FUN/DIY Archives • Page 11 of 50 • New Nostalgia

Books/ Sponsored

She Makes Hats + Book Giveaway!

My name is Robyn, and I make hats. I make hats on repeat, at least one hat-in-progress always on my knitting needles, piles of finished hats on our desk, our dining room table, and in bins waiting to be donated. Almost every hat I make is given away to someone in need, with the remaining few given to friends and family. It’s a compulsion, some might even say an obsession – I simply keep knitting.

I started knitting hats in earnest back in 2009. Newly married and looking for a new challenge, I decided to knit 100 hats for 100 people in one year, using 100 different patterns. That project, completed on September 1, 2010, changed my life.

Since 2010, I’ve made close to 700 more hats, working slowly but surely towards my goal to make 10,000 hats in my lifetime!

I started blogging at She Makes Hats around the same time I began the One Hundred Hats project. What started as a way to keep track of the hats I was making has blossomed into a website dedicated to not only sharing the hats I’m making, but also a space to encourage folks to knit more hats and give them away. I share hat patterns, charities that accept finished hats, and share some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way.

People often ask me, why hats? The short answer is hats are simple — they take just one skein of yarn, can be carried with you wherever you go, and don’t need any special measurements.

Most people’s heads fall under one of three or four sizes (baby, child, smaller adult, larger adult) so you can be fairly certain the hat you’ve made will fit one of these four sizes of person depending on the number of stitches on your needle.

Hats can do quite a bit to keep a person warm. Little babies have a hard time regulating their temperature, so a hat can mean the difference between health and sickness. For folks living on the street, a hat can help stave off sickness in the coldest of temperatures. Naval ships run cold so a hat can help keep soldiers warm while on and off duty. For folks dealing with a wide variety of illnesses, a hat can not only help keep them warm through treatments, but can be a reminder that they are still seen and valued as more than their diagnosis.

I’m excited to share my first book, She Makes Hats with the New Nostalgia community! A short collection of stories, She Makes Hats tells the longer version of how I became a knitter, then a hat
knitter, then a wife and mother. I share some of my favorite hat-making stories with the hope that I can encourage more folks to cast on a hat they plan to give away!

To celebrate my book, I’m giving away two copies to New Nostalgia readers, with a bunch of ways to enter to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you would rather not wait and want to purchase my book now, buy She Makes Hats here on Amazon, in print or Kindle form.

DIY/Crafts/ FUN/DIY/ Gardening

How To Make A Fairy Garden

This fairy garden was one of the most fun projects I have done with my girl. We did it about a year ago, and she is already asking if we are far enough into spring to make another one!

She is already getting creative and finding things around the house to put into this year’s fairy garden. My Avery doesn’t really believe in fairies, (she wanted to make sure I let you all know that) {grin} but it is very fun and magical to pretend. I loved that this project gave me precious time with my girl, as took a little planning & a fun date to buy plants. I also loved teaching her a bit about gardening.

We started looking online for some different ideas for a fairy garden. Now, this is where perfectionist might set in. There are some amazing miniature gardens and fairy gardens online, so use them for inspiration, but don’t allow yourself to get intimidated.

I challenged Avery to get creative and told her I only wanted to spend money on planting soil and plants. The rest needed to be created by her. She did such a great job, and even though a couple things she made were not weather proof–paper and stickers– they lasted a long time and was not a big deal to remove once they were spent.

I also gave her lots of freedom to make the project her own, and encouraged her to get her hands dirty and do most if it all by herself.

We bought plants that would add texture. A tall fern-like plant that added height & movement when the wind blew, a mossy type low-growing ground cover that would spread and fill in, a medium height plant whose leaves had a soft, white fuzz on them, and a few flowers for color.

Avery made a fairy house out of Lincoln logs and covered the plastic roof piece with fun patterned duck tape. She made a mushroom and lady bug out of clay and painted it, and a few stones out of clay which she sprinkled with glitter for a bit of fairy dust sparkle. She also broke some wooden coffee stirrer sticks and colored them with marker to make a fence.

