Coconut Oil Remix

So almost a year ago I started my coconut oil kick!  I LOVE THIS STUFF!  Just now while browsing pinterest I found a blog post that list 160 uses for coconut oil.  Seriously guys.  READ THIS ARTICLE!  It talks about using it as a nipple cream, lubricant, and face moisturizer to helping cancer, sunburns and toenail fungus.  This stuff ROCKS!  It's magical and we should ALL be using it!  Take a look HERE

Air Freshener

So we all know the baking soda deodorizes right?  Well, while at a friends house once I noticed she had a mason jar with baking soda in it with holes poked in the shape of a heart on the top.  Hmmmmmm.  I wondered what it was but never asked.  then I started noticing them on pinterest.  I finally decided to try it. So here is what you do.

Take a mason jar.

Add baking soda.

Add essential oil.  I used cinnamon but you could use anything.

I added a LOT!  Like 15 drops or so.

Put the lid on.  Take a hammer and a nail and poke holes in it.  You can make a shape or just poke away  randomly.  I copied my friend and did a heart.  In case you are wondering, I am talking about you Amanda!  haha

Then I placed it in my kids bathroom.

IT.  WORKS. GREAT!

Every time I go into their bathroom,  I just shake the jar around a bit and the whole bathroom smells of cinnamon.  AWESOME.

Cheap, easy and no chemicals.  That's my kind of fresh air.

Try it....you'll love it.

Recycled Flowers

I saw this project in a magazine cut out my sister had in her special folder she made.  She had all sorts of fun and cool ideas, projects and things she wants all cut out of magazines and neatly placed in a three ring binder.

Yeah...I'm not that organized but I am glad SHE is.  While I was in Utah she got it out and I flipped through it.

So here is my version of what I saw.  I took a penny saver ( whatever kind of paper you want.  Book pages, newspaper, ads...whatever )  And I LOVE that I used the penny saver because we just throw it right in the recycling bin pretty much every single week.  Makes me so happy to repurpose these!

Let's get started!

Ripped out some pages from whatever source you are going to use.  Take some water and some water color paints and paint the heck out of your pages.

I tried a couple of different things here.  Here I painted the paper.  I also tried coloring the water and the crinkling up the paper and sticking it in the water.  Both work.  You have to have the water REALLy dark with the color though.  I let that dry.  Do both sides because you will be seeing both sides of the paper when it is all said and done.

Next I took some of this fabulous stuff

And I added it to some water ( I didn't want it to stiffen the paper TOO much! ) and coated the paper AGAIN!  Let it dry and then crinkle the paper.

Next you can do TWO different things.  I tried both and I am not sure which one I like better.

The first thing you can do is CUT petals out of your paper.

OR

You can rip petals out of your paper.  I like the look of both so try out both and see which one floats your boat!

Next you want to take a smaller petal and glue it to the center.  In the picture you see regular glue BUT I ended up using the glue gun and it worked SOOOO much better because it dried instantly.  Just be aware that paper is THIN and you will probably burn yourself at least once.  I kept putting my finger under the paper and then pressing directly onto the glue gun. DUH!  haha  When I use ribbon or fabric it's usually thick enough to not burn.

I found this floral wire at the dollar store and thought it would work perfect!  They had many different colors and any color would have looked great.

Put some glue on the wire and then roll the paper around it.

It should look something like this.  Then just start glueing all of the petals on.  I try and go from one side to the other to fill in all of the spots.

Once you get it looking good, try bending the petals out a bit so it doesn't look flat.

At this point I wanted them to stay like they were and so I wanted to add a top coat.  I have this

I took my flowers out side and sprayed the heck out of them using both.  I found the results looked pretty much the same.  Neither of them looked shinny to me but I love how they brightened up the color and made it a deeper shade.

