DIY Bubble Bath Bomb

Because I was sick over the weekend, I was really craving a hot bath in a our deep soaker tub, but I didn't have any bubble bath or bath oil at home.  Unwilling to crawl out of the house for even food, I certainly wasn't going to leave in search of bath products. I had pinned a recipe for foaming bath soap from Paul Deen, so I gave it a whirl.  Because we shop at Costco, we have always have huge quantities of the ingredients needed, so I had high hopes for this.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil (substituted for the almond oil recommended; the recipe says olive is okay too)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 liquid hand soap
• 1 tbsp vanilla (which I doubled)

First, my honey bear chillaxed a little in a hot tub of its own (I warmed a pot of water to help soften my crystallized honey - it works!  And stays soft again for a long time):

When the honey was soft, I poured the water out of the pot and mixed the ingredients over really low heat, for a couple seconds.  I only stirred it in the warmed pot to ensure my honey really was liquid again.

After it cooled, I decanted a small amount into a washed out eye makeup remover bottle and slapped on a half-hearted label (I'm sick, I'm too tired to make nice labels, but I wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally rub this into my eyes). 

The Verdict?

I almost died.  I put a cap's worth into a super full tub (remember, mine's extra deep), which I thought was a modest amount.  It made the tub so slick I almost mugged out.  Getting out of the tub, I must have looked like a newborn fawn my legs were so unsteady!  Plus, it was so oily I felt like I was marinating.  I needed a follow up shower.  And a nap from all the effort.  I tried another bath with half the amount and while it wasn't as oily, it wasn't that special either because all of the yumminess was seriously diluted.  The sweet almond oil must make all the difference!

Although I get an A+ for effort, for DIYing with a nasty virus, I think this classifies as a DIY fail (it's not my first, and won't be my last!).

DIY Bottle Dip FAIL

When I painted the wine bottles, I tackled a few beer bottles too.  But they somehow didn't look as pretty to me, so they hung out in the garage a bit, getting dirty and doing a good impression of the worst trip hazard ever.

Then I saw some cute dipped vases on Pinterest and started thinking maybe a little swim in some paint would make the painted beer bottles prettier.  But these were just thoughts.  Set to the tune of this song.

Woman's Day; Design Love Fest; Project Wedding; Whipper Berry

Because my "dipped" wooden spoons and "dipped" stool turned out so well, I got too confident.  I think you can guess how this story ends. 

I literally dipped my bottles in paint and they hung out for a bit longer in the garage, proving they could be an even more aggravating obstacle.  And no, we didn't buy this much butternut squash.



Behold the fail:

Some of my drippy-dips friggin' stuck to the cardboard . . .

 . . . and the others just looked cheesy:

Well, you win some and you lose some.  C'est la DIY.  Care to share any of your own less-than-successful projects?

P.S. Don't forget to enter my current giveaway - it's a real life saver.

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My Paper Mache AND Holiday Wrapping Fails

Can't win 'em all. 

First of all, thank you for being such lovely and supportive readers. I look forward to each and every comment and email. In light of all the positive feedback about things like my hodge:podge interview and Artful Ikea Expedit Hack (featured on Design*Sponge and Ikea Hacker), I thought I'd post two fails from this week to show you that I have DIY flops, too.

1. Paper Maché Fail

I was going for something like these:

Etsy - etco

Etsy - One Click Gallery

Etsy - Maus Home and Vintage

But here's mine:

The bigger ones split when I tried to take them off the mold.  Boo.  Two delightful evenings spent elbow deep in paste, wasted.

2. Artful Wrapping Fail

Undeterred by my flop, I used the rest of the newspaper I accumulated to wrap a gift for my wee little cousins.  I don't celebrate Christmas, but I can't not give a gift to a child who does.  That's like kicking a kitten.  But I refuse to splurge on holiday wrap so, on a "creative" roll, I did this:

I was going for shabby chic.  Apparently I don't do that look very well.  Even the ribbon can't hide the fact it looks like a toddler wrapped this.

Shameful, when I could have easily done something pretty, like this:

Mini Eco

Meh.  Someone, if not my family (it's unlikely they will find this funny) then their mail carrier, will get a giggle from this.

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DIY Felting Flops & Feats

Don't forget to enter my first-ever giveaway!  I'll draw a winner Sunday, so check back Monday.

I mentioned in my blogiversary post that I really, really enjoy connecting with readers and fellow bloggers.  What especially tickles me is when I get to see people put one of my DIY tutorials into action.  You remember Tamsyn's awesome DIY felted wool billy buttons?  Well, fellow Canadian Krista, of the blog Don't Forget to Breathe, also took a stab at making her own billy buttons and they turned out so well!  Here are some photos:

Check out my tutorial (and troubleshooting) posts if you want to make some of your own (and send me photos).  But take my advice with a grain of salt.  I'm still trying to make my own felted flower brooch and these are the floopy messes I've made instead.  I'll keep at it because in the DIY game you win some, you lose some . . .

