DIY Laundry Detergent

I finally got the chance last weekend to sit down and make my own laundry detergent, as it's been on the "to-do" list for forever (and we had no laundry soap in our house and I didn't want to go spend money on a brand name so that helped!).  This laundry soap recipe is called "SUPER FRUGAL Laundry Detergent" and it's called that for a reason.... it costs around 20 cents for a 75-load batch. Not 20 cents per load people, but 20 cents for 75 loads!

My cousin, Sarah, has used this recipe with her front load washer for a while and said it works great for her family so I wanted to give it a try as well!  I found all of these ingredients right next to each other in the detergent section of Walmart, but I'm sure they can be found in other stores too.  So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Super Frugal Laundry Detergent
Ingredients:

• 1/4 bar of Fels Naptha soap
• 2 Tablespoons Borax powder
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)
• 2 empty laundry detergent bottles or 1 - 2.5 gallon water jug

Grate the 1/4 Fels Naptha Bar using a cheese grater. Put the Fels Naptha shreds and 1 cup of water into a pot and melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until all the soap has dissolved. Pour 2 1/2 quarts (10 cups) of water into a large container or bucket and add the cooked soap mixture. Add 2 tbsp. of Borax and 1/4 c. of the washing soda and stir. Add 2 1/2 quarts more water and stir. Cover the mixture and let it set overnight. The next morning, your soap will have thickened and gelled considerably. Stir it up. Add the mixture to your empty container(s) filling only half way full. Fill the rest of the container with water. Shake the bottles to mix before use. Use 1/4 cup per load.

So far it's been working great on our clothes, but I will say I've heard that if your clothes are really dirty it might not do the job as well.  We always put a little additional Oxy-clean in every load to help fight stains & keep colors brighter. Either way, it's worth a shot to try with how much money you can save!

DIY Floor Poufs

Our bonus room is completely Em's play room. There is not a working tv, and no furniture... so it's truly all about play, and we LOVE having this space! I had seen a couple tutorials for floor pillows on Pinterest, so I went to work making some custom floor poufs just to give our backs/tummies some cushioning while laying around on the carpet.

I found this tutorial (for a square pouf) and this tutorial (for a circular pouf) and mixed them together to get the look I was hoping for!  I ended up making up my own size for them-- being 27 inches wide by 17 inches deep and 17 inches high.  I am NOT an advanced seamstress but I believe anyone can do a project if they can find the right tutorial to follow.  So with that said, I also put in zippers (they aren't AS hidden as I would like, but I'm not going to be picky for it being my first time using them!) for easy access to take off & wash.

How cute is this fabric? Thanks Hobby Lobby (chevron) and Hancock Fabrics (animal print)!  I also chose three different colors of cording for each pillow as well.   Emery loves the little handles and pulls them all over the place.

I'm really excited about getting the bonus room set up for Emery with a chalkboard, dress up station, buckets for toys, art table, a magnetic wall and a couple more things.  Hopefully that will be happening over the next month or so.  But so far Emery is loving the pillows and so are we!

Drop Cloth Curtains for our Family Room!

Here comes another Pinterest project!  I found this tutorial while browsing one day, and knew not only would these curtains would look perfect in our family room but the cost was right in our budget!  For around $10 a panel, you can't beat it. I went to Lowes and picked up 2 Drop Cloths from the painting section, washed & dried them both (for shrinking purposes in case they get dirty and we want to wash again) and then got to work! 

While Emery was napping, I ironed both panels, and then hemmed the bottom to the right height for our windows.  I wanted them to touch the floor but not bag too much since we have animals and the hair would be out of control.  I will say that hemming was SO much easier since I decided to iron after each step... definitely recommend that even though it takes longer.

Next, I sewed on my pleat tape (this stuff is pretty amazing), and then pulled the strings to make my pleats!

After making my pleats I actually used my clips to hold them together while I ironed the front.  I like how that helped hold the pleats better.