Then I had a little too much fun taking some pictures of them

So go make some flowers.  The nice thing about these is your kids could help you make them.  They take a while only because they need to dry in between coats but other then the glue ( if you use hot glue ) your kids could help.

linking up to some parties

Thankful Thursdays

I am thankful for recipes!  I would be SOOOOOO lost without recipes.  I wouldn't know how to cook anything at all and I would be SO scared to try anything.  Recipes get us familiar with what ingredients are good for certain things.  For instance, who would have though that honey would be good for your skin?  I would NEVER have thought,  "Hmmmm I think if I rub sticky honey all over my face and then leave it there for a few minutes and wash it off....I bet it will make my skin nice and soft!"

Well, I got a recipe for YOU!  I haven't tried it yet.  I was cleaning just now and saw it and thought, "Oh yeah I forgot about this."  I got it at church.  The ladies had a spa night and this recipe was give to us along with a chocolate bar.  Here are the ingredients

1/3 cup of cocoa
2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream ( sour cream will work too! )
3 tablespoons of oatmeal powder ( I just throw oat meal in the food processor )

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients until the mask is consistent.  Apply on the face, gently massaging it so that the oatmeal can start exfoliating the dead skin cell layers.  Leave it on for about 15 to 20 minutes and then rinse off with lukewarm water.  ENJOY YOUR SOFT FACE!

Chocolate Cinnamon

Doesn't that sound yummy?  Chocolate cinnamon.  Well, it at least sounds yummy to me!  I FINALLY got around to using some of my empty chap stick tubes.  I also finally used the deodorant tubes I bought!  WOO HOO.  I am leaving tomorrow to drive to Utah AGAIN.  I have been promising my mom and dad some chocolate chap stick.  This time I wanted one with some Bees Wax in it.  I looked up some recipes and then adapted one for my liking.  Here is what I did.

Chocolate Cinnamon Chap Stick

1 Tablespoon Cocoa Butter

1 Tablespoons Sweet Almond Oil

1 Tablespoon Avocado Oil

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon & 1 teaspoon Beeswax

5-7 drops Cinnamon essential oil 

6 to 10 chocolate chips

I should have entered a drop or so of Vitamin E and I forgot!  I think this is plenty good for your lips without it though.  

Here's what you do.  Bees wax takes a while to melt.  You want to take the bees wax, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, olive oil and avocado oil and melt them together.  Do this either in 10 second increments in the microwave or use a double broiler.  Once the bees wax is all melted into the other oils you want to add you essential oil.  If using Cinnamon it is VERY strong.  I only used about 4 or 5 drops but I could have used a couple of more.  I would rather have too little then too much though.  Then add some vitamin E if you would like.  Stir in the chocolate chips until they melt.  I used 6 of them and again you could use more.  Whatever you would like.  This is just to add some flavor and to add some color.  Don't let it cool TOO long before pouring into whatever it is you have to hold it in.  I used my empty chap stick tubes and it took up about 9 to 10 of them.  

And here is the deodorant in their cute little roll up tubes

I can't WAIT to roll this on instead of using my finger!  WOO WOO for all natural home made products that won't cause harm or cancer!  YEAH BABY! 

linking up to

Watcha Working With @ It's Toile Good

Dryer Sheets

So who here hates throwing away dryer sheets?  I feel like a horrible person every time I do.  Why?  Because it seems like SUCH a waste.  I mean you use it once, twice MAYBE three times and then you throw it away.  Back in April I started to collect mine.  I had something in mind for mine to do for Green Month.  They take  a while to collect a bunch.  I have actually meant to do this a WHILE ago but have been lazy.  Not sure why either since this took me literately 5 minutes to do and that was mostly because I had to take pictures for y'all to see.

So here is my stack of sheets

First let me back up and tell you what problem we are taking on.  I have a garage where my laundry is.  We live in a golf course community and so we are part of an association.  This means rules.  One of the rules are that our trash cans have to be so far away from our front door.  To solve this problem we keep our trash cans in the garage.  PROBLEM being I still have a baby in diapers and we don't use cloth.  Boooo for us not using cloth ( I know shame on me ).  As most of you know, it's getting HOT.  This basically cooks the poop smell and it is overwhelming as soon as you open the door.  GROSS!  Makes me not want to do laundry and I already hated doing that.  SOOOO here is what I decided to do.

