before, this step can be a bit intimidating so you may want to practice on a smaller section.
If you are not confident in your glass cutting abilities yet, you may want to wear leather gloves to avoid cutting your hands.
The easiest and safest way to “break” the sheet along the cut is to place the handle of your cutter (or another thin roundish object) directly underneath the score mark near the edge.
Place a palm on the glass on each side of the cutter and then push firmly downwards until the glass pops apart. With practice, this should happen with only a small amount of pressure.
Be careful of the newly cut edge as it will be extremely sharp! If you are not immediately mounting the glass into a window frame or picture frame, run over the edges with an electric sander to smooth the sharp edges.
Good luck and happy cutting.
If you’d like to try out your new cutting skills on a project, have a look at this DIY designer mirror to instantly upgrade your lounge or dining room.
This post is based on How to Cut Glass by Duplo for Daddies and is modified and used under the Creative Commons license CC BY NC SA.
Have you been wanting to try out harvesting wind energy to power your home but you’ve been put off by the excessive price of commercially available wind turbines? Here’s a guide to building your own vertical axis wind turbine out of scraps most of us have lying around the house. If you don’t have the materials lying around, they are cheaply available from your local hardware store. The benefit of a vertical axis wind turbine is that it doesn’t need to be aligned to the wind direction, it harnesses wind energy no matter which direction the wind is blowing.
We’ve split the guide to making the turbine up into four sections, making the turbine blades, making the structure, mounting the blades and finally adding the generator. You start working on the frame while you are waiting for the blades to soak and dry through various stages.
Shaping The Turbine Blades
To start off, you need to shape the turbine blades. To do this, you need to make the plywood workable by soaking it overnight in cold water. You could place them on a step in the pool, in a pond or in the bathtub. Make sure they are completely covered and that water is able to get in between the individual sheets.
The next day, once the plywood has soaked overnight, it should be ready to be shaped. To shape the plywood, tie the sheets, two together, around a large diameter tree trunk. The tree trunk should be around 60-80cm (24-30″) in diameter. Make sure that the sheets are held tightly around the trunk and allow them to dry off for about a day. Line up the corners of the planks so that they are all at the same height and pitch so that all three are shaped equally.
Once the wood is almost dry, use a spirit level to draw a line across the tops and bottoms of the blades and cut the corners off to shape them further. Use a wood saw to cut the corners off.
Now you are ready to form the aerofoil shape of the blades.
Insert the lengths of pipe between two sheets of plywood, screw the plywood onto the pipe using 6 wood screws on each length. You could also add some strong glue such as contact adhesive to improve the bond.
Glue and tape the trailing edge of the plywood sheets together.
Cut the ends of the flexible pipe flush with the plywood and then cut out some cardboard end covers, tape these over the ends of the blades to contain the foam. Leave a gap near the trailing edge for the foam to be added.
Now fill the blades with foam making sure that they foam goes all the way to the front and the back. The foam helps to keep the blades rigid and to keep their form. It is important to make sure that each blade gets the same amount of foam so that they are all the same weight otherwise your end turbine will be unbalanced and will shake or get damaged at high speed.
The next day, remove the wood screws and the end caps and sand the foam smooth to give the blades their final shape.
Fill in any gaps and ridges with wood filler or a sand-able putty.
Once the body filler has cured, sand the blades to a smooth finish by starting with a course (80 grit) sandpaper and working down to a fine (240 grit) sandpaper.
Finally, finish the blades off with a coat of automotive primer and then a coat of UV resistant spray paint.
Making The Blade Support Structure
The pipe structure is made using galvanised pipes and pipe fittings. The base of the structure on which the turbine rotates is an old washing machine chassis with a double bearing system.
Start by assembling the 6 blade holding arms. At the end of each length of the six 50cm (20″) galvanised pipes, you need to make up a screw on section. Cut the threaded rod into 6 pieces and then use body filler to seat the threaded rod firmly into the centre of the galvanised pipe. Place a nut and washer at the root of the threaded rod for extra support. There should be enough threaded rod sticking out of the pipe to go through the thickest portion of the blades along with space for the two washers and two nuts, around 70cm (28″) should be sufficient.
