Refinishing your wood deck with a semi-transparent acrylic-based stain is a great way to protect it from water, snow and sun while allowing the natural wood grain to show through. Behr Premium® Semi-Transparent Waterproofing Stain & Sealer is designed to provide maximum protection for up to six years depending on sun, traffic, weather and most of all, the prep work. After prepping the wood deck, the application process is fast and easy. Start by making sure you have at least a 4 hour window after applying 2 coats before rain is expected. The two-coat application process doesn’t take more than a few hours, but allow for 1-2 hours drying time between coats.

Clean the Wood

Cleaning the wood is an important step because it removes dirt, brightens the wood so the finish can shine, and opens the woods’ pores so it’ll better absorb the new finish.

Start by blowing off all the loose debris using a leaf blower or better yet, clean the deck more completely with a pressure washer. It does a better job of cleaning the boards and the gaps between the boards. Just be careful not to damage the wood. Then mix a 50/50 solution of water and Behr Premium® All-in-One Wood Cleaner and pour it into a pump sprayer. Wet the wood with your garden hose and apply a liberal coating of the cleaner.

Let the cleaner sit for 10 to 15-mins. Then scrub the wood with a stiff bristle broom. If you have tough spots that won’t come clean with the 50/50 solution, apply it full strength and repeat the brushing step. Then rinse the entire deck thoroughly and let it dry overnight.

Lightly Sand

Once the deck has dried, lightly sand the entire surface using a drywall sanding pad fitted with a 150-grit sanding screen. Sanding knocks down any raised wood fibers and helps you achieve a much smoother feel should you have family member that like to walk barefooted. Blow off the sanding dust with your leaf blower.

Apply two thin coats of Behr Premium Semi-Transparent Stain.

Stir the product thoroughly and pour it into a dipping bucket. Using a nylon brush, cut in around paver bricks, around posts or anything else that shouldn’t get stained.

Then pour it into a paint tray and apply a thin coat using a stain pad and extension pole. Apply the stain to 2-3 boards at a time and coat them all the way from one end to the other, before starting the next few boards. Always work out from a wet edge to prevent lap marks. In other words, keep the surface continually wet while applying the stain. Wait 1-2 hours for the first coat to dry, then add a second thin coat.

Clean up drips and spill with a damp paper towel or rag.

Let the deck dry for 24-48 hours before placing deck furniture on the new finish.

The sights and smells of fall in New England can’t be beat. Think pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and gingerbread. Our super easy cinnamon scented slime is perfect for fall slime making activities with kids. Whatever your favorite scent, we will show you how to make slime like a pro using our favorite basic slime recipes, best slime ingredients, and easy tips and tricks to create amazing slime every time.

Kick off the fall baking season with a new kind of recipe that will still get the kids in the kitchen! Science is full of cool ways to create including homemade fall theme slime ideas. Apples , leaves, and pumpkins and now cinnamon! This AMAZING smelling slime recipe with real cinnamon is perfect for the fall season!

Slime making is even more fun when you add in creative seasonal themes, and I know kids love the novelty of theme activities. Our Elmers Glue Cinnamon Scented Slime Recipe is yet another AMAZING slime recipe we can show you how to make.

make sure to print off our Fall Slime Making Challenge to give to the kiddos this season. No one wants to be sad and frustrated when they go to learn how to make slime….

OUR HOMEMADE BASIC SLIME RECIPES ARE THE SLIME RECIPES YOU NEED!

SLIME SCIENCE AND CHEMISTRY

We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science around here, and that’s perfect for exploring Chemistry with a fun fall theme. Slime is an excellent chemistry demonstration and kids love it too! Mixtures, substances, polymers, cross linking, states of matter, elasticity, and viscosity are just a few of the science concepts that can be explored with homemade slime!

What’s the science behind the slime? The borate ions in the slime activators  (sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid) mix with the PVA (polyvinyl-acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross linking!

The glue is a polymer and is made up of long, repeating, and identical strands or molecules. These molecules with flow past one another keeping the glue in a liquid state. Until…

When you add the borate ions to the mixture, it starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and thicker and rubberier like slime! Slime is a polymer.

Picture the difference between wet spaghetti and leftover spaghetti the next day. As the slime forms the tangled molecule strands are much like the clump of spaghetti!

Is slime a liquid or solid? We call it a Non-newtonian fluid because it’s a little bit of both!

Read more about slime science here!

EASY CINNAMON SCENTED SLIME RECIPE

We made this scented cinnamon slime recipe with white glue and real cinnamon spice. However, Elmers clear glue is super easy to use and also works well for this recipe but your color will be slightly different! You can always add glitter too!

