DIY Liquid Laundry Detergent

I still can't believe I actually attempted this project, I thought people who made their own laundry detergent were way more domestic than me or lived in the boonies and beat their clothes on rocks down by the river or had 20 kids!  YES I now know I was sadly mistaken!!!  After seeing several people on pinterest who had tried making thier own and swore they would never go back I jumped in with both feet, tracked down the ingredients, grabbed my five gallon bucket and got to grating :)  I too am now a convert, it was soooo worth the minimal effort!  If your house is anything like mine, the only thing that works more than the washing machine is probably me.. and some days with my two little hurricanes the washing machine wins that contest too!!!  Not only does this homemade detergent work great, it is going to save me tons of money and I'm kind of proud of myself ta boot :) Homemade laundry detergent merit badge... check!

 To make this money saving mix, which I found online from the Duggar family website... yes the family with 900 children.. but that is not a requirement for this detergent!  Basically you need Borax, Washing Soda and a Fels-Naptha soap bar, I found all these on the detergent aisle at Walmart.  The bar is less than $1 and each of the boxes are less than $3 (you will have tons of those left over).  You also need a five gallon bucket with a lid, I picked this one up in the paint section for $2.97 and some plastic containers to store your detergent.  You can re-use milk jugs or old detergent containers.  I didn't have any so I bought this plastic dispenser for about 6 bucks because I liked the easy spout and am saving up milk jugs for the rest.

 

To get started put four cups of warm water in a pot over medium low heat and add in all of your grated soap bar.  I just grated mine right into the pot to save time and mess :)

 

 Next, stir until all the flakes are dissolved.  This only takes a few minutes.

 

 When the soap is almost completely dissolved, grab your bucket and add one cup of the super washing soda and 1/2 a cup of Borax to the bottom then fill it half full with hot tap water.  My sinks aren't very deep so I just I used my sprayer from the kitchen sink.

 

 Now carefully pour the hot soap mix into the bucket.....

 

 and give it a good stir with a long spoon or broom handle.

 Next fill the bucket the rest of the way with more warm tap water.

 

 Put the lid on and leave it overnight, in the morning this is what you should have.  It will be a gloppy, gelled  consistency.  Give it another good stir...

  

...and then fill your containers half full with this mixture.  I used a funnel and a plastic drink pitcher to make the filling a little easier.

 

Finally fill the other half of your container with water, screw on the lid, give it a good shake and you are done!

 

 For a regular top load machine you will use 5/8 of a cup per load and for a front load HE machine use 1/4 of a cup.  We normally use Tide Free and Clear or the Costco Brand Free and Clear because of sensitive skin and not only does this work just as good if not better.... we also haven't had any skin problems :)

 

 This recipe makes 10 GALLONS of laundry detergent!!! The savings per load is AMAZING, but if you don't have enough children to field you own baseball team you may want to half the recipe or better yet share with you mom, a girlfriend or everyone on your block :)  Because I still have concentrate in my 5 gallon bucket waiting to collect some more containers :)

 

 This really was so quick and easy.... if only I could say the same for my ever growing pile of laundry!

Wash Away, Lindsey :)

Super Spiced Pumpkin Bread

 I know the holidays are over and maybe you are "pumpkin'd out", but if you have a left over can of pumpkin in your pantry that didn't end up in a pie this is a good reason to break it out!  I love pumpkin anything year round, my husband on the other hand does not feel the same :)  So I try and get my fix without torturing him too much and this recipe is great.  I make a big batch and freeze them so I always have some on hand.  I eat this as breakfast, a snack or dessert.  It is great to serve when you have company, to put in gift baskets or to just consume on any day that ends in "y"  :)  This started out as a generic recipe I found online about 2 years ago and since then I kept adding more spices and experimenting with the recipe until I came up with my favorite combo.  Everyone I know loves it.. I hope you do too!

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

2 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

*Preheat oven 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix first 6 ingredients.  In another bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients.

Now stir the dry into the wet until combined.

Instead of greasing and flouring the pans, I spray with non stick spray and then with a teaspoon sprinkle in some regular sugar just like you would flour.  It adds a little sweet crust and makes this bread extra special.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, this may very depending on the size of your loaves so check at about 45 minutes... mine always seem to need more time, but then again my oven has a mind of it's own :)

This is the glorious goodness your patience rewards!!!  I made a double batch and it made two large loaves and 7 overflowing small ones..  I ran out of pans so these were definitely overfilled, but still delicious!

Add a little butter or even better cinnamon honey butter and you have a delicious treat!

Enjoy!  Lindsey

Extra Long Scarf Becomes Fun Infinity Scarf in Minutes!

I bought this super long scarf a couple years ago because I thought it would be really fun to wrap around a few times and still have some to hang down.  But the reality is I have NEVER worn it!  Every time I went to put it on all I could imagine was trying to use the restroom or do anything for that matter and still keep this silly scarf off the ground and anywhere else it shouldn't be!  Yeah, not really the glamorous vision I had when I bought it :)  But when I came across it the other day I thought maybe there was hope for it yet!  I really love infinity scarves right now, the kind that are basically a big circle and you can wrap them around a few times for a "cowl" look.

So I decided these feet of fun black and white, could be reborn!

