Broken Bones, Final Exams and Christmas

We did make those ornaments I just have not had time to post the pictures for them yet. The girls did a great job with them and they were very inventive with them. Thank goodness we had them all made before Kenzie broke her thumb. She did that this last weekend at Grandma's house. She was playing with her cousins while Tony and I were at a Christmas Party and she tripped over a laundry basket and broke her thumb. She is ok. Monday her Dr. took a few more X-rays and put a cast on her. She will need to wear the cast for 2 weeks, so she chose festive red and green colors for the cast. She will go back in 2 weeks and the cast will come off and she will get X-rays again and another cast will go on for the remaining time. The Dr. said it will hopefully be healed in 6 weeks.

I just finished my last Final for the quarter. I am so glad that is over. I hope I did well. With that stress gone I am now down to the line on Christmas shopping these last couple of days to get that finished. Last night when I took Kenzie & Taylor to conformation class I had a hour to relax and shop a little for Alex. She is not so easy to find things for. It is not that she is a picky child she is not at all. It is that she doesn't give me a christmas list like my other children do. She not a girly girl like my other three so it makes it harder for me to find things for her but I think I finally found some things she will like. Now I need to get ready for my 2nd job interview today with a local Hospital. I so hope I get this job I really need it and I think I will really like working there. They also have slipped in another interview for another department for me today as well.

Have a Wonderful Holiday!

Christmas is in 13 more day

OH MY!!!  Christmas is in 13 more days are you ready? I am not.  I have lots of shopping to do I have barely even started.  There is so much to be done and so little time left.

 I have a lot of baking to do.  I promised my nephew I would make him chocolate chip cookies and send them to him for Christmas along with his Christmas gifts.  He lives in Arizona so I have to get this done in the next day or two to make sure they arrive on time.  Also Anthony has been asking for cookies so I will add those in and I need need to make something for my Math class tomorrow morning we are having a pot luck so maybe I will bring cookies for that also.  It looks like I am going to be making a lot of cookies this year.  Two of my girls also have class projects coming up that they need help with one is due on the 14th and one the 19th.  You will never guess what they need to bring to school.  COOKIES.  We  have to make enough for each of their classes.  It was a health class assignment were they had to take a cookie recipe and change the recipe to make it healthier.

Also the girls want to start a craft project tonight that they would like to give as gifts.  It is a handmade Christmas tree ornament made out of a special dough that we fragrance and cut into shapes.  We have made these in the past but this year we are going to try a new shape a dog bone made into a puppy face.  Tonight I will photograph them and post them on here in the next few days so you can see what they look like.  Maybe I will give one of my recipes out with it so you can try to make them yourselves.  It is a great kids project and they have a lot of fun with it.

Holiday Crafting

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! It was a busy one for me. I think my children, Tony and I have had enough Turkey and Trimmings to last us a year. Over the holiday we celebrated Thanksgiving four times at four different family members homes. The best part was getting to see all the family.

On the Crafty side of things

This year the girls want to make some gifts for people so I agreed to help them. Our first project is to make French Milled soap. I don't want them involved in the lye process it is way to dangerous for them so they are re-batching soap and making them in to unique small batches. So far we have made together Pomegranate Citrus Confetti soap that contains Grape seed oil, vegetable glycerin and is enriched with Vitamins C & E, and silk proteins. We also added a small touch of rose petals.

We also made Oatmeal milk and honey deodorant soap that contains Grape seed oil, vegetable glycerin and is enriched with Vitamins C & E, and silk proteins. We added my secret blend of oatmeal to the soap that I also make to use for a facial mask.

Our last batch that we have made for soap so far is a Spa Soap. It is a Rose Violet soap. It is a Salt bar soap that contains Grape seed oil, vegetable glycerin and is enriched with Vitamins C & E, Salt, Camomile, Apricot Seed. Three of the bars we embedded a tiny rose bud in the center of the soap.

We are trying to make all the soaps first because even though they are being re-batched they need time to dry and harden. The more time they have the better.

We also started to make bath bombs. So far only one batch of these and I would like to find a better mould for them, because the ones we are using now just are not cutting it. Some of them are so hard to get out they break and we have to start all over again.

Powdered Method Laundry Soap Large batch

Well since we covered the fabric softener lets get to the laundry soap. There are different ways you can do this as well. If you are a soaper you could make your own laundry soap bars with out superfatting. The extra oils create a nasty film in your washing machine and can leave spots on your clothing. If you make the soap bars you will then need to shave them down on the smallest size on your box grater. Making the soap yourself is the most cost effective for making you own laundry soap but not everyone is cut out to make their own soap so If you are not a soaper You could purchase soap to shave if you buy homemade soap again please make sure it is not superfatted. Using homemade soap is the greenest way to go about making laundry soap but if you wanted you could go to the store and get bars that would work like IVORY would we a great one or others like it and shred them down. Or you could buy soap flakes that are ready to use. One place of many that you can get a bag of them is on Amazon for 8.99. You will also need 1 box of borax, 1 box of washing soda, food processor, rubber gloves and a dust mask & a bucket with airtight lid. Also if you would like Essential oil or fragrance oil to scent your laundry soap.