She placed her larger items first, and made a path with rocks and sparkly clay stones. She added the low-growing ground cover type plant.

She then added the tall plant for added height toward the back by the fairy house.

She then filled in with the flowers.

She added the coffee-stirrer stick fence along the rock path. By the way…fairies don’t need a door according to Avery.

Avery was very proud of her creation. We kept it on our front porch in plain view so we could enjoy it and so Avery would be reminded to water it. It was great fun to watch it grow and see the plants spread out and fill in.

How To Build A Fairy Garden

~1 large container with drainage holes in the bottom

~rocks or gravel to put in the bottom of container for drainage

~potting soil

~a fairy house (get creative–a small birdhouse would work, or glue wooden blocks together)

~decorations that are waterproof and sparkly!

~wooden sticks to make a fence

~stones

~glitter

~plants (one tall, one medium, one low growing, some flowers. Make sure they are all annuals & take the same amount of sunlight)

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1. Put gravel or rocks in the bottom of container.

2. Add potting soil.

3. Add fairy house

4. Make a path with rocks

5. Add low growing plant

6. Add tall growing plant toward the back of container.

7. Add medium plant and flowers.

8. Made a gate with the sticks

9. Add the rest of decor

10. Sprinkle with fairy dust.. aka glitter

11. Water

(and Avery :))

Holidays/Parties/ Homemade Gifts/ RECIPES

Easiest Chocolate Covered Strawberries

{source}

One of my most popular posts here at New Nostalgia is How to Hull a Strawberry Using a Straw. In that post I asked for readers to share their favorite way to eat strawberries, and I got one of the best tips for making the Easiest Chocolate Covered Strawberries from a sweet reader.

Ilyana sent an email and told me that she makes Chocolate Covered Strawberries by melting Dove chocolates. She said “these are the best chocolate covered strawberries I have ever tasted and friends and family agree. They’re a fav.”

Easiest Chocolate Covered Strawberries

(a no recipe, recipe)

1. Wash and FULLY DRY berries before dipping.

2. Bring the berries to room temperature

3. Unwrap a bag of Dove milk chocolates and place in a quart Pyrex measure cup.

4. Melt in the microwave about 10 seconds at a time, stirring each time until melted. It melts pretty quickly and stays melted long enough to dip at least a large cookie sheet of large berries.

5. Place on wax paper covered cookie sheet then into the fridge to set.

Yum! (or in Ilyana’s words–Crazy Good!)

————

Tips:

~Do not get even a drop of water in the chocolate or it will seize up.

~Keep the green stems on and use them to hold on to the strawberry while dipping. The green makes for a very pretty strawberry.

~When dipping, turn the strawberry into a circle, until the entire bottom is covered.

~You can also use this recipe to dip graham crackers, bananas or pretzels.

~This would also be a great Valentines Day recipe.

————-

I am going to make these this weekend for Easter as a family treat. We are going to go to our Saturday evening church service, which is a first for our family. We are going on Saturday to avoid Sunday morning crowds and have time to drive an hour on Sunday to be with extended family. I thought Chocolate Covered Strawberries would be the perfect Easter treat to come home to.

FUN/DIY/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Organizing/ Simplifying

9 Ways To Use Jars To Spring Organize And Spring Clean

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Cooking Light and Real Simple, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #FreshandFab http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

If you have been reading New Nostalgia, then you know I have a love affair with mason jars. Why do I love them? So many reasons!

~They come in many sizes

~They are inexpensive

~They are not plastic

~They are simplistic in design

~They are glass, which does not keep me guessing on what and how much is inside of them!

~They have a gazillion different uses!

I think the understated mason jar is just perfect, and are the perfect example of something from yesterday that can simplify today, which goes right along with the title of this blog, New Nostalgia.

