August 23, 2011

Lemony Fresh Dishwashing Detergent

After making my very own laundry detergent I decided to search for some dishwasher detergent recipes. I found one on the very same site, Craftleftovers and another great recipe at the no longer up-dated Frugally Green. I altered both a little bit, so it's OK to get creative. These are gentle enough ingredients that you can't do anything too wrong.

What you need:

Oh, and some of these, a load full of dirty dishes and a desire to not run to the grocery store to simply buy some Cascade.

Last you'll need one surprise ingredient that shocked me, but was used across the board in every recipe I found. After a bit of research it made sense... and made a wonderful lemon scent!

1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup baking (I cheated and used washing soda because I had it on hand and it worked great!)
1 package of lemon-lime kool-aid
1 glass jar to store it in
White vinegar - but only if you have own of those little liquid shine dispenser thingys, which we don't.

Mix it all togther! Shake it up, get all those clumps out.

Use 2 Tablespoon of mixture per load – 1TBS in the closing detergent container and 1TBS in the open one.

Happy washing!

August 22, 2011

DIY Matchy-Matchy White Board

My DIY streak continues! Our wonderful friends Liz and Neal are getting married this September in their back-yard. Liz LOVES gardening and all things natural and personal, so she seemed like the perfect friend to make a "white board" for. I got this idea from Offbeat Home. It's crazy simple and easy.


Step One: Find a picture frame you love. It must have a glass front/insert. This will be the whole bases of the white board. I found an awesome drift wood frame that even had a little ledge - a perfect spot to store markers!

Step Two: Find an awesome fabric or paper to go behind the glass in the picture frame. I struggled to find something that had just the right personality, but that wasn't too busy to read text over. Remember this will be the background of your white board. You can write over black and white paisley, but you won't be able to read it!

Step Three: Take the backing off the frame just like you would to place a picture inside it. In my case this was simply a piece of cardboard. Cut your fabric to the size and shape of the photo frame backing.

Step Four: Think of the best way to attach your fabric or paper. Because my backing was cardboard I simply pulled the fabric over the edges and stapled it. Originally I planned on glueing, you could do whatever. Put the backing in and you're done!


One of my favorite parts is that this project is easy to hang, as most frames come with hooks.

Liz plans to use hers in her kitchen. It was a fun and easy gift to make!

August 20, 2011

Denim Polish!

Pictures were just released showing the new Chanel nail colors coming in September. Apparently they're denim inspired. Blue isn't normally my favorite polish color, but Chanel can make everything chic.


Fashionista.com

August 17, 2011

Thumb is green, but it's time to wash my hands.

Well, the 100+ degree weather finally killed off our plants. We get direct sun and only have space for potted plants so they just couldn't take it. We got some great "harvests" though! Below is a little photo-montage from my phone of the "garden" over the summer!






The plants look so adorably little in this picture. Before they got heat stroke they were giants!

August 16, 2011

Getting My Earth Goddess On

Make your own laundry detergent! First off, it's way cheaper. The three ingredients plus the bucket only cost me $12 and make me roughly 2 gallons of detergent. One batch can last 6+ months at 1/2 cup per load. This lasts a LONG time. Second, the products used are degradable and mostly all-natural. This recipe is largely earth friendly. Third, its fun to feel all self-sufficient! Fourth, you can add your own scents to customize your detergent! We use tea tree and blue nile oil for our clothing and lavender essence for our sheets and towels.

I'm also branching into making my own dishwasher detergent and cleaners, but I haven't quite perfected that yet. I'll post it when I do.

Sold it to you yet? Let's get started.

Here's what you'll need: Borax, Washing Soda, and the simplest soap you can get your hands on.
More Specifically:
1/2 Cup Borax
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
1 Bar of Dove/Ivory Soap
32 Cups water
At least a 2 gallon bucket (mine was 5 gallon)
Large sauce pan
Big Spoon or wisk

Next, grate the soap.


Then add 6 cups hot water and bring to a simmer on the stove over a medium high heat. Stir occasionally until the soap is completely melted.

Add Borax and soda ash to soap mixture and stir until dissolved and remove the whole thing from heat.

Next pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket, add the soap mixture from the sauce pan, and stir.

Next toss in 22 cups hot water to the mixture. Stir it more, cover it (my bucket didn't have a lid, so I used tin-foil), and let sit for 24 hours.

When adding essential oils wait until it’s cooled down.

Use 1/2 cup per load and wash!! Nervous? Start with a round of towels. The recipes I have found say it's friendly for HE machines, but you may want to do some independent research first.

Where did I learn about this? Why, at Craft Leftovers of course. Check out the post here.

August 5, 2011

Craft Time! Legitimize My Drinking Time!

We used wine bottles as the center pieces at our wedding, and yes, we actually drank all that wine over our year and a half engagement. I made custom labels for each bottle using pictures of Morgan and I through the years.


...for some reason I saved every cork. My mother had made bulletin board and wreaths out of wine corks in the past, so I decided to take a hack at it. We ended up making two, but here is the first!
In process...

Ta-Da!

I used a hot glue gun, but many of them sort of "popped" off. I switched to wood glue half way through and it worked perfectly. All you need is a piece of plywood (or any sturdy backing) and a whole heck of a lot of corks. The rows don't work out perfectly, so the edges are unlevel or rough looking, which I like.

Fun!

August 4, 2011

For Your Birthday I Put Your Face on a Shirt

I threw my husband a surprise party for his birthday! As the cherry on top I made most of the party-goers t-shirts with this:
I (crappily) photoshopped the back ground and if you've met my husband you'll know it was not challenging to subtly get him to pose for this. Then I added his name to the bottom.

The surprise and party went perfectly! This is by far one of my favorite craft projects of all time. I used off-brand Hobby Lobby t-shirt decals for dark shirts. $11.99 for 5.




August 3, 2011

Forget Oprah, These Are Princess' Favorite Things (which is to say you can actually afford them)

So I suck at being a blogger. I would apologize, but seeing as I know all three of my readers personally, I won't. It just seem pretentious. Anyhow, today I randomly feel like blogging, so here goes.

I find things I love, and I mean LOVE, all the time. I am, at best, as impulsive as I am obsessive. This is the number 1 reason I should be hosting that "New Crap This Girl Found" segment on the Today show. So here I am, my first "Elsbeth's Favorite Things" post.

Rubick's cub foot stool! With a lid! I'm in love with this thing. Only problem was the quality. It was $50 and really poorly constructed, so I passed. I think I could pretty easily make my own.


Colored and patterned duct tape! I'm a crafter and "fixer" so duct tape is a regular in my life. I am also a wannabe fashionesta and general color-lover. I love these so much! I own the pink, purple, and leopard print. They were roughly $4.99 a roll.


Re-Used computer parts as coasters! I got these a gift from a professor I do some web work for. She said she picked them up at a little local boutique. Awesome, right?!