Fall wreath and craft ideas

Fall is definitely my favourite season. Pumpkin baked goods, cinnamon and apple cider, sweater and boot weather, I love it all. Last week I picked up a relatively inexpensive grape vine wreath at Michael's and some miniature glittery pumpkins (check out their flyers for coupons off regular priced items to save a couple bucks).

I found some orange flowers and feathers at the dollarama and set to it.
Of course there are loads of possibilities with wreath making, but I wanted something simple.

Three orange flowers, light green ribbon, some "feather" looking leaves and half of a glittery pumpkin make a cheap but beautiful door decoration!
Nevermind paying 20+ dollars at the craft stores, this cost less that 15$!
Plus you'll have leftover items to create other things such as the hanging door knob decoration I created using jute twine :)
Enjoy crafting with your little ones or, with a glass of warm apple cider after a day at the pumpkin patch.

Happy fall!

New home, Newly Married....

Hello again! 
It feels like forever since I have posted on this blog (it's been two years!) but hubby and I have been very busy in the last two years with our girl. We have moved three times (relocated to a new province!) and are now finally settled in our new home. We were married September 1st and what a great day it was.

Hubby + I

I am hoping to get back into the blog scene as I am ...well quite frankly bored at home. I have lots of upcoming posts, so stay tuned. If you'd like to explore my other social media outlets, check out my twitter @caitHooper & follow me on Pinterest caithooper :) 

Thanks for checking out my blog. Come back again for my newest DIY posts, rants, and flea market findings

Cheers
Caitlin

Tea Staining ...

...and the benefits of tea.

Hey guys, today's post will combine a bit of DIY and some beauty info :) So for anyone wanting to do something crafty, I have what you are looking for :)

Drinking tea has been a common occurrence since as far back as 2373 BC. Since then, we have evolved into a caffeine-driven, Starbucks addicted society, guzzling back things like Green Tea Latte's and all of these new aged concoctions. Aside from these delicious drinks, tea has a few other uses that go largely unnoticed.

Today, we are going to explore a few uses and benefits of tea!

First off, other uses for tea.

• Tea bags work wonderfully for swollen, puffy eyes. I used tea bags on my eyes when I had pink eye to reduce the swelling.
• Chamomile tea can be used as a sleep aid. You can either ingest it or throw a few bags into a hot bath.
• Peppermint tea can be used as a very fresh-scented foot soak.
• Use tea-bags to stop bleeding from a lost or pulled tooth.
• Mint tea is a great breath-freshener.
• Black tea can be used as a soak to strengthen dogs paws.
• Brew some chamomile tea and use it as a facial steam, your skin will appreciate it :)

For a quick list of the benefits of drinking tea, visit this site. I'm not going to list them as there are TOO many.

Tea-Staining

i think one of my favourite diy projects is tea staining (or tea dying)...

you can get some really cool vintage-looking things when you use tea to dye.

some ideas...

*lace .. very vintage and romantic looking

*muslin
*and a seperate project, paper !

Just boil some tea, I'd use 5-6 bags of tea for one pot of water. Boil and let the bags steep for 10-15 minutes. Remove the tea bags and pour tea into a container (rubbermaid containers work well, but you can usually buy big buckets at the dollarstore that would work just as well)...

Next insert the material you wish to dye in the tea. Let sit for an hour or so.

Remove the material and hang to dry (or lay out on a rack or countertop). Keep in a dry place. For paper, I would recommend being very gentle when removing from the tea.

Remember: Tea is organic so it is not a permanent dye. Tea staining fades with the sun, and washes out quickly. Clothing would not last long dyed, but some things that may work well are linens, curtains, runners, tablecloths, etc.

Canvas Art (for babies and children!)

Hello, fellow bloggers! I am sure you realized i have taken a short, unexplained leave of absence from the blogging world. Unfortunately, my laptop decided to end it's short 4 year life as my best technological friend. I thought perhaps it would continue to work when I got it fixed a few times but it has died again. Alas, today I'm Back :) and would like to bring you a cool craft/gift idea that kids and even babies can help make, or.. if they're "big kids" can do it on their own. This is even a great keep sake for new parents to do with their newborn...

what you'll need:

canvas - most dollar stores carry different sizes of canvas, however you can also purchase it in craft stores like Michaels'

black ink or paint

paintbrushes if you intend to put the childs name, birthdate, etc on the canvas

other paint colours if you intend to put the childs name, birthdate, etc on the canvas

wipes, paper towel, face clothes or whatever else you will use to clean up the mess!

Basically, if you are doing this yourself with a baby, you can come up with a pattern using the babies feet or hands and just stamp it onto the canvas.

First cover the babies hand/foot with ink or paint.

Stamp on in center of page, or use a pattern, or for something more abstract, stamp one foot or hand in a bottom corner.

Next, after cleaning up after your little one and waiting for the ink or paint to dry, take out a paint brush and write the childs name and/or birthdate somewhere on the canvas.

