New Halloween Ideas - Fun Bag Ideas and Some Cleaning While I Wait

As you know, I have been working super hard on the house and windows the past month or two and I was hoping to finish the windows today.


I got them cleaned, but when I started to teak oil them, the oil was old and was making the siding yellow. I decided to do the rest tomorrow after purchasing some new oil. By that point, the kids were starting to come for trick or treating. 

I still have so much to get done, so I decided to clean the inside windows while I waited between groups of kids. I had already set up the pirate and all the jewelry and candy that I  have been giving out for the last few years and with that, I noticed that the white trim around the door had collected some red dust and it has been about a year since I painted it.  

I decided that I would clean the front porch and wash the trim and both sides of the doors in between the groups of kids rather than the windows. I also was able to sweep the front porch and walk. It was a great use of my time as I usually only had a minute or two before the next group of kids would come. 


Also, I had another fun thing I wanted to share today. One of the last groups that came to the house had the cutest and most functional and creative trick-or-treating bags! 

The mom made the bags out of DUCT or DUCK tape She made them size appropriate for the child and also made them to match the costume of each child. They said I could take pictures and put them on my blog. It was great. She lined the inside and outside of the bag and the entire thing was made entirely out of Duck tape! No worry about those bags ripping and also a fun craft idea for the kids to do before the big night. 

The other thing I wanted to share was one of my last visitors for the night as well. They did something I have never seen before either. She had her kids wear their school backpacks on the front with the straps on the back. 

It gave them easy access treat bags to put the kids candy but they didn't have to drag a bag around. The bags wouldn't rip or break. They had both hands free, it was such a great idea. I can't tell you how many times we had kids get holes in the bag and trails of candy following them. Or, they use a pillowcase but it is so long it dragged. 

I wish I had come up with that idea when my kids were little! She also put glow sticks all over her kids packs, necks, wrists etc so that the kids would also been visible. 

Two great ideas that I thought I would share as I have never seen any of them before. 

This morning I had a little knock at the door which woke me up. I guess my neighbors children compared what they got in their treat bags and one felt sad that he didn't get a watch. They skipped out of the house unnoticed by their mother and came knocking. I thought one of my neighbors was hammering as it was such a soft noise and by the time I realized they were knocking, they were at the corner.

I texted their mom and had her send them back over and they picked up another neighbor on the way and they were thrilled to pick out another three items each. I was glad I didn't clean it up the night before. It was really cute. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Happy Venting 2 - Cleaning Out the Dryer Vent Area on Your Dryer

I mentioned in yesterdays post that my mother got a blanket for Christmas that fell apart in the dryer. I got rid of the blanket but today when I did laundry, I found a shirt of Princess Five's that has been washed several times since it was dried with that blanket, the blanket is gone from my house and when I pulled that shirt out of the dryer today, it was FULL of that lint from that blanket. I have a shirt that it is stuck on as well and I have washed it several times and it won't come off! 

Anyway, if you are going to buy a fluffy feeling blanket for someone, do yourself and them a favor and tug on the blanket at the store, give the fibers a good pull and if you get ANY fibers coming off in your hand, DON'T buy the blanket!!! 

I talked about how after drying the blanket, when I used the dryer, my dryer stopped mid cycle and the "Check filter" red light came on and I still had wet clothes in the dryer. 


I pulled out the filter and took anything on it out but I do that after EVERY time I use the dryer so I knew it wasn't that. 

I could see down into the area below the vent trap and there was LOTS of lint down there along with a fake credit card type activity pass that had been forgotten in someone's pants at one point. Of course I smiled when I could see a penny exactly in the middle of the bottom. 
 
It was a frustrating time as it had snowed and I was dealing with all my mom's laundry and she was still not doing well so I had to trek out in the snow to clean out the outside vent so I was very grateful to see that penny at that point reminding me to "Trust in God" that all will be OK! 


In thinking about it, I would much rather have the dryer stop and me have to clean out the vents than to have a house fire or burn out the dryer parts due to over heating so I did see very many things to be grateful for in the situation and the penny just reminded me of those blessings. 
 
