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This post is about helping your student to independently be in-charge of their life, at least teaching them how anyways. So I created my own homeschool planner for them.
I thought about what subjects we will be covering, what would tie in with our morning basket, what their chores and other responsibilities are and even fun things. I looked all over the internet and pinterest for ideas. I began compiling different free printables to be added to their planners.
After doing all of that I began creating the weekly pages which make up the bulk if this planner.
For the months and first page I used student planners(Click here to find them) that were offered free one month, now they aren’t free but she does offer specials and freebies each month. You can search around on the web to get other monthly printables for free too.
So this is what I did:
- Once I got everything printed, I put it all in order. I did take a LONG time, especially making sure I printed on both sides of the paper as much as possible.
- Next I looked at my year at a glance page that I had marked the numbers of weeks of school we would be doing and then added it to their planners, that way I knew how many weeks were in each month. (we are doing 36 weeks)
- Then I made the front cover. I purchased a few scrapbook pages from hobby lobby and some chalkboard paper and chalk markers. Once the whole planner was made, I took the pages to OfficeMax where I had them put on a front and back and then had it bound.
- Lastly I added sticker tabs to the months. I only did the first semester.
My kids were SOOOO excited to see this and began using it. Not only does it make my life easier, they are beginning to take charge of their life and their schedule.
Feel free to use these homeschool planner pages I have created for your student and take advantage of the free printables i found below. Or even go find some that your student likes!
**Click link below for your FREE planner pages**
- Student Planner- Green or Student Planner-Pink (editable, made on a Mac so may not work on other computers
- Student Planner-Green PDF or Student Planner-Pink PDF
Free printables I used in this planner:
- first day of school questionnaire
- bible verse coloring pages
- Starwars pages
- Starwars reading log
- princess reading log
- owl coloring page
- blank faces drawing page
- Disney coloring pages
- Easter coloring pages
- a few from this site, including the year at a glance, coloring pages, bible knowledge, piano log and christmas story
- some pages for beginning/ending of school
- some pages from a calendar notebook
- some pages from this back to school fun pack
- *calendar pages that were offered free before, they may be offered again anytime!
I hope this helps you on your journey! Happy Homeschooling!
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Written by Kari, Contributing Writer
I know there are hundreds of ways to display those beautiful Christmas cards we get each year. I’ve done most of them over the course of my beautiful life. Everything form hanging them from decorative ribbon to placing them in a crystal bowl. A couple years ago I was reading Living Magazine and found a quick and inexpensive way to display cards. I needed a change and this was perfect.
A simple wooden wreath.
Well, more like an embroidery hoop with mini-clothespins, but like I said, a simple wooden wreath. It worked perfect.
What does this have to do with health, which is what I usually write about? Nothing. Not only am I passionate about teaching and educating people on health – I enjoy being crafty too! So, this is just a look at another side of me!
It cost less than $10 for the supplies and didn’t take long at all to make. The glue drying is the most time consuming part of it all. This is when you get to play with your kids, watch Netflix or eat cookies. Or all three. You can choose the size and number of hoops you’ll need depending on how many cards you usually get. I did one large and two medium. They really look beautiful once they fill up and make it so easy for everyone to scan and look at the cards when they are visiting your home.
Now, wouldn’t you say that these simple wooden wreaths make your own Christmas scene look so much better? I thought so! Now go make one for you!
Christmas Wreath Card Display
What You’ll Need:
- a couple needlework/embroidery hoops – I did one large and 2 medium sizes
- a couple packages of mini-clothespins
- craft glue
- ribbon for hanging
What You’ll Need To Do
- I glued the mini clothespins every two inches around the hoop. I alternated the pins – one facing out, one facing in.
- let them dry overnight (simply because I got side tracked and didn’t get back to it the same day).
- Once dry, I attached the ribbon and hung it on display.
Like I said, when they are completely filled, they look really pretty – like a big wheel of cards. It’s nice to be able to see them all and be reminded how blessed we are to know so many wonderful and loving people – which always makes my heart happy.
