The end of 2010 is near and several bloggers are parading out their best of 2010 projects over at Southern Hospitality. So, in the spirit of parades and looking back, I thought you might like to go back with me to the very beginning of Pretty Handy Girl. We are going way back to June of 2010. Not too long ago, but it has been a project filled 7 months.

So, won’t you pull up a comfy seat and travel back in time with me?

The Best Before & Afters of 2010




Wow, what a year! I can’t wait to share some brand spankin’ new projects with you in 2011!

Now that the Christmas hype has died down and my cold has lost its grip on my sinuses, I’m back with a quick little tutorial on creating a special silhouetted gift for your child.

Thank you to my dear Pretty Handsome Guy for his guest post. I’m glad you all enjoyed a good laugh at his expense.

Christmas morning my boys were greeted by magical North Pole snow footprints (baking soda) leading up to the tree.

In an effort to keep the Santa myth alive, the two presents from Santa were constructed in a different style from the other presents under the tree.

My six year old exclaimed Christmas morning, “MOM! Santa knows what we look like!” So, I think I fooled them again this year.

Materials:
Scissors
X-acto knife (optional) and cutting surface
Profile picture of your child
Spraymount
White sheet of letter size paper
White cardstock paper
Black cardstock paper or construction paper
Chalk, Bistro marker, or White paint pen
Pencil
Glitter spray
Glitter glue

Start by creating your child’s silhouette. (My silhouettes took many steps in Adobe Photoshop, but I’ll give you instructions for the easy way.) Simply take a photo of your child turned sidewards (preferably in front of a blank wall.) Then enlarge the photo on a copier to the size you want to use. Lay the paper on top of the black cardstock and cut them both at the same time. I prefer to use an X-acto knife for the cutting, but you can use scissors if you like.

Unless you have a graphic program or a template to draw perfect ovals, you will need to draw one freehand. Wait, wait, don’t freak out. You can do this!

First, fold a letter sized paper into fourths.

Draw a curve on the paper with the fold sides inside the curve.

Cut along the line.

Open up your paper to reveal your oval. If you don’t like it, try it again.

Once you are happy with your oval, trace the folded oval onto white cardstock paper and cut it out.

Wrap your present (be sure to use wrapping paper that your child has never seen in your home!)

Spray the back of your cardstock oval with spray mount and adhere it to the present.

I added some glitter spray to the wrapped package to give it a little extra sparkle! (I know, it doesn’t really show up in the photo.)

So, here is a close up of the glittery goodness:

Spray the back of your silhouette head with the spray mount and lay it inside the oval.

Next, add a bead of glitter glue around the edge of the oval. Note of caution: Allow the glue to dry before setting your package upright or it WILL run. Of course I learned the hard way and had to unglue my package from the shelf it was sitting on. Drat!
Here are the presents before I added the “To & From” on them.
You can write your child’s name on the silhouette using chalk, bistro marker or white paint pen. Or leave it blank if you wish, your choice.
That’s it, not too hard, but the results are stunning. You could use this gift wrapping technique for any special present.
I have to share with you a little something that warmed my heart Christmas morning. My oldest carefully cut off the fronts of all the presents that I gave him to preserve the creative gift wrap designs.
He saved them all including his silhouette from Santa.
In stark contrast, my youngest tore into the packages as any other eager four year old boy would.

We just got back from a short trip to Vienna, Virginia to visit my family for the holidays. When we arrived, my mom had left me a note in the bathroom we were using.

Here it is:

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

My mom, she’s so cute, doesn’t she know that this sign taunted me the whole visit?

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

Besides, what kind of daughter would I be if I left this minor repair to a plumber? Puh-lease!

So, here was the deal with the hair clip in the sink. It was her way of holding the stopper up because the rod inside the sink had rusted and broken off. (Pretty creative in my opinion.)

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

But not the real fix for a sink stopper that would not stay up.

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

Let’s back up before I show you how to repair the stopper. Thank you to Dvorty Girl for the excellent illustration above that she posted on WikiHow.com.

Sink parts:

  1. Drain Down Rod
  2. Joint Clamp Clip
  3. Horizontal Rod
  4. Nut
  5. Ball, Rod, Nut & Gasket
  6. Stopper Notch
  7. Pop Up Drain Stopper

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Universal Pivot Ball Replacement Kit
Pliers (maybe)

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain Instructions:

1. Clear out enough room so you can work under the sink. (Okay, my mom is going to kill me for showing you her cluttered sink vanity. But, who’s sink vanity doesn’t look like this?! Please leave a comment and tell her that she’s not the only one!)

