Category Archives: Homemade Madness

Chronic pain, chronicpain, COVID-19, fibromyalgia, Frivolity, health, Homemade Madness, Just me, Just me, maker, maskholder, masks, Natural Forces are stupid, Spoonie, Trigeminal Neuralgia

Old man winter is a sadist…

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Ugh whatever is up in the Rocky Mountains right now is seriously sadistic. Nearly everyone I know is having unusual numbers of headaches and those of us who were already living life in the unusual column are clinging to the edge of the ledger by our fingertips praying to gods we don’t even believe in that a Peruvian Green Velvet Tarantula comes along and bites us.

That being said I walked today. I was able to do so because an amazing friend of mine created an amazing device for me.

See, I have some combination of facial neuralgia and parathesia that moves around my head. Some days I can wear glasses and masks and hats just fine. Others I can’t touch behind my left ear. Other days a wind across my face sends me to my knees. Lately I haven’t been able to wear anything behind my ears or touching most of my head for longer than a few minutes without my headache ramping up to GO-LIE-DOWN-NOW proportions.

As we are still amidst a global pandemic and I value my life and the lives of others this means I haven’t been able to go anywhere for very long.

Enter Scott.

Scott is a maker. He is a creator, a daydreamer, an inventor of wonderful things. He fiddles with things to make them better. He is strange and funny and wonderful and when I texted him and told him I needed his help he dropped everything to invent me this:

Why yes, that IS a neck mounted headgear-like device to hold your mask flush to your face without it touching the parts of your head that have inexplicably decided that touching is verra verra bad.

See:

So now even though my body doesn’t like wearing masks and the world is still basically a dangerous petri dish I can now go to the grocery store or for a walk with my husband and dogs without suffering for it.

What is the point of all this rambling?

There are three points actually.

Point one: I am on day three of my exercise for 15-20 minutes every day regardless of how I feel fibromyalgia treatment streak. Yay me! (Y’all are my accountability partners. Don’t you feel lucky?)

Point two: If you see an oddball creative person that thinks differently do walk past them afraid to meet their eyes. Go introduce yourself to them and try to see if your weird meshes with theirs. You never know when you will need a creative fiddler in your life.

Point three: If you are an odd duck, don’t fret. There are those of out here who celebrate and value you precisely because you don’t think like everyone else. If you feel alone now hold on. You will find other oddballs (like I did. I now have a lovely chosen family of tried and true oddballs in my life) to be your true self around but better yet, the older you get the more non-oddballs will see having oddballs in their lives make those lives fuller and more fun. So don’t give up. You are important. You are made of stardust. (Literally. Ok, I know we all are but I like to think we strange ones have just a little extra stardust than everyone else.)

Stay safe lovelies, and be kind to one another.

crafts, DIY, holidays, Home and Family, Homemade, Homemade Madness, Just me, Just me, Spoons

Making all the things… Part Two.

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Back again after an interlude of extreme involvement in the art of forging metal into pretty shiny things. I am not sure why I am utterly entranced by this process but it makes me feel as though I have come home. Perhaps it’s the fact that all the problems that arise are so easily fixed with a reapplication of heat or a polish here and there. Whatever the reason, I am basking in the sheer joy of turning sheet metal and wire into pendants and bracelets.

Of course, not every will want pendants or bracelets for the holidays so I am back with another handmade gift suggestion list. Last time we focused on college age people, so let’s look at tweens and teens this time around.

Easy Sharpie Tie Dye

Image from DIYPROJECTSFORTEENS

I love the look of tie dye but I have always been intimidated by the actual process of it. After some savvy internet research I discovered a simple way to create tie dye decor.

For gift giving the possibilities are vast. You could purchase small canvas bags and create personalized tie dyed lunch bags for your kids. Go bigger and you’ve got overnight bags, beach bags, sport totes, etc.

You can certainly make gorgeous shirts for not a whole lot of money with this technique. Hanes has a crazy sale going on and their shirts are soft, durable, and come in light colors that would be easy to tie dye over. You could even check out their sweat pants sale and tie dye up some super comfy lounge wear for the cold holiday season.

Finally, make some small zippered coin purses/dice bags/make-up bags with tie dye decor for a cool stocking stuffer.

DIY Bleach Design

Image from By Hand London

On the opposite end of the DIY shirt spectrum we have bleach. A good friend of mine taught me this technique and it’s fairly simple. You choose a stencil, leaf, shape, etc, that you like. Lay a dark shirt flat on cardboard and place the stencil on it where you want the negative of the shape to be on the shirt. Spray with a bleach spray and toss in the laundry to rinse. You may want to scrunch the fabric around the shape or stencil to get a more even look.

If you want to take this idea to the next level and add additional materials, like fabric paint, the folks over at By Hand London have posted a DIY Galaxy Shirt idea.

Once again, Hanes is a great resource for well made and comfortable shirts, this time in a variety of dark colors, to assist you in making your teen or tween (or anyone really) a well made hand decorated shirt worth wearing.

Duct tape is your new best friend

Source: JoAnn Fabrics. 

