Homemade Laundry Detergent and Jute Mayo Jar

I am cheap...

I am not afraid or embarrassed to admit it either! When my friend, Elizabeth, shared with me that she made her own Laundry Detergent and it cost pennies per load I had to give it a try. She sent me this website. It is all about saving money!

Laundry Detergent

1/2 bar bath soap

1 cup washing soda

y. Here is the source. 1 cup baking soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax


I LOVE IT and it is so easy to make and it is cheap!! I encourage everyone to make a batch! Trust me, just try it!!

Once the detergent was made I needed something clever and cute to put the laundry detergent in because it doesn't not have it's own container like commercial detergent does. Have no fear...I can come up with something!!

Decorative Container
Plastic Mayo Jar (glass in the laundry room could be trouble)
Jute (stolen from my husband's shed)
Hot Glue
Stencil
Permanent Marker

Start at the bottom of the jar and wrap around. I just did the area where the label was. I only glued one side of the jar. Therefore, if it turned out to ugly that by default could be the back! When finished wrapping, put glue on the tip of the jute and press down firmly. Then time to do the lid...blue just won't do. Start in the middle with a glob of glue
Start circling around. When you are done, put glue on the tip of the string and press firmly. The lid was the hardest part.

Then with a permanent marker and stencil I decorated the jute. I also added a wooden sewing bobbin to the top of the lid. Why?...because I had some laying around. I also colored the bobbin with a permanent marker.

Here is my Homemade Jute Jar filled with Homemade Laundry Detergent- Completely reinvented!

Since this project several other jars have become victim to my glue gun and jute...I love this stuff!!

I am participating over at Kimm's Reinvented Tuesday. Go check out the other great projects!

Monthly Craft Challenge

Today I am participating in Heidi's Monthly Crafty Challenge. I really needed this challenge to get my creative juices flowing. Sometimes I am nothing more then a copycat and I can not think outside of the box....like exhibit A. However, as my mom said "Copying is the best for of flattery." I saw this and could not WAIT to make me 1000 of them!


Exhibit A:
I saw this NO SEW PUMPKINS on A Little Bit Vintage (consider this the best form of flattery.) She shows a wonderful tutorial on how to make these. I made these out of different textures fleece, muslin, and burlap. Fleece is the easiest to work with!! I did not have to buy a thing either. I am sure most crafters have all of these items in their home.



This is my new fall arrangement...Thank you A Little Bit Vintage!

It truly was so easy my 4 yr old daughter made some!! I am thinking GREAT teacher gifts. Plus you can add potpourri to make them extra nice!

Exhibit B:
My next project kind of evolved. My grandmother gave me some orange/red wreaths from her craft collection this summer. They were 2/$1.00 from Ben Franklin's (I am pretty sure that store is gone now, just to date these things) Then I printed "B-O-O" on scrapbook paper and since I didn't have ribbon I made my own.

I had some scrap material from a romper I made my son and made a ribbon strip.


This is what I came up with...

An added touch I hot glued different sized eyes on the black ribbon!! I think it is perfect and I can't believe I made Fall/Halloween Decor from stuff around my house!!

Go check out some other awesome projects at Heidi!! As an added bonus go and check out Xazmin and see her wonderful giveaway. She is participating in Heidi's challenge and then giving hers away!!

I LOVE THE FALL!!

Recycle and Rewear - Men's Pants

A couple of months ago my husband broke a zipper to one of his khaki pants. A NORMAL person would of A) taken them to the tailors to fix (I don't fix zippers) or B) thrown them away. Well, as many of you know I am not normal. So I folded them up and put them in my cloth box.


It was while my son was wearing these overalls (made for my husband, by his great-grandmother) that I knew exactly what I was going to do with the broken pants.


I took the overalls and made a pattern. I took pattern making class in college but it doesn't help a bit. All you have to do is trace and add a 1/2" seam allowance. The tricky part is the construction.

Then it was time to cut out my patter on the pants. To make life even easier I used the existing hem from the pants rather then making my own. I take shortcuts...because I hate hems!

Just like that you have toddler overalls!!

Notice the adorable buttons? I got these buttons for 10 cents! Yes, that is right 10 cents! Read about it here.

This outfit cost a total of 10 cents!!

Then for fun (and for his daddy) I tried to get him to wear a hunting hat. No such luck!!


