20 Minutes and 20 Dollars for a years worth of Laundry Soap!!

Laundry detergent....the necessary evil. I have 3 very active boys and a hardworking husband...I feel like I am constantly buying laundry detergent. Or trying to find coupons so I can get it cheap. I knew there had to be a better way! I started researching laundry detergent and was shocked at what I found...there are TONS of chemicals in them. They put dye in... then they put chemicals in to remove the dye to sell it to you dye free! I also found that they diluted the detergent so much that it takes alot of it to wash your clothes.  No wonder I go through it so quickly.

While searching the internet I also found tons of recipes to make your own detergent. Alot of people do it this way. The Duggars make all their own laundry detergent. So I decided to give it a try. I used some of what I found and added my own little steps....so here is my recipe...

1 Box of Borax 4lbs

1 Box of Arm and Hammer Soda 4lbs

1 Box of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda 3lbs

1 Tub OxyClean 3lbs

3 bars Fls-Naptha Soap

1 Bottle of essential oil (your choice of smell)

Take a big bucket (I used a left over bucket from a previous purchase of laundry detergent) and pour all the powder ingredients into it.

 Take the 3 bars of Fels-Naptha and grate them. This is the only hard part...I promise :)

 Dump this into the bucket with the powder...

Take a big spoon and mix it all together.

Now this is the part that I do differently than most...I don't like "chunky" powder...I wanted mine to look more like store bought and I also wanted to scent it. So I took 5 cups at a time and put it in my blender..I also added 15 drops of the essential oil. Then I blended it til it was smooth. I forgot to take a pic of the oil...I got it a health food store and it was lavender/vanilla.

You can see by the photo below the difference. The left side has not been blended yet and the right side has. It just gives it a smoother texture. And it smells YUMMY!!!

I store the detergent in the bucket and use what I need for my jar. No one would ever guess that I made it myself!!!

Now the best part of all this is that you only use 1 TABLESPOON!!!  per load. For heavily soiled clothes like jeans I use 2. I absolutely love the stuff. I have not had any problems with my clothes not being cleaned and they definitely smell great!  My jar holds 10 cups of detergent...that 160 tablespoons....or 160 loads of wash! I still have another 20 cups in the bucket!!! WOW~!~

Total cost for all the ingredients were

$20.97

Total time

20 minutes

Savings.....HUNDREDS!!!

If you make your own or have any different recipes let me know...I would love to hear from you!

♥Christina

PS: Check back tomorrow for how I make my own Febreeze!!!!

Ball Jar Makeovers

Happy 2012 everyone!!! I hope the holidays treated you all with lots of love and laughter! I was so busy that mine just flew by. As always with the start of a new year I am on a major clean/organization spree. Time to get rid of the old and ring in the new! Since I am organizing (once again) my sewing area I thought I would share a little tutorial on how to "dress" up your ball jars. I love any and all crafts that involve ball or mason jars. They work fantastic for storage and it adds a bit of whimsy to any area. These are amazingly easy to do...all you need is

Spray paint...any color will do. I ALWAYS have black spray paint on hand so that is what I used. Modpodge...if you have never used this stuff...RUN to the nearest store and get some. It has UNLIMITED uses!!! Cardboard...you can use cereal boxes or anything else you have on hand and scraps of fabric.

And of course Ball Jars with the lids and rings. That's it!

Remove the rings and spray paint them the color of your choice.

While these are drying take a lid and trace it on your cardboard.

 Cut your circles out and set aside

Pick out scraps of fabric that you like and want to use and trace the lid on it.

Once you have all your circles cut out this is what you will end up with.

Now for the fun part....spread a good layer of modpodge on top of the cardboard piece

Do as the picture says...lol

 Once the modpodge has dried gently push it into your Ball Jar ring. The cardboard will keep it nice and tight inside it. On some of them I glue them in but most of the time I don't.

and voila!!! Your newly decorated ball jar!

I absolutely love how they look on my shelf. They hold all my sewing essentials and look cute too!



