Make your own Wind Chimes!

You still have time to make this for Christmas!  

My baby sister recently had a "milestone" birthday and a few months before it arrived, I started to rack my brain for what I could make/give her.  After a few sessions on Pinterest, Etsy and good old fashioned Google I decided I would make wind chimes! 

 I chose to make chimes out of old spoons, which my loving hubby said would only make her think of doing dishes every time the wind blew - but I am happy to report they sound beautiful and nothing like doing dishes!  

The wind chimes I made for my sister hanging on her front porch

I happily spent a day visiting thrift stores (the good ones - tiny shops with insanely low prices) and bought as many good quality, heavy spoons as I could.  I got all sorts of sizes - including teaspoons.  I also checked out the jewelry areas for any beaded necklaces, bracelets or earrings in my colour scheme.  While browsing the thrift shop I kept my eyes open for what would serve as the main piece in the wind chime.  The piece to which I would attach all the beads, string, spoons, etc.  I found cool cheese graters with lots of rust and character.  I found a candle holder with beautiful detail and lots of holes to string my wire through.  What I ended up using was a brass candle holder that I took apart and drilled holes in to.  I had to visit a box store for heavy duty craft wire, and also picked up a few stamped silver beads.  The last thing I needed was a letter and number stamp.  You might know someone who has one - my Dad has one for stamping his equipment with his name.  Ask your favourite handy-man if they have one and if they don't, you can attain one for $20.00.  You're looking for a 5/32inch set, nice and small letters for stamping names on the spoons.  

Now you're ready to get to work!

You will need something incredibly hard to hammer your spoons flat on.  Something that won't shatter and will stay flat while you smash the spoons.  I used a large piece of nickel (the things my Dad has laying around is unpredictable to say the least).  

You will need to hammer the spoons flat, including the handle.  Next, take a drill bit meant for drilling metal and carefully put holes in the handles of your spoons.  If you've chosen a main "frame" for the wind chime that doesn't have holes, drill them at this time too.  

Drilling the holes in the spoons was actually kind of fun!

To stamp a name on the spoon, you will need the number and letter stamp set, a black permanent sharpie, hammer and a block of wood.  Mark out on the spoon where each letter will go with the sharpie.  Be sure your placement and spacing is correct before beginning the actual stamping.  Once you have the spacing figured out, simply retrieve the letter you need and hold firmly on the spot you've marked with your sharpie.  Hammer the letter stamp firmly into the spoon (the spoon is resting on the block of wood).  Get angry, and really hammer it in!  If you pull the stamp away and find you haven't gone deep enough, you can move the stamp over the area and find the indentation to line it back up again.  Once the name is complete, colour it in with black sharpie and rub off the excess so the font stands out.  I wrote the family name on the largest spoon, the grown-up names on the regular sized spoons and the children's names on the teaspoons.  

I'm going to take a small moment here to say one of the main reasons I chose to make wind chimes is because it allowed an opportunity to honour the babies my sister has recently lost in miscarriage.  The loss of a child is devastating and a heavy burden on a mother's heart. It often gets overlooked and treated casually because it is so commonplace; but the loss of a child is never "commonplace" to a mother.  Our tendency is to ignore uncomfortable problems, but that only compounds the pain.  Drop off a meal, maybe a box of tea, offer your shoulder to cry on and don't ignore the loss.  

Ok, the hard work is done and you get to be more creative!  Attach the spoon to the end of your wire and leave a long "tail" so you can twist it back up the wire - ensuring it won't come undone if someone knocks their head in to it one too many times.  Once the spoon is attached start arranging your beads.  If you're unhappy with what you've done - start over!  Nothing is worse (craft wise) than wishing you had done something differently and not fixing it when it's easiest to change!  Get creative with your bead arrangement.   For this piece I included purple beads on the "girl" strands, a certain blue for the "boy" strands and added special stones for the "parent" strands.  I also used some chain pieces to add more silver to the colour scheme and to help tie in the silver spoons.  

Once the beads are all arranged, attach it to your main "frame" as suits your piece.  I used a bead to hold mine in place and twisted the wire back through to the other side.  I was worried it would fly apart during a good ole' country wind storm and made sure nothing short of a twister would do damage.  

You will need to decide how it will be hung.  I removed a screw from the candle holder that I knew I would replace with an eye hook.  I spray painted the eye hook and an "s" hook to match the wind chimes so the bright silver didn't stand out like a sore thumb.  There are plenty of spray paints that will bond to metal, and I had some in my shed - so, it worked out well for me!  

That's it - get wind chiming!

I sound like a paid advertisement with the amount of times I've repeated this - but try making a gift or two!  Put some time and thought in to the gifts you give.  Even if they don't turn out perfectly, a handmade gift is a great way to show someone how important they are to you.  

*Thank you sis' for taking pictures of your wind chime and sending them to me!  You take such beautiful photos!*

My Mitten Solution!

Toddlers and mittens don't mix.  They pull them off as soon as they possibly can, and

cry that their hands are cold.  Their cause and effect thinking is not entirely developed and there is no way to explain to them that they NEED mittens.

My second, very strong willed, child was absolutely impossible to keep mittens on.  I could put them back on 100 times and he would still have them off in a jiffy - usually having the first one off before I had a chance to finish putting on the second.  I bought the long ones that go up to the elbow - still took them off.  I put elastic bands around his wrists to try to keep them tight - he still pulled them off. 

 The kicker is, he would stand at the back door crying to go outside.  I couldn't keep him indoors.  I had to come up with a solution.  

Listen, I know this is an extremely wrinkly shirt.  This shirt gets worn and worn and I certainly don't wash it every time.  Points for being real?  Haha.

