Emma's Bow Holder

A month or so I made a really cute headband holder for Emma out of an oatmeal container so now all her headbands are nice and organized but I had to think of something to organize all her hair clips and cute pony tail holders.  I finally decided to make her a Bow Holder out of an E! 

So I went to my favorite store, Joann Fabric, and got this cute E, the ribbon and the cute buttons!  I was 1st going to paint the E pink but wanted to do something more creative and cuter.  I have seen alot of cute button initials on pinterest so I decided to do that with her E.  The buttons were a cute mixture and would work really well in her room.

I didn't do good taking pictures through out the process because I just wanted to get it done and it was a little time consuming gluing each button on.  But what I did was glued buttons on the outer edge of the E 1st, than took a second layer and angled that on top of the 1st layer and than did a 3rd layer over the 2nd.  Doing it that way covered the whole E and gave it some dimension.  I than took the thicker 1" ribbon and glued it in the middle of the bottom of the E and took the smaller 5/8th" ribbon and put them on both sides of the thicker ribbon.

Up close Picture of the E with the buttons on it

Her Bow holder with some on there.

I am so happy with the way it turned out and it is really nice to get the bows and holders out of our small and cramped bathroom! Plus it adds a cute decoration in Emma's room!



Paper File Box

I have this awesome 9 cube black storage piece that I got at Target a few years ago that sits in my living room.  It is super handy in that it holds a bunch of different stuff in canvas totes.  You cant see what is in the totes so you can put whatever you want in them!  But I don't want the whole thing filled up with totes, I like some of the holes open and the 3 on the top shelf hold things that I want to be able to get to easily and wouldn't fit to well in a tote. 


I have been thinking of a way to store all the important papers that I get from Emma's school, magazines and anything else I want.  I looked into getting a nice metal or even plastic file folder that could hold files and I could stick all my stuff in one of those to be nice, neat and organized.  The problems is that they are all too big! The hole is 11x11x11 and most of the file boxes are at least 13x11x11, so obviously they don't fit :( 

My finished product!

On pinterest I have seen a few people talk about decorating cereal boxes or old mailed boxes and I thought that that would work the best for me.  So I got 3 Mail boxes that we had received at work, 1 yard of clearance $4 a yard fabric and got to work!

I first measured out how long I wanted them to be and cut the tops off of them.  I than took packing tape and taped all 3 together.

My pretty $4 a yard fabric!

Because you could see the dark parts of the box thru the fabric, I decided to take some white scrapbook paper I had and mod podge it on the top and 2 sides. I also decided to put paper on the shelves of the box as well.

To get the front edge of the fabric looking nice and not having it continue to fray, I used some Heat Bond hemming tape and my iron to make a hem.

After this i used my mod podge again to glue the fabric onto my box.  I pretty much put it on like you would wrap a present.

And here is the finished product in my 9 cube storage unit! So happy with how it turned out!

Valentine's Day Felt Wreath

Of course I found this super duper cute idea on Pinterest!  I really don't have too much Valentine's Day decorations, it seems i go right from Halloween to Christmas (which also includes winter stuff) than to nothing really.  So I'm looking for more Valentine's decorations and came across this super cute DIY idea. 

So I went to Joann Fabrics this week and got a foam heart, 3/4 yard of red felt off the bolt and straight pins.  The foam heart was in the floral section and was 4.99 but I had a 50% coupon so it was only 2.50! The 3/4 yrd of felt was 3.50 (this was not on sale, the yd price was 4.99) and a pack of straight pins which were 3.29.  So this DIY project cost about $10.

Once it was all laid out I drew 3" circles using my frisk circle and cut a ton of circles, 172 to be exact!!  I cut all of the felt.

Next I took the circles and folded them in half and than half again. 

Folded in 1/2 once

Folded in 1/2 again- Side View

Folded in 1/2 top view

Than I took a pin and pinned the folded circle from the bottom corner onto the foam heart.  Just keep doing this, making sure to fill in all holes with circles. i did not pin any on the back so that it would lay flat on the wall.

I actually ended up with 54 leftover circles, so if you buy a 1/2 yard of felt you will have enough.  I still just need to buy a white ribbon to pin on the back to hang though, but I'm really really happy with how it turned out!



ART Clipboard Display

Now that Emma is in PreK, she brings home a ton of school work and art work she does in school daily.  So far I just put it in a canvas tote to sort later to see what to save and what I can throw away.  Every once in a while one of the sheets makes it to the frig.  For being 5 she does some cute, fun stuff and I would love a better way to display her art work.  I searched pinterest and found a few different ways to do it.  I was thinking maybe to put string up kind of like a clothes line and display her art on the wall that way, but wanted a more organized way to display it.  I found some people have covered clipboards and figured this would be the best way for me to do it!  Cute and organized.

I bought 6 clip boards and 1/2 yard fabric in 3 fabrics that went together.  I also bought wood letters to spell ART in a cute design, than a paint that would match the fabric.

