Homemade laundry detergent

It seems every time I turn around, I'm having to buy laundry detergent! This is a huge pain to me because I'm always torn between the cheap, chemical-laden detergent or the all natural version that costs twice as much. We are very skeptical of chemically engineered products and are uneasy about using them. We feel like we can trust the things God has naturally given us and things that have been faithful throughout history. We cannot trust what man has created as willingly, no matter what kind of degrees they have, because humans make mistakes. How often have we seen these concoctions recalled and taken off the market because what the FDA once thought was safe, they're now realizing it's not. Although there is no proof that the chemicals in detergents and other soaps are harmful, we'd rather be on the safe side as often as possible! That being said, store-bought all natural cleaning products usually come with a price too high for us! We've gotten around this many times by learning how to make our own. So I was very happy when I got an e-mail from a good friend of mine saying she had a recipe off the Duggar family's web-site with a homemade detergent recipe! So, I will post the link, and then add a few things of my own.



http://duggarfamily.com/recipes.html


Okay, washing soda and borax cost about $2.50 a box around here and a friend of mine picked up the soap for me, but I don't think it cost more than a couple dollars, either. This makes a 5 gallon bucket full of solution, but you mix 1/2 solution, 1/2 water in an old laundry container to use, so your talking about a big bang for your buck! After you make the solution and let it sit for a while it will separate and need to be stirred to refill your smaller container. My friend Heather suggests using a thick dowel rod, which works great. Also, you'll need to shake the bottle of solution well before you add it to your washer. For measurements, we marked a line on a paper cup that we keep next to the detergent. Without adding any essential oils for fragrance, the clothes don't really have a scent and the water won't get sudsy at all. But when you take a whiff of your freshly laundered clothes they smell clean, not like Wild Flowers, Lavender Vanilla, or any other false smells your ordinary detergents carry, just clean. How simple and refreshing!

New web-site addiction...

I read about this web-site in one of my magazines and wanted to pass it on.

www.Cyke.com/snowman.swf

This site has a blank snowman that you can decorate with traditional and super funny accessories. It's a kid pleaser for sure! Ava and I have had a great time making silly snowmen today. Then you can type a personal message and print out your picture. When you scroll over the options, like the "Arms" category, the computer will say the word, for those of you with pre-readers. Great distraction for the little ones while you're trying to wrap those presents!!

Puppet Theater

Well here's the big present for the kids this year. I'm very excited about it! Puppet theaters are so pricey, and though they are much more professional than my humble version, the purpose is the same. What a valuable tool to have around the home! This is beneficial for playing and for teaching. Plus it makes for easy present ideas! How fun will it be to buy a new book for the kids and make character puppets to go along with it. Or to make puppets that coincide with biblical parables? The possibilities are endless!

I won't go through how I made it step by step because some of it's pretty self explanatory. It's made up of 3 pieces: The main blue piece has a rectangle cut out of the middle/top leaving about 5 inches on each side and the two pink pieces are the curtains which can be drawn back during a "show". It's held in the doorway by a tension rod and there is a dowel rod sewn in horizontally under the opening in the blue piece to hold the middle up and open.

I love this idea because it's something that's so simple to make and easy to put up and take down. Plus storage is no problem because it folds up as small as a tension and dowel rod. Besides, because I already had most of the material on hand, it cost me about $8.

I also made puppets to go along with this, but because I was running low on time and experience, they're a little homely. I just needed something quick and these served that purpose very well!

We have 2 men and 2 women hand stitched from felt. Then for accessories I made a baby, banjo, guitar, school book/bible/story book/cookbook/song book/etc, pot, wooden spoon, and hammer. These are made out of felt, too, so they will temporarily stick to the puppets. Now, who wants to take up a pool to see how long it takes for something to get lost?

Homemade baby shoes

Yes, you read that title right! Who would've thought? Well, obviously somebody did and boy am I thankful!

We've always been lovers of soft baby shoes like Robeez and Bobux, but we don't love the price! At $30 a pair, one pair at a time is all we could ever buy and even that was hard on our conscience. But we knew these little shoes were better for our babies feet than those hard-soled, tight shoes.

Serenity has been barefoot her whole 10 1/2 months of life, but now the weather is cold and strangers have started inquiring (Sometimes rather rudely!) about where her shoes are. So Kevin and I started the hunt. We checked Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, e-bay, etsy, and many more trying to get a good deal. We had nothing but bad luck! So finally I started thinking, "Surely I'm not the only one who has been in this situation and there are many crafty people out there..." So I did a quick search and found so many links to free patterns and tuts on making soft-soled baby shoes!

I just finished Serenity's first pair. It took me about 2 hours and cost about $2!!! Whew, what a relief! Here's the finished product:

Here's the link I used:

http://www.tackyliving.com/article.php?id=121

She gives really great instructions. The only thing I really changed is the sole. She calls for leather or suede and the local fabric store didn't have either of those. So I bought pleather. I'm sure after time it won't hold up as nicely, but Serenity's not walking yet and I'm impatient, so this was my choice. Next time I'll probably look for something a little more durable.