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!
If you're like me, nothing is better than a hoodie. Its the perfect throw on layer when you're running about in and around the house. One of the few women's clothes with copious pockets and is not restrictive. The problem is; in a big, baggy hoodie you tend to look . . . big and baggy. Particularly if like me you have large boobage, you get the boob-curtain effect, where the clothes hang off the boobs straight down and make the wearer look fat. A baggy hoodie rather than looking sporty says, cant be arsed wearing real clothes today. So I went on a mission to trim all my baggy hoodies into a more slim fit, sporty style. As you can see, I didn't want to loose too much of the loose, comfy fit but did want a more feminine silhouette. You Will Need: Hoodie Sewing Machine Similar Colour Thread Pen Scissors Here's my super easy template for trimming hoodies. Firstly measure your waist (the central blue line in the picture). You will want to add 2-3 inches to your waist measurement to allow for layers. Take note of this. The red lines are where you will cut. I have put the measurements for myself in brackets to make it easier to understand.
I have to offer a big thank you to Asia over at Fun At Home With The Kids. She invented this recipe in her endless quest for easy, fun, creative activities for parents to do with kids - which is preaching to my choir!
I love nothing more than getting messy with my little monster, watching him learn and experiment with paints really inspires me and I hope he gets as much pleasure embracing his creative side as I do. So, No Bake, Edible, Gluten Free Playdough. Playdough is awkward at the best of times, and D shares my problem of wanting to shove everything he sees in his mouth (even if its only once). This recipe is sooo much easier to make and tastes nice compared to the salty home made playdough we're used to. 1 cup Baby Rice Cereal (ground rice) 3 tbs Vegetable oil 1 cup Cornflour (gluten free if you need it) 1/2 cup Fruit Purée or Juice Food Colouring Asia's recipe called for apple juice or water, but ive found that any fruit purée works, and a juice works better than water in that it tastes nicer. I use the little pots of baby fruit mush if I'm feeling lazy. Combine the dry ingredients, making sure they are well mixed. Then add the vegetable oil and purée / juice. Mix enthusiastically for several minutes. If mixture appears too sticky add a sprinkle of Baby Rice and mix again. If mix is crumbly, lightly wet hands under the tap and continue working dough, this will lightly moisten it. Repeat until dough is that typically playdough texture. This mix will keep for approx 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge, although please bin if it gets all yucky from a trip rolling round the floor or is mouthed (you dont know what germy things you could accidentally grow!) So, we've all been there. You bake a cake and lo and behold its rising like a mountain in the centre and less than two inches high round the sides. It doesn't matter how tasty it is, it looks embarasing. So you end up making the recipe again, cutting both cakes down and making and sandwich cake an hoping no one notices. Up until a few weeks ago this was a serious problem for me. Every cake I was cursed to come across ended up in this deformed state. I just couldn't understand how chefs got those perfectly level cakes. So I did my research and found out the reason for it was the outside of cakes cooking to fast. To combat this I've come up with my pre-cake ritual. Now any one of these things could be stopping the cake deforming or it could be all of them together. But If I had to bet money, Id say number one was the key feature. 1. Turn Your Oven Down. Why? Well oven thermostats aren't that accurate, so your oven could be out by 20*. Which is quite a lot when it comes to the delicate art of baking. Another reason to turn down, is that most recipes are quite old and so therefore would naturally be cooked in regular ovens, not the hotter fan assisted ones.
So. I turn my oven down about 30* less than what the recipe recommends. If it says cook at 180, cook at 150. This will increase the cooking time and nothing else, so keep pricking your cake with a skewer to check doneness. If I don't really have anything to do that day, I turn my oven all the way down to 100. This takes an age to cook the cake but it comes out beautifully flat and also risen very high. 2. Wrap Your Pan. Why? Most baking pans are thin and therefore get very hot around the edges, this cooks your cakes from the outside which isn't what we want. I make a band of tinfoil, as high as the pan and wrap it around the outside, like a ribbon around a cake. This should insulate the pan and make sure the cake doesn't cook too fast on the outside. 3. Smack Your Pan. Why? I'm not too sure about this one, but my grandmother swears it helps stop the cake rising in the centre. All I can think of is that by hitting the pan on the counter a few times, you even out the mixture and get rid of any high bits. 4. Dig A Hole. Why? Ok this appeals to my stupid side. If the cake rises in the centre then if there is less batter in the centre it should rise equally. So using my spoon I create an indent in the centre of the batter. I don't actually know if this helps but it makes me feel proactive. |
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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