Here's how to attach mittens to a shirt for your toddler.  I attached mine to a long sleeved t-shirt so it could be layered under a snowsuit, but you might want to attach it to a zippered or buttoned shirt to make it easier to put on.  Notice the stain on the arm?  I picked a shirt that was otherwise un-wearable so I could re-use something I was just going to rip into rags.  

This is a great way to limit what battles you have to pick with your toddler.  Eliminate the issue.

Do you have any tips for staying sane with a strong willed toddler?  Share with 

The Good Kind of Crazy

I'm always looking for great ideas!  

Build Something! You can do it!

Toddler Daybed

I have a very special son who adds sparkle to our family.  He is sweet, determined, funny, a little mean, and always always always a blessing.  I usually keep babies in my bed until they are anywhere from 9 months to 11 months old, but this little guy is different.  He has many medical issues that complicate my typical sleeping arrangements, so he will be beside my bed until I feel it is safe for him to sleep in his own room.  He was in an Arms Reach co-sleeper, and couldn't fit if he stretched out - the top of his head touched one end and his knees would touch the other leaving no room for anything below the knees!  I spent months looking for a beautiful antique daybed - something to keep him beside me but not have him in the bed (he's wiggly).  While listening to the BBC I heard an interview with a woman who began building furniture out of necessity and ended up building an entire house!  Talk about inspiring!  Her name is Ana White and as soon as I got home I Googled her and found a daybed plan I really loved.  In all honesty, I didn't think there was a chance I could build this bed on my own.  I thought I would start it, show my good intention and have my Dad finish it for me when he saw how miserably I was failing.  Well that didn't happen and I happily completed the bed on my own.  My Dad DID do the cuts for me, he has a large table saw and has seen me trip on thin air and smash into my tv (totally broke it).  Since this project, however, I have done all my own cuts - this project gave me the confidence to make that step and I'm so happy I can do it on my own now.  

The bed is called the Lydia Bed, and here's the link to build it from Ana White's website:

http://ana-white.com/2010/05/plans/lydia-daybed

The bed plan is for a twin, so I measured the crib mattress I had and adjusted the plan accordingly.  I also wanted the back of the bed to be high (instead of open so it looks more like a daybed) so I adjusted that as well.  I assembled the pieces and painted it before bringing it inside.  I kind of goofed on the length of the legs.  I went by the measurements on the site, but I needed them a bit taller so it would meet my bed right at the mattress.  I had to add a few inches, and you can see I chose some pre made deck finials and painted them to match.  I plan on taking them off when this doesn't need to be next to my bed anymore.  Here it is on my back deck:

After a few months of using the daybed, my little guy decided to shock everyone by crawling and then walking shortly thereafter.  An active baby needs a bed rail!  With my new confidence, I took some measurements and headed out to the lumber store.  I used 1/2" pine and 1/4" wooden dowels to create a bed rail that can be easily placed in or out of the bed when needed.  If you make something like this and want detailed instructions on how to do it, just email me and I'll walk you through it or post it to the blog.  The finished product looks like this:

The last tip is to keep paint from projects like this handy so if you have to repair dings, or paint an addition to it (like the bed rail) you don't have to remember the colour and get another can.  If there is room near the project, keep the paint in a safe place near the item.  The paint for this is in the far corner under the bed, and each of my bedrooms has the paint hiding in the closet.  It's nicer than digging through cans hoping to find the right one.

You can build the things you'd like to see in your house!  Don't wait for a partner, hubby or Dad to do it for you.  Take your time, be safe and enjoy exploring your creative side by getting friendly with a drill or saw or even just a hammer.  If you do create something, send it to me - I'll post it!

Drabulous to Fabulous!

Yes, that's the title.  I can't say Fab, nothing could contradict my personality more than saying fab.  Saying drabulous is totally acceptable.  

Let's start with the finished product!

My brother in law posted a free shelf, and I'm a sucker for free stuff so I said I'd take two.  I got these suckers home and had no idea where they'd go.  My hubby and I decided on where they'd go (had to decide so I knew what colour or stain to go with) and then I got to work!

I needed larger areas for big picture frames so I knocked out two of the shelves.  Don't worry I saved the wood to make stools for the kids table!  

I spent a little under two hours sanding, wood filling and sanding again.  I bought a mouse sander a few projects ago to help with little sanding jobs.  I'm all for elbow grease, but my hands cramp so badly it makes me not want to sand anything!  Solution - electric sander!  Feel free to judge me, but my hands are happy and I'm happy.  I have too many little people to leave sharp edges so I sanded every shelf edge and the corner edges as well.  There were quite a few dings and ink stamp marks (from the lumberyard) that needed sanding off as well.  Once the initial sanding was done I filled in all the nail holes with wood filler and sanded it again once it was dry. 

Yes, I needed a ladder - this shelf is over 8ft tall!

Once it was ready for stain I got a nice grey stain (Pepper Mill by Cabot) and got to work.  You can't stain in direct sunlight so I waited until the sun was off the deck and applied (and worked in) one coat.  This took about two hours.  I like to do the fussy work first, leaving the easier large portions for last so my head doesn't explode.  

The back is a different wood (mahogany sheeting) so the stain showed up a little differently.  I decided to put in an accent on one of the larger areas and bought a roll of wallpaper from Habitat for Humanity.  I cut the wall paper larger than I needed so I could trim it right in the shelf with a box cutter knife. This kept the edges really neat and clean and gave me slack on my terrible cutting skills.  Full disclosure, I can't cut a straight line to save my life.  

That's it!  Free shelf, two days with two hours work each day - and voila! 

Don't turn down free stuff because it's ugly or needs work.  Putting a little work into something makes it unique and you can be proud of yourself for turning someone else's trash into your treasure!