Decoupage Wooden Letter

Decoupage Wooden Letters

I was walking around the craft store the other day picking up a few things to help my son make a card for my husband's birthday. I wandered by the wood letter section and saw they were on sale for $1.99 a piece. I have been wanting to do some sort of monogram for the boys' room door so I thought why not now. I grabbed a "G" and an "E" and another bottle of Mod Podge. I thought using old comic books would be fun since its for boys so I stopped at Goodwill and bought two 49 cent comics and headed home. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish and that was with a toddler "helping" me. Super easy and super cute.

Here's the finished product

Now, this is what you will need

Mod Podge
Foam Brush
Wood Letters
Comics or any sort of paper you want. I think sheet music or an old book page would be pretty cool too.

Lets get started. Go through your paper, in this case comics, and start cutting pieces you like. One at a time spread the Mod Podge on the back side of the paper and shape it on the letter. Do this all around the front and sides till you have the look you want. This is me half way through my "G."

Then here is my finished E

Once they are finished being covered spread a layer of Mod Podge over the top and sides of the letter. Let it dry and here is what you end up with.

Very cute and very easy.

Homemade Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergant

Homemade Concentrated Liquid Laundry Detergent

As it stands in this wonderful country of ours it cost around $11 to do 64 loads of laundry! Yes folks, thats how much we pay for soap to do our laundry. Its a crying shame. How does $15ish for 250ish loads sound? Better huh..? Keep reading...

 Being a huge fan of the Duggars I became aware of homemade laundry detergent a few years ago. It looked complicated and with just my husband (who works an office job) and I, there just wasn't that much laundry needing to be done. I filed the homemade notion away in a dormant part of my brain and moved on with my life.  Fast forward a few years and we have a baby. Between, poop, pee, food, spit up, diaper covers, dirt, etc our weekly laundry load started to grow significantly. It wasn't long before I realized how expensive this all was. Accessing that dormant part of my brain I looked for that old Duggar recipe and decided to make it myself.  My only complaint was that I had to have a HUGE tub around to store it and I wasn't a huge fan of the smell. Nothing against the Fels Naptha bar but lets me honest, its no Gain.  Like I always do, I started researching. The dry detergent was a good option but wasn't as good a value. I ended up finding a few recipes for concentrated liquid BUT the smell was the same. Then the most amazing thing happened, I discovered scent boosters. I experimented a little with my existing batch to get the smell just right but I think I have landed on a recipe that will be the best value, a smaller volume, and something that smells every bit as good as store bought scented detergent. Lets get started.

Here is What you will need:

*Washing Soda
*Borax
*Fel Naptha bar (I have heard Zote or any castille soap bar will work but I have not tested it myself)
*Oxy-Clean (Or any other powdered oxygen cleaner. This will boost the power of your detergent)
*Scent Boosters (My all time favorite is Gain Fireworks but I made this batch with my sister in law and we used the Downy Unstoppables so that is what is pictured)
*Cheese grater
*Pot
*4 1 Quart sized containers
*Kitchen Aid, Blender, or any other electric mixer

Recipe

2 cups Washing Soda
2 cups Borax
2 bars Fels Naptha
2 1/2 cups Oxy-Clean
1 1/2 cups Scent Booster
6 cups Water (you will add additional water later)

Start off by putting the pot on the stove on high with 6 cups of water. While it heats, grate the 2 bars of Fels Naptha. By the time you are finished grating the water should be hot enough to add the grated soap. Keep stirring or the soap/water mixture will over flow. When it all has melted it will look like this.

Next, turn heat down to low and add the scent booster and stir. It wont take long to completely dissolve and it smells absolutely amazing. Then take off heat and add Washing Soda, Borax, and Oxy-Clean. Add them one cup at a time and stir continuously. It will start to thicken up and look like this.

As it cools it will continue to thicken and the Oxy-Clean will clump so whisk it till the clumps are minimal. It should look like this.

Now its time to put it in the containers. Divide the mixture equally into the 4 1 quart containers/jars. Fill with water and stir it all together.

Cover with plastic wrap and put all containers on a tray. They will leak and the top will grow. In 8 hours it will look like this.

Yes, this is a scary sight but it also means your doing it right. The thick stuff on top may be a bit hard but that is also alright. Next, empty the contents of the containers into your mixer/blender. I used my Kitchen Aid because I have one and I love it. I used the whisk attachment. When I dumped it in it looked like this.

After whipping it for about 2 minutes it looks like this.

Your almost done! Just portion the mixture back into the washed out containers/jars and seal the tops and there you are. Yes I realize that this is only one 1 quart jar and I said you needed 4. This is because I did this at my sister-in-laws and I took only one home with me so I could finish the project to post it for you lovely people.

Store in a cool dark place. You only have to use 1 Tablespoon  a load because this mixture is concentrated. Should be good for around 250ish loads and your wash will come out looking and smelling even better than it did with the expensive junk. This detergent is great for both regular washing machines as well as HE. I really hope you enjoy this recipe, it is currently my crowning glory in the world of soap/detergent making.

