Uh oh. I got my hands on some concrete and sorta maybe went crazy and am making ALL the things concrete. CAN. NOT. STOP. Not all of my projects have been successful, but I’m in love with the pieces that worked. Today I’m sharing my Concrete Honey Bear. He’s so cute.

Let’s jump right into it. This is how I made him:

Supplies:

- Roughly 3 cups of Quikrete 5000 Concrete

- 1 Honey Bear bottle

- One 3/4 inch wide by 12 inch high piece of PVC pipe

- Water

- Duct Tape

- Shovel/stick to mix the concrete.

- Large container to mix concrete (we used two 5 gallon buckets)

- Pliers, wire cutters, and blade to peel off plastic

Directions: 

- Prep your boney bear bottle. Clean it.

- This part is sort of optional: cut the top off the bottle. I did this so I could fit the PVC pipe into the bear.

- Use duct tape to seal off one end of your PVC pipe piece.

- It’s time to pour your concrete! Safety note: wear gloves/eye protection/dust filter mask for this process. I also suggest doing this process with a friend, makes it so much easier (also, the concrete bag is 80 pounds and I couldn’t even move, ha, my husband helped with that). Mix your concrete together with water. I’m not positive how much water I used, but slowly add water until the mixture is slushy. Add more concrete if it get’s too watery. If you’ve never mixed concrete before, I really recommend watching this video by Quikrete.

- Pour the prepped concrete into the bear.

- Push the PVC pipe (with the duct tape portion as the base) into the concrete bear. You’ll have a bit of concrete pour out. Tap the base of the bear on the ground to get air bubble out. If the pipe starts to float to the top, tape it down. Clean up the top of the bear (it’s a bit messy).

- Optional: I chose to remove the PVC pipe after the concrete had set for about 45 minutes. I’m not sure if I’d do this again, but I wanted it out. You can keep it in, if you’d like. I’m 99% sure it will be really hard to remove once the concrete is dry.

- 30 to 45 minutes after the pour, smooth out the top of the bear’s head.

- Let Honey Bear dry for 2 + days. I took this bear out after 24 hours, and he still had a few lose pieces on the back. Needed more time. Still looks cute!

- Onto the pain in the buns portion of this DIY: Take the plastic off your concrete honey bear. I admit this killed me. Lots of swearing, etc. BUT, I did it. Using pliers, a wire cutter, and a blade. Tips: Use the blade to cut some lines on the back. Use the wire cutters to snip little pieces to get a portion of the plastic to start peeling. Use the pliers to twist off (I’m talking actually twisting the pliers) to pull off the plastic. I worked on creating one big line on the back. I was able to pull it off… after a bit of work.

- You’re done! It’s now a cute kitschy pencil holder…. or bud vase? I think I’ll be putting a little succulent in it and putting him outside. Yes, that’s cute.

ALSO, new blog post on Better Homes and Gardens. Can you guess what it’s about? Yeah. Concrete. You gotta check out my Outdoor Concrete Stool/Table.

- Chelsey

I’m pretty darn excited. Today I have a DIY in The Portland Mercury, found on the Crafty Wonderland insert. Since many of you aren’t lucky enough to get this awesome local newspaper…. I’m sharing the DIY here! Really excited about this. I’ll have to get a couple copies for myself and take a ton of photos. Ha! Well, here’s what’s going to be in the paper. I love these planters:

I live in a tiny home and I prefer not to cover my limited surfaces with plants. How do I deal with this? Hanging planters, of course! This is a VERY quick and simple project. Perfect for even the non-crafty people. I made these sweet little Doily Plant Holders to put in my little girl’s room. She wanted plants in her room, but I didn’t really want my 3-year-old to have easy access to dirt in her bedroom. Might as well just avoid that situation. Ha! SO, let’s make Lace Hanging Planter Holders.

Supplies:

- 3 lace doilies

- 3 small containers (I used two old jars and a small tea cup)

- Rope (the length depends on how low you’d like your plants to hang, I used about 3 to 4 yards for each hanger)

- 3 small succulents

- 3 scissor snaps

- Needle and thread

- Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut 4 even sections of rope. For my shorter hanging planters I used just under a yard for each section of rope. If you prefer, you can use 3 pieces of rope to hang your planter, but 4 strands is a bit sturdier.

2. Thread the end of one rope strand through a hole on the doily. Tie a secure knot. Repeat this with all of your rope strands, making sure you spread the rope out evenly.

3. Use a needle and thread to sew and secure the knots.

4. Optional: If your doily has a few scallops (like mine) you can stitch the sides of each scallop to it’s neighbor. This will make the doily deeper for your planter.

5. Place your container in the doily and hold it up with your hand, try to make it hang evenly, then tie the strands of rope into a knot.

