A Plate or Tray
Glue or Epoxy
Scissors
Old CD's
I have not got round to grouting mine yet but I think even without it is a beautiful try.
I had a lovely stainless steel serving tray that was severely scratched and a little chipped. The edges were surprisingly intact so I realised it would be perfect for a mosaic. Lacking in tiles (or brightly coloured ones) and refusing to make a paper mosaic I found myself staring at the old stack of CDs. You Will Need: A Plate or Tray Glue or Epoxy Scissors Old CD's The hardest part of this, is cutting the CD's. The damn things just crack and shatter constantly so you have to be very careful. If you have newer CD's and DVD's you can fold them in half and they will separate into a clear plastic layer and a shiny layer. This shiny layer is 100x easier to cut so I did this with a few of the newer ones. Try to use a range of CD's, some are silvery, others purpley or blue. This will give the mosaic more depth. Make sure you cut plenty of shapes, thin triangles, squat triangles, small and large squares and rectangles. You will probably end up trimming some pieces just to make them fit anyway. After you have a large pile of CD trimmings (and probably sore fingers and lots of rage) the fun part begins! Take your first piece and glue it to the centre. Then start to arrange other pieces around it, leaving a small gap between them. Take care not to use too much glue as you want to leave space for grout. Try to randomize the colours and shapes.
I have not got round to grouting mine yet but I think even without it is a beautiful try.
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I like having parties for no excuse, and yet with the 20 month mark fast approaching I had not had a single kids party! Can you imagine? Partly it was fear that I couldn't keep a hoarde of children entertained (we've already established that D is a strange child, what is all the other kids find me boring??) Needless to say my worries were not grounded, kids love me and my silly games. So here we have a simple game guaranteed to keep kids (tested on 1-6 year olds) amused for 30-60 mins. And even better, made with objects around the house - recycling at its best. You Will Need: Cardboard Box Scissors / Scalpel Glue Paint Fabric Scraps Rice Optional: Ribbon Marker Pen Paper
So here we have a Lollipop All in One nappy (AIO) which happens to be one of my favorite nappies. The only problem is that it is completely flat. Anything that's not a prefold or a terry shouldn't be flat. The elastic on each leg gusset and on the back has completely gone, meaning this nappy is like a colander. However this can be fixed, easily in fact. In less than half an hour and with a needle and thread. You will need: Needle and Thread Scissors Tape 1 cm or thinner elastic (1 foot will easily do one nappy) Something long and thin (crotchet hook or skewer) First locate the gusset, and find the very edge of the seam on both sides. About one centimeter from the edge (where it connects to the rest of the nappy) make a horizontal cut. Imagine the seam as a tube and you are making a cut into it, to get inside. Be careful not to cut into the stitches on either side, or to cut straight through. Take your thin, pointy thing (I used a size 3 crotchet hook but a kebab skewer or knitting needle would work great) and push it through the first hole. Pass the stick the entire length on the seam until it comes out the second hole. Take a little piece of tape and stick the end of your elastic to the stick. Pull the stick out of the seam, threading the elastic through the hole in the process. Remove tape. You should now have the new elastic threaded through the gusset. Some nappies will have this style of knicker elastic already in them. With this method it is fine to ignore it and just insert your new elastic. However, nappies like Lollipop, particularly some of the older ones have a very small elastic thread which is stitched into the seam, so the typical methods of removing or tightening elastic will not work. Pull the long end of the elastic so that only 1-2 centimeters are visible. Thread the needle and push through the bottom of the elastic and through the top layer of the gusset. Repeat this several times, attaching the elastic to the top layer of the gusset. This ensures you will not accidentally puncture the PUL. Tuck the spare end of the elastic into the opposite end of the hole. Stitch the hole together. This can be messy as no one will see. You can see my war wound here where I accidentally stabbed myself. Below you can see the new elasticated gusset (top) and the old flat one (bottom) you can see already that the new elastic is pulling the nappy into the shape it should be and it no longer lies flat. We repeated the above steps and here we have two fully elasticated gussets. After finishing the second one, I realized I had done the first one looser than I wanted. If this is the case you can make a second cut into the seam, 1 cm inwards and pull the elastic out until correct tension is achieved. Then stitch the elastic to top later and tuck the remaining into opposite side. Lastly the back of the nappy had lost its elastic. Here you have to feel for the edge of the previous elastic, it will feel like a small bump usually an inch or two from the fastenings. Make two cuts in the same manner as on the gusset, although take care not to cut right round or your cut will be visible from the outside. Thread the elastic through. Stitch as with the gussets (I tried to keep the stitches a bit neater here). So now for the finished product! On the right we have the original, nappy with dead elastic. On the left we have the brand new elastic! Now this old nappy will never win a beauty contest, but it works wonders for night times and it really would have been a shame to bin it. The whole idea of cloth nappies is to be ecologically friendly, so I think everyone should give repairing elastic a go, its easier than you think! I have a few more nappies to fix so if you want a video or skype to show you the ins and outs drop me a message, and if not, post me your nappies with a paid postage bag, I'll fix em up and post them back!
