DIY Carpet Cleaner

DIY Carpet Shampoo

Here is one that may be less used in our home but no less vital. I shampoo my carpets every couple months or so but I really love this carpet cleaner.  It keeps them smelling clean and fresh as well as really scrubs the fibers!

So here it is, my recipe for

Carpet Shampoo

1/2 gallon water
1/2 cup Castile soap
1/4 cup lemon juice
scent of your choice

Mix together and wait till its time to clean your carpets.

YEAH!!!! Your going to love it...

-Sarah

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Cleaning Supplies General Info

As I have been posting about these cleaning supplies, it has dawned on me that I gave you a list of cleaning supplies but I never gave you a reason these are great cleaning agents.

So let's start at the top:

Borax: this is a natural mineral, water soluble, and a great Bleach alternative. It deodorizes and inhibits the growth of mildew and mold and boosts the power of other cleaning agents like soaps or detergent.

Castile soap: this is just one brand but you can use any vegetable based soap. It is found in liquid, solid, or powder form. It is also biodegradable.

Baking Soda: if there isn't enough info out there on baking soda it's a, non toxic, all purpose, mildly abrasive cleanser.

Hydrogen Peroxide: more gentile than bleach but used for sterilizing and disinfecting.

Lemon Juice: a great natural acidic cleaner. Good as a natural deodorant, cleans glass, cuts grease, and a mild lightener or bleach if used with sunlight. It can be used for removing mineral build up an grease. Limes are used in much the same way.

Washing Soda: a mineral, softens hard water, cuts grease, can be irritating to the skin so you may want to wear gloves.

Vinegar: a mild acid, disinfectant properties a plenty, cuts grease, removes stains, dissolves mineral deposits, mildew, and deodorizes.

There are several more natural cleaning supplies that I have not mentioned here but these are the ones that I use.

Happy cleaning all!
-Sarah


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DIY Febreeze

I know I haven't been posting as much lately but as you may be well aware in your own life, it's back to school time!  So we have been busy getting our oldest off to Kindergarden.  It has been a busy first week, even if it was only 3 days.  But it has been soooooo exciting!  What a milestone.  I will be posting pics later next week about our first day but, as promised I will continue on the DIY cleaning supplies for now.

So, without further ado....

DIY Room Freshener

Here is yet another one you are going to want to have on hand at all times. I love this stuff. And there is no safe place in my home. No corner that this spray has not seen.

I'm just sayin...

Here is your new favorite spray,

DIY Febreeze

1/4 cup baking soda
2 cups hot water
1/2 cup lemon juice
A few drops of essential oils that will mix well with lemon.

Done-ski!

Try it, it can smell like whatever you want!

-Sarah

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DIY Counter Wipes

Counter Disinfectant

Here is yet another cleaning product we make and use in our house. DIY counter top wipes. I love them, they are earth friendly because you wash the rags and reuse them and I can make a batch for next to no money. LOVE IT! What is not to love though, really? So here is my recipe for our counter wipes.

DIY Counter Disinfecting Wipes

1 cup Borax
2 cups lemon juice
1/2 gallon water
1 cup vinegar

Again, I use warm water and mix in the borax first. Then add the lemon juice and the vinegar.  Through it in an empty jug you have laying around and...

That's it.

Super easy, right?

And I know you are going to love these counter top wipes as much as we do!

Happy cleaning you guys!
-Sarah


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DIY Stain Remover

Here is another staple in our home, stain remover.  This combo has save many a dress, several areas in the carpet, and too  many to count coffee, blueberry, wine or chocolate stained shirts.  (I have even seen it get hair dye out of carpet!  Hair Dye, are you serious?  Yep, hair dye!)

I love this stain remover, I make it up in a small squeeze bottle and just set it aside until it is needed.


Here it is:

Homemade Stain Remover

1/2 cup liquid dish soap of your liking
1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup hydrogen peroxide

I like to mark my bottle so I don't have to measure every time.




















<---
1.  Add the soap

--->

2.  then the baking soda

<---
3. Mix the soap and baking soda first...

--->

4. Then add the hydrogen peroxide, 

less bubbles this way.

5.  Now stir gently and done!

Now wait...

wait until the next disaster that requires your undivided scrubbing attention and watch this super cleaner  in action.

Just spray it on, give it a few minutes, and wash away.

I will often pre-treat my cloths before throwing in the wash as well as pre-treating my carpet just before I shampoo.

****** WARNING:  Now please, make sure you test this in a discreet location of your home before spraying all over your carpet, I would hate to be the person who gave you the recipe that destroyed your carpets!  *******

I have not ever had a problem with this mix however hydrogen peroxide can have a mild bleaching effect on some colors.  I have light colored carpet with lots of different color flecks so if it has done that to my carpets it can only help me but beware with dark colored carpet.

And on that note, you really are going to LOVE this stain remover, it has never led me astray!
-Sarah



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DIY Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap

Here it is, the first homemade cleaning product I made.  I have been using this recipe for a while now and I really like it.  My cloths come out clean and smelling great and I feel good about what I am using because I know exactly what is in it.  

Its fabulous, really!

So here is my recipe for Laundry Soap:

Ingredients:

1 cup castile soap

1 cup borax

4 cups vinegar

4 cups water

plus baking soda (do not add this to the mixture, you will have a volcano!)

Completely dissolve the borax in the water.  Once dissolved, add the remaining ingredients together.  

And done!

