Homemade Earring Hanger

I'll start to by giving credits to my friend Mary for the original idea. She made me an earring rack several years back. I've used it every day since! So I decided to experiment and make a couple of my own. Since they came out ok I plan to make a few for Christmas presents.
My daughter & I put the above two together. We went to a thrift store to pick up the frames then over to the hardware store to buy black fiberglass screening. (84ft for $6)
Then we stapled the screening onto the back. Easy, inexpensive, useful project.

The above rack now holds my earrings (picture is a little sideways...oops!)
If you click on the picture it will enlarge. Most of the earrings were also made by Mary.

Crafty lady, isn't she?

This is Flower Girl's. Pretty funky earrings for a 7 year old. Trust me, she is not allowed to wear some of them in public.

I will end this post with a couple random links I'd like to refer back to and for you to explore if you desire.

Making liquid soap - I'd love to give a try at this sometime. I am going to attempt making bar soap soon, I've done it once before.

Blueberry Gateau - made this recipe the other day..... yummy!

Homemade Christmas Presents

After flipping through the pictures of my camera and coming across this one I was thinking someone must want a duck for Christmas.....dead or alive. Joking, love these Muscovies despite their occasional naughtiness. Had to chase a bunch of them of the neighbors driveway the other day. We caused quite a scene stopping traffic and all.



So I was calculating the other day, 5 more paychecks until Christmas...YIKES!!!

Gotta get a move on! Last year I made lots of goodies and I have dug through my archives and posted links below in case anyone is interested...fun to get ideas from others. Hopefully starting next weekend, myself and 3 others will be getting together every 2 weeks for Christmas crafting, cocktails, and snacks. I am psyched to see what we come up with!! I will have posts to follow up our meeting for others who are interested in making goodies for the holiday. There is NOTHING like a homemade present!


HERE ARE SOME CRAFTING LINKS FROM POSTS I DID LAST HOLIDAY SEASON:

~ Wreath Making & Making Vanilla Extract

~Soap Making

~ No sew fleece blankets

~ Earring Making

~ Body/Linen spray & Bath Salts

WHAT ARE YOU ALL MAKING FOR CHRISTMAS? IF YOU HAVE SOME LINKS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS I'D LOVE TO HAVE SOME NEW IDEAS.

Waking up your Senses

Maine Man has been asking me for some time to learn how to make shampoo. After a bit of googling I finally made it happen. I have made 2 batches so far and the kids and MM like it.

~I heated 16 oz. of distilled water (I would think tap water would suffice)

~Added 2 tea bags (cranberry pomegrate)

~Let it seep for 30 minutes and then removed tea bags

~Added 8 tablespoons of castile pepermint soap

(In the second batch I added a dash of olive oil)

The consistency is watery but the smell and the cool clean feel of the pepermint make up for it.

Here is one of the sites I referenced.

Total costs approximately .75/16 oz bottle.

While researching I found many great sites about the multiple uses of castille soap.

Here is one I'd like to share. This site interests me most because of the recipe for the laundry detergent at the very bottom. It is similar to the one I use but instead of Fels Naptha it calls for castile soap and it has baking soda in it. What I've missed most of store bought detergent is the scent. I love yummy smelling stuff but it costs too much to add essential oils to a few gallons of detergent. Fortunately, castile soap comes in many scents and may be the answer I've been looking for. I will definetly experiment with this and report which I like best.

Here is another informative site from Green Living Tips.

I also made soap for the VERY FIRST time and I am SO EXCITED!

I followed the recipe that I saw at From My Homestead here is the link. What I liked MOST: It was SO EASY! I used lemon eucalyptus essential oil and it smells HEAVENLY!

ALL YOU NEED IS:

5 simple ingredients: water, olive oil, oatmeal, lye, and essentail oils me

If you to are a beginner soap maker THIS is great soap recipe to follow. I used a mixer to combine the ingredients because I did not have a blender. I have read that immersion blenders work great for mixing too.

I guess the scariest part for me was working with the lye. I took precautions, wearing gloves, protective eyewear, and I made it in the shed (away from the kiddos and with room to run in case of an explosion.)

Despite all my worries I pulled it off without incident.

Anyone have any soap recipes they'd like to share?