Insert Creative Title Here

I think I'm going to have a hard time coming up with creative post titles...

This week, I made:

A tie for a baby shower:

Paper plate masks with Brooklyn

I even felt really brave and let her wield the glue stick...

A gift box/bag out of a popcorn box and brown paper and some other stuff

And I finally finished the faux chenille blanket that I started the November before Addie was born...it's in the gift box...I forgot to take a picture and didn't want to take it out once I got everything to fit...

I'm Back! I think...

For different reasons than I was here before...but not TOTALLY different.

I want to create things this year and I want to blog about it.  Not because I want to tell you how to make them (though I don't mind doing that) and not because I want to show them off, but because I want to document my "creative journey."

Because when my husband comes home and I'm ornery, he sends me to the sewing room and tells me to make something.  And more often than not, I come out happy. 

And because even my household chores are the same for each day of the week and if I didn't DO something about it, my life would be horrifically boring...

So, here is where I can document my successes (and failures) with creating: recipes, home decor, clothes, photographs, date nights, patterns, toys for my girls, paper crafts and fun times for everyone.

So, I'm back...for now...

Enjoy it while it lasts.

I'll do my best to do the same.

DIY Wheat Thins

I love crackers.  Goldfish crackers, Chikin in a Biscuit crackers, Ritz crackers, but especially Wheat Thins.

So, when I came across a recipe for making your own, I knew I'd have to try it.

The recipe is HERE at the site, Home Cooking in Montana.  She's got some other great recipes on there, so if you have an extra minute look around and see what other treasures you find!

I'm not going to write out the whole recipe here.  Follow the link...

But, I will tell you some things I learned while making these.

1. I did NOT use whole wheat flour because I was trying to use up some of my all purpose flour before we moved. Next time I WILL use whole wheat flour, because although my crackers were yummy, they weren't exactly Wheat Thins.

2. I did NOT use parchment paper to roll them out and bake them.  Next time, I WILL use parchment paper! The rolling out was great and the dough didn't even stick to my lightly oiled counter top...but it was a PAIN to pull each individual cracker off the counter and put in on the pan.  They don't spread, so it would have been WAY easier to just throw the whole sheet of parchment paper in the oven.

3. I WILL make these again! YUM!

Tootsies

Addie's tootsies.  As promised...

I love how they turned out!  My mind is reeling with the possibilities.  In fact, I've got some cut out for B, just waiting for me to finish unpacking and have time to make them.

Meanwhile, after having trouble with the vinyl sticking to my presser foot and making things difficult, I found THIS over at MADE, with some great tips for sewing with vinyl, or oilcloth or anything else that has a "sticky" surface.

Would have been helpful several weeks ago...

Oh Boy!

My sister-in-law is having a boy soon, so I'm working on baby boy things!

I had to get the invites out before we moved, but I left ALL my patterned paper in Utah...I have white printer paper and a large roll of brown paper and ... FABRIC.

So, for her invitations, I worked with what I had.  And BOY did they turn out great!

I cut my brown paper into printer sized sheets and printed the "Oh Boy."  Dozens of little fabric triangles later, I traced a curvy line across the paper and sewed away!

To finish it up, I glued the information part of the invite to the back and slipped them into some homemade envelopes sealed with homemade glue!

I might just sew my invites from now on!

 

Sticky Stuff

The other day, I was in need of some GLUE.

Wet glue that I could spread all over and glue some paper to some plastic.

I HAVE glue, just not here in Washington, so I didn't want to go out and BUY more glue because I already HAVE glue...ugh...

So, I googled recipes for glue and tried a few.

The first one was VERY easy and seemed perfect! It smelled like glue and was sticky...

But when it dried, it wasn't making anything stick anymore...

Yes, that is a sneak peek of a project I'm working on!

So, I dumped it in the trash and tried again...

This one was nice and sticky!

The only problem was that once it was dry, if the paper and plastic bond was bent AT ALL, they came unglued.  UGH.

I NEEDED THEM TO STAY STUCK! So I gave the glue a quick lick (Hey...the recipe said it was edible...) and stuck it back down.  It worked!

I knew that as soon as it was dry again, it wouldn't be sticking, but I had a GREAT idea. 

ENVELOPE GLUE!

I make envelopes ALL the time, and usually have to rummage around for a glue stick when I send something, but now I had my own envelope glue!  

Yes, I've tried it.  

Yes it's great!

No, it's not MY recipe. Here's the LINK.  Check it out for instructions!

Their recipe makes A LOT of glue...so for my little jar, I used the following:

6 TBSP flour

9 TBSP water

2 TBSP sugar

1/8 TBSP vinegar

Happy gluing!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been seeing recipes for making your own laundry detergent ALL over the blogosphere lately, and since I was running out of laundry detergent, thought I'd do a little research and see what all the hype was about.

A lot of times, people make their own stuff just to say they made it, but it's not actually any less expensive and doesn't actually do a good job so I was a little skeptical, but in looking around, everyone LOVED their new detergent, and it's about $2 for 40 loads...yeah...compare that to the $18-$20 you were paying for 96 loads!

AND...it's SUPER EASY!

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap (people say that Ivory or Dove soap works great too, but Fels Naptha is a stain remover bar soap, so I decided to stick with that brand for its stain removing value...I've got a toddler...)

Grate the Fels Naptha bar, mix it all together and you've got laundry detergent!

I found all my ingredients at the grocery store (WinCo).  Other bloggers out there also recommended the grocery store, saying that other stores didn't always have all three ingredients.

It supposedly makes about 40 loads worth of detergent (Only 1 TBSP per regular load, and 2 TBSP for a heavily soiled load.) I haven't used all mine yet, so I don't know for sure.  I DO know that my towels smell better (even the super stinky dish towels/rags) and my clothes are clean and that the Borax has so far kept its promise of being a natural color safe bleach alternative.

Find a nice container for it - ($1 at Goodwill)

And go do your laundry!  For WAY cheaper than you were doing it before!