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How to Make a Leak Proof Water Blob (without tape!)

July 1, 2013 by homemadetoast 411 Comments

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By now, I am sure you have seen these water blobs circulating on Pinterest and all over your favorite blogs. And – for good reason! Water blobs will keep the kids entertained for hours.

The only problems that seem pretty universal with the duct tape method is that they take a long time to prep – and they leak within minutes!

This tutorial is a little different. I used about 6-inches of duct tape on the entire thing! It has been sitting in our yard for 3 days now – with NO leaks, at all. And – it only took about 20 minutes to get ready!

*Update: I just drained our water blob. The grass under it was dying and stinky. 🙁 I’m hoping that it will perk back up in a few days – but I definitely won’t leave it out for more than 2 days next time!

I knew there had to be another (better, faster, & easier) way!

I had used a similar method in making my own walls-of-water for my tomatoes earlier in the spring, and so I knew right away how I would put together our water blob!

The secret ingredient: an iron

I literally melted the ends of the painter’s plastic together to form a leak-proof seal. I was done before “I Feel Better” started playing on Doc McStuffins. (Someone, please relate!) For those of you without toddler girls, that translates to about 15 minutes.

You’ll need:

Painter’s plastic/plastic sheeting (affiliate link), *4 mil* – any size (I used a 10×25-foot roll, and cut it down to about 10×20)
Ironing board and iron
Parchment paper
Duct tape – optional, for sealing the hole for the hose

Turn your iron on to its hottest setting. I found it was easiest to keep my ironing board flat on the floor so that the weight of the plastic didn’t cause any cooperation issues. Many times, I actually slid my ironing board across the floor instead of moving the plastic.

Roll out your plastic in your largest room, and fold it in half – to the size you want your water blob. Don’t worry about aligning the edges – they will align as you go!

This was my set-up (the right edge is folded over because I couldn’t lay the whole thing flat):

You’ll start out with a long piece of parchment paper. At first, I tried to use a piece that was as long as my ironing board – but it was actually much easier when I cut the paper about 2-feet long.

Fold it in half, length-wise and draw a line about 2-inches out from the fold. This will be your guide of how far into iron.

Begin with the edge of plastic opposite of its fold, starting at the corner. Open up your parchment and place your plastic inside, aligning it to the fold of the parchment.

Then, fold the parchment back over.

Now, use your hot iron to slowly melt the plastic together by running the iron across the line of your parchment. Do not let the iron touch the bare plastic – it will melt a hole in it, and will make a huge mess all over your iron!

Press firmly, but not too hard – because the plastic is hot, it will stretch. You don’t want to weaken the plastic by thinning it out with too much pressure.

Less is more. You can always re-melt the plastic it did not completely seal!

Let it cool for a few seconds before removing the parchment. If you remove the parchment too early – you could risk stretching the plastic. (You could alternate two pieces of parchment, let one cool while the other seals)

Continue to seal all of the edges, overlapping a few inches to make sure there are no holes. After sealing the end opposite of the fold, work from the sealed edge toward the fold. Everything will align perfectly!

Now, carefully cut a small slit in the folded end of the plastic, near the corner.

Place the hose in a few feet, and prop the corner up so that the water does not spill out while you fill your water blob.

Ours took about 30 minutes to fill about 8-inches deep – and we ended up adding some food coloring about half way in. Totally not necessary, but we loved watching the color swirl into the water!

Seal off the hole with a piece of duct tape – or use your iron and parchment to melt the edge! I opted for duct tape because I plan on using it again a few times.

Then let the kids go wild! We sprayed a little water on top to splash on, and they loved it!

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Update 4/16/14: Although not verified, it seems the original source of this awesome idea comes from Play at Home Mom! This post is intended to be a tutorial for my unique way of making it, and I do not take any credit for the idea itself!

