Category: Hobbies

Pastimes and other projects.

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Important tips to learn before you make DIY cloth diapers

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So I’m on this everything-baby kick (I guess that would make sense since my life is about to go from everything us and dogs to most-everything baby) as you might have seen yesterday or the day before. After I posted my cloth diaper result yesterday, a couple of people asked me some important questions which made me realize I should explain a few things I’ve learned.   On buying materials: You won’t find PUL, polyfleece, microfleece, organic cotton velour or hemp at Fabricland or a … Continue reading

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DIY: Make a cloth diaper!

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Yesterday in the burp cloth tutorial, you may have noticed someone cute in the background wearing a prototype sewn earlier this week. Who was this dashing gentleman? No, not our child. He hasn’t arrived just yet. He’s our tester monkey! This time he was testing…   If you’re someone who tries to be as green as they can, and you haven’t read about how much waste one child produces in terms of wipes and diapers, here are a few interesting stats. Of course, there are environmental … Continue reading

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Ice shoves on Lake Erie at Crystal Beach — just wow.

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One of the coolest things to happen in this region in a long time has cost us absolutely nothing. It’s a totally natural wonder, one I’d never seen until this past weekend. If you live here, you should definitely go see it while you can. UPDATE 1: See the bottom of this post for directions on how to get there, and a map! UPDATE 2: Ice caves were evacuated February 17, 2014 due to possible ice fractures. Please see this Erie Media write-up for more … Continue reading

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DIY Bra band extender — great for pregnancy!

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DIY bra extender - great for pregnancy!

Pregnancy is a journey unlike any other. Things grow, stretch and otherwise evolve for a bunch of months in many previously unknown ways. Despite buying new bras to accommodate my … bounty (ha ha), I’ve noticed that about halfway through my day, I am suffocating. The cups are great, no problem there. My band, however, goes from a pretty decent size in the morning to ribcage-strangulation-sized in the afternoon-to-evening. And so I came up with this cost-effective alternative to buying several sizes of bra:   … Continue reading

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Denim whale’s big brother has arrived!

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I made a more robust version of the DIY denim whale from last week! I like his tail details. Now that I’m becoming a little more familiar with my sewing machine, it was easier to do the cute little top-stitches. See the original post here (includes link to denim whale tutorial by a lovely Finnish lady). How do you like my whale?   Related articles DIY denim whale – great baby room or toddler gift project! DIY: Turn your regular jeans into skinny jeans… right … Continue reading

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DIY denim whale — great baby room or toddler gift project!

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One of the sucky parts about having a bunch of jeans I no longer like is that I very rarely find projects that involve denim that I think don’t look cheesy or cheap. Something about denim that only looks good on the legs, and occasionally, if you’re feeling adventurous and young, a jacket. We’re getting the baby boy’s room ready lately. My youngest niece came a lot earlier than expected (in fact she was born on our wedding day), so we figured — just in … Continue reading

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Quick tip: How to soften hardened brown sugar

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If you don’t keep brown sugar locked in an air tight container (or if your brown sugar-loving husband leaves the canister open often enough after spooning some into his coffee), you’ll find your delicious sweetener gets thick and hardens up fast.     I came across a great way to re-soften the stuff — no need to buy a new bag when you come across a hard one in the cupboard that you didn’t use soon enough. You just need an airtight container, a slice … Continue reading

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Recipe: Butterscotch & peanut butter haystacks

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I’m in the mood for treats lately — and let’s hope I passed my glucose test because I want to continue eating deliciousness for three more months — so I thought I’d share one of my favourite recipes. It’s easy, fast, and requires only three ingredients. Four if you have peanuts on hand.     Mmm! There is nothing better, or easier! Unless you’re allergic to nuts, then there are probably a lot of better things for you. Recipe after these pictures! About this recipe: … Continue reading

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DIY rustic end table for less than $10!

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After we brought the Christmas tree out a couple weeks ago, we needed to rearrange (and remove) some of the furniture. Wouldn’t have to, really, but Junior’s tendency to eat everything in sight means we still need to crate train him a while longer. We have two of these simple LACK tables from Ikea. When the tree came back, we had to put one of them away, and replace our loveseat with an armchair we put away when Junior’s crate came along. Needless to say, it … Continue reading

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Best Soup for Winter: Lasagna Soup

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Holy mother of Abel, is this soup good! I happened to find this recipe on my Pinterest feed the other day (if you haven’t already, you can follow me here). I expected good things, but I did not know just how good. I am lasagna obsessed — another of my favourites came from Pinterest a few months ago… I have my own take on it which maybe I’ll write up one day — so I had to try this. Unfortunately when I was going to try … Continue reading