Take your stack of dryer sheets and grab them right in the middle.

Now take some string, thread, yarn, ribbon or in my case a cute shoe lace and tie it around the middle.  Like so

Next, take all of the sheets and spread them around.  Try and make it cute and as much like a ball as you can.

Next I opened up my essential oils

And I decided on Cinnamon but the Rosemary would have been a good choice too.

Sprinkle some on and then kinda scrunch it around a little.

Find a spot to hang it up!

Did it work?  Um, YEAH!  My husband went to the garage to throw something away and he said, "Why does it smell like cinnamon?"  I made a face and then showed it to him and told him what I did.  I expected a weird look from him but not so.  It was down with the garage smelling like cinnamon instead of poop!  haha  I am down with it too.  I loved that I killed two birds with one stone!

I am linking up to

 

Baking Soda Face Wash

We are back from Disneyland and every single muscle in my body hurts!  Two days in a row was rough but the third day was torture on my body.  Especially since the kids were so tired too and wanted to be carried ALL the time.  We gave away our stroller when we moved so we didn't have one.  FINALLY half way through day 2 we couldn't take it and went to rent one from the park.  We ended up getting two and Tyler actually sat in one the rest of day two.  Day three we only got one and then they kept fighting over it.  FINALLY we put Tyler in it and Kayla on his lap.  Worked much better and they looked so cute.

Any ways.  BEfore I left I was going to do another post about baking soda and didn't have time.  I was going to tell y'all two things.

ONE- if you are too scared to try the baking soda in your hair as shampoo but like the idea of it stripping all of the waxes and crap shampoo leaves behind on your hair you can just add some baking soda to your shampoo and it helps strip everything out.  I had read this and my sister reminded me of it the other day.  This is what she does now.  She likes it a lot.

TWO-  need a simple and CHEAP way to wash your face?  Wet your face with warm water and then take some baking soda and make a wet paste in your hand. Rub it all over your face.  It gently exfoliates which we all need and cleans at the same time.  Rinse off with warm water and enjoy your soft face.  So easy and so cheap!  Also, don't worry about it getting in your hair!  Last night I washed my face with baking soda before I jumped in the shower and rubbed my hands on my head after I washed my face.  Then I just got in the shower and washed my hair any ways.  If you wash your hair with baking soda any ways, you're just getting a head start!

So I might not be on here much this week.  I have some new projects  ( like the purse I made before I went on vacation ) but as far as new projects go they might have to wait a week or two.  If I don't get caught up on my family blog I might have to scream!  :)

Miracle Stain Remover!

So when I was talking about doing green month I asked if anyone had any suggestions.  I got one and dumb old me didn't even do it.  Sometime I get overwhelmed and sometimes I just don't follow through.  This time it was both.  The suggested given me was an all natural stain remover.  Well, I just happen to try one yesterday and it worked AMAZINGLY well.  Want to know my secret?  Vinegar.  Yup that's it.  We went to church and Kayla was wearing a flower dress with light colors.  The nursery leader was running late and so someone who didn't know the rules was helping out.  They brought RED punch into the nursery.  Of COURSE someone spilled and of COURSE Kayla sat in it!  BOOOOOOOO   I was a little sad but then I figured this was my chance to find a GREEN cleaner.  I looked it up in a book I have that I bought on sale for 5 dollars and Barns and Noble.  It is called GREEN CLEANING ad it is all using white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, tea tree oil or borax.  AWESOME.  I haven't even read half of the book yet and learned so much.  So I whipped out the book and looked up under vinegar something to get our berries or fruit.  I figured that was the closest thing to red punch.  It said to soak the stain the straight vinegar.  So I did.  For about 3 or 4 hours and then rinsed it out in the sink and hung it dry.  There is absolutely NO evidence that there was ever a stain. Freaking awesome. So next time you think something is ruin by red punch or fruit ( I cut fruit a lot! ) then have no fear!  Get out your white vinegar and clean away.  HAPPY CLEANING!

