Crayon Art

Art is so much fun. It is the only thing I know of that you can mess up and just change what you are doing to accomodate to the mess up. Use the wrong paint? Just make it a bush. Broke off an arm on your pottery? Just make it something else. Art is great!

By now, you all know how much I love to create stuff. When I get a canvas, I can't just paint, I have to do something fun and weird. So crayon art was right up my alley.

Crayon art is super easy to do. You only need a few things to get started.

Hair Dryer
Crayons (wrapperless)
Glue
Canvas

Take the wrappers off the crayons and glue them onto the canvas in a pattern...or no pattern at all. When it dries, hold the hair dryer about 6 inches away and melt the wax into all different directions. Like I said, it is super easy to do!

When it is dry and done, hang it up so everyone can check it out! Kids have fun with this one, but make sure that they are well supervised or that you do a lot of the work.

If you try this trick out, please let us all know below. Actually any art, I want to see it! Thanks for reading!!

Hallway Lights

I may be an adult, but I hate to walk into a dark hallway. Yes, I know nothing is there, I just hate it. Ghosts, to me are real and I would rather meet them in my element. Ok maybe not a ghost, but a person, if a person is hiding in the shadows, I will freak.

The problem with our hallway...you ask. Well..there is only one light...on the ceiling...at the end of the hall...with only one switch. If you are heading towards the back, you better have your cell phone opened.

We couldn't see leaving the light on from 10 pm to 3 am. (My husband gets off at 11 pm so we are usually up for a bit) It would just cost us too much money in the long run.

String lights came a few weeks ago and I was hoping to use them to fix my solution. They didn't plug in, instead they ended with a USB tip. At first, I was plugging them into the power strip behind the tv. But that was still using the electric.

My solution, was to use my portable phone chargers. All I have to do is make sure they are charged and plug the lights into them. The whole hallways is then lit up and can stay that way for almost three hours with each charger.

My light placement has started to bore me. I will continue to move them in different ways, while I am using them. This way will save electric and it will save light bulbs. Which will definitely save me money.

This is the perfect solution for us and kids love it. A few strung up in their rooms and you won't need a night light. Check out some copper string lights to get the effect that I did.

Tell me what you do to save moneya nd I would love to put it in a future blog post! Thanks for reading!

The Quarter Trick

Mother Nature isn't perfect. She oftens gives us more than we can handle and she is crazy bipolar. Here in Indiana, we don't have the hurricanes or other disasters that people have around the world, but we do lose power.

If you are out and about or even on a vacation, a power outage can ruin your day. Not only do you have to reset all your electronic clocks, but you also don't know how your food fared. By the time you get home, the freezer could be working again and you have no idea what thawed and refroze.

I never knew that a quarter could help me out with this. I just read about this trick and I think it is something everyone needs to know. Plus it is super easy to do. You will be telling everyone!

To do this trick, all you have to do, is fill a cup with water. A normal cup will do, you don't need too much water for this to work, so oversized cups aren't needed.

After the cup is filled, stick it into the freezer. When it freezes, simply stick a quarter on the top of the ice and leave the cup in there for whenever it is needed.

This way, if the power does go out while you are asleep or gone for the day or on a trip, all you have to do is look at the quarter. However far down it is now in the ice, is how much the stuff thawed and then refroze.

If the quarter is all the way down to the bottom, you need to throw out all of that food. That means that everything thawed out and is no longer good. If it is only half way you may be able to risk it, and of course if it is still on top, you are fine to eat your food.

Protect yourself with this trick. We don't have much food, so the cup fits pretty much anywhere in there, but if you choose the right cup, you will be able to fit it in yours, no matter how much you have stuffed in there.

Do you have other tips? I am looking for some. Please help me out below, Thank you for reading. :)

Tati Pacifier Clips

I have never heard a louder sound come from my baby, then when we lost their pacifiers. I almost wish I had one in that moment.

With these clips, you can easily keep the pacifier in site and within reach. These can be used for boys or girls, but I think they say they are for boys. Believe me, they won't notice...they are babies.

I found these clips to be well made, nice and colorful, and very easy to use. You need to go and check them out at the Amazon product page, HERE. Sorry for the stock photos. I got this almost a year ago and am just now able to verify and review. The clips are in storage.

I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest review.

iMustech Mailbox Numbers

I'm still so surprised that we have our own place now. In just a few years it will be paid off. How exciting is that? I think it will open up the door of possibilities for future reviews.

We definitely needed numbers for our mailbox..our name too, but thats a different post. we at least needed house numbers, everyone drives right by.

These numbers are great. They look nice and the size is big enough that you can see them on the mail box from pretty far away. They seem to be made well.