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

2. Lay down some towels to cushion the edge of the vanity (or your back, rib cage or hips will be in screaming pain.)

Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain

3. Locate the (3)horizontal rod and (5) nut at the back of your drain that holds the (5) ball, rod & gasket.

4.  Unscrew the (5) nut with your fingers or use pliers if it is really tight. Pull out the ball and gasket.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
5. To release the (3) horizontal rod from the (1) down rod, squeeze the (2) joint clamp clip between your fingers and slide it off the end of the horizontal rod.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
6. Lay out your old pieces to assess the damage. You may or may not need a new gasket (which is sold separately.) This one was broken and needed replacing.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
7. Match the old pivot ball with the new ones in the kit. Be sure to choose the one that is exactly the same size. Thread the (5) new ball onto the new (3) horizontal rod.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
8. Next thread the new gasket onto the horizontal rod and then the nut.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
9. Next feed one end of the (2) joint clip clamp (the kit I bought contained two white stoppers instead of a joint clip clamp). Only add one side or one stopper at this point.)
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
10. Feed the (3) horizontal rod into the (1) down rod.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
11. Line the other end of the (3) horizontal bar up and slip the ball joint into the hole at the back of the drain. Ideally the horizontal bar will be parallel to the floor, but you may have to make some minor adjustments at the end.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
12. Screw the nut back onto the drain making sure the ball joint and gasket are lined up properly.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
13. Now add the second stopper or the other end of the (2) joint clamp clip to the back of the (3) horizontal rod.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
14. Look inside the drain, and notice the post end of the (5) ball joint inside the drain.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
Pull up on the (1) down drain rod and make sure that it moves up and down freely and the post in the drain moves as well.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
15. This next step requires a little patience, so put your patience cap on. Feed the drain stopper back into the drain. You want the end of the stopper to be at a 90 degree angle from the ball joint post as show below.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
Gently rotate the stopper 90 degrees until the end of the stopper hooks the post.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
16. Once the stopper has been properly rotated and hooked onto the ball joint post, test your sink by pulling up and own on the (1) drain down rod.
And you are done!
Pretty Handsome Guy thought it would be funny to re-arrange the letters in the sign.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
And just to prove to you that my Mom can also be handy, this is a photo I found of her from the 1970’s when my parents were building my childhood home.
Repairing a Pop Up Sink Drain
Next time your drain stopper is broken, I hope you will put off calling a plumber and fix it yourself!
creative gift wrapping

This is it, the last day of my Creative Gift Wrapping Tutorials. I saved these adorable silhouetted animals for last.

Snowy Polar Bear
Materials:
 
Wrapping paper
White card stock paper
Snowflake hole puncher
Key tag
Satin ribbon
Jingle bell
Black & white pom poms (nose & tail)
Small black button
Elmer’s glue
Hot glue gun
Wrap your present as you normally would.
Using this template (click on the photo for a larger version and then print it out), cut out the polar bear shape on white card stock. Better yet, if your printer will handle it, print it out on card stock and then flip your bear over to the white side.
Glue your bear onto the gift package.
Punch out some snowflakes. (I used some white and some light blue that would show up better on top of the white bear.)
Cut one piece of red ribbon for the bears collar. Then glue the collar and snowflakes onto the package using Elmer’s glue. Then glue the button and pom poms using hot glue.
 Thread a jingle bell onto some satin ribbon, then tie a bow onto a key tag.

Hot glue the bow/jingle bell onto the bear’s collar.

 Factoid: Polar bears are my favorite animal! Did you know that a polar bear’s skin is actually black? And the bear’s hair is actually transparent hollow tubes. This serves three purposes: 

  1. The tubes are hollow so they store air in them. This acts as an insulator. 
  2. Plus, it helps the polar bears buoyancy while swimming. 
  3. Remember how I said their skins is black? Well, because the fur is actually transparent, it allows the sun to reach the bear’s skin and help warm them. Cool, huh?! 
Dove of Peace
Materials:
 
Wrapping paper
White card stock paper
Satin ribbon
Sprig of rosemary or other evergreen twig

Hot glue gun

Wrap your present as you normally would.

Add your ribbon on the diagonal corners.
Click on the dove silhouette below to see the full size image. Print it out on the cardstock paper and cut out the shape to use as a template, or use the reverse white side of the shape.
 
Use a hole punch to cut out the eye. Hot glue your dove to the package and hot glue the rosemary underneath the dove’s mouth.

Have fun with this creative package. Add the words PEACE, or bend the wings up to make them three dimensional.

This dove will work on a variety of sized gifts. Here she is on a vertical present.

“Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men”



handmade projects

Welcome back. If you are up for some more creative gift wrappings, let’s get going.

Hanging Ornaments
Materials: 
Wrapping paper
Curling ribbon
Buttons
Snowflake Embellishments
Hot glue gun
Elmer’s glue
Circle template: jar, glass, compass

Scissors

Wrap your present in wrapping paper.
Using your circle template, trace different sized circles on colored paper and/or wrapping paper. Cut out the circles. Lay them onto your package with a few buttons to determine the desired layout.
Cut curling ribbon to the lengths needed to meet the ornaments and glue them with Elmer’s glue onto the package. Glue the ornament circles and buttons next using hot glue. Add stickers or snowflake embellishments on top of the circles. Finish by tying some bows with the curling ribbon and attach them just above the ornaments with hot glue.
“Deck the Halls”
Here is my girlfriend, Renee’s ornament package.
I love the little “x’s and o’s” she added for her daughter.
Musical Snowman 
 
Materials:
Wrapping paper
Printed sheet music (do a google image search for: sheet music)
Snowflake hole puncher
white or scrapbook paper
Snowman sticker or embellishment
Elmer’s glue
 
Limber up those thumbs and get to work punching out mini snowflakes. Or better yet, let the kids do it (my boys had a ball making all these snowflakes.)
Wrap your package as you normally would. Using a solid color or wrapping paper with less detail seems to work best.
Tear the printout of sheet music to make the snowy hill. Lay it on top of the package and crease the edges so it wraps around the box.
Glue on the music sheet first. Then layout your snowflakes and snowman and glue them on.
 
 Feel free to add snowflake embellishments or circle hole punches if you want.
Tomorrow is the last day of my SIX days of Creative Gift Wrapping.

Click HERE to see an adorable polar bear and dove!