Craftsman Drill Review

September 21, 2009 by beth Leave a Comment

A couple of months ago, Craftsman contacted me to find out if I would be willing to review one of their products.

Um, yes please!
It was fabulous timing too because Zak’s drill (manufactured by another company which shall-not-be-named) had completely given up the ghost only days before.

Soon after we moved in, we received the mother of all drills from Craftsman—the C3.

Right away, Zak got started finding excuses to use the new drill.

Of course we had to put together our art/Tot School corner

and our bookshelves

The bookshelves are from IKEA (they are the STRIPA shelves, though I can’t find them on the website anymore-the RIBBA shelf might work. Check your local store.) These shelves are great for books because they serve the same purpose as gutters, but are more aesthetically pleasing and cheaper. Just in case you are wondering-the books don’t slide off because there is a little lip on the front of the shelf.

But we didn’t stop there.

During our last trip to IKEA, we were hanging out in the as-is section (my favorite part of the store) and discovered a glass cabinet door that had been discarded among the scraps of lumber.
Instantly, Zak put it in our cart (not an easy feat with two squirmy children).
We brought it home.
Drilled some holes.

Added cute children (though not professional photos-they will be replaced soon!).

And hung it on the wall.

$10 for a custom frame!

I have one more home project that we just finished Saturday (with the help of Craftsman), but I’m so proud of it that it deserves its own post.
Tomorrow.

Find it here.

So ladies, if you want to make your husband happy this Christmas, buy him this drill. With 19.2 volts it’ll make him feel so powerful that he’ll be begging for “honey-do” projects!
A win-win situation.

Zak’s testimonial (I asked him to describe the drill in ten words or less):
Easy to handle, powerful, and manly.

Have you read?

Easy Lacing Cards to Make for Kids

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

Have you read?

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