I gave the ART letters 2 coats of paint called Lemonade.  I am so happy how the color came out, it matches the greenish yellowish color in the fabric almost perfect. 

The next part was the hardest for me, making a template for the clipboard so I could cut my fabric out around the clip part.  I tried to do it myself, than I had to keep going back to the picture of one I found online till it finally clicked how to do it!  I measured the distance from the edges of the board to where i would need to start cutting the middle section out.  I kept measuring and marking each section of the clip board till i got it!  I may be easier to do than all the measuring I did with my ruler but I just couldn't wrap my brain around it!  At least now I have a template in case I ever want to do anymore.

Next I went through and traced this template around my fabric.  I left extra fabric on each side so that I could wrap my fabric around the back and glue it on.  Each 1/2 yard of fabric got me 2 clip boards with some left over. 

As you can see from the picture above, I had to iron the fabrics so they were nice and smooth. Once they were ironed I decided to glue them on with spray adhesive.  I like this stuff because it holds really well and its easy to spray on but I also hate it because it gets my hands all sticky and icky! 1st I layed the fabric on the clip board so it lined up with the clip at the top.  Than I flipped the fabric back to the clip and glued that down than I glued the top.  Last step is to wrap the fabric around the edges and back like you would a present.  A little time consuming but so easy.

And the end project all put together with some of Emma's art work on it!  I LOVE the letters but am not sure if I like how I have them hanging.  I'll give it a few days to see if it grows on me! Any suggestions on how to hang them is appreciated!



DIY Powedered Laundry Soap

Since I have loved my DIY Fabric softener found here I decided to scour the Internet looking for a fabulous DIY Laundry Soap.  After viewing all the was involved with liquid laundry soap, I decided to make powered laundry soap.  I have never even used powdered soap you buy at the store so I looked up my owners manual on my HE Frigidaire front loader to make sure I could even use the stuff, and yep, I sure can use powered soap, and I still put it in the same spot as the liquid stuff.

So now that I can use powered soap I had to find a recipe that I wanted to use.  Most all the recipes are the same, all call for a bar of laundry soap, borax and washing soda.  I had found a few that also added oxy clean and baking soda.  I decided to use Zote Laundry Bar, Borax, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, and Oxy Clean (to help with the dirtier clothes)

Recipe: ( I found all this at Meier)
1  4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle ($3.99)

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle ($3.29)

1  small container of Oxyclean 1.3 lbs (20.8 0z) found in the detergent isle ($3.99)

1  bar Zote Laundry Bar (14 oz) ($.99)

1st I opened my Zote and cut it long way into about 4-5 pieces.  I let this sit out over night to dry out a little because when I 1st went to grate it, it was very soft and clumped up.  Then I grated it with the medium size holes on my block grater.  It made 2 bowls full.  Some people than put this in their food processor or magic bullet to grate up even more but I don't have either so I opted out on that.  The pieces I have though aren't that big.  This took the longest time, maybe 10-15 mins.

Than I took a cleaning bucket I had and lined it with a trash bag.  Next you just pour all the ingredients in and mix up!  Next time I will pour half of each item in, mix that up and than pour the rest in and mix it all up again.  I found that it was difficult to make sure everything got mixed up together since its all white powder. 

I than got some screw top plastic containers (2 in a pack for 1.00) at the dollar store and divided it all up.  The oxy clean container is actually a really nice container that has a little scoop with it, so I am going to use that container to keep by my washer and I'm using the scoop as well.  The 3 small containers I filled for 3 friends so they can try it to and let me know how they like it!

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All you need to use is 1 TBSP per load (2 if you have a larger load or extra dirty clothes).  So on my oxyclean scoop i measured out 1 TBSP and 2 TBSP so i know how much to use each load.  This makes (if im doing my math right! Its been a while since Ive been out of college!) about 165 ozs of soap. There are 2 TBSP per ounce so I should get about 330 loads of laundry if I do them all at 1 tbsp! This will be just great!  For about $12.50 I will be able to do 330 loads of laundry! I could be saving almost $20-$30 each time I make this soap- Ya I can handle that!

This is a low sudsing soap so do not get nervous when you don't see any suds in your washer.  Since it is low sudsing, that is why I feel safe in using it in my HE washer! 

We have done a few loads so far and I am very happy with it.  There really isn't a perfumed smell to it (we usually used a laundry soap with fragrance in it) but it smells really fresh!

DIY Fabric Softner

Again, something else that I found on Pinterest!  I would have never thought to do this before.  I am a pretty loyal Downy with Febreeze fan!  Well now that I'm on a diy kick I thought that I would give this a chance.  Over the past weekend we ran out of Fabric Softener and instead of going to the store to spend $4-$5 on a bottle that would get me about 42 ozs I decided to make it myself.  Sorry that I have no pictures of me making this but it was before I decided to start my blog back up. 

