DIY Laundry Detergent

So as I stated my family is trying to become a little greener, not sure what shade of green we plan on getting. I mean somethings are just a little to green for me like homemade pads, or toilet paper. Sorry but that is just to green for my taste. However, I am very interested in homemade cleaners and using less chemicals near my family. I decided since we ran out of our usual detergent (All Clear) we were going to try a DIY Laundry Detergent. Which I must say is way cheaper then my All Clear. I was skeptic at first and maybe even second load. However it really truly works just as great as my regular detergent.

My children have sensitive skin and a lot of things make their little skin freak out. This however, did not have any effect on their skin. I got my recipe from pintrest (which is a God sent for crafters I swear). This particular recipe came from Yellow Brick Home which is a powder detergent.

The Recipe

 You’ll need Borax, Fels Naptha soap, and washing soda:

 1) Grate an entire bar of Fels Naptha with a cheese grater into a bowl
 2) add 1 cup of Borax
3) 1 cup of the washing soda
4) mix.

SO easy and Cost me about $10.00 and I have enough borax and washing soda to make about 3 more batches so add on 3 more bars at .98 I am spending less then $13.00. Each batch gets me between 40-50 loads of laundry because you only need 1 Tbsp per load. (warning do not get nervous because it will not suds up but it is working).

Since this was my first time I wasn't trying to cook the detergent to make it liquid. However, I found some great recipes for liquid detergent at one good thing by jillee who is amazing as for as I am concerned. As I get used to it I may try making it into a liquid detergent next time.


My next great experiment will be liquid fabric softener and homemade shout out spray. Wish me luck....

A new driving force for my posts

I haven't been on my blog in so long I wasn't sure it was even still here. There are many reason for my severe absence and many are dealing with family obligations. As I have said before I have two cuddle bunnies a son who is now 6 and a daughter who has now turned 4. They keep me very busy with karate, tball, swim lessons, dance lessons, recitals, church choir, basketball camps, and soon football. I enjoy them being busy but it does not leave much time for momma bunny to be creative or at least blog about it. We also completed a move last summer that has taken us from Southern GA to Southern Maine which is a huge difference (even for this Northeastern girl). I have not lived in a Northeastern state in over 9 years ( that is crazy to even contemplate by the way). We were muddling through our first winter, which the locals say was mild but it took some time to re-acclimate or for my kids to acclimate at all.


Our winter kicked off early with snow for Halloween, which  I was not prepared for since I never had to worry about putting jackets on with their costumes or layers for that matter. I did get a chance to be creative for Halloween and make some pretty awesome costumes. My daughter was Minnie Mouse, My Son was Batman ( I reused parts of a costume I found at good will and made if fit along with a homemade cape), I made costumes for a friends family the scarecrow, the cowardly lion, oz, and the tin man (which was my favorite).

However then the holidays came and I got bogged down with that. Then I got into a rut of not sewing or being creative which is pretty odd for me. I love making decorations, and Christmas gifts. This year did not happen. The most creative thing I did was rack up my pins on pintrest (which doesn't make me creative through osmosis, it should though).

Lately though I have missed being creative and have found some new interests I am pursuing and will be including in my blog. Along with showing off my creative side I have decided to make my family greener and take all of you on the journey with us. I should warn you my husband is quite hesitant but has decided he will go along for the ride at least inside the home. I have been doing a lot of reading and research on ways to be green. The more I read the more I realized 2 things were happening 1) I was totally freaking myself out with all of it and 2) I was becoming overwhelmed by the amount of information. So I decided to slow it down and start small with things such as homemade cleaners (which work pretty well and we will talk about in upcoming posts), unpaper towels which I love (future posts), educating myself, and learning to shop for better foods. The last will come from educating myself, and along the way maybe passing along some great information to you as well.

What does this mean for my blog? Well I will still be showing some great DIY projects and sewing things. My blog isn't going to be all about going green, and Eco-friendliness. I will be sticking to my roots which is my calling to DIY and my family (which is where the going green part really comes in).

So I hope you will stay with us and follow our journey to going green and healthy. Along with some great crafty projects I have lined up. I promise consistency with my post.s

See Pumpkins and snow to crazy for me

Making Snow angels on October 30th

That was a really big costume

Tin man is awesome



Organizing Your Home and Childs Room

I know that it has been a while since I have posted but we have been in the middle of a military move. With that being said we have been running into some issues on how to reorganize our childrens rooms and make it more efficient for them. If any of you out there are like me ten the lack of organization and mess drives you absolutely crazy. So over the last few months I havefound ways to maximize their space and keep their toys organized. I figured I would share them with you and maybe they will help you too.

