Slug, Bowling or Copper Ball

I'm a Pinterest junkie. yes. And this project I found there seemed like it was right up my alley. (hahah get it...alley? Bowling ball?)

Of course you don't. I haven't told you yet!

Okay- apparently, pennies repel slugs. Or rather copper does. I'm not sure. I'm not a bug slug person or even a great gardener. I'm a crafter. I make things. That's what I do. 

So, I'm not sure if making a bowling ball covered in pennies will repel slugs or not, being as today's pennies have little, if any, copper in them. Still, it's a cute project and I had to make one.

Besides, the pennies weather great. Verdigris I believe it is called. That's just a fancy word to say they turn kinda green. And pretty. 

How to DIY Harry Potter Wands and Spell Book

I am a big Harry Potter fan. Yeah yeah. I'm an adult, yes. But I love the Harry Potter series since my kids were little. I would read a chapter or two to them every night, and laugh right along with them as I read aloud. It was a special time, me reading to the kids every night. One that I cherish.

And as an adult, my love of Harry Potter has not subsided. It is such an interesting series. I am very much enthralled with how Rowling used actual Latin words as a basis for her spells, and even character names.
Did you know that Umbra means shade or shadow? That gives a whole new meaning to Professor Delores Umbridge, doesn't it?

Well, I have friends that are bigger HP fans than I am. Seriously, they can quote every scene and tell you which spell was used in which movie.

Color My Fire

A few years ago, I found a story about salt-saturated pine cones that give off different colored flames when burned. I was so fascinated with them, I decided to make a few. Of course, I didn't have a fireplace, but my parents did and that was good enough for me!

So I set out gathering and making a couple dozen 'firedancers' as they were called. A few different types of salt alters the color rendered with each pine cone.

Fabric Softener

I am not the kind of person to sit around, drinking a soda/pop/cola/coke and watch tv, sleep or play on the computer for hours on end. I have NEVER been that person.
No, I must be doing something. Anything. Read, watch *a* movie, laundry, dust, vacuum, dishes, craft, ANYTHING. I hate to be idle for too long.

Most often, I am researching something I want to know about, looking up more craft items to do or actually doing homework. So while it appears I may live my life in front of a computer (and trust me, there are days it feels like it, too!), I simply do not.

Anywho- where was this post going- Oh yeah (ohh, look! A shiny object!)-
I don't like to sit around and do nothing. Today is no exception. And my morning class was canceled an hour before it started, so I found myself with all this morning energy and no where to go.

So I started searching the interwebs. Looking for something homemade, I didn't care what, that I could do.
And I found homemade fabric softener.

Amok Amok Amok

Have I mentioned how much I *love* Halloween? Well, really, I love Fall, Autumn, whatever you want to call it. I love the falling leaves, the changing colors, cooler temperatures and the smell of apples, pumpkins and cinnamon floating in the air.

I love making Halloween/Autumn decorations, too.

If you remember my last years effort:

Well, here is this year's endeavour-

Amok Amok Amok

Which happens to be a favorite saying of mine around this time of year, too. Then again, I love Hocus Pocus!

What do you like about this time of year?

DIY Laundry Soap

Did I mention that I made my own laundry soap? I found many recipes around the net, but this one seemed to be the easiest. It works in HE washers, and front loaders, too.

You need three ingredients:

I found the Fels Naptha at the grocery store (or use Zote). The washing soda and Borax also at the grocery store (or Wally World if you prefer). Usually, Walmart is your best bet. None of them were particularly expensive. I think I spent $10 max on all three together and it makes more than one batch.

Now, the DIY part-

Use your handy dandy grater and grate the fels-naptha (or Zote).

To that grated fels-naptha, add

1 Cup borax and

1 Cup washing soda.

Mix well and you're done.

Yup. Done.

To use it- you use 1 Tablespoon per load of clothes. I've been using this for a week and have seen no difference between my homemade version and the expensive store-bought laundry soap.

Okay- one difference. Mine is cheaper.

I think out of the Borax and Washing Soda, I can get probably 5 batches of DIY Laundry soap. I just have to purchase a new Fels-Naptha for each batch. That's it.

Go me!

UPDATE 8/10/2011:

I did some research on OxiClean and guess what? It seems that OxiClean is made up of sodium percarbonate and some cute little secret ingredient blue granules. (Think, 'Color Safe Bleach.)