My problem? they come in two packs of the same number. My number is 12. If they sold mix and match packs, I would be all over them. Since they don't, I got these to use them for a future craft product.

My step daughter loves Shopkins, and I want to use these as the eyes or something else for her wall. I think she will love them and that they will stick pretty well.

If your house has double digits or you just want to buy an extra for later, these numbers will be perfect for you. Eventually I want to get some and use them to make up a clock on my wall, with just the numbers and the hands.

Head on over and check these out at the Amazon product page, HERE.

I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest review.

RNS Pocket Knife

People collect all kinds of items. I personally have collected more than a few things over the years. My husband, loves to collect knives. He has at least 50 of them and he is my go to for knives.

I knew this would be the perfect time for us to work together on a review. We rarely get the chance and I have to jump at it when I get it.

Now, I am going to start out with what we like about this knife. As soon as you look at it, you can see it is plastered with scales in the finish of the knife. You have to turn it a certain way to see it, but we love it and we call them dragon scales.

The knife blade is shorter than I thought it would be, but very sharp. The blade does fit the body well. Anything bigger, would just not look right with this knife. plus the finger grips work perfectly to keep your hand in place.

There were a few things we don't like about this knife. The first, is purely personal preference. My husband likes knives that you can flick open with your wrist and this one you have to manually open. It does take a bit more time and effort to get it open.

The other thing that bothers us, you clip the knife to your pants. Normal right? Well this one has a giant release button that will stick you in the hip or leg depending on how big your pockets are. The button needs to be smaller or it needs to be on the same side as the clip.

Other than those things, this knife is great. Everything from the look to the great materials they made. I think this may be his new work knife. Head on over and check it out on Amazon. RNS Knife

I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest review.

Disappeared--Marcus Wolfe

I know this is my review blog and I don't usually post about other things but lately I have went rogue. Blogging isn't my only love or obsession, I am also obsessed with crime stories.

As I sit here typing this, there is a crime show on that I am listening to in the background. If we can spread awareness for products, why not people too?

While I don't know him personally, Marcus Wolfe lived just ten minutes away int he next town over. My husband even works with someone related to him.

I can't tell you details, since I don't know them personally, but I can tell you that Marcus has been gone since July. Not just Marcus, his vehicle also disappeared that day.

As far as we the public know, the cops aren't doing a thing to help. marcus left his friends house, to go home. A trip he most likely made multiple times a month. Something wasn't so simple about this trip though and he never made it home.

if you live in this town or around this town, you can go to the gas station next to Wendy's and pick up a shirt for $10 and $11 for XL sizes. You can also get a yard sign. 

I may not know him, but I know his relatives and I know how hard on them this is right now. Someone knows something and they need to speak up!

Easter is coming!

Holidays are such a great time. you often get to see friends and family that you haven't seen since the last holiday or longer. My family all gets together and we have a big dinner.

With all the DIY work I have been doing, I realized that I have been putting off, what Ii am going to make for Easter. Every year, we get to bring a dessert and I love to make it fun.

So far I have no ideas...none at all. I really need your help. What is your favorite thing to make for Easter? Themed is the best, but any great dessert will do. Please help me out in the comments below!

Make me something with CANDY

Now that I am losing weight, I have to find other things to do during the day. I think that is why I am so obsessed with getting new stories for the blog.

One thing I use to love to do..eat candy and junk food. I needed to figure out a way to get it out of the house while not eating it.

Jolly rancher art is something I saw on youtube a long time ago. I have tried it in the past, but wanted to visit it again, because I never posted the pictures on the blog.

To work with the Jolly Ranchers, Get some really warm water and drop the candy in, with the wrapper still on. As you need them, take them out carefully and take the wrapper off.

While the candy is still warm, you can move and mold it into the shapes that you want. Roses are pretty easy to do and they look good too...when you get the hang of them. My pictures aren't the best but I had fun!

You could do something like this for table decorations during holidays or parties, and I am sure that you could mold them to a stick and make awesome suckers.

Try this out, it is so much fun. i'm not very good at it, but I am enjoying myself! If you do try it out, let us all know below in the comments! Thanks for reading.

Harry Potter fans will love this trick!

While researching, I came upon this little trick. I thought, there is no way this will work..and then it did. I am not big into Harry Potter, but this is cool.

I won't bug you with details since I am providing a detailed picture I found on google. I will say, my phone takes a few seconds to do what the command says, so give it a few. It works on my Android phone!

I want more tricks like this one. Know any? Let me know below, you will get credit in my blog post. Thanks for reading everyone!

Losing it Again

I always heard other people talking about a weight plateau. I thought, "Nah, I need to lose a lot of weight, that won't happen to me."

But it did...and I hate it. I did so well the first six weeks of my journey and now, it's like I am stalled. I can tell that my stomach is still changing, but the scale is not and that is frustrating.

