Eco Friendly Laundry Detergent

I've been using some eco friendly laundry detergent that I purchased off Etsy. I've loved it. I was fast approaching the bottom of my detergent bag when I decided to make my own. I hopped on the good ol internet and found lots of free recipes. I found one that used the same ingredients as the one that I was currently using. I had to go to 3 different grocery stores to find everything that I needed. Luckily the last grocery store carries everything that I need, so next time I'll just go there. I used recipe #9 here: http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/
I cut the recipe in half because I was afraid that it wouldn't all fit into my container (the container in the pic is a container for animal crackers.)

I've been using these types of laundry detergents for three reasons... number one: it's more cost effected (see below for total rundown of savings). Number two: it's better for the environment. And, number three: my hubby has sensitive skin and since using the natural stuff, he hasn't had any problems. (note that I've also switched to homemade bar soaps as well)

For anyone who is curious, here is a breakdown of what I bought, how much it cost, and how much it's saving me per load.

What I bought:

2 Boxes Of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda: $2.89 ea. (4 lb. Boxes)

5 Bars Fels Naptha Soap: 2@ $1.25 ea.(freddies) 3@ $1.49 (Albertsons) (yeilds 1cup grated soap ea.)

1 4.7 lb. Box of Borax: $3.79

1 4 lb. Box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda: $3.09

Total: $19.66

What I used:

4 cups Washing Soda (half box): $1.45

4 cups Fels Naptha (4 bars): $5.75

4 cups Baking Soda (half box): $1.54

6 cups Borax (half box): $1.90

Total Used: $10.64

Mine made approx. 18 cups of detergent. I will need to use 1/8^th cup detergent per load. 144 loads total in my bucket = $0.07 per load.

Tide = Around $20.00 for the big box with 90 loads = $0.22 per load

Vaulted Ceilings & Color Mishaps

Alrighty... now onto the living/dining space. The hallway has been finished. We actually had it fully painted before we realized that the color we had chosen for the entire living space was way to light. It looked like pistachios. Well....I think it looked more like butter with a pinch of green, but my hubby and mom said pistachios. Anyways, we picked a new color called “Shaded Path” It was a color by a new earth friendly line of paint called “The Freshaire Choice”. I would have really liked to try the new paint, but we have a ton of wall to cover and I didn't want to risk having to do more than two coats. And, I know that Behr covers great, so I had them colormatch it. So, we repainted the hallway and yesterday my mom and I finished the living room. We had run out of paint, so I went back to the store to get more. Please note, that we only had touch up in the living room to do at this point. (and the stairwell and upper part of the kitchen left) I bought the paint and my mom started touching up. 4 hours later were looking at it, and looking at it, and looking at it.... The color was wrong!! It was a full shade lighter. So, back to the store I went. Really frustrated and trying very hard not to cry. They were incredibly nice at the store and refunded me my money on the bad gallon and remixed me a new one. It looked great. They even put a huge slab of it on the original can to make sure it was right. I came home and we tested it in two areas. I went to bed fretting, but hope full. This morning, it looks better than the other color, but the sheen is off or something. I mean, it's just not right!!! I'm going back to the store today. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to repaint the “nook” in the dinning area (that's where we did most of our touch up work). But, we'll have have to do something about the rest of the house left to paint. I'm irritated in general about all this. Painting those high walls was not fun, and I'm not looking forward to the next few days.

Forgot to mention the wallpaper border... The front room and hallway was painted only halfway up the vaulted walls. And, they had put up a wallpaper border. The border had 3-4 layers of paint on it and it was a pain to remove. You can see it in some of the pics.

On a more happy note: The living room and hallway look stunning. We have soo much organizing, decorating, and cleaning left to do. But, I'm starting to see the light. By the time were finished the house is going to look completely different.

Paint Chips & Hardware & Frustrations, Oh My!!