I was recently super inspired by Real Simple magazine & a picture I saw in it. They used my beloved mason jars to organize, but made them even better by using chalkboard stick-on labels. I think the nostalgia of chalk goes great with the nostalgia of mason jars, and together they make such an appealing look! Those labels would be the perfect purchase to keep my motivation up to organize, which is perfect as spring is coming and I have got the urge to get everything in its place and spring clean!

Are you a fan of Real Simple magazine? How about Cooking Light magazine? They are 2 of my personal favorite magazines, and right now if you buy the April issues of both magazines at Target, you will receive a $5.00 Target gift card from the cashier while supplies last. I got mine and I was giddy excited to get home, relax and read my new magazines!

Here are 9 ways that I’m already using mason jars to make life a bit more simple & organized:

1. Use them as drinking glasses.This Iced Tangerine Mint Green Tea look so beautiful in them! I also love just simple lemon water in them, and I use them almost daily for green smoothies!

2. Store craft supplies.

Mason jars are great for storing craft supplies, especially DIY Scented Gel Paints! I like to use the small size jars to round up small craft supplies –like googly eyes and buttons.

3. Use for DIY gifting.

Jars are the perfect container for a large batch of DIY homemade gifts. They keep great in storage to grab and gift when in need! I love having this Peppermint Stick Hot Cocoa Mix on hand during the holiday months.

4. Use to store leftover foods.

I personally despise stained plastic containers, and REALLY do not like searching for the right lid for the container! If you use mason jars, there are only 2 lid sizes. I throw all my lids and rings for the lids in a big bowl for storage. No more stained plastic. No more searching for the right lid.

5. Use for food storage in the pantry.

I love the look of jars in the pantry. Small jars are great for herbs. Larger jars are great for grains. They stack nicely and look so pretty!

6. Use for food storage in the freezer.I use jars to freeze leftovers or my some of my favorite large-batch recipes, like this Strawberry Freezer Jam or my favorite Pepper Onion Relish. The smaller pint size jars are great for stacking and fitting a lot of food in a small freezer.

7. Use them to organize your healthy eating and motivate you to eat more plants!

Turn your refrigerator into a work of art where you family will want to come, snack on a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, and get excited about it! I don’t know about you, but when my veggies are prepped and staring at me through the glass of the jar, it makes me grab and eat! Jars also make your veggies super portable. On the go in a rush? Grab a jar and go!

8. Use for utensil storage.

I love keeping my wooden clips in a mason jar. I also keep straws in open jars to grab quick for smoothies.

9. Organize your salad ingredients.

Use them to create an at-home salad bar that stays fresh and beautiful for days in the refrigerator! You can easily put a ready-to-eat layered salad in a jar that will keep for days — just make sure you put the salad dressing at the bottom. When I have all my salad toppings in jars and ready to go, it makes my goal of eating a big, leafy green salad at least once a day very do-able. Don’t forget to grab the jars of slivered nuts, dried cranberries & sesame sticks in the pantry to sprinkle on top and make your salad on to look forward to!

_________

I hope these images of beautiful magazines and beautiful jars motivate you to do some of your own spring organizing and cleaning. Remember to spring clean your bodies by eating good foods, too!

Don’t forget to grab your April copies of Cooking Light and Real Simple, and your free $5.00 gift card.

Happy Spring!

{Don’t forget to Pin It!}

DIY/Crafts/ FUN/DIY/ HOME/ Organizing/ Sponsored

DIY Glittered Glass With Glittered Duck Brand® Tape

This post brought to you by Duck Brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’m so excited to share this easy DIY Glittered Glass project with you! I’m all about organization, simple beauty, and being frugal, and this project envelopes all three of those things with the help of Duck Brand Craft Tapes .

I’m a girl who loves sparkle, but the mess of glitter projects make me cringe! Thanks to Duck Brand® Glitter tape, I now can have my sparkle without the mess. Duck Brand® Glitter Crafting Tapes give a cool glitter effect without flaking! There is no paper backing to mess with as it is self-adhesive just like all of the Duck Brand® crafting tapes. It comes in fun bright colors – Pink, Aqua, Silver, and Red.

