Good Idea Friday - Preventing Buttons From Falling Off

Long story short, I have an AMAZING coat I love that my dear husband hunted down from one of my pinterest pins (take note: pinterest is a great way to find the perfect gift for someone! He's always poking around my pinterest boards for gift ideas). But despite how much I love it, I don't love the fact that the freaking metal buttons are always falling off. They cut the string, any string, that I've used to sew them on. To the point that I need to sew them back on at least once a week.

The coat in question - by a company called Just Add Sugar

So I started looking at ways of fixing this problem. I originally thought maybe buying new buttons, but I like the buttons on the coat. So, dental floss? Ehh.. it's white and might be visible from the dark coat and black buttons.

Then I stumbled across this sewing forum post, and gave the hook and eye method a try. Weeks later, the buttons are still on the coat, even after a long camping trip to the Olympic forest that involved a lot of running around and hiking.

What you need is some hook and eye findings, like these:

You just need the "eye" portion, that on the right

This will only work on buttons with shanks, vs buttons with the typical 2 or 4 holes. Loop the eye portion through the shank (I had to use pliers to undo one end, threaded it through, and reclosed it) then simply sew the eye bit onto the coat, not the button.

Ta-da!

Hopefully this helps out anyone else with the problem of buttons popping off. I know there are other solutions out there (sanding the shank down, using waxed thread or dental floss, etc) but this one is so simple and lasting I had to share.

Cinnamon Roll Crust

"How great is this? Just use store bought cinnamon roll dough in place of crust for your pies!"

A fan submitted this one and had the same concerns I did when reading this. If you've ever made cinnamon rolls before, even store bought ones often found in the chill case, they tend rise when baked. So either the rising roll crust is going to cause all the amazing pie filling to leak out the sides (and onto the oven floor) or it's going to remain a dense, chewy undercooked mess. 

Luckily I was able to track down the original source of the image, and wouldn't you know it? That's not what this is an image of. Over at Tablespoon, Stephanie shares a great recipe on how to make a pie with a faux cinnamon roll crust made of rolled up crust, spices and sugar. Since it's crust, it won't rise like the supermarket rolls will, so your pie filling will stay in place. You can read more of her recipes on her blog at Girl Versus Dough. 

So, is anyone game to try this? I'd try one with cinnamon rolls from the store, but I made a new years resolution not to set my oven on fire for this year. If you try ether examples though, let us know! Share photos or stories on our facebook and twitter. 

Good Idea Friday - The Truly BEST Fruit Fly Trap

Fruit Fly Trap : Wormilicious

That's a pretty bold statement in the title, I know. And today's Good Idea Friday didn't come from Pinterest (sorry!) but it's so amazing that it should be on Pinterest.

A few weeks ago we woke up to a to a huge fruit fly invasion, out of the blue. Apparently they are really common this time of year. We spent the day cleaning the kitchen really well, setting out glasses of wine with a few drops of dish soap in it, and figured that would take care of that.

We were wrong. Very wrong. By the next day, they had invaded every room of the house. I was so skeeved out I wanted to run out of my house screaming. So we spent all day doing a huge deep cleaning of the entire house, setting houseplants outside, pouring boiling water down the drains, trying the paper cone method that is fairly popular. We even set out bowls of fruit and vinegar, with plastic wrap over it with holes poked in.

By day three however, it was apparent nothing was working. None of the traps seemed to work. They just hung out on the rim of the soap laced glasses, and very few ventured into the paper cone method or plastic wrapped bowls. We talked of bug bombing the house, because at this point I couldn't even pour myself a glass of wine without having fruit flies instantly descend into the glass.

But as luck would have it, we didn't need to bug bomb the house. Instead, we grabbed the fly tape. Yes, the cheap fly tape you can get at the dollar store. We hung it over the sink with a glass of wine below it, and waited. By the next morning, there were noticeably less fruit flies flying around, and the fly tape was honestly disgusting looking it. By day two of having the fly tape up, we were pretty much fruit fly free.

Unfortunately my husband and I were so grossed out by the sight of the fly tape that we tore it down before I got a photo of it for the blog, but trust me when I say this is by far the quickest easiest method I've ever tried to get rid of fruit flies. I decided to do a google search and was amazed to only find one blog post about this method. Over at Wormilicious, she builds a really ingenious trap using fly tape as well. In fact, my husband was trying to figure out how to get a fly tape around the glass to begin with. I think next time we end up with an invasion on our hands, we're going to try her method.