 These are so addicting....have fun making them...betcha' cant make just one ♥

Add caption



 ♥ Christina



Nervous Energy...

So a couple of weeks ago I noticed a mole on my face...right smack dab in the middle of my left cheek to be exact...and I noticed that it got big pretty quickly. I went to see my dermatologist and had it removed. On Friday I got the call that it was skin cancer. Squamous Cell Carcinoma...nothing that is going to kill me but something that is worry some none the less. I had a follow up appointment today to remove more skin around the area. For now its all over...nothing left but a very sore cheek and a scar.

BUT...yesterday I made the mistake of googling squamous cell carcinoma...for anyone who has been diagnosed with ANYTHING...please do not ever google it!!! They will show you the absolute worse case scenarios first and just get you all worked up. Trust me on this...after seeing pics of people with holes in their faces I was completely freaked out! So with all my nervous energy I decided to tackle some chores that I have been putting off.

WARNING: For all of you that I have fooled into thinking I am a great housewife who's house is always immaculate-please turn off the computer now!!!! I don't want to ruin that image! ;)

for those of you who really know me...welcome to my mess....

yes...this sad pathetic space is my work space. All I can say in my defense is that I have been VERY busy. Thus this complete mess. Y'all don't even want to know what was growing in my coffee cup

I don't even know what to say...lol...its bad! Just look how I have treated all these beautiful fabrics...the shame!

 see all the little scraps of paper? those are all of my patterns..lol. I know, I know..I'm so embarrassed!

BUT.....Tada... 

 see what nervous energy does for you! I painted the shelf my wonderful hubby built me and trimmed it in some ribbon I had. I organized all my supplies and finally hung up all my ribbon.

I even bedazzled my shelf with some rhinestones I found..lol! LOVE IT!

It now looks so much better and I do have to say it is so nice to have everything in its place. So take that bad nerves...

♥Christina

An Award!

I am so excited to announce that I have won an "Editors Choice" award for having a creative and crafty blog. Lewis Leong...an editor at Craft Corners, which is part of Become.com’s blogging network saw my site and liked it. Craft Corners is a great website for crafters of any level. They have some amazing tutorials and posts. My favorite is a DIY Magazine Storage Holder

I mean seriously....aren't these just amazing!?!! They actually show you how to do it too....as if I need any more projects.....lol! I cant wait to make some!

I also love, love, love the post about Organizing Your Craft Room!

WOW!!! I wish she would come to my house and organize my craft area...ya'll don't even want to see the messes I create!

Once again I want to thank Craft Corners for thinking my stuff is cool enough for them! Go check out their website...you wont be disappointed!!

♥ Christina

Crazy, Busy Summer!

This summer has gone by so fast! I blinked only once...and...poof gone! We did so much this summer..both in and around the house. I will post more on those later. I was also crazy busy with my sewing. Though I do have to say having all 3 boys home was not very conducive to staying on a schedule. Not to mention the fact that I thought it was a brilliant idea to get a dog (thought being the key word here) all boys need a good dog I thought. So we got a German Shepherd. On top of all 3 boys at home..keeping my house cleaned...running my business..and working part time....I knew very quickly that I had completely lost my mind!~

We celebrated my husbands 40th birthday...that will be a post in itself...the cake was epic!!! Brogan turned 10..Ean turned 4 and I'm just feeling old! lol

but.....in between all the madness I had time to create some new bag patterns...

this one with a clasp closure, two huge front pockets, a big back zip pocket and 5 interior pockets

This was a custom order diaper bag. I was allowed to do what I want in terms of styling. I thought this one came out super adorable. I am in love with silver rivets....they add just the right amount of oomph to a bag!

this was another custom order...again I was allowed to do "whatever" in terms of styling. This is a huge bag..two front snap pockets, a huge back pocket for magazines, two side pockets for water bottles, 7 interior pockets, and it all zips closed under the flap.

and finally my BusyBee Wallet. I have made variations of this for awhile now..they are always a hit. I carry mine with my EVERYWHERE!!  It has a back flap that when you open....

is a cell phone holder! 

on the other side is a cute snapped...... 

