Homemade Laundry Soap

A lot of people make their own laundry soap because of cost. I made mine because I ran out of laundry soap and it turned out I had all the ingredients on hand.

A basic web search found some notable recipes worth sharing. The base for my own recipe comes from TipNut's 10 Homemade Laundry Soap recipes, but I added Oxyclean to the mix as this blogger suggested. To boost scent, this blogger uses Purex Scent Crystals, but I didn't have any. I do have essential oils, which this blogger suggested, but I'm not crazy about the idea of using my expensive oils for a scent that will mostly wash down the drain anyways. I went with powder because it is both the quickest and easiest to make. Once you have your ingredients, it took maybe five minutes to mix max. Liquid usually requires some cooking, a large pail or pot, and can get moldy over time. However, in the future, I may try this no-grate Liquid Dawn version.

So far, I like it! I do miss the scent, so I may look into the scent crystals, but the cleaning power is definitely comparable. I think if you had especially dirty laundry, you may want to add more baking soda or Oxygen cleaner which all the Mommy bloggers recommend (I mean, really, what's dirtier than diapers?). A lot people online said it is trial and error until you find something you like. I will keep you updated! :-)

Grate 2 cups worth of soap. I used Ivory soap here, but there's lots of different kinds you can use.

Use a food processor (or a hand blender that has a food processor attachment like mine, yippee!) to grind your soap shavings down. You want the particles pretty small to dissolve easily in water.

Optional: I decided to add a little bit of Octagon soap, which is an old school laundry booster. This is not necessary, and if I hadn't included it, the powder would have been completely white.

The Octagon soap was more moist than the Ivory soap and didn't grind down to a powder exactly.

Combine with 2 cups of Washing Soda. Forgot to take a picture of the box, but this is another laundry cleaner you can find in the cleaning aisle.

More optional: Next, I added a 1/2 cup of baking soda, and 1/2 cup of Oxygen cleaner. This was to boost cleaning power! I used the generic Dollar Store knock-off Oxyclean which hopefully I won't regret later ;-)

Lastly, add 2 cups of Borax cleaner. As you can see, Soap + Washing Soda + Borax are the base for my recipe here.

Mix again...and tada! Your own homemade laundry soap! :-) I've been using 1/4-1/2 cup per load. I dissolve the soap in the water basin first before adding clothes.

 

A Little Thrifting

It's been a busy few days lately with little time for crafting. However, since we last spoke, I have now seen the band Foreigner (and can now proudly say I've heard "Cold As Ice" in person!), and today I enjoyed a lovely breakfast at The Original Pancake House with a former student who is sadly moving away to Texas. Despite all the hubbub, I was still able to squeeze in a little thrifting, and I took a few pictures to share.

I bought this little canister filled with old pins for 50 cents. I love the design and the striking colors!

My guess is this once held typewriter ribbon from the writing on the back side

I picked up this little gem from a church thrift store for 50 cents as well. A little web sleuthing makes me think this book is from the early 1900s; apparently it was printed in Bavaria. It is in rough shape overall, with the binding almost completely ripped away from the front cover. But I just loved the sassy title and the bold graphic of the maiden! There's also one vividly colored illustration opposite the title page.

I was also excited to find this half slip pattern from the company Sew Lovely. I only have a handful of patterns from this company, and this one was new for me.

This small pamphlet was marked 99 cents, and was hiding behind the magazines at the Salvation Army. I was most interested in the blue cottage basket, as seen in the upper left hand corner, which I thought could be inspiration for my own Christmas village.

The last goodie I wanted to show you today was this mail order kitty cat pattern from Women's Day Magazine, 1972. I believe they charged me 50 cents. This pattern has not one, not two, but eight different kitty patterns! Can you imagine my excitement?! :-)

DIY Padded Seat belt Guard

Do you ever feel like your car seat belt is choking you? A padded guard can fix that! One look at my old seat belt guards was enough reason to make a new pair. The driver's side in particular looked manhandled. I'm a little ashamed to share this grungy picture:

Here's the new pair. I used a designer print, intentionally splitting the doily pattern in half. You only need one guard per seatbelt; I didn't bother making any for the backseat. The guard is made with two rectangles of fabric that have been interfaced--for the outside, I used a stiff fusible ironed to the gray Amy Butler print, and for the inside (which is not seen), I used fusible fleece on ivory muslin. Velcro runs alongside the edges to wrap the guard around the seat belt. It sounds a lot more confusing than it is!