Post Update: I've also had a few people ask about where to get sticky tape for the fruit fly trap. I found some just the other day at Winco actually, but I assume most hardware stores will carry it. It's actually marketed as a window tape for flies, it comes in a little package that reminded me of those hand warmers you find around winter time.  And of course you can find it on amazon if you don't feel like hauling yourself to the hardware store.

Galaxy or Aurora Cocktail

"This cocktail isn't Photoshopped. With a blacklight and the right ingredients, you can actually make your own at home."

I'm honestly flabbergasted at the amount of times I have seen this pinned by people who honestly believe if they follow the drink recipe, it will come out looking like this. This is pure photoshop people. In fact, the original artist of the image is Melody, who was so sick of seeing her image stolen and used without permission she's covered the original on her page with about a dozen different watermarks. 

But is it a real drink? It sure is! I can't vouch for the flavor as I haven't tried it yet, but this is the recipe via Campus Companion : 

• 9 liters of tonic water
• 3-4 bottles of rose mojito passions OR 3-4 cans of pink lemonade concentrate
• Ice 

And the results? It looks something like this: 

As cool as that is, it's not a galaxy in a glass. It's because the tonic water contains quinine, which glows under a blacklight. You can make a lot of different cocktails and drinks that glow, as long as you use tonic water and have a black light handy. 

Good Idea Friday - Lemon and Clove to Scare off Wasps

"A way to get rid of wasps! Lemon with 10 cloves or put out a saucer with cloves in it. Wasps hate the scent!"

Lemon and Cloves : Warsztat Mamy

This is a pin that I thought would be easy enough to research and instead has taken me weeks of research and emails to people to collect data on, only to I realized I was focused on the wrong part of the pin. 

You see, I was honestly really skeptical about this. How often do we see natural remedies or pest control ideas on Pinterest (like garlic for mosquitoes) that just aren't effective. Having grown up in a very rural part of the country myself, I have seen the way wasps especially flock towards any fruit (you learn real quick as a kid not to run barefoot near the apple trees) Wasps like the scent of fruits and meat, so I wasn't too sure if a fruit like lemon would really drive them away. I spent some time on google trying to find if wasps really didn't care for the scent of lemon and was unable to find anything regarding it. I decided to go straight to the source. If there is one person who would know if wasps like lemons, it would be the owner of a lemon orchard. 

I sent out a couple of emails and Karen from Lemon Ladies Orchard in California was kind enough to reply. She keeps bee hives next to her orchard (great for pollination) but hasn't noticed any wasps. Is that due to the lemons, or the bees? She sent my question on to other lemon growing friends of her. Susan Burchiel of Birch-Hill Organics replied and said she hasn't seen wasps in the orchards, but does have yellow jackets. Interesting, I started wondering if the honey bees and yellow jackets were chasing off the wasps or if really was the scent of lemons. Yellow Jackets are actually a class of wasps themselves, so I was starting to think maybe this wasn't a true remedy to deter wasps. 

And then I decided to start looking at the clove aspect of the pin and that's where I became surprised. You see, a lot of bugs really do hate the scent of the cloves. In fact, it's one of the most popular form of natural pesticide and is used in even commercial products. (source) It's called eugenol oil, and is found in cloves, cinnamon, basil, and bay leaves. Now eugenol oil despite being natural does come with it's own host of dangers, mainly that in large amounts it can kill you if ingested. (source) But it works, and since this idea uses cloves in their natural form it's probably a far safer method than using just pure eugenol oil or other pesticides. 

So if you're looking for a natural way of combating pesky wasps and other bugs at the picnic table, this is a pin I would suggest trying. 

Good Idea Friday - Nail Polish to Brighten Solar Panels

"Rejuvenating solar garden lights — with nail polish! Brilliant!!!"

How to rejuvenate your solar lights : blog.kriegsman.org

Today's good idea post is going to save me a lot of money. Last summer I noticed my solar lights for the garden weren't as bright and nice as they were when I bought them. I switched out the batteries but no luck, so I pulled them all up and put them away, thinking it was probably time to buy new ones. 