My handy helper woke up during that process and had an absolute blast playing with all of my string while I finished up!

Kyle then hung the curtain rod and up they went!  Unfortunately this project still isn't 100% done as we have to go buy oil rubbed bronze clips & rings instead of our brushed nickel ones that we had on hand.  But for now they are up and we love them!

VOILA!

So what's next in here to work on?  Hang something on the wall behind our couch (thinking about all my G's), find new fabric to cover couch pillows, and revamp our lamps!

Hard to believe this is what the room used to look like before we moved in! Loving the changes taking place around here!

Book Wreath for our Mantle!

I can actually say I've used SO many of my pins from Pinterest in the last month (can you believe we've been in our house a month now?).  From tips on cleaning, to painting and decor... I am learning a ton.  Since we've decided to not put our tv over our fireplace (just too high), I had been looking at ways to decorate our mantle.  I eventually would love some kind of circular mirror, but for now I was looking for anything circular to break up all the hard lines of the mantle all while being inexpensive... and that's when I saw the book wreath tutorial!  I made it last weekend and there isn't another solution that's easier or cheaper.  Total cost was $1!

Although I loved the tutorial that I followed, I wanted to use a book that had meaning to us, rather than just a romance novel off the shelf of the dollar store.  I read purpose driven life a couple years ago, still had the book laying around and thought it would be the perfect centerpiece for our family room.

I painted the edges black to help it look a little more antiqued:

Love how there are images in this book too to help break up the words:

And instead of going to the dollar store to buy a small wreath, I asked Kyle to pick up some tubing from Home Depot.  I have no idea what this stuff is called but it's hollow on the inside and super flexible.  A long tube of it is $1, so you can actually make 2 wreaths out of this if you want to.  So cut it the length that you want, and duct tape the ends together to make a circle. 

Get out your hot glue gun and go to town!

And voila!

I chose to roll my paper in an "S" shape almost, and love the way it came out:

Here's how our mantle is looking right now... candles that don't match, a framed pic of Emery that's too small for that space... BUT I love the wreath!  I actually had extra pages left, so I might go back and make another layer on the bottom to make it even larger.

 

If you decide to make one, link back with your creation!  I would love to see it!

Thanks again, Pinterest!

Family Birthdays Sign -- DIY

The next sign we made was for Kyle's mom, as a way to remember all of our birthdays since our family keeps growing so rapidly!  I found this sign on Pinterest, followed her instructions basically to a tee and we are so happy with the outcome!

So, first we bought a piece of cabinet grade plywood, cut it down to 24" long by 6" tall and then routed all the edges to make it look more finished.  Next step was painting the entire thing your text color, we chose a creamy white paint.  Then place on your vinyl letters cut by your silhouette!

While I was then painting the entire sign gray, Kyle started pre drilling holes in the wooden disks for the eye hooks.  This was the hardest part, so buy as thick of disks as you can find!

Coming together! (This is how it looked once I peeled off my vinyl letters!)

Next step was painting the disks.  I chose a different color for each family, so we had a total of 4 colors used.

Once dry either hand write or cut more vinyl letters to put the persons name and day born on each disk.  Open all the eye hooks and connect the disks to the main board and each other if there are 2 or more birthdays in a month.

And VOILA a Family Birthday board!  We love how this one came out and might need to make more of these at some point!

Go Jump in the Lake Sign -- DIY

As I shared in yesterday's post, Kyle and I decided to make a "Go Jump in the Lake" sign for Kyle's dad for Christmas.  I found this one from pinterest ($60-- yikes!), and got to work trying to replicate it! Kyle cut a sheet of plywood 22x30 and routed the edges for me so it wouldn't be so rough.  We borrowed dad's machine for this, thanks again Dad!  Here is Ky getting a quick lesson!

So the first step is to paint your board whatever color you want the letters to be.  We went with a white washed blue. (We bought tester sizes of paint from Home Depot, it was plenty!)

