Green Clean

I found a great little book the other day at the library and wanted to share a couple "recipes" with you.


From The Naturally Clean Home - 150 Super-Easy Herbal Formulas for Green Cleaning. [ISBN: 978-1-60342-085-3]

[Photo: stock.xchng]

Basic Sink Cleanser

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 3 drops lavender, rosemary, lemon, lime, or orange essential oil*

Combine all ingredients. Rinse sink well with hot water. Put the cleanser in the sink and wipe with a sponge or cloth. Rinse again with hot water.

*If you're looking for essential oils, you can usually find several varieties at health food stores. Or....Google it on your favorite browser and surf, surf, surf. You can also find lots of them on eBay.



Super-Easy Automatic Dishwasher Powder

• 2 cups washing soda*
• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup baking soda

Combine all ingredients and store in a plastic container. To use, add about two (2) tablespoons to the soap compartment of your dishwasher. If you find your glasses are getting a residue buildup, then reduce this amount to 1-1/2 tablespoons.


*Washing soda is NOT the same as baking soda. I had a really hard time finding washing soda at the grocery stores in my hometown. Some wonderful person on a blog or forum (sorry, can't remember) suggested Kroger's. Yep: they had it. Right next to the borax in the laundry detergent aisle.



Last tip of the day: if you're in the market for a book, please check out Better World Books. They are located in my area (Northern Indiana) and have oodles of titles to choose from (new and used). And...shipping is free. Yes: F - R - E - E! And...they use environmentally-friendly packaging materials. And...they support world literacy -- big time. Check them out when you want an alternative to the 'big box web-stores'.

A Perfect Peony

Peony bush in the back yard.

These are not the big, double peonies that you might be familiar with. These are a simple,single-type of flower. But simple is good. And since they only last for a few days, I thought I'd take a few shots of them. Then...I uploaded the photo to Picnik and played around with it. I'm a Premium Member so I get some spiffy extras to use.

I used the Fancy Focus tool and highlighted the three blooms. Notice how they stand out from the rest of the picture? Picnik is a fantabulous tool. And the really cool part is, the basic version is free. You can do some really great things to your photos. You can use the 'auto correction' feature, crop photos, put all kinds of frames around them, make collages, put text on them. There are digitial 'stickers' that you can put on photos to make photo greeting cards, etc., etc., I use Picnik to fix up most of the photos that I use in my Etsy shop. Go check it out! But beware: it can be addictive. OH...and you can link your Flickr photos to it too.

Oh, by the way, Son No. 1 is back from his Washington DC trip. He's pooped! Crafty Mom and I are so glad that he had a great time and returned home safely. He took TONS of pictures and I'll try to get some of them posted in the next few days. He's just like the old man: put a camera in his hand and watch out!

Catching Up

Exciting things happening around the house and at the lake.
(click on the image for best results)

Hey bloggers! I wanted to share some of the beautiful blooms that are making my jaw drop. I had to catch these digitally and share them with you. I thought Spring would never ever get here. But...seems I was wrong (thank goodness).

And...some new projects popping up in the craft corner too. Coasters, Scrabble™ necklaces and some really cool aprons (up-cycled from kitchen towels).

I'm also planning a tutorial for anyone who's interested in making tote bags. I will start with the handles (I think they are most the fun part of the whole process) ☺

I really want to learn how to make You Tube videos. I know how to include them in a blog post, but ... I need to make a video and upload it to You Tube. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Oh, by the way...we just dropped off Son No. 1 at school for his big Washington, D.C. trip. He'll be there all week, taking in the sites and sounds. I'm jealous since I've never been there. But I'm so glad he has the opportunity to go. Crafty Mama got a little teary-eyed as the bus pulled out of the parking lot. This is his first time away from home for more than a day. It's a new experience for all of us.

Take care,

Spring is in the Air (and in the Etsy shop too)

In the shop.

Green and Red Apple Travel Tissue Holders

All this Swine Flu talk has people pretty nervous. I guess the best we can do is common sense.

• Wash your hands
• Stay home if you're sick
• Keep away from congested areas (congested with people that is)
• If you need to cough or sneeze, do it into your upper arm/shoulder area
• Stay informed, but don't become glued to CNN and get all paranoid about this (okay?)
• Don't travel to Mexico
  

If putting germs on your sleeve seems a bit much, perhaps a facial tissue might be an alternative.

(You knew I was going to segue into that, didn't you?)

The Crafty Dad studio is cranking out travel tissue covers in all sorts of bright, sun-shiny, fun fabrics.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Getting all High Tech and Stuff

Man oh man! There are so many programs out there to make our lives easier. I've come across two in the last few days that I wanted to mention:


SnagIt



You can capture part or all of a screen of information. Including images. An example is shown above. You can purchase the program for about $40.00 or...do like I did and get a 30-day trial version. It's very easy to use.


TimeLeft



This little gem gives you all sorts of clocks, timers, etc.


In craft news, the electrician is coming over tonite to give us a quote on some electrical outlets for the craft corner. Hopefully, he's less expensive than the company I called earlier in the week. They wanted $85.00/hour + materials.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Updated at 7:39 p.m. See post below for update on the electrician's quote.

Crafty Dad Tip - Organize Your Linen Closet

Here's one that just sort of 'happened' the other day. The flannel sheet set on Son No. 2's bed was exchanged for some lighter-weight sheets. After the flannel set came out of the dryer, I got the idea of stacking up the set [fitted sheet on bottom, flat sheet next, then the two pillowcases].

Then...to keep things neat in the linen closet, I cut off a 2" strip of fabric from a sheet I found at the thrift shop and tied the bundle up. Now all the pieces will be together in the closet. When it's time to put them back on the bed, we can just grab the bundle and go.

I'm sure this is not a new idea, but I'm feeling pretty good about it. So, please leave a nice comment, okay?