Thursday, March 28, 2013

Spring Break

My son has an extra long spring break this year.  11 days off!  We are headed up north this weekend but for most of the week we'll just be hanging around the house, enjoying not having to run places.  Hopefully here in Michigan, the weather will warm up!  It's still chilly!!

It's been a year since we've been back in Michigan.  For those who are new followers, we lived in Arizona for a year, but came back.  So it's nice to be home again, back in our old house, with family, friends and everything!  We are thankful to be able to come back to our house after renting it out for a year and not have "too" much damage by the tenants.  

What kind of fun adventures do you have planned for your Spring Break?

Can't wait to sit on the beach and see these sunsets and water again!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Slime? Flubber? Let's make it!

My oldest son made this before at summer camp and when he saw I had the Borax out the other day making my homemade laundry soap, he's like "Mom, can we make slime?" Sure!  We had to find some glue in the house but we found a bottle I had got super cheap with coupons when school started so we made green slime!

Materials
  • Elmer's white glue or Elmer's school glue gel
  • Borax (find in the laundry detergent aisle of the store)
  • Water
  • Two bowls
  • Food coloring (optional)
What to do:
  1. In one bowl mix 1/2 cup (4 oz) glue and 1/2 cup water. 
  2. In the other bowl, mix 1 teaspoon borax with 1 cup water until the borax is dissolved.
  3. Add the glue mixture to the borax solution, stirring slowly.
  4. The slime will begin to form immediately; stir as much as you can, then dig in and knead it with your hands until it gets less sticky. (No one makes slime without getting a little messy!) Don't worry about any leftover water in the bowl; just pour it out. 
  5. Put the slime in a plastic bag and add a few drops of food coloring.  Squish it around in the bag and it will magically turn colors! (Brody chose green) 
What's happening?
The glue has an ingredient called polyvinyl acetate, which is a liquid polymer. The borax links the polyvinyl acetate molecules to each other, creating one large, flexible polymer. This kind of slime will get stiffer and more like putty the more you play with it.
Store it in a plastic bag in the fridge, to keep it from growing mold.


Friday, March 22, 2013

Custom Name Pillows- $30

I've been so busy with orders lately, I haven't had time to blog!!!

Everyone was getting ready for babies being born and Easter coming that I have a backlog of things to make!  Pushing it to get done by Easter weekend so we can go up north for the weekend!

Check out these cute pillows!


 



Interested in anything on my Etsy shop? Don't forget to check out my Facebook Page too!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Top Mommy Blogs

I'm trying to get more exposure on my blog so if you could please click on this graphic once a day, I'd appreciate it!



Where you right, Mr. Groundhog?

So if Spring is on it's way earlier this year, where is it?  Most of us northern folks are getting anxious to step outside and enjoy the warmer weather, and as spring approaches, we all wish we could be on the beach somewhere, or enjoying a great baseball game with family and friends!  Detroit Tiger's are a favorite baseball team in our family and we enjoy going to the games and just baseball in general.  There is nothing quite like a night game when the weather is amazing and your favorite team is winning!  Maybe a couple cold beers in your hand to help with the heat will do also! :) 

I made these cute keychains that go perfect for the Detroit Tiger's lover in your life!! Check them out on my Etsy Site.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/125389588/detroit-tigers-acrylic-keychain?




And if your just wanting a cute little gift for yourself or maybe even your bridal party?  How about monogrammed keychains? Message me for discounts on large orders.  


Now here in our area of Michigan, it's supposed to be 50's this weekend.  That's like a hot spell for us! I hope the snow melts and we can semi-enjoy the outdoors this weekend!  Enjoy your week!


Friday, March 1, 2013

DIY Powder Laundry Soap

Since I'm staying home right now, I'm all about saving money!  I keep hearing about people that make their own laundry soap and how good it works.  Well we are a Tide family, and always have been.  My mom used some other kind of soap when I was little and I broke out in hives, so we have just always used Tide.  But I thought I'd give this a try!  It was super easy to make and cheap on the budget!

The Parts
1 Cup Borax
1 1/2 Cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not to be confused with baking soda)
1 Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap
Cheese grater (Food Processor)
 
I also added 1 bar of Ivory Soap, we had a bar lying around and thought it'd help with the smell.


Price List:

Borax Detergent Booster- $3.39
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- $3.24
Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar- $0.97

When it all boils down to it, your spending about $0.02 to $0.05 per load of laundry.  And since you only use a little bit of the boxes, you have more then enough for more laundry soap, just have to get another bar of Fels-Naptha (CHEAP)!!!

First you take the cheese grater, or a food processor if you have one, and shred the soap into fine bits.  This took awhile.  I also did the Ivory bar soap too so those were mixed together.  

Then I added the 1 cup of Borax and the 1 1/2 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and mixed it together.  I just used a big spoon to mix it up in a plastic container I had around the house.  


You only need to use 2 tablespoon per load (3 tablespoons if your load is heavy duty) but since I didn't have an extra spoon I just got an extra medicine cup we had.  3 teaspoons equal 1 tablespoon so just two scoops per load and I'm all set!!  

I washed one load already and it smells great and seems to be clean!  

You could also add some of the Purex or Downy Crystals to it, but since we don't use any softener when I was, I figured that was just an added expense we didn't need to add.  

Can't wait to save on the jugs of Tide! :)