So I've noticed there seems to be an idea about that reusable nappies (and for that matter sanitary pads) are gross or some kind of hippy craze. Now I've been thinking about reusable nappies and sanitary pads for a while now, and wondered where this strange idea comes from. The reason I did not jump in the deep end with reusable nappies with D was because he was my first child and I was a bit scared of giving myself extra work. But on the advice of friends and some research I am ready to take the plunge. The main motivation for me to use reusable nappies was split equally between saving money and being green. I don't like that my wheelie bin seems half full of horrid plasticy nappies. "{For every year a child is in nappies} he or she will need nearly 2000 nappy changes. With potty training at an average of two and half years, that is nearly 5000 nappies per child!" Real Nappies Now the average might be 2 and a half now, but I know PLENTY of people who are toilet training into the 3's and 4's. Now my disposable nappies cost around 10p per nappy, but if your a pampers fanatic, a set of size 6's can cost you up to 24p per nappy! And don't even speak to me about the extortionate price of pull ups! Now I have more. It's gentler on the skin for baby. You can get hellah cute ones. Its also easier for the baby to recognise the wet feeling, which is good for potty training. And I'll admit, slight bragging rights at the mums group. "Oh you make your own babyfood? So do I, I find its better for the terry nappies. BAM" I'm such a child. D is now 18 months so it might seem counterintuative to make the dive into reusables now. But I plan on having more children so it can easily be an investment. Its better for our toilet training, particularly at nursery where he cant just go sans pants and dive for the potty. As well as feeling wet the cloth nappies feel different, like big boy pants. . . . . . But what about the poo? Some people might not be happy about chucking a turd in their washing machine (particularly mothers of banana addicted toddlers like me - those things are like bricks!) You will be happy to know that nappy liners exist. These are like rolls of large, dry wet wipes which are degradable in toilets. The idea is you place them inside the nappy and whip them and the offending poo out in one. It can then either be flushed or nappy bagged and binned. So what kind of nappies am I going for? Well although I did like the look of pre-fold and the terry ones, they just did not seem conductive to a wiggling toddler, and the two part ones might have been a problem for quick de-nappying for potty training. So I went for the two in one style. (see below) If like me you want to give it a try without jumping too far out of your comfort zone these are the way to go (or the all in one). Basically they are like a fabric version of the disposable nappy with either Velcro or press studs. They have a built in water proof / resistant layer and usually a pocket inside to insert additional fabric pads to boost absorbency. Now, some cloth nappies can be £20 each! And that is just not for me. I am at heart a skinflint. While many cloth nappy advocates insist on having a variety of brands, the only reason I am doing this is because I am buying one or two nappies a week when they are on sale or come up on preloved.
However I can happily say, the winner for me is Little Bloom. From as little as £3 a nappy, in gorgeous prints, and with a choice of press studs or velcro they just seem too good to be true! They feel thick, good quality, wash well and their inserts are thick microfibre. And while I'm washing nappies, why not wash sani pads too? Seems logical? So soon I will be posting a tutorial on how to make inserts for cloth nappies and how to make reusable sani pads (theyre basically the same thing). And how to care for them and the cloth nappies. I'm also making plans in my head to make pull up underpants for D with a pocket for a microfibre cloth (for accidents) to move onto when we're done with the nappies. |
Daily QuailQuailpower has worked as a Chef, Baker, Manager and is a classically trained Fine Artist. Currently battling with disability which has left her with reduced mobility. Unperturbed she carries on turning her hand to every skill she can get hold of, juggling being a new mum and soon to be attempting a degree in microbiology. Categories
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