Chickpea Omelet

Well, more like Chickpea Hash. Either way, delicious and healthy!

I adapted this recipe from Fat Free Vegan.

Mine has pictured has: Chopped Orange Bell Pepper, 1/2 C Greens, 1/4C Red Onions, all sauteed together. I made the mix below (minus the black salt, because I didn’t have any). I mixed 1/3C mix + 1/3C Water, mix together, let stand then pour on top of sauteed veggies.

Chickpea Omelet Mix

This mix is generically seasoned, making omelets that adapt to any kind of cuisine. Feel free to add additional seasonings depending on your mood or the filling you use–for instance, garam masala for an Indian flavor or chili powder or chipotle for a black bean filling. Each 1/3 cup of the mix will make 2 small omelets, which I consider one serving. I don’t advise cooking it as one large omelet because it’s difficult to get the middle completely cooked.Prep Time5 minsCook Time10 minsTotal Time15 minsCourse: BreakfastCuisine: VeganKeyword: chickpea omelets Servings: 6 Calories: 144kcal Author: Susan Voisin

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chickpea flour (superfine gram flour or besan or garbanzo-fava flour)
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 3 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt if desired
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon black salt (kala namak)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Store in refrigerator in tightly sealed container.
• To use: Stir mix before each use. Mix one heaping 1/3 cup with 1/3 cup water. Stir well and allow to stand for a few minutes to thicken. If desired, add up to 1/2 cup finely chopped quick-cooking vegetables, such as spinach, kale, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, or tomatoes, to the batter. You may also add pre-cooked ingredients, such as mushrooms or broccoli, as long as they are chopped small. If the batter seems too thick (thicker than pancake batter), add water a little at a time until thinned.
• Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles. Spoon in half of the batter and spread it evenly in a circle approximately 4 to 5-inches in diameter. You want it to be on the thin side rather than thick. Cover the pan and cook, checking often, until the top is no longer shiny wet looking and the underside is light to medium brown (lift a corner with a spatula to check). Flip over and cook the other side, with the lid on, for another minute or two. Make sure that the center isn’t uncooked (raw chickpea flour tastes BAD). Place on plate and keep warm until ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter.
• Two omelets equals 1 serving or 1/3 cup of mix.

Notes

You can also make filled omelets by preparing a filling beforehand (sauted mushrooms and kale, seasoned black beans, etc.) Prepare omelet as above, adding the filling after the first side is well done and folding one side of the omelet over the filling. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes to complete cooking.*Chickpea flour or besan and black salt can be found for low prices in Indian grocery stores, but if you can’t find them locally, you can order them online. Each serving counts as 3 Weight Watchers Freestyle Smart Points.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 144kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 4.5g | Sodium: 606.7mg | Fiber: 4.2g | Sugar: 2.6g

Make a block printing stamp from craft foam

Here is a cool little video I created from my Instastory. It shows one of the many ways I make printmaking stamps, using plain ol’ craft foam.

Enjoy!

Work Table Build

Up until recently, I had been printing on a makeshift table cobbled together from an Ikea closet door, and 2 too-tall kitchen cabinets.   As we all know, most Ikea furniture is sawdust, held together by mostly cardboard and veneers. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Ikea, but most of their ‘affordable’ pieces are not suitable for heavy use.  This cabinet rig-up situation was the latest in my line of attempts at making that slab door work as a table top. The rig-up worked okay for a few months, the height, the massive waste of space and clunky arrangement really started bothering me. Plus it was ugly. Its time was up.

 

My Old Table rig-up

 

I had been pushing off building the table I really wanted, because well, I’d have to build it.  I love building things out of wood, however I don’t do it more often because I don’t have the space to build things. Oh the things I’d build if I had space to lay out all my tools!

When I do build, It is usually out of necessity (Champagne taste, meet Kool-Aid budget, hello!).

 

I finally decided to build the table I really want, once and for all, instead of rearranging every few months in an attempt to compensate for what I didn’t have.

 

The inspiration. 

I saw this table on Pinterest, and decided that was the one.

Nancy Straughan’s desk

What I loved about it was the cubby sandwich underneath the work surface. Since I would be giving up some storage in the form of the lone drawer in the kitchen cabinet, I knew I’d need some place to keep my printing necessities.