Homemade Fabric Softener

Homemade Fabric Softener

Just like everything else these days, fabric softener is insanely expensive for what it is and what it does. Yes we love it because it makes our clothes, especially our towels and linens, smell oh so good but every time I have to buy more I cringe at the price. Once I started making my own laundry detergent (recipes for that to come) I thought it was ridiculous that I was still using store bought fabric softener. I did some research and found many many recipes. I initially started using just plain vinegar in my downy ball, it worked well enough but didn't add the wonderful fabric softener scent that we all love. Through some trial and error, some experimenting and tweaks I have found 2 recipes I really like and smell wonderful. This, is one of them.

What you will need:

*White Vinegar
*In wash scent booster (Purex Crystals, Downy Unstoppables, or Gain Fireworks)
*Baking Soda
*Big Bowel
*Small Bowel
*Cute container for the finished product (excuse my super un-cute container)

Lets Get Started...

6  cups Vinegar
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Water
1/4 to 1/2 cup scent booster (I like things strong so I used 1/2 cup)

First, in your small bowel fill with 1 cup hot water. Either hot from the tap or put in the microwave for a minute will work fine. Add the scent booster and stir. It should dissolve and look like this. If it doesn't all completely dissolve don't worry about it, it will eventual dissolve in the water on its own. By the way, this will make your kitchen smell AMAZING!!

In your big bowel pour in the Baking Soda and then SLOWLY add the vinegar whisking as you add. When it is all mixed in and the chemical reaction has settled it will look like this. It will seperate a little but that is totally fine. Thats why you shake before each use.

Combine the dissolved scent booster and the vinegar and baking soda and this is what you will have. You will notice that it looks and smells a lot like the store bought stuff.

Pour all contents of bowel into a cute jar or practical container (like my ugly practical container here)

Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of fabric softener to your rinse cycle or to your downy ball (I couldn't live without mine) and you will have delicious smelling and economically friendly laundry. It is important to note that you should shake the jar before each use.

Homemade Coconut Milk Shampoo

Homemade Coconut Milk Shampoo

My parents always made sure we had the all natural hippy dippy shampoo in the house. My hair always looked good but when I moved out on my own I realized how expensive it was and started buying the crap shampoo. My hair started to suffer. I started getting split ends and it started looking like hay. It was gross and I was sad.

Fast forward a few years and I tried shampoo soap bars, no poo, plain castille soap like Dr. Bronners. My hair started to look better but those agents do tend to be a bit drying. I found some recipes on Pinterest and experimented with a fair amount before deciding to just try my own recipe. Ladies and Gentlemen (if this is the sort of blog gentleman read) I have finally found my perfect homemade shampoo formula. Better yet, I have discovered a way to make it most cost effective as well.

Here is what you will need

* Castille liquid soap like Dr. Bronners
* Coconut Milk (the kind you cook with NOT Coconut milk beverage)
* Vitamin E oil (I bought mine at Trader Joes)
* Baking Soda
* Essential Oils (this is optional)
* Bottle (I used the now empty Dr. Bronners bottle)
* Silicone Molds or Ice Trays

Heres the thing. With all the recipes I tried, my shampoo would start smelling funky in a few weeks because the coconut milk would turn. Also most of the recipes only called for 1/2 a can so the other half got wasted. Between the coconut milk and the castille liquid soap this venture became expensive, especially considering I kept having to throw it out. I was talking to my sister in law about this the other day and she said she read somewhere on a blog that they would freeze their homemade shampoo in ice trays so it wouldn't go bad. Suddenly it all came together for me. I could make an extra large batch and have it not go bad. Victory!

Here is how you make it:

1 can coconut milk
1 16oz bottle of Liquid Castille Soap (again, I used Dr. Bronners Almond)
8 tsps Vitamin E oil
1/3 cup Baking Soda (I used a pretty heaping 1/3 cup)

****Essential Oils all depends on you. I actually experimented by putting a few drops in each old of different kinds to determine my favorite. I used Peppermint, Lavender, and Orange. I think my favorite is the almond soap and peppermint oil combo.

Combine everything together and stir. Portion into your molds and save about 1 cup worth for the bottle to put in your shower. How much you decide to put in your shower bottle is up to you and depends on how often you wash your hair. The solution will separate so you need to shake the bottle before each use.

Put the filled molds or ice trays in the freezer and let freeze over night. When frozen put in a bag and leave in freezer. When you are getting low on shampoo in your shower, pop in the fridge one of the frozen molds (or two or three however much you think you will need), when defrosted transfer to shower bottle and you are ready to go.

Id say the shower life of the shampoo is around 2 or 3 weeks before it gets funky.

Just as a side note, if you have used conventional non natural shampoos for awhile this shampoo will cause your hair to detox. That will make it look pretty nasty and dreadlock-y for a while till it purges all the nasty build up that your hair has accumulated over the years. Once you go through that detox time (takes a few weeks) your hair will start looking better than it ever has.

Good luck!

Here is the beginning of my journey as a blogger. I have recently found myself as a full time stay at home mom with lots of new and exciting hobbies, life changes, milestones, and time. I thought to myself, Lauren, why not start a blog to document all you are doing and learning? So that, is what this venture is all about. This will be a blog for crafts, projects, DIY, parenthood, cooking, bragging about my children, and anything else I decide is relevant. Well...here I go...