Filling my home with Family

I have a wonderful family; one that, like me, is very nostalgic and retains relics of previous generations that hold no real value outside of sentimental value.  I made a trip to my grandmother’s old house recently to grab some items that had been left to me when she passed.  While there, I found a treasure of items that reminded me of her in some way that now have a permanent place in our home décor…especially this suitcase that was hers before she got married (EKD stands for Elizabeth Kinsler Deuel, she married my granddad and became a Holland).

I also picked up a few more old suitcases that now reside in my bookcase (that now is painted on the inside and almost completely decorated) along with a few pieces of silver and crystal.

I’ve also gotten several neat items from my other grandmother including some cast iron pots and irons that her mother owned.

The large projects that I worked on the first year or so of being in our home have been replaced slowly with more finishing touches.  There’s still more to paint, but it’s coming together.  Trey is also working on something in the yard right now…more to come soon!

Pinterest

I fell into Pinterest in a backwards sort of way, only joining to get a recipe for homemade laundry detergent.  When I started browsing, I found so many other things I wanted to try like these painted shoes and this craft desk. 

I bought the $15 black flats at target and then just used craft paint from Michaels, painter’s tape, and a few Sharpie’s (for touch-ups) to make these dolls!

For my $45 craft desk, I followed these instructions only changing the color of the door to grey (same grey as my kitchen), vs white in the link.  I also faced my bookshelves inward and stashed a toolbox or two on the floor under it.

For my birthday, my wonderful friend Danielle made this for me, which was one of the things I had pinned and planned on making.

I made this sign for the arrival of my goddaughter Grace. 

And I just finished this $10 vase today.

I also love Pinterest for recipes, though I haven’t really done as much of that as I have the crafting projects.  Fortunately I can't access it at work or else I would NEVER get anything done!

Homemade Household

Get prepared; I’m about to go on another blogging binge! 

Quickly, here’s a few ways the house has changed since Christmas.  No more ornaments in the apothecary jars and no more sparkly Christmas colored balls in the sisal rope pail.  They were replaced with natural and white vase fillers from Target.

Pinecones and candle sticks are still there, I kinda like them!

Also, new curtains and pillows in the living room.

What I really wanted to write about was how I’ve gotten on this homemade kick lately…unfortunately (for my husband) the kick is not related to food so much as it is household goods – cleaners and bath salts.

A couple in my Life Group at church had found a recipe on pinterest for homemade laundry detergent.  They went on and on about how much money the website said they would save on detergent since it only costs about $20 to make and lasts for 9ish months (based on their wash frequency).  They hadn’t tried it first hand but I was intrigued.  Not really because of saving money, though I like to save money; really just having and using something in your home that you made instead of buying.  So I tried this recipe.  Note: if you will be making large batches like this, purchase a dust mask and a few 5 gallon buckets to allow for more even mixing.  It would have made my life easier.  Anyway, so I made a huge batch in an hour or so and put about half of it in a glass jar from Hobby Lobby.

I took this picture today and I made this in January!  So far, Trey (my wonderful clothes-washing husband) has said that it works pretty well with only 1 tablespoon.  He uses more for dirtier loads, but has indicated it cleans very well.  The clothes I put on everyday are still clean, don’t smell any different, and haven’t caused any strange skin rashes, so I count this one a success!

Homemade laundry detergent got me thinking about homemade fabric softener, which led me to a DIY Natural book, which also includes tons more recipes for other types of household cleaners.  I do not count the fabric softener a success.  It was basically white vinegar with several drops of peppermint essential oil, which smelled nice….until you washed your clothes with it.  A whole load of clothes came out smelling like vinegar and we haven’t tried it again since.  Maybe I did something wrong, because I have read a lot about people using vinegar in combination with other things for fabric softeners.  Either way, we won’t be using that one anymore J

In conjunction with this, “I need to make all my own cleaners,” Centsational Girl posted a recipe for making your own lavender sea salt scrub.  I thought, cleaners for my house…cleaners for my body…let’s keep this homemade train going!  Alexa came over and we had a Kindergarten craft morning of sorts and made the salt scrub (which leaves your skin feeling very luxurious).

Excuse my scrubby appearance…  I put them in small canning jars from Publix and distributed them to some people, keeping a jar for myself.  After all, if you can’t share your homemade joy, what’s the point in making it?