This is a great gift for god parents at a christening, or for grandparents! It also looks adorable when you have 2 or 3 of them hanging beside one another :)

Hope you guys find this as fun as I did ! Happy Birthday Kelly!

Tea Tree Oil Nail Soak (and the benefits of tea tree oil!)

Hey guys, I'm back. Sorry for the absence it's been a busy summer. Today I'm going to give you a great recipe for a really good nail soak!

Before using this nail soak, please remove any nail polish and wash your hands.

• Add 4 drops of tea tree oil to 6 tablespoons of olive oil (or for those of you who have it - almond oil)
• Soak fingernails for 5 minutes per hand.

You can do this up to 2 times daily. Tea tree oil has many healing properties that most people don't know about, including use for the following conditions

• acne
• athlete's foot
• dandruff
• thrush
• periodontal disease
• as an antiseptic
• lice
• eczema
• psoriasis

You can purchase tea tree oil at most health and nutrition stores, and i believe as well at Walmart!

pressing flowers

Okay I know this sounds really lame and granny-ish but I promise you can do some really cool stuff with pressed flowers. I know I'm lacking on the 'beauty' related posts but it's summer so there are lots of cool 'summer craft' ideas kicking around in my little head.

Ok so the first thing you need for pressing flowers is obviously some flowers! In Cape Breton there are TONNES of really really nice flowers that grow every summer that look great when pressed, daisies and lupins just to name a few.

Grab a tonne of big, heavy books (what a great way to put to use all of those big, bulky psychology text books that you ahem, "read" during University).

You will also need some paper towel and wax paper!

So here's how it's done:

• Go outside and pick flowers like a hippie and/or 5 year old child...


• Once you've got what you think you'll need, take one of those heavy text books and open it to say, about 1/2 way, and place a sheet of wax paper the side of the 2 pages inside, laying it out flat.


• Take 1-2 sheets of paper towel and do the same, depending on the size of the text book.


• Next arrange the flowers (hey, you can also pick some leaves and stuff, they work great for fillers!) so that they do not overlap and touch, this will probably make them stick together when they are done..but if you want them to stick together by all means go ahead..


• Close the book (you can keep putting pages of flowers in the book, or use other books and pile them on top of one another) and leave sit for approximately 24 hours. The paper towel helps absorb the flowers moisture and the wax paper keeps it from ruining the pages of the texts. If you don't wish to save your text books, you can omit the wax paper :)


• Once you've pressed all your flowers you can arrange them in a cool pattern or you can use one single flower and frame them! They look super cool! I picked some purple flowers and framed them for my friend who was moving into her first place and her bedroom was purple, they looked great in a black frame with a white border mat.

Thrift Shopping in Cape Breton

One thing I wish more people around here did was visit thrift stores. Everyone is always shocked when I tell them "I got it at Louis'" or "it's from Value Village". Why not many people take advantage of the cute finds and low prices, I still can't understand. I buy things for my whole family here and it is the best place to shop for babies and children, as they are growing constantly.

I guess this is my mini guide to thrift store shopping in Cape Breton.

First, I avoid Value Village unless I am looking for something specific and can't find it anywhere else. My favourite thrift sore is Louis on Keltic Drive. I would like to give a little background on Louis - their clothes come from Boston, and they are in fairly good condition as residents of Boston receive a tax benefit for giving clothing to charity, so they often buy and donate frequently. Also, on Mondays at Louis there is a 'buy one get one free' sale, so you could get a baby onesie for 85 cents, and another for free. That's insane! They have the coolest vintage dresses, and even carry uniforms, maternity clothes, and bedding. They do not carry household items (dishes, furniture etc) only clothing and shoes. So I urge everyone to go check it out.

The next place is Salvation Army on the way to the Pier. This is a very small shop but you can often find the cutest things here, even sometimes cd players and dishes. The money made here goes to charity so I don't feel bad spending a lot there :)

There is a Frenchy's in Glace Bay that also has fair prices, but i don't go there often as it's sorta out of the way, but... i hear they have good deals and they usually have a bag day. Bag days are common at thrift stores, they will charge a base fee for a big bag, usually a garbage bag, and you fill it with whatever you like. They also have this at Louis.

The store Gala has been around a few times in various locations but it's a good store for mostly late teen and young adults. Also, this store aims to be more like a retail store selling "vintage" clothing and used brand name label clothing. It tends to be slightly expensive (when it comes to thrift stores) but you can usually find some really cute stuff here including scarves, hand bags, shoes, dresses and tops. They also carry mens clothes. I would recommend this to anyone browsing the shops of Charlotte St.

Anyway, I would avoid Value Village mostly as their prices are ridiculous. The only thing that Value Village is good for is the home items. They usually have lots of dishes and kitchen objects, curtains, linens, and furniture.

If I am missing anything, let me know but I encourage everyone to at least go explore a thrift store today, give it a try you will find something you like, I promise :)