Homemade Laundry Soap

Today I'm going to walk you through my process of making my own laundry soap. This is a recipe I found online a while back and absolutely love.

You will need Fels Naptha bar soap found in the laundry section of any grocery store, a box of Arm and Hammer washing powder, a box of Borax, a cheese grater, an old pot, measuring cup, long wooden spoon, and a five gallon bucket.

1. Grate the Fels Naptha with a cheese grater so it will melt completely.

2. Put the grated soap and two cups of water in a pot and heat until all of the soap is melted. Stir often so there are no clumps.

3. Once the soap is melted, turn off the heat and add one cup of Arm and Hammer washing powder and one cup of Borax. Stir until all is melted.

4. Pour the melted soap mixture into a five gallon bucket and fill to the top with hot water.

5. Let this mixture sit overnight.

6. The next day, stir the mixture to get out any clumps and then it's ready to use.

I use one cup of soap for each load of wash. It works wonderfully. I have spent about $15.00 on supplies which has yielded 35 gallons of washing soap.

I had some pics printed today so I wanted to add a few pics of the finished projects I've been working on with the cabinet doors. I love them...how about you?

Going Crazy With Cabinet Doors

Here's a few projects I've been working on the past few days with the cabinet doors I got for free off of Craigslist...picture holders (two types), a table (also made with a drawer), and a coat rack. Didn't do anything fancy with them, just painted them and added some chicken wire to a few of them. I like the rustic and worn look to furniture so I did take some fine grit sandpaper and roughed up the edges a bit. Now I need to get some pics printed to put in my new picture holders in the dining room.

Cabinet Drawer Turns into Kitty Comfort

Today I picked up a trunk full of free cabinet doors and a couple of drawers from Craigslist. I had no idea what I was going to do with all of them but did have in my mind to make at least one cat bed out of one of the drawers. Azreal loves it so much that I think I might just make him a few more to have stashed here and there around the house for his relaxational needs.

Here's a few pics of the steps I took....it's super duper easy. Clean the drawer, paint it, I also rubbed a little sandpaper across it to give it an old look, and then put a burlap covered bed pillow inside for the squishy comfy part.

One Dollar Lamp Shade

As I was walking down the hallway I looked up, not sure why. I've looked at that glass globe on the ceiling light hundreds of times and never really thought about how ugly it was until that fateful day my eyes were directed upwards for no apparent reason. The first thought in my mind was "that has got to go". So I began making my own shade out of some jute twine (1.00 at the Dollar General) and school glue. A balloon was involved as well.

I blew up the balloon, soaked the twine in watered down school glue and then began to wrap it around the balloon. It sat on a piece of wax paper over night to assure it was dried completely. First thing in the morning, the balloon was popped and my shade was mounted on the ceiling.

I'm quite happy with it. Now instead of an ordinary old glass globe, I have a unique, rustic shade made by my own hands. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.