Should You Heat Cork Before Cutting? Several online resources suggest soaking or steaming cork to make it easier to cut, especially for projects using wine corks. Heated cork expands and its elasticity becomes more uniform (it normally has elastic anisotropy properties – one directional). This can help provide a cleaner cut and makes sense … Continue Reading
When you open your Google Photos account, you land on the main library screen. This screen presents you with all the photos you’ve added to your account as well as photos that have been shared with you by other users. The one nice benefit to having all the photos appear in the main library is … Continue Reading
After having cleaned 50 glass votives used at a wedding, we finally found a method that actually worked. Once we removed the votive candles, we were left with bits of wax and grit on every glass. Heating the glass did help a little, but there was still a waxy film residue and gritty bits of … Continue Reading
Here is a fairly easy, inexpensive way to make graduated braided rope curtain tie backs. Curtain tie backs aren’t as popular as they used to be, but they are a necessity for outdoor curtains. In our case we needed them to prevent our curtains from flying everywhere in even the slightest breeze. We bought inexpensive … Continue Reading
This was the final project for our pop-up camper remodel. We wanted an awning that didn’t look “DIY” and that had support arms attached to the camper (versus poles that are staked to the ground). We used nylon webbing to make straps so the awning could be strapped to the camper roof when not in … Continue Reading
Not sure how it happened, but a bed sheet came out of the washer with several staggered tears. To fix these holes, the best solution seemed to be to patch them. Rather than have several, long seamed repairs I decided to try to make the patches look decorative. After deciding on a design using large … Continue Reading
We epoxied our tiled kitchen countertops and the wood mullion face trim about 4 months ago. Our only regret is that we didn’t do it years earlier. The countertops are better than we had hoped for and are a 100% improvement over our old, chipped/broken tiles with their crumbly, dirty grout lines. The best part … Continue Reading
It has been quite a few years since there have been babies in the house. As first time grandparents, we wanted to get just those items that we would need on those occasions we might be babysitting. Did we really need to get a bassinet, a crib, a changing station, and the hundred other items … Continue Reading
To successfully grow a frosty fern (AKA Selaginella kraussiana ‘Variegata’) you have to provide a similar environment to how it grows in its natural habitat. It needs moist, well-drained soil, deep shade, temperatures between 68 to 84 degrees, and 77 to 88 percent humidity (please, no misting!). Most of these requirement make for a recipe … Continue Reading
If you are starting seeds before the spring or wanting to protect plants over the winter and don’t have a greenhouse, a portable indoor greenhouse is a great alternative. Buy Or DIY? In terms of price, the main comparison is the lower cost of a pre-made portable greenhouse (without casters) versus the items you would … Continue Reading