Now, what is sodium percarbonate, you ask? Simple, it's granulated hydrogen peroxide. When mixed with water, it turns into oxygen, water and soda ash. 

What is Washing Soda? soda ash. One common source of washing soda is the ashes of plants- for this reason it is called soda ash.

So what is this DIY laundry soap? It's a better version of OxiClean for two reasons-

1- Borax is better at cleaning laundry and keeping whites white, and

2- you know exactly what you are getting, unlike the OxiClean which had something 'secret' in it.

A third reason would be it is MUCH cheaper to make your own laundry soap!

With the DIY laundry soap recipe above, you are using Borax (a cleaner and whitener) with Washing Soda (a stain remover and cleaner) along with Fels-Naptha (a laundry soap bar helpful in treating stains).

So feel free to make your own laundry soap! You'll be glad you did!

UPDATE 11/17/2014: I've been using the 'liquid' (or rather, gel form) of the same laundry soap and it works just as well, and better on stains when you rub it directly into the stain. My fiancee works in manufacturing and comes home covered in machine grease. This works like a charm!
The original positing is HERE for the wet version of the same laundry soap- but the basic  recipe is like this:
Grate 2 bars Fels Naptha (or Zote) and dissolve in 6 cups hot water (not boiling), remove from heat.
Add 2 cups Borax and 2 cups Washing Soda. Mix well.
Let sit until top is solidified. Using a hand blender, mix well, adding in little bits of water to make end result smooth. Spoon into jars.
1 Tablespoon per load. Works great on stains. It's the only thing my mother uses now that I gave her some!

DIY Liquid Hand Soap

First off, this recipe is compliments of Savvy Housekeeping.

I love doing some DIY, crafty, save money endeavors! This one did not disappoint.

Usually when you buy liquid hand soap, you're paying $2 for the cheap stuff and up to $6 for the good stuff. And that's usually the small sizes!

With this do-it-yourself version- you need water (got it!), bar soap (yeah, think I can come up with some of that, too) and glycerin (Okay, not usually on my shelf, but not hard to find at a pharmacy or discount store).

That's it, folks.

How easy is it? Three steps. Three steps easy. Here ya go:

10 cups water (use a liquid measuring cup)

1 cup shaved soap (use a dry measuring cup)

1 T glycerin.

Take your bar of soap- any kind you want (different bars render different results, so you'll have to play around) and your handy-dandy grater and grate your soap. As you can see, I grate my soap and then put it into a mason jar for later use in some other project.

Then, use a large pot and put in 10 cups of water, 1 dry cup of grated soap, and 1 Tablespoon glycerin. The mixture doesn't necessarily have to boil. You just want to heat it long enough that all the soap melts.

Then I turned off the stove and walked away.

Yup. That's it. I went out and ran some errands and had lunch and enjoyed my day.

When I got home, I checked the pot. The soap was now cold, and gelling (gel-ing? is that a word?).

I went ahead and added some essential oil at this point. About 10 drops of my favorite scent and stirred it through. Once mixed thoroughly, put into your existing, empty, liquid soap bottles. You will have some left over, depending on how many empty soap bottles you have. I just store my excess liquid soap in a 2-liter soda bottle under the sink. It's ready whenever I need to refill.

This goes a long way! You can get probably 5 or 6 bottles of soap out of this, depending on the size of your soap bottle.

Trust me when I say that you might need to play around a bit. Different soaps react differently. For example, if the soap you buy is a moisturizing soap, it may not gel properly, or if it does, it may not make bubbles when you wash your hands. If you do not use enough glycerin (the magic ingredient) it may not gel at all.

Some bar soaps are really lathery...that is, the type of oils used in making the bar soap is directly related to how much it lathers when used.

Other factors affecting the lather or bubble-ness of soap could be salt or sugar amounts in your brand. A third factor affecting the amount of bubbles soap produces is the water itself- hard water (water that contains lots of minerals) will not lather as much, no matter the brand of soap used. Whereas soft water will bubble a lot.

Again, play around with your circumstances. Maybe add a 1/2 t salt or find soft water if you are experiencing a non-lathering soap.

But, no matter what, the soap will clean without the bubbles. :)