Petal Balls

I'll let you know right here at the top that I am not a crafter. I like to cook, I don't mind cleaning, a painting project with the kids is well within my abilities, building things with power tools is right up my alley, but "crafty" is definitely not a word used to describe me.

I am in the process of trying to change that. Why? So I can make cute owl shaped things to fill my entire house? No, not so much. I like owls and all, but I don't really need them to fill my space. I have 4 years to fill the space. I am trying to learn how to make things that are meant for aesthetic beauty only to save money. Yeah, it all comes down to frugality. I am trying so very hard to avoid Target and the lure of their quick to purchase and pop onto my shelf stuff. For christmas I made the twins a few gifts, and this was one for Haley. Forgive the bad photos, my camera is just about done in. I made these to hang from her ceiling to add a little fanciness to a corner of her room.

I just have to put out there that it was really hard for me to purchase these pink and purple fabric (that grayish ball is purple in real life) to make these things. I am a pretty big on the whole gender neutral parenting thing. I don't think pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Anything is for everyone is this house (except the vodka - that is just for me). Pink is a tough one for me because I feel like it is representative of all things princess, but at the moment it is a favorite color in the house. The only comfort that I can find is that it is equally loved by both Haley and Kaden. They fight over the pink plastic cup at mealtime. I'm considering throwing the cup away because I am so sick of hearing "but I wanted the pink one". Really? Just drink your milk kiddos.

So, if you decide that you have a ton of extra time and desire to do something repetitive these petal balls may be right up your alley. Start of with 2 yards of fabric and styrofoam ball. I used one 6 in ball and 2 4 in balls. Take the fabric and spread it out. Find something circular to use as your template. I used a cookie cutter, but a glass would have worked well too. Start drawing circles across the fabric in rows.

Now cut them out. I did this in half yard segments just so that I could feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of every piece. That was important because this might be the most boring thing I have ever done with my life. Seriously. The results are cute, but I would definitely recruit help for the cutting stage.

The good news is that the edges do not need to be perfect. As long as there are not any really sharp edges it will all look fine in the end.

I pinned the circles onto the ball at each half yard increment to see how much more was needed. For the 6in ball I used the full 2 yards. For the 4 in balls I used about 1.5 yards.

To pin the circles on hold the circle in your hand.

I know, you really needed a picture of that step.

Next, fold the circle in half.

Now fold the half in half.

Now pin it to the ball.

I tried pinning them all facing one direction and making it more chaotic looking and changing the direction the little pie sliced faced. It looks much better all facing one direction.

There you have it. Petal balls.

While I am sure you can tell that I really didn't enjoy this project, it was worth it in the end. Haley really likes them and they were an inexpensive gift to decorate her room.

Vinegar Cleaning Products

I use vinegar to clean my home. I like to keep my children from playing in chemicals, so this is the number 1 cleaning agent used around here. I use two forms: full strength vinegar and a mixture of 50% vinegar and 50% water. I keep both in spray bottles and use the strength needed for the cleaning task at hand. For instance, to clean my kitchen counters I usually use the 50/50 mix, but for my toilet I use the full strength. This is a great way to replace those extremely expensive cleaning products that clutter up the cabinet under my kitchen sink. Here is a quick list of what I clean around my house with vinegar:

- Countertops
- Wooden cutting boards
- Stovetop
- Toilets
- Bath/shower
- Windows and mirrors
- Stains on carpets
- Tile floors

Really, anything that I would have pointed a bottle of 409 at in the past is not cleaned with a vinegar solution.

Here is the problem - I hate the smell of vinegar. Remember, I am a febreeze addict and I do not want to walk through my house smelling vinegar. To mask the odor I add lemon and orange peel to vinegar to add a citrus scent. I've also heard that infusing vinegar with citrus ups the cleaning power, but I can't say that I noticed a big before/after difference in the power of the product.

I use lemons frequently in cooking or mixing up a quick cocktail on a Saturday night and my daughter loves oranges, so I usually have no problem finding the citrus peels that I need. Personally, I prefer lemon to orange... But I prefer either to straight vinegar.

Recently we had a vinegar tragedy. A ball was thrown indoors, the jar was pushed off of the counter and broke, and I was suddenly without my supply of citrus vinegar. I was mad, but I eventually got over it.

So, I am whipping up a new batch. Here is a rundown of how to get started...

