Sunday, October 31, 2010

Vinegar Experiment Number 2

Question: Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy?

Answer: Why, yes I did and of course it does.

Solution: Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Thoughts: It works! I will have to write this down and post it in the laundry room!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Holiday Cards for Class at the Community Center

Here are some of the cards I have done for the Holiday Card Class I'll be teaching at the Community Center!

(front of the card)
 (inside the card)




Monday, October 25, 2010

Vinegar Experiment #1

According to the site 1001 uses for White Distilled Vinegar you can....

Get a shining finish on a no-wax vinyl or linoleum floor by cleaning it with a solution of one cup white distilled vinegar for every gallon of water.

So, I tried it on half of my kitchen floor. I'm gonna use the old standard of pine-sol water for the other half and see if the hubby notices any difference in the two.
I don't like mops, I use a bucket and scrubby sponge and "Cinderella" myself on my hands and knees to clean my floors. Crazy I know, and it freaks out my sister when they see me do it, they think I've gone off my rocker, but it gets my floors clean! So, I used hot tap water and white distilled vinegar and I noticed that I didn't have to scrub REALLY hard on the different spots, everything seemed to come up easier than with other stuff I've used. The vinegar smell didn't last long and it looks good! I rubbed down the baseboards and the painted walls as I came to them too! And it was cheap! So I think I will try this again! But first on to the bathroom floors!

trying Green/Simple ways

    With all the stress out there I find myself trying to lower stress and live more simply. My parents recently sold their big 5 bedroom house that they had for 20 years and moved into my grandparents old farm house. The farmhouse is half the size the big house was. So, mom & dad had to do some MAJOR downsizing. Looking at the process in the beginning or even in the middle seemed to be an overwhelming task. But now that they have done it (minus some extra furniture in the garage, just until they sell it, and with winter around the corner having a garage for the car is re-inspiring them to get it all sold) they are so calm and don't get stressed about stuff like they use to. So "less is more" is true and very inviting!
     So, following the path that mom & dad went down, I've been looking at our "stuff" differently. Do we REALLY need this? Why did we get this in the first place? Do we REALLY still need it? Would I rather keep this and have stress or get rid of it and live more simple? Our local consignment store just moved to a bigger buliding, and just in time! I LOVE CONSIGNMENT! Ya just go through your stuff put what you don't want to keep in a box/bag and take it up there. They assign you a number and then you just go in later and see if they have any money for you! Its that SIMPLE! You don't have to price anything! Which for me would give me a chance to change my mind and keep what I don't need! And I don't miss anything that I've taken up there! Honestly I don't remember what I've taken up there! So that's the "simple"part, getting rid of extra clutter and making some money too!
     Now for the "green" part. I've always been abit of a "Hippy Chick". I like to grow my own herbs, make bread, and that sort of things. There are some things that I desperately want to try to make... bees wax candles, soap, bath salts and scrubs just to name a few! But lately I've been thinking "green", not in a tree hugger/save the whales/throw red paint on things I disagree with, just in a "live simple and need less" way. The mom in me is careful about what cleaning chemicals I use. When our daughter was about 6-7 months old and just starting to pull up on stuff, I was mopping the kitchen floor and she was sitting in the floor in the between the kitchen and living room, I looked over just in time to see her try to pull up on the yucky mop water bucket! It tipped over and she fell and the yucky water just covered her top to toes! We ran for a bath! Being a new mom I was worried for days, "what if she swallowed some of the water". When I dust and see the cleaner in the air, i wonder what it lands on? does my little one put that item in her mouth? or just simply breathe it in? So, I'm doing some research into "green cleaning". I've found a site 1001 uses for vinegar and I'm gonna try them out! I'm very excited!!! I will post pros & cons to this experiment!
     

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

This Crazy Life - Pinwheel card

So this is the first pinwheel I've ever made! It was really easy to do, I think I will have to make some more. Just have to remember to keep them out of reach of Reagan because she REALLY wanted to blow on this one to make it spin! lol! This is also part of a challenge I am doing, trying to use only little stamps that I got from Michael's $1 bin. The sentiment "This Crazy life" had a box around it, but I needed it on another card, so I cut it out and now have two stamps. Thats the great thing about the clear stamps, you can cut them! Also, the "abc's" on the side are part of a set I got for $1. The paper is all from the My Mind's Eye - Love Me Do collection. 

Monday, October 18, 2010

I think you are....

You Make Me Smile - Card

This card was made with a variety of papers, the stamp is from Ali Edwards. The real reason I made this card was so I could get to use my i-top to make my own brads!!! so they MATCH the other elements! I love it!

Bella's Birthday Card

This card was made using my Cricut and the Sweet Treat cartridge. 

Cheer Up

Here is a card that I made this morning using a stamp set I picked up at Michael's in the $1 bin!!! There are 3 images and 4 sentiments in this little mini set. When I make a card, I like to make 2 at a time, of the same card of course. Since you've got all the stuff out why not make two! So, the first one I made I had the front all done and was about to stamp my "Handmade" stamp on the back. The card was unfolded and laying flat on my desk so I could get a good stamp on the back. I had my Stazon ink pad in my hand and DROPPED it on the front of the card!!! GGGRRR!!!! Oh well, that was a practice card.:D I gave it to Reagan, she was THRILLED to get it!!! The papers I used were scraps from different packs. To color in the Rainbow I used Stampin' Up! Watercolor pencils and a Blender Pen also from Stampin' Up!



Monday, October 11, 2010

Halloween Treat - Nugget Box

 Here is a little project I've been working on today.... Nugget Boxes!!! I figured out how to cut this whole project out with my cricut!!! In other words.... I LOVE NUGGET BOXES! Before cutting them out by hand was a pain! But now they are SO MUCH FUN AND SUPER EASY!!! I'm working on making this project into kits, so anyone can make them. This box holds 3 Hersey nuggets or a fun size Kit Kat/Twix.