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Hey, this is part of my never-ending quest to find stuff that you can really use – around your house, or to wear, or to, well, even clean stuff.
I knew about baking soda and vinegar already – but salt? Who knew? Well I recently found a super useful article on 46 Smart Uses For Salt!
Ordinary, Everyday, Super-Useful Salt
Here’s a sample of how you can use salt (and avoid Overhyped, Overcommercial, Overtoxic Other Store Bought Products):
Prevent fruits from browning.
Most of us use lemon or vinegar to stop peeled apples and pears from browning, but you can also drop them in lightly salted water to help them keep their color. (I tried this – it just takes a little!)
Relieve bee-sting pain.
Ouch? Immediately dampen area and pack on a small pile of salt to reduce pain and swelling. (Supposed to help with mosquito bites, too. TOTALLY worth trying.)
Extinguish grease fires.
Keep a box of salt near your stove and oven, and if a grease fire flares up, douse the flames with salt. (Okay, we all knew that one, right? and keep a full container of salt right near the stove – right?)
Dry clothes in the winter.
Use salt in the final laundry rinse to prevent clothes from freezing if you use an outdoor clothes line in the winter. (I mean, this makes sense when you think about it – but since I’ve only tried drying clothes outside in the summer, I hadn’t thought it through.)
Repair walls (!)
To fill nail holes, fix chips or other small dings in white sheet-rock or plaster walls, mix 2 tablespoons salt and 2 tablespoons cornstarch, then add enough water (about 5 teaspoons) to make a thick paste. Use the paste to fill the holes. (An alternative to the toothpaste trick. Better? I don’t know. But worth trying!)
Giving credit where it’s (totally) due – here’s a link to the original post over on Yahoo Green! There are lots more good tips for all kinds of uses.
Salt is cheap – it’s one thing we’ve got a lot of on this planet! And it’s eco-friendly. And it works (at least one the ones I’ve already tried – which makes me think it really does work as advertised here!)
And did I mention, cheap?
Silver is beautiful. It’s also – how to put this politely – okay. Call it a Challenge to photograph 🙂
I have some lovely vintage glass jewels in my Jewelry Supplies Shop on Etsy:
I’ve recently gotten some silver plated settings for my pretty vintage jewels – and I’d forgotten what a challenge silver can be to photograph! If it’s clean and shining (like these settings) – it reflects nearby colors almost like a mirror. Place the settings on a wood background – which is usually a good choice – and guess what? The silver looks tan, beige or bronze – the color(s) of aged brass! Well brass is wonderful – I use (and sell) a lot of it – but the point here is to show the silver!
I’m working on it. The composite above shows some of the pics that worked – and as you can see, those silver settings are highlighted by a lot of colors besides just “silver”.
This is going to be an ongoing project – better pics, more silver (plated) settings, more silver all around – and more of a learning curve. So – stay tuned, this will be continued!
So the stress the last couple of days has been Zini, our Sun Conure. Normally she’s loud and sassy, superactive and playful. But since the 3rd she’s been slowing down and getting tired all the time. We thought maybe she and her buddy, Willy the Quaker Parrot, had gotten stressed by all the Loud Noises and Smells of the Fourth of July (which around here lasts from, say, 2nd July to… well, it hasn’t stopped yet, and today’s the 7th).
So off to the vet’s yesterday. Yes, we should’ve taken her a day earlier – but it was a federal holiday and, well, we hedged because she was eating better and we thought, maybe it’s okay. We shouldn’t have waited. Turns out she has an infection and is maybe anemic, and she spent last night in hospital.
She’s been with Willy for 5 years now (since she was 3 months old) and they have only spent one night apart, in all that time. So this separation was MAJOR stress for them. We brought her home today, tentatively, with firm instructions on how to administer her medicine. We just thought – well, we can give her bunches of attention, more than the vet possibly can, and make sure she eats. She only weighs 100-102 grams average when she’s healthy and she’d lost over TEN GRAMS – a huge and scary loss – in just two days.
She was at 89 grams when we brought her home this morning. This evening she’s at 97 grams and still eating (pellets, apples, and grapes – lots of grapes) 🙂
So: the power of love. Ours – and definitely Willy’s.
Here’s a great example of indie design – fab style – and recycling too! This dress is from Amanda Vaughn-Redmon on etsy.
First and foremost of course, is that it’s a great-looking dress – it would be fun and flattering to wear!
Equally important in my book – she makes her garments in the U.S. (North Carolina) and she uses recycled/repurposed clothing for all or part of them. Of course that makes each garment one-of-a-kind, which is terrific too 🙂
Think about it – this is style at its best. It looks great, those fabrics would feel good and be super easy to care for (here, she’s used an old t-shirt, and slinky drapy poly knit) – and she’s taking what would otherwise be tossed away, and turned it into something fabulous.
Talk about a feel-good dress! Love it 🙂
I found another great example of wallpaper-as-art and wanted to share it, especially because there’s an extra bit of food-for-thought here. First, here’s the inspiration photo:
Wallpaper as Art – Inspiration from Style-Files.com
Now there’s a point to all this. First off, this is (part of) a great-looking room (and Style Files is full of inspiration, truly, go look around!) But even more – here’s the bear-with-me idea.
I happen to think this is a great looking vignette. I also think that the wallpaper they’ve used in this pic is totally unremarkable – in and of itself. It’s okay. It’s not fabulous. But the way they’ve used it, as a strong graphic statement, framed AS ART, really does look terrific.
Okay, that’s Idea Number One. It doesn’t have to be priceless art. It has to say something to you, or be a color you love, or whatever. Treat it as art, be bold with it – and it IS art.
