Nifty Thrifty Girl

With the suffering economy I, for one, knew I could never afford the fabulous Ballard Design curtains that I had been yearning for…

drapery panels from Ballard Design

Instead of b00-hooing about the fact that I could never afford these curtains, I decided to try my hand at hand-stamping my own curtains. I had two pairs of white sheer panels that I had purchased at our local dollar store (total for two pairs: $20). I would have preferred a heavier fabric but since I already had these curtains I decided to use them.  I had some black fabric paint on hand, so all I needed to do was design a stamp.

I first looked at several medallion patterns online and made a few sketches. Since the homemade stamp was going to require a lot of fine cut work I decided to use the simplest design.

I traced my design onto some craft foam, cut it out using an X-acto knife…

…glued the cut out design to a wood block…and presto! A homemade stamp was born.

I spread one curtain over my dining room table and went to work stamping. I quickly learned that the panels shifted easily, causing the paint to smear, so I placed a white sheet of paper under each area that was to be stamped and heat-set the design with a blower dryer before moving on to another area.

In about two hours (phew!) I had new curtains that cost a fraction of what I would have spent on designer panels!

In the future I will be looking for heavier weight panels (probably a cotton/twill blend) as these sheers are great for summer, but I would prefer something sturdier for the winter months.

For as long as I can remember holiday time meant homemade Christmas decorations. From salt dough ornaments to macaroni snowflakes to hand-painted wooden ornaments…my parents’ Christmas tree has always been adorned with the ornaments me and my siblings made. I still remember the smell of salt clay and the taste- because come on, what kid can resist taking a bite of clay?

Although the days of sticky dough and messy glue are gone (well, maybe a bit of messy glue is still necessary!), I still enjoy making my own Christmas ornaments and decorations.

I usually try to use whatever I have on hand – pipe cleaners, felt, glue, spray paint, glitter, or paper. From paper snowflakes to sewn felt ornaments – I think homemade is the best!

This year I had a bunch of left over craft felt so I got busy cutting, sewing and stuffing and came up with these…

…super cute, and super easy. All you need is felt, rick-rack, ribbon, a sewing machine and a bit of stuffing to give the ornament dimension.

Another favorite, and super simple ornament – pipe cleaner snowflakes:

You simply cut lengths of pipe cleaner (use old scissors or wire cutters) and twist them together to form snowflakes.

This year I snagged a ton of glass ornaments on clearance and decided to decorate them with glue and glitter:

These are a bit messy and time consuming but they are really cute. Since I had the glitter out and had a bunch of dried beechnuts, I decided to glitter them as well…

I tied ribbon to them and hung them on my branch display. I love these, and so does the cat! We find them on the floor almost every morning. I knew I wanted to decorate with white branches this Christmas so in the fall I collected and spray- painted branches white and then used them for display…

And also made them into a wreath that I then wrapped with a garland I purchased at Ikea.

So…go root through your drawers and see what great things you can find to make your own homemade ornaments. Have a safe and happy holiday!

I’ve had several requests for my homemade laundry detergent recipe so I thought I’d share it with you. But first, a little intro…

My daughter has had contact dermatitis since she was a baby and her doctor suggested that it may be from the detergent I was using. So, I switched from my normal laundry soap and tried dye free, fragrance free, organic, natural, blah, blah, blah detergents with no luck. She continually broke out in an annoying rash. I had just about given up when I read about homemade laundry detergent. It seemed easy enough, so after perusing many sites and collecting as much info as I could, I headed out on the homemade laundry detergent journey.

Please note that my detergent recipe is one that works for me – and for my daughter. Since using the homemade detergent  (for about a year, now) she hasn’t had one single outbreak of dermatitis. If you want your clothes super-fragrant and fluffy, this isn’t the detergent for you. If you expect lots and lots of suds when washing…you won’t get that with this detergent. What you will get is super clean clothes at a fraction of the cost of regular detergents!

I’ve made both the powdered and liquid types of detergents – they both have their pros and cons which I will share with you.

Powdered Laundry Detergent Recipe

• 1 bar Fels Naptha (Kirk’s Castile soap, Zoat or any hard milled/castile soap)
• 1 box Borax
• 1 box Washing soda

All ingredients can be found in the laundry aisle at your local supermarket. Use one entire bar of Fels Naptha grated (you can use a metal cheese grater or a food processor). Make sure the soap is finely grated. Add one cup of Borax and one cup of Washing Soda. Mix well, store in airtight container. When making the detergent I usually double or triple the recipe so I have a large quantity on hand. If you’d prefer more of a fragrance you can add a few drops of any essential oil. I use lemongrass or spearmint in mine. Use approximately 3TBS per large load of laundry. It is suggested that with every other load you add white vinegar to your rinse water to avoid getting soap build-up in your washer. I just add the vinegar to the fabric softener cup. Als0, if you feel your clothes aren’t bright enough you can add OxyClean to the dry detergent as a laundry booster.

Homemade Powdered Detergent

PROS

• Easily made and stored
• Long lasting

CONS

• Must dissolve detergent in washer before adding clothing – hot water works best
• Must add vinegar in rinse water, every other load, to avoid soap build-up in washer
• Cannot be used in front-loaders

Liquid Laundray Detergent Recipe

• Fels Naptha 0r Kirk’s Castile soap
• Borax
• Washing Soda
• Liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s)
• Plastic container (1 gallon or larger – I use a one gallon vinegar container for easy pouring)

Grate 1/2 bar of soap, finely. Bring one quart of water to boil. Lower heat to medium and add grated soap. Stir and let soap dissolve. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup Borax, 1/2 cup Washing Soda, 1/2 cup liquid castile soap to melted soap mixture, stir well. Pour into plastic container. Add one gallon of very hot water. Shake or stir well. The mixture will be very goopy/chunky. Shake well before using. Use 1/4 cup per large load.

I use Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castile Soap which gives it a pleasant, not to over-powering scent. Dr. Bronner’s also comes in Almond and Peppermint which I will be trying soon. Essential oil can also be added for fragrance.

Homemade Liquid Detergent

PROS

• Dissolves easily in water
• Has more fragrance than powdered detergent

CONS

• Messy and time consuming to make
• Must have large storage container
• Doesn’t last as long as powered recipe
• Cannot be used in front loaders

Close-up of the chunky/goo

The ingredients cost approximately $8 – and that $8 provides me with 4 large batches (of the powdered version) which lasts almost a year!

Here is a great site that offers plenty of  recipes and FAQ’s about homemade laundry detergent:

TIPNUT

Good luck with your homemade laundry detergent venture. Please feel free to share your thoughts/recipes/findings with me. Happy washing!

I just added some new black & white photos to my etsy shop…

Please stop by and check them out!

I had a silly little accident the other day. I slipped on a piece of paper on my dining room floor. Yes, I’m a klutz but it didn’t help that I had my fuzzy, wuzzy, comfy socks on. My toes were freeeeezing so I had to pull out the socks-o-death.  You see, I’ve had more than one incident whilst wearing them.  Anyway, as I did a less-than-graceful split across the dining room, I twisted in such a manner that I pulled a muscle in my back. Grrrr.

Needless to say, I’ve been on the couch ALL weekend. I couldn’t just lie here so I asked my daughter to grab all of my needles, crochet hooks and yarn. And a couple hours later….ta-da!!!:

cozy neck warmer

...another neck warmer with vintage button...

floral lariat/necklace...

...can be worn several different ways

So, even though the laundry is not done, the house is not vacuumed, all is not lost because I got several little winter projects underway. Check out my etsy store soon as I will be listing some of these goodies!