What is your favorite way to display your Christmas cards?
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I remember doing crafty things with my Grandma and my Mom so I hope my kids will also cherish times together getting crafty. Now as an adult, I still love doing crafty things and this love of getting crafty is being past down to my kids, hopefully.
I am also a crafty things collector. I have numerous things in plastic containers, all labeled… now if I could only get that organized in other areas of my home. 
This is a simple tutorial of how to DIY for letter artwork that can represent your last name or individual’s names in your family. My two older kids and I made this for London, the youngest child.
DIY Letter Artwork
What you need:
- a letter, large enough to hang (could be cut from card board or wooden, etc.)
- tacky glue
- acrylic paint, color of your choice
- sponge paint brush
- buttons or some other crafty items
- pop can tab
What to do:
- Gather art supplies, I got the letter and buttons from Hobby Lobby
- Paint the letter with acrylic paint, let it dry
- Glue buttons on with tacky paint, let it dry
- On the back of the letter, glue on the pop can tab to use as the nail hanger
- Hang up in room
This is such a simple, easy idea to make with your kids. With the Holidays approaching, it could even be a nice, thoughtful gift.
Do you make crafts with your kids?
*post contains affiliate links
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Written by Kari @ Living Strong Wellness, Contributing Writer
It seems these days that good, restful sleep is hard to come by. Not only with adults, but children as well. As this is not an exciting fact, it is a reality and I believe we have a wonderful variety of natural options to help us.
For instance, there are herbal teas, essential oils, supplements and something I want to share with you today – magnesium butter.
Ahhh, this stuff is amazing. Why do I love it so much? Because it provides our body something that is lacking so severely in today’s generation – magnesium.
There are many benefits of healthy magnesium levels. To mention just a few:
- Magnesium helps muscle and nerve function. Serving as calcium’s vital partner, magnesium will allow calcium to do it’s job to build muscle growth.
- Magnesium plays an important role in gut health. Without good levels of magnesium aid in the absorption of copper, potassium, vitamin D and zinc. It also helps regulate blood sugar levels, which will lessen the risk for diabetes.
- Magnesium can help lower blood pressure or keep blood pressure low by allowing your muscles to relax, contract and push blood through the arteries and veins without force.
- Magnesium helps melatonin (the sleep regulating hormone) stay balanced, which allows for more peaceful sleep.
- Magnesium can help balance stress hormones, eliminating stress and tension and allowing for a more relaxed state of being (which in return will help with rest as well).
The list goes on and on, but those five points alone should get people’s attention when it comes to supplementing with safe sources of magnesium. Data from 2012 stated that 48% of the American population, 79% over the age of 55, were deficient in magnesium. This isn’t good, especially when it is such a vital mineral and nutrient for our bodies.
Along with taking a liquid mineral supplement, we use magnesium butter every evening before we go to bed. We just spread a thin layer either behind our knees or on our inner arm (where the skin in thin) and that’s it! I have made this for several family members and friends and they all love it and can tell a huge difference in their quality of sleep (especially the adults…go figure)!
The recipe is simple and last a long time on the shelf! We always use it, so we go through a 4 ounce container in about 3-4 months (three of us use it). Since the recipe doesn’t contain water, it would probably last a good 6-8 months if kept clean (wash hands before using the butter) and can always be extended to 12-18 months or longer if refrigerated!
You can make this recipe ‘naked’, meaning adding no essential oils, or you can add your favorite calming and sleep inducing oils such as lavender, cedarwood, vetiver, ylang ylang or sandalwood! If you are using therapeutic grade essential oils, only use a total of 40 drops of oils combined for this amount, which is one cup.
The end result with the color will vary depending on the type of shea butter you use. We use a raw shea butter that has a deep, deep yellow tone and rich scent and amazing benefits that trump refined and bleached shea butters.
