Duct tape flower hairbow

My daughter asked for duct tape for her birthday, and now we are duct tape craft crazy! : ) This is a duct tape flower we made, then taped it to a headband.

You start with a rounded petal (fold the tape over about an inch and leave about 1/2" of tape showing.

Slit it up the middle about half way, then overlap the two parts slightly to make it curve. Trim off the corners to make it look rounded. Make 8 of these.

Then do 8 more slightly smaller. We made them exactly the same, but trimmed them 1/2" all the way around.

Then make 8 "halves" (making two petals out of one piece by cutting it in half first.

You are going to simply stack these four per level (4 large, 4 more large, 4 med, 4 more med, 4 small, 4 more small). centering each layer between the previous petals.

We then cut a small piece of red to cover any white showing in the middle.

For the center, we cut a 4" piece of purple, then cut that longways into 4 strips. We folded those over long ways 1/3, so 1/3 of the sticky was still showing. Finally we rolled and rolled those pieces until it made a tightly wound center. We hot glued that to the middle.

To attach it to a headband or barrette, just use a single piece of tape on the back.

It turned out so cute we'll be making lots of these ; )

Our first duct tape flower pen

My daughter asked for duct tape for her birthday, so after her grandmother took her shopping, she came home with 5 rolls of duct tape to craft with...it was a proud moment for a mother who loves a good project :)

She already had a folded petal pen from a friend, so she decided on the folded corner style.  It is actually a very simple project that doesn't require measuring.

Basically you are going to first wrap the pen with your stem color (start where the cap ends so the tape doesn't bunch up when you put the cap on). You end about an inch from the top. You place it on in one piece lengthwise. 

Just eyeball it, cut it to the length and stick it on around the pen.

To start the petals, use the color(s) of choice, and cut a 2" x 2" piece (basically a square) off the roll. Fold the right corner down at 45 degrees to the center point.

Then repeat for the left corner, and you end up with a pointed end and a sticky end.

Simply wrap the sticky end onto the end of pen.

You will repeat this over and over until you are happy with the size of the flower. For us that was about 30 petals.  To determine the placement of each, just try to stagger the points.  We used two colors and alternated them, so we did three of each color per level, spacing the points evenly on each layer and making sure no two petals overlapped identically.

At the end, wrap the base of the flower with a small piece of the stem color tape to give the transition between the two a more finished look (if needed).

As you can imagine we have a lot of tape now, so I'll be posting a lot of duct tape projects :)

Baby possum :)

Odd post, but I had to share this adorable picture of a baby possum we found in my yard this weekend (it's on the rake...and was not harmed). My husband was mulching the beds this weekend and ran across this tiny thing with no sign of mom or home. Afraid it might get hurt in all the cleaning, tilling and bag throwing, we placed it behind our iron fence (we live on a creek). This just might have been the cutest thing I've ever seen! My daughters were in love :)

My first food post, Veggie omelet (migas)

I'm no food blogger or chef, but seeing as this is a "Jack of all trades" type of site, I thought I'd start to share any recipes I make up that turn out to be really good.

Today it was a veggie omelette (sort of a Migas inspired dish I made for lunch)

2t vegetable oil
1/3 of a red bell pepper, chopped
2T red onion, chopped
2 corn tortillas, cut into small pieces
2 eggs, beaten
2T cheese, shredded
1/2 of a tomato, chopped
2T green onion, chopped
Salt, pepper & cumin (season to taste)

Cook oil, onion and red bell pepper until they start to soften. Add tortillas and stir until they are coated with mixture. Pour in eggs and season with salt pepper and cumin at this point). Just when it's done, top with cheese, then fold in half as you plate it to help the cheese melt. Top with tomatoes and green onion (I combined those together with a little salt and pepper on the cutting board before I put them on top).

This was soooo good I had to share! 

Paint plugs to help them blend in or coordinate

Yes you can paint plug plates (socket and all) if you are unhappy with the finish. I've posted this before, but it was just a shot of this completed plug (since I had finished the project years ago).

I had two plugs left in my kitchen that I hadn't painted, so I tackled them today. I used Rustoleum hammered metal paint. I would recommend spray paint over house paint because it drys harder and bonds better (being oil based vs. latex, and in my case designed for use on metal).

Here is the shot by shot project.

Tape it off (use paper or plastic, to give you about 12 inches of coverage around the socket).

Lightly spray several coats of your preferred color until you are happy with the coverage (drying for 5 minutes in between coats...you don't want the paint to run).

After the last coat I take the tape off so I can correct any possible overspray or drips before it drys. If you taped well, that won't happen of course :)

Here is the side by side comparison before I did the second plug.

Let it cure 48 hours before you use it! This is important as the bonding and drying process takes time.

So now all of my plugs in my kitchen looked like hammered metal instead of black plastic!  Well, not the ones on my tile backspash, but that's a project for another day :)

Best spray painting tool on the market

At the mere mention of the word spray paint, does your index index start to cramp? Have you spray painted something big enough to require you to switch hands several times? Meet your new best friend, fellow DIY'ers...the spray paint handle.

Summer is coming and many of you will be painting patio or wicker furniture soon. It requires spray paint to get all of the nooks and crannies, and there is only one way to do it without cramping your hand and making the pad of your index finger sore for days.

This little piece of plastic converts the trigger of a spray paint can from using one finger to using four. Such a simple solution, but a lot of people I talk to don't know about it.

If you haven't seen this handy tool hanging on the spray paint aisle at Home Depot and Lowes, it's there, and it's a must own for any home improvement tool box.

Here's a link to one at Amazon...just read the reviews. The best part is that it is very inexpensive and will last you forever (I think I've had mine over 10 years).

Spray Paint Trigger Handle

So before you spray paint ever again, go get one! Your pointer finger will thank me for it :)

The best wine bottle opener I've ever owned

I seriously can not believe I have not blogged about this product before now.

I currently own one of these rechargeable wine bottle openers and it's the best thing to hit my bar since I turned 21 (and I have to admit that wasn't recently :).

I have mine plugged in inside my bar and grab it any time I need to open a bottle.

It's so simple and does all of the work for you.
1. Cut the wrapper with the included cutter.
2. Hold opener down on top of the cork and press the down button until the cork comes out of the bottle.
3. Hold the up bottom until the cork come out of the opener.
4 Return it to its charger.There is seriously no work on your part.

I even take it with me to parties where I am bringing wine to drink. Everyone always comments on how easy it is!

Now I see it's only $11 on Amazon! Rechargeable wine bottle opener at Amazon  Well worth the money!

I think I paid $20, but it was worth that.  Here's mine in the cabinet.