CUT, STUFF, DRILL and TIE: Quick and Simple 5-Gallon Bucket Seat Cushion For the Youth Pioneer Trek

Trek Buckets. They hold all your personal gear for 3 days while you hike 20+ miles with youth reenacting the Mormon Pioneer Trek during the middle of the 18th century. They also serve as a seat. The seat cushions I had seen on the internet were inspirational, but not exactly what I wanted. So I modified many of the posts I've seen and came up with this. Keep in mind, this project is FUNCTION over FORM at its FINEST!This project took about 15 minutes, start to finish.

I wanted it to be removable so it could be a pillow as well as a cushion. I wanted it waterproof so I could wash it off. I wanted it thick enough to actually keep my backside comfy. 

• No glue. 
• No staples. 
• No wood. 
• No velcro. 
• No sewing. 
• NO FRILLS!
• No hassle
• Removable. 
• Waterproof (depending on the fabric of your backpack.) 
• Can be pillow and a seat cushion. 

It's as simple as

CUT - STUFF - DRILL - TIE!

 Let's Do This!

I started with these materials:

• 1 drawstring back pack, about 13"x16"(you know, the free ones handed out for marketing purposes)
• 1 5-gallon bucket with lid from Home Depot (that already had "Let's Do This" printed on it)
• 1 22x22x2 piece of camping foam (also at HD in the packing/moving section)
• 1 drill with the 3/8" drill bit
• 1 kitchen knife
• 1 sharpie marker (not pictured)

CUT: 
I found a Corelle dinner plate that fit snugly inside the lip of the lid. I traced the plate on the foam with the sharpie.  I was able to get 4 circles out of mine. (I made two bucket cushions). I cut out the circles with the knife. 

STUFF: I stacked 2 circles, one on top of the other and slid them into the backpack, just like a pillow case.

Then tightened the bag.

DRILL: Just drill a hole in the center of the bucket lid large enough to pull the strings through.

TIE: Pull strings through the hole, and tie a knot.

It should be tight enough that the cushion will have very little movement on top of the lid.

 All done! Let's hope it actually works on the trek. I'm a trek rookie, so this ought to be interesting!

Lamp shade

I hate lamp shades. They are so hard to figure out. What I've concluded about them is to never, ever buy them separately from the lamp. Or to add blue flowers. Which is the mistake that happened here. I had a perfectly good drum lamp shade. Plain, but good. Here's the problem: I always think plain is just not enough. In this case, it should have been. So, after I added the blue flowers, the shade looked a little too wedding-cake-ish. Not going to fly on the lamp. Not at all! So I had to laboriously pull (rip) each fabric flower, (which had been attached very well!), off of the shade. It left horrible pock marks of hot glue all over the shade where the flowers were attached. See here:
Poor lamp shade. It was still very useful, but I just couldn't leave the hot glue unattended. (You never should. Says so right on the hot glue label.)

So, this is how I fixed it. I know-- pretty unoriginal to just add ribbon around the edge of the shade, but I already messed it up so badly before that I just couldn't dare to hurt this poor lamp shade any more.

Nice and clean. Much better.

Place mat Pillows

Gotta love Tarjey and Pier 1. So much possibility. I made a toss pillow for my living room by taking out the side seem of this Pier 1 place mat so it was like a pillow case. Then I slipped it over a travel pillow from Target. About $7 and one straight seam later, I have a fun little pillow for anywhere.
I actually took this baby on road trip. Never had a problem finding out which pillow is mine, and super comfy and durable. Fun little idea.