Next assemble the galvanised piping and connectors as shown below. There are three arms at the top joined by the threaded nipples and then three arms lower down separated by the short piece of galvanised piping.
Finish the frame off by adding the washing machine bearing chassis.
Stand the frame up vertically and space the arms out in pairs such that the three pairs are exactly equidistant from each other.
Once you’ve finished spacing the arms correctly, lock all of the galvanised fittings with some thread locker or glue and then you can spray the frame to match the turbine blades.
Mounting The Turbine Blades
Start by ensuring that the frame is exactly level using a spirit level and adding or removing packing as required.
Mark out mounting holes for the threaded rods to go through the blades on each blade and then drill the holes slightly larger than the threaded rods so that there is some room for adjustment.
Place a nut and washer onto the inside and the outside of each threaded rod with the turbine blade seated in between them. Use a spirit level to ensure that the blades are level before fastening the nuts.
The blades should all be equally spaces and the same height once they are installed on the frame.
Add some silicon sealant to the inside and outside of the nuts and bolts to make sure they do not get water into the hole in the turbine blade and rust.
You are now ready to mount the generator.
Mounting The Generator
The final step is to mount the generator which converts the rotation of the turbine into electrical energy. The generator is simply coupled to the base of the turbine so that when the turbine rotates, the rotor of the generator is turned. You can used a commercially bought generator or alternator for the best efficiency or make your own simply one as described below.
In this guide we make a simple generator using an old jet water pump.
Take the cover off of an old water pump and glue magnets onto its rotor, equally spaced apart. Use a couple of of washing machine coils and glue these onto the housing such that they are aligned with the magnets. The magnets should pass over the coils as the pump rotates.
The pump generator should then be mounted below the turbine with the turbine shaft coupled to the pump blade.
To improve the efficiency of the output, place diodes in the configuration shown below across each coil. The diodes assist in keeping the flow of electricity in the same direction instead of reversing.
Your vertical axis wind turbine is now complete and ready to be coupled onto your charge controller to power your home or camping equipment.
Have you made your own vertical axis wind turbine? Let us know in the comments section below or send us your pictures to include in this post, we would love to hear from you.
Is your leather jacket feeling too tight? Have you messed oil on your favorite shirt? We have a solution! Here are 21 ways you can repair, clean and alter your favorite clothing and shoe items so that you don’t have to throw them out.
Make sure you bookmark or pin this page for future reference.
Clothing Hacks
Spray your sweaty clothing with lemon juice and water before throwing them in the wash to reduce discolouration and sweat marks. If the stains have already set in, try out sweat stain removal trick using baking soda.
Reduce the drying time of your wet clothes by absorbing the excess water in a dry towel, simply roll your clothes up in the towel and stand on it to squeeze them out.
youtube.com
Get a stuck zipper loose by rubbing a crayon on both sides of the zipper.
Re thread your hoodie or pants cord by stapling the end inside a straw and then pulling the straw through the holes.
lifehacker.com
Use a disposable razor to pull pills from and old hoodie or sweatshirt.
wikihow.com
Un-shrink your favorite sweater by soaking it in warm water and hair conditioner for around ten minutes.
Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed
Get chewing gumout of your clothing by setting it in the freezer for a couple of hours or putting a bag of ice over it for a few minutes. It can then be easily scraped off with a butter knife.
wikihow.com
If you’re on vacation or simply don;t have an iron around, here are some clever ways to get the wrinkles out of your clothes.
Yumi Sakugawa / Via yumisakugawa.com
Skip using fabric softener and add a couple of drops of lavender essential oil into your laundry for the best smelling clothes. You could also save a fortune by trying our homemade fabric softener recipe.
Nikilitov / Getty Images
Alter a pair of jeans which don’t fit you anymore with this clever hack.
cottonandcurls.com
And if thats too much effort then simply use a rubber band!
inhabitots.com
Shaving cream works amazingly well to remove makeup from your shirt collars.