I chose the silver and aqua for my crafting project to match the colors of my bedroom. The aqua is actually a soft blue. I needed extra storage for my beauty items that I wanted on hand and ready to grab. I am using my glittered glass containers to hold cotton swabs, fingernail files and my hand lotion, and one to add a touch of green plant beauty.

At the other end of my dresser, I used a glittered glass vase to hold a candle. The candlelight reflection makes the glitter tape come alive when lit, which is really beautiful!

Here is all you need to make your own Glittered Glass with Duck Brand Craft Tapes.

~Miscellaneous glass containers

~Duck Brand® Glitter Crafting Tape

~Scissors

~Crafting knife

~Craft Cutting Board

I used the round shape of the Duck Brand® Glitter Tape as a stencil for my half moon shapes. I love anything with a curve!

I simply stuck the tape to the cutting craft board and used the craft knife to cut squares, strips and triangles.

Then the fun part! I stuck the shapes onto the glass containers, some random, some layered. When you are working with sparkles you really just cannot go wrong! Use your imagination and get creative with your shapes! Get the kids involved and let them help you stick the tape on.

_______

If you love crafting tape as much as I do, make sure to check out the other types of tape from Duck Brand®. The have Fabric Crafting Tapes, Prism Crafting Tapes and Washi Crafting Tapes! They can be used for so many things, from labeling to scrapbooking to home accents–creativity is never stifled by the Duck!

For tons more crafting inspiration, make sure you follow Duck Brand® Tape on Twitter at @DuckTape.

Beauty/ FAMILY/ HEALTH/ Marriage/ Natural Products

16 Easy Ways To Get Ready For A Hot Date

I have a hot date with my man tonight. He asked me out via email this week which was pretty cute.

We are going out to dinner. I am not sure where yet. We have a few gift certificates to chose from thanks to my sweet Cali friend Karen and her hubs. When I was sick and healing, they sent the most amazing love gift through the mail to our family. It was a stack of gift cards, some to use as a family, some to use just for Todd and I. It was an amazing gift and it has been so fun using them!

I have the afternoon free, and I thought it would be fun after a busy work week to just spend some time on me! I want to look nice for my sweet husband, and I love a chance to get dolled up. I am a licensed cosmetologist and have not worked in the field for over 13 years, but that doesn’t keep me from wanting to use my skills every once in awhile!

Here are some of the things I am planning on doing. I got all of the ideas from my Beauty Tips & Inspiration Boards at Pinterest. The first few have been shared here at New Nostalgia, and the rest of them are great ideas found on Pinterest. All links lead you to the pin, then the link. Make sure to repin if you are interested, and if you love them, follow the board!

You don’t have to be a professional to do any of these things, and many of them I do on a regular basis–like the 2 ingredient lemon scrub.

So here is what I plan on doing this afternoon:

(1) I will wash my face using the oil cleansing method, but first I will use my (2) 2 ingredient lemon scrub. While that is on I will get out my go-to coconut oil and put it to work by putting it in my dry hair. This is my (3) favorite moisturizing hair treatment using coconut oil.

While that is in, I will get out my blue mouth guard, and (4) whiten teeth for cheap. This works and it has been way too long since I have done it. I am a coffee and tea drinker, so I need to keep up on this to keep my pearly whites.

After I let the coconut oil sit in my hair awhile, before I get in the shower I will quickly (5) dry brush my skin–click through for why. On my way into the shower I will grab my absolute favorite (6) coconut-lime sugar scrub, and use the shaving technique that I rave about in that post. Before turning off the water and exiting the shower, I will use (7) coconut oil as a moisturizer. I quick slather it on, then rinse it off. It is so great to towel off and know my skin is already moisturized and there is no need for lotion. Boom! Big time- saver.

