Wednesday, March 28, 2012

DIY: Milk Glass- but not.

I love milk glass things. Who doesn't?
But to be honest, I am just way to cheap to buy it.

So. Enter the thrift store, where I picked up these vases because I loved their shapes.
Add some white spray paint- just cause it smells good.
I'M KIDDING, PEOPLE.
But seriously. I didn't even need to prime them. I just washed and sprayed a few coats on them.

After!

This one is my favorite.

I was squished up there. Moving them from here to there. From there to here. All over the place.

I love the start of my kitchen decor. I love simplicity. I think I will add a couple of platters and pitchers (maybe paint those a bold color, even?) and call it good for those plant shelves! Who invented plant shelves anyway? I hate them. 

But, I love this.

And this.

All that for a few bucks? I'm good with that. 


I'm linking up at Thrifty Decor Chick and the following:



Unveil Your Genius Link Party

Saturday, March 24, 2012

DIY: Laundry Detergent

I am so thankful I discovered this recipe (via Pinterest, of course, and you can see it here.)

It's genuinely an awesome feeling walking by the laundry detergent in the store knowing that I will never in my life buy it again. This will save us so much money, and the best part is, it's so easy to make!

You can get all of the supplies in the laundry section at Walmart. I think I spent $12 on them all, and they will make alot of batches of laundry soap! I also purchased a cheese grater for $1 at the thrift store because I didn't want our cheese tasting like soap. Just in case. Otherwise, I used everything else I use for cooking!

Here's what you need:

1/4 bar of Fels Naptha Soap
2 Tablespoons of Borax powder
1/4 Cup Arm and Hammer Washing soda (NOT baking soda.)

First, Grate 1/4 bar of Fels Naptha into small shreds.
 (Store the other sections you aren't using today in a Ziploc bag for later use.)


Throw the grated Fels Naptha and 1 cup of water in a pot and melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.  Continue until you have melted all the shreds of soap.


Fels Naptha soup!

Put the contents of your pot into a bucket, large container, whatever. It will need to be able to hold quite a bit of liquid though, whatever you choose!

Add 10 cups of water, the Washing Soda and Borax. Stir it up! After that, add 10 more cups of water and stir it again.

If the container you are using has a lid, then you are cool. If not, transfer to containers with lids. 
Let that sit overnight.

....The next day... 

You have bowls of goop. It looks SO gross, and smells SO clean. 


So. Stir it up as much as you can, then you are ready to transfer it to whatever containers you are using. Last time I made this I put it in old milk jugs and it worked awesome. This time I wanted the containers to match, because I'm OCD like that, and I am actually really unhappy with the containers I bought. They will leak if I'm not careful! So next time I'm back to milk jugs, or something of the like.

Anyway. Fill your containers HALF WAY with your laundry goop...



...then finish it off with water. 
Shake it up, then you are ready to do laundry!  

Use 1/4-1/2 cup per load. 

It doesn't get sudsy, so that was something I had to get over. I guess I'm just wired to think that if there are bubbles, it's getting clean. Well, not true. This stuff works great and doesn't suds up! (Which, for you fancy HE washer people, this is good news! I'm told you can use this soap in those machines with no problems!)

I found the recipe here, like I said. This lady is cool and did the math for us, finding out that
 it only costs 20¼¢ for the ingredients to make a 75-load bottle of detergent. OH MY GOODNESS. I know. This is great, right?


I would love to hear if you tried this! If you have any questions just leave a comment or email me!

I'm linkin' up!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Hey girl...

Have you seen those pictures of Ryan Gosling on Pinterest where he says things like "Hey girl, I love the way you made that mason jar into a soap dispenser." ?  Anyway. They make me laugh so hard- for whatever reason.

I made this one for Josh. It makes me laugh. It may or may not be true.

Poor guy puts up with so much!