But here is the recipe for FABRIC SOFTENER:
6 Cups Hot Water
1 Bottle (approx 10-13 oz) of your Favorite, or the cheapest Conditioner
3 Cups of White Vinegar
Container to Hold it

From my previous years of bargain shopping, I had a free bottle of conditioner, I think the brand was Loereal and had a bottle of vinegar I had got with a coupon for about .50.  I did need a container to put this in, and of course we had just thrown out the old empty bottle of fabric softener so I couldn't even use that (which is what I wanted to do) so I used my  water jug that we do not use anymore.

Steps:
1. Get hot water from your tap (or microwave it for about 1 min to get it hot) and add your bottle of conditioner.  Stir it until the conditioner is dissolved.
2. Add your 3 cups of Vinegar and mix together.
3. Pour into a container with a lid

Use 2 TBSP per load of laundry.


That is it!  I did make a double batch of this (using 2 different brands of conditioner) so I about filled up my container.  When I was making it Hubbie was very leery about it because of the vinegar smell but I told him to trust me on this. 

And this is my fabric softener!  I made about 166 oz and using 1 oz per load (1 TBSP equals .5 oz) I will get about 166 loads out of this! Woo Hoo

Well we have done a few loads of Laundry with this so far and it really does make the clothes feel softer!  And there is no vinegar smell at all! There really is not a smell at all, only clean if that makes sense.  I am very happy with this so far and will be saving our family a ton of money!  The double batch cost me about $1.00 and if I would by it at the store, It would cost about $15-$20 using coupons!
If you end up making this, leave a comment on how you like it!

And here is the link for my DIY Powdered Laundry Soap!

Pinterest and DIY Dryer Balls

For those of you that don't know, I am addicted to Pinterest with a capitol A D D I C T E D!  Oh my how I just love this website.  I have really never been one to do things myself, I usually just like to buy as is, or the materials are all in the box, have the hubbie screw them all together.  That all changed with Pinterest.  One of my Amanda friends (yes I have 2 very good Amanda friends, both that I met about 2.5 years ago in my daughters very 1st dance class and both of who I see regularly! I mean what are the odds that I will meet 2 Amanda's at my daughters dance class that had about 7 girls in? But in the beginning it did make it very easy to remember their names LOL) started telling us Dance girls about this site that was awesome that you pinned stuff onto boards.  At 1st I had no idea what she was talking about so didn't really give any extra thought to what she was saying.  Than on facebook I started seeing some other friends post recipes and cute things on their updates from Pinterest, so I thought what the heck, I'll give the website a try.  1st time I went on there I was quite confused and had no idea what the heck it was about, than I realized you had to be invited to be able to see most of the stuff.  I was like, what the heck, this is stupid! But of course I had to email Amanda to have her invite me ASAP.  After that it has been a love affair! Good thing the hubbie isn't a jealous person!

I have made some stuff from this site in the last few weeks and am hooked on saving money and making cool stuff.  Over the weekend I made some homemade DIY fabric softener (I'll take some pics and post tomorrow) and reading some of the comments and sites saw you can make Dryer Balls that will help reduce the drying time of your load and if you put essential oils in them they will make your clothes smell good just like dryer sheets!  I was hooked.  Alot of the sites talked about wool dryer balls and something about felting, um hello, I am new to this whole crafty, sewing, DIY stuff and that looked way to hard.  You had to buy this certain wool yarn (that some people said was hard to find) tie it around your finger, than make a ball, put it in a pantyhose, wash and dry it (i guess that is what felting is, still kinda confused about that) and than you could use them.  Well that was way too much work for me.  So I kept searching and found This awesome Link for dryer Balls.

So this is what I did...

1.  Got 2 of my old tshirts, 1 of Brian's and 3 pairs of socks I don't wear anymore.

2.  I than cut the sleeves off and than the shirts into strips.

3.  Than I knotted the sleeve part two times- this makes your core.

 

4.  Next I just took 1 strip and wrapped it around the knot, than took another strip and wrapped it the opposite way, and I kept doing that until I got about a fist sized "ball" (mine are very misshaped!)

5.  Take your "ball" and put it into the toe of a sock.  Then twist the extra material once, and turn the sock into itself.  Keep doing this until you can't anymore.

 

6.  Sewing comes into this last part! As you can see I am a TERRIBLE Sewer but in my defense, this was the very 1st time I have ever sewed anything!! Yes I am a 30 year old college educated wife and mother and have never sewed anything.  I blame my Catholic High School for not offering Home EC! 

All in All this project took me probably 2-3 hours.  Would have taken alot less time if I knew how to sew.  But really still not bad for not having to buy fabric sheets anymore.  I did buy from the Vitamin Store some Essential Oil- Nature's Alchemy Orange flavor and put a few drops on each one.  So hopefully that will give the clothes a nice fresh smell as well.