Top 10 Tips for Organizing their Rooms and Keeping your home clear of the toys:

Tip 1: Setting up seperate stations or areas in their rooms so that they can play in different areas and stay concentrated on just they type of toys they would like to play with.

Example: My son has a lot of different intrests right now and and sometimes it is hard for him to only play with one of those at a time. That being said if I just throw all of it in a toy box then he will pull all of them out at once. So we split things up and put them in differnt areas, kind of the way they do at school/day care. We have superheros together in one area, blocks seperasted in another, trains in another, and so on nd so forth. This helps him to realize he needs to put away his toys before he moves onto another area. This will help you and them to stay clean and organized.

Tip 2: Using bins either clear or ones with no lids. This allows them to see what is in there are and they can choose the on they are looking to play with. This will stop them from ripping everything out to find one toy.

Tip 3: When you believe your space is limited in square footage then use all of your surfaces. Just because you have a small room does not mean you do not have the room for organization. Build some shelves, or you can use over the door shoe organizers for toys.

Example: We use shoe organizers for our sons cars or our daughters barbies. This needs no square footage and still helps keep them organized.

Tips 4: Label all of your storage areas and add a picture with the label. It allows them to see what is supposed to be stored in that bin or area and they will be able to help clean up and stay organized.

Tip 5: Make cleaning up fun. We like to make cleaning up our rooms a game and see who could put the most toys away in a 5 minutes. I help but mostly allow them to do it and then at the end they have a sense of pride for what they accomplished.

Tip 6: Keep a basket or bin downstairs to catch all of their toys and belongings. Each child has a bin kept in the livingroom and at the end of the night we go around and pick up our toys. Makes taking the toys to their room much easier and makes for a quick clean up.

Tip 7: My children love puzzles but sometimes it is hard to keep their peices together in their right box. So what we do it put a shape such as a triangle on the back of all the pieces for that puzzle. So we know if it has a triangle it goes in that box.

Tip 8: It is never to early to teach yourchild about charity. When we moved I noticed how many toys we held onto that neither of them played with in over a year. So I sat my son down and explained that Santa is coming soon and he would be recieving new toys. I also explained that their are some kids who did not have as many toy as he had and that it would be nice of him to donate those toys to the kids in need. Once he understood we went through his toy and he got to choose which toys he would like to donate. I was very proud of him for being so generous.

Tip 9: Our children love to dress themselves and sometimes there are a few misses with their outfits. So to help them out we have a days of the week closet organizer. It allows them to stay independent and allows me to make sure they don't look like rainbow brite when leaving the house. 

Tip 10: Stay calm and remember organization is something that does not happen overnight. It is something you must stay on top of but it will not just happen quickly. By keeping up with the mess and clutter it will stay small. It is when you let it go that it becomes overwhelming.

I know that organization can seem overwhelming at times and yu just want it over with. But there are some easy things you can implemnt in your own home that will help you and your children become orgainzed. After a few weeks it will become like second nature to keep thngs in their place, pick up as you go, and do a quick pick up before bed

Last Minute Valentine's gift idea...

Well Valentine's day is upon us and as we get closer I have had to come up with a personal yet inexpensive teacher gift for my children. My Son is in Pre-K and has 2 teachers and my Daughter is in day care and has 3 teachers, plus a favorite teacher from another classroom and because they are such nice women the director and the women who works at the desk. So for all of you that is a total of 8 gifts that I need which can get expensive if you let it. However I found an inexpensive gift that I really love and hope that they do as well.

They were so easy and they turned out adorable. I got these mailboxes in the dollar aisle at target. I used my cricut (still one of my all time favorite gifts) and some pink vinyl that I already had. I cut out the different shapes and the first letter of the teachers name to put on front. I filled with candy and wrapped them up.

Hope you have a great valentine's day....

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First step in my bedroom makeover...

I have decided to update some of my bedroom linens. I have started a duvet cover but have not finished so I will show that later. However, I decided to try some new throw pillows and this is my first attempt so please be gentle in judgement.... Well Without making you wait any longer here it is....

I got my inspiration and some direction from here... I think her pillow turned out way cuter, but I have to give myself props for my first attempt. I plan on making about two more in different styles and hope they turn out this well too... Well Hope you like it and I will keep updating as the process chugs along.

Colorful fun on Etsy

So I have decided to go out an try etsy and see if I can really have a home based business. I have come up with a facebook page which along with my shop is a work in progress. However in the interest of drumming up some new business I have decided to offer a Coupon to my followers. I have put the coupon on the Facebook website and would love it if you all could go over and check it out. While your there grab the coupon code and check out the shop. I am working on some new things that I hope to have listed early in the week and I am taking requests for special order items. Please head over to Colorful Fun Facebook page and give me a like.