Bananastock / Getty Images
Use baby powder to get oil stains out of your clothing. Place some over the stain and allow it to sit for several minutes to absorb the oil.
feminya.com
Rub white bread on lipstick stains to remove them.
Andrewsafonov / Getty Images
Shoe Hacks
Repair holes in your shoes with a bicycle puncture repair kit.
Use a slice of stale bread to rub stains out of suede shoes.
video.about.com
Stretch out a pair of tight boots by putting on a couple of pairs of socks and then blasting them with the hair dryer.
Julie Gerstein / BuzzFeed
Please unused tea bags into your shoes to stop them smelling.
Showcake / Getty Images
Or cut a dryer sheet in half and use one in each shoe to get rid of odors. Have a look at these other amazing uses for dryer sheets you may not know about.
naturalremedyideas.com
Get your sneakers looking new again with an amazing magic eraser.
jet.com
Do you have any clothing or shoe hacks which we haven’t put onto our list? Let us know in the comments section below.
Most of us spend far too much time in front of the TV. Here is a system for automatically limiting when and how long the TV can be on for. The system works by controlling the input signal going to the TV by adding a relay switch to the input cable. When certain conditions are met, the relay is turned on and the TV is able to receive the input signal. Using an Arduino microcontroller, you can program the system to only allow the TV to be on for a certain amount of time each day or between certain hours. You can setup a pin code so that only certain people can turn it on. You could even set it up so that the TV will not turn on unless you have done a certain amount of exercise that day. The system is very versatile and can be customized to fit your needs.
This project assumes you know the basics of Arduino programming, otherwise read our article on getting started with Arduino.
What You Need To Build The Arduino TV Limiting System
Arduino Microcontroller and Power Supply – Buy Here & Here
5V Relay (the coil current must be less than 30mA) – Buy Here
The instructions are broken up into three sections, building the relay control circuit, uploading the time limiting sketch to the Arduino and finally adding additional sensors and controls.
Building The Relay Control Circuit
The control circuit for this project is very simple. It is basically just an Arduino microcontroller and a 5 volt relay. In order to power the relay directly from the Arduino, the coil of the relay needs to be rated for 30 mA or less.
If your relay requires more than 30 mA, then you need to add a transistor to drive the relay.
The normally open terminal and common terminal of the relay are connected to the input cable. The coil of the relay is connected to one of the digital pins and one of the GND pins on the Arduino. A diode is connected in parallel with the coil of the relay to protect the Arduino from voltage spikes that can occur when the relay turns off.
Normally the digital pin is set LOW. This means that the relay is turned off and the two halves of the input wire are disconnected. In this state, the signal cannot reach the TV. But when the digital pin is set HIGH, the relay turns on and connects the two halves of the input cable. This is how the Arduino determines when the TV receives the signal from the input device.
The first thing that you need to do is get a connector cable that matches the input terminals on your TV and the signal source. The most common types are Coaxial cable, RCA cable, and HDMI cable.
Next we need to cut the connector cable in the middle. Then strip off about 2 inches of the outer most layer of insulation to expose the first layer of internal wires.
Separate and peel back these wires to expose the next layer of insulation. Strip off about half of this exposed section of insulation. This will reveal the inner wires. Twist the first set of wires together. Then twist the second set of wires together. You should now have two separate strands of wires that you can connect these wires to a relay switching circuit.
This simple procedure will work well for RCA cables and coxial cables. However, HDMI cables are a little more complicated. There are a lot of wires inside an HDMI cable. If you want to try to manually separate the wires of an HDMI cable you will need a lot of time and patience and you need to be very careful. An alternate method that might make things easier is to use an HDMI break-out board such as this one.
Start with a blank piece of perf board. Solder the relay onto one side of the board. Then solder the diode onto the board adjacent to the relay and connect the leads of the diode to the coil terminals of the relay. Next you need to connect the wires from the input cable.