If you want to see what else you can mix into slime and how to make awesome slime ideas all year round, check out our Ultimate Slime Guide Book. It’s the perfect accessory and comes with some great slime freebies as well!

ELMERS GLUE FALL SLIME RECIPE TIPS

The base for this scented slime uses one of our most basic slime recipes which is clear glue, water, baking soda, and saline solution.

Now if you don’t want to use saline solution, you can absolutely test out one of our other basic recipes using liquid starch or borax powder.

Our easy, “how to make” slime recipes will show you how to master slime in 5 minutes! We have spent years tinkering with our 4 now 5 favorite basic slime recipes to make sure you can make the BEST slime every time!

We believe learning how to make slime shouldn’t be disappointing or frustrating! That’s why we want to take the guess work out of making slime!

• Discover the best slime ingredients and get the right slime supplies the first time!
• Make easy fluffy slime recipes that really work!
• Achieve awesome fluffy, slimy consistency the kids love!

We have the best resources to look through before, during, and after making your apple slime! Make sure to go back and read the slime science above too!

APPLE THEME SLIME INGREDIENTS

As I mentioned above, you can use any of our basic slime recipes for this fall inspired cinnamon scented slime, but we like our basic saline solution slime recipe with the Elmers white washable school glue. I will link the products we used here with Amazon affiliate links below.

CLICK HERE >>>Look at all our fall Slime Recipes and find our fall slime challenge printable.

1/2 cup of Elmer’s Clear Glue

1/2 cup of water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1-2 tbsps of cinnamon spice (alternatively you can use a drop or two of cinnamon fragrance oil for slimes and food coloring to achieve desired color)

1 tbsp of saline solution (see recommended slime supplies for brands)

Basic slime recipe cheat sheet printable (bottom of page)

CINNAMON SCENTED SLIME RECIPE DIRECTIONS BELOW PHOTOS

The best slime recipe starts with the right slime ingredients. Make sure to follow along with our measurements. Start by adding your clear glue and water to a bowl and grab a mixing utensil. Mix it up and add food coloring and glitter as desired!

BEST SLIME ACTIVATORS

Add in your slime activator (baking soda and saline solution)  to complete the chemical reaction you read about above in the science behind the slime section. If you scrolled past it, go back and read it with your kids!

You can also learn more about all our favorite slime activators here. Keep in mind that liquid starch, saline solution, and borax powder are all in the boron family. Neither of these ingredients are truly borax free.

We always recommend kneading your slime well after mixing. Kneading the slime really helps to improve it’s consistency. The trick with saline solution slime is to squirt a few drops of solution onto your hands before picking up the slime.

You can knead the slime in the bowl before you pick it up as well. This slime is ultra stretchy but can be stickier. However, keep in mind that although adding more solution reduces the stickiness, it will create a stiffer slime.

Our slime recipes are so easy to change up with different themes for holidays, seasons, favorite characters, or special occasions.Saline solution is always super stretchy and makes for great sensory play and science with the kids!

SALINE SOLUTION SLIME RECIPE FOR MAKING CINNAMON SLIME

STEP 1: Add 1/2 cup of Elmers Glue to your bowl (add more glitter if desired).

STEP 2: Mix with a 1/2 cup of water.

STEP 3: Add cinnamon spice (or fragrance oil and food coloring)

STEP 4: Stir in 1/2 tsp baking soda

STEP 5: Mix in 1 tbsp saline solution and stir until slime forms and pulls away from sides of bowl. This is exactly how much you will need with the Target Sensitive Eyes brand!

If your  slime still feels too sticky, you may need a few more drops of saline solution. As I mentioned above, start by squirting a few drops of the solution onto your hands and kneading your slime longer. You can always add but you can’t take away. Saline solution is preferred over contact solution.

NOTE: We have found that the Elmers Glitter Glue tends to be a bit stickier than their regular clear glue and we prefer our 2 ingredient slime recipe for this glue.

Use our “How To Fix Your Slime” guide if you are having trouble and make sure to watch my live start to finish slime video here.

STORING YOUR SLIME

Slime lasts quite awhile! I get a lot of questions regarding how I store my slime. We use reusable containers in either plastic or glass. Make sure to keep your slime clean and it will last for several weeks. I love the deli style containers in my recommended slime supplies list here.

If you want to send kids home with a bit of slime from a camp, party, or classroom project, I would suggest packages of reusable containers from the dollar store or grocery store or even Amazon. For large groups we have used condiment containers as seen here.