We finally began the remodel on the house last week. I've been putting it off for almost 6 months now. Mostly because we have very tall vaulted ceilings in the front room and the back art space has TONS of stuff everywhere. I've decided to break up this post into two posts. One about the back of the house (aka: the art space) and one about the front of the house and hallway (aka: the living/dining space)

So, We started in the art space. I took everything down and moved things into the kitchen space. I then painted that ugly yellow ceiling in the art space and the burgundy ceiling in the hallway white!!! Nothing to date has been as satisfying as painting those ceilings. It instantly brightened up the space. I'm a firm believer in the fact that most ceilings should be white. (there are a few exceptions on that) Then came the tough decision about the wall color. We had decided on the color number 3 in the “paint by numbers wall picture”. But, after painting the ceiling the color turned out to be to gray, so we needed to pick something else. I was going for a nice gray blue. Not to gray and not to bright blue, but a happy blue color. It took us 7 tries (the seventh color was on another wall, trust me when I say it was electric blue). Eventually we decided on a color called Newport Blue. (number 6 on the wall) It's stunning against the newly painted white trim. Oh yeah... the trim.

First I just want to say that the previous owners were TERRIBLE painters. They didn't care if paint got sloshed onto the trim, floors, or ceilings. Nor did they painting over painters tape and then leaving the tape there. And, in some places the trim was left in it's original primed state where you could see the brush strokes by the factory. Ok... now I'm getting all worked up... calming down. Ok, so we painted all the trim our “Cottage White” color. Much better!

The room is finished being painted, but I still have a huge amount of organizing and decorating to do. My goal is to “let go” of at least 1/8^th of the stuff in this room. I'm very tired of the clutter. My mom and I are planning on doing something to the windows. And, I have some pages from a Victorian clothing catalog that we are going to frame and hang. I'm already loving this space and I can't wait to fully finish it. (before pics on bottom, after pics on top)

Weekend Projects

So, a few weeks back I mentioned that the weekends would be my “craft anything I WANT days”. This weekend I was able to do just that! Actually....I started my own crafts on Friday. That may have been cheating just a bit, but I really wanted to make my pattern weights.

So on Friday I made my pattern weights. I decided to use some fabric samples that I had ordered from a great fabric shop in the UK. The samples were nice and big. Around 6/8” each. But... some of them had “sample” stamped on them. Which eliminated the idea of piecing them together and making a doll quilt. I did think however that they would be great as my pattern weights. I had three samples of oil cloth and 5 samples of upholstery weight fabrics. I did a lightweight interfacing on the upholstery ones just to make sure they would stand up the the weight of the BB's. I pinked all the edges and just sewed em up on three sides. I then poured in some BB's and stitched up the tops. The edges are pinked, so I didn't have to turn them or anything. I made three sizes. The largest ones and three of the med. ones still need BB's. (I ran out) But, the others have already seen use. I LOVE them.

On Friday night and Saturday afternoon I sewed up some summer dresses for the girls. Ironic too, because it decided to snow on us Friday late afternoon. (and to think that last week it was over 80) I followed a tutorial on Crafster to turn a men's button down work shirt into a sun dress. It was very easy to follow. I altered mine a bit. I added detailing around the empire waist, and I put elastic in the back so the girls could wear them longer. I also added a tie in the back. They are really cute. I'll be making a few more of these. I'll try and get the girls to model for me sometime.

Saturday evening, I finally cut out the apron that I've been wanting to make. It'll be for me to use while I'm sewing and crafting. I'm using and adorable print that has a “pattern piece” background with sewing forms dressed in dresses. I'm making the apron reversible, so the back is an orange and bright pink striped. Both sides will have pockets and the front will have a decorative black border around most of it.

Well, I'm off to go sew up my apron. Finished pics will come tomorrow.

Washed And Cleaned... Well... Almost

So last night I gave my new doll a good scrubbin. The baking soda in the water did a world of good to her smell. I can't smell smoke on her anymore. The bath also cleaned up all the dirt and grim. It did take most of the blushing away as well. Which led to yet another problem. I see now why she was blushed all over to begin with. It looks as though someone began to sand her seam lines only to find that she had yellowed. (meaning that the sanded areas are a beautiful pinky white and the non-sanded areas are yellower) But, they didn't stop at the one place. They "tested" other parts of her as well. So, she is now officially labeled my "Project Girl". This weekend my hubby and I are going to sand her all over and remove all yellowing and such. She is going to be so pretty when we are done. Though... her fingers have some weird coloring between them that I couldn't get off. I'm sure hoping that sanding will take care of that. If not, I can always get replacement hands.. but the resin match won't be perfect because she is so old.