I also loved the OSB surface for the industrial look. I had seen OSB used as flooring at a friend’s house and loved how clean and simple it looked. It was also shockingly smooth. I expected that it would be rough to the touch, but it really wasn’t. Plus it’s cheap, to be honest.

What I didn’t like so much in the picture above was the sawhorse legs. I wanted legs that would not eat up too much floor space (again, storage). I did some more Pinterest searching and saw this table:

ABM Desk

 

Same table, but they built their own legs. I loved the little design detail of the tapered legs, but I didn’t think I’d be able to do all that… I figured I’d just leave the legs rectangular.

The first thing I did was to get to work on the legs.

We had a whole 12ft length of 2” x10” board left over from our recent basement steps remodel. I quickly cut it down to 4 29” pieces, using my compound miter saw. SN: It’s really best to use a circular saw if your miter saw does not cut all the way through the width of the board. It’s really hard to line up the board perfectly to cut the rest from the other side.

I quickly painted all sides of the legs, thinking that this assembly would come together fairly quickly, once I got the OSB.

 

 

 

And it would’ve, if I hadn’t had several detours… A wise woman once said, ‘don’t mistake detours for shortcuts’. I had an assortment of 2 x 4s left from a variety of projects, so I thought I’d cobble those together to make the cubby sandwich part.

My first attempt at the sandwich, using leftover 2x4s.

The only thing left to do was to go get the 2 OSB panels. Off to Lowe’s I went.

I then assembled the sandwich like so:

 

Open faced sandwich, part 1.

It looked straight enough laid, but…I quickly realized how hard it is to make a cubby sandwich with so many moving parts. Even more, it’s hard to do this blindly (screwing in the pieces from the top). After much heaving and ho’ing (haha!) I had half of the sandwich made. 

After flipping the assembly right side up, I wasn’t really pleased with how crooked the pieces were.  I tried to tell myself that I was fine with it, and that I wouldn’t really see that part of the table anyway, since it would be hidden. I went on to put the legs on:

Rectangular Legs installed

Through my mounting panic, I knew, that crooked cubbies would be problematic if I plan to put in rectangular bins. I also know that if I didn’t correct it now, I’d be rebuilding the table in a couple of weeks. The legs were also wobbly.  The example from ABM was very skimpy on details about the build, so I was guesstimating what they did. My table was also substantially larger than theirs, since I opted to use the full 4’x8’ sheets.

Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.

I decided to start over, and really build properly, or live to build again.

I looked at my dining table for inspiration on how the legs were attached. They were attached using the traditional ‘apron’ style, so I decided to do just that.  I also suspected that I would need to make pocket holes, to have really strong joints. The table was wobbly because I was putting in screws on the end cap of the boards.

I also realized that, I did not need to use 2×4’s for the aprons or the cubbies. The 1”x 4”s would do just fine. This also meant that the table would be not so massively heavy.

So, what I set off for Lowes. Again. I went in for 1 by 4s, I came out with 1×4’s and a Kreg Jig. A Kreg Jig is a tool for making pocket holes. Pocket holes allow you to make stronger joints.  This is a tool I’d been drooling over since I first saw it on Ana White’s website. Can I just say that the Kreg Jig blessed my very existence?! I mean, it made the assembly so much faster! It was definitely worth the money. 

Kreg Jig

The moral of the story is: use the right tools for the job!  

I was able to drill the pocket holes pretty quickly so that assembly went smoothly.

Drilled pocket holes.

I decided that I really wanted the tapered legs, so I got the right saw blade for my miter saw, and the cutting went really smoothly. I also decided to shorten the legs from the original 29”, down to 27”.

Here are the legs cut

From this point on, the assembly went pretty smoothly.

I put the cubby sandwich in for in-table storage. The long channel down the middle will be used to store long items like my T-square and bolts of fabric. The smaller cubbies will hold smaller bins of items I use fairly frequently.

Here is the mostly assembled table with the cubbies visible:

Cubbies visible before putting the top on.

One pesky detail I had to contend with, was the stamp put on by the manufacturers of the OSB panels. This stamp is put on to mark the panel in the event of theft. It makes for an unsightly mark on my table, so I ended up sanding off as much as I could. Nobody else mentioned this in their tutorial, so I assume this was not an issue for them.

So, 4 days after I started, I had my beautiful new table.

Completed, prior to sanding off the brand markings.

 

Here it is, with the top sanded and waxed.