Want to have all our basic recipes handy and in one place? Use the button just below to download your free slime recipes cheat sheet pages. We also have an awesome MASTER YOUR SLIME training series going on here.

Click here to subscribe and get your FREE download

MORE SLIME MAKING RESOURCES!

Everything you need to know about making slime is below! Did you know we also have fun with science activities too? Click on all the pictures below to learn even more great ideas for slime making.

HOW DO I FIX MY SLIME?

OUR TOP SLIME RECIPE IDEAS YOU NEED TO MAKE!

BASIC SLIME SCIENCE KIDS CAN UNDERSTAND!

WATCH OUR AMAZING SLIME VIDEOS

READER QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

BEST INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING SLIME!

THE AMAZING BENEFITS THAT COME OUT OF SLIME MAKING WITH KIDS!

CINNAMON SCENTED SLIME IS JUST ONE OF OUR MANY FALL SLIMES!

Check out more cool slime recipes and information by clicking on the photos below!

21+ BEST EVER HOMEMADE SLIMES AROUND!

Give new life to your old wood kitchen cabinets with a fresh coat of paint. But what is the best type of paint to use?

For the best adhesion and a harder, more durable finish, an oil-based (alkyd) paint is tough to beat for kitchen cabinets. But you must be willing to put up with the strong odor and solvent cleanup, along with a longer drying and curing time than you’d get if you used an ordinary water-based paint. Plus, the color may yellow over time.

The best solution to avoid the hassle of oil-based paint is a new-technology waterborne acrylic enamel paint (such as Satin Impervo by Benjamin Moore) that delivers the good flow, leveling and hardening characteristics of an oil-based paint without the odor and long drying time. These new paints dry fast and clean up with soap and water. The main challenge is a smooth finish, but pros say that if the waterborne acrylic enamel is applied heavily enough and worked in small sections, it will flatten out nicely. Avoid a dry brush and going over sections already starting to dry.

Don’t forget other keys to success when painting cabinets—surface preparation (degreasing, cleaning and sanding), priming (use a top-quality primer), brushing (use the best-quality brush for the type of paint) and drying (follow label directions). Want to add more storage space? Build under-cabinet drawers.

At least 14 children were injured in kindergarten after a woman attacked them with a knife...

Mon amie Sophie dit qu’elle a deux fois 20 ans, Laurène que c’est son meilleur âge, Audrey dit que ça pue (mais Audrey ne prend rien au sérieux et c’est pour cela qu’on l’aime). Marion ne s’est jamais sentie aussi bien mais ajoute qu’il y a quand même deux trois trucs qui commencent à fichent le camp.

Je me retrouve dans chacune d’entre elles.

On s’est toutes connues dans notre vingtaine et le bilan reste quasi le même: 20 ans plus tard, on n’a jamais été aussi bien dans notre peau, on sait ce que l’on veut et surtout ce que l’on ne veut plus.

Tout n’est pas réglé, tout est en perpétuel changement mais le constat est que l’on arrive toutes à être plus sereines, plus établies.

Malgré cela 40 ans, ce n’est plus 20 ans et aujourd’hui nous avons toutes besoin de prendre d’avantage soin de nous, de notre santé, de notre peau.

Jusque là, j’avais toujours fait attention à parfaitement m’hydrater, nettoyer mon visage en profondeur; mais depuis quelques mois j’ai commencé à utiliser des soins plus ciblés et plus profonds.

Grâce au blog, j’ai la chance de pouvoir essayer plusieurs produits mais jusque là rien ne m’avait réellement donné envie de partager mon expérience avec vous.

J’avais envie de trouver une marque qui me corresponde mais qui respecte aussi mon envie de me tourner vers des soins plus sains, si possible bio.

Une de mes amies, travaille pour une agence qui communique uniquement sur les marques bio et elle m’a proposé de découvrir Phyt’s, un laboratoire de naturo esthétique, à travers quelques soins.

L’univers de cette marque correspondant parfaitement à ce que je recherchais j’ai essayé leurs différentes gammes afin de voir si certains soins pouvaient me correspondre. 3 mois plus tard, voici mon bilan.

Les résultats sont très positifs, parmi ce que j’ai essayé, il y a des produits qui sont bien mais qui n’ont pas d’avantage retenu mon attention: soit parce qu’ils ne répondaient pas à un besoin spécifique chez moi, soit parce qu’à mon sens ils ne m’apportaient rien de supplémentaire.

