Category:

Tutorials

DIY K’Tan Wrap

by Jessica April 23, 2015

When we had to make a baby registry, one of the things I did is ask my sisters about carriers, wraps,etc. My sister ,Kira, has a Ktan wrap, and I was able to wear my niece in it last year when she was just a few months old. I really like the simplicity of the wrap, and I hope that our little one likes it as well. I also was given a moby wrap and an ergo 360 carrier that I plan to use as well. My biggest issue with the ktan wrap was the cost when we needed so many other things for her that we considered a higher priority. So I decided to try and sew one for myself especially since I knew which size fit me.

April 23, 2015

Apparel Baby Baby/Gifts Blog Life Sewing/Crafting Tutorials

Little Kids Boots with a Real Sewable Sole

by Jessica April 1, 2015

I was wanting to find a product to use on homemade baby/kid/toddler shoes that is a real sole, but is very thin, flexible, and sewable with a normal sewing machine. The main reason is that after a while, leather moccasins can become worn and slippery so I wanted an option that I could use when traction is needed. After a ton of research online, I finally found the product I was looking for!

April 1, 2015

Blog Home Life Tutorials

A New Roof!!!!

by Jessica March 27, 2015

As part of the negotiations of buying our house, getting a new roof was a big part of it. We had leaking around the chimney which made small water spots in our den and guest bathroom. We had major leaking above the garage area, and some small leaking on a valley above the baby room. So, at closing we were given a check to pay for the cost of a new 20 year 3 tab roof. We decided to pay the difference and upgrade it to a 30 year Architectural roof. We knew the company we wanted to replace the roof, and the check was already made out to them, but picking the shingles was hard. They give you such a small sample, and the variations are pretty big between what you see and what is installed, but I think our roof looks sooo good now. We kept having to wait to get it replaced due to the weather. It would get super cold, or just kept raining for weeks that it kept getting postponed. We had some major areas that were leaking, so it was driving us and especially Grant crazy.

Here you can see the roof before. I was NOT a fan of them trying to match the brick color since it is already more orangey than we prefer.

In this picture, you can see some of the rot of the worst portion of the roof that needed to be replaced.

Here are some more close up pictures.

Our inspector kept telling us we had a “new” roof.

When inside the attic Grant could see daylight in some spots where the wood was completely rotted away.

Our roof had a few portions of plywood replaced and this beam because of the damage. We are SO glad we got a second inspector out there as well as a roofing expert otherwise this would have cost us a pretty penny.

Starting the roofing after replace the beam, the flashing around the chimney, and certain plywood portions that were compromised.

There was a big group,but they sure were working hard. They got there at 7am and just finished work around 5pm when it started getting dark with only one lunch break.

Here are some after pictures.

It took a little bit of time for the shingles to sit completely flat,but now they look great.

The new shingle color doesn’t make our current shutters and door color look good,but those are things we were planning on changing anyway. Also, I had a hard time finding pictures of other roofs with the same shingles so for reference purposes, we got Shadow Grey shingles from the Tamko brand.

Woohoo, no more rotted wood!

I know this makes Grant especially happy. He wasn’t a fan of seeing water entering our attic while it rained and not being able to do anything at the time to fix it.

The very next day we got about 6 and a half inches of snow so we were very glad to have it replaced.

Grant thinks the color is more green than he would like, but we do plan on eventually painting the brick as well as the front door and shutters, but I think it is a huge improvement to what we had before. We recently met our neighbors across the street who are a super nice couple, and we found out they even go to the same church as us,but they couldn’t stop talking about how much they love our new roof. At first we thought it was kind of strange,but then we realized that looking out of their house, they see the roof more than we do. 🙂 This was one of our top things to get completed before our little one arrives, and boy are we happy it is done. I love how it looks, and feel the outside of our house can only get better looking as we go!

March 27, 2015

Blog Furniture Home Tutorials

How we Reinforced our Ikea Drawers

by Jessica March 26, 2015

So we currently have an Ikea dresser which has held up very well considering we bought it used. We have wanted to build ourselves some real wooden bedroom furniture,but for a while we didn’t know where we would be living or how much room we would have whenever we did get a house. So, now that we have a house, we still plan to build ourselves new bedroom furniture. However, our current set still functions very well, so we haven’t really gotten to that point since there are so many other things that are a higher priority for us. Our ikea set is made with particle board which has held up well, but the drawer bottoms are a cheap thin almost cardboard type material. So even though I don’t put super heavy stuff in it, over time it does tend to sag. So, we started looking up a way to fix it without having to get rid of the dresser. Some tutorials pretty much show building a new drawer and attached it to the existing face frame which would be doable,but just overkill for how much longer this dresser might actually last us.

March 26, 2015

Blog Desserts Gifts Holiday Recipes

Gluten Free Hazelnut Coffee Truffles

by Jessica February 17, 2015

For a while now, I have been making truffles at least during the holidays. I started out hand rolling the truffles and dipping them in chocolate which works pretty well,but then I realized I could use a candy mold which I describe the process here. That worked wonderfully too,but then I found out about these truffly molds that make my life SO much easier. I bought one of the huge molds which is pretty expensive, but they have smaller versions if you prefer to make smaller batches. So here is my new system for making truffles.

February 17, 2015

Beauty Blog Nail Tutorials

How to keep Gel Nails from Breaking or Peeling

by Jessica January 8, 2015

I have been using DIY Gel Nail kits for around a year now, and I still love them just as much as when I bought my first kit. I have gotten a ton better at painting my nails and making them look good then in the very beginning, but that is just how it goes. I still had issues though with my nails breaking or the polish peeling up. I take vitamins, and have strong nails, but the corners would sometimes chips or slightly bend which would cause the polish to come off of the nail. So here is how I found out how to keep that from happening. I’m not a nail professional, I have just found what works for me.

January 8, 2015

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