DIY Wall-of-Water

May 22, 2014 by homemadetoast 3 Comments

When my water blob post went viral last month, I received dozens of requests for a tutorial on how to make the walls-of-water that I mentioned in the post. If you haven’t used walls-of-water before, they are basically just a little greenhouse that provides insulation for your plants (I use mine on my tomatoes) when temperatures are colder than the plants would otherwise be able to survive or thrive in. The sun during the day heats the water around the plant, keeping it from freezing overnight. Once temperatures increase a little and your plant begins to outgrow the wall-of-water, it is usually removed.

Last year I used both homemade and store-bought walls-of-water in my garden. They worked equally well – they really are basically identical in size and quality. The only difference is in the color of the plastic.

So, here’s my little disclaimer – you can buy walls-of-water for less than $6 each when you get them in a 3-pack. Or, you can make your own for about $3. Once you get the process down, they take 15-20 minutes to make. Is it worth the $3 savings? I’m not really sure. If you are the DIY type, you may just enjoy the fact that you made your own – but as far as saving time and money, it might be worth it to just go with the store-bought version.

If I haven’t scared you away from making your own yet… here’s how you do it!

You will need:

1-yard of 54″ 12-gauge vinyl (do NOT use thicker!)
about 3.5 feet of parchment paper
iron/ironing board
ruler & pen

First, fold your parchment paper in half, hamburger style.

Draw a line down the length of the center, then two more lines on either side 3″ apart. Then, mark another line about 16″ from the fold. These lines will be your template on where you will fuse your plastic together.

Next, take your vinyl and lay it out flat.

Then, carefully fold in half along the length (so that it is 18″ wide, 54″ long). I secured mine with a bit of tape, but that is totally optional, it will cling to itself pretty well.

Then, you are going to lay out your plastic (shown in grey) and align your parchment with the end. The plastic should be sandwiched in between the parchment – so that it will not melt onto your iron or ironing board when you heat it. The folds of both the vinyl and parchment will align at the bottom, and the end of the plastic should overlap your last line by about an inch.

Next, you are going to seal the end of the vinyl by ironing along the one-inch overlap. It’s a little bit hard to see in this pic, but the dotted line indicates how far the vinyl is overlapping the line. With your iron on its hottest setting, carefully and slowly run your iron along the side of the line, applying firm pressure to seal.

The vinyl will turn from shiny to matte when it has melted and sealed completely. Be careful not to heat TOO much, or your plastic may thin or rip. You can always remelt if you need to later!

Once the end is sealed, you will run the EDGE of your iron along the other lines, beginning at the fold and ending at the 16″ mark (so that the top 2″ are not sealed). Make sure to apply a little bit of pressure as you go. At first, this may take a little bit of trial-and-error to get right – just remember that you can always go back and reseal, but that if it melts too much… a duct-tape band aid is really your only fix.

After you have sealed all of the lines on the parchment, move the parchment down the vinyl sealing lines every 3″ until you come to the end – where you will seal the last entire inch again.

Then, fold the vinyl in half and close your wall of water with a piece of duct tape at the 1″ sealed ends. You COULD melt the ends together – but I actually prefer the duct tape because I can leave it on the plant a little bit longer. Instead of trying to get the wall-of-water off of your plant when it begins to outgrow it – you can just take the tape off, or even cut the tape at the seam so that you don’t risk damaging your plant by pulling it off over the top.

And that’s it! Fill each compartment of your wall of water about 1/2 way before filling the entire thing. For smaller plants, you can fill it about 3/4 of the way and “tee-pee” it inward, providing more insulation. As it gets bigger and the temperatures increase, you can fill it all the way and it will stand up straight.

If for some reason when you fill your wall-of-water a seam pops open, it just means that it was not melted or sealed completely. Empty the water and seal it again (it’s ok if its still wet inside).

When you are ready to take your wall-of-water off of your plant, give it a little rinse and make sure it is completely dry before storing it for next season – it will last you years and years!