Whipped Naked Magnesium Butter
What You’ll Need:
- 3/8 cups virgin coconut oil
- 3/8 cups raw shea butter
- ¼ cup magnesium oil (how to make it yourself)
- ¼ cup almond or jojoba oil
What You’ll Do:
- Melt the virgin coconut oil and raw shea butter over low heat just until it’s all liquid.
- Add the almond or jojoba oil, pour into a medium glass bowl and allow to cool to room temp. You can leave on the counter for an hour or so or you can stick it in the fridge to speed up the process. I like the fridge :o)
- Using a hand mixer or immersion blender, take your room temp oil mix, turn on the blender and slowly add the room temp magnesium oil.
- Mix or blend this until it is creamy. You can’t have any separation, which means, no water droplets anywhere. This can take a few minutes if the oils are room temp. If they are too warm, it will take longer.
- Place the bowl in the fridge for around 30 minutes. You want to see it starting to harden and solidify.
- Once it’s solidifying, remove the bowl and using the mixer or blender with a whisk attachment, whip the mixture until light and fluffy! If you are adding essential oils, do it during this step.
- Store in a glass jar or container and place in a cool, dark place.
I hope you enjoy the wonderful benefits of this magnesium butter that is safe for you and your entire family!
What is your favorite natural solution for calming and peaceful sleep?
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Cleaning.
We all have to do it and if you think about it, this is a constant activity in our lives. Whether we are personally the ones cleaning our homes or someone else is, the fact is, you have to use cleaners.
Unfortunately, the cleaners most people have in their home are extremely toxic and dangerous to our health. If you think about how often cleaners are used in our home, you can get a good picture of how many chemicals you have floating around, embedded in the carpet, bedding, towels and clothes.
Our homes are letting off chemical vapors every second of the day. For instance, chemicals from paint, new carpet, furniture and all the cleaning products, air fresheners and perfumes we use – just to name a few.
That’s a lot of foreign substance going into our body every single day. Thankfully our bodies were wonderfully created to be able to keep us from being badly affected by these kinds of toxins. Unfortunately, we are in a state of toxic overload in this generation and our bodies are having a harder time keeping these chemicals from harming us.
Research shows how these chemical-laden products can cause issues in the central nervous system, in the lungs, neurologically and so much more. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want any part of my body harmed by the stuff I clean with.
One of the best ways we can lessen the impact of toxic chemical exposure is by making your own cleaning products. It’s easy, simple and extremely inexpensive. Recipes bombard the Google search pages and so many contain 5 ingredients or less.
Our home has been commercial cleaning product free for about 8 years now and I’ll never go back to using that toxic stuff. My house gets just as clean, if not cleaner, by using simple, homemade cleaners using ingredients such as baking soda, borax, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, liquid soap and essential oils. The recipe I am sharing today is for an all purpose cleaner and it might be one of the simplest recipes to make. It uses white vinegar and grapefruit (with some added oranges, lemons and limes if I have any). That’s it. I appreciate that the natural elements of the grapefruit contain wonderful cleaning and sanitizing agents. The citrus scent also beats any commercial product out there! There is probably a lingering scent of the vinegar, although I’m so use to using it, i don’t notice it. If so, and you don’t like that, you can add a high quality grade essential oil that will help with the scent as well as the antimicrobial properties of the cleanser.
All Purpose Citrus Cleaner:
What You Need:
- 2 organic grapefruits (and any organic oranges or lemons peels/flesh you may have)
- white vinegar (approximately 3+ cups)
- you can also just use the peels so you don’t have to waste those every time you eat citrus fruit
What You Do:
- Slice the grapefruit or oranges.
- Place all of them in a 1 quart glass jar. If you’re like me and want bulk, use a larger jar, fill it with the citrus fruits then fill with vinegar.
- Fill the jar with white vinegar, leaving about 1” at the top.
- Set jar in a windowsill for at least 2 weeks to allow the vinegar to pull out all the good stuff from the citrus fruit. If you are using just the peels, allow it to steep a week or two longer.
- Once it’s ready, strain the vinegar and then squeeze the grapefruit (while in the strainer) to get all the juice out.