Just in case you're still confused by my description, here's an action shot:

 

Sparkly Things

Before I began to sew in earnest five years ago, beading was my main craft. Making jewelry is the craft I have done the longest, and I can remember making beaded creations for myself and my family at seven or eight years of age. Occasionally, my grams will wear one of my original pieces, made of cheap plastic beads and crimped wire, and I cringe at my creation. I've improved a lot in all these years of jewelry making! 

By the way, taking pictures of jewelry is hard, so I kept only to a few pics. Trust me, I have a lot more handmade jewelry creations to show you! I will definitely have to work on this skill for future blog posts. For the time being, I stuck to a few pieces and did the best I could, so you at least get an idea. :-)

The two hanging earrings below are the same style: they use a sterling silver link as the main component, with sterling chain and crystals as accents. Both are held together by wire-wrapped figure 8s in sterling silver. The style on the right uses hematite and sterling diamond-shaped drops recycled from an old pair of ugly earrings.

 This pair is similar, although a much simpler style. Again, I used a link as the main component: blue-gray enamel flowers with rhinestone center I purchased on my last trip to Queen Street West in Toronto. The drop is faceted crystal. For the earring hooks, I used bubble Bali beads, also recycled from another pair of (ugly) earrings.

This last pair I wanted to show you today were made using old sterling silver pieces I purchased on Ebay. I  replaced the earring hooks, and then added a round crystal drop accent.    

Hope is the thing with feathers

Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers" is the first poem I ever remember reading. All these years later, she still remains to be my favorite poet. I love this poem so much, I think I have most of it memorized. Because Dickinson never titled her work, this poem is sometimes known as poem 254.

Hope is the thing with feathers  
That perches in the soul,  
And sings the tune without the words,  
And never stops at all,  
   
And sweetest in the gale is heard;          
And sore must be the storm  
That could abash the little bird  
That kept so many warm.  
   
I've heard it in the chillest land,  
And on the strangest sea;         
Yet, never, in extremity,  
It asked a crumb of me.

DIY Scarf Camera Strap

In effort to take more pictures, I've been trying to carry around my camera. I've been using the original strap that came with it which I never liked because the words "Nikon" were printed all over it--I felt like a walking advertisement! A web search yielded some awesome results, like my original inspiration, this scarf-turned-camera-strap, or this one that my Mom sent me that uses fabric strips and dog collars.

The most difficult part of this project was how the heck was I going to attach my strap to my camera? I loved the look of the first tutorial, but there was no way I could use metal D-rings because Nikon uses a thin buckled strap made of webbing to connect to the camera. The 2nd link seems more on mark, but I didn't see the tutorial until after I had already made mine. Using dog collars to connect the strap to the camera is clever!

In the end, I created a scarf from fabric I loved, gathering both scarf ends into a leather tube I made from leftover scraps. I cut thin straps from leather the same width as the original webbing, flattened my leather tube, then tapered the tube end to fit my leather straps. To secure, I sewed around the perimeter of the leather tube and in a "X" shape to hold it all tight. I did recycle the plastic buckle from my original strap and used leather because I didn't have webbing the right width on hand, but if I was to do this again, I would follow the tutorial above with the dog collar.

Here's a picture of the fabric I used. It's this lightweight silky floral print on a black background that I think is from the 70s? I don't know, but I LOVE IT! :-) I picked it up for a few dollars at Amvet's thrift store:

 Here's a picture of the strap in action. The length is long enough to wear it around my neck, or sling the camera across my body. It's not perfect, but I really like it! :-) And sorry for the blurry morning mirror picture!!

   

Adventures in the 716: A Trip to Old Fort Niagara

Yesterday I took a trip to Old Fort Niagara. Despite living here for six years now, this was my very first visit. It was a warm and sunny day in the 716, with a nice breeze and temperatures in the 80s, so it was a perfect day to get my history on! :-)

Located in Youngstown, NY, Old Fort Niagara has protected the entryway to the Niagara River since 1726. During the colonial wars, a fort at the at the mouth of the Niagara River was important because it controlled access to the Great Lakes and to the rest of the US continent. And who wouldn't want a piece of that action? Initially used by Native Americans for hunting and fishing, the fort has been occupied by the French, the British, and the Americans.

Of course, this all basically became a non-issue when the Erie Canal was finished in 1826, but during its heyday, the fort played a critical role in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. With a history spanning over 300 years, the US government ceased military operations at the fort in 1963. It is now maintained by the US Coast Guard and is open 9AM-5PM year-round.

