Monthly Archives: March 2012

How to spruce up OLD outdoor furniture

OK!

So I just had to share this with all my Jaderbugs because it is so fantastic!!! I totally had this old chair and this little dingy outdoor table from a friend and they have been “hidden” for quite some time because they were {not pretty to look at}.  I just could not figure out if I was ready to throw them or {{{spruce them up}}}.  I picked option #2!!!! Once you see the end result then you will see why I chose to keep them.  People, anyone could do this.  Seer-e-us-leee!!!!

All you need is different colors of paint and something old and dingy.  I used some cheap acrylic paint from Michaels Arts & Crafts! I think they were like .99 cents! Fuh-Reel~
I just want to say that I went in no particular order while painting these! I just let myself go!
See how pretty!!! It totally dressed up my dingy wood!
So next time you have something that looks dingy or boring just add some color to it and it will give it a whole new look!
OH! and don’t forget to add polyurethane to it when it is completely dry.  This will make the wood last a little longer and give it a great coating so the paint won’t chip off!
Happy Crafting
Wishing it was summer and I was sitting in this chair in the SUN,

Failure, it’s the most important thing!

So many people tell us our entire life that we are not GOOD enough. We should change our goals or just go away. There will be times you hit the bottom and wonder what’s your purpose.

I just want you to know it get’s better. I ran across this video and HAD to share it. I know it’s not my “typical” craft  tutorial but it touched my heart.

So many people did not think I would do the things I am doing or go the places I am going. BUT I KNEW I WOULD. I attract only good into my life and heart.

If you follow your heart you can’t FAIL.

Just remember, if someone makes you feel low or down about yourself, know within your heart they are just ONE PERSON. That’s ONE person and ONE thought. Hold your head up and know WITHIN that this happened because GOD just has something a little better lined up….

I believe in YOU

Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent

Well. I finally did it. About a year ago I remember seeing a blogger friend try a “similar” recipe and I though, “What, that can’t clean like the nice expensive ones do”… Then I lived my life for the next year buying my nice expensive laundry detergent. Certain it WAS the best after all. Then about 3 months ago I saw a random pin on making some! Still didn’t convince me. I was certain my GAIN was the best.  ((plus I don’t love change))

Then about 4 days ago mother in law made me some. I hesitated at first because of fear. The fear of actually “LIKING” it and abandoning my good ole GAIN. I smelled it and it smelled SOO good (even though my brain tried to convince me it wasn’t GAIN)…. Crazy but I am a total texture girl. I LOVED the way it looked and the texture it presented to me. OK. I am buckling at this point… Am I really thinking about trying this stuff….. I had to. It just sat there saying:

I’m CHEAPERRR
I’m prettierrrrr
I’m HOMEMADEEEE

So I put a batch of clothes washing and “tested” this stuff that keeps popping up in front of my eyes. I went about my business doing other chores until my nose sniffed some ridiculously  awesome smell. “There’s no way”, I said. BUT WAY! I secretly got super duper excited and after taking out my first batch I scattered through the dirty clothes to gather ANOTHER load! I kid you not.

So I sit here. Ready to share with you an amazing way to save SOOO much money (don’t worry I will break it down) by making your own laundry detergent.

Ingredients:

I got my BORAX from Wal-Mart. I got lucky because someone must have known I was coming and put ALL of the ingredients I needed right next to each other. Thanks Wal-Mart for making my life amazing! This box was about 3 bucks. The Borax cleans, disinfects and softens the water.

These babies were only .99 cents each! Epic deal. The Fels Naptha Soap is a heavy duty laundry soap bar & stain remover.

This was around 3.49 for the box. Still liking this!!! Arm & Hammer Washing Soda works on grease and neutralizes odors.

Mother in law told me she added this to enhance the smell so I figured I would try a little bit of it. I think she used another ingredient but I can’t remember what. Our recipes are not exactly the same but I am pretty sure they do the same job!! This was around 4.60 but well worth it.

Get something you won’t use for cheese (((ever again))) hehe…I had an old grater so I figured I would add to everything else it has been through.

Start by grating your bars of soap. I will put the recipe at the bottom of this post but I grated 4 bars of soap and pouring in all of your ingredients  (recipe below) it will look like this!!!

So pretty right!!!