 Next, cut your vinyl letters from your silhouette and draw light pencil lines onto your board to make sure you are placing them correctly (I chose not to buy the $8 transfer paper, so I laid each letter individually -- which actually went pretty quickly!).

 Erase all your pencil marks when you are done and make sure your vinyl is really pressed down on every edge.

 Then paint your whole board your background color, we chose a white/cream color.

Peel off your letters, then take sand paper and antique on edges and certain parts of the board.

We love the way it came out!

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas Recipe

We tried a crock pot recipe that I had pinned on Pinterest a while ago, and man am I so glad we made it.  It was so easy, and came out very flavorful.  YUM!

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas  

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, sliced

3 sweet peppers, sliced

1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs

½ cup chicken broth

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cumin

1 ½ tablespoons chili powder

Squirt of lime juice

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Fajita fixings

Directions:

Combine sliced onion and peppers in the bottom of a greased crockpot. Lay chicken on top of veggies. Pour chicken broth over top. Sprinkle everything with cumin, salt, and chili powder. Give a nice quirt of lime juice over the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. When meat is done, shred with two forks and stir back into juices. Serve meat mixture with slotted spoon on tortillas with your choice of fixings.

Crock Pot Pork Loin & Potato Stacks Recipes!

Wanting an AMAZING meal for dinner?  Look no further, seriously this is it.  Kyle said this is the best crock pot meal he's ever had and I'm completely with him.  The flavor of the pork loin is absolutely delicious and the best part is that it is so easy!  I also loved these potatoes so I wanted to share.  We are always looking for fun ways to spice up the average potato. Here and here are the recipes I found off of Pinterest.

Brown Sugar & Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

Glaze

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

Roasted Potato Stacks (this makes 4 servings so I doubled it)
Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. Russets potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (I used dried spices)
*If you want to spice it up a little bit you can add some seasoned salt or Bojangles seasoning to them!*


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
2. Make the garlic oil: combine the olive oil and garlic in a small saucepan and gently warm over low heat until fragrant but the garlic is not brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Peel the potatoes and thinly slice them with a mandolin.
4. Brush 8 muffin tins with the garlic oil with a pastry brush. Layer a potato slice in the bottom of a muffin tin and brush it with a thin layer of garlic oil. Layer another slice of potato and brush it with the garlic oil. Repeat until it stacks up to the top of the muffin tin.
5. Repeat step 4 with a new muffin tin until you have a total of 8 potato stacks.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the potato stacks with the fresh thyme leaves.
7. Bake the potato stacks in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and cook through.
8. Serve immediately with any main entrees.

Potato and Bacon Breakfast Casserole Recipe

I made this casserole ahead of time, to bring to eat in Boone with everyone and it was absolutely delicious!  I found it off of Pinterest but it's from one of our favorite recipe blogs, Our Best Bites.  I love that you make it a day ahead of time and doesn't require a ton of ingredients!  Enjoy!

Easy Potato and Bacon Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:

4 c. Southern/country-style hash browns (cubes), completely thawed (if they’re not thawed, they won’t cook correctly)
1 12-oz. package bacon
1 1/2 c. pepper jack cheese
1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese
1 bunch green onions, chopped
3 eggs
1 c. milk*
about 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
about 10 turns freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

*For high altitudes, reduce milk to 2/3 cup and sauté the potatoes in rendered bacon grease until partially cooked before baking.

Begin cooking bacon.  While the bacon is cooking, place the potatoes in a 9×13″ baking dish. Mix the cheeses together and sprinkle it over the potatoes. When the bacon is done cooking, drain it on a paper towel and reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Cook the onions in the drippings for 2-3 minutes or until they’re tender and fragrant. Spread the onions over the cheese mixture and then sprinkle everything with the crumbled bacon.  Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper and, whisking constantly, pour the egg mixture evenly over the potato mixture.  Cover and refrigerate overnight or for 7-8 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.  Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly but not brown. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with fresh fruit.