- Use as a concentrate. I like to use a 1:2 ratio water to citrus liquid. Pour into a spray bottle and store any extra in a glass jar in a cool, dark place.
- Use as an all purpose cleaner on counter tops, porcelain fixtures in the bathroom, tile, walls, etc. If you are unsure about finish on your walls or furniture, test a small area first before using. I do not use it on mirrors – the oils in it will cause streaking.
- Breathe in. Ahhhhh.
There you have it. A simple, easy, yummy-smelling citrus all purpose cleaner! I promise you – once you switch over to making your own products, you’ll love the results. Not only in your home, but in your pocketbook as well! The best benefit will be the fact that you aren’t harming your family’s health every time you clean. It makes cleaning worth while!
Do you make your own safe cleaning products? What is your favorite?
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Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer
I love spring! It’s my favorite season of all.
When the dull gold-green grass brightens to vibrant, fresh green and the tender leaves begin sprouting on trees and bushes, I get eager to turn my attention outdoors.
The garden calls, and I’m ready to clean out dead leaves that have littered the beds, repot plants that need larger homes, and bring some fresh new color to the garden and yard.
And on the days I spend many hours outdoors getting the garden and yard spruced up for spring, I’m not alone. The birds are excitedly chirping and singing, arriving from their winter homes, either by flight or simply by coming from the brush and woods to celebrate the warmer and brighter days.
Having butterflies and birds in the backyard is just as welcome as the tender green shoots coming up in the garden, and if you don’t have a large population of them each year, there are ways you can attract them to add even more interest and beauty to your surroundings.
Butterflies:
The most attractive element that you can supply for butterflies is the right kinds of flowering plants. Butterflies are drawn by scents, and when you have plenty of fragrant blooms in your garden, they are naturally attracted.
Here are some of their favorites:
- butterfly bush
- zinnia
- salvia
- milkweed
- German chamomile
- cosmos
- verbena
- petunia
- yarrow
- dianthus (sweet william)
- echinacea (coneflower)
- bee balm (lemon mint)
- phlox
- lupine
- lantana
- black-eyed susan
Try adding just a few to your garden or yard, and add more each season, as you are able. It won’t take long for your yard to become a favorite haunt of these gorgeous insects.
Also, remember to consider the life cycle of butterflies. Not only should you provide for the adults, but also consider the egg, larvae, and pupa stages:
Milkweed is the nursery of choice for the monarch butterfly.
Parsley, dill, and fennel are all favorites of black swallowtails.
To make sure butterflies feel totally at home in your garden, be sure to provide water, basking areas, and a selection of overripe fruit.
If you’d like to make your very own butterfly feeder, these instructions are simple and a great project to include your children in. (I recommend skipping the red dye for both butterflies and hummingbirds.)
Birds:
While birds in general (with the exception of hummingbirds) aren’t as attracted by flowers am much as butterflies, there are still some that they are attracted to, especially those that produce abundant seeds or berries.
Sunflowers, echinacea, and beautyberry are special favorites of song birds, and many of the same flowers that attract butterflies, will also attract hummingbirds:
In addition to natural food sources, you can also provide for birds with feeders. Commercial feeders are available in a large range of designs and even specific for the type of birds you want to attract.
Or, if you are ambitious, you can make your own. When my children saw me getting the feeders ready for spring, they were inspired to make a few of their own using empty water bottles and coffee canisters. I think the birds will be just as happy.
Hummingbird feeders are a sure way to attract these gorgeous birds to your yard, and making your own nectar is easy. Simply mix one part sugar with 4 parts water and bring to a boil. Allow to cool, and fill your feeder.
Make sure your feeder has a red element (which hummers are highly attracted to) and skip the red dye in your nectar.
A nesting box buffet is also a great way to encourage birds to visit your yard. Birds are preparing nests this time of year, and supplying them with a basket of building materials that they can choose from is sure to entice them near.