I am HUGE fan of making the most with your money. I think this outfit exemplifies that! Not only that, maybe one day my son's son will wear this outfit...one can only hope.

Today I decided to participate in Twice Remembered: Make Your Monday. I just found her blog and I love her motto!!

Back to Preschool Preparation

Today was a big day in our home! Lawson had her first day back to Preschool.

In preparation for her big day she had the perfect outfit...

I made her this skirt for her first day!

It make my heart smile to see how proud she is of the clothes I make her. She got lots of compliments and she said proudly "My mommy made my skirt!" That's my girl!! The best part of this skirt- it was FREE! I got the shirt at Target for $3.00 (on sale) and splurged on good shoes for the school year (very important).

I got the material and pattern from my grandma's collection. I love scrap material! The bag that the material came in says "How much did you save today?" I thought that was ironic!!


Then to make a first good impression Lawson and I made cookies for her teacher and office assistance. I am not the best cook but these are awesome & easy!


Yep, everyone over at her school thinks I am a Domestic Diva (haha).... They think I make my kids clothes and I bake....Wow, I have them fooled, I figure...what they don't know won't hurt them!!

Cheers to the new school year!

The Dress that Won't Go Away...

In early July I had made a post called "Thanks Mr Bunny" I took a dress that my MIL gave me and the stuffing from this bunny...

and made this...

That left me with the skirt material, and as my Mamma II (grandma) always says..."Waste not, want not." I decided to look through some of my patterns that Mamma II had just given me and decided to make my daughter a jumper. It is from 1981!! But seriously a jumper is a jumper!

Then I cheated a little. Since the skirt had a hemline already I used it rather then making my own!! One nice bonus from recycling or reinventing old clothes!

With a little personal flare added here is the final dress...

My daughter will not try it on for me she says "It is a school dress and school hasn't started yet" but you get the point. I can just envision her wearing this with different colored shirt and colorful stocking!! I love it, and I love the cost $0!! I am now a big fan of recycling clothes to make my children some clothes. I think you are going to start seeing that a lot more from me!!

2 items from 1 dress!! I am satisfied!!!

NOT a Kate Spade Purse

A couple of days ago my sister called me and said "I've done something I have never done before...I bought a Kate Spade purse!!" I congratulated her on her purchase and said I would love to see a picture of this purchase. She never emailed me the picture!! So I pretty much have to go with my gut and the Nordstrom website that the purse purse she got either looks like this...

Because it was such a steal during their Anniversary Sale

Or This...

Either way both are beautiful and if she ever wanted to part ways with this, when she gets bored with it, I would I gladly accept!!

Now, I am not the jealous type, especially of my sister, but it dawned on me that I don't know when the last time I bought myself a purse. The purse or tote I am carrying around right now my parents gave to me for Christmas 3-4 years ago & my winter purse is probably the same age. Sad I know!

Anyway, to make amends to my situation I had a couple choices...

A) Buy a Kate Spade Purse and my family not eat for 2 weeks

B) Sulk...(Not my style)

C) Make myself one

If you picked C you are right...

I guess I need some motivation because I had everything I needed to make a purse...remember I am a pack-rat. I just had to put the pieces together and 2 hours of time.

So here is my new purse...

IT IS NOT A KATE SPADE...

But at ZERO Dollars in this economy & our budget restraints...

I think it is PERFECT and I have a new purse!!

Little Boys Don't Do Pink!!

God has blessed me and my husband with a daughter and son. We truly count our blessings everyday that we have one of each sex and they are so healthy. That being said, my kids have a cheap-cheap mommy, which means some staple baby items that are gender specific are used by both. For example, pink baby bath towels, pink blankets, pink sippy cups & pink strollers. All items listed are used by my son and it doesn't phase me for the most part. But there is one item that my son uses that epitomizes my cheapness and that is the pink stroller.

Little guy hugging on his sister's pink blanket!

The story of the Pink and Black Stroller

When we had my daughter we chose not to find out if she was a boy or girl, so everything we received like big ticket gifts were very neutral. Perfect!! Having everything green and yellow didn't bother me, but as she came into her own she was so girl-y BUT she had no hair. Some people would say "Oh HE is so cute", it didn't matter if she was in all pink she was still called a he!! My response was always the same "He is a she" and would move on. Well, one day I decided to break free from my sensible side, and bought my daughter a pink and black stroller. I was so proud of this pink and black stroller for my daughter it just made me giddy to push her around. I think it was more for me then her, but still, it was something that should only be used for a girl and I loved it...2 years ago.

