A Quick DIY Fabric Upgrade to an Old Ikea Shelf

So it's another lazy Sunday, sipping coffee and skimming the local news. I get a text message. My best friend Jacky was up with the sun, busy showing off her most recent Pinterest project, which means...It's my turn. You see, we are the very best of friends, but competitive. Not to be outdone, I swapped my comfy Sunday attire for something more utilitarian and scanned the house for a worthy furniture adversary (with room for improvement).

Jacky's Fantastic Bookcase Redo

Our inspiration came from a blog post from Prettywellorganized.com in 2013. A lovely dark bookcase, with an added pop of  pretty paisley on the backboard. 

http://prettywellorganized.com/2013/09/fabric-lined-bookcases/

For mine, I dug through my surplus fabric trunk picked out a black, white and grey graphic design, accented with vertical pattern on the edges.

I removed the back panel of the shelves and used a concoction of Modge Podge, Elmer's Glue and water to adhere the cut fabric to the panel before repining it back to the bookcase and viola!

All in all, (including removing all the stuff on and off), this project only took me about an hour! I don't know about you, but I LOVE a project with (nearly) instant gratification!


So let's do it!


If you're starting with a inexpensive, particle board based piece, make sure you remove everything off the shelves before removing the back panel. The back panel is usually what maintains the structure of the entire shelf. Next, use a hammer to pry the back board off, use a flat head screw driver to help ply out the stubborn ones.


Save your nails!
 

Measure the backboard piece and pick out some fabric! I used leftover fabric from in my stash from another project, but if you're going shopping, Jo-Ann's Fabrics usually has quilting fabrics on sale, which work well.  Pretty much any lightweight, non-stretchy, cotton-dominate fabrics will work.


Iron your fabric! It makes it easier to smooth out when you're sticking it down.


Cut your fabric to match the panel, leaving an excess of an inch or two.



Mix a 1:1:1 ratio of Modge Podge, glue and water, I used about two cups of this mixture for a six foot shelf.

So here is where I forgot to take pictures, d'oh! Sooo....Since I'm not the first person to do this project, I'm using a few pictures from another blog so you can get the idea, (to see their whole tutorial, you can click here).

Using a large paintbrush, generously brush the glue/water to the panel, about two feet at a time, laying down the fabric to adhere it and then brushing another thick coat of glue on TOP of the fabric.


Continue this, using the edge of the panel as a guide, don't worry too much about overhang, once it dry, it will be stiff and easy to trim.


As you go, use a squeegee (a plastic ID-like card would also work in a pinch), or if you're like me, I used the handle of the paintbrush and my fingers. :)


With the fabric being relatively wet at the end, you have a few minutes to continue to push down bubbles and smooth creases. Once you're happy, allow the panel to dry all the way, overnight if necessary.


Trim the excess fabric bits off the panel and get ready to reattach it to your now naked bookcase. Here's where an extra pair of hands can really come in handy...I was not so lucky; but after a few hammer misses for fingers instead of nail heads, followed by some choice words, I had it!

And there it is! A quick way to breathe some life into this old thing!

I love this bookcase so much more! I've relocated it out of the back room study and put front and center in the living room. Now maybe a coffee table change is in order...hmmm..Maybe another cup of coffee first! :)

~Peace~

Kira


~Check out my initial inspiration (and better photo takers too)

http://prettywellorganized.com/2013/09/fabric-lined-bookcases/

http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/06/office-progress-bookcase-building/

10 Creative Ways to Commemorate Your Favorite Grad!

Spring is in the air and so is graduation! From kindergarten to college, parents and kids are breathing a bit easier! Check out these creative ideas to remember and celebrate another year in the books!

1. Want to really get get their attention? Take a big face from Crowd Signs, the bigger the better!

2. Write a poem. It may seem at first a bit sappy, but in truth we all love to know we're loved. Pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some tunes and let the creative juices flow, you may be surprised at what comes out!