Simply fill a suet feeder with colorful strips of material, string, yarn, or sturdy dried grasses. In the cooler times of the year, you can use the feeder to hold your homemade suet mixture which will be a great boost of energy for the birds in the leaner times when food is not as plentiful.
As with butterflies, make sure you have a water source available for the birds. And, if you have an overgrown hedge or brush area, consider leaving it in place. Birds love these areas for nesting, and escaping the weather or predators.
Make sure you get your children involved in attracting wildlife to your backyard! Not only is it a great way to enjoy the fresh spring weather, but it’s also an excellent way to teach an appreciation for nature and an opportunity to spark an interest that just might become a life-long journey.
Above all, start small, and have fun. Attracting wildlife to your property takes time, and although you may be surprised by how quickly you get visitors, you’ll be amazed over time by just how popular your space becomes. And if you watch carefully, you may just find that you have some repeat visitors year after year.
How do you attract wildlife to your yard?
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A couple of years ago, my oldest child started doing art projects and I found myself needing a place to be able to display his work.
I have strong aversions to clutter and I was hoping to figure out a way to display our kids’ work that would keep our home looking tidy. Just as important, I wanted our kids to know that we valued their work and enjoyed being able to show it off.
Soon after, I was perusing the aisles of one of my favorite stores (Goodwill!) and I found a large black frame with a plastic front. The picture inside wasn’t important (I discarded it later on). The frame would be perfect for displaying our kids’ art.
We have moved this frame around in our home over the past couple of years. For a while, it was in our hallway and we admired my kids’ letter art and finger paintings as we went from room to room.
This week, the frame has found a home in our kitchen, among other elements in a new gallery wall. I’m happy to have it front and center, in the busiest room in our house.
Two things that I love about this project are that it hangs art of various sizes and changing the art is incredibly easy. Okay, there’s one more thing I love. It just looks nice– like it belongs hung on the wall, neat and coordinated.
Want to make your own? You can do it for less than $10 and less than 30 minutes!!!
…Making Your Own Kids’ Art Display…
Supplies:
- a large picture frame
- small clothespins
Instructions:
- Check your closets or your local thrift stores for a frame in whatever size you want.
- Remove the picture and backing from the frame, leaving only the glass or plastic front.
- Use a hot glue gun to attach the small clothespins to the front of the frame.
- Hang up the frame and display your favorite little Picasso’s best work.
What kind of art do your kids like doing best?
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It’s a new year, which means new goals right?
Well, a HUGE goal I’ve had for a while now was to clean my oven. Boy or boy was it yucky and I have been using it almost a year without cleaning it, yes– I did just confess that.
You see, we bought our first house, a Log-home and moved in (in January of last year), got mostly unpacked, had a homebirth, started a new school year and got on with life. Time passed and I kept telling myself I’ll do it later. Later came and went but while my parents were visiting for Christmas, my mom got it started.
I am pretty sure the oven hadn’t been cleaned in years, if not decades.
With a little elbow grease and this natural recipe, we got our oven to look (almost) as good as new, considering it is a 20 year old oven.
Natural Oven Cleaner
- baking soda
- vinegar
- *optional: lemon essential oil
- Gather ingredients, remove racks
- Before your ready to start cleaning, make a paste using 2 parts baking soda, 1 part vinegar, adding in about 10 drops of lemon essential oil if you'd like to, set aside
- Spread paste all over turn oven. Turn oven on high for about 30-40 seconds, then turn off, let sit for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight
- Get a washcloth or scrubber and begin scrubbing all over, residue should begin to come off
- Rinse washcloth or scrubber as needed, scrub and repeat using paste
- Once finished, wet a wash cloth and wipe out all remaining paste, and you should have a shiny clean oven
We got started using the recipe above. Since it’s non-toxic and all natural, I felt safe letting my kids help, after all this helps with teaching them that everyone needs to share the workload as well as teaches them responsibility. You probably can see a spot in the middle, well, we scrubbed and scrubbed but couldn’t get the 20 years of baked on residue in the middle but maybe next time, it’ll come off.