So far I’m loving it! As you can see, I have wasted no time outfitting the cubbies with dollar tree plastic bins for storage in the cubbies. I also attached a curtain rod (really a 1/2″ conduit pipe) to mount a bolt fabric on when I want to cut. It is long enough to hold the bolt, a water bottle and a roll of paper towels.

Here is my materials list and a more more concise explanation of the steps I took, minus the missteps 🙂

I know this was a lot to take in, so please feel free to email me if you have questions.

Materials List:

 

2 each –  ¾” (or rather 23/32”) 4’ x 8’ OSB panels (used as is)

6 each  1” x 4” Pine boards (I sprung for the beautiful pre-sanded boards because I hate sanding)

1 each  2” x 10” x 12ft Boards (or 2 8ft, or 3 6ft  pieces to make up the legs)

1 ¼” screws (at least 50)

2 ¼” screws (at least 50)

Sample size white paint.

Annie Sloan wax.

 

Tools used:

Kreg Jig

Power drill with phillips head bit

T-square

Clamps

Pencil

Paint Brush

Palm Sander

 

Cut List:

 

Aprons: 2 each: 1” x 4” Pine boards:  88”

            2 each 1” x 4” Pine boards: 48”

Cubbies: 2 each 1” x 4” boards: 96”

              8 each: 1 x 4” boards 11 ⅞”

Legs: 4each  2” x 10” cut in a diagonal to your specifications. (mine were (9” at the top, 3 ½ “ at the bottom

 

Assembly:

1. Paint all the legs, unless you intend not to paint.
2. Drill pocket holes into the aprons,  cubby pieces, and leg pieces.
3. Attach the long cubby pieces to one smooth side of the OSB panel, about 12” in from each long side, using 1 ¼” pocket screws.
4. Attach short cubby pieces to long cubby pieces, 1 per side, spacing out as desired.
5. Flip this assembly over and attach aprons, Attach aprons to what will be the underside of your table, approximately  2” in from the edge. Attach all 4 pieces, with the shorter pieces fitting in between the longer pieces.
6. Attach legs to the Aprons, at the corners, on the inside of the “apron box”
7. Flip the entire assembly over, so table faces up, with cubbies exposed.
8. Attach the lid (2nd 4’ x 8’ piece) to the assembly. Screw in the perimeter of the table into the cubby pieces.
9. Sand off the Stamped logo as much as possible, with the palm sander.. Give the entire table a smooth sanding.
10. Paint the edges (mine were blue) of the OSB boards and the pine boards white and let dry.
11. Apply wax with an old t-shirt.
12. Enjoy your new work table and admire your handiwork!

It’s Heeeeere! Fabric Print ‘N’ Sip!

I am proud to announce my next event, Fabric Print ‘N’ Sip!

This is my take in the ever popular Paints & Cocktails concept. Here you can kick back, hang out with your friends, and create a custom piece of fabric for you!

There is no experience required, and I will provide all you need to print! I will have my premade stamps, and you will have an opportunity to make one, if you desire.

There will be fabric paint, wine, and lots of fabric!

If you would like to print a piece of fabric that you already own, bring it!

Oh, and there will be WINE! You are also welcome to bring your own.

Here are the deets:

//eventbrite.com/tickets-external?eid=28455179207&ref=etckt

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Workshop time (well, almost)

Can you believe it? Fall is here, and before you know it, so will the holidaze!

I am NOT ready for this. This is NOT ok! Wasn’t it just blazing hot 2 days ago?

Alas, ready or not, here it comes!

As an introvert, I tend to be in my head a lot. Lucky for me, I am, married to an extrovert. Left to me, I’d probably never get around to actually inviting folks over, even though I love company. I’m just much better at asking a friend to meet for coffee, or Pecha Kucha.

Around here, we’ve been doing a bit of entertaining after a long hiatus. The Mr. had a horrible work schedule for a while which didn’t allow for weekend entertaining. I am happy to report that his schedule changed, and we are back in the swing of things. I love having folks over just to hang, talk, chill, and, ahem, drink! In this day and age, as we develop more and more ways to be in touch, true connection just seems to be getting more and more difficult. It is still so desperately needed.

I am so happy that we have managed to create warm oasis of good food, good company, and good atmosphere in our little corner of the world. (Personally I think it’s all the printed fabrics, and the warm ambiance of my old-timey christmas lights that we keep up year ’round).

