The best thing to happen to my patio since my Pod chair! Outdoor recliners!

My new outdoor recliners I found at Ross for $99 each. Haven't sat anywhere else since we brought them home. If you don't own one of these things and love sitting on your patio, they are well worth a look! Holy cow they are comfortable, but look like regular patio chairs when not in use, and no ottoman to trip over.

Those are my DIY outdoor pillows on them...that post is here DIY outdoor pillows

My furry bench :). Converted from a rolled arm piece.

Or how to convert an ugly, stained rolled-arm bench to a funky, furry wow piece.

So this is another Pinterest inspiration. If you look at my boards you'll see where I pinned a furry bench and posted how it inspired me to finally update my gross, old, stained rolled-arm bench from my attic. I showed it to my daughter because I thought it would look awesome in her room and she was sold. Both funky and fun.

First stop was the attic to get the old bench down.  You can't see the gross stains in this pic, but trust me they are there.

Then to the fabric store to get the fur. Luckily my first stop was Joann's, and they had what I needed. With my 40% off coupon, it was a whopping $7.20 to do this whole project.

Now we both agreed that the rolled arms had to go, so that is the only reason this project took very long. Normally you just staple the fabric on and done. But I had to figure out how to get the rolled arms off.

I started by pulling off the fabric on the arms.

Low and behold the rolled-arm form was simply stapled onto the main frame of the bench.

So after removing the six staples on each side they simply came off.

There was a lot of fabric and foam removal as well, because I needed to use it for patch work. When the rolled arms came off, they left a hole at each end that needed to be stabilized and covered to match the rest of the bench.

Luckily a piece of wood from the arm fit in the hole to support a piece of seat-cover wood. Using a few nails on each side I was able to stabilize the piece of wood to use as support. For the seat cover portion I had a couple of pieces of flat plastic I cut to fit and nailed in from the top on each end. Simple enough.

Now I had to pad the two ends to blend with the rest of the bench. Using the foam from the arms, I folded them over twice and stapled it on.

I then used the scrap fabric to cover the foam so the whole piece felt the same end to end. The white fur is slightly transparent, so I didn't want the color behind the fabric to be different anywhere and potentially show through.

And then the easy part. Cover the bench in the fabric. Staple underneath side to side to keep it tight as you move to the end and corners. Then trim the excess fabric and done. Step back and be wowed by your ridiculously cute bench!

Ok well vaccum first because when you cut this fur it sheds like a cat :)

Happy reinventing your old piece!

Fixing broken or cracked makeup

I pinned this idea the other day, and I tried it with a broken powder compact I had. It worked, and I realized I never posted the results.

First I took the broken powder and poured all the contents onto a piece of paper so I could clean up the case. This thing was a mess and making a mess in my makeup basket.

After cleaning it up with my powder brush...

I used the paper to help pour the broken powder back into the compact.

Next I poured in a little rubbing alcohol (just enough to make it a paste).

 I stirred and pounced the mixture with the bottom of a makeup brush to make it an even consistency.

I let it sit overnight and voila, fixed powder. I was shocked at how well it worked! And so simple.

So glad it turned out. Thank you Pinterest!

Stop your mattress and bed skirt from sliding

I recently moved my daughters from their twin loft beds to full size beds with regular frames and headboards. We've never owned smaller beds that weren't against the wall, so we found out the hard way that they shift and slide if you lean on the sides. It was driving me CRAZY. Lean across the bed to grab a pillow and it slides. Walk around the side to push it back and the bed skirt slides up with the mattress. Then you have to pull the bedskirt down. After the second or third time, it gets old. I knew it was a problem I would have to fix.

Did a little searching on the Internet and found that it is a real problem, and people have lots of solutions for it. Safety pin the bed skirt to the box spring, loosely strap the mattress to the box spring (that one was just odd), use spray adhesive to create tackiness, etc. etc.

One suggestion I actually tried, and it worked so well (easy and cheap) I had to share. Buy the no slip shelf liner at Dollar Tree. I found you need four rolls per bed if you have a bed skirt.

First you take off the mattress and bed skirt, then you lay two of the liners down on top of box springs. They are long so they go almost top to bottom on a full bed. We sort of centered them in each half.

Next put the bed skirt back on, then you lay two more shelf liners in exactly the same spot as the original two (right on top with the bedskirt in between.

Lastly you place the mattress back on top. For this job it's best if you have two people, since you have one shot to get it on there perfectly centered. Remember it's not going to slide anymore :).

And that's it. Just try to bump it with your knee. It won't budge. I'm so thrilled I just had to share my tip of the day :)

I did this with all three full beds we now have, and it worked on all of them. Two are single sided mattresses and one is double-sided (all three slid slightly if you bumped them). So it works on both kinds of beds. I understand some beds now come with gripper fabric on top of the box spring and on bottom of the single-sided mattress, and thats where they got the idea. None of mine did unfortunately, but this is the solution.

I'm going to post photos of the actual bed and steps some day. For now just a photo of the actual product so I can pin it :)

Use nail polish to create a custom iphone case

I've created a monster :). My oldest daughter has inherited my "project" gene :). I came home yesterday from running an errand with my younger daughter, and my older daughter greets me at the door with this:  a custom iphone case she painted with nail polish. I was actually impressed.

It started with a clear case we bought at the dollar store a long time ago. She said she painted it with black nail polish first, then painted a top coat of silver crackle paint. Last was a top coat of clear polish.

I was shocked it looked so good. And now she can touch it up if it chips. My husband just shakes his head and says, great...there's going to be three of you running around here "creating" things :). I never would have thought of it, but to a thirteen year old, this is the best project ever :)