3. Shadow boxes are fun projects to include favorite mementos, pictures and tickets. Make one with your grad or raid their Facebook for pictures and make it a surprise ;)

4. I love this idea! This mom took a picture of her son on his last day of high school, holding his picture of his first day of kindergarten, too cute!

5. For a graduate who's off to college, create a Graduate Gift Basket, complete with all the essentials of home-away-from-home living. Some ideas of what to include: School supplies, collegiate apparel grocery and gas gift cards, laundry supplies, a small tool set, snacks, first aid kit, toiletries & earplugs.

6. Collage or rasterbate photos from the school year(s) on oversize letters or wine bottles for a perfect party centerpiece. I found some really cool examples of these here. And here!

7. Want to try something custom made? Parker's Crazy Cookies  has reinvented animal crackers, make custom cookies to look like your grad or school mascot!

8. Make them something sweet. Try Sweet Sugarbelles Graduation cap cookies or super cute diploma cupcakes with instructions here.

9. Throw a party! Check out Catch My Party for thousands of themed part ideas, free printables and party supplies to recreate your Pinterest favorites!

10. And lastly, for the bird that's flying the nest this summer, send them off with a little friendly reminder, congrats all you grads!

Take a Scent Back in Time - The Amazing Benefits of the Rose

Take a Scent Back in Time, the Old English Rose Garden Offers Fresh Inspiration

The power of scent is one of our most powerful and underrated senses. Most of us can our feel our body and mood affected by different scents around us, transporting us back to good times, special places and stand-out experiences. I know every time I catch a whiff of fresh pine, I’m instantly brought back to being eight or so, trekking through the snow with my sisters in search of the perfect Christmas tree. This amazing ability for simple scents to cause both a mind and body reaction is something we can use to our benefit in everyday life.

The rose holds a candle for no flower, recognized as one of the world’s most beautiful, the rose has also made its way into innumerable myths, stories and legends; it has become a symbol of intense love, desire, chastity, birth, rebirth and even death. Roses, though native to Asia, grow all over the world and in a rainbow of colors and range of size, from petite vines, to the towering bushy sort. In addition to smelling fabulous and being beautiful, roses been studied for their effects on the emotional and psychological state of mind, finding these flowers have incredible benefits that go beyond the bouquet.

Rose oil and rosewater have been used for centuries for their aromatic and therapeutic benefits, calming the nerves, easing worry and quelling depression. Greeks and Roman would add rose petals to their bathes for a relaxing touch, while women for centuries have taken advantage of the scent of rose oil to alleviate symptoms of menopause and menstruation cramps. 

In the 2000s a variety of studies began showing the powerful scent of rose showed positive results in improving levels of general stress and anxiety, easing pain caused by menstrual cramps and has been shown to significantly improve the symptoms of menopause. In 2014, one study revealed how much aromatherapy could affect someone under some of the most severe physical and emotional constraints. While giving birth. Not surprisingly, anxiety is the most common emotional response during labor, and it can have adverse effects on both the mother and the baby.  This study compared the effects of rose oil aromatherapy anxiety levels during labor. The group using rose oil had an overwhelming reduction in anxiety by 71%!

Topically, the rose has been a staple in the beauty industry for hundreds of years, blended into creams and salves not for its intoxicating scent, but for its ability to soothe and hydrate irritated, dry skin. Diluted rose oil or rose water is highly effective at promoting balance of the skin’s pH, leaving it clear and glowing. Natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory components make rose water a perfect treatment for skin conditions such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, sunburns, and a fabulously gentle facial toner, astringent or daily hydrating spritzer to balance all skin types.  

LINK: eczema, psoriasis

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/eczema/article_em.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/psoriasis/basics/definition/con-20030838

To really appreciate rose oil, you have to know what goes into it. Steam distillation is the most common method, taking 60,000 roses to make just one ounce of undiluted rose oil! Not surprisingly it’s one of the most expensive essential oils in the world. Luckily, rose water is also created in the process of steam distillation, and has become increasingly popular for its light, gentle aroma with many of the same properties at a lower cost.