Well I never got around to investing in new ones, and I'm really grateful now for that. A little fine grit sandpaper and clear nail polish is all it takes to revive the solar panels on your lights. You can read more about it over on the blog kriegsman.org 

Good Idea Friday - Soap Ice Pack

"DIY Ice pack: The soap doesn't solidify so it molds to the shape you need." 

Thanks to a fan for posting this over on our facebook page. I was pretty skeptical about this one personally, but it was easy and cheap enough to test out. Sure enough, it works! It  freezes but not solid like water does, and you can mash it up once it's frozen to better wrap around what you're icing. It's so easy, all you do is fill a zip top baggie with soap, squeeze out the air, and freeze. Soap does take longer to freeze than water though, so best to always have one on hand waiting in the freezer for when you need it.

In other news - you may have noticed posts here have been lacking. I run this blog in my spare time, and real life and work have suddenly picked up, so I don't have as much time to be on Pinterest like I usually do. This is where I would love help from my fans! I'm always in need of  ideas, both good and bad, so if you see something on Pinterest you are wondering about, either email it to me or just posted it directly on our facebook page. I should be back to posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in a few weeks, so don't think I've forgotten this blog.

We also had an awesome fan who shared her own attempted at the "Glitter Sugar" I wrote about on Monday. She said "So, edible glitter was an epic pinterest fail!" I think I can agree with her there. Another problem with the suggestions on the sugar was no temperature was ever mentioned for your oven, it's important to remember that sugar is fairly easy to melt, so anything over, say, 170°F is going to melt it. 

Good Idea Friday - Toothpaste on Your HeadLights

"How to Clean Your Car Headlights-with toothpaste"

This post is for a fan who asked how true this was. 

(Have questions or submissions? Post it on our facebook page!) 

So, can toothpaste of all things really clean your car's headlamps? Yes. Oddly enough. However there are a lot of things that can, so I'll explain how and why it works. Things like this often times will stress that it must be toothpaste, not the more modern gel styles of toothpaste. Why? Because more traditional toothpastes tend to have a higher grit content - if you put some on your fingers and rub them together, you can feel the difference between toothpaste and tooth gel. The gel has a much smoother gel like consistency. It's the grit of the old fashion toothpaste (bonus points if it's something with baking soda) that is what is really cleaning the headlamps. 

You can get the same effect using a dozen different things from around the house - a water and baking soda mix, a magic eraser, Bon Ami cleaner, etc. The goal is to cut through the grim and oil and dirt, which ultimately needs something with a bit of texture to clean away but not enough to scratch the glass of the light. This works well for a lot of things that need a little extra cleaning help - from your oil splattered toaster to the top of your cookstove to the rubber white soles of your converse shoes. 

So what do you think? Good idea? In a pinch I'd use it, but I'm sticking with my tried and loved melamine sponge (aka Magic Eraser) for this personally. I don't think my headlights care if they are minty fresh or not. 

Good Idea Friday - Fix Your Broken Makeup

"A few drops of alcohol in broken make up will fix it."

 

How to Fix Broken Make up : Small Notebook

Who doesn't have a few of these laying around? You love the color of the blush or eyeshadow but one wrong drop on the bathroom floor or whacked around in your handbag has it in pieces. If you're anything like me you want to hold onto it, trying your best to use it even if it ends up spilling and flaking everywhere. 

Well there is a easy way to fix that, one we also probably have laying around - rubbing alcohol. As soon as I read about this tip it was "why didn't I think of that?" - alcohol is a liquid that evaporates rather quickly unlike water. Just a few drops mixed into the broken make up, stir with a tooth pick and flatted back out, and within 24-48 hours you'll have your make up back together again. 

I have tried this myself and it worked great, which sent me digging through my make up box trying to find anything I could try it on. I tried it on some loose mineral make up - both face powder and eye shadow - but with mix results. The alcohol did help it form together, and after it dried it looked like regular make up, but after a day of being carried around it broke back up into loose powder. My guess is that mineral powders lacks the necessary binders added to most make up to make them form together in the first place. 

The other thing is that I noticed the make up I repaired still tended to break and chip more than my other make up, so I'd suggest that the make up you repair should be kept tucked in a make up box at home, not tossed in your purse or case for a night out. But hey if it breaks again, you know how to repair it.