Super easy right.  I have found that dissolving the borax is made easier by using warm or even hot water.  Just makes it go a bit faster.  Aside from that the whole process takes about 5 minutes.  This recipe will make about 1/2 gallon of soap.  Enough to refill that old laundry soap bottle you have and will last just as long.  

Now to use, I use a cap full of laundry soap followed by about a 1/4 cup of baking soda with each wash.  Works like a champ!

Happy cleaning!

-Sarah

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Making Your Own Cleaning Supplies

DIY Cleaning Supplies

So, I have been making my own laundry soap for a while now and can I just say, I LOVE IT!  It is so much cheaper than buying, and so easy!

Soph has some skin issues.  It turns out she inherited her daddy's skin, and everything seemed to irritate it, so that is why I initially started, but since then I have realized how many other cleaning supplies I can make on my own.

SOOOOOOO, in short, I thought I would give you all my cleaning supply recipes.

I have adapted them from several different sources, but mostly from a book called; Green Clean: Eco Friendly Cleaning For The Home, And I LOVE it!  It has been a fabulous reference for making all sorts of different cleaning supplies for my house.

So, throughout the next few weeks I will be sharing several of the cleaning recipes I use and if you are interested in more, check out this book.

First I thought I would share with you some frequently repeated supplies for these recipes.

Ingredients for Cleaning Supplies:

• Castile Soap (can be found at most health food stores, I even found it at GNC once.)
• Vinegar  
• Borax  (in the detergent isle at any grocery store.)
• Lemon Juice
• Baking Soda
• Washing soda (also made by arm and hammer, can be found in laundry isle or at hardware stores near pool supplies)
• Hydrogen Peroxide

That is it!  Not too difficult.  I use the liquid castle soap rather than the bars that need to be grated but that is just for my convenience.

Not all of these supplies are pictured, the washing soda is in a container that looks like baking soda but it says on the front of the box right under the brand name 'Washing Soda'.

Good luck finding your supplies, we will start tomorrow!
-Sarah

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Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Lemon poppy seed bread is by far the family favorite around here.  Here is our recipe, it is super moist, extra lemony, (and quick too).  I hope you love it!

Quick Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour

1 large box lemon pie filling

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups sugar (or 3/4 cup agave nectar)

1 1/3 cup veg oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup milk

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon (or 1/2 cup lemon juice)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Cream veg oil and sugar, add eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, vanilla and almond extracts.  

Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ones.  

Divide between 2 greased loaf pans and bake for 40 minutes.  

Done!  

 Oh, so yummy!  Just seeing the pictures makes me want to make some more!  I know you are going to love this recipe.

 Happy baking everyone!
-Sarah

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us on Facebook, or , visit our ETSY shop, or visit our other web site Yuenyarn.com.

DIY Cake Stand From A Thrift Store Find

DIY Cake Stand

This is one of the simplest projects I have seen out there.  I really wanted to make a cake stand out of old plates I had found at the thrift store.  So here is my tutorial.  :)

 Isn't it cute?  I just love it!


First I bought a few matching plates at the thrift store along with an old candle holder.  I spray painted the candle holder purple (because I thought the girls would like it).

Then all you need to do is glue it.  I wanted to make sure it would stay so I used E-6000 glue.  That stuff will bond forever!

A little glue around the edges and place the plates on top.

Let dry and Ta-Da!  LOVE it!

Happy crafting!

-Sarah

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Bowling Ball Garden Bugs

DIY Garden Bugs...

I have seen these on pinterest a couple of times and thought they would be a super cute addition to my veggie garden!  

All you will need is: 

an old bowling ball

Paint

bailing wire
scraps of fabric
hot glue
cotton balls

Thats all.  And this whole project cost me Just $1!  Thats it!  The scraps of fabric I already had, I had bailing wire but you can use any old wire you have lying around your house (how about a couple of paperclips straightened out), hot glue, (please, like my house would ever be void of hot glue!), and the bowling ball I thrifted at the salvation army for, you guessed it $1!  SWEET!  (I may have picked up 3 bowling balls for that price... shhh... I don't have a problem.)

So first you will just want to paint you ball whatever color your base will be.  I used yellow spray paint because I chose to go with a bee first.

Paint your stripes.  I freehanded mine because I am not super picky about these things.  If it bothers you, feel free to use painters tape to make your lines a bit straighter.  I did clean them up a little after I painted them with just a wet washcloth.  This will take a few coats to get nice dark lines.


Now for this next part I just used whatever I had.  I decided that fabric would be just fine outside in the weather so I found some polkadot that I thought I could scrunch up into ball size and glue on the ends.  This is what I did with this one.

I used E-6000 glue for this bug but I found that with the lady bug hot glue worked better for me because it dried much faster and I didn't have to sew the fabric to keep it in place.  either way works great.  (as I have said before, I am a 'use what you have' kind of crafter, because really, you can't do it wrong, right?!?  It's whatever you LOVE!)

Place glue ont eh ends and put the wire and fabric together. 

I then placed the wire in the side by side holes on the bowling ball with glue on them and stuffed the holes with cotton balls to keep them in place as they dried.

No paint the eyes...  white first...

then black...

and when you are done with painting (and it has dried) seal with any sort of sealer, this is what I had.

And there it is.  Super cute, and the kids love them.

Ladybug, yeah!  looks like one of his antenna is twisted, oops, oh well.
See, you can make any bug you want.  I will be making a green one next I think.

Happy garden everyone,
-Sarah

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