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.

 

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.    

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!!

   

DIY Hair Accessory Storage Board

Where do I store all these hair pins I make, you wonder? On a homemade padded display board:

Using my staple gun, I covered a blank artist canvas with batting and vintage fabric. I cut six grosgrain ribbon strips in a coordinating color, stapling each ribbon end to the back of the canvas. And there you have it: visible storage for all your hair accessories!

A Trio of Glittery Stars

Hopefully you're not sick of hair clips yet...

 49 cent wooden stars from the Salvation Army + Mod Podge + Martha Stewart brand glitter = a trio of glittery star hair pins!

 

"Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."  -Sarah Williams, "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil"

Tiny Little Mermaid Terrarium

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." -William Shakespeare, A Midsummer's Night Dream

I love all things miniature, and like a typical girl, I ooh and ahh over all tiny things. I barely reach 5'4", so perhaps it is because I am so little that I love little things. Of course, I squealed in delight when I found this little miniature mermaid at the thrift store last week--I knew immediately she was meant for big things! Marked made in Japan, she seemed to be painted ceramic. She came with a real tiny starfish, two genuine shells, a piece of light green molded plastic coral, and plastic seaweed imbedded in plaster rock. I'm guessing she's from the 60's. She and all her accessories were being sold in a Ziplock baggie for a whopping $1.

It was serendipity a few days later, when at the very same thrift store, I found a tall glass container with a matching light green glass lid for $2. Nice lidded glass jars are hard to find thrifting because the glass is always chipped, or someone loses the lid. The jar was marked made in France, and being the Frenchwomen I am, of course I had to purchase it. I knew immediately that my mermaid had found her glass palace!

The last addition was a layer of glass, recycled from a patio table that my umbrella broke a few weeks ago. Yes, you read that right: in a gust of wind, my outdoor umbrella came crashing down on my outside glass table, shattering it into millions of little glass pieces. Well, what was I to do? I couldn't let them go to waste! ;-)

(By the way, if you were wondering why this isn't a real plant terrarium, I was concerned that the moisture from the plants would destroy the mermaid's painted finish. I do have plans for a real plant terrarium for my office soon, so stay tuned!) :-)

Studded Leather Cuff

So, in case you were wondering, what do you do with bags and bags of vintage studs you pick up at an estate sale? You make a leather studded cuff bracelet, of course! ;-)

DIY Ipad 2 Case Book Hack

I'm quite pleased with how this project turned out! I realize I'm not reinventing the wheel here with hacking into a book, but this is one craft that came out exactly as planned in my head--woohoo! As anyone who crafts knows, that is rarely ever the case! ;-)

I purchased this book at the church thrift store for $3.00. (The only reason I remember is because I just removed the price sticker).  I was motivated by the endearing title and text, and the gorgeous aqua and foil rainbow hard cover!

 It also turned out that the book was the same exact size of my Ipad. Hmmm, would it work, I wondered?

Why yes, yes, it did! :)

While this isn't a full tutorial, here are some tips:
1. Find a book the same size as your iPad.
2. Cut the pages out of the book using an Exacto knife. In the picture above, you can see I was able to cut the pages out pretty cleanly by carefully cutting along the inside of the spine.
3. I lined the inside back and front cover with polka dot scrapbook paper glued down. This is optionally, but it covered where I cut the book out at the spine.
4. Create a harness to hold your iPad. I created a harness by covering foam board with scrapbook paper. The key was to creating a thickness that would not show the staples on the front side. I then stapled thin elastic in the corners, doing opposite corners and trying my iPad before continuing.
5. Protect your screen. I also glued a thin sheet of foam to the inside cover to protect the glass when shut. The foam I used is the kind often sold at the dollar store. I also added colored elastic underneath the foam to hold the book shut (seen in the photo above, and the last picture on the page), although it is not necessary.

Woohoo! Crafting success! :-D

DIY Turbie Twist

As someone with long hair, I'm a fan of the Turbie Twist. Turns out, they are not that hard to replicate. All you need is your sewing machine, an old towel, and elastic. I used coordinating elastic to match my towel, but a hair elastic would work in a pinch. Turn your old turbie inside out and use it as a pattern for a new twist. If you use a vintage bath towel as I did, you can line up your edges with the towel edges, so there's no hemming required either. Yay! I serged the inside edges for a clean finish, but a normal zigzag stitch works too.  An easy ten minute project to looking very vintage glamorous post-bath! ;-)

 

Vintage Crystals

I bought these crystals at an estate sale for a few dollars. At this same sale, I purchased boxes and boxes of studs from the 70s for leather belts. I didn't know what to do with the studs or these crystals, but I loved them!

 But then I came across some vintage jewelry pieces which had sadly lost their crystals. Junk jewelry to some, but with a little superglue, we were back in business! :-)

 These "Glamour Bobs" were only 99 cents at the Salvation Army, still attached to their original card! 

Another Vintage DIY Hair Clip

I think I bought this vintage 60's jewelry component in a jar of junk jewelry at a garage sale. I was excited to find that it had all the original rhinestones! I used Gorilla brand superglue to adhere the component to a metal hair clip.  I cleaned the plastic flowers with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol first.

 Almost any vintage component with a flat back can be glued to a hair clip. The style pin you use and the type of glue depends on the size and weight of the component. While I would have loved this on a bobby pin, there's no way it could support the component's large size and weight.

 

In action at a picnic at Niagara Falls State Park

Quick Sticker Fix

This sun glass clip (you put it on your car visor to hold your sunglasses) came in a baggie of miscellanea from Value Village in Niagara Falls, Canada. I'm not really a fan of this movie, but I do love kitty cat stickers! :-)

Vintage Earrings Turned DIY Hair Bobbies

This row of sparkly screw back earrings at the thrift store for $2.99 caught my eye.
I immediately envisioned fancy hair pins! I cut the screw backs off using wire cutting pliers. I used bobby pin blanks from Hobby Lobby and E-6000 glue. I impatiently waited for them to dry overnight. And come morning? Success!

 The black flowers are my favorite! I thought the blue floral cabochon made a nice ring too. I bought this ring blank on my trip to Queen Street West in Toronto in January, but I think Hobby Lobby carries them too.

DIY Flavored Vodkas

I've had a great deal of fun making flavored vodkas. It all began with the success of my bubble gum infused vodka last year. I think the hardest part was making the label. I love that it turned a bright pink color!

Creating flavored vodka couldn't be simpler: put fruit/vegetable/candy/herb in vodka and let sit. Every once in awhile, shake it like a Polaroid picture! You can keep it in the refrigerator, but it's not necessary. Don't let it sit in direct sunlight, or you may lose any pretty color (trust me on this one!)

Obviously the longer it sits, the stronger the flavor infusion. I've used mason jars in the past, but for this batch of homegrown strawberries, I used recycled bottles. Because alcohol is a sanitizer, you do not have to sanitize the containers like you would for canning. 

After a few days (up to a few weeks), strain and re-bottle for gift giving. 24 hours in and the strawberry concoction is already a lovely shade of pale red. (Sorry for the sideways picture!). I can't wait to see it in a week!