WALLET!!! 3 credit card slots and a zip coin slot.  Everything you need all in one place!

I have so much more to post...it will take me awhile to get caught up...from Daryl's party...to my laundry room makeover...to the MOST ADORABLE swap I did with Trisha.  Stay tuned for it all.....

♥Christina

A beautiful sewing table!

A while ago I was at work complaining about my lack of a good sewing table. The one I was using was a fold out table. A terrible table to use for sewing...the whole thing bounced when I got going fast....it also was dipping from all the pressure of my fabric cutting. Well one of my co-workers mentioned she had a table she could sell me. She was like "I don't know..you might not like it. Its 8ft long and has drawers all around it" What??? Are you serious?!? This sounded like the PERFECT table for me. So I bought it from her and it is perfect! I couldn't wait to get this baby home and "stylize" it!

Here is the table before. Notice that I couldn't even wait to get a good "before" picture before I started painting it! As you can see from the slots it holds four drawers on each side!!

Here are the "before" drawers.

 I wanted to do something totally different with this table. Something that would really make it stand out. I had just started using ModPodge (seriously how did I not know this stuff existed??? I love it!!!)  so I went to AC Moore and found a scrap book paper pack on clearance for $9.99.  I used 24 different papers out of the pack and modpodged them down. When it was all dry I put 2 coats of Poly Acrylic over everything. I absolutely, totally, irrevocably love the way this turned out!

 It looks so fabulous and all the colors keep it fun. I also used cutouts (thanks to my lovely friend Sandy) to highlight the drawer fronts. I still have to put the knobs I bought from Hobby Lobby on it but all in all it is exactly what I wanted.

It works perfect for all my sewing. The drawers are such an added bonus...they hold all my tools and whatnot's! Thank you Amanda for selling me my dream sewing table!

♥ Christina

I L.O.V.E Craigslist!

You know they say one man's trash is another man's treasure....how true that is!!! If you know me then you know that half my house is decorated with craiglist finds. I will NEVER pay retail for another piece of furniture again (ok other than a sofa...don't like old used cushions...or mattresses...ugh!) Part of the thrill is the hunt that starts with an idea. I wanted something for my basement that would hold games and toys and the little TV that we have down there. Something that would make it nice for Ean since we spend alot of time there. Here is the room before...

did I mention we have ALOT of toys and games. Its totally ridiculous how much these kids have...we even donate old stuff every year!!

 and it always looks messy!

So off to the wonderful world of craigslist I went.....it took about a week to find what I wanted at the price I wanted. Voil'a!~  A 3 piece entertainment center for (drumroll please) $45.00 DOLLARS! Ooh yeah baby!

Here are the towers before

 and the middle entertainment part before.

 I knew I wanted to paint these so I put the boys to work sanding and fixing it. Brogan did the sanding....he did a FANTASTIC job!

Austin took all the hardware off and fixed anything that needed fixing!

 Then it was time to paint! I used Krylon paint in a can. I planned on distressing it so I just wanted to make sure it had a good basic coverage. Once that was dry I went to town on it with sand paper. All the edges and anywhere I thought "normal" wear and tear would show.  When it was done I put poly acrylic over all of it.

And the results are..........................absolutely stunning!!!!!

 I am so in love with how this turned out. It was exactly what I wanted down here. It just makes everything look so much better.

 Now Ean has a wonderful area to play and watch TV while I sew. You can see my sewing table right next it. You can see that transformation here. Once again......Craigslist RULES!!!

♥ Christina

PS: A very special thanks goes out to my lovely friend Jess D. Thank you for meeting me and helping me load this into my truck....it was fun...even if for the SECOND!!! time someone thought I was your mother!

PSS: I am linking this up with Beneath My Hearts best diy projects of june..check her out to see more spectacular stuff!