Hiding Furniture Scratches

When I go to places like the Salvation Army thrift store I almost never bother to look at the art because most of it is terrible. There is a reason that the person that donated it no longer wanted it in their home and it's usually pretty obvious. But my mom was with me that day and when I went over to that section of the store to get her I noticed this mirror. It was gorgeous. I picked it up and it was very heavy, almost like picking up the Doodlebug.

The wood frame was real, but it had some nicks and scratches on it. And it was half off. That made it $7.50. For a gorgeous wooden frame with mirror.

The next thing I know, I'm in line with it tucked under my arm. Hmm, how did that happen?

I think a lot of pieces look better with a distressed look. But when my hubby suggested trying to touch up the scratches and dings with shoe polish my ears perked up. How could shoe polish fix a wooden mirror frame?

Well, it turns out that shoe polish is basically dye mixed into some wax. That sounds like it could work, so we got out the shoe polish and tried it.



Less than five minutes later the scratches were almost invisible. Amazing!



I loved this quick and easy fix to spruce up my thrift store mirror. Doesn't it look great in it's new home?



For more great tips check out Works for Me Wednesdays on Kristen's blog.

Getting out Cherry Stains

Usually when I wear a white shirt I eat spaghetti and get sauce all over it. This time I wore a white shirt and got cherry juice on it.

Of course we were traveling and the only clean shirts I had were buried in the trunk. And there's nothing quite like showing up at your in-laws with huge stains all over your shirt.

So I grabbed a baby wipe and cleaned it up as best I could. The stains weren't gone, but they were much lighter. When I washed the shirt I fully expected to see cherry stains on it. They had set for three days and I had no pre-treater for the laundry either.

But they were gone!

I had no idea that a baby wipe would prevent the stain from setting and it would come out in the wash. But hey, I like simple. And I really like that my shirt was not ruined.

Now where are the rest of those cherries...?

Check out other blogs linked up to Works for me Wednesdays.

Cutting Hair at Home

I started cutting Doodlebug’s hair when he was about 6 months old. He had this little patch on the top of his head that was about 3 inches long. It was very cute until he got fitted for his helmet. It stuck out and he looked like a rooster, and not in a flattering way. So we went to Target, bought a mustache trimmer and started trimming.



I bought a mustache trimmer instead of a hair clipper because it was smaller and I wanted to have more control over it. It turned out to be the perfect size.

Since Doodlebug was not yet sitting up on his own I stripped him to his diaper, put him in his Bumbo and started clipping away. He did great, never even flinched. Not that he was still, he squirmed away but never even noticed what I was doing with his hair.



I started with the longest setting on the trimmer and for this haircut that was all I needed. Now that he has more hair to work with, I leave it a little longer on top and trim the sides a little bit shorter. And just a helpful tip, if you put the trimmer down during the haircut always make sure that the guard is still on the setting you thought it was. I don’t know this from experience. And especially not the experience of moving the guard from the longest setting to the shortest one without noticing the day before his first birthday. Because I would never do that. Oh no, I would never do anything like that.

Now when I get ready to cut his hair I put an Elmo DVD in and sit him on a large towel in the family room. It works great. He is mesmerized by Elmo and I just buzz around him trimming him up.

I am linking up to We are THAT Family and the Works for me Wednesday posts.