Friday, February 21, 2014

FWF #7 - What a week!

We're still recovering from last weekend, when we drove to Laughlin, NV (4 hours away from our home). Mika had a soccer tournament there. After two games on Saturday and two on Sunday, only the top two teams in each pool of five would advance to play on Monday - but Mika's team did not make it to that point. However, we weren't terribly sad, because we knew we could avoid Las Vegas traffic! DaddyDude actually managed to wake up at 5 am so we hit the road by 5:39 am and were home before 9 am. Enough time to get some much needed yardwork done and perhaps best of all, we were able to retrieve Bo from the kennel. :)

Unfortunately, we received some bad news this week... our pest control company confirmed my guess that we have termites. Yes, all those years of working for a termite professor back when I was an undergraduate paid off! I suppose, on the bright side, that had I not had that experience, I might have just vacuumed up the evidence and thought nothing of it - and then 10 years later, our house would have collapsed. Ah, well, it is what it is. Has anyone had any experience with the whole house tent fumigation process? Not looking forward to preparing for it... but at least they won't be elevating the temperature so I don't have to worry about all of my Unity stamps melting... :)


Speaking of Unity stamps, that's why you Friends with Flair peeps are here! This week, I chose to do something different and yet simple - make magnets! I'm sure you'll recognize some of the Unity images right away (Donut Be Sad, Holy Shiitake! Lil Happy Birdie, Half Days, Happy Hours, and a couple from the January KOTM).

I found some 2x2 tiles at the hardware store, which are typically used as tile backsplash - they come in a sheet of 36). I snipped the glue (that holds them together) off, stamped with black StazOn ink, heat set the images for 20 minutes in the oven (250 degrees) and then colored with my Spectrum Noir markers. I still haven't figured out how to control the coloring over larger areas, so I muted the streaking effect with Stickles. I think the donut looks much better with glitter anyway. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'm hoping to do more yard work and to declutter - I've been reading a book, Throw Out 50 Things, in an effort to get myself into a purging mood. The only drawback? The book warns not to throw away anybody else's things. How else am I going to get the kids' stuff cleaned up?!

15 comments:

  1. Termites? Hmm. No experience with them, but they sound dreadful. I'm thinking they must be a Southern thing. Love your magnets! What a wonderful idea! I would have seen no streaking if you hadn't pointed it out. They look great to me!

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  2. These are just awesome magnets Miwa!! Just super creative!

    Hope your termite problem goes away real soon! :)

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  3. Wow that is some crafty skills! Bumr about the termites.....I feel for ya.

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  4. Wow, what a great gift idea. Thanks for the instructions. I may have to give this a try! No termites in Alaska.... they would never survive the winters. Glad you found it early on!

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  5. So sorry about the termites but I love those tiles

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  6. These are awesome magnets! Thanks for the directions! Sorry to hear about the termites. Being that I Have to know about identifying some relatives of the termites for my job (various human parasites), many of the bugs, bacteria and viruses make it their life's work to outlive us humans!

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  7. So sorry about the termites. I hope all goes well. Love your magnets. xx

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  8. These are so COOL. Great project. Love how they turned out. Great tutorial too. Good luck getting rid of the pests. :)

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  9. I *love* those tiles! They are awesome! Sorry about the termites. :( Good luck with that - no experience, but praying you find a good company and can get rid of them quickly & effectively!

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  10. Super creative magnets. No experience with termites. So glad that you caught it though. Hugs~Patti

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  11. These magnets are super-cute! I love the idea. Termites? Not so much -- good luck.

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  12. Cute magnets! Those little stamps are perfect for this!

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  13. These magnets are AWESOME! So fun…and a great way to take your mind off termites!

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  14. Wonderful magnets! Good luck with the fumigation!

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  15. Awesome magnets! I need the "Life" one for the office, lol. I think I need that book...

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