Comic Book Light Switch Covers

I have no clue where I first got the idea of covering a light switch cover. I know when I was in middle school I covered a couple of different switches in the house with pretty pictures out of flower catalogs. I got the urge to do it again, and this time I wanted something other than flowers. One of the local Dollar Trees gets old comic books occasionally, and I always buy a few. I usually give them to Garrett, but for some reason had a stack of them around that hadn't made it into his hands yet. I flipped through one of them and found a couple of things I liked, and cut them out.

This is something that's not very easy to take pictures for a step-by-step tutorial, because it's pretty self-explanatory.  

Basically, you just cut a piece of whatever you want a little bigger than the light switch cover. Then flip it over and use some mod podge to attach the paper to the switch plate. Since mine had a separate alien guy I also affixed him at this point. After it was stuck on I took my Xacto knife and cut in the rectangle hole in the center. I just needed the paper split enough to fold it back and add some mod podge to hold it down.
Once everything is stuck on good I do a layer of mod podge over the top to really keep it on. Make sure all the edges are folded around to the back and very secure. 

Then, just let it dry really well and do another layer of mod podge to seal it. 

For this Superman one I put on some tissue paper first then added the picture of him. As you can see, the screws stand out, because they're still the boring off white color, but you can paint them in a similar color and they'll look a lot better.

I think these would be great in a little boy's room, but I'm just using them in my living room for now. It's full of other geekery, so this fits in perfectly.

I've got plans to make lots more of these. I love the ability to use any images or pretty paper I can find. I'm imagining all sorts of possibilities.

I'm linking up to:

Homemade Fabric Softener

So a couple of weeks ago I made some laundry detergent (you can see that post here), and I wanted to make fabric softener at the same time, but needed vinegar. I finally remembered to pick some up at the store, and immediately had to make the fabric softener.

I found this pin:

Source: A "REAL" Housewife and Mommy via Victoria on Pinterest

Her post actually also has a liquid laundry detergent and an OxiClean recipe in it. I may try the OxiClean at some point too, but for this I was just interested in the fabric softener. 

I've mentioned it before, but anything with just a few ingredients automatically is great in my book. This only takes white vinegar, conditioner, and water. 

I used Pantene, but that's just because it's what I had on hand. Most others I've seen making this have just used whatever scent of Suave they prefer.

 All you do to make this is stir 1 part vinegar and 1 part conditioner into 2 parts hot water. 

EASY PEASY! 

I couldn't get my conditioner to dissolve completely, so my mixture looks lumpy, but it looks pretty uniform, so I'm not too worried about it.

I was excited to try it out, so I immediately gathered a load of laundry and put it in. I used 2 tbsp in my washer's liquid fabric softener section.

Results: My clothes were soft. There wasn't really any scent left on them, which I'm still okay with. They smelled even cleaner than when I used only the homemade detergent, so I'm happy with that. They were fluffy when I pulled them out of the dryer, and felt like I'd used a commercial softener. I do use dryer sheets as well, but I got better results with this than with dryer sheets alone.

Speaking of dryer sheets, I recently saw a pin that recommended cutting dryer sheets in half to make the box last twice as long.

Source: TheFrugalGirls.com via Victoria on Pinterest

Let me tell you, this works great! I feel like I've just been throwing money away for so long. I've seen where people have dipped a rag in fabric softener to make a reusable dryer sheet, but honestly, I'm not even going to go to all that trouble now that dryer sheets essentially cost me half as much as before.

Overall I'm very satisfied with my homemade laundry pursuits. I may get some Unstopables at some point, because I love the smell of those, but I'm really not worried about adding extra scents to my stuff for now. I love the fresh, clean scent my clothes have without all the extra chemicals.


I'm linking up to:

Baked Marbles

I decided to do this project even though I had no clue what I'd actually do with the marbles. I still don't have any ideas, but I'll think of something.

After looking at this pin I found some marbles I've had sitting around for years and decided to try it out.

You're going to want clear/translucent marbles. Most of mine had the colored swirls on the inside, and those are fine, but if it's a solid colored marble you won't be able to see the cracks.

Preheat your oven to 500°F. Place the marbles on a pan and bake for 20 minutes. 

Before they're done prepare a metal bowl of ice water.

As soon as you take them out dump them in the ice water. You'll hear them crack and you can take them out and see the shattered insides.

The outsides stay smooth for the most part, but I did have a couple of marbles that seemed to crack all the way to the outside. 

One problem I had was that they let out a smell when in the oven. On the forum I found the directions on the poster said there is absolutely no smell, so maybe it just had something to do with my marbles being really old. It wasn't too strong, but I opened my back door while they were baking just in case. 

I can't decide if I liked this project or not. It was really easy, but I don't think the shattered look of the marbles is very noticeable unless you look closely. I think it's an interesting look and I'm glad I tried it, but I doubt I'd do it again.

A closer look at a clear marble

Anyone going to try this out? Any suggestions on what I should use the marbles for? 

Here's the original pin:

Source: Craftster via Victoria on Pinterest

Glass Bottle Cutting

Source: Crafty Scrappy Happy via Victoria on Pinterest

Something I've seen pinned and re-pinned a lot is a project using yarn and fingernail polish remover to turn glass bottles into candle holders. 

I get nervous about things involving fire, but one afternoon I decided to try it (with my boyfriend on hand to supervise of course). I was disappointed with my how it turned out, but I'm planning to try again soon, and hopefully I'll be able to share better results with you.

I love projects that only call for things I've got around the house. It took less than 2 minutes to gather all the items I needed, and I was ready to go. 

The entire project probably didn't take more than 5 minutes itself. 

The first step is to wrap the yarn 5 - 6 times around the bottle and tie it, so you've got the proper size. Then the yarn is dipped in the nail polish remover and slipped back on the bottle. This is where I made my first mistake. I was nervous about the nail polish remover being on the bottle closer to where I was going to be holding it, so I tried to rinse it off, but my yarn got wet and when I tried to light it the fire just wouldn't catch.

So I took off the yarn and started fresh. This time I wiped the bottle down with a dry paper towel instead of trying to rinse it.

Now it's the fun (and completely nerve-wracking) part. Holding the bottle by one end, light the yarn. It should ignite pretty easily, since it's soaked in the polish remover. The flames do get decently big at this point, but nothing to worry about. I made sure to hold it over the sink of cold water just to be safe, but didn't have any problems.

This is where I think I messed up the project. You're supposed to rotate the flame for around 20 seconds. I held it for long enough, but had trouble rotating it well, so it didn't seem to heat the bottle evenly. After rotating you immediately immerse the bottle in the sink of cold water. You'll hear a cracking sound, but it's just the bottle separating at the point where it got heated. 

I'd expected it to be right on the yarn, but it was actually about an inch up, which made sense when I thought about it, but didn't cross my mind in time to make sure to get it even.

This is the best picture I got to show how jagged it is. One side is almost completely smooth and straight, but the other half is pretty uneven. I definitely think not rotating it well was my problem. 

I'm anxious to try this again now that I know how to hopefully do it right. 

Has anyone else tried this? Were you more successful than I was?