Dining chairs

So I'm going to start out with my backstory on my dining room furniture first. My in-laws gave us the dining set from Ikea for Christmas the year we got married. They sat in storage for a year while we traveled across the country and didn't come out of hiding until March of 2011. We drug the set up to South Dakota where they've been stuck outside on the deck for outdoor seating. The wicker is all messed up and the black paint that was once there turned grey.

Since we are now moving into a new place where I will need the table and chairs, I thought I'd turn it into a project. It was beautiful outside today and didn't want to spend it indoors. I started out by unscrewing the wicker bottom off of all of them. I set them to the side and got to sanding each frame. Then I took some jet black spray paint and went to town.

While those were drying I decided to start the cushions. I got the fabric from Hobby Lobby. It was originally $19.99 a yard but I lucked out and got it on sale for $7.99 a yard. I didn't mess with the wicker bottom, instead I used it for the support. I got the padding from Hobby Lobby as well. I used my husband's staple gun to attach the fabric onto the wicker.

Here's my finished project!! I ended up doing 2 black and 2 white. I have enough fabric leftover to make a valence for the kitchen windows. This is a dining set that is no longer allowed to sit outside!

A lot of homemade items today :)

Hello all,

I hope you've had a wonderful last couple of weeks. My friend, Lexi and I had the opportunity today to try our hand at many new projects. All of them are fairly easy to make and finding the supplies wasn't too bad. I'll start out with what Lexi made as she made quite a bit for the household.

Laundry Soap

1 cup Washing Soda, luckily there is a lot leftover for other projects, I got this at Wal Mart for about $3.50

1 cup laundry bar, grated (I use Fels-Naptha.) I can get a bar for $0.97 at Wal Mart

1 cup Borax, the same goes for this as the Washing Soda, I got this at Wal Mart for about $3.50

1 quart boiling water

I also picked up a 5 gallon bucket to mix.

Grate the laundry bar. I unfortunately do not have a food processor or fancy grater. I used my hand grater and it took about 20 minutes.

Boil 1 quart of water on the stove. Slowly add the grated soap while stirring it until it's dissolved. I have run into where the water gets out of control for a minute and overflows, then goes back to normal, only to go out of control again. I haven't mastered that one yet, so meanwhile I've been using a hand towel to clean it up.

Fill your bucket about halfway with hot water. I use the kitchen sink sprayer. Add the Borax and Washing Soda and stir well.

Stir in the melted soap mixture while mixing. Fill bucket the rest of the way with hot water.

You’ll need to leave the detergent alone overnight to allow it to set. When it has set, you’ll need to mix it up again. I personally divide it up before it settles and I ad about 15 drops of essential oil. I've used lavender and eucalyptus. If you have a certain scent that tickles your senses, it's okay to do that. You can pick up a bottle of essential oil at most health food stores for anywhere between $4-$10. I plan to pick up a bottle of tangerin, vanilla or honeysuckle for the next batch. 
I also usually use anywhere between 1/4-1/3 cup per load. This makes quite a bit of product as well since it fits in a 5 gallon bucket. If you have room next to your washing machine, you could also keep the bucket next to it and get whatever you need for each load.

Hand soap

2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin (found in the band aid section at any drugstore or grocery store)

1 - 8 oz bar of soap grated

1 gallon of water

Melt grated soap into a gallon of boiling water. Add two tablespoons of glycerin. Pour into a gallon jug and just transfer into the pump bottles when needed.


Fabric softener 

6 cups HOT water 

3 cups white vinegar  

2 cups Suave Refreshing Waterfall Conditioner {or other favorite scent}

  

Mix conditioner & hot water well, until conditioner is dissolved completely. Add the vinegar, and mix well. Store in a large container, 1 gallon.

Dish detergent

Mix 3 cups of Borax with 3 cups of Washing Soda.

6 packages of lemon kool-aid

For each load of dishes, use 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Add just a drop of a liquid dish soap. Makes 1 pound.

Febreeze

2 Tablespoons of Your Favorite Fabric Softener

2 Tablespoons Baking Soda

Hot Tap Water - To Fill the Bottle to the Top. Makes 26 ounces

Jewelry cleaner
1 tbsp dishwashing detergent
* 1 tbsp baking soda
* 1 tbsp household ammonia
* 3 cups warm water

Mix everything together and place in container.

Soak jewelry, remove, brush and rinse off.

I made everything for beauty, not household.

The first thing I made was lip balm. After reading about all of the horrible things they put in commercial lip balm,  it made me want to make my own, that way I know exactly what is in it.

2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp. Beeswax
2 Tbsp. Shea Butter

This makes about a dozen lip balm tubes.

I not only took my old lip balms and emptied them out, I also got a couple of tubes from the local health food store. There are a ton of websites out there that sells these empty tubes. I threw these into a pot of boiling water to be sure there were clean. I removed them and set them upright on the counter while my beeswax was melting.

