This morning I was cleaning some stainless steel appliances off, and I realized my kids had stuck stickers on the fridge. The adhesive wouldn't come off, and I was out of Goo Be Gone. Plus, that stuff is a little expensive for tethe amount you get.
I looked in my little homemaker book and found a recipe for making my own, which is the same one my grandmother used.
What you need:
Gasoline
4 Orange Rinds
Put the rinds in a gallon of water. Seal it up and let it sit for about a week or so. Strain it, and the water should now be Citrus Oil.
Take 3 parts oil, and 1 part gasoline and fill up a spray bottle. You can dilute if you wish, but my grandmother never did. Spray directly onto your "goo", wait a couple minutes, and wipe (or scrub) away.
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Bristol Renaissance Fair
Crazy weekend ahead, so I may not get a lot done with my projects. Saturday, after Michael's violin lesson, we are heading up to Kenosha, WI for the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Hopefully the boys have as much fun as I hope they will. They have no idea and I think it will be a nice surprise family vacation (and also snatch them away from their electronically controlled lives).
I am temporarily cheating on my kitchen table project, because I absolutely need a kitchen table. A close friend of mine is PCS-ing (a military relocation) to California in September. He is giving me his kitchen table set, which I looove. This alone gives me more time to work on my other projects.
Progress Update:
Living room entertainment area shelf, which is a floating shelf, needs sanded down, painted, and attached to the wall.
Unfortunately, I haven't found anymore crates for my kitchen wall, so I may have to resort to purchasing. Purchasing it already made outweighs the cost of DIY, since Hobby Lobby and Michael's frequently holds discounts on their wooden crafts.
I am temporarily cheating on my kitchen table project, because I absolutely need a kitchen table. A close friend of mine is PCS-ing (a military relocation) to California in September. He is giving me his kitchen table set, which I looove. This alone gives me more time to work on my other projects.
Progress Update:
Living room entertainment area shelf, which is a floating shelf, needs sanded down, painted, and attached to the wall.
Unfortunately, I haven't found anymore crates for my kitchen wall, so I may have to resort to purchasing. Purchasing it already made outweighs the cost of DIY, since Hobby Lobby and Michael's frequently holds discounts on their wooden crafts.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Crackled Shelf
Primed and painted a base red, and then an antique crackle over it. I went to Hobby Lobby and found pretty blue scrapbook paper, and then thick construction paper for support, lined them up and stapled it onto the center back.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Soaping
Yesterday I took an old "fake" wood book shelf that I got from wal-mart for $10 and painted it. Today I'm lining the back with some of those adhesive cabinent liners. I think it looks pretty good, so far.
I also made soap yesterday morning. I made 2 separate batches, and usually give one to a friend. She said I should post it on-line since it smells so good, AND (bonus) it's cheap!
What You Need:
-Grater
-1/3 bar of soap
-1/2 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda. Yes, there is a difference)
-1/2 cup Borax
-Water, a lot of it
-Bucket (maybe 2 gallon from dollar store)
Grate the bar of soap down. Pour it into a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Cook until all the soap melts. Add your washing soda and borax. Stir until it's dissolved, then remove from heat. Take 4 cups of hot water and pour it into your bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir.
Add just under 1 1/2 gallons of room temperature water (approximately 22 cups of water if you want to count) and stir some more.
If you want to add a scent, now is a good time to do it. Add 1 ounce or less of whatever essential oil fragrance you like.
Let it sit for 24 hours, and it will have a thin gel consistency. Use 1 cup for your loads.
Laundry Soap = 64 loads
Batch Cost = .80 cents
P/ Load Average = .01 cents
Storage Options:
I keep mine in a bucket I got from Dollar General. It came with no lid, so I cover it in Plastic Wrap. I had a measuring cup set that was destroyed, and luckily all the was left was the 1 cup, so I sewed a strap and have that attached to the side of the bucket to do my measurements.
I also made soap yesterday morning. I made 2 separate batches, and usually give one to a friend. She said I should post it on-line since it smells so good, AND (bonus) it's cheap!
What You Need:
-Grater
-1/3 bar of soap
-1/2 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda. Yes, there is a difference)
-1/2 cup Borax
-Water, a lot of it
-Bucket (maybe 2 gallon from dollar store)
Grate the bar of soap down. Pour it into a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Cook until all the soap melts. Add your washing soda and borax. Stir until it's dissolved, then remove from heat. Take 4 cups of hot water and pour it into your bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir.
Add just under 1 1/2 gallons of room temperature water (approximately 22 cups of water if you want to count) and stir some more.