The inner most sets of wires can just be soldered back together by attaching them to adjacent holes and connecting them with a bead of solder. The outer set of wires in each cable will all be grouped together. With RCA cable these wires are all connected together as a ground. So it won’t affect the signal. These wires are soldered to the board. Then a jumper wire connects them to the switch terminals of the relay.
The last connections to make are the wires that will connect to the Arduino. Connect one wire to each terminal of the relay’s coil.
Now you need to connect the relay circuit to the Arduino. Connect the wires from the relay board to the Arduino so that the anode of the diode is connected to one of the GND pins on the board. Then take the wire that is connected to the cathode of the diode and plug that into one of the digital pins on the Arduino board.
It is very important that you get these polarities correct. If you accidentally reverse them, you could destroy the Arduino.
Find a large insulated project enclosure. Then attach the relay circuit and the Arduino to the inside of the housing with a small drop of hot glue. A small drop of hot glue will be just enough to hold the boards in place but still allow you to remove them later if you want.
Cut holes and slots in the back of the housing for the cables and power cords and sensor wires.
Uploading The Time Limiting Sketch
Now you can upload your sketch onto your Arduino, if you haven’t uploaded a sketch before then follow this guide on getting started.
The simplest kind of control program is a window timer. Here is a very basic example of this. Once the system is activated, the TV will be connected for 1 hour (3600000 milliseconds). Then it will be off for 23 hours (82800000 milliseconds). This will create a one hour window each day where the TV can be watched. You can easily change the timing of this by changing the values in the code.
//The DIY Life
//12 April 2017
//Michael Klements
int relayPin = 12; //Define pin used to control the input signal relay
void setup()
{
pinMode (relayPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
digitalWrite (relayPin, HIGH); //Turn the input signal relay on
delay(3600000); //Wait one hour
digitalWrite (relayPin, LOW); //Turn the input signal relay off
delay(82800000); //Wait 24 hours
}
Alternatively, you could set up a button to activate the TV watching time. This would let the user select when the TV may be on but still limit the total number of hours per day that it is on.
Adding Additional Sensors And Controls
Most ways that you might set up your TV limiting system will requires sensors of one kind or another and these need to be connected to your Arduino. Connecting sensors to an Arduino is easy. There are two main kinds of inputs with an Arduino. There are analog inputs and there are digital inputs.
Analog inputs detect the relative voltage of a signal. To measure an analog input, connect the ground wire of the sensor to one of the GND pin on the Arduino. Then connect the signal wire to one of the analog input pins on the Arduino. Then set this pin to input mode and use the analogRead function in the Arduino code. The Arduino will then measure the voltage of the input signal and turn it into an integer value between 0 and 1023. This corresponds to a voltage between 0 and 5 volts. Analog inputs are a good way to monitor signals that change over time.
Digital inputs just detect whether a signal is above a certain threshold voltage (3 volts for a 5 volt Arduino). These are useful for detecting simple on-off states. Is the signal there or not. To use this king of input, connect the ground wire from the sensor to one of the GND pins on the Arduino. Connect the signal wire to one of the digital pins on the Arduino. Then set this pin to input mode and use the digitalRead function in the Arduino code. The Arduino will then measure the voltage of the input signal and register it as either HIGH (above 3 volts) or LOW (below 3 volts).
You could also customise the TV time limiter to work with various sensors and controls to enable bypasses or restrict use until a certain activity has been carried out. Here are some examples.
Set Up a Pass Code for Authorized Users to Activate the TV
A variation on the design that you could implement involves setting a pass code so that only authorized users can turn the TV on. This can easily be done with the TV remote. All you need to do is add an infrared receiver to the Arduino. You can check out an example of how to do that here:
Create a Sensor to Only Turn on the TV If You Have Exercised
Our favorite way to control a TV limiting system is with exercise. The simplest way to do this is to set up a sensor on an exercise bike that will send a signal to the control circuit when someone is pedaling. This will let you program the system to only let the TV be on while someone is exercising on the exercise bike. The more you want to watch TV, the more you have to exercise. You can see a good example of this kind of system in the project “No TV unless you exercise!“.
