DIY Coasters

I have been thinking of a really good idea for a DIY, and honestly a lot of my ideas are one time DIYs and I can't really continue to recreated them. However, one that I found was a fun idea that I think could possibly be done a few times is a coaster set. Everyone has a different style, and when it comes to coasters you want to express yourself in the best way possible. Craft stores can help to make this happen, but you can also get inspiration from your daily activities.

I like board games, and so do many of my friends and family who are the recipients of most of my gifts. So making a coaster set from a board game was one of the things I thought would be an interesting gift for a friend of mine who's birthday is at the end of the week. To do this, I had to think of games that could be easily turned into a coaster, and then realized I didn't want to hack up the boards for coasters. I nixed the idea of board game coasters and though, what about the pieces? I found a bunch of ideas on the internet about game themed decor, and ran with an idea I saw about Scrabble tiled coasters.

Materials:
-Industrial strength adhesive with application. (choose one that dries clear for best results.
-25 Scrabble tiles (per coaster, can also use dice of any color combo)
- Cork board. You can get it from a craft store, or lowes, and you need enough so that each tile (or die) sits on it halfway when organized.

Instructions
-Before assembling anything, play with the tiles to get them organized. Spell words that connect to each other, or 5 letter names. It's a challenge to use smaller words, but it is more fun to have words that upside down tiles. Speaking of which, any tile that you do not use to spell with, can be turned upside down and made into a blank tile for spacing (see picture)
-Arrange the tiles on the cork WITHOUT GLUE to see if they all fit properly. If needed cut the cork smaller so that there is no exposed cork.
-Glue all pieces in place one at a time making sure that all pieces are glue tightly together. You cannot change the order once the glue dries, so make sure it is something you are willing to keep. Then allow it to dry, and the coaster is ready to use!

If you are using dice, you must glue all sides of the die that are touching any other die as well, so the dice take much longer. I also found out because of the texture of the die, they don't really make sensible coasters. The glasses tend to slip off the surface, so it is a riskier move.

Another easy idea is grabbing a Scramble Squares Puzzle which has 9 pieces that are roughly the size of coasters. (the plastic ones work best, but you can easily cover a cardboard piece with Con-Tact paper before gluing it) and Glue it to a piece of cork board. This would give guests, or a recipient the option to rest their drink, or figure out a fun puzzle.

Home Made Textured Paper.

The one thing that I never spend money on is textured paper (Not including embossed paper). For about a hundred reasons all summing up that I can make it myself. Today I will tell you how to make textured paper Using tissue paper and card stock quickly and easily, just in time to make a Mother's day card for your mom (Heck I will ever go a little into that for fun)

Supplies

~1 Sheet of card stock, any size, and any color. (stick with white if you want the tissue paper to be the focal point)
~Scissors
~Ruler
~glue stick
~Tissue paper, can be used and wrinkly as long as you like what it looks like and there are no tears in a piece roughly the size of a greeting card.

Instructions

Step 1: Measure the paper and draw lines on the card stock to make the front and back of the greeting card. It should be 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" so that when folded it will be a small card. You can make it however big or small you want, just make sure you trace the lines nicely so you can see them

Step 2: Crinkle up the tissue paper. It is great to use used tissue paper in this instance so you don't feel like you are wasting good tissue paper. I save all my tissue paper from gifts for just this reason! AFter you are done crinkling ightly flatten out tissue paper trying not to take out too much of the wrinkles, and put to the side.

Step 3: This step can be a little tricky. you want to flip your card stock over so that the lines are table side down, but all the while remembering where the lines are. (you need the lines to cut so you can't cover them with tissue paper.) Apply glue all over the paper keeping in mind what is going to be cut so you can salvage cardstock if needed. If you only have a small section of tissue paper you may have to draw small dots to indicate which section must be covered in glue Do this quickly so you have time to put the tissue paper on.

