4 Quick and Dirty DIYs

Here’s a confession. As a writer in the information age, the closest thing I come to a digital detox most days is the time I spend getting showered and dressed for work. Now that my school job is over for the year, I am spending my days creating content for websites–blog posts and web content on every subject from HVAC units to helicopters to digital menus. It’s a fun job for someone who gets super jazzed about research and writing based on format, but it also means hours in front of a computer at a time. To keep my mind and spirit fresh, I am giving myself breaks to tidy up around the house and to create real, tangible things I can enjoy. I’m not a super great crafter, and my attention span is terrible, but I love a good quick and dirty craft. That’s the cool part about working from home as a content writer: you get to decide when you work, which means you can take breaks to get your head clear. Worn out? Take a nap. Want a coffee break? Take two.

This week, I managed to knock out a few little fun DIYs on my self-care breaks, and I thought it would be fun to share them with you.

1. Tissue Paper Stained Glass Windows

We have had a hard time keeping these windows covered. I don’t know if it’s the kids or the pets or both, but every window covering we have put on these windows ended up pulled down. The sun coming in through those windows heats up the living room like a convection oven, and anyone walking down the street can see right in our house. We’re a quirky family, so I decided to come up with a quirky solution. I used diluted school glue to paint tissue paper onto the windows. It only took a couple of hours, and the temperature in our living room has gone down significantly. Plus now we can dab and floss with wild abandon, free of fear of shaming ourselves to the neighborhood.

2. Fabric Covered Hangers

This is not a pointless craft, I emphasized to Justin, because it keeps your clothes from sliding off your crappy plastic hangers. But also, and most importantly, it’s super cute. I’m pretty much a low-level fabric hoarder, so I always have heckloads of cute fabric scraps lying about, and I lurv playing with textiles. This is such a fun craft it was hard to make myself stop. Basically, just rip little strips of fabric and then wrap them around a wire hanger. Tie when finished. Easy peasy!

3. Dollar Store Art Wall

Someday, when I finish my novel and it’s optioned into a Netflix series and we make millions, I will be able to afford to quit the Dollar Tree and be more socially conscious in my shopping and fill our home with more beautiful work by local artists. But until then, I’m cutting myself some slack. I found some cute and kitschy mass-produced “art” pieces (I use the word very loosely) and put them together with some cute thrift store junk and some beloved items for this cute little display above our piano.

4. Contact Paper Bathroom Makeover

When we moved into our house, the walls of our tiny little bathroom were covered in weird plastic paneling. It is hideous, but it’s also very easy to clean. As renters, we did not really have the option to replace it, but after three years of staring at this ugly white stuff, it hit me: Contact paper. I picked this up from Duck brand, and it took just under two rolls to finish the job in our bathroom. It’s cute and whimsical, and it hardly took any effort.

Do you have any quick and dirty crafts to suggest for me? Lazy mom DIYs? Hit me up in the comments and follow me on Instagram for more crafting tomfoolery. Read: glitter crimes.