As I noted in the recipe, the Lemon essential oil is not a mandatory ingredient but I recommend it because not only does it help make your cleaning area smell wonderful, it helps to break down the grease and helps to make the surface area sparkle! 
How do you keep your oven clean?
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I absolutely enjoy entertaining at my house.
Every Christmas season, Hubby and I (okay, mostly me) like to have something at our house. Now, sometimes that means a bunch of screaming little kids are over decorating my amazing sugar cookies, getting frosting all over our walls and furniture, sprinkles and colored sugar crystals become permanent flooring and faces end up stained with the frosting since most of it never makes it onto the cookie.
Fun.
Other times we might have an open house for all our family and friends for the Christmas season – because what would December be if you didn’t have 100 parties to attend? Boring, right? I always tell people, you will never come over to my house and find a lone bowl of microwaved popcorn sitting in the middle of an empty table – and that be your eating for the night.
I planned a great menu for the small party of 10! Chicken Tortilla Soup and Chili , warm sourdough bread with REAL BUTTER, seasoned and organic, stove top popcorn, veggies and dip, chips and dip, Chocolate Chip Surprise Cookies, Golly Polly Doodle Cookies, Peppermint Bark (this is the recipe I used), Ginger Ale/Ice Cream Punch, a Make Your Own Mocha station, and more! All of it home-made! 95% of healthy – I threw in some cookies and delicacies that wouldn’t be on my ‘foods you should consume everyday of your life’ list. Come on – don’t be a hater – it was a Christmas Party!
Now, my issue was the presentation of this amazing food.
Now, the fact that I’m addicted to Pinterest has really helped me out of a sticky situation or two. This was no different.
I had secretly been crushing over some tiered serving platters that I had seen on Pinterest.
{images above taken from Pinterest}
Now, some of the tutorials I read on these used items that could be toxic (spray painting plastic dishes) and I don’t want to poison my guests. Others went out and bought new dishes and candle stands and made theirs. Now, those were all pretty, but I didn’t exactly want to spend $80 on a couple tiered serving dishes.
So, I came up with my own plan. I went consignment store shopping. We have thrift stores all over the place so I ran up to one by our house and browsed their section of dishes.
I found an entire set of china, yes, real china – each piece only 50 cents!
I grabbed all the dinner plates, salad plates and soup bowls. Then I found 2 different sets of mini wine glasses that each had 8 in the set! Those were also just 50 cents each. After I loaded up on all the china and wine glasses I took them home and sat them in a sink of hot water with lots of natural soap added. Since it’s real china, I couldn’t use boiling water, although that would have been my preference. I let them soak until the water was tepid, drained the sink, rinsed the dishes and repeated the process.
I let them air dry for about 6 days. Six days isn’t necessary, but I didn’t get around to making the serving dishes until then, so they had a while to dry.
When all was said and done the total cost of ONE 3-tiered serving platter was $3.50, dishes and glue included! Not bad!
HOW TO MAKE THE TIERED SERVING PLATTERS
You’ll need:
- clear epoxy (needs to be clear or it will look extremely tacky) and needs to be epoxy, I don’t think any other craft glue will hold forever and as much weight as the epoxy will
- the dishes you are using, depending on how many tiers you are doing
- the glasses you are using for the ‘stands’ – you can also use glass candle stick holders, I personally like the look of the glasses
Each one consisted of 1 dinner plate, 1 salad plate and 1 bowl and 2 identical mini wine glasses.
Here’s what to do:
- I began by outlining where each wine glass would go.
- I started with the bowl, which would go on the top, I laid it upside down with the rim on the surface and centered the rim of the wine glass on the bottom of the bowl and drew a LIGHT pencil line around the glass.
- Then I did the salad bowl, which was the middle tier. I used the base of one of the glasses and centered it on the top of the salad plate and drew a LIGHT pencil line.
- Next you repeat the first step, and turn the salad plate over and center the rim of a glass on it and draw a line.