Here's a shot of the fort's perimeter:

Several of the structures at the fort's entry still bear original plaques with the coat of arms of the country responsible for building that particular structure. The first plaque represents the arms of France, while the one below it shows Great Britain :

Thick slabs of wood held together by hammered iron were the fort's front doors:

I was fortunate enough to catch a live musket shooting by a volunteer dressed in costume. Apparently muskets were preferred to rifles by the US militia because it required less gear to carry and less skill to use. The accuracy of this firearm was terrible--you were only expected to hit 1 out of 10 of your targets!

 

The oldest structure at the fort is the castle. It is the oldest building in North America's Great Lakes Region. I'm embarrassed to admit I forgot to take an outside picture--I'm sorry! I did take some pictures inside, so here's a view of Lake Ontario from the 2nd story of the castle's windows, and a shot of me wandering the castle's halls:

A close-up of a lock on a chest in one of the castle's hallways:

Listening intently as you can see. That guy to the left had the best room in the castle!

 The attic of the castle was built with dormers to provide defense positions for musket and light cannons. This keyhole was where you looked out to shoot your enemy:

 

Also in the attic is a plaque displayed for Fanny Doyle, considered the "heroine of the War of 1812," for her courageous deeds during the war. The plaque depicts her loading cannon fire:

After the castle, I walked the path along the lake and rested at The Rush-Bagot Memorial. This memorial represents negotiations between the US and Canada for limited naval forces on the Great Lakes. The water really was a beautiful shade of blue. You can see how windy it was by my wild hair!

Many of the little structures surrounding the castle contained old cannons, now green from Western NY weather. Actually, there was a lot of cannons all over the place, but then this was a fort, after all!

Some of the structures had really large cannons in them too. Oh hey, look, there's the castle in the background!

Next to the castle, my favorite structure was the Powder Magazine, built by the French in 1757. It was a domed building with walls over 4 feet thick! Barrels of ammunition lined the walls:

There also is a museum on the premise which displays authentic items excavated at the fort. Most things were displayed in glass, so it was tough to take any pictures. The most impressive item displayed was this ginormous flag that used to fly over the fort. When you exited the museum, this larger than life-size painting of a Native American stares at you. Of course I had to get our picture! ;-)

5 Things: About Me

"5 things" is a new feature to the blog--and hopefully to be a regular one--where I will showcase five things I'm doing, watching, reading, perusing on the web, feeling or thinking about something, etc. The motivation for this idea is to encourage regular postings (which is sometimes hard to do!). I even made a nifty picture in Photoshop to accompany a "5 things" post which you can see above. (I know, thankfully I'm a teacher and not a graphic designer!). I will begin this first 5 things as an about me, simple enough, and lucky for you, I'll even include some dorky pictures too! ;-)

5 Things: About Me

1. I'm the baby in my family and the only girl.  My oldest brother is the art director for a large advertising firm, while my other brother runs IT operations for an international travel company. They both make really good money, and they live in nice places in major cities. I, on the other hand, became a teacher and live in Buffalo, NY. Hmm, go figure! ;-) Here's me as a babe with my two older brothers: 

I was obviously super excited about receiving this Barbie. I vividly remember that giraffe shirt which featured a real hanging whistle! Check out my brother's death glare to me on the right: "I will burn your Barbie with my eyes!"

2. I like girly things, like dressing up, wearing make-up and jewelry, and occasionally rocking a plastic tiara on my birthday or a crown of flowers for Dyngus Day. Unbelievably, I can also swear like a sailor, kill spiders without shrieking, load a gun and actually hit my target, and change the tires and oil in my car. Also, as of this past year, I have become a card-bearing member of NRA. (Thanks, dad!)

 

That's the mayor of Buffalo, by the way! :-) Handmade floral crown, of course! And if you're wondering what the heck is Dyngus Day, read more here

3. In high school, I was voted "Most Unique" in my yearbook. My style was a little eclectic--I was pasty white with wild colored hair streaks and bell bottom pants during the time of tans and midriffs! Here's a picture from high school with my blonde streaks and black Chucks:  

4.   I've come to the conclusion that if I don't make something crafty, I may go mad! I love creating things. My favorite crafts include sewing, beading, and hand embroidery, but I'll try any craft once. My crafty influences include my mom, who taught me hand sewing and gave me my first sewing machine, and my two grandmothers. This picture is from Queen Street West in Toronto, one of my favorite places to be.

5. The only thing that may rival my love for crafting is my love for teaching. I currently teach English full-time at a community college in Buffalo. It's not an easy job, but it is incredibly rewarding. I've been teaching at the college-level for seven years now, and love it just as much as when I started! Here's me on a day off enjoying the sights at Niagara Falls State Park:

Well, there you go--now you know 5 more things about me. Hopefully it wasn't that bad after all! ;-)