To my surprise when I cut the scarf in half it wasn't just one flat piece of knit it was already a tube.  But if you have a long scarf or piece of material that isn't a tube, no problem just sew the ends together and you are done.

Since mine was a tube, I pinned together the insides of the knit (or maybe a better way of explaining is if the scarf was folded in half with the cut sides at the top.. the two pieces from each side that are touching) slowly sew those together moving the material around bringing the sides together as you go.  Being careful to keep the bottom side away from the needle as you are moving until you get almost all the way around and cant move the material anymore.

 Now just turn it right side out...

...through that opening that is left and hand stitch the opening shut.  Literally in a few minutes you are done!

This not only turned something "destined for donation" into a new trendy scarf, but there was enough material to make two. This are how they looked, one loop and doubled over. I gave one as a gift and naughty me.. kept the other for MYSELF :)

 Super quick and easy!  So glad I gave this scarf a second chance :) 

I just hope my sad attempt at modeling hasn't caused you permanent damage!

Enjoy, Lindsey :)

Scrapbook Paper & Wood Letters = Personalized Fun :)

It has only been 2 months, but I LOVE being an Aunt!  It's babies without the sleep deprivation and swollen ankles :) What's not to love???  Plus it is another little girl to make fun things for!!!  But, since her closet is already filled with tutus and headbands I thought I would make something for her room for Christmas... plus a few frilly things... did you really think I could resist???  :) For this I knew I wanted it to be personalized so I thought her name would be fun and I'm really excited about how quick and cute this project turned out.

To get started you need some wood letters (I found these at Walmart for less than 2 dollars a piece), some scrapbook paper in whatever patterns you like (I'm using pink and purple to match her room), spray paint (for the sides of the letter that won't be covered with paper), spray adhesive and a sanding block.

First, spray the letters making sure that you get the sides really well because that is what will be showing when it's all done.  This is "ballet slipper" from Krylon a nice soft pink.  You could just leave them the natural wood if you want, but I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to use pink spray paint :)

Once the letters are good and dry figure out where you want the pattern to fall on the letters then lightly cover the front of your letter with spray adhesive and then lay that flat onto the back of the scrapbook paper and press down to make sure it seals evenly.  Give this a minute or so to fully dry then using an exacto knife on a cutting mat or a piece of cardboard to protect your table or floor... cut around the outline of the letter as close as you can to the wood.  But it doesn't have to be perfect :)

Now flip it over and using a sanding block smooth out the edges.  Make sure that you sand out over the edge away from you.. NOT toward you!  Instead of smoothing the edge that will rip the paper.

 That's it you're done! This is super quick and easy and not only does it finish off the letter it also gives them that nice "worn"' look that I LOVE sooooooo much!

These would be fun with initials, a last name or a phrase.  I think this would also be a great personalized gift for a wedding shower with the bride's new last name or a baby shower!   Plus, the wood letters I used already had a groove in the back for a nail so they were ready to hang. 

Hope you like them!

  Lindsey :)

DIY T-Shirt Scarf ... I'm Officially Addicted!

 I've been seeing all these great ways to re-purpose old t-shirts for weeks now and finally I gave it a whirl... now I CAN'T STOP!!! Not only are these scarves so quick and easy I think they are super cute.

Start with any t-shirt.  The bigger the better, this is an XL and if you can... look for ones without side seams.  This one unfortunately had side seams, but that's OK because I came up with an idea to hide them later :)  So basically grab any t-shirt and some scissors and you are ready to make one too.  First cut straight across under the armpits and just above the bottom seam. You should now have one big tube.

Now turn the shirt so the "sides" that are still connected are at the top and cut about 2 inch strips across the length of the shirt.

But make sure to leave about one inch at the top/fold intact to keep the pieces together.  I used a rotary cutter and a ruler to make this super quick and easy.

I decided to braid the strips for this version so I cut all the strips away from the top on one side.

 

 Then three strips at a time... braid them to the bottom.

And tie them off.

For this shirt I ended up with 15 strips which made five braids.

Next, tie off the end of the braids and than sew those ends back to the top where you originally cut the strips.

Now cut a strip from the sleeve or back of the t-shirt.

Put the right sides of the t-shirt strip together and wrap that around where all the strips are gathered together and sew it closed.

Then just turn that piece inside out.

This conveniently covers up where you reattached the strips and adds another element to the scarf.

It should now look something like this.

You could just stop here, but because my shirt had side seams I didn't like the way those looked so I added a few flowers with what was left of the shirt.

This is just circles folded and glued onto a piece of felt attached to a pin.  To see pictures on how to do that, check out this earlier post.

And this is how it turned out!  This was so fun I made three additional versions.

The green started out as a camisole with lace trim.  For this one I just cut the strips, stretched them out and used two pieces of the lace to cover the seams.

For these two I used XL t-shirts with NO side seams... cut the strips still leaving that inch or two connected at the top.  I pulled on those strips to stretch them out then I cut the first three and last three in the row and used the same technique as I did with the brown to braid and reattach them to the center.  I like how the braids and plain strips add some different texture.  The big shirts make these long enough to double over... like I did with the turquoise one.

So fun and easy!  Grad a shirt and some scissors and try one today :)

Happy New Year!

Lindsey :)