I captured some pics of her this morning in the morning sun. She's so pretty. I had fun dressing her last night. She seamed so at home in these undies and bomber jacket. She reminds me of something out of the 1950's. I have changed her eyes from the dark blue she came with the these pale blue ones. I love them on her. And, I have decided to call her Jane. This weekend I will be sewing up some jeans, tops, and hopefully a trench coat for her. We'll see how productive I really am... I still have some commissions to work on. Anyways.... here she is.

New Dollie In The House!!

Today my Narae (60cm) arrived. I got her second hand. Actually I'm her third owner. I was told before I bought her that she had all over yellowing. (common with resin dolls) I also knew from the pics that she was in need of a bath. From the pics it looked like she had been blushed all over. I asked the owner about the blushing and she said that to her knowledge, the doll had never been blushed and that she just had her finger and toe nails painted. To me so looked blushed.... either that or she was really dirty. But, she was an amazing deal, so I went for it and bought her.

After opeing the box, the first thing I noticed was a smoky smell. Yuck!! I'm slightly allergic to cigarette smoke... well, it makes my eyes water and scratch and my nose drip like crazy. Once she was un-wrapped I noticed that she was indeed fully blushed. After the thrill of opening up a new doll, I began a really good inspection of the doll. Here is my rundown of my new girl.
Good Things:

- She has an amazing face-up by an amazing artist. Staci Carpenter. The face has less yellowing than the rest of her body. Which is a great thing.

- She poses great. She stood like a rock right out of the box.

- She wears clothes great. So far, everything that I have put on her has hung beautifully. She will make a great model for me.

- Her body sculpt is gorgeous!! Gotta love the Narindoll company for their ability to sculpt such life like bodies. Her curves are flowey and nothing about her has the look of an animated pin up girl.

- Her ears are pierced.... Not mentioned by the former owner. I don't mind the earing holes. In fact the will be great to have. I just wish I had been told about it.
Not Great Things:

- The smell..... I'm planning on throwing the pillows that came with her in one of those dry cleaning bags to rid them of the smoky smell. And, I will be tossing all the bubble wrap and other loose packaging in the garbage. I'm not sure what to do about the box. Maybe I should leave it in the garage to air out for a while.

- The dirtiness of her body. She is a mess. Sooo much crud between fingers, toes, and joints. And, I think that some of her "Blushing" is just overall dirt. And, if she was in a smoking enviroment, then some of the yellowing and dirt could be just from that.

- The previous owner. I'm not mad at her by any means. The doll was a great deal and she arrived very quickly. But, when asked about the smoky smell she said that she didn't smoke. Not to mention the fact that she didn't mention the earing holes, or the blushing. Which the doll is clearly blushed. I'm not sure how hard core she is about collecting BJD's. Someone who has been around for a while would have mentioned all the "little" things about this doll that are not perfect. I'm not saying that this was a bag purchase or even one that I regret. I LOVE this doll. But... For the amount of money that this beauty cost me, I would have liked a bit more discloser about her.

Even with the not to great things, I'm very happy with this girl. She is currently soaking in a “bath” of warm water, organic cleaner, and baking soda. I just finished my first scrub of her. She is already looking better. I was nervous unstringing her. I took good pics of her insides before unstringing her so I can get her put back together again. Some of the blushing has already come off. But, I think this is a good thing. I would rather have a clean doll than one with dirty blushing. Her hands just drove me nuts. Ther was scum between the fingers!! I'll post some pics of her after her bath. She is going to be a stunner.

Finally!!!!

My website was finally launched today. It's been in the works for almost 10 months now. Though it seams like it's been much longer than that! Click on the banner and it will take you there! (hopefully I linked it right)

Oh yeah... my hubby did 90% of the design work and all of the html garbly goop. I did all the pics and 90% of the wording. I'm hoping that I can edit it and keep it up on my own, but I'm sure there will be times when I'll be needing his help.