Now, I hate this stroller. Why? I am embarrassed to say I have been sporting my son around in a pink and black stroller since he was 8 months and I cringe inside every time I use it. I would cover the pink back with a diaper cloth to hide the large area of pink (pictured below), but the pink trim just screams pink to me. No one has ever said anything about my little boy and a pink stroller but I can see it in their eyes!! How cruel am I ??? Throw practicality out the window "Little Boys Don't do Pink" I know, call me petty I don't care. he is 15 months old and it is time for me to do something about it!!

I thought about selling it, taking the money and buying a new one, but I would still have to shell out an additional $40-$50 for a new one. I could buy a used one after selling this one, but the process of finding a used one would be too time consuming. Then I had an idea. It was a little crazy, maybe even stupid, and beyond cheap, but I decided to paint the pink trim and make a new headrest cover. I figured if it didn't work, oh well I tried!!

I took one more picture of the pink and black stroller for old time sakes. Then my daughter and I started painting!!

Before:


After: A one-of-a-kind NCSU stroller!!

How did I do it? I used black paint (have lots around), mixed in some Textile Medium (had some of that around too, not sure why) and started painting all of the pink trim black.

The cover is made out of some left over material I bought for baby gifts. Go NCSU!!

Cost: Nothing!!

Saved: $40-$50

Verdict: No more pink and black stroller for my little boy!! No more cringing!! Yeah!! I even like the stroller again. I just wish it had a cup holder. Oh Well.

Finished Banner

I have a side business called The Other Kid and it is very important to my partner and me to keep the overhead low. For our vending event we needed a sign for our booth but didn't want to pay lots of money for one. I wasn't about to borrow my daughter's markers, but the thought crossed my mind. I had seen these all over the Internet beautiful banners made out of either scrapbook paper or material and thought it would be perfect!!!

For less then $5.00 we had a banner for our booth.


Challenges: Letters. I didn't know where to buy the letter templates!! I traced letters from the computer on white paper, cut them out, then traced them the scrapbook paper and cut them out again!! The other issue was spacing. I was expecting our table to be 8' rather then 6', so we did have to space the letters a little close.

These are super cute just not the fastest. Big THANKS to my sister for her help!

I think being a creative thinker is very beneficial as a small business owner!!

Part 2- Easter Decorations with Zero Dollars

This project has been done 100 times over but I wanted to share with you my new Dining Room Center Piece!! I LOVE IT!! I love everything black and white, if I could, I would decorate my whole house black and white!

Keep in mind this project cost me ZERO DOLLARS!! I searched my craft bins, the great outdoors, and recycled some other material. Just be creative!!

Step 1: I got some old pastel Easter eggs with holes on the top and tied some string through them.

Step 2: Painted them with a light coat of white spray paint. I wanted to still see the pastel color! Note: Do this on a non-humid day it will drip!

Step 3: When dry get creative in decorating them. I wanted a theme of black and white so I found ribbon, black paint, black glitter & buttons in my craft bins.

All my crafty stuff (ha, I wish, this is only 1/8 of all my crafty stuff)


Some samples:




Step 4: Take a little nature walk to find the perfect limb. I went to a local park with a friend and found this guy (on the ground, don't cut a tree branch off!)

Step 5: Spray Paint tree branch white


Step 6: Once dry bring everything inside and put it all together!
I had an old arrangement with fake flowers that I have had for years. I loved the container but the flowers did nothing for me. So I cut the fake flowers out of the arrangement (this was the hardest part) luckily I didn't lose a finger!!

Step 7: To cover the moss (dusty & yucky) I cut up some wrapping paper in strips and crumpled it up to cover the bottom.

Step 8: Trim tree branch. I actually used two tree branches to get the fullness I needed.

Step 9: I placed this arrangement on a mirror and put crystals on the mirror (removed from a dress my grandma wore as Mrs Delaware) See picture above!



Enjoy your arrangement!! My daughter, of course, helped me decorate all of the eggs!!


If you read my previous post you know I had green eggs on my dining room chandelier. I moved them to the foyer chandelier and they look great!!! (just don't look at the dust, something has to give when you spend your free time being creative)


In these hard economic times you do not have to stop being crafty because of Zero Dollars in the budget!! Just get MORE creative, challenge yourself to make something out of nothing!! Have fun!!