Valentine Wreath

I get tired of paying so much money for wreaths, so I decided to make one myself. 

Here is what I used:
red spray paint
green foam wreath
red boa-dollar store has them sometimes
glue gun
plastic glitter hearts
ribbon

This is pretty easy and didn't take much time.  First I spray painted the foam red.  Don't worry about making it perfect.  Next I glued the boa in two circles around the foam.  1 circle more toward the outside to give width and one on the inside to cover the rest of the foam.  Then I cut the wire on hearts to about two inches and stuck them in the foam.  Attach the ribbon and you are done...so easy!!!

Spa Water

I found some recipes for flavored water on a health site.  One even said it would help with belly fat.  I am all about that.  I don't really like water, so in the new year I decided to try to drink more since I know it is good for me.

I am calling this "spa water" because it taste like what I get a the spa.  I changed the recipe some to suit my taste, but feel free to experiment.

Ingredients:

8 cups of filtered water

2 lemons sliced

1 cucumber peeled and sliced

1sp of fresh ginger

10 mint leaves

Mix it all together and let it sit overnight.  I have almost drank all of this and it has not been 24 hours.  It is very refreshing.  

Pantry

Okay, so don't look at how unorganized my pantry is.  I did clean that next.

I bought these baskets for a few dollars and using 3m hooks to attach them to the door of the pantry.  In the lower one(kids can reach) I put cereal bars and oatmeal.  On the upper ones I put things that don't stack or get lose just laying on the shelves.  I like it so far.  It is helping keep the pantry organized, and I didn't have to put any permanent hold in the door. 

DIY Laundry Detergent

Okay, I know many of you will think I am crazy, but I saw someone post something about making your own laundry detergent and it really looked easy.  I always complain about how expensive Tide is and with two children and a husband I feel like we do laundry every day.  I looked at several receipies online and adapted them to what I think will work best for my family.  Here are the ingredients needed:

• 2 gallon jar or container or some sort.  I got a glass jar from wal-mart for $8
• 1 tub (3.5lbs) green works oxi stain remover.  This is optional, but with children I decided to add it.
• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (3lb 7 oz box)
• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (4lb box)
• 20 Mule Team Borax (4lbs 12 oz box)
• 3 bars of Fels-naptha Soap

Let's start with the container.  I bought some letters at Hobby Lobby to put on the jar.
Then I grated the 3 bars of saop in the food processer.  I cleaned and dried out my sink to mix everything up.  Then all I did was pour everything in the sink, mix it by hand and then trasfer it to my container.  ALL DONE!!!  This should last forever b/c you only need about 2tbs per load.  See pics below. 



Hair Bow Storage

I got this cute hand and foot print kit from Target before my youngest was born.  I was trying to figure out something I could do with them and I decided to turn them into a cute way to store bows and add some color to the wall.  All I did was attach some ribbon to the back of the circles.  It was that easy.

DIY baby name

When I was decorating my girls nurseries I kept seeing people put their names on one wall.  It was pretty expensive in some of the catalogs, so I decided I could do it myself.  I went to Michael's and bought the letters, two cans of pink spray paint, clear shimmery glitter, and a can of clear paint.  I painted them pink, sprinkled glitter on them, painted the clear on them and sprinkled a little more glitter on them while it was still wet.  Then I stapled ribbon to the letters for one baby and hung them from pegs.  For the other child I chose a brighter pink and didn't use ribbon.  Both turned out pretty good.  I chose not to hand them even because that was too much trouble.