I am planning some very awesome workshops for the near future, so look out for the emails! I have pinned down some dates, just waiting to confirm a location, and we will be good to go!

In the meantime, be well, do good work, and keep in touch, my friends!

Doing Well The Things

I’ve been really thinking this week about laser-focus and the art of doing things well.

I’ve been witnessing how lovely it is to be intentional, present, and laser-focused on your craft, in your life, in the moment.

In this day and age of multi-tasking, constant busy-ness, and round the clock distraction, it becomes increasingly more difficult to laser focus on doing less, doing it well.

It’s even tougher when you have a bad case of  shiny-object syndrome like I do.

I just realized I’m not Superwoman. And I don’t want to be.

This week I have had the privilege seeing what life could be, if I could let go of doing it all by myself. I got to be around, and work with some people who, who just being around them made me want to be not just better, but EXCELLENT.

They were so awe-inspiring and motivated to excel, that you just could not help wanting to be as good as them, if not better.

(By the way, who were these magical creatures? They are my fellow educators. By the way, those who teach…are magic. I dare you to say different.)

I noticed that what made them so gosh darn awesome, was that they are know the difference between 1. what they are good at, 2. what they do not know how to do, and 3. what they have no interest in doing. 1, 2 & 3 were crucial to their mission, but their expertise was in 1, and 1 only.

So what to do, what to do…

They did something that I have been really trying to master. They pass 2 & 3 to those who do those things, not just very well, but do it BEST. (Me being one of the minions, of course). This freed them up to focus on doing what they do best, #1.

When that happens, the result is pure Magic. I dunno about you, but I could use more magic in my life.

I know that this is not a new idea. It’s not even new to me. But somehow seeing it in action this week really drove the point home like never before.

Since I’m gifted with the ability, talent, and curiosity to do a lot of things, I try to do EVERYTHING. While I generally succeed with most things, I would be better served to stop trying to do it all myself.

Letting go of control is never easy, and I don’t yet know what it means for the future, but I’m open to finding out.

How about you? What amazing phenomenal thing could you excel at if you let go of the less important?

Taking It Personal

I promise, the very next post will be about screen printing with latex paint. I promise, no more detours.

A pretty picture to look at while reading my tale of woe.

This post struck me out of the blue as something I really needed to write. If you are wondering where I’ve been (or not), I have been busy scraping myself off the floor from exhaustion and maybe even (undiagnosed) depression.

Welcome to the Sandwich Generation.

It sounds so lovely doesn’t it? Like, “excuse me miss, might I trouble you for a sandwich?” (in a british accent of course). This term conjures up delicious images of the most decadent fillings, pressed together by a yummy glorious bread…oh great, now I’m hungry for carbs…

Anyway, this quaint little term is what we use to refer to people like me: balancing parenting and household responsibilities, full time work, part time business, AND taking care of our elderly parents, while trying to maintain the highlight reel that is our social media presence. Oh yeah, that last one is a recent phenomenon.

My father was diagnosed with Dementia a few months ago, although we have suspected it since he moved down from Alaska into our town 4 years ago.  His legendary shenanigans just seemed to depart of  his personality quirks. He has always subscribed to magical thinking, especially about money. When he started to lose money to scammers, I knew something wasn’t really right, but he seemed lucid most of the time so I was not sure what to make of it.

Of his 4 children (2 of them teenagers), I am the only one that lives locally, and the only one saddled with the responsibility of caring for, and managing him. If I don’t seem overjoyed about this task, it is because our relationship was difficult and awkward prior to this.  Despite our awkward relationship and my resentment of his irresponsibility, I find that I cannot just let him wither away with no one to advocate for him. I manage and care for him out of a sense of duty, not because I really want to. I have long ago divested myself of any guilt.

In the last 2 months he has recently taken a terrible decline, taking me down with him.

With his decline I have been slammed head-first into the reality of the indignity of old age when you have a lifetime of regrets. Those same regrets fuel your delusions, causing you to torture the people who are tasked with caring for you. That is a fate I will do my very best not to repeat.

A wise man once said, “Every man thinks that his burden is the heaviest.” I know it could always be worse, but from where I am sitting, it is pretty bad.

