Creating a Crafting Room

If you are crafting fanatic, perhaps your idea of a home makeover includes your very own crafting room. A wide-open space where you can cut, sew, glue, or bedazzle to your heart’s content doesn’t have to be something of your dreams. You can create a unique and functional crafting space even on a tight budget. Here are some tips on how to get it done.

1. You will need a sturdy table to give you the work space you need. By installing locking caster wheels on the base of a wooden or metal table, you can give yourself the freedom to move the table around to help accommodate projects better. If you will be sitting for a long time, use a stool rather than a chair at the table. If you want to add height for standing while crafting, add blocks under the legs.


2. Tape or glue a measuring tape to the side of your table to help make sizing easier. You can also use a vinyl stencil to label it directly onto the table.


3. Recycle used boxes around the house for storage. Shoe boxes make perfect crafting supplies boxes, as they come with lids and can fit on most shelving units. Cover them with some cheap fabric to give your room a finished look and make your storage much more appealing.


4. Having a sink in the craft room can be a huge help, but if you aren’t able to install one, there are other options. You can either purchase a camping sink that relies on a storage tank under the setup, or you can use a container with a spout and a five-gallon bucket for the dirty water. This keeps you from tracking a mess throughout the house.


5. Recycle empty soups can for more storage. Using the same fabric as you did for the shoeboxes, you can color coordinate and cover your cans to make them more exciting. By adding corrugated cardboard inserts into the cans, you can separate different sizes or types of paint brushes, markers, or pens.


6. Clear canisters are the best for storing materials like cotton balls, yarn, felt, or ribbon scraps. Be sure to use ones with lids. If you want to create your own yarn or ribbon dispenser, use a wooden dowel inside the cannister and slice a small slit in the lid for the ends of the material to protrude.

You can organize many things by recycling some of the common items around your home. Take a look at what you can repurpose and start designing your new crafting space.

               

Is Your Child Suffering From Depression?

Image Credit Pixabay.com License CCO

The happiness of your children is obviously going to be very important to you. No parent wants to think of their child suffering from depression, or anxiety. Yet, unfortunately, mental health issues are very common in children, and can easily slip under the radar and not get diagnosed. 

How Do Mental Health Issues Get Overlooked So Easily?

Very often, wider mental health issues can be disregarded as ‘a phase’. It can be blamed on the age of the child, or it may even get completely missed because your child may be an expert at hiding feelings from you that they are embarrassed about having or don’t fully understand. Some children are not able to articulate how they are feeling about something, and instead, their depression or anxiety can manifest in some other unwanted behaviours. 

What To Look Out For

There are many changes that may occur in your child if they are suffering from depression. Their appetite may change, and they may be eating a lot more, or much less, or even avoiding eating completely. You may have noticed that they don’t seem to be able to concentrate on things so well anymore. They might not be able to hold a full conversation and may seem distracted. There may be times when they seem irritable, or even lose their tempers, or change moods rapidly. 

Have a look at how they react to the things that they love doing. If they don’t seem so keen on their hobbies and interests, it may be a sign that they are struggling with some mental health issues. If they are hiding away from friends and spending less time around people in general, this can be a sign too.  

What Action Should You Take

Firstly, you need to understand that the way that they are acting is not something that they have control over. Avoid telling them to keep their chin up, or to get over it. Instead, let them know that you are there for them and that you understand them.

If you worry that they have a bigger problem, you may need to help them get the support that they need. This may come from a counsellor who specialises in supporting children, or your teenagers may need to look at mental health programs for young adults. Taking your child to visit your doctor will be useful in the first instance, as they can rule out any physical conditions that may be causing knock-on symptoms. 

Remember, Your Child Is Struggling

You will need to take on board the fact that your child is going through some complicated life issues. You will need to make sure you don’t come across as being negative about their condition, or acting as though they are a burden because of it. You certainly should not be nagging them or making them feel bad about suffering from depression. Try and find positive ways to engage with them, and be sure that they know that they have your support

Free Blank Avengers Birthday Party Invitation Printable

I was in a rush to get Sam's 10th birthday party invites out and didn't have time to run out for invites or order some or create something myself. So I hit the good old interwebs and found this cutie and wanted to share it with you in case you need something like it. It folds up nicely for stuffing into an envelope and mailing in a jiffy!

Check out this amazing printable blank superhero birthday party invitation over at Not Quite Susie Homemaker. Enjoy. Hope it helps make your life easier in some way!

P.S. No, his party is not even Avengers themed (he prefers scooters and bikes and skateboards these days), but who cares? It's a rockin' invitation and that's all that matters = getting friends to the party!

Click here to check out Sam's birth story. Spoiler alert: he gave birth to himself while we raced down the hospital hallway on a gurney.

Moving Soon? 4 Tips for Making the Process Easier

 The thought of moving can be exciting. You’re off to begin a new adventure in a new home. When it finally comes time to start packing and moving, however, the stress begins to set in. Suddenly, you’re faced with gathering up all of your belongings and getting them to your new residence. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be a stressful experience. Here are four tips for reducing stress and making your move easier.

Create a Timeline

Insufficient time is one of the biggest stressors of moving. There’s a lot to do and you often think that you don’t have enough time to get it all done. After all, you still have other daily responsibilities. When you know the date of your move, you can create a schedule. Block out some time to take care of different tasks. By giving yourself time, you can help to reduce stress.