XOXO Tree

Sorry for the Lack of posts lately my card reader broke and I finally found the time to go out and get a new one.

I have seen a lot of these trees around and decided I wanted to make one for Valentine's Day.

I went to hobby lobby after Christmas when all of their stuff was 75% off and they had the wooden letters in green and red for like 10 cents a piece so I just painted them to the colors I wanted and then added the white polka dots using a dowel.

I cut down the branches from my yard and used a pitcher I already had on my mantle. Then to make it look a little more like Valentine's Day I tied a Heart Doily to it. Total cost was less then 50 cents since I had all of the supplies I needed. I think it adds the perfect touch to the Mantle and to my valentine's decorations.

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Tatertots and Jello





I Heart U

OK so one of my favorite things that screams Valentine's Day and makes me miss being a kid again is conversation hearts. I have had these frames from the dollar aisle at target for a while and finally saw a craft at My Creative Departure that gave me a little creative inspiration of my own for those frames.

Supplies:
- 3 frames
- candy heart
- glue gun
- cardstock
- doily/ heart stencil

I started by doing a  dry run with each of my frames mapping out my I and U. For my heart I used a paper doily for my guide on the heart shape. Once I had it the way I wanted it I glued down my I and U to the glass with my hot glue gun. I put in some bubblegum pink cardstock in the frame to help the hearts pop off from the frame.

Next I glued the hearts to the doily.

Then I glued the doily to the frame and put in some bubblegum pink cardstock in the frame.

In the end it turned out really cute, was super easy, and inexpensive. All of my favorite things.....

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KEEP CALM and SEW ON

Ok So we have seen these signs all over the internet and I am in absolute love. Well now I found a website where you can totally generate your own. Check out this website and try some out on your own.

Here are a few examples:

Valentine Boxes

I have seen the block all over the Internet for the holidays and I wanted to try them out. However, I wanted to make mine a little bigger and couldn't find big enough blocks. So while I was shopping at Michael's I saw these Christmas boxes 80% off  the idea popped in my head to cover and use them for the blocks.

I took these boxes and

I covered them with Card Stock and trimmed them with different ribbon. I got this ribbon at Michael's for about 1.99 a roll.



I then cut out different hearts and letters with my Cricut. I used the sweethearts cartridge for my hearts and I used the Sure cuts alot program to cut my letters.



Here is another view of the top of the blocks.

This project turned out super cute and it was inexpensive and really easy to make.

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Valentine's Day Garland

So I was sick over Christmas and still getting over this flu bug, so I did not get to craft very much. Since I did not craft for Christmas I have the crafting itch and decided to start my valentine's decorations. So I set out to find some inspiration at Michael's and discovered a garland. So I went home and began on my garland, and I like mine way more then the one I saw and it was cheaper (which makes me love it even more.)

Supplies:

- Valentine Fabric

- Red Felt

- Scissors

- ribbon

- fishing string

- card stock

- Cricut

- Sweethearts Cartridge

1) Measure out the ribbon for the length of the garland you want

2) Leave about 6 inches at the end of the ribbon and make a knot to hold the fabric on.

3) Take a match/lighter and singe the ends to stop it from fraying

3) cut the fabric into strips

4) Tie the fabric and felt around the ribbon. Alternate between the felt and the fabric.

5) Once done make a knot in the other side and singe the end to stop it fraying.

* The next steps are optional and the garland will still look great if you opt out of doing them*

(I didn't get pictures of these steps)

6) Using your cricut and the sweethearts cartridge cut out the OXO. I used about two sheets of pink card stock.

7) Poke a hole in each O, X, and Heart and tie some fishing string to them.

8) Take these and tie them to your garland.

When all is done it looks really good and I did it for the fraction of the cost.

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Christmas Ornaments

Each year I like to have an ornament for the kids, just a little something to remember that year and they can have when they get older. I have not had the chance to get out this year and have one made since we have the flu for Christmas. So this year I decided to make our own and I got a great idea from This great little blog.

I think they turned out really cute and they were super easy. I love doing anything that you can use the kids handprints for, you can always look back and remember how tiny they were at that age.

PB inspired Chalkboard Platter

I always tell my husband that when I grow up I want to be Martha Stewart and my house to look like pottery barn catalog. Well on a military income I can not afford to actually buy it from pottery barn so I get my inspiration from them instead. My latest inspiration is their chalkboard platter and I made it my own.

PB Platters

 My Platter

                                                                                           

I bought the plate on the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby and the chalkboard paint at wal-mart.

Supplies:

-Chalkboard Paint

- Platter

- Paint brush

It took about 3 coats of paint to get in completely covered. You must wait 24 hours between coats otherwise you will end up causing yourself more work.

This is a great product I like playing around with and will be using this again very soon......