I feel like I became a world-class champion at ‘rising above.’ I rise-above all day with my students, children, father, and husband (who by the way, still wants my attention too). It feels like everyone is constantly pulling at me, and all I can do is rise above and give a little more of myself.

Then I started to I notice that I was getting sick with more frequency. The day before the last Third on Third Market, I was so sick that I could literally only lie down on the sofa all day. I still did the show the next day because, the show must go on, right? I am still recovering.

I was getting sick because I was not taking care of myself.

I was not getting enough sleep because I was burning the candle at both ends.

I was getting more eye infections because I wasn’t resting my eyes enough (that’s my theory anyway, but could also be due to all the germs I’m around as a teacher).

I was getting fatter because I was not exercising and I was (am) eating my feelings  (ice-scream daily, anyone?)

A sista was (and let’s be honest, is) tired!   After dealing with crises all day, the last thing I want to do is put on a fake happy face for social media. So I have kind of dropped out. You may have noticed that I have been less present on social media. I’ve mostly been consoling myself with lots and lots of beautiful Pinterest pictures.

I was trying to do everything equally well at once, and failing miserably at most of them. I couldn’t catch my breath.

So I decided to just let it go.

Let. that. shit. go.

I have chosen self-care. I have decided to start getting the 8 hours a night of sleep I have heard so much about. I have even started breaking out my Yoga mat again, even if it’s just for a quick 5 minutes before bed.

I have accepted that I can not do it all. I simply just can not. So I have to let some things go for a little while.

Unfortunately, the things I had to release (just a little) are the things I would rather be doing.

None of my obligations are going away anytime soon, but yay for summer break! With summer break starting in a few hours, I hope to be back.

So please be patient. That follow up to the Latex Textile Printing post is coming.

TV appearance

  I’m taking a quick break from the Screenprinting with latex paint series. I will be back with the conclusion of this series shortly. 

I want to share to share a short video from my recent tv appearance. I was there to help promote the kick off of Third on Third, our local outdoor eclectic market. I will be out there selling my wares, so if you are local to the dayton Ohio area, please stop by! 

Here is the video, enjoy!

Screen printing fabric with latex house paint

A note about my experience on screenprinting fabric with latex house paint…

100% cotton fabric screen printed and stamped with latex house paint.

I have been screen printing fabric with latex house paint for at least 3 years now. I have successfully printed a lot of things: napkins, pillow covers, curtains, t-shirts, tote bags, etc. I have exclusively printed on cotton, linen, and ramie, so I can not speak for synthetic fabrics.

I hesitated sharing this information because

1.) I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before putting it out there, and
2.) I was not sure how it would be received. In the end, I figured, if it can help someone else, it’s worth the risk of an internet backlash (ha-ha!)

I mostly print on things that will not get a lot of washing, but I have successfully machine washed, and hand-scrubbed fabrics that I printed. I have found that it is best to wait at least a week or so, to let the paint cure, before attempting any washing. 

modified latex house paint on a screen.

So obviously, you can not just glop on some house paint onto your screen and expect a good print. If that was the case, everyone would be doing this already. There are a few reasons this would not work out.

1. Latex paint, used in its pure form, is too runny to be pulled through the screen.
2. Latex paint, used in its pure form, dries REALLY fast, and will gunk up your screen.
3. Latex paint, used in its pure form will leave a nasty haze on your screen, because it dries so quickly.
4. Latex paint, used in its pure form dries stiff on fabric, leaving a not very pleasant ‘hand.’ Because of this, it also tends to crack over time and washings.
5. Latex paint, used in its pure form, *may not be* wash-fast. This is debatable.

I call these ‘challenges to overcome’.

In order to make latex house paint suitable for printing, it needs to be ‘modified’ and ‘extended.’

Modifying & Extending the Paint:

Extending the paint simply means diluting it. This means that you are not using the paint at full strength.

You will be diluting the paint with a thickener. Wait, what? Yes, you are thinning with a thickener. It will make complete sense, I promise.

Latex house paint is highly pigmented and can stand to be thinned. Strangely, the color is not noticeably lightened in this process.

Extending the latex house paint solves challenges #1-4. Extending the paint will:

1. Thicken, duh. Now you can pull it thru the screen.
2. The extender used will slow down the drying process.
3. Because it will now dry slower, there’s less likelihood of it drying on your screen, leaving the haze of color, and possibly blocking the holes on your screen.
4. Because the paint has now been extended, it will dry on the fabric with a much softer hand, and the paint will not crack on your fabric with repeated washings.