I suppose I should be happy that i seem to still be losing inches, but it is so frustrating. yes, yes, it happens to everyone.

hopefully I can get back to it, I have goals to reach. 50 pounds down by Easter (25 down as I am typing this, less than a month left.) 60 pounds down by our anniversary in May, and 75 down by June.

95 down is my total goal and 25 is in the bag, I may not get there by the end of June, but I will hopefully be well on my way!

Let's hear about your weight loss. I know I am not the only one on this journey. Thanks for reading guys, look for an update around Easter. :)

Does this trick really work? Cement Can Opener

These tricks are getting interesting. I thought that most of them would work, but I knew that i had to be prepared for the ones that didn't.

This is one that didn't work for me. The object of this trick-- open a can without a can opener, using only the cement.

One reason I had high hopes for this trick, is because it would be an easy way for the homeless, or even just those who are lost or that left their can opener at home.

I rubbed and rubbed the top and the side of this can against the ground and I just couldn't get it to pop open. You can tell the air is getting in because the can dents easily.

Maybe I didn't rub it long enough. The arthritis usually keeps me from doing things for too long. If you try this, and you get it to work, let me know below and I will try it again!

Seekingtag Silicone Mat

Sometimes you get items in the review world and companies just never follow up. This is one of those times. I got these mats years ago. I apologize now for the stock pictures.

I love silicone so these were perfect for me. They are easy to grab onto and use. Plus you can use them as pot holders as well if you are in a bind.

These mats served me well until I moved and now they are somewhere in the mess of the storage unit. But I can't wait to find them.

Check them out HERE. I received them free in exchange for my review.

Liztech Wireless Doorbell

No matter where we live, we seem to be able to sleep through company. Most people know to get a hold of us before coming, but others don't. Our bedroom is too far away from the front door to hear knocking, so we needed something louder.

Other doorbells have worked for us for a little while, but often went off on their own, even with new batteries and no one at the door. I was about ready to give up on them until I tried this one.

The set up is so easy on it. It comes with the bell for the door that people ring, and two transmitters. One that plugs in and one that takes batteries that you can take with you to any room in your home and it will still work.

So of course all you have to do is use the sticky piece with double sided tape and get the bell on the door. Then just plug in the transmitter and put batteries in the other.

The hardest part of this set, is picking the tone. There are 52 in all and you will be listening for awhile. I suggest writing downs the ones you like so you can try and get back to them later. It took us a long time to pick the right one.

So far these have worked the way they are suppose to they have saved us the embarrassing wake up phone call more than once.

I am really happy with these. I did get them at a large discount in exchange for my review, but they are perfect for us so far. Check them out, HERE.

UPDATE--- I got two plug in receivers not a plug in and a battery powered receiver. I was mistaken. The instructions said there were one of each so I assumed the one I wasn't with was the battery powered one.

It's SPRING!

Hey all! It is finally spring. That doesn't mean mother Nature is going to let winter go just yet...but soon, soon we will have some warmth!

Picture taken from Google search.

As it gets warmer, I am going to want to do more DIY projects for outside as well as inside. Researching this topic is easy and hard at the same time. I'm looking for as many projects I can find that don't need you to buy a lot of materials.

So far I have come up witha few things, but I definitely need more ideas. I know all you smart people have ideas and I need them. I will give you credit of course for the help.

Let's aaaaall say good bye to winter for another 250 days and welcome spring, the DIY way, TOGETHER!

DIY Bathroom Jars

As I have said in my last few DIY posts, we don't have the money for fancy stuff..yet. So I have to get creative. I wanted a good way to display items in the bathroom and i found the perfect one for me.

As always, I try and use things that I already have around the house, so I am not spending any money. You can really do a lot with things you have already paid for, but sometimes, you do have to go out and buy.

I have a bit of counter space in my bathroom, not as much as I hoped for though. I needed a way to display, but not look like I had too much going on at the same time.

All I did was take a few nacho cheese jars and washed them out. Now you can just stop there, they look good that way, but you can also add some fun to the jars.

One way to add some fun, and the way i did it for this article, is to take any color of spray paint and just paint right over the glass. This post, made me realize, that I suck at spray painting. haha So I hope you have a better time at it.

You can make them plain or with designs underneath or on top. If you want to do designs underneath, you can use certain times of tape, tape the design, and then spray paint the jar. When it is dry, take off the tape and you will find your design. You can also use glitter and all kinds of items.

I think these look good in my bathroom. I am debating whether or not to paint them different colors and to paint the whole tray. This is a fun and cheap DIY that will be fun to fill and look at.

Thank you so much for reading. As always, leave your DIY tips below. I am always looking for ones to cover in this series!