Only Turn The TV On When Someone Is Active
You can use the heart rate sensor to measure how active the person is being. So you can program the system to only let the TV be only while the person’s heart rate is elevated. Or you could program it to only turn on if the person has had their heart rate above a set level for a certain number of minutes a day (indicating that the person has exercised).
Using Your TV Time Limiting System
Set up the box with the control circuit near your TV. Then plug one end of the cable into your TV and plug the other end into the signal source. An RCA cable is used here to connect an XBOX 360 to the TV. Lastly connect your chosen sensors that will control they system.
This system is an interesting way to cut back on the amount of TV that we consume. Use your imagination and have fun.
This post is based on a System for Automatically Limiting TV Time by DIY Hacks and How Tos and is modified and used under the Creative Commons license CC BY NC SA.
Many of us are in the middle of Spring fever. We’re loving the warmer weather, the fun pastel colors and we’re preparing for Easter. One of my favorite snacks since childhood has been pudding cups. For a fun snack I thought I’d come up with something quick, festive and convenient for your Easter egg hunts or dessert tables, Bunny Pudding Cups. These were so much fun to make and the pudding and cake combo was too good.
If you’d like to put a few options out on the table then try our white chocolate mousse and jelly dessert cups. Simply replace the red jelly with green jelly and you’ve got another delicious dessert option.
What You’ll Need To Make The Bunny Pudding Cups
Chocolate Pudding Cups
Chocolate Cake
Frosting: White or Chocolate, Green
White Candy Melt
Shredded Coconut Flakes
Mini Marshmallows (One Per Pudding Cup)
How To Make The Bunny Pudding Cups
Crumble the chocolate cake into small pieces with your hands or with a food processor. Sprinkle the cake crumbles onto the pudding cups to create dirt.
Add a dollop of frosting and combine to create a cake dough. Shape the dough into small tablespoon sized balls. Place on parchment or waxed paper and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Melt the white candy melt or white chocolate. Use a fork or toothpick to roll the cake ball into the candy melt and cover completely. Allow to excess to drip away then roll in the coconut flakes. Set aside and allow the coating to harden. Then nestle into the cake dirt.
Shape a small bit of fondant into little bunny feet. Use pink fondant for the pads of the feet. Then attach to the bunny using white chocolate or candy coating. If you don’t have fondant you can also make the feet out of candy melt. Just melt a small amount an make an oval shape on waxed paper then allow to harden. You can use edible pink marker, pink fondant, or frosting for the pads.
Lastly, put green frosting into a small sandwich bag and cut the corner to pipe grass around the bunny. And you’re done!
Enjoy your bunnies before they hop away! If you love chocolate desserts then you’ll think our chocolate lasagne is amazing, try it out!
If you enjoyed this article, please share it on Pinterest.
This post is based on Bunny Pudding Cups by Marishas Couture and was used and modified under the Creative Commons license CC BY NC SA.
Renewing or updating your floors can make a huge difference to your decor and home’s value. Flooring is typically quite expensive so it if often put off for major renovations but here are 10 amazing DIY floor ideas which can be done as a holiday or weekend project and it doesn’t cost a fortune to buy the materials. So try one of these projects in a room or throughout your house to refresh your personal space.
Stencil & Paint The Floor
This amazingly detailed floor by Young House Love is just a ply wood floor which has been stenciled and painted. They simply pulled up the carpet and painted it.
Young House Love
Simple Painted Flooring
If you’ve got an existing wooden floor which just looks a little worn out, try painting it in a vibrant colour to bring it new life for less than $50. Have a look at the tutorial by Effortless Style.
Effortless Style
Different Colour Plank Flooring
Instead of painting the whole floor in a single colour, Design Sponge decided to mix things up and paint them in different shades, making the end result more interesting.
Design Sponge
Pine Plank Flooring
These DIY wood floors by Shabby Greek Cottage are made using 1×8 pine planks which were then stained to the right colour for an inexpensive finish which can be done room by room.
