Homemade Laundry Soap... and Etsy Info

Most of my Local friends know, and those of you who have been to my house know that I like to try and do things that are not harmful to the environment. I've been eyeing the recipes for homemade laundry soap, and decided that before I made it, I wanted to see if I would even like it! So, after purchasing a premade trial batch of it from a vendor at the Marysville Homegrown Festival for $1.50, I've used it up already! I like like like, no LOVE it! So, this morning, I ran out, and for under $10.00, got all the things I needed to make it at home! I made up a batch this morning but made a few changes to the original recipe.

Original Recipe:
12 C. Borax
8 C. Baking Soda
8 C. Washing Soda
8 C. Bar Soap (Fels Naptha, Ivory or Safeguard)

For my version of this, I decided to first, cut the recipe in half. Being that there are only 3 people, 1 dog, and one roommate in our house we didn't need 38 Cups of anything, let alone laundry detergent that only takes 1 tbsp per load! Then, I decided to add OxyClean also since I use it for stains and it always works wonders. I wanted to do a mixture of the soaps it says to use. Fels Naptha is specifically for laundry, so I wanted to keep this and Safeguard is antibacterial... so I knew I wanted that in it also. I did a 50/50 split of the soaps.

Dawn's NEW Recipe
6 C. Borax (I used 12 Mules Borax from Walmart for $3.36 and had some left over)
4 C. Baking Soda (I had this, but you can get it for around $.70/lb bulk)
4 C Washing Soda (Walmart did not have this, but ACE Hardware did)
2 C (1- 5.5oz bar) Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (also, found at ACE Hardware)
2 C (1 1/2 (4 oz.) bars) Safeguard Soap (had it too!)
2 C. Oxygen Cleaner (OxyClean or otherwise, I used Sun Oxygen Cleaner from Walmart at 1.96 for 16 ouches)

This made me more than I planned on, but now I have some little cute things of it packaged up to give to a friend for her daughters cloth diapers and whoever else I feel like giving it too!!

It doesn't bubble, and really does only take 1tbsp on regular loads, and up to 2 or 3 on really dirty loads. From all I've read it's amazing for sensitive or rash prone skin, since there is no fragrance and it doesn't leave any residue on your clothes like commercial laundry soap. It also rinses so clean you don't need fabric softner. I feel so 'vintage' on this one, it makes me laugh. But, in all honesty- I used my hands for most of the mixing, without gloves (since it shouldn't hurt my skin if I'm washing my clothes with it) and after that, just rinsed them well, and they are super soft and have no residue at all on them.

Yesterday, my husband came home from work with what I would guess is called rust water (you know, when rust gets wet?) stains all over his shirt and pants (he made the choice to wear nice clothes to work...) and was begging me to at least TRY and get this stuff out. So, with the Fels Naptha, a Clorox Bleach Pen and soaking with the new homemade laundry soap... it's almost all out now. :-) I can't wait to see how it does on mud and grass stains, since those are more common in our house.

Anywhoo! Onto what I was really going to post about today!

www.dddcort.etsy.com is my store site and I've finally gotten around to posting up some more of my cards, and knitted items will be going up this afternoon. I hope you'll pop over to check them out!

If you chose to make some laundry soap, let me know how you like it and if you would be interested in trying it before making a million loads worth, I am totally willing to mail some to you (since I have LOTS now) and help you try it out and be a little greener as well! I just ask you paypal shipping back to me once I mail it and know the cost. :-)

Enjoy!

Dawn

Wedding Cards & A Wedding Layout

This morning has been pretty easy going (at least for me) this morning. Zoe was up bright and early, but played nicely next to our bed while we continued to sleep! I made some muffins, and Zoe is now napping while Adam is out mowing the lawn. Like I said, I have the easiest morning today!

I've been feeling quite 'wedding' motivated. Which is a good thing, because I have pictures for years of our recent wedding to scrapbook. This is the second layout I've actually gotten done, because I felt like doing it. The section with scripture is from my Rusty Pickle, Princess Bride Quotes. Lucky for me, that Pastor Jimmy (an awesome family friend who lead Knox's Service, and we asked if he would marry us also) read this scripture during our ceremony. I hadn't heard it, but now think it's just beautiful!

Here is what the whole layout looks like. I think I'm going to stick with very classic, and a little vintage designwise for our wedding scrapbook. I also haven't made any wedding cards, and stumbled upon this stamp while I was cleaning up my area this morning, and decided to run with it. So I did. I LOVE how this blue card turned out. It will be up on Etsy shortly! This one is adorable also, and very sparkly!! On the inside it reads, very simply 'Wedding Wishes' but doesn't have any of the scalloped decor around the wording.