LINK – steam distillation

https://www.naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/about-aromatherapy/how-are-essential-oils-extracted/

So what is it about the rose that make it so special? It’s hard to say exactly, as more research done, it seems there’s more figure out. There are over 300 individual scent ingredients in an individual rose and there’s about 200 species of rose out there; to make even more complex, researchers say environmental factors, such as where the roses grow and the composition of the soil and water can also play a factor in the overall genetic make-up. In a typical gas chromatography analysis, rose oil exhibits over fifty individual compounds. So while we can’t quite pin down what makes it so special, who really needs an excuse to stop and smell the roses?

I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.

-Emma Goldman

More about rose varieties:

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/rose/

More information about roses in symbolism:

http://www.swide.com/art-culture/rose-history-symbols-and-meaning-of-the-flower-of-passion/2015/05/10

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270653/

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/aromatherapy/aromatherapy-rose.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-chen-md/aromatherapy_b_3698319.html

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/essential-oils/health-benefits-of-rose-essential-oil.html

Why Drinking More Water is a No-Brainer

I drink A LOT of water. It was one of the better habits I picked up while in the Army. So there are tons of reasons why water is important, the first, and most important is obviously, you can die without it! Your environment can be an important factor in how much water you should drink. I live in the desert, so you notice really quickly when you're dehydrated. So lift those glasses, bottles, jugs and jars, here's to water!

Your Body CRAVES it.

Water is essential for a slew of normal body operations and is constantly being lost through these functions along with filtration and sweat, for it to operate at peak performance, it needs to constantly be replenished. Think how fast a canoe can be pulled down a huge gushing river in the winter, but that same canoe barely moves in the summer when the river is trickling.

Give Your Metabolism a Boost! 

Studies show drinking the hour following drinking 16 ounces of water, increases the metabolism 3%, as an added bonus, drinking colder water will burn a few more calories in heating it up to body temperature.

Easiest, Most Accessible Appetite Suppressant

Our brains are pretty impressive, however the signal that triggers thirst is a lot like the "E" for Empty on the gas light indicator, the tank is already pretty low by the time it comes on, prior to that, it mimics that of hunger. To win over your biological triggers, try drinking 16 ounces of water, wait 20 minutes and reevaluate your hunger level; the feeling of hunger is often calmed by hydration. Try this before meals as well!

Give Your Skin an Aquatic Glow.

Skin THRIVES on hydration, water is essential for cells to rid waste, regenerate and heal. Dry skin often appears older looking just due to dehydration.

Exercise is Easier.

Water composes a bulk of our muscle tissues, without it, you can feel weak, dizzy and fatigued. Poor hydration means a workout FEELS harder and muscles can cramp and ache for extended periods after.

Is this water thing a bit hard to swallow, literally? Ease yourself into it, once it's a habit it's easy to keep. Be aware and accountable of how much water you’re drinking to start, start the day with keeping a tally on the top of the hand, (somewhere super visible and impossible to ignore) let each tally represents one 16 ounce water bottle, make a goal for the end of day so you can spread it out throughout the day, drinking half a gallon of water before bed is not recommended. Add citrus fruit or cucumber to liven up your water. I like squeezing in orange and adding a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar, makes the taste buds go crazy, yum!

How do you measure up? I average 10 cups (80 ounces) normally, about 128 ounces in the summertime.

Cheers!

DIY Sink and Potty Cakes

This past Christmas I decided to go full DIY on gifts for all the adults in my life, testing my limits of procrastination, ended up eliminating six of the eight projects I had “committed” to, and instead got a bit tipsy making homemade Bailey's liquor and Lush-like bath bombs. I have never made bath bombs before, it reminded me of working with crumbly pie dough. Fun. It took a few rounds to get the bombs, well round, and in the end I decided to call my lovely gifts “Smash Bombs” and package them in jars instead of Bath Bombs, get it? ;) Okay, so I'm not ready for bath bombs, let's start smaller. 