Shabby Greek Cottage
Plywood Plank Flooring
This wooden floor by Little Green Notebook was made using plywood which was then cut into planks for a more hardy surface.
Little Green Notebook
End Grain Block Flooring
This type of flooring project by Design Sponge uses blocks of lumber which have been sliced through the grain which leaves an interesting texture.
Design Sponge
Geometric Wooden Flooring
Vintage Revivals decided to take us back to a time when geometric wooden floors were the in thing and we love the results. While this is probably more suited for a smaller room or bathroom, there is a bit of charm to the work that goes into it.
Vintage Revivals
Pebble Bathroom Flooring
Pebble floors are typically used in a shower but there’s no reason they can’t be used for a whole bathroom. Something for Nothing made this pebble floor from scratch and it looks amazing.
Something For Nothing
Black Rubber Matte Tiles
Black rubber tiles are usually used as a flooring choice for a workshop, garage or gym but Door Sixteen used them in a bathroom and the results are great. Using a dark colour on the floor makes the whole room feel a bit more grounded.
Door Sixteen
One More Stenciled Floor
This stenciled floor by Lovely Etc has a nice finish around the edges and really highlights the fact that you don’t need to spend much to get an amazing result. The plywood underneath your current floor is the perfect canvas for a stenciling.
Lovely Etc
If making your own flooring sounds like too much work, you could also buy laminate flooring and install it yourself, the actual material is not that expensive and its really easy to do.
Have you done your own flooring in a room or throughout your home? What did you do and how did it turn out? Let us know in the comments section below.
This stylish and modern hanging garden planter is sure to attract attention and it allows you to get more out of the surface area of your garden, perfect for veggies and herbs. Hang them on a wall, under a window or even indoors as a feature, they’d fit right into a modern kitchen.
Once your planters are up and your plants are growing, try our natural pesticide recipes to keep bugs away without spraying harsh chemicals all over your herbs and veggies.
What You Need To Make The Hanging Garden Planter
2 x 100mm (4″) PVC Pipes: Cut to About 170cm (66.5″) and 150cm (59″)
4 x 100mm (4″) PVC End Caps
Silver Spray Paint
5m (16′) Wire Rope
4 x Small Wire Rope Clamps
8 x Threaded Hooks
4 x Carabiner Clips
Soil
9 x Small Plants
Cordless Drill
75mm (3″) Hole Saw
Small Drill Bits
120 Grit Sandpaper
Hacksaw
Wire Cutters
How To Make The Hanging Garden Planter
Start off by cutting the PVC pipe to length, this can be to suite your wall or window width or simply to suit the size of your plants.
Measure out how far apart the plants need to be and mark them pipe for the holes to be drilled. The spacing used in these planters is 30cm (11″). Once you have marked the holes and are happy with the spacing, use the hole saw to drill the holes through one side of the pipe wall.
Use a small piece of sandpaper to sand the edges of the holes to remove any rough or sharp edges. Sand the ends of the pipes as well so that the end caps fit on snugly.
Stand the pipes up on their ends and spray them with the silver spray paint. Do two or three light coats of paint on each pipe. Spray the end caps as well.
Now attach the hanging hooks onto the pipes, the hooks can be positioned either between the last holes and the ends of the pipes or in the centre of the outer two holes on each pipe as is done in this case. Drill a small pilot hole for each hook and then screw them into the pipe.
Line up the holes on the bottom of the top pipe with the top of the bottom pipe so that the wire rope hangs straight down from the top pipe to the bottom pipe. Also ensure that the holes are all drilled in line on with the planter holes so that they hang with the plants facing directly upwards.
Next you can cut the wire ropes, this can be done to suit the area you are hanging your planters. Measure the required distance and allow about 100mm (4″) extra so that there is additional wire rope to make the end loops. Make them in pairs and check them against each other to make sure that the pairs are exactly the same length or your planters wont hang level.