Eliminate Clutter

The thought of having to pack everything in your current residence and move it can be overwhelming. No matter how long you’ve lived in your current Tampa residence, things tend to collect. Your home may be cluttered with items that you don’t want to bring with you. Just looking at clutter can be stressful. Take some time to go through your belongings and determine what needs to come, what can be thrown out, and what can be sold or donated. Once the clutter is gone, you can more easily pack your items.

Hire Professional Movers

A great way to reduce stress is to hire movers. Professional moving companies tampa fl can safely transport your personal belongings from your current home to your new one. Movers can take care of the heavy lifting for you, saving you from potential injuries. Many even offer packing services. With professional movers, the stress of having to get your items from one location to the next is eliminated.

Don’t Neglect Yourself

With so much to do, it’s easy to forget about self-care. You might start going to sleep later and getting up earlier just to make sure you get everything done. The less sleep you get (and the more you neglect yourself) the more stressed you may become. To reduce stress, take care of yourself. Take breaks when you need to and make time to rest.

Just because moving can be a stressful experience, that doesn’t mean that it has to be. Giving yourself ample time and planning accordingly can help you to reduce your stress and turn moving into a more pleasant event.

Check out this fantastic resource on How Teachers Can Deal with Stress.     

Dental Tips for Children with ADHD and Their Parents

Dr. Greg Grillo (Dentably.com)

When it comes to oral hygiene, it can be really difficult to get children on board. If you have children with ADHD, it can become even more difficult. It is a struggle to get them to follow a routine, to follow proper brushing techniques, and to take the time to do things right. In fact, parenting in the summertime can be downright stressful!

Frequent Dentist Visits

The good news is that there have been a lot of studies among pediatric dentists focusing on how to promote great oral hygiene among children with ADHD. They are fully qualified to help your children through the process and partner with parents. Make dental visits your first step.

Your child’s first dental visit should happen when they get their first tooth. Regular visits should be planned after that to keep them healthy and establish that the dentist isn’t a place to fear.

Children with ADHD have a lot of sensory obstacles to overcome as well. A lot of dentists are well aware of how important it is to partner with children with additional needs, so their offices offer look and play appointments. In these appointments, your child won’t have any dental work done, but they will be able to familiarize themselves with the dental staff and the office.

If your child likes to constantly ask, “What’s that? What’s it do?” and look and touch, these special appointments will help them get all of that out of their system before their actual dental appointment. This helps them get used to some of the sensory overload they may experience ahead of time so they will be calmer in the appointment.

Watch Their Diet

A lot of times, what you cook and serve to your children can have a huge impact on their diets. It can be very tempting to just give children whatever they want to make them calm, but this can be very detrimental to their oral hygiene and lead to a diet full of sugars and snack foods that will cause tons of cavities.

Get children used to healthy foods from an early age. If they hate a specific vegetable, that’s fine. Serve a different one. If they don't want to eat any vegetables, put your foot down and don't allow desserts until they eat healthier foods.

Good Foods

Some foods are good for oral health. Apples are a great treat that kids usually love, and they are really good for your teeth, too!  Yogurt and milk also help promote strong teeth thanks to all the calcium, phosphates, and vitamin D that strengthens teeth.

Nuts and seeds are also great. These snacks will replenish your kid’s energy with protein but they also replenish the minerals that tooth enamel needs and counteract acids. Eggs also provide vitamins and minerals essential for good oral health.

Bad Foods

Avoid sugary drinks. Not only are these triggers for ADHD behavioral tendencies, but they also wreak havoc on healthy teeth. These drinks are filled with acid and sugar that causes tooth and gum decay and damage.

Citrus fruits are also not the best snack. Although we tend to think of fruits as healthy, citrus fruits have a very high acid content. These will begin to erode the enamel in your child’s teeth earlier than necessary. Try to get them to eat less acidic fruits, like apples and grapes.

Candy is already out the window. If you are compassionate, you will let them have treats every once in a while. When you do reward them with candy, avoid the chewy ones. Gummies, gumdrops, taffy, and caramel will stick to their teeth and make it very difficult to brush away – especially for children who have ADHD and who don’t have the attention span required to brush it off thoroughly and immediately.

Believe it or not, chips and pasta also make the naughty list! Starches found in bread and chips break down into simple sugars in your body. Sugar is the biggest enemy of healthy teeth. It leads to gum decay.

Develop a Good Routine

Children with ADHD are at a higher risk for dental issues unless they develop a good oral care routine, so it’s up to parents to help establish this from a young age.

Make sure they include dental care in their daily routine. You can use timers to help them count down, and if they start getting impatient, turn it into a fun activity. Maybe you can find a 2-minute dance song and throw a party for them while they brush their teeth to keep them entertained.

A lot of parents like to develop incentive systems to reward good behavior. This is fine, as long as your system doesn’t involve those bad candies I mentioned earlier. Try rewarding them with stickers, toys, and extra playtime instead. Encouraging them to work over a long period of time will establish a good routine, and when the reward at the end is a day at a fun park or activity, like bumper cars or mini-golf, it avoids sugars and incentivizes active play.