DIY Contoured Maternity Pillow

May 7, 2014 by homemadetoast 21 Comments

I’ve had the itch to come back to this little blog for a few months now. It has actually been a tougher decision to make than I would have expected. Literally, the day before my water blob tutorial went viral my husband and I decided that it would be worth it to try out again.

It’s not that I think the post’s success was a “sign” or anything – but it definitely gave me the confidence to come back, knowing that it would be worth my time in the end. I had originally planned to come back after baby comes in June, having a handful of posts ready on the back burner and a well-planned and organized schedule to follow – but I just can’t pass up the opportunity to post with all of you new visitors every day! So, for now it will be a little chaotic and disorganized but I am excited to be back and sharing what I love to do with you guys!

Now, let’s talk about that baby.

So I’m due at the end of June. And it’s only the beginning of May. Who KNEW you could even be so uncomfortable!? Maybe my I forgot what it was like near the end of my other two pregnancies, but I really don’t think it was ever this bad. And I still have 7 weeks left. Oy.

About a month ago when the insomnia started really setting in, I decided to make this obnoxiously over-sized pillow to see if it would help at all – mostly, because I am cheap and didn’t want to spend $80 on something that I wasn’t sure I would even use. Ohmygosh. I really don’t know how I made it through TWO whole pregnancies without one!

Literally, a cotton-stuffed miracle, people.

The pros. Since your back, belly, and hips are all supported and aligned – you’ll sleep like a champ.

The cons. Since this thing is over 4 feet long and nearly 3 feet wide, you’ll be taking up a good portion of the bed. But let’s be honest… you were doing that before the pillow, anyway. Also, those six times you get up to pee in the middle of the night? Mini wrestling match vs. maternity pillow. As long as your bladder is willing to give you 15 extra seconds, you’ll win – most likely.

If you don’t have the time or energy (or fabric hoarding tendencies that you need to prove to your husband are necessary by making AND finishing a project with something from your stash.. what?) to make one for yourself – it would be still be worth every single penny of that $80 to just order online! So follow this here tutorial to make one, or order this one that I used as my inspiration. (affiliate link)

Kay. Here we go.

I’ve got you a free PDF Pattern – for Homemade Toast stalkers only, please. Follow on facebook, Pinterest or Instagram to return the love!

Here’s the deal. It comes in two sizes: regular and tall. I originally made myself what is now the “regular” size… and wish I had just an inch or two more length on it (it still fits totally comfortably and fine as-is, but anyone taller than me may want the extra length for sure)… thus the creation of the tall size. I’m about 5’7″, so if you are taller than me – make the tall size.

And, one more disclaimer before we start. Originally, I had planned to make a liner and a cover for my pillow, both using an identical pattern. I got a little too impatient and excited after I had finished what I intended to be my cover and just ended up stuffing it as-is. Because I stuffed it so firm and with cheap stuffing, after a few weeks of use the stuffing has started to just barely poke out of the fabric, making it kind of itchy. So… my advice would be to either use a thicker, nicer fabric than just a plain cotton like I did (minky would be a DREAM!), make a liner AND a cover, use a better-quality stuffing, or just be prepared to lay a soft blanket over your pillow like I do!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Contoured Maternity Pillow PDF Pattern (print, cut out, and piece together by overlapping grey sections)
(two) 50-inch (or 54-inch for the tall pattern!) x 30-inch pieces of fabric A
(six) 3-inch x 40-inch (44-inch for tall!) strips of coordinating fabric B (optional – to give it a little more height)
(two) 2-inch x 25-inch strips of fabric B (optional)
(one) 24-inch (+/-) zipper (optional)
stuffing (I used the stuffing from 4 “huge” pillows to make a VERY firm pillow – ripping open pillows is usually cheaper than buying bags of stuffing!)

Part One: Cutting out the “Contoured” Pattern

1. Lay out your big 50×30-inch (or 54×30-inch for tall!) rectangles. Fold into quarters so that all of the corners meet.

2. Use a large bowl (or good judgement) to round all four corners of both pieces.

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