6. Braid the remaining portion of your rope, leaving about 3 inches at the end.

7. Tie your rope onto one scissor snap (I like these because they twist). Use your needle and thread to secure the knot onto the scissor snap.

8. Plant one small succulent into one container.

9. Hang your doily plant holder somewhere special, and place your planted succulent in the doily.

10. Repeat steps 1 through 9. to make your remaining plant hangers.

11. Enjoy!

- Chelsey

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If you have a Wednesday post, please feel free to link it up below. And, feel free to link up to these blogs too… Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Jenni from the Blog, In The Moment With, and Live and Love Outloud.

I finally tried it, Homemade Laundry Detergent! ANnnnnnnd, it does work. I’m not going to do the math and get all crazy about my costs per load… but I am saving money by making my own! And, why not just make everything? Ha! Seems like that’s what I’m doing for EVERYthing anyway. I’ll share  a quick rundown of how I made this (This is the same recipe I’ve found on 40 billion different sites… so I’m not sure of the original source. I can tell you it DOES work):

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of Borax (a natural laundry booster)

1.5 cups Arm & Hammer’s Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)

1 bar of Castille soap (I used Dr. Bronner’s peppermint bar)

Directions:

- Use a cheese grater to grate up your Castille soap.

- In a food processor, blend your grated up soap and a 1/2 cup of Borax and a 1/2 cup of Washing Soda until blended (you want those shreds of soap to be small).

- Pour the blended soap into a bowl with the remaining Borax and Washing Soda. Stir until it’s all blended really well.

- Pour into a jar that has a seal (keep it fresh) and seal.

- When washing your clothes: Use one to two tablespoons of your homemade powder per load. We usually prefer to wash in cold water, and it’s been working!

Side note: the Dr. Bronner’s Castile Peppermint Soap smells like peppermint chocolate.. don’t eat it. Hee hee. Just kidding! I know you wont eat it. I hope.

- Enjoy all that money you’re saving.

- ALSO: The peppermint smell is wonderful, but sometimes we want must a teensy bit more good smells. SO, we add laundry scent. On occasion. It works.

ANDPLUSALSO:

If you make you’re own detergent, you’re going to need a cute jar to seal it in. It’s pretty easy to add the gold painted “wash” word to your jar… here’s how…

- Wash and dry the outside of your glass.

- Print and cut out a word from my “Wash and Laundry” Printout.

- Tape a small piece (red side down) of Saral Paper to your jar and tape your word over the Saral paper.

- Trace the outline of the words with a ballpoint pen.

- Remove your paper and you’ll notice a wonderful red line to follow while you paint!

- Using some Martha Stewart Multi Surface Paint, paint in your words. If needed add more layers of paint (letting the paint dry for about 1 hour between each layer). I ended up using 3 layers of paint.

- Let dry. NOTE: on the back of the paint bottle, it notes that you need to let the paint cure for 21 days before washing or handling too rough. AFTER that: you should be good! I’ve heard great things about this paint.

If you give this a try, let me know! I’d love to see how it works for you. Happy washing!

- Chelsey

I’m sort of on a rainbow kick (if you haven’t already noticed) and I felt like there was something missing in my life, I couldn’t quite place it. Then, it came to me: my kiddo needs a rainbow heart headband. I made one and now my life is complete! Hee. She was pretty stoked to see what I had made for her… but then she asked me to make another one with ONLY Purple Hearts. That kid is addicted to purple.

Anywho… if you’d like to make this for yourself OR kiddo… here’s how you can make my Rainbow Heart Headband:

Supplies:

- Colored hearts printout

- Mod Podge

- Glitter in rainbow colors (red, orange yellow/gold, green, blue, purple)

- Old brush

- A section of ribbon (measure on your head, or kid’s, and add about 12 inches to tie a bow)

- Optional: Acrylic sealer spray

Directions:

- Print and cut out your colored hearts printout. I chose to use the smaller hearts for my headband.

- Add a layer of Mod Podge to a heart and add a layer of glitter. Let dry completely and repeat a second layer of glue and glitter (if necessary). Do this to ALL of your hearts.

- Add about 2 coats of Mod Podge OVER the glitter on the hearts. This will seal them and keep the glitter in place.

- Let dry completely (maybe a couple of hours).

- Optional: Spray a couple of Acrylic Sealer Spray coats onto your hearts (Mod Podge is water-based, and needs a sealer if exposed to a lot of moisture). I chose to skip this step, since my kiddo pretty much hides from rain. Ha! So, no worry about it falling apart from the rain.

- Hot glue your hearts, in a line, onto you ribbon. Let cool.

- Tie around your head (or your kiddo’s), and dooone.

Enjoy.

- Chelsey