Home Made Dryer Sheets

I love the way fabric softener makes my clothes feel and smell, but what I don’t love is the price! I have seen several different versions of making your own dryer sheet and basically the instructions are make a cloth napkin and dip it into vinegar and throw it in with your clothes, but where oh where is the good smell? I found this recipe (unfortunately I don’t remember the link) and knew it would be perfect.

2 c. water

1 c. vinegar

2/3 c. any hair conditioner – I used suave cucumber melon splash

Mix by stirring, (I used a whisk and it worked great!) not shaking. Soak a rag in liquid, ring out until slightly damp and add to the dryer with your clothes.I put mine into an empty country crock container (as you can see from this exciting picture), but anything with a lid will do. It looks just like the store bought stuff and it smells great and I plan on using an old washcloth for my “dryer sheet”. I spent a dollar for the conditioner and I had the vinegar on hand, so this was a pretty frugal mix.

I’m off to do some laundry and see how well it works, very soon I will be making my own liquid laundry soap, so stay tuned!

***Update***

The consistency of the mix reminded me of regular fabric softener and so I tried using some in my "Downy" ball and it was awesome! I will be using this more like liquid softener instead of like a dryer sheet.

Homemade Water Colors – Success!!!

It took a couple of days for the paints to dry and some of them were still a little wet. The colors are a little softer than store bought paints and the ones that were still damp were easier to paint with. I would say that adding a full tablespoon of water and then letting them set for 24 hours would make them the perfect consistency. I would also advise adding a couple drops of water to completely dried paint before starting a painting session. My kids were super excited to paint with these since they found them sitting out drying. They didn’t have any problems using this paint and it does dry faster than store bought colors, there is also a baking soda residue that is left when the paint is applied thickly. I like this new texture, it’s kind of like suede. This project was definitely a success! The kids were delighted to have specially made paints and when they get a little bit older they will be able to help make their own paints.

I have several other crafty art supply recipes to try out this summer so stay tuned!

How to Make Your Own Water Color Paint

When I was a little girl my mother used to come up with all sorts of things to keep me occupied and so in the family tradition I decided to make my own water color paints. 

There are a lot of recipes available on the ‘net for a variety of art supplies, pick a supply and google how to make it.  I think it is important to show my children that you can actually make some things instead of just rushing to the store and buying them.  Any who, on with the recipe, you will need:

1 T. white vinegar

2 T. baking soda

1 T. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. glycerin (this can be found in a drug store, with the laxatives(see pic.), make sure to get the liquid and not capsules)

1/2 – 1 T. water

liquid food coloring

Plastic bottle caps, empty paint box, or styrofoam egg carton

Mix the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl, I used the measuring cup.  Be prepared for the chemical reaction, it’s going to foam up a bit.  I stirred my together and then once it stopped bubbling I added the cornstarch, glycerin *, and 1/2 T. of the water(as we all know you can always add more water it it’s too thick).  

Pour into the bottle caps (or whatever sort of container you’re using).  One batch filled six bottle caps.  I think that the egg carton would be perfect for younger children, but my eggs come in a cardboard container!

Now for the fun part, add the food coloring.  I used two drops of each color for the paints in the top row.  For the bottom row I got creative and started mixing.  From left to right: a dusty lavender, teal green, navy blue, reddish brown, and black.  I used toothpicks to mix the colors in.

Let dry overnight and start painting.  Mine have been drying for 8 hours and they are still wet on top, but the bottom appears solid.  I’ll let you guys know how they turned out and get some samples posted tomorrow.

*I bought my glycerin at Walgreens and they did not have it in a bottle, (I had bought it that way before to use as a ink retardant for printing), so I had to get in in prefilled suppositories.  If this is how you buy yours make sure to squeeze out the “lubricant” in the tip before measuring your 1/4 tsp.

Graffiti

Our new house was formerly a rental house and so there have been a lot of fun discoveries made since we closed. For example, a large hole in the kitchen wall was patched with packing tape and then painted, there are miles and miles of wires (cable and phone) that go nowhere, the toilet has been installed at an odd angle, but my personal favorite is the graffiti.

This particular drawing is in my bathroom behind the door, a delightfully primitive large breasted woman done in black sharpie marker. The reason I mention this is that I have discovered a way to lessen the appearance of sharpie marker, so I don’t have to apply 10 coats of primer and I thought I should share. The secret is rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball.

Here is the after shot, now I know that you can still see the boobies, but they are definitely less noticeable. Once the wall dries and the ring around the edge fades it will be a lot better. I think that on a semi gloss paint the marker would have been completely removed. I’m not exactly sure what kind of paint this is, it is matte and when I wash the walls (and yes they really need to be washed!!!) it comes off, not completely, but noticeably. The entire interior is painted with this stuff and every room needs to be primed (with kilz) and painted, walls and ceilings. We are going to start painting soon, but the bathroom will be one of the last rooms we do (we would really like to redo the entire bathroom (or as I put it: rip out everything and start over)).

Oh, and the other thing I learned last week: foaming oven cleaner is great for removing cat urine from cement floors, we got a little crazy and just started trying different cleaning products.

And after all of this I am still really excited that we bought this house and I can’t wait to get everything done.

I Made Tye Dyed Yarn

When I was at the Goodwill last week I found the most striking tye dyed shirt, it was fuchsia and lime green!  I knew that I just had to have it to make some t-shirt yarn.During nap time I started cutting my yarn, I worked very hard to use almost every last bit.I ended up with a 198 gram ball.  I was so excited to start knitting that I forgot to take a picture of the ball, it was really pretty.  I had originally thought that I would make another washcloth or two, but at the last minute I decided to make a drop stitch scarf.It is definitely bright, I really like this color combo.  The fabric is warm and surprisingly heavy, I sure it will be super warm.  My only regret it that I wish it was longer, but I always say that!

I need more tye dyed shirts, I haven’t seen many since I started wanting them, what’s up with that?  I would love to make some sort of rug out of them.  I’ll have to decide what color family to use and then stock up on $.99 day or I could just get all white/light colors and tye dye them myself.