When trying to vacuum out the area beneath the vent screen, the vacuum hose was too thick to get into the skinny area so I came up with a quick solution to clean it out. 
 
I took the center cardboard tube from the center of a roll of paper towels and used some packing or duct tape to tape that onto the end of the skinny hose attachment on the vacuum. 
 
Once it was on with no gaps or leaks, I squeezed it just enough to stick it into the slot where the vent is and was able to push it down onto the area and vacuum it out. It did collapse on itself some but still had enough suction to pull out the clumps of lint.
 
I did use a wire hanger to loosen the lint from the metal towards the bottom as it had gotten stuck with the moisture in the dryer and just needed to be loosened some. 
 
I didn't think at the time about the smaller brush I showed in yesterdays post that would have worked great for that but at least you know a wire hanger works just as well as you can see by the picture.  
 
When that was cleaned out, I did have to vacuum in front of the dryer as the cardboard would collapse and bring the lint out with the suction but when I would turn off the machine, some dust would drop out. 
 
At one point, it had so much stuff coming up that it clogged the tube and I had to get all the lint out but as you can see, my little make due vacuum hose out of a tube worked great!  

Of course, the penny didn't get sucked up as it was heavy and fell out while vacuuming. I put it in my "found money" pile. I am grateful for the reminder to Trust in Him and not make a big thing out of a small thing! I am grateful I have a dryer. I am grateful that it was free. (See a post about that here)  I am grateful I have a room just for Laundry. etc etc.  

Fixing the Hole Rips in a Shower Curtain or Liner

I went in to clean Princess Five's bathroom the other day and noticed that there were three rips in the top holes that hold the shower curtain in place. 


A week or two ago, I noticed one rip in the first hole. I forgot about it and now there were three rips and one almost ripped. I figured I could use an easy blog post. 
 
Not feeling well I figured I would do an easy post for a few days. I am still fighting burning in my lungs and am still really tired as I try to fight off the parasites. 


Basically, to fix the curtain, you need some clear tape or duct / duck tape the color of the curtain or liner you need to repair. You also need scissors and a hole punch. 


Cut off a section of tape that is long enough to fold over and cover both sides of the tear all the way to the bottom giving yourself a little extra for a bottom edge. Also, you can do two layers thick if you think that the curtain will take some abuse. 


Place half of the tape on the curtain over the hole and leave just as much over the top to fold over on the back side of the curtain. 

Press the tape and smooth it down getting out any bubbles. If it is loose, it can get mildew under it. 

Once you have the tape on it, use a hole punch to punch a new hole into the plastic and tape. Don't punch it in the same place over the other hole as it will rip more easily. 
 
I just go to one side or the other to use the hole punch to punch a new hole. 

I also use this method if a tear is starting on a hole. I haven't had much of a problem with this until we got this two hook curtain rod so you can have an outer and an inner curtain on the rod. 

I think this type of rod makes it rip more easily. I still like it because it does have the two tracks for curtains. 

As I got online to write this post, I looked at the stats page and I laughed when I saw "whose online now" and what operating systems and browsers they were using. 111 five times. 

I also bought some "Emergen C" vitamin drink today and the box ripped in the bag on the way home. I flipped it to see how it opened and right there was batch number 111etc. I smiled thinking how many times in the past few days I have been reminded to trust in God. If the box hadn't ripped, I wouldn't have noticed it. I bought three and that was the only one with the "111" on it. I also found a penny on the way out of WalMart this week as well. 
 
I am truly blessed to have such a loving Father who constantly reminds me "things will be OK." It has been a hard week health wise and I am sure it isn't quite over as I am fighting the worst of it right now. I'm grateful for His reminders as this week, I could use them.          

Making Your Own Lanyards with Beads, Boondoggle, Ribbon and Vinyl

Princess Five was chosen to be a Youth Leader for a 4-H summer retreat for 5th grade students. Each leader and co-leader will have 20 students in their group. They were each give a color and asked to pick a Jungle animal to fit their theme this year.


Princess is really excited about this camp and being able to help make a difference in the lives of younger kids. She LOVES 4-H and I am grateful that her friends family is so involved and have gotten her involved as I haven't been involved in 4-H for years since the older girls were in it. 


