Handmade Valentine's Gift, Early I Know

I know it's pretty early to be thinking of Valentine's Day, but when your lovie is gone you start thinking of holidays way in advance because you have to send your packages out pretty early. For Valentine's Day, lovie will still be in the States, but will have just gotten to a new place, so I will have to be quick at finding out his mailing address for the new place.

I have an idea for a Valentine's to make lovie from our little guy. (It involves paint and very little, squirmy hands). So I will have to post that once I make it.

From me I decided to go with a version of the "52 Reasons Why I Love You" project. I actually have done one of these before, years ago (for an ex-boyfriend, shhh), and I didn't like how it turned out so I wanted to make it a little differently this time. There are all kinds of different types and tutorials of this project on Pinterest for you to get some ideas, but I actually wanted to keep mine really really simple, although on other projects I usually would add a lot of embellishments and bling.

For this project I used:

• A Deck of Cards - you can use the jokers for the front and back cover, or if you don't have jokers you can double side two cards for the covers
• Hole Punch
• Homemade Modge Podge
• Paint Brush
• Index Cards - cut into thirds
• Red Sharpie
• 52 Reasons
• Red Elastic Ribbon
• Button

When I did this project previously it was actually really difficult to write out 52 reasons, but this time I wrote all 52 in literally like 20 minutes, with a few extra reasons as alternates. (If lovie ever reads this, I hope that makes him feel good!). I think it's easier to write them out when you have lived with someone and you have a really caring and loving man like I do! Not that I am encouraging living with someone, but for all of the teens and people that are just dating, it might take a little longer to write out the reasons. I would suggest starting a list and writing down new reasons every few days when you think of them.

The first thing to do is to figure out how you want the cards punched, or not punched... some people decorate them then put the cards in a box. I did two punches about an inch apart in the middle of the cards. Then after the Index Cards are cut into thirds, they are ready to be pasted on. I used a paint brush to put a little bit of modge podge onto the card, put the index card on top, and put another layer of modge podge over the whole thing. Let them dry completely before writing on them, but once they are dry write away! Most other people do them typed, but I wanted to keep mine handwritten. When lovie is so far away a handwritten note is much better than something that is typed.

To tie the cards together I used a piece of red elastic ribbon that I threaded a button onto it and then put both ends through the holes from front to back (so the button ends up on top of the cards). Then I took the two ends from the back and stretched them around to the front and tied them in a knot and a bow so it could fit around the button to hold the cards together.

I am really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to send it him!

xo JC

Airing our dirty laundry

A while back I was searching for ways to make your own laundry detergent thy was safe for cloth diapers, cheaper than the leading liquid, and will work on our "He" machine. I scoured Pinterest and kin of combined a few different recipes I'd seen to make something really simple. And yes the lovie calls me Amish for making my own detergent. Save that money honey.

These ingredients are all available at Walmart. For my version this is all you need! Borax, Arm & Hammer, and some sort of oxy-cleaner (this one was the cheapest for me at around $6). The Borax and Arm & Hammer were about $3.65 each.

I keep it pretty simple and don't measure a whole lot but I mix about half the oxy-cleaner and the entire box of Arm & Hammer and Borax and mix in my handy recycled Nesquik container that I painted and decorated with scrapbook paper and letters. Then in each load I use about 3 scoops of the mixture and you're good to go!

I've been using this mixture for a few months now and haven't noticed anything really different from liquid detergent. The clothes feel and look just as good as before, but it's nice with a new baby knowing that all those dyes and irritants aren't getting on his skin. And it WAY cheaper, and we know I like it like that!

I know some people put a shredded bar of organic soap or some essential oils in their powder detergent to make it smell nice but I prefer it scentless so whatever works for you! Seriously though I was a little skeptical at first but it really has been great and super easy and it lasts a while.

Along with making a fresh batch I spruced up the laundry room a bit. No cash used, but I really wanted to tidy up and give it a little umph. I've seen so many laundry room makeovers lately that have turned out so beautiful but we are renting so we can't paint or change shelves around or anything so this is all it get for now, but for free and it only took like an hour I'm pleased. This is how it looked before:

And usually it looks way worse. The hardest part is getting everyone to take their laundry to their rooms and for some reason we end up with a huge pile of unmatched socks like every 2 weeks. I think my mom doesn't match them when they come out lol. Although it was a quick project, I still wrote down a list of what wasn't working in the room. Aside from needing to be cleaned, we needed a place for socks, coins, and things that needed to be ironed. So I found two unused baskets, one for socks and one for things that need to be ironed. I used some little wood tags that I got from Michael's a few months ago and painted then, added some letter stickers, an attached them with ribbon.

I also used an empty formula can for loose change, covered with scrapbook paper and sticker letters and adhered with homemade mod podge. The rest was just cleaning, organizing, and putting things where they belong. There was a huge poker set in there and when I asked my dad where it belonged his answer was in the laundry room. Hah, not when I'm organizing it. It found a new home with the board games.
 

 And because I just think he's so stinkin' cute, here's Galen with his Great Aunt Janice who is just the most wonderful and pleasant lady ever. This was their first time meeting...

And that picture doesn't do her justice. She's gorgeous in real life!

That's all for now!
xo JC