Step 4: Place tissue paper on the glue covered card stock and flatten. While you are flattening the wrinkles will become very apparent and seem to darken. It creates a really cool effect and almost transforms some tissue papers as you do it. Let this dry completely before moving on to next step.

Step 5: Flip the paper back over so you can see the lines again. Carefully cut the lines and try not to drag the scissors too much as it could rip the paper. Make sure to trim all edges of the tissue paper that hangs over the edge as well.

That is the complete card, now all you have to do is fold it in half, slap on some accents and write a nice little note for the recipient inside and you are good to go! Fr my mother I made it a tea theme since she is sort of a tea enthusiast, and slipped a voucher, for an afternoon tea at a local tea house, inside. Have a Happy Mother's Day weekend!

Infestation

Today, I am dealing with an infestation. I have been researching bees, because all of a sudden there has been a swarm of them around my porch, and I am actually a little scared of them. They look like bumble bees, only darker with hints of greenish yellow, and after some careful research I have realized they are carpenter bees. Now this is the first time that I have come across carpenter bees, and am somewhat pissed that this is going on because as I look up to the roof where I can see them burrow, I see three or four holes where they are simply re-colonizing. I am going to be calling my landlord to take care of it, but if anyone else would like to know how to know you have carpenter bees and how to take care of them, here is a little tip from me.

About the Carpenter bee:

The males which are the most active outside the hive don't sting (Yay!) However, females do and if bothered they will come out and sting. They look almost exactly like a bumble bee, except they have more black on them, and hardly any yellow. They don't "chew" the wood, they simply vibrate their bodies and "drill" through making almost perfectly circular holes. They are lazy and would rather use old nest and re-colonize. Woodpeckers love them, and a woodpecker on the side of your house hammering away for days at a time might be a sure sign that you have an infestation. They don't like noise, so playing music, constant running children, and highway noise are a nice deterrent.

So knowing some of this, here is how I found out I had carpenter bees.
I followed the bees activity and took a pictures of them on my trees to get a better look at what they were. There were a few that fought all the time in front of my proch and would seemingly run from me as I left to fill the bird feeders, so it was more of a nuisance than a dangerous situation. I did have a few bees that were "guarding" my porch area, and it was starting to piss me off because I am not a fan, and am a little scared of them. I thought they were bumble bees, but they were definitely darker, so I googled "large black bee" and almost instantly found that tons of people have these pests around their wood homes and decks. Lucky us, we have a vinyl sided home, however the porches and stairs are all Wood, and old wood which apparently they LOVE because it is easier to bore through. I also started to see an influx of birds that I had never seen before at our feeders. Scarlet tanagers, red bellied woodpeckers, and blue jays started to come around more often, and I think that it was in part due to the fact that there was so much flying protein readily available. Another HUGE hint to me was that all of a sudden our siding was getting coating in what looked like sawdust, and upon further inspection I realized that is exactly what it was.

So at this point I knew what I was dealing with, and also could guess how to take care of it (my thoughts were can of Raid, and jar of wood putty, but lets see what the experts say)

I researched a bit online and sure enough my idea of a cure was cure enough. A can of Raid, or other pest control spray should be applied once a day in the evening as bees are returning to the hive. Sprayed directly into the hole it should help the problem disappear within days. After this, though you have to follow-up and make sure that nothing entices other hives to return. Plugging the holes is your best bet. The experts said that the best idea is to plug the existing holes with steel wool, and then cover the hole completely with wood putty and paint over the surface as usual. They also said that routine maintenance of porches and siding with general weather proofing liquids will help keep them away for good. It was also mentioned that you should replace all wood siding with vinyl siding, but you see how well that helped us! I really just have to wait out the treatment period, as I am really cheap and don't want to deal with the hive myself. I think it will take more than one can of raid for these buggers, and I am just not willing to part with the cash, plus it is not really in a place I can easily reach, so laziness is not really an excuse.

I hope this helps someone, as it helped me. It's nice to know we have a rather calm hive of bees, but they still are majorly creepy!