If you want to add a scent, now is a good time to do it. Add 1 ounce or less of whatever essential oil fragrance you like.
Let it sit for 24 hours, and it will have a thin gel consistency. Use 1 cup for your loads.
Laundry Soap = 64 loads
Batch Cost = .80 cents
P/ Load Average = .01 cents
Storage Options:
I keep mine in a bucket I got from Dollar General. It came with no lid, so I cover it in Plastic Wrap. I had a measuring cup set that was destroyed, and luckily all the was left was the 1 cup, so I sewed a strap and have that attached to the side of the bucket to do my measurements.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Busy, Busy, Busy!
A little bit of bad news this week. Drew broke his elbow on Monday by jumping off the sofa and landing onto a hard plastic nerf gun. He walked around in a soft cast all week, and today they stuck him in a hard one. He is so funny, though! I joked with my cousin that he sky dived off the sofa, and his parachute failed. He must have thought it was funny, because now everytime a complete stranger asks how he broke his arm, he responds "Sky Diving!" I've spent all day getting mixtures of awkard, confused looks and dirty glares from people that don't get our joke. Bless his little heart.
I have gotten so much done this week, and still more to go! My bed is put together, the boys bunk bed is put together, 3 shelves, another pegboard for my bedroom "Craft/Sewing Station", and I also have everything needed to make my Skein Winder. Now if only I can decide on the design for my Skein Winder, and I will actually be able to assemble.
Andrew's Bed
Michael and Andrew's bed together!
The parts to my skein winder
Patriotic Wall un-painted shelf.
With one shelf I ran into some problems. I tried to short cut the painting process, which I should have known would run me into problems. On one of my living room walls, I have a little Patriotic Theme. This shelf was supposed to be white, with red crackled over it. Either my crackle is too old, or spray paint cannot be applied after coating crackle on with a sponge. I changed my design around a little, found spray on crackle and I will see if it matches my theme sometime tomorrow.
My floating shelf ran into problems, too. But nothing major. I mis-calculated 2 measurements, by not accounting for the width of one board. No biggie though. I just had to use the circular saw and cut off an inch from the two smaller side boards. Tomorrow I will remeasure the support board and possibly re-cut that also. Tomorrow I will also finish assembling and paint it.
After these three items are done, then it is time to start on my kitchen table. Sooo excited! My table legs arrived, and instead of doing a mosaic center, Hobby Lobby has large-"ish" stain glass pieces which I can theme into the center. 5 bucks a glass though!
Those tiles I picked up I have in mind for another project. But I have so many things going on at the moment, I cannot start another single probject until I get what I'm working on completed.
Like I said, pictures to come in the AM. My cell phone is soooo slow about sending e-mails. Especially picture mail.
I have gotten so much done this week, and still more to go! My bed is put together, the boys bunk bed is put together, 3 shelves, another pegboard for my bedroom "Craft/Sewing Station", and I also have everything needed to make my Skein Winder. Now if only I can decide on the design for my Skein Winder, and I will actually be able to assemble.
With one shelf I ran into some problems. I tried to short cut the painting process, which I should have known would run me into problems. On one of my living room walls, I have a little Patriotic Theme. This shelf was supposed to be white, with red crackled over it. Either my crackle is too old, or spray paint cannot be applied after coating crackle on with a sponge. I changed my design around a little, found spray on crackle and I will see if it matches my theme sometime tomorrow.
My floating shelf ran into problems, too. But nothing major. I mis-calculated 2 measurements, by not accounting for the width of one board. No biggie though. I just had to use the circular saw and cut off an inch from the two smaller side boards. Tomorrow I will remeasure the support board and possibly re-cut that also. Tomorrow I will also finish assembling and paint it.
After these three items are done, then it is time to start on my kitchen table. Sooo excited! My table legs arrived, and instead of doing a mosaic center, Hobby Lobby has large-"ish" stain glass pieces which I can theme into the center. 5 bucks a glass though!
Those tiles I picked up I have in mind for another project. But I have so many things going on at the moment, I cannot start another single probject until I get what I'm working on completed.
Like I said, pictures to come in the AM. My cell phone is soooo slow about sending e-mails. Especially picture mail.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Past Projects
Looking around the house, I have quite a few DIY projects that have already been completed. I think I will make another tab to link to those, and I will have pictures and explain how I did some things. Some are cool, and some probably would look better if I'd input just a little bit more effort.
Today, I'm thinking about taking the boys to the St. Louis City Museum and Fair. We will see.
Today, I'm thinking about taking the boys to the St. Louis City Museum and Fair. We will see.
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