P.S. The Bailey's went over oh-so awesomely...As expected.

Well, they smelled lovely and the effect is the same once it hits water. Having still quite a bit of citric acid left, I went on a Pinterest search for other uses for it. To my surprise, citric acid is a fantastic base ingredient for a number of practical DIY home uses. Citric acid is a low-strength natural acid derived from citrus fruit and is a key ingredients in many household cleansers (i.e.  Laundry and dishwasher detergent, bathroom scrubs, toilet bowl cleaners and surface sprays). When I found Maria’s blog about her Toilet Bombs, I had to give it a try!

Can be bought here on Ebay

I adjusted the ingredient ratios and the scent, this is a very flexible recipe, more citric acid more fizz, Maria's original recipe called for 1 1/3 C. Baking Soda and 1/2 C. Citric Acid; I wanted a little more fizz in my cakes.

Sink & Potty Cakes Recipe

Makes approximately 20, but depends on size of mold used)

1 Cup Citric Acid

1 Cup Baking Soda

80 drops of essential oil (I chose Bergamot, Orange, Lemon and Rosemary)

1 tsp Food Coloring (optional and can add less/more per preference)

4 Tbs Witch Hazel (or vodka)

You will need:

Painters or Surgical Mask

Bowl, Measuring Cup, Fork for mixing

Small Spray Bottle

Directions:

Combine citric acid and baking soda in a bowl, keep your nose and mouth covered while you’re mixing the powdered ingredients as the fine particles can be easily inhaled. 

After mixing the citric acid and baking soda evenly, combine essential oils, food coloring (optional) and witch hazel in spray bottle, shake well. The combination of oils I chose result in a fresh, sunny and clean smell, perfect for either the bathroom or kitchen, but you can experiment with what you like, many oils contain antibacterial and antiviral properties of their own that will add to the power of your little cleaning bombs. I also added some homemade orange tincture that I had made about three weeks ago and smells wonderful! 

Spritz the powdered mixture little by little, stirring all the while (I like to use my hands, a fork works nicely too) to avoid causing the mixture to overreact (chemically, not emotionally). Keep spritzing until your mixture is the consistency of damp sand, too dry and you can’t sculpt them, but too wet will lose the “bomb.”

Press your mixture firmly into molds, muffin tins, silicone molds, Styrofoam egg cartons, you can get creative, I made some in shot glasses. J If you’re using a plastic mold, just know essential oils will leach into the plastic making it smell like your essential oils for a very long time.

Now the waiting begins, if you live in a dry climate, like me (0-20% humidity) these babies will dry in just a couple of hours, although, I still let them sit out of the mold to cure for an additional couple of hours. For soggy climates, you speed up drying process by putting these in a warm oven (turned off and mostly cooled) for a bit, or in a food dehydrator (again, the oils may leave a residual smell).

I keep a decorated mason jar full of these gems on the household toilets to toss in the bowl in between cleanings. I also keep one on my kitchen sink and toss in the garbage disposal to keep it fresh and disinfect. Wet a sponge, lay cake on sponge and scrub the inside of sinks, showers and tubs.

These last indefinitely, and make a cute statement in bathrooms, the kids love to watch them spin and fizz in the toilet bowl. I love these so much, I recently starting selling them in my Etsy store here.

What smells remind you of clean? Share your favorite essential oil blends!

Synthetic Fragrances in Beauty and Personal Care Products

I grew up in a rural community with a hippy mother who had a propensity for minimalism. My teenager “beauty” routine consisted apple cider vinegar, a tube of Tom’s toothpaste and a non-sudsy and scent-lacking body shampoo. Therefore, promptly as I was producing my own income, I began buying up a mirage of products, for whiter teeth, softer skin, to remove hair, make my nails and hair grow faster and my stomach grow smaller.