I will get out of the shower, comb and dry my hair, and (8) try this braided half-up half-down tutorial. I want to (9) bobby pins that are brought to life with nail polish, for a bit of fun color and sparkle. If the braided tutorial bombs, will fall back on my favorite (10) tutorial for a messy bun.

I’m going to (11) darken my eyebrows, I could not believe the before and after pics on the tutorial. I will use an eyebrow pencil, not dye.

I plan on wearing skinny jeans with heels, but if they are dirty–I’m so behind in laundry right now– I might try out this (12) tip for tucking non-skinny jeans into boots. I have a pair of high heeled boots that I save for date nights.

I want to try and (13) tie my scarf like this, I have a grey sparkly, striped scarf that I think would work well. If I resort to the messy bun, I may ditch the neck (14) scarf and tie one around my bun like this.

I will (15) layer on my rings to pack a punch and (16) layer on bracelets for a bit of sparkle. I have these in black & grey.

It sound like a lot, but I’m pretty good at getting ready fast, so it shouldn’t take too long. Even if it does, we ladies need to spend some time for ourselves, and this is one way I like to do that!

What are your favorite ways to get ready for a date?
What are your favorite beauty tips?

FUN/DIY/ HOME/ Homemaking/ Sponsored

Streaming Music From Your Showerhead

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kohler Co. for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I thought there was nothing better than a great showerhead with a steady stream of hot water, until I found out about a shower head that streams both water and music!

Meet Moxie. Cute name, right?

It is the new, brilliant, music -streaming shower head from Kohler.

KOHLER Moxie is a shower head + wireless speaker that will give you a new way to sing in the shower. Sync a streaming source enabled with Bluetooth technology of your choice (my choice is my iphone, my daughter’s choice is her Kindle Fire) with the wireless speaker from up to 32 feet away.
Streaming your music playlist is just the beginning! You can stream audio books, podcasts, live news…whatever you are in the mood for.

The speaker offers up to 7 hours of battery life before needing to be recharged. It pops right out of the showerhead to recharge.

Here is the cool thing. Not only can you use it in the shower, but you can also use it as a wireless speaker. You can take it poolside, slip it in your car drink holder, or just take it out in your backyard as a way to provide music for all to enjoy.

My youngest girl takes it to the art desk with her to listen to an audio book as she creates. I take it into the laundry room with me to listen to my Daily Audio Bible app while folding laundry. I also use it while I take a bath, keeping it tucked into the shower head so I no longer have to worry about dropping my iphone into the tub!

I’ve used it to play romantic music in the bedroom; I’ve put zen music on while doing yoga –the possibilities are endless.

I must say, my favorite way to use it is in the shower. There is nothing like listening to Viva La Vida by Coldplay to wake up in the morning while showering. I plan on playing a few practical jokes with it, too. Since you can stream from up to 32 feet away, I will stand outside the bathroom door and sync Madesa’s ‘Good Morning’ song when a grumpy someone is needing a little morning pick-me-up. I’m sure it will make them jump out of their skin!

I am super impressed with the sound quality of the speaker, and Kohler certainly did not compromise quality in the sprayface feature. The spray is perfection. Installation is a breeze.

My middle daughter likes to take long showers, so I plan on using the shower head as a sort of timer for her, reminding her that 3-4 songs should be long enough. My youngest daughter takes the worlds fastest showers, so to make sure she stays in there long enought to smell good when she comes out, she has to stay in there for at least 3 songs.

The cute factor does not end with its cute Moxie name. The colors you can choose from are Chartreuse, Navy Blue, Cherry Red, Retro Blue and Original White. I prefer Original white to match my simple grey and white bathroom. My daughter went bananas over the Retro Blue.

Make sure you follow KOHLER on Facebook and on Twitter to see how others are using it, and learn little fun tidbits of information–like the fact that KOHLER Moxie was inside this year’s Grammy gift bags!

What do you think?
What color would you choose?
What would be your songs of choice for the shower?
Would you use the speak outside of the shower? How?

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