Category: Life Hack

Bag bow

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

When you don’t have a bow for a present, but do have the plastic bag from the store and some fast food napkins, you can make a bow.

Photo description: bow made on the go from a Lowe’s bag and twine made from paper napkins
Photo description: green plastic bag, unbleached fast food napkins, scissors

I usually have some napkin twine in my car as an emergency craft project. I prefer the unbleached napkins because the resulting twine is more aesthetically pleasing, not strong, but artful. I tear about 1/2” strips from the napkin, fold it in two, twist the single strand away from me, and twist the two strands together toward me.

Photo description: half inch strip torn from a paper napkin
Photo description: adding in a new strip of paper at the middle, between the existing strands
Photo description: a small section of paper napkin twine, knotted at the end

To make the bow, I smoothed out a plastic shopping bag, the kind with handles, and cut it into four equal width sections, two long, two short.

Photo description: plastic bag cut vertically into four sections

I start with the long sections and fold the ends to the middle with about a half inch overlap.

Photo description: plastic bag section folded with the ends to the middle and overlapping

I repeat the fold for all four bag sections, then stack the four pieces with the longest on the bottom. Often, cutting the bag results in mis-cuts, sections of bag that don’t go from end to end. I pull these out as added decorative elements.

Photo description: all four sections of plastic bag folded and stacked, with some off cuts pulled out as “ribbons”

Using my paper napkin twine, I scrunch together the center of the plastic bag stack and tie the twine around using a square knot on the long side (back of the bow).

Photo description: plastic bag sections tied together with paper twine

Then comes the fiddly bits (for me). Each loop of plastic from the stack gets opened up and pulled away from its partner(s). This fluffs the bow and gives it volume. I work from the back forward, and one side at a time.

Photo description: back two loops of bag separated, pulled gently 90 degrees apart, and rounded
Photo description: finished emergency bow made from a shopping sack and paper napkin twine

Visible mending: jeans

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

I’ve been collecting visible mending pins on Pinterest, so when my eldest tore her jeans, I sent her to my Pinterest board to pick a pin.

Photo description: preparing to mend the hole in the knee of a pair of jeans with a scrape of knit denim colored fabric, white thread, needle, and scissors
Photo description: back side of the sewn patch after trimming shown next to a white cereal bowl that I used as a sewing support
Photo description: front side of the jeans with five stitched spirals holding the patch

I quite like visible mending, it is a chance to add a little flair and do good.

Fruit fly trap

On By CarynIn Insects, Life Hack

Here is my favorite fruit fly trap. Why do we need a trap? Well this is a story. Griffin, our dog, has started getting into the trash in his old age. All the trash, even the small containers by chairs that usually only collect tissues and orange peels. So we replaced the open bin with a trash can with an attached lid. The dog can’t get in, but the orange peels and closed environment make a lovely breeding ground for fruit flies. I found some lovely large golden nugget mandarins at the farmer’s market, which came with extra passengers. The extra passengers loved the orange peel offerings and the safe breeding environment. We started noticing a few pesky fliers, which is unusual because our house spiders usually do a good job keeping the gnat population down. I put out this trap, which is a mason jar with apple cider vinegar in the bottom, and a cone made of card stock attached with washi tape on the top. It is easy for the flies to crawl down into the cone and through the small hole, but it is very difficult for them to fly out.

Photo description: fruit fly trap made of a mason jar, card stock, washi tape, and apple cider vinegar, showing a dozen flies trapped inside

I’ll leave this trap out until all the flies inside have died. We did take care of the fly nursery by cleaning it out and lining the can. Funny how one factor can tip the scales out of balance. My house spiders are probably stuffed.

Washi music

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack, music

I do like washi tape, and have found it does better than cellophane tape on areas that need repeated folding. I prefer my sheet music to lay flat, rather than stapled, because it makes it easier to set on the piano or a music stand. Scotch tape or cellophane tape just doesn’t make a good hinge, as it easily tears lengthwise.

Photo description: washi tape used to hold together sheets of music on the long edges

I start with a 1-2 millimeter gap between pages to allow for the fold, then apply a strip of washi tape on both sides of the gap. I trim the edges with scissors after applying.

As an added bonus, washi tape comes in pretty colors and patterns.

Today I learned

On By CarynIn Life Hack

I wrote that title and realized that it could be applied to almost every day. I do love learning, but today’s post is one of those “I was today years old when I learned that…” type posts. I flipped open a large binder to reference a chart, fumbled the cover, and it folded neatly back on itself, creating a smaller footprint. I went to fix it, and realized that it was designed to do that. Huh. It is quite irritating on the large binders to have the cover stick out to the left and extra 4 inches or so, especially when you’ve filled the table with reference books. This would have been handy information when I was studying in school, or later working in the lab. I will take it now, though, and pass it on.

Photo description: white 4 inch binder looking from the bottom where the cover has the spine folded back and over lapping the front and back cover.
Photo description: red 4 inch binder opened with the cover folded under and showing a moderate amount of overlap on the sides
Photo description: same red binder with the cover unfolded and sticking out almost half a page worth to the left

As I was investigating which binders had this miraculous design, I discovered that it is only binders where the rings are attached to the back cover. Smaller binders with rings attached to the spine don’t fold this way. Clever.