 

 

2 lb soap

1 lb borax

1 lb washing soda

2 cups baking soda

 

Put on the gloves and mask place soap into a separate bucket for mixing. Next incorporate the Borax with the soap. Next mix in the washing soda and baking soda and completely incorporate. After the mix is complete start to run the mix through the food processor until it is a fine powder and place into your laundry soap bucket until all is completely processed. I recommend that you not skip this step because it will help the laundry soap dissolve better in your washing machine when it is being used. Use 1/8 cup of powder per full load of laundry.

 

Saving money & your laundry Part 2

Please remember as stated in Part 1

~*~ DO NOT USE HOMEMADE FABRIC SOFTNER WITH BLEACH!!~*~

VINEGAR AND BLEACH PRODUCE TOXIC FUMES!!!!

 

Baking Soda Fabric Softener

2 cups baking soda

6 cups white distilled vinegar

8 cups water

Add baking soda to bucket, followed by water. Stir and add vinegar. Separate into bottles then fragrance with essential oil or fragrance oil to your liking.


I use a big bucket to mix the base then I poor it into smaller fabric softener jugs and scent them with E.O. or Fragrance Oil after it is divided. It depends on which I am using to fragrance my fabric softener I add it until am happy with the scent. Before each use you must shake the bottle because it separates and add to your laundry as you would any liquid fabric softener. Add 1/4c to the final rinse in your washing machine. If you have hard water, use 1/3c.

Saving money & your laundry Part 1

I don't know about your world, but in my world this economy isn't getting any better yet. I am always looking for ways to save pennies any way I can. I have been making my own soaps for some time now and since I have such good results with the bar soap I have decided to venture into the laundry. There are some great perks to this project not only will it be better for my families sensitive skin issues, it will help reduce costs for the family budget and it will also be greener for the environment.

~*~ DO NOT USE HOMEMADE FABRIC SOFTNER WITH BLEACH!!~*~

VINEGAR AND BLEACH PRODUCE TOXIC FUMES!!!!

~ What is great about these recipes for fabric softener is that they use vinegar! Vinegar is great for so many things! It Brightens & Whitens so there is no need to use bleach and gets rid of soap scum residue so your clothes will be nice and soft. Not to mention your washing machine will stay free from soap scum build up.

Conditioner Fabric Softener

To make your own fabric softener all you need is old Large liquid fabric softener bottle

3 Cups White Distilled Vinegar

2 cups of regular hair conditioner (any kind you like is fine)

6 cups of water


Add all the ingredients into the bottle shake to mix and your ready to use. If you still are noticing a static cling issue toss a tennis ball in your dyer with your laundry or a piece of crumpled up aluminum foil.

St. Mathews Craft Fair

    Craft Sale yesterday was good. I forgot the camera so that was a let down. I did have someone that came by and asked about if I would consider vending at Art in the Park an they asked for permission to take a photo for their reference of my booth. This is a great compliment. An yes I have been asked once before but it is a expensive show that I was afraid that I could not afford. She told me that I could rent a half booth and the fees she quoted me I felt I could handle so I am strongly thinking of doing it. After all I have been asked twice now they must think I have something don't you think?? Since I was a last min sign up for this show I was out in the hallway. The hallway was filled but still did not carry as much traffic as inside the gym. Also the hallway is much colder because of the doors then the gym. I think I would of doubled my sales if I would have been in the gym. So I put in a request for the next sale there. Sales where not horrible though and I did make a new friend. She was a vender next to me. She sells screen printed T'shirts & sweat shirts. She had some really cute stuff. She has goats at home and that is how we started talking because of my soap making :) She invited my girls and I to come over and see them. I will talk more about this later in another post.


    I had a lot of great customers come by. For the most part I kept busy. I had a few soap requests so I will have to work on them so when Art in the Park comes up in the Spring they will be available. Even a lot of great comments from some saying that they have received my soaps in the pasts as gifts and how much they liked them. Its always nice to hear feedback. Even one older lady commented she had gotten one as a gift and she liked the smell of it so much she uses it to scent things. She said she's had it for like two years now. The day went by really fast and turned out to be a great day! Oh and to top the day off I even had a job offer so we will see what will become of that.