Which leads me to my second point. I took the photo from Style Files and fiddled with it – excuse me ladies, it was just to try something out. What I did, was grab what I consider a totally inappropriate graphic from my own files (inappropriate meaning, it ain’t “art”, it’s just a graphic). This particular graphic is of a pair of earrings on my site – and yes, I do think the earrings are terrific (you can find them here). But as wall art? No, I wouldn’t choose this graphic.
But in my doctored-up-photo, I took the earrings image. I copied it a bunch of times – just like you could do if you took any image you liked and made 20 copies at your local copy shop. Then group the images together on the wall (put pasteboard or something behind them if you don’t want to paste directly on the wall) and presto: you’ve got strong wall art.
See what I mean? This isn’t priceless art. But because it is a strong image, and the repetitive idea makes it even more graphically interesting, and because it’s framed on the wall like “real art” – it works. It looks good. It makes a statement.
It costs practically nothing if you use images from magazine pages. Or maps. Or wallpaper samples. Whatever. Use *recycled* images, that’s even better.
Try it. It works.
I’ve started doing “pet photo jewelry” lately and people are so enthusiastic about their pets, furbabies, fuzzy kids, whatever you call them – I have a feeling these are going to be fun!
There’s a twist though. I don’t just use straight pixel-for-pixel photos (well I can, but that hasn’t been the focus so far) – instead, I make a sort of portrait of your furbaby, and use that as the basis for the earrings (or pendant). For example, look at these sweet beagle earrings:
Custom Pet Photo Earrings or Pendant
These would be fun anyway, because this is a much-loved pet and her human really cares about these earrings – and the extra fun part is that, these aren’t copied from an “exact” photo. At my customer’s urging, I played with the photo a little, I changed it, stylized it, turned it into a mini-portrait. (Yes, I photoshopped it!)
I think it’s going to be interesting to go down that road a little more 🙂
The earrings are a great conversation starter, if you’re into that. And they’re a great keepsake gift for someone you love (hmm, can we can “paper anniversary present”?) For someone who loves their pet!
PS I’m going to be putting up some new and different examples soon – stay tuned for further developments!
I know, there’s a ton of hype and all, and come on, what do I care about cartoon or animated movies? Not so much. But.
Toy Story 3 – read more about it at imdb.com
I have to say it. This is a great movie. This is a movie about toys! How could it be moving, entertaining, gripping, romantic (sometimes), hysterically funny (sometimes), surprisingly sophisticated (sometimes)? But it is!
These guys are GOOD. Not only the actors – even more, the writers, the Pixar staff, the animators, all of them. They made me care. They practically had me on the edge of my seat. I knew the good guys would win, I mean, come on, it’s meant for kids (maybe), and it’s Disney, and it’s about TOYS. The good guys have to win. And they caught me up and all right, maybe there was one tiny tear or two.
Not surprisingly, the cast is terrific – but you knew they would be. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Michael Keaton – Michael Keaton! wait till you catch his character! Wallace Shawn, Ned Beatty, and I know I’m forgetting some of the good ones. How could they not be good?
It’s really funny. It’s really interesting. It’s really good. Go see it.
This isn’t a new idea but I just found a great example of the classic “reuse cardboard containers” Do It Yourself idea:
Recycled cardboard container (this was oatmeal) into good-looking storage
Like I said, it’s a classic idea. Cover the cardboard with contact paper, fabric, recycled magazine pages (yeah, more recycled stuff!) to match your decor. Make a grouping of three or four of them, maybe – really your imagination’s the limit, and more storage is always good 🙂
Once again I’ve found great tips – this time it’s 50 Healthy Foods for Under $1 a Pound at The Daily Green – over on Yahoo. (Scroll down the page to find 12 Things To Do With Oatmeal.
There are tons of great tips, and cost-saving ideas over there – all green oriented. Really, check it out!
I’m always looking for paper inspiration and goodies, right? And in my recent quest I found this yummy vintage skirt. The vendor is calling the print, “Paper Roses”, which is how I found it. Serendipity! It’s so fun to find surprises that are as cute as this one – and as affordable 🙂
“Paper Roses” Vintage Skirt from kellyemeraldhart at Etsy
Of course once I found her shop I had to look around. She’s got really good prices, vintage skirts and dresses I’m definitely going to check out, and some goodies that I thought were both attractive and really interesting. Take a look at this artwork:
Polaroid into Prints – from kellyemeraldhart at Etsy
She’s taken her own polaroids – and turned them into larger prints. You can buy a pack (as in this listing) or get each one separately for only $2.00! I love the water-color-ish look of them – and the uniqueness – and of course the price!
Original artwork – and vintage pretties – this is a great shop you definitely want to visit 🙂
P.S. AND she’s having a sale!
This is such a simple idea I’m crushed I didn’t think of it – but it’s so cool I have to share 🙂
I discovered this idea over at Domestically Speaking Blog – there’s bunches of useful info and fun ideas over there and you really ought to check it out.
And this idea is lovely – fun – easy!
Painted Bottles – Do It Yourself 🙂
She shares how she made them and it’s worth reading the tips she offers – but basically? You take clean empty bottles, drop in several drops of acrylic paint, put the lid back on the bottle, and shake! Much prettier than painting the outside of the bottle because you get not only the color – you get the shine and gloss of the glass.
Check out her blog – and then add a terrific punch of color to your house with recycled bottles. 🙂
PS Once again, this could be great for brides. Use silver or white paint on the inside of the bottles, and add real or silk flowers, as centerpieces for your reception tables. Or make a big grouping of the bottles, in your wedding colors of course, to add drama to any table. You’ll think of more ideas than I have – and you’ll be adding a personal (thrifty) touch to your wedding!
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Coolness
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