Finally, fill the pipes with soil and install the end caps. If your end caps fit snugly then you can just push them on. If you are going to be using the planters indoors or your end caps are loose then you’ll need to glue them on. PVC cement is best to glue them on, make sure that the PVC cement goes directly onto the plastic and not over the silver paint.
Open all of the carabiner clips and slip the wire ropes into them. Your planters are now ready to be hung up on the wall or window frame. If you’re installing them outdoors then you may want to drill a small hole into the bottom on each end to allow the excess water to drain. If you need to drill into tiles to mount hooks to hang the planters in your kitchen, read our guide on drilling holes into tiles first.
Plant your plants into the hanging planters and you’re done.
Have you tried making these or similar planters? Let us know in the comments section below.
This post is adapted from Hanging Garden by begallogly01 and is used under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-SA.
We all get excited for summer, we can start planning road trips and family vacations. Along with it, however, comes the dreaded chores of organising and packing. Here are a few life hacks that will help you with the not so fun travel times.
Keep and old cell phone in your cars glove box in case of emergencies, you’ll be grateful one day when you need it. Even better would be to keep it with a charger or power bank.
If you’ve discovered the magic of baths and bath bombs then you’ve probably discovered they can also be quite expensive! It may be time to start making your own. They also make a lovely gift, place a couple on a homemade mini pallet coaster and wrap it up in cellophane for a thoughtful and inexpensive homemade gift. You could also pair them up with our homemade exfoliating coffee and brown sugar body scrub.
Making bath bombs is actually a super easy process! There are definitely some possible pit falls along the way, but we’ll guide you through the process and let you know when you need to do things a certain way. This moisturizing recipe is extra easy to make because we’re using more oil than water.
This bath bomb recipe produces a slightly fizzy and super moisturizing soak for your bath water!
Food Coloring (2-5 drops, depending on how intense you want the color!) – Buy Now
Important note regarding essential oils: oils like clove, cinnamon, tea tree, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and peppermint can cause a burning sensation and a red rash if you use too much. (Especially if you have sensitive skin) On the upside, these oils also smell VERY strongly, so you don’t have to use as much.
This recipe will make roughly 20 oz worth of bath bombs – around 8 bath bombs that weigh between 2 and 3 oz.
How To Make The Bath Bombs
The first thing you want to do it measure out all your dry ingredients into a large bowl. (Baking soda, cornstarch, epsom salts, citric acid. Once you’ve measured them out, mix them together with your whisk for a minute or so. You want all the ingredients to be well incorporated.
Now you’ll want to mix the wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Add in the water, oil, essential oils and food coloring. Mix this together and check the color of the mix – if it looks too light add a little more food coloring if you want!
This is the step where you have to be careful! Pour the wet into the dry, just a little bit at a time. Mix with the whisk immediately to stop any bubbling that may occur. If you let the mix bubble now, you won’t get lots of fizziness when you put the bath bombs in your bath. Keep pouring and mixing until all the wet ingredients are mixed in. Break up any big clumps with the whisk as you go – they may have pockets of color or a certain ingredient inside!
Now we need to test the mix and see if it holds together! Grab a small bit and press it together in your hands. If it sticks together and smoothes out, you have enough moisture! If the mix is dry and crumbly and doesn’t want to stick to itself, you will need to add more water. Add it with a spray bottle if possible. If not, just add small amounts and mix well after.
Use a silicone mold and pack the mix in extremely tightly. Add small amounts to the mold and pack it down with whatever you have around – use an essential oil bottle at first, and then a measuring cup to really push the mix down. If you don’t compact the bath bomb mix enough at this point, you’ll end up with bombs that crack and crumble when you release them from the mold.
Once your bath bombs are packed into the molds, you need to let them dry completely. For best results, let them sit overnight.
When the bath bombs are still soft, you’ll be able to apply pressure with your finger and feel it sink in a bit. When the bombs are completely dry they’ll be hard as a rock!
Once they’re dry, gently push them out of the molds.
Make sure to store your bath bombs away from moisture in an air tight container for best results.
