Christmas Gifts 2012

Yes, the title is Christmas Gifts 2012. As I am planning the gifts I will make for 2013, I realized I never posted the gifts I made last Christmas. Oops. And I did not remember until a friend of mine invited me to a "craft day." I responded that I am not really that crafty, to which she pulled out the gifts I made last year. So, maybe I am crafty.

Just like millions of American women, my inspiration comes from Pinterest. I stumbled on these necklaces and these glasses and thus I knew what I wanted to make.

CANDLE VOTIVES
I made these for my son's teacher and they were extremely easy!

I found some great glasses at the dollar bins at Target. I have lots of glass paint (from 10 years ago when I made a bunch of votives for Christmas... again, forgot I can be crafty), but the paint can be found at any craft store. For a picture of the paint I use, refer to this blog post.

I squeezed the paint onto a paper plate and used the flat end of a bamboo skewer to put dots all around the glass, making them more dense towards the bottom. I was proud of the end result!

GLASS PENDANTS

This project was a bit more time intensive, but I loved how I could make each one unique. Instead of square glass, I used the round stones found in the floral section of the craft store.

I wandered the scrapbook paper section for a while to find the perfect papers. I wanted paper with  "words" and paper with "music" for my project, and I also printed my own graphics. I used the stones to trace circles to fit perfectly.

I used modge podge to attach the circles to the stones, let them dry, then used modge podge to seal the back of the paper to the stones. Once that dried, I attached magnets to some, and necklace/keychain loops to others, using really strong epoxy. The most time intensive part of the entire project was waiting for "dry time."

So now that I have finally shared my gifts from last year, I can start gathering materials for the gifts for this year. Happy crafting!

Square-Foot Gardening

For the past 4 years, I have been attempting to start a garden. It started with a container garden in our previous house. I did not feel like digging up the backyard, especially since we were planning to move, so I worked with containers.

My first container garden

The laundry basket is petite cucumbers and the red buckets are 2 varieties of tomatoes. I started them from seeds indoors and transplanted when they were big enough. I also had railing planters on the porch that container lots of herbs: cilantro, basil, thyme, etc. The containers were a good choice since we moved that summer and it was easy to take them along.

Then next step was to create some raised garden beds. Last summer I bought some cheap wood through a yard sale page on Facebook and built the frames for the raised beds. I was determined to build them myself, so other than my husband giving advice and being an extra set of hands, I did ALL of the handy work. I mowed the grass as short as possible in the locations for the beds and laid anti-weed fabric on the grass. The beds were placed on top and I had a local guy deliver top soil. Of course, the delivery truck got stuck... but that's a separate story.

Then the beds sat for a year.

What can I say? Life gets busy.

This spring I got my act together and plotted out my garden. After measuring the width and height, I made a plot on graph paper. Then I did a little research into companion planting and square-foot gardening to came up with a plan.

The paper plan

Then I measured, marked, and used twine to set my square foot boxes within each bed. As you can tell, I had a "helper." My real super-duper helper (my 7-year-old) is not pictured.

Raised beds divided into square foot boxes

I intend to garden from seeds, however I did not have a greenhouse ready to go this winter. Guess what I received as a Mother's Day gift? Guess what is still in the box?

My helpers and I visited a local farm to get plants. My neighbor recommended the place and although it was a 40-minute drive, it was well worth it. I got all of the plants pictured plus two butterfly bushes and 4 rose plants for $60!!

The (almost) finished garden

The items missing are kale, spinach, pumpkins, and potatoes, however I added marigolds and more lettuce than in the original plan.

Fingers-crossed that all the plants survive and grow to fruition!

UPDATE 6/25/2013:

 My garden is doing tremendously well! Of the original plants 2 cucumber, 1 lettuce, 1 cauliflower and 2 marigolds did not survive. I have since added cilantro, pumpkin, and spinach, as well as replacing the 2 cucumber plants.

Picture of the garden with the same angle as the first picture.

A picture from the opposite angle, since the tomato plants block the view.

First tomatoes

First zucchini

First green pepper

UPDATE 7/5/2013:

Picture of the garden, same angle as first picture

Picture from the opposite angle, due to huge tomato plants!

Necklace Frames

For a few years (10? maybe) I have had this very nice jewelry box. It has 4 small drawers, one that is divided into 4 sections, and a large ring drawer. There is also a necklace "cabinet" that has turn-able hook wheel. The main problem is that most of my necklaces are longer than the height of the cabinet, so my necklaces constantly get tangled when I turn the wheel to find the one I want. And it is dark in the little cabinet, so I am not always able to see what I'm trying to find.

Thanks to Pinterest, I've seen lots of cool ideas for displaying jewelry as if it is artwork. I got a basic idea in my head of what I wanted to create and just kept my eyes open.

I was recently at a church rummage sale - you know, the kind where you fill a bag for a buck? - and found the supplies I was looking for: pictures frames and fabric. I found an empty frame to use, as well as a frame with "art" that I had no problems sending to the curb :) I found a lovely purple velour skirt to use as the fabric. After purchasing foam sheets and straight pins from the art supply store, I was ready to create my new necklace frames!

The "art" that can find a new home.

Remove the art and the glass from the frame.

Cut foam to fit the frame (I used the art as the template).

Cut the fabric to fit around the foam. I taped the back... it is not pretty!

The fabric on the foam.

Insert the foam/fabric into the frame and use the original backboard.

Both of the finished frames.

Hang pins a different points. A great way to display my jewelry!

It looks pretty and makes it easy to find what I want to wear.

Homemade Cleaners - Starting Small

One of the side-effects of having children is being more aware of the ingredients in everything I bring in the house: snacks, cleaners, take-out, etc. The past 6 years have seen a shift in my shopping, and I have begun making my own version of items (see previous posts about Granola and Gummy Snacks). The other side-effect is noticing the cost of everything.

Now I am experimenting with cleaning products.

I found a great online resource in DIY Natural. It has TONS of ideas for creating homemade, natural products (I am not receiving anything for this endorsement; just sharing something awesome that I found).

For my first two experiments, I picked two items that we use very often in our house: Laundry Detergent and Dishwasher Detergent. These detergents touch every item that comes in contact with our food and every item that comes in contact with our skin. I thought that was a great place to start.

The ingredients for the Laundry Detergent are readily available at the grocery store and super easy to mix. I am on my second batch and I love the results so far. My clothing is clean, and I appreciate there is no additional fragrance from additives in other detergents. I have also been using white vinegar with sweet orange oil as the fabric softener; again, a winner. These work well and are inexpensive.

I had a little more difficulty with one of the ingredients for the Dishwasher Detergent: citric acid. I made the detergent without citric acid and noticed the "clouding" problem mentioned in the comments with the recipe. So I made it my mission to get the missing ingredient. Thanks to a tip on the website, I stopped by the local homebrew shop and found the citric acid without having to order online. One week later and the clouding on the plastic is completely gone and the rest of the dishes are shiny again. Lesson learned: follow the recipe exactly until you understand how each ingredient works... this sounds like cooking and baking. I use white vinegar in the rinse aid compartment.

What homemade items are making your life cleaner and less expensive?