She decided that she would be the "White Tigers" with her co-chair. He is in charge of doing a few things and she is in charge of doing a few things. 

She wanted them to have cute lanyards to hang their name tags from instead of the little silver bungee elastic types.  

I have a large roll of white binding ribbon that she liked. We could have used satin ribbon but thought the vinyl she wanted to use might not stick as well. 
 
We also could have used ribbed ribbon but would have the same problem so we decided to go with this white, not slick binding ribbon and the best part is that it was free because I already had it. 
 
I used one of her favorite lanyards to get the length we wanted. You need to add an inch or so onto the length so you have enough to roll up and make the loop for the ring to go into. 
 
She needed 20 made so to save time, I just looped the ribbon around my hands until I had 20 loops.
This way you can only make two cuts rather than 20. 

 
This also makes them a standard length. It is easier if you have someone hold out there hands and you loop it over them and it is much faster with two people.
 
You need ribbon, a keyring, a clip hook, a sewing machine and a plastic name holder if you are using it for a name tag. You can use a larger clip if you are using it for a key chain. 
 
Make sure you don't get any twists in the ribbon. Put the two raw cut edges together and roll them up about 1/4 inch and then over on top of itself again about 1/3 inch. It almost looks like a cinnamon roll from the side. 

Stitch it on the sewing machine using a similar thread color to the ribbon you choose. I used a zig-zag stitch to catch the raw edges in the middle so they wouldn't fray. You need to sew it at the top edge so you leave room at the bottom for the ring to be put in. 
 
Notice in one of the pictures that I sewed all the edges together without cutting the thread. This saves on thread and also makes it so the thread won't come out of the needle accidentally. It was easy to cut them apart after I was done sewing them. 
 
Once it is sewn, you thread the key ring onto it. I bought mine at second hand stores in "craft kits" and when someone makes or gives me a keychain I don't want, I take off the ring and save it for this type of craft. 

If you don't need a ton, go to a car repair shop and ask them if you can get a few of their little key chain temporary ones they attach to your keys when you are getting your car worked on. 

Or, go to a local college or insurance agency and ask if they have any keychains they use to advertise. You can go to several places and use those if you are desperate but they aren't that expensive to purchase online depending on how many you need. I found an entire bag of key chains for $1 at a second hand store so we had plenty for her craft. 


You can use any ribbon you like to make them as well. I found this cute boating ribbon for $.75 at a second hand store that we will use for a camp tag when I get time to work on it. :-) 

After you put the ring through, you can add the clip hook. There are many sizes of these so make sure you purchase the right size. 


Princess wanted to add boondoggle on the bottom before the clip so you can tie off the boondoggle you make and slip it onto the ring and then hang the hook clip from that. She is using glow in the dark and black but hasn't figure it all out yet and I didn't want to wait to post it so you get the idea. 


She also has glow in the dark beads so she is going to put one on the clip hook as well so that their lanyards will stand out during the day and at night. 

I melted the ends of the lanyard but that wasn't the best idea as they burnt through. I then decided to use "Gorilla Glue" or super glue to seal the knot and keep the ends from coming undone. Just make sure to keep the glued tip up off the counter or paper so it dries not sticking to anything. I just stuck it on the edge of the scissors until it dried. 
 
You could also add beads to the lanyard itself putting them on the ribbon before sewing the ring end up. It could get bulky so make one before doing much work and wear it for a day to make sure it is what you really want. 

She is adding vinyl to hers using black vinyl cut into the letters "Tigers" and will stick that on the ribbon but you could also use my favorite markers, "Sharpies" to write on them or have them get their friends signatures etc. 
 
I thought a few strips of the zebra black and white Duct / Duck tape on the ribbon would be cute also and look like "tiger" stipes. There are lots of fun ideas with these. Check out the video for more clarification. 

Update: She spent time at her friends yesterday finishing up the vinyl lettering and didn't the "tigers" come out cute for the lanyards we made! Also, she has almost finished the boondoggle she is making in black and white. She has one left to do. Can you tell she is excited to do her 4-H camp this summer?