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Some Loser Painted It Yellow

I spotted this fantastically simple & beautiful coffee table makeover over at Modern Jane and it reminded me of a funny story.

Modern Jane

Years and years ago my Hubby (who was only boyfriend then) inherited an identical table.  But he inherited it in the original blah wood finish.  Thrifty even then, I convinced him to paint it a fun colour.  Because he was obsessed with orange and yellow in those days, I suggested pale yellow.  It turned out ho-hum - a bit tacky, even (it was a horrid shade of yellow - like a bleached egg yolk).  He used it for years, but then it ended up at his dad's because I prefer ottomans and didn't want a coffee table when we finally moved in together.  Fast forward to a few years later and Hubby finds out a childhood friend lives near us in the city we had just moved to.  Hubby goes to visit him and spots a yellow coffee table.  Intrigued, he asks his friend where he got it and the friend says that Hubby's dad gave it to him.  Hubby's friend thought it was ho-hum too because, not knowing it was formerly ours, he said something to the effect of, "too bad some loser painted it yellow". 

P.S.  See the before & after post of the lovely white table makeover at Modern Jane by clicking here.

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My DIY Fail

You know I've been getting closer to finally hanging my silhouette collection (which, aside from two my Hubby gifted me, has never, EVER been hung).  I've blogged about silhouette arrangement inspiration twice (see here & here) so that is a good clue as to what is brewing in the townhouse.  I thought the collection would look more sharp if I painted some of the random, tacky frames (see pics below) black so they all match in colour, but differ in texture.  And, it would save some bucks (as opposed to buying new frames).  I even bragged about the saving money part to Hubby.

Before - all different frames

Here's a close up of one of the offending frames



Pouncing on a rare warm day, I set to work.  I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  I'm no stranger to this kind of project but I tend to only buy Tremclad paint as I typically paint metal surfaces (like the base of my DIY'd desk).  But this (new to me) brand did something weird.  From afar the frames look okay:

But close up, the surface has turned all bumpy in some areas.  Perhaps the weather wasn't warm enough (the instructions suggested 10 degrees celsius + and it was . . . ), or the can was defective.  Anyway, take a look at the damage:

DIY gone wrong.

They would pass in the dark with a shove, but I just gave up & bought new frames to replace the damaged ones.  I even found the perfect sized round frame for my newest silhouette! 

BIM - Bought It Myself

Next up: I finally found a frame for my magnetic chalkboard project.  Let's hope I don't goof this up too.



P.S. Hubby was so cute: he thoughtfully helped me pick out new frames and never once laughed about my genius plan to refurbish the old frames.  He didn't complain that I stunk up the garage for no reason, or got paint on the floor, or left him with a pile of random junk to deal with when the project & I decided to abruptly part ways. 

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Front Hallway: "Before & In Progress"

Remember I blogged about getting a photo we took in Portugal enlarged to fit a frame we had?  It was my attempt to inject a bit of "summer" into our hallway.  Here's a link if you missed it.

Well, we finally have the enlargement and already wrestled it into the frame.  Scroll down for some shots of our front entry way "before" and after a "spit and polish".  It isn't finished, but looking better.  To see another part of this hall, check out my post about making a holiday card display board here.

The picture, at last!



Hallway "before"



Hallway "before"


So, What Did We Do?
We kept the tile.  It was installed professionally and the same tile runs through the hallway toward the stairs and in the half bath.  Plus, the same tile in a different colour combo (black & white) runs into the kitchen and then is transitioned nicely to the hardwood.  To change this tile would be an all or nothing job, so we decided to work with it.  Its no secret I like turquoise anyway, so it works. 

We did give all the walls and doors a coat of crisp white paint, sewed a new curtain, changed all the door knobs and hinges to silver (mismatched and ratty door knobs and painted hinges were this home's trademark) and bought two new ceiling fixtures.  The rug is handwoven by a Finnish artisan in Northwestern Ontario using reclaimed materials.  Because my mom donates old clothes and fabric to the artisan, one of the turquoise stripes in the rug is of my old pyjama pants!

Basically, we just brightened up the space and made it look fresh and clean.  I think an overhaul isn't always necessary (or affordable) and sometimes a "spit and polish," as I like to call it, is enough.

My old ripped pyjama pants found new life as a rug!

Some trials and tribulations:
The frame we bought wasn't just a frame, it was a piece of "art" bought from the furniture department at The Bay because it was the largest frame we could find (and loads cheaper than custom).  But when we cracked it open, we saw that the "art" had  been glued to the matting and took some careful slicing to extract. 

I also tried to "save" the light fixtures with some black spray paint but they still looked awful and after a mild earthquake which involved much rattling of the danglies, we decided to scrap it and buy new.  Happily, my grandma had actually been looking for similar dangles to replace the ones on her light fixture (hers had turned yellow-y), so parts of these light fixtures lived on and weren't thrown out!

DIY Gone Bad

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