Stenciled Snowflake Shower Curtain

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I think that each room should have a little bit of cheer so I came up with this idea. I don't like displaying Santa's everywhere but I do like a touch of winter or Christmas to remind us of the season.

For this project, I started with a white fabric curtain, a snowflake stencil, a stipple stencil brush, green craft paint, tape, and a small container for paint. We had no newspaper in the house so we used old towels. A large, hard work surface is also useful: I used our dining room table.

I set up the towels on the table then pressed the shower curtain to get rid of all of the wrinkles. I also cut my stencil sheet.

Next, lay the shower curtain out over a large surface like the kitchen table.

Add tape to the bottom of the stencil to tape it to the shower curtain. 

I decided to do a cluster of 5 different snowflakes all over the shower curtain instead of stenciling the entire thing. My husband helped me with the painting which was wonderful!

I started in the top right-hand corner so that I could work my way to the left. I squeezed some paint into a container (for me this was a small glass mason jar), got some paint on my brush and I started stippling the paint over the stencil. I found the best way to do the stencil was to start with the corners then work my way in to the center.

After the stencil was done, we lifted the stencil and tape from the shower curtain and moved it to another spot and continued stenciling.

We did clusters of the snowflakes, going down the edge, doing the bottom then working our way in. We didn't want to cover the entire shower curtain in snowflakes.

Our only issue, of course, was that Felix wanted to burrow under the draped shower curtain so we rolled it onto the table so that it didn't drape over the sides. 

Once all of the "clusters" of snowflakes were done, we took another stencil and filled in any gaps with another snowflake stencil.

Estimated time for this project: 2 hours 30 minutes. It took time to set everything up and about an hour to do the actual stenciling for two people. It also took time to clean up after (container, brush, stencils and table).

Notes:

• It was extremely hard to find a white cotton fabric shower curtain. I ended up with a white curtain liner made out of 100% polyester but it took the paint well. 
• I used green acrylic paint. I couldn't find any fabric paint in a color that I liked. This most likely means that this will be a spot-clean shower curtain and cannot be laundered in the washing machine or dryer.
• Keep your hands clean while stenciling. We did this while we were cooking lunch so we were constantly cleaning our hands. 
• Don't worry if a stencil isn't perfect. I made some mistakes on this shower curtain but you can't see it from afar. Even so, it's a sign that it was homemade by you. Here's one of my globby mistakes:

10 ways to reuse a pump container

Pump containers (such as face wash, shampoo and hand soap containers) can be reused instead of going into the garbage. If you buy products in bulk, then you can simply wash out the pump container before reusing it again (and again, and again...). 

1. Use it to dispense dish soap (like Palmolive) around the sink.
2. Once cleaned thoroughly (pump and container), use it to dispense olive oil for cooking. This is best for ceramic dish soap containers that haven’t had soap or cleaner in them.
3. Also, once cleaned thoroughly (pump and container), use it to dispense vinegar. This is best for ceramic dish soap containers that haven’t had soap or cleaner in them.
4. Reuse it to dispense hand soap (if you don’t have a hand soap pump).
5. Reuse it to dispense the product that came in it (body wash, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner). Or, if you haven’t thought of these uses, here are some ideas.  This is best for products bought in bulk and you can simply refill the dispensers.
6. Use it to dispense mouthwash in the bathroom.
7. If you do a lot of crafting with kids, use it to dispense liquid glue.
8. Use it to dispense liquid laundry soap. This is especially useful in college or apartments. If you are in a house, use it to dispense fabric softener.
9. Use it to dispense liquid cleaning products that you have bought in bulk (floor cleaner, all purpose cleaner, etc.).
10. Take the pump and put it on a bleach bottle. Whenever you want bleach, dispense it instead of tipping a large bottle (and possibly spilling it everywhere).

Reusable Knit Makeup Remover Pads

I am gradually replacing disposable items with reusable items. The latest one that I wanted to tackle was makeup remover pads.

These are super easy to make.

Needle size: US 9 (5.5 mm)

Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Yarn, 100% cotton,
50 g ball

Pattern:

Cast on 12 stitches. Knit for 23 rows. Bind off on 24th row.

Weave in ends.





Estimated time for this project: 20 minutes, unless you are exceptionally speedy!

Notes:

• I recommend a worsted-weight cotton yarn for this because it is much softer than acrylic. I made one out of Vanna's Choice yarn and it's so scratchy that I don't want to use it. 
• These can be machine washed just like everything else which is fabulous. 
• 2 50 g balls made 15 makeup remover pads.