Fan-Daids _ A Moms Crafty Solution

Well if you live where it's hot and are in need of some cheap cooling you probably own one of these.....

A pretty inexpensive box fan. You can find one for about $15-$20 dollars and for most family's that's ok, just another item on the list if it goes out on you. For us it was a bit of an expense during a time that's not usually slow for my husbands construction business. It was a hot July day when I came inside to find our fan had fallen out of the window and was lying face down on the floor. Not only had it fallen but one of the blades had broken completely off!! I was so mad, not only had it been exceedingly hot but we had vowed to turn off the air conditioning after the last electric bill we received (I'm sure someone can relate) and this fan was suppose to be saving my sanity in our tri-level duplex. Of course it was cool and relaxing in our bedrooms that are located under ground level but the heat was killing us upstairs! I like to make a good home cooked meal every night too which would usually push us into the upper 80's if I wasn't careful (and that was with the fans going so we were in a real pickle). After about 3 days without our fan I was ready to tackle the problem: Fixing the fan blade so we would not have to spend unnecessary money on another fan! Luckily my wonderful husband already made the fan colorful with the kids..

...as you can see our fan has a rainbow on the inside. A little tradition passed down on his side of the family to color in the center of the fans with crayons. This helped when I decided to fix the fan because I figured all I could do was give it even more character!




First off I removed the covering to the fan and washed the whole inside especially the spots where I was intending to fix it (after I unplugged it of course). Then I assembled the supplies I would need: super glue gel, small narrow strips of news paper, and some Mod Podge. I started by adhering the broken blade back to the fan with the super glue gel the best I could and left it to dry. After it was dry I applied a generous amount of Mod Podge and then I applied the "Fan-Daids". Little strips of newspaper applied with the decoupage media cross wise across the break to give it added stability.

If you look close you can see where the crack is underneath the "Fan-Daids". I forgot to take before pics of course! but I think you can see everything pretty well.

After about 20 minutes to ensure a good solid dry we turned it on to see if it would work. For the record I think I was the only one confident in the repair, everyone got a few laughs while I was working on it. But today over a month later I'm the one who's laughing!! It's still going strong! Yeah sure I probably only saved about $15 bucks but hey $15 dollars is $15 dollars and our colorful family fan now has a little more character.

Shark Week Project Finally Finished

So I finally finished my shark week project. I sketched out a shark and made some products in my Zazzle store. Currently 2 T-Shirts displaying "Sharky The Shark". I have to admit he's pretty good looking. Stop in and check it out sometime. I am trying to find time to make more products in here. I was thinking about making a "Sharky The Shark" coffee mug....kinda how I feel in the mornings!...I would love one for work. Short on time today, I am trying to finish my girls bedroom makeover. They are very excited and have been helping me every day. There will be a post and some before & after pics when we are finished (If I can find my camera :)). Got to go, be back posting soon!

P.S. If you cannot see "Sharky The Shark" items check back soon they may still be uploading.

Gone To Long!

Sorry for the break from posts. I have been a busy little bee lately trying to get things done and keep up with all my tasks. So I never did a craft last week although I kinda started a T-shirt design for my new Zazzle account. I was theming it for shark week, too bad I missed the timing on that one, oh well I will still have a cool shark shirt for sale even if it doesn't correspond with shark week exactly :). I will put some pics and a link up as soon as I finish the final touches.

Possibly Sharks in the Future!

Courtesy of the Discovery Channel

I need to figure out my craft for the week today and as I was perusing through the channels last night looking for something to watch when I discovered SHARK WEEK! I was so busy I totally forgot. After quite a bit of thought I decided whatever my craft is for the week it needs to somehow involve sharks. I haven't quite decided what I wanted to do but hopefully soon!!

The Finished Product

I was able to finish my weekly craft last night but I also had to help my best friend move a few boxes to her new apartment so I am just finally getting the pics up this morning. 

These where the materials I started with: teal thread, 1 small piece of scrap material, 1 large piece of material, a sewing needle, some scissors, a recycled card board tube and some batting.

Here is the finished product:

I also have pics of the first one I made a while back:

.....And here is the both of them together:

This was a really fun project this week and I can't wait to decide what to do next!

A Crafters Promise

Ok, so one of the things I love to do is craft. Some people may wonder what type of crafts I enjoy, I would have to say ALL OF THEM! Currently I sew (simple purses, Halloween costumes, crazy quilt items,etc.), make recycled (acid free) paper, create hemp accessories (Necklaces, belts and bracelets), assemble cute magnets from glass flower weights and magazine clippings, scrapbook, paint, draw and decoupage. I am also working on finding some wax melting pots, like the ones we used in high school, so I can get into batiking. Alas in the craziness of everyday life, working full time and having 2 children, my crafts often find themselves on the back burner waiting for the day that I am not totally exhausted to come so they can get done. Well no more! I have officially decided (as of yesterday) that if I continue waiting till I am not tired to make them they will never get done. Lets be serious what mother of 2 small young children has spare time laying around? NONE!, and if you can manage a small tidbit of free time your almost always tired. So now I am officially making time for my crafts and plan to post pictures here. Ideally I would like to make 1 craft a week and place it in my "collection box". When my collection box is full I plan to make an Etsy account and sell all of my cool items. This will hopefully help me stay motivated and keep on track. I started a craft last night to kick off my "weekly project" and hope to have it finished in a day or two for you to see. My latest project is making sewing holder /pin cushion combo cup out of fabric (mostly scraps and remnants), a heavy duty cardboard tube (recycled from my workplace), some batting, left over sewing accessories (such as buttons), and some thread. They really are cutie and not only do they come in handy for scissors, seam rippers and pencils but also pins, needles,any anything else pointy that may need a cushion :). A few of my friends raved about them so hopefully everyone else will like them too!