I put the beeswax into a glass measuring cup and placed the measuring cup into a boiling pot of water.  After the beeswax was melted, I added the shea butter and coconut oil. I also added a couple of drops of Vitamin E oil. After making sure it was all melted, I carefully took the measuring cup out and pour it directly into the tubes. Let them sit for 1-2 hours until hard. The picture only shows a few, I had given some away already!

Homemade Deodorant

3/4 a cup of baking soda

4 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Since I didn't have a container, I went out to Wal Mart and bought a $0.97 cent deodorant and cleaned the contents out for the container. In a bowl mix the baking soda and coconut oil. I also added about 20 drops of lavender. Carefully put into the container. I had enough to fill the deodorant container plus more. I'm storing it in a baby food jar until I need it again. I can then just nuke it in the micro and pour it in.

Homemade body wash 

1/2 gallon distilled water

2 cups grated soap (I used Tom's since I have sensitive skin.)

2 Tbsp Vegetable Glycerin oil

Melt grated soap in the 1/2 distilled water. Stir in glycerin oil. I poured this into 2 quart jars and added the scent. I used plumeria in one for me and a masculine scent in the other for the husband. The liquid is still transparent because the content is very hot. Tomorrow, it should be creamy looking and I'll just have to give it a good shake to get the consistency.

Homemade lotion

1 cup filtered water
¾ cup oil such as olive, almond, unrefined coconut, or avocado
3 tablespoons grated beeswax
Optional: a few drops of essential oil of your choice, for fragrance

Set up a blender and pour in the water. Prepare clean, dry glass jars for packaging and have them nearby.

Put the oil and the beeswax in a Pyrex measuring cup. Place the cup in a pan or small pot and pour in water to reach about halfway up the cup. Bring the water to a gentle boil, and heat the oil and beeswax until the beeswax melts. You’ll know when the wax is melted because you won’t see it anymore. As soon as the wax is melted, remove the cup from the water and let the oil cool for 2 minutes.

*This is an important step, I didn't have the blender on when I pour the mixture in and it solidified instantly and was very hard to blend.*
Turn on the blender and start blending the water at medium speed. Remove the stopper in the blender lid so you can pour the oil through the top while blending. Slowly pour in the oil and the mixture will begin to emulsify. If there is still some water on the surface, turn up the blender and blend the mixture 30 seconds to a minute longer. If you’re using essential oil, blend it in now.

 With a clean rubber spatula, transfer the cream to the glass jars. Cover the jars with cheesecloth for an hour, or until they’ve reached room temperature. Placing the lid on the jar when this is warm will cause condensation to form under the lid, which will water down the lotion and form bacteria. When the lotion is cool, screw on the jar lids. Store at room temperature for up to 3 months, or in the refrigerator for 6 months.

I hope y'all have your own adventures in saving money and making your own products!! It's more fun to share with a friend. We are planning to have a barter system in my nursing class :)

R-E-C-Y-C-L-E!

So where I live up in the middle of no where, we sadly do not recycle. It breaks my heart to see all of the milk jugs, glass jars and newspaper get thrown into the dump. After visiting my parents for two weeks in Florida and seeing what kind of recycling program was put in place, I decided to change things in my own household. I went out and bought a small trash can. I researched on where I could drop off my cardboard, plastics, glass and newspaper and stumbled upon this for recycling in Rapid City. I understand that the cities require a large amount of money to put such programs in place. Rapid City already has a recycling program, it just hasn't extended to out outer skirts just yet. So I'm doing everything I can to recycle until they put it in place. I encourage you, if you don't already recycle, to think about it. Just take a moment and think about the amount of things in your garbage you can recycle and think about how long it's going to sit in the landfill.

Homemade Bath Salts

While I was at the store purchasing the products for my laundry soap, I decided to pick up some Epsom salt and try my hand at bath salts. Since I already had the essential oils, I thought, what the heck? I picked up a 12 pack of the pint sized Mason jars for $10. It was really easy to do and a lot cheaper than the ones they sell at the store!! I paid $2 for a bag of Epsom salts and I didn't have to buy the essential oils again. There are many uses for each of the products that I've purchased. Looking forward to my next project.

Homemade Laundry Soap

So after being on vacation and countless hours on Pintrest, I've discovered there ARE ways to save money around the house. I found a really simple and easy laundry soap recipe. I found most things at Wal Mart at reasonable prices. I got a bar of Fels-Naptha for $1.50, a box of Borax for $3.50, a box of Washing Soda for $3.30 and a gallon bucket for $2.00. I also went by my local health store and picked up a bottle of lavender $7.00 and a bottle of eucalyptus $4.00. I took everything home and followed the directions. Luckily, I picked up a 12 pack of quart size Mason jars for $10. I filled up every one of them, plus an empty Tide container, a large empty salsa container and a gallon zip lock bag. Although I have some leftover commercial detergent, I wanted to try my new creation. I have since used my home made soap for all of my laundry. Everything comes out smelling so nice and soft. I will never go back to using commercial detergent.