Modifying the paint just means that you will add textile medium. This solves challenge #5.  to make the paint wash-fast.

Now, I’m of 2 minds regarding washability. I believe that latex paint is washable on fabric.

Think about the last time you got paint on your clothes while painting. How hard was it to get that paint out? Extremely.

I add textile medium for extra protection. I do not really believe that latex house paint needs textile medium to be wash-fast.

On the other hand, I’m nervous to leave it out.

latex house paint that has been prepped for printing.

So you want to know what I use to extend my paint, huh? 

I have tried a variety of products to make my paint screen-able. Here are the ones that I have tried.

1. Shaving Cream. The cheaper the better.
2. Clear, non-flaking hair gel. The cheaper the better.
3. Unscented Lotion (yes, lotion) The cheaper (think dollar store) the better.
4. Mineral Oil
5. Permaset Aqua Print Paste

So there ya have it.

In the next post, we will dive into more detail about each of these materials. If you have not, subscribe here so that you don’t miss it..

Creative living means making do

Creative living means making do, in a good way.

If I had a nickel for every time someone said to me ‘you’re so creative!’ I’d be rich…or whatever.

Little do they know that me ‘being creative’ means I make hundreds of quick mental calculations all day, just to figure out how things relate to each other.

I guess growing up in a time and place where there was no excess will teach you that.

These days it seems like there’s a solution for every single problem that we can imagine.

This past fall I asked my kids to help rake up the fallen leaves in the back yard. My request was met with some major balking, so I explained to them the importance of learning these practical skills for when they became homeowners in the future.

I was promptly informed that they would never need to such menial tasks when they get older since their robots would take care of it.

Well, shut the front door!

You’d best believe, they raked every leaf in the yard, to my satisfaction.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fantastic that we live in such an age of abundant options. Having these options readily available also means that we are conditioned to go out and buy, buy, buy. Which means we start to lose the ability to think of creative ways to use what we already have.

I’m guilty of this sometimes. If I really want to, I will invent a need for a (not so) quick run to ol’ blue and yellow . In the heat of my desire to visit the land of beauty and order, I will quickly forget that I have way too many storage knick-knacks that I don’t use.

I will then later suffer from buyer’s remorse as I go through yet another big purge.

In my old age, I am learning to slow down and think through my purchases.

A wise man once said (and by wise, I mean I don’t know who) that being creative is being able to see the connection between 2 seemingly unrelated things. By the same token, [tweetthis]living creatively means seeing connections between 2 unrelated things.[/tweetthis]

Here’s a look at my thought process when ‘being creative’.

Consider for instance, plain ol’ boring clear Contact Paper (aka shelf liner). Did you know that this thing is magic?

1. You can use it as a privacy film on your windows.  If you’ve ever looked at ‘privacy film’ in the store, you will realize that it is essentially the same vinyl material. Sometimes there are designs on the surfaces. So go a step further and cut out some designs into the contact paper for a clean modern look.

(Apologies for the sideways photos…there is some sort of glitch.)

1. Use that same clear contact paper as a screenprinting stencil. Or use it as a wall, paper or fabric stencil. Like this smart lady did here. So, screen printing huh? You really just need something to make a mask on a piece of fabric. That something can be the self-adhesive contact paper. Perfect.
2. This same contact paper can be used to transfer a vinyl design that I have cut on my silhouette machine to the wall or any other surface. I told you that lady was smart.  Why? well, have you looked at the transfer paper sold for the Silhouette machine? It’s really the same thing, but with slightly less adhesive. Remove some of the adhesive by sticking the contact paper onto another surface first.
3. Laminate without a laminator with the same clear contact paper. Contact paper repels water. That is its sole reason for being. So repel some water off that printed paper!
4. De-Lint your clothes with it in a pinch. Hey, you could do this before doing number 3, killing 2 birds with one stone!

See? for as low as $1 (dollar stores carry the stuff), the humble contact paper goes a very long way. You are welcome.

So next time you need something, think about what you already have that you can substitute. Sometimes you may have to walk around the house with a dreamy far-away look on your face while  looking at all your stuff before it comes to you. Your family will think you are crazy, but hey, you’re saving money!

So I’d love to hear from you! What are some things that you use in outside-the-box ways?