How-To's Day: Make Heat Pads/ Ice Packs

 (Here is an example of one I made for my Grandpa)

Before the Holidays, Sharon and I stumbled upon this amazing project on Pinterest from blogger elm street life. It is a DIY Heating pad that you can also put in the freezer and use as an ice pack.

 (image via elm street life)

Whitney's project is awesome so I will just be adding my tips and findings here.  For full instructions head over to her post here. 

What I wanted to show you today for the tutorial are some variations I came up with for mine that I am using as a neck warmer/ shoulder saver.  The holidays have taken most of my shoulder strength from me and this heating pad has been a great help with eliminating some of my chronic pain. I didn't stitch as many separate compartments to this heating pad so that it would mold to the curve of my shoulder and stay put.

Note: When cutting the 2 pieces of fabric I cut both pieces 13" X 6"

First thing I found was a bundle of dried Lavender as seen below.  The lavender is quite fragrant while stripping it (aka, get some air breeze of some sort or it will take you out!) Plus it takes a bit to strip it for yourself...

So, to help with time, cost , and hassle wise- My trick to using dried Lavender if you are in a pinch trying to source it is Trader Joe's has these sweet lavender dryer bags which you can dissect and get the dried lavender. As you can tell it varies a little from the Lavender I plucked from the bundle (it is the top one that has less color...).   

I did various tests between the two, the fragrance is pretty much the same; they just look different. If it comes to looks alone, stripping it yourself (minus the people who are awesome and have it in their gardens) can't begin to compare to the TJ's hack. 

Using any dried bean or corn (minus the popcorn-duh, but thought I should note anyway) as the stuffing works really well for the body of the pad.  I find the smaller beans heat more quickly and hold heat nicely. Also, I used a cup used to fill an iron to load the filling in the pouch. It not only helped with accurately pouring the pieces into the flipped holes of the fabric, but it also gave me a receptacle to mix all the ingredients together. :)

Everything else I followed Whitney guidance from her tutorial except I only stitched across the middle making two sections to the heating pad/ ice pack.

Philatelists wanted

Been thinking deeply about stamp collecting lately. Sometimes as I am saving the homogenized "forever stamp" and I think about how sad it will be if good 'ol fashioned mail gets lost over the course of time. The nostalgia, dedication and patience it takes to save and collect stamps is something I don't even feel today is possible.

I didn't realize that stamp collectors are called Philatelists for Philately the study of stamps. It makes you wonder if one day there will be consepts lost or even re-named in our vocabulary just for something falling out of popularity. Well, I hope stamps have a revival because I think it is one of my favorite collecting hobbies and I hope to learn even more about the rich history behind Philately.

SO I Will be talking about this concept a lot since I am feeling pretty pumped about the subject- But today will all about Collecting and Removing Stamps :)
Check the next post for details.