You can do nearly anything with Duct Tape. As we are approaching Halloween I felt a DIY Halloween Candy Bag was a good image example for duct tape madness. Before you dive in I suggest a visit to diyready.com for their basic duct tape fabric tutorial video. You don’t have to master making sheets of duct tape to make a project, but you do if you want to make a duct tape project easy.

A few ideas for gifting with Duct Tape:

Source: Duck Brand

Make a Duct Tape necklace as a cool stocking stuffer, or assemble the necessary parts for said necklace, slip them into a small gift box with several small rolls of colorful duct tape and printed out directions and gift your teen/tween with a duct tape necklace kit.

Source: Duck Brand

You can go a little bigger and create this stunning Owl tote bag. (Remember, it’s a sew free project!)

If you are looking for a fun gift for your technology lover (That doesn’t cost a small fortune) try your hand at a DIY tablet cover.

Source: The Craft Train

Does your tween or teen have a younger sibling? They can make these charming Duct Tape and sponge boats for the bathtub and gift them with something they made themselves, in addition to a great deal of bath-time fun.

I could do several months worth of blog posts on the power of duct tape. I strongly suggest you check out the Duct Brand websites craft section or just google “duct tape diy” and your browser will be filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas ranging from fashion accessories to waterproof beach totes to wedding dresses.

Friendship Bracelets: Fun and Easy Accessories 

Whether you are making them for your teen or giving your teen handmade gift ideas, the friendship bracelet is a time honored gift. Once again I’ll turn your attention to DIYReady.com. They have assembled 19 different styles of bracelet for your imagination to feast upon.

DIY Sites of Interest

The world of DIY is vast and there are so many people putting together lists of ideas for your holiday crafting. Here are a few of the sites I have found the most useful.

  • Boys often get the short end of the DIY stick. DIY Projects for Teens has a post devoted to them. From splash bomb trebuchets to skateboard shelves these project ideas are sure to delight your kiddo.
  • Moms and Crafters have a number of good DIY posts for both boys and girls, with one focusing on teens.
  • Craft Forest is filled to the brim with great DIY ideas, including the good old standby – the marshmallow shooter. However, they peg the meter of coolness with a DIY Lightsaber tutorial!

There’s more to come! Younger kiddos are next. I hope you enjoy some of these project ideas and have fun getting started on your handmade holiday!

Homemade Madness, house"keeping", Just me, Just me

Making all the things…(Part 1)

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It’s that time of year again! The air turns colder, the leaves start to crinkle, and my urge to MAKE ALL THE THINGS comes out of it’s summer hibernation.

This year we are doing handmade gifts for most of our family so I am getting started early with my research. I have college age kiddos and grade school kiddos, high school kiddos and full grown kiddos. Luckily the internet is vast and the possibilities are endless. It’s important to find gifts that people will like, that can be made inexpensively, and that are useful in some way.

Of course one person’s useful is another person’s WTF? so it’s equally important to know your audience. For example, monogrammed coasters might seem like a useful thing to make but do your friends even have coffee tables that require coasters?

I’m starting with my college peeps. This year, there are a lot of them.

College Age DIY Gifts –

  1. The Secret Book Safe – Keep your tiniest secrets hidden here, or at least your cash when you’re throwing a party for your fellow students. 
  2. Study Carrel – You can’t make everyone else leave the room, but you can kind of make your own room.
  3. Managing to sleep in a room with another person can be a challenge. A sleep away kit can make all the difference. A homemade eye mask can make it seem like you are home sweet home. A small homemade fleece pillow filled with lavender, a solid set of earplugs, and your softest pillow case combine to create a cozy sleeping environment where ever you actually are. 
  4. An office in a box gifts your student with all the study necessities. Post-it’s, pencil lead, bookmarks, paperclips, highlighters, and more! 
  5. A no-sew fleece blanket gives your student something soft to cuddle up in when they are tired and homesick.
  6. A Mason-Jar Sewing Kit is an essential gift for someone moving out on their own. After all, your sewing stuff is staying with you, so it’s not like they can just run in and grab it.
  7. Sick Day Cold Kit – Being sick away from home is the first time you really understand how much being a grown up sucks. Ease their pain a little. In a large mason jar place:
    1.  4 Emergency-C Packets.
    2.  A handful of cough drops.
    3.  A handful of throat lozenges.
    4.  2 packets of Throat Coat tea.
    5.  2 packets of Peppermint tea.
    6.  4 honey sticks.
    7.  A travel size tissue pack.
    8.  Lip balm.
    9.  Travel size menthol rub.
    10.  4 Nyquil Liquigels.
    11.  4 Dayquil Liquigels.
    12.  2 Advil packets.
    13. Chicken Soup packet.
    14. 2 saltine cracker packets.
    15. Quarters for the soda machine.
  8. Magnetic Message Boards let roommates communicate with each other and avoid awkward moments.

There are more. The internet is full of laundry kits, first aid kits, coffee lover kits, etc. Really, if you can think of it, you can turn it into a gift for someone in college.