I made some for my dad and I had to think of something to put on it so he would ALWAYS know what it was!! (you know men, they never REALLY pay attention more than once)… So I grabbed some bright neon labels that I had.

I grabbed one of my Martha Stewart punches and punched out a little sucker!

Just bright enough for him to ALWAYS see! (and not too girly)

If you follow the recipe below you will have enough laundry soap to wash 110 or 200 bad loads of laundry.  Trust me, I scooped the whole batch to figure this out! Let me explain my numbers.
The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons per batch HOWEVER if you are washing a small load or if you don’t have a big washing machine I recommend using 1 tablespoon
So if you use 2 tables spoons for every batch then you will get 110 loads out of it!
If you use 1 table spoon then you will have 200 batches…. AMAZING RIGHT.
If you are like me then you will have some batches that are big and some small but either way it’s amazing how much you have here! Plus it’s all good for ya and full of natural ingredients!
Total price to purchase all the items to make my own detergent was around 14 bucks.
 Homemade detergents do not have alot of  suds.   Don’t worry, this is normal and your clothes will still come out redokulousley clean.

Large Batch Recipe 

4 – Bars Fels Naptha Laundry Soap
1 box of  – Cups Mule Team Borax
1 box Cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 bottle of Purex Crystals

Grate soap using cheese grater. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Place in sealed container or tub and measure out two tablespoons (or 1/8 cup) for each load. I put a medicine cup for my dads batch. Two scoops from that is 2 tablespoons. I know everyone has tons of those suckers laying around!

Smaller Batch Recipe

2 – Cups Laundry Soap Shavings
(you can get this easily from one bar)
1 – Cup Mule Team Borax
1 – Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

Follow instructions for above recipe.

I sure hope you enjoyed this post and let me know how yours comes out!!

Sending you all sortsa good energy to wash every single piece of clothing in your house (like I did),

This post is brought to you Plaid’s Martha Stewart line of paint and stencils. I received product for this post. All opinions expressed are 100% mine. You can check out Plaid’s full Martha Stewart product line here. 

St. Patrick’s Day Banner Tutorial

I wanted to share with you a little banner I made for St. Patrick’s day.
It is super duper simple but super duper cute.
I  pretty much used things I just had around the house and I hope that you can do the same thing. We usually have SO many things we can craft with but forget about them because we buy so much more the next time we go to the store…wait, I think I am just speaking or myself. {{teehehehe}}

This is sorta a “TWO” part tutorial because we will be making 2 different banners but they will go together in the end. Make sense? (crossing fingers)

Some things you will need are:

1.Metallic Gold Paper
2.  Book pages
3.Martha Stewart craft paint
4. Glitter green bells
5.  Martha Stewart dual temperature glue gun
6.  Martha stewart bakers twine in green
7.  Martha Stewart all purpose scissors
8.  Martha Stewart craft brushes
9.  Martha Stewart craft punch

First thing you will do is:

Start punching out holes in your gold paper. I got this from Hobby Lobby. They have TONS of metallic colors!

This is what they will look like!

You will need to put some hot glue on one gold circle and quickly place the bakers twine on top of the glue. You then want to top it off by putting the next circle right on top. It’s kind of like a craft sandwich. Yeah, a craft sandwich.

Grab some book pages and cut out three different sizes of triangles. I cut out 5 of each size.

I used Peridot and Granny Smith from Martha Stewart’s line of craft paint. The peridot is in the glitter pack. It’s soft and subtle.

I used one of the decorative brushes from Martha Stewart’s brushes and just lightly coated my MEDIUM triangle.

Once it is dry and you have brushed both colors on the medium triangle you will use hot glue or double stick tape to place them like this.


This is what it will look like! I added a g0ld dot on the bottom of each triangle just to add that special touch. I also cut out a heart from each round gold circle and placed them in the middle of the small triangle to represent a clover. A three leaf one, teehehe……I used hot glue to apply these. The last thing I did was glue twine along the back of them!

If you notice I added my gold banner of dots at the top and it adds layers of love.

I had a roll of black pom poms and I used that to add a soft touch to it.
I hope you enjoyed this craft and enjoy St.Patty’s day!


This post is brought to you Plaid’s Martha Stewart line of paint and stencils. I received product for this post. All opinions expressed are 100% mine. You can check out Plaid’s full Martha Stewart product line here.