- Next repeat the second step with the dinner plate, using the base of a wine glass.
- Once you have all the lines drawn on the dishes, you can mix your epoxy. If you’re only doing one of these serving platters, mix enough epoxy to cover the rim of one wine glass.
To glue everything together:
- Make sure everything is clean and the glasses have no prints on them on the inside of the glass or on the base. If you don’t catch this now and clean it, those prints will forever be a part of the serving platters since once they are glued, you’ll never get to them again.
- Start with the bowl, which is the top tier.
- Turn the bowl upside down and place on a flat surface.
- Using a toothpick or skinny wooden craft stick, apply the epoxy to the rim of the first glass. Remember to work fast. Once the rim is covered in glue (try to do it neatly – it is possible, I was able to do it), slowly place the glass, rim side down on the outline you made on the bottom of the bowl. Apply gentle but firm pressure to the glass so it adheres to the plate. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before you continue on.
- Once the bowl is dry enough, mix up a little more epoxy (this time enough to do the base of 2 glasses) and apply it to the edge of the base of the wine glass this is already attached to the bowl. Once the epoxy is on, turn the bowl and glass right side up and slowly set it down on the salad plate where the outline is. Again, apply gentle but firm pressure so the glass adheres to the plate. Next apply epoxy to the base of the 2nd wine glass and slowly place it on the outline on the dinner plate (the bottom tier). This time I would allow both to dry for about 10-15 minutes before moving on. If you do not allow enough time for epoxy to set, the glasses and dishes will slide and shift and you will end up with un-centered glasses – doesn’t look pretty.
- After the 10-15 minutes, turn the bowl, glass and salad plate upside down so the top of the bowl is on a flat surface. Next mix up a small amount of epoxy to put on the rim of the wine glass that is on the dinner plate. Once the rim is covered in epoxy, slowly place the bottom plate and glass on the outline you made on the bottom of the salad plate. Apply gentle but firm pressure and then allow to sit for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes it should be safe enough to turn back over so it’s facing upright. I let my stands sit for 24 hours before messing with them. Once the epoxy had set – those suckers were indestructible! Really!
To Clean:
It’s easiest to wipe down with warm soapy water to clean. If you have a ginormous sink – you can wash them in your sink. The epoxy will withstand all the soap and water, so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart if it gets wet!
These are WONDERFUL because they are so VERSATILE! I pulled out my 2 sets of china for everyone to dine on and I also pulled out my gold plated silverware and my SILVER silverware! Those special touches are amazing!
What special touches do you add to your holiday celebrations to make them special?
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Recently our family was out on a walk together and we came across a trail littered with beautiful pinecones. Don’t you love how God decorates for us in the beauty of nature?! Beyond the physical beauty of pinecones, just think about their picture of renewal and growth. It is not until a pinecone experiences hot/dry/difficult times that it open up to fulfill the greatness it was created for. If a pinecone never opens up and grows, it cannot spread any seed or fulfill its purpose. So lovely!
That day it didn’t occur to me to pick some up and bring them home…so I had to go back another day when I had decided to put this project together.
DIY Simple Pinecone Swag
What you need:
- 7 large pinecones (with stems preferred)
- 3-4 yards Wide ribbon
- 1-2 yards Thin ribbon
What to do:
1. If you use pinecones that are fresh from the forest for any craft project, it’s a good idea to “bake out the bugs” first. Line them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.
2. Cut the wide ribbon into varying lengths as to where you want the pinecones to rest. Tie the lengths together in a wide loose knot at the top. Tie a length of the thin ribbon through the knot for hanging the swag when it is complete.
3. Cut seven strips of thin ribbon about 6 inches long. Tightly, wrap and tie one piece of thin ribbon around each pinecone stem. Then tie each of the pinecones, staggered in length, to one of the wide ribbons.
4. Finish off the ribbon ends in a clean angled cut and the swag is complete!
Do you have any favorite pinecone projects? Please, share your ideas, I picked up PLENTY of pinecones!
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