No Driving = MORE Crafting

So this whole not being able to drive thing is doing wonders for my etsy shop! haha I have not had this much time before to devote entirely to it. But when you are stuck at home everyday it frees up a lot of time. I will be SO glad when my license comes in the mail but also a little sad. For now, here is what I did yesterday

I made some sunglasses cases!  WOO HOO  I have been wanting to make a bunch of these for the shop since I opened it but never got around to it.  I have tons more fabric I was planning on making some out of so maybe  I'll get around to doing some more.  Now that summer was fast approaching I figured I'd better get cracking on that!


I also made this

I intended on it also being a sunglasses case but it ended up being much bigger.  You could probably fit a small digital camera in the big pocket!  I love that it has two pockets so you could also put in a cell phone or ipod.

I am not sure if you remember back a month or so ago when I talked about making chap stick.  WELL, I also told y'all that you could get the chap stick tubes for cheap.  That is not entirely true.  They WANT you to think you are getting them for cheap but in fact, you are not.  They only cost 25 cents a piece but then every place I found that had them charged at LEAST 9 dollars shipping, even if you were only buying 4 of them.  LAME!  SOOOOO  it took me a while but I finally got around to ordering me some and for cost purposes I went a head and bought 100 of them.  I do NOT need that many but I figured it was cheaper to buy more and I had to pay for the dumb shipping any ways.  What this means for you is I have some in my etsy shop for sale.  I am doing quantities of 20 for 7 dollars ( that includes shipping! )  That way you do not have to pay an arm and a leg for them.  It's still cheaper then buying 3 dollar chap stick from the store and you get to control what goes in it.    Look how pretty they are!

I can't wait to make me some chap stick now.  I found a couple different recipes I want to try so we'll see which I choose.

Any ways.  I also put in my shop some interfacing.  I bought some thinking it was iron on and it wasn't.  The sew in interfacing just isn't for me.  I used it on a purse and some hair clips and one of sun glasses cases I made but I would rather sell it and buy some iron on kind.  So that is in the shop now too.  I am also hoping to add some of the jewelry my sister made today  It takes so long to list stuff and I already spent well over an hour listing things so we shall see.

On a personal note I have a hard time spending money.  Especially if it is a BIG dollar sign on a single item.  There is a camera bag I want that is 89 dollars.  I know it is very practical for me as a photographer and I know it is a very resonable price for a camera bag.  It is also really freaking cute and that can't hurt either right?!  It also just looks like a normal purse which I also like so that I can go somewhere and bring my camera and not have it obvious that I have a huge camera and a lens in my bag.  :)  So I decided to check my paypal account to see how much money I had in it and I was shocked that I had over 100 dollars!  WOO HOO  I went to the site for the camera bags a little hesitant.  I mean, 100 bucks is a lot for ME to drop on a single item.  On a side note I have also been wanting to save up to buy a silhouette REALLY bad!  My husband offered to buy me one for Christmas and I wanted to say yes SO BAD!  However, we were getting ready to move and dropping tons of cash on all sort of moving expenses. I told him it probably wasn't a good idea to be spending that much money on something that we didn't NEED ( even though it would have been very useful! )   So back to the camera bag.  I decided to go ahead and order it.  My heart was racing as I looked through the web site and got to the purse I wanted in the color I wanted and read OUT OF STOCK!  COME ON!  Seriously.  I finally decide to buy it and the color I want is out of stock.  It says it will be back in stock mid June so I guess I have to wait.  They have lots of colors but really I want to teal one and why should I finally spend the money and not get the color I want.  So waiting it will be.  What a bummer.

I hope your week is going well.  I am loving what the hot sun is doing to my daughters hair.  It is starting to go very red again and I love it!