First you have to have a supply of citrus peel. This is the bowl of little tangerines my family has been feasting on to help me build up a supply.

They are an easy going bunch and put up with my weird requests. Each time they eat one they open the door to the fridge and deposit their peel into a baggie.

Once you have enough to fill whatever jar you are using about 3/4 full you can move forward. This is really easy. Just stuff the peel into the jar and pour vinegar in to fill up the jar. That is it.

Now let the jar sit for at least 2 weeks to infuse. The vinegar will change color, don't let that worry you. Strain the vinegar and put it into a spray bottle. I fill one with straight vinegar and one with and 50/50 mix of vinegar and water.

Once you have a supply you can then just keep a jar of vinegar and pop the citrus peels into it as they are available. That way you never run out and have to resort to regular vinegar again.

DIY Febreeze

As the owner of a very bad dog, mother of small children and wife to a person who may or may not realize that leaving something that smells less than desirable in our home makes our home smell less than desirable, I am a febreeze addict. I spray the stuff every day on curtains, pillows, beds, carpet, etc... For better or worse, I love febreeze.

The one thing I don't like is purchasing it. Even the generic brand runs a higher price tag than I would like to include in my household budget. Luckily, a friend of mine emailed me a recipe for DIY febreeze (Thanks Julia!). I tried it, unsure if I would really beleive that it could replace my trusty bottle of fresh smelling spray. 

Here is the recipe to make 32 oz (the size of the bottle I had on hand):

- 1/8 cup fabric softener of your choice
- 2 tablespoon of baking soda
- enough hot tap water to fill the bottle to the top

Simply put the baking soda and fabric softener into the bottle and fill it with hot tap water. Give the bottle a shake and you are done. That is it. One quick suggestion - mixing the baking soda in with the fabric softener makes it easier to get the backing soda into the bottle if you don't have a funnel handy.

The verdict: It works! Smells great, has not clogged my spray bottle and appears to have better scent staying power than what I was purchasing.

The pros of making this at home include the obvious: cost. My fabric softener costs me about $6 on sale. I used about 2 oz, so the cost is 38 cents. The cost of the baking soda is pennies. So, for 40 cents I have made a full bottle of febreeze. This could be cheaper with a lower priced fabric softener, I just prefer the scent of Mrs Meyer's Lemon Verbena. That is the other pro. Being able to choose the scent of lemon verbena is great. Now my home has a smell that I really enjoy.

So far I have not found any cons, but if one pops up I will let you know.

I'm off to spray the carpet...

Table

We moved about 3 months ago from a tiny townhouse to, what feels like in comparison, a huge house with plenty of room for the twins to run. In our tiny townhouse we used a dining table that was given to us by Mary's parents. I never loved the table, but it was free. With the twins so young I never had time to refinish it the way that I had always planned. When we moved to the new house I suddenly had a dining room instead of a small space between the living area and the kitchen that I stuck the table. My tiny little table looked silly in the new house. I looked around at tables that I wanted, but the costs were insanely high for a newly staying at home mom. So, I built a new table. That's right - I built a piece of furniture. I am really pleased with how it turned out. There is room for 8 (double what the last table accommodated) and it is wide enough that serving dishes can comfortably remain on the table during dinner. I started with a trip to a lumbar yard, plans from the best site ever, and a willingness to completely screw up. Mary, the cheapest person you will ever meet in your life, was not so willing to accept a write off of the money spent on the lumbar, but she was happy with the idea of a small price tag if I pulled it off.

The pile of wood that I started off with:

Luckily, I had two amazing "helpers" to keep me entertained through the project:

Why do I buy toys? All they need for fun is that laundry basket.

In the end, after taking the thing apart and rebuilding it twice because of errors (it was my first time building something that didn't come with an allen wrench for assembly), I ended up with a table I am happy with. It has flaws and irregularities not found in mass produced Pottery Barn tables, but I can tell everyone that I built it with my own hands. The table that I really wanted to purchase was $4800. All told I spent about $350 to build the table. The wood, glue and screws were in the neighborhood of $250, but I had to invest in a few tools. Not to worry, I will make good use of the investment in my next projects.

The table pre-stain:

Every time we sit to eat dinner as a family at the table I am grateful to have a such a wonderful home for my family, and a place to eat with a enough space that my legs don't touch anyone else's legs.