En revanche il y en a quelqu’uns qui sont devenus des produits que j’utilise quotidiennement et qui désormais feront partie de ma “routine”…

En effet, malheureusement, ma peau a désormais besoin d’un petit coup de pouce.

Voici donc mes indispensables:

la Panacée, une crème anti âge hyper nutritive, avec un toucher non gras qui depuis trois mois m’a apporté un air beaucoup plus reposé. Je l’utilise matin et soir, après m’être lavée. J’ai également la sensation d’avoir les contours du visage plus fermes, et un grain de peau resserré.

Le masque Nutri confort, je n’ai clairement pas le temps de passer trop de temps dans la salle de bains le matin, alors je fais ce masque une fois par semaine: c’est à la fois un moment détente et une vraie sensation de bien être. C’est un produit idéal pour les femmes pressées.

Le fluide contours: un anti âge pour les yeux et les lèvres: il est idéal pour la peau très fine autour des yeux et celle des lèvres qui est similaire. Je trouve qu’il a également une très bonne action sur les cernes.

Et enfin le gommage contact +. Alors lui c’est aussi une utilisation que je fais une fois par semaine. C’est un gommage non agressif et qui permet de désincruster la peau, la nettoyer et la rendre plus lumineuse.

Grâce à ces produits mais aussi  à un changement radical de rythme, de nuits et d’alimentaion ces derniers mois, j’ai vraiment la sensation d’avoir une mine “fraîche” mois fatiguée…

Merci à Phyt’s de m’avoir permis d’essayer ces produits et pour celles que cela pourrait tenter, je vous recommande de surveiller du coin de l’oeil mon Instagram, sur lequel je vais organiser un concours très bientôt.

Je vous souhaite une belle journée

Elisa.

Produits offerts par la marque, sans obligation de retour de ma part.

One-Eyed Monster Cookies

BOO! How cute and colorful are these one-eyed monster cookies? My son spotted these gummy candies at the grocery store today and we just had to do something fun with them. They are sour, just like sour gummy worms. Paired with soft cookies and fluffy frosting and ANY kid would be smiling! Best of all, they are so simple to make!

For this recipe, you will need:

• One box of sugar cookie mix (which requires one egg and s stick of butter). Do you like homemade sugar cookies more? This recipe is perfect for these one-eyed monster cookies.
• Purple Funfetti frosting. It comes with these sprinkles!
• Trolli sour octopus candies (as seen in the video below). We got ours at the grocery store.
• Candy melts
• Candy eyeballs (found here)
• Cup with a flat bottom

Watch how fun and easy they are to make!

Aren’t those fun?

I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper to prevent sticking, but that’s totally optional.

More Halloween Desserts and Cookie ideas:

Easy peasy! Make these for Halloween or a themed party. They’ll always be a hit!

It’s officially fall! Leaves are turning, the weather is starting to cool off, and all the best snack foods have released a limited edition pumpkin spice flavor. It may feel like a long time until summer will be back again, but fall is actually the best time to start planning summer camp for your Kids Ministry. Grab some candy corn and check out these three reasons why.

1 – Plan Now to Make Camp Part of Your Year-Round Discipleship Plan

The theme is a huge part of camp, and we hope it goes home with you. In 2019 our theme at Student Life For Kids is “Transformed” (2 Cor 5:17).  We’re excited to talk about the way God makes us totally new when he changes our hearts. You’ll be able to get the most out of your camp experience when you can spend a week before camp to prepare kids for the theme and a week after camp to debrief.2 – Plan Now to Get the Camp Date You Want

Summer camp is a transformational experience, so space at camp can fill up quickly! There’s a limited amount of space every summer, and signing up in the fall is the best way to ensure your group is able to be at camp when it works best for you. To make it easy for you to plan, LifeWay Kids allows you to reserve space at camp and pay deposits later (in the spring).

3 – Plan Now to Help Parents Plan

It may seem crazy to share summer camp plans with your church in the fall, but it’s a great way to help parents plan. When you get to camp next summer, you’ll want to have as many kids (and parents) with you as possible. You can help families avoid conflicts with the family vacation and make summer camp part of their plans by letting them know early.

A week at summer camp can make an eternal impact in the life of a kid, and it can be a catalyst for your ministry. Many kids will only get one week to be at summer camp, so now is the best time to start planning. Take some time to check out Student Life For Kids or CentriKid, and make camp part of your discipleship plan next summer!

Logan Meek leads the Student Life for Kids team. Logan joined the Student Life For Kids team in 2014 after spending two years as a Sixth Grade teacher with Teach For America. He believes in the importance of strong kids ministry to help kids build strong spiritual foundations.