DIY - Pocketful of Joules

Tying up my Curtain Strings with Safety Cleats

THIS has been driving me CRAZY.

With a little dude running around, I had to do some childproofing in my living room, which means that the crazy-long blind cords had to be tied up out of his way. I don’t know WHY the cords go all the way to the floor — maybe so the dog has the option to adjust the blinds if the sun is in his eyes — but they looked like a rat’s nest. If a rat made a nest out of cords halfway up the wall.

Blegh.

I tried to tie the knots nicely…if that is such a thing. Nothing worked though. No matter how hard I tried to tuck them away, they looked awful.

I did some googling around, and found some blind safety cleats on Amazon but paying $2.89 for a piece of cheap looking plastic wasn’t exactly ringing my bell.

So I put it off for a while longer.
Ok, like a year.
I WAS BUSY! I swear!

Then, over the weekend I was wandering around Home Depot at a snail’s pace. Really, I was – Jack refused to ride in the cart and insisted on weaving from one shiny thing to another. And shut-your-face if you automatically think that I basically do the same thing. Even if it’s kind of true.

While in the hardware aisle, one of us may have been switching the screws from bin to bin while the other suddenly bust out in a “OHHHHH” like you hear at a firework show. It was like the angels were singing…

Yeah, that’s right. Those sexy things are 2 1/2″ Chrome Plated Rope Cleat’s.

OOOhhhhhh Ahhhhhh!
And a 2 pack was only $1.78!
SOLD!

I grabbed up three packs so I could try them out in my living room and we (slowly) went on our way.

It took me less than 15 minutes to install them all and LOOK HOW PRETTY!

I’m kind of kicking myself for not doing this when we moved into our house almost two years ago. For a grand total of $6 the living room looks LESS MESSY. I mean, on the walls. Don’t look down at the floor where the toys live.

Have you done a super cheap and easy project where you kicked yourself afterwards for not doing it ages ago? Are you going to run to Home Depot now and buy yourself some fancy cleats? Did you know that they were called “cleats” and not “those cord wind up thingies?”

1 Can of Spray Paint + A Shabby Chic Birdcage

I realized recently that I haven’t done any fun DIY posts on here in a while, so let’s do one of the easiest projects in the WHOLE WORLD! All you need is some spray paint and something you want to paint. That’s IT!

I picked up this shabby chic birdcage at the thrift store for $4.90. I think it was probably used as a card holder at someone’s wedding because in addition to the birdie door opening there is a latch that you can undo so you can lift up the entire top.

The birdcage was originally painted a beige-ish color and had spots of nastiness and rust on it. It wasn’t too cute, but I liked its size and curves… so into my trunk it went. And there it lived for a couple months because I was too lazy to bring it inside.

Well, I got the urge to do some spray painting… so I grabbed a can of teal paint that was just hanging out in my basement with the spiders.

Two coats later (with no prep-work at all) and check out the curves on this bad boy! Bow chicka, bowwow…right?!

The project cost me less than $5.00 since I had the paint leftover from another project. However, if you needed to buy a can of Rustoleum spray paint they typically cost around $6 and you’d have plenty leftover for other projects.

Have you been spray painting anything lately? What color would you have chosen for my birdcage project? I was originally thinking of spraying it shiny silver and hanging it in Jack’s room like a spaceship…

Reviewing Kismet Box: DIY Beauty

I’ve written about my love for subscription boxes before and have been thrilled to receive Citrus Lane boxes since Jack was born. There is just something about getting a fun little surprise in the mail that makes me so happy.

I mean, 9 times out of 10 when I open my mailbox it contains bills, junk mail or a rogue spider… so opening it to THIS instead really adds a little wiggle to my walk:

When the nice people at Kismet Box contacted me about reviewing their very first subscription box, I was intrigued as to WHAT they would include in a DIY Beauty Box. I mean – I totally understand DIY – but DIY Beauty?

I actually used to have a beauty book from years ago where you could make your own beauty projects, but after a try at a ‘natural’ sugar waxing treatment for my legs left me with sticky, hairy legs… I pretty much gave up. So I was super excited that this kit included everything you need to make your own watermelon lip balm!

Included in the box:
– 2 disposable pipettes
– 1 (incredibly cute) mini whisk
– 1 mini measuring spoon
– 1 spatula
– 6 lip balm tubes
– 2 squeeze tubes
– Lip balm base
– Castor oil
– Watermelon flavor oil
– Coral lip-safe sparkle mica powder

I really loved that the kit included everything I needed to make the lip balm and even gave me ideas for how to decorate the tubes. As an added bonus, their website had some different ideas for how you can store the lip balm if you run out of tubes.

For my first try, I used 1/3 of the ingredients and ended up with three tubes full of pretty lip balm. I had some washi tape sitting around the house, so I wrapped each of the tubes in a few strips of washi and then sealed them into place with some packing tape. Cute, right?

I added enough color to the mix that it shows up as a sheer coral color on the lips, which I love!

Ok, that picture isn’t the best. I look a bit… odd. I was hoping to get a picture of my sister’s and me all wearing our lip balm (I gave the other two tubes to them), but forgot to do it when we were all at the beach this weekend. You’ll just have to believe me when I say that I apparently rock at making lip balm and the color is super pretty.

So thank you to Kismet Box for sending me this super fun kit to review and I’m really curious what will be in next month’s kit. DIY lotion, make-your-own nail polish or even a sugar waxing kit? Ok, not the waxing kit… I’m still a little scared of that. I did LOVE this kit though and like that I still have enough ingredients to make at least 6 more tubes of lip balm (or I could add a little extra mineral oil and make shiny lip gloss in the squeeze tubes they provided).

If you’re interested in treating yourself to a DIY beauty product box, The Kismet Box is pretty awesome! For a monthly subscription price of $23.95 (with free shipping), you will receive the tools and materials for a seasonally themed beauty project. If you want to get the watermelon lip balm kit that I reviewed, you need to place your order by August 15th.

This would make a really cool gift for the lady in your life who is super hard to buy for. Like me. You know, if you wanted to give me a gift. Or your sister. Or maybe a friend who pretty much has EVERYTHING and you need to figure out something for her birthday ASAP.

So tell me, have you done any DIY beauty products at home? I feel like there is a whole world of DIY that I didn’t even know about!

Disclosure: I was provided with a free Kismet Box to review; however all thoughts and opinions in this review are my own. I am not rewarded or compensated in any way if you click through to purchase a Kismet Box.