Let’s speed up here, in my mid 20s I began having intense nausea, every morning started started strong and dissipated, making the first few hours of every morning hellish. It became a routine to beeline it to the toilet to dry heave, the taste of toothpaste made it ten times worse, I couldn’t even say the wood “food” till about 9am. Over the next six months, I mentioned these symptoms to a doctor, gynecologist and dentist, and after pregnancy was of course the first suggested and ruled out, the following suggestions were these: A physical manifestation of anxiety, something in my diet was not working for me and not drinking enough water. Kudos to all three who made no suggestion for popping pills!

In the next year that followed, I eliminated most all the processed food in my diet and adopted my childhood vegetarian roots again, this time, pulling my husband along! I devotedly drank upwards of a gallon or more of water a day. I committed myself to exercising, even lost weight; anxiety I had in my shoulders melted off. BUUT…The daily heave continued.

Age 32. After doing some research regarding synthetic fragrances and phthalates (endocrine disrupting chemicals) I made the hard decision to start eliminating my lovely collection of scented body sprays and lotions as a last ditch effort to get my stomach under control. I also chose to eliminate antiperspirant, fabric softener, scented candles and air fresheners due to surprising number of human and environmental toxicants in them as well. Synthetic fragrances are considered to be in the category of a “trade secret” so U.S. product manufacturers do not have to divulge them to the public. The problem with this is that 95% of synthetic fragrances are derived from petrochemicals, many of which are, or processed with known human toxicants that cause cancer, birth defects and nervous, organ, endocrine and developmental disorders.

There’s more! Beyond fragrance, there’s tons of other ingredients in much of what we use on our skin and inhale on a daily basis that are pretty rough, just to name a few…Resorcinol, shown to be toxic to the immune system and a possible carcinogen found in aftershaves, lipstick and anti-acne products, Triclosan, a biocide, antibacterial and preservative agent which has been restricted for use in Canada and Japan as it is an endocrine system disruptor and potential organ toxicant, Ethylene Oxide, a KNOWN human carcinogen that in low doses can cause breast cancer and while it’s not used in cosmetics anymore, it is a commonly found as a contaminate of PEGs, (polyethylene glycolysis) which are used in everything from toothpaste to conditioner to food packaging.

Age 33, I’ve come full circle, I have just a few trusty products on my bathroom sink again, (thanks mom!) and the mysterious “morning” sickness is finally gone.

Wisdom comes with experience and learning, I know had I not experienced the highly uncomfortable and time-sucking problem that I did, I would still be running around smelling like a Pina colada, and accumulating all sorts of strange and potentially pretty harmful chemicals in my body, and having learned what I did, I’m perfectly at peace with my less smelly world.

Now it’s YOUR turn, check your bathroom and see how your products rate, maybe you’ll be shocked, maybe pleasantly surprised. Here’s just one example from a super common brand name body wash.

Want to make your own? TONS of simple recipes for homemade beauty and bath products!

Wellness Mama is one of my favorite bloggers for a healthy and sustainable house, and she makes it look graceful and easy!

http://wellnessmama.com/category/natural-home/

Marie makes some fierce red lipstick with nourishing and simple ingredients on her blog.

http://www.humblebeeandme.com/diy-red-rose-lipstick/

More Information and Sources

Environmental Working Group’s website, Skin Deep, the largest integrated (non-profit) database of its kind, matching ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

PEGs in Cosmetics

http://davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/chemicals-in-your-cosmetics---peg-compounds-and-their-contaminants/

U.S Department of Health & Human Services Household Product Database

http://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/list?tbl=TblBrands&alpha

A Guide to Safer Personal Care Choices

http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/whats-in-my-products/products/

Five 'Must-Knows' on the Dangers of Synthetic Fragrance

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/five-mustknows-on-the-dan_b_4737654.html

U.S EPA Toxicology Site - Ethylene

http://www3.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/ethylene.html

U.S. CDC Fact Sheet – Phthalates

http://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/Phthalates_FactSheet.html

State of Evidence of Ethylene Oxide

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/radiation-chemicals-and-breast-cancer/ethylene-oxide.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/