The stamp I used on both cards is from Studio G in the $1 bin from Lila's Scrapbooking.

Have a good Sunday everyone! Once Zoe wakes up, we're going to be heading out for a BBQ at a wonderful park in Everett for Mothers and More.

:: Single Stamp :: 5 Projects :: Project #1::

For this project, I made two sets of cards. 6 cards per set, and they are blank inside.

I used white cardstock, tim holtz distress inks in tea dye and antique linen, then layered on a piece of patterned card stock. I then spritzed it all with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to give it a sheen.

The stamp, I stamped onto white cardstock that I had distressed first, using black Staz On Ink. After letting that dry (pretty quick) I colored in the sunflower with yellow and red watercolor pencils, and then blended them a little. I used my embossing gun to dry them quickly. I also spritzed those with my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.

I hope you like the project for today!! I made two, one for a friend and the other is listed over on my Etsy Sale Site.

I will put a posting up here soon about how I bag and tag things for sale. :-) As you can see, I use reclosable cello bags, and make the toppers.

Big Card order, and update!

I know I haven't been blogging as much as usual about my crafty stuff... I wanted to share with you all why, and what I've been working on!
If we are facebook friends, you know I recently got a GIANT order for 500 cards through my Etsy Sale Site, and I need to get them shipped before I leave for Maui, on the 4th of July.

I've been busting my butt to get those done. I've hooked a few photos of what they are emerging to look like on here. Below is a close up of the cards. There are about 5 different patterns, since it is somewhat difficult to come across 100 sheets of the same 12X12 patterned paper. They all have this same saying on them though.

'The Purpose of Life is to Discover your gift. The Meaning of life is to give it away'

Below is a photo of what 500 card bases (without buttons yet) look like all stacked up. And, yes. that is a bag of Frosted Flakes to the right, because Zoe has been in 'helping' me and is a constant muncher, I feed her off with cereal! lol.

I am making these for a volunteer organization in FL- so the saying is just about perfect to give to people who specialize in helping others.

I am really working hard to get all of these finished up today, so I can mail them later today, or Monday at the latest. For some reason, Zoe is being quite a whiner today so I'm not sure how sucessful it will be. We have lunch plans with my mom, and the Walk n Rock is tomorrow at Safeco Field. Feel free to hop on over to the Team Knox page, or check out Knox's Story as I updated it with some photos and whatnot. For those of you, who haven't donated to Team Knox yet- THERE IS STILL TIME!

I am also going to bribe you and say that anyone who makes any donation to Team Knox... I will send you some FREE handmade cards, just email me when you make the donation with your address so I can ship them at my personal cost to you! I don't know exactly what yet, but probably a combination of Happy Birthday and Thinking of You cards. :-)

Recipe:

(makes 6 cards)

for this specific card (in most of the photos, with the blue background and maroon floral pattern)

1 sheet 12X12 Making memories 'delaney floral' print paper, cut into 4X5.25 pieces

3 sheets 8.5X11 Kraft Cardstock, cut hot dog style (11X 4.25) and folded in half (to form a 5.5X4.25 card)

Embroidery Floss, your choice of color- I used brown

6 pretty buttons

6 copies of the phrase you wish to use

corner rounder

1. fold the 4X5.25 piece of kraft cardstock in half, round the lower right hand corner of both front and back of kraft cardstock. It should have the crease on the TOP of the card (lengthwise).

2. with each of the 6 patterned papers (cut to 4X5.25") round the lower right hand corner.

3. adhere patterned paper to kraft card.

4. adhere your phrase/saying to the front of the card, towards the upper left side.

5. tie the embroidery floss around the front of the card, making a small knot to hold it snug around the card front.

6. thread the embroidery floss through two of the button holes, and make a little double knot to hold it there as well. snip off the excess floss, leaving as much as you'd like to dangle.

7. sit back and enjoy this beautiful card!

Have an awesome day, and by next week I should be back on my normal daily blogging routine! I will be in Hawaii (Maui) on my honeymoon July 4th through the 11th-- so I may not do any blogging that week. We will see! we're going to be doing lots og hiking and sight seeing, so I'm hoping to have some amazing photographs to share. I also will get to shoot my first wedding, on the black beach on Maui, so I can't wait to share those memories as well!

Etsy Shop

My Etsy Shop should be up, running and filled with good stuff by this evening.

There is a link ------------------------------------------------->


on the right hand side of the blog. You are invited to check it out!