More Than Scrapbooking {Tips-n-Tricks Tuesday}

   Perhaps you scrapbook, perhaps you make hand-made cards, or perhaps you can't draw much more than a little doodle thingy. No matter. This is really pretty simple.

   Take a piece of scrapbook paper (or make a plain piece cute with your own creativity) and write a verse on it that is convicting to you. (Or ask someone else to write it for you ;-) ) Next add some flowers or some other embellishments for "eye-candy". Then stick it on the wall.

   By making it cute, it makes you want to look at it, and when you look at it, then you feel guilty if you don't read it. Or at least you BETTER feel guilty if you don't read it!!! So see, there is more things to do with pretty paper than just scrapbooking!

   Writing these out and posting them in the house reminds me of the familiar verses in Deuteronomy when God is telling His people how greatly He will wipe out their enemies in front of them.

 ¹⁸ “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. ²⁰ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth. ²² For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, ²³ then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

~ Deuteronomy 11:18-23 

Homemade Shaving Cream

   When I came across this recipe, I knew I had to make this for my brother for Christmas (I know I can tell you guys what I made him because he doesn't read my blog - tee hee!!! Nobody tell him!). He has been very much into becoming a classy man, and among other things, he has taken up shaving with the good 'ole foam + water + mix = shaving cream. He is also appreciating hand-crafted items because of their typically higher quality. So I knew I had to make this for him as soon as I found it. I also came up with the name, hoping it sounds goofy and manly enough for him :D

   It's SUPER easy! (I say that about alot of things don't I? Well, it's the truth!) And homemade shaving cream is a great companion to the bath bombs I posted a while back. Now you can make bath bombs for the women and shaving cream for the men!

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- 45 grams cocoa butter

- 30 grams light olive oil

- 20 mls liquid castille soap

- A few drops of essential oil (optional)

   Melt the cocoa butter and olive oil together in a double-boiler. Let cool. Add liquid castille soap - and essential oils if desired. Whisk or blend with an electric blender. It makes about one cup total because it will increase in volume as you blend. When you're ready to use it, mix a little with some water as you usually would and get to shavin'!

   See? Pretty easy. I can't vouch for how it works, as I haven't dipped into my brother's Christmas gift, but it sure does smell good! I had to wrap it so I'd stop smelling it. I'm not sure if it's my imagination or not, but it seems like the scent is dissipating from me opening it so many times to smell, and now it mostly smells like the cocoa butter....oops! Let's hope that's just my nose getting used to the scent and he won't think I made him chocolate scented shaving cream! :D

This post is linked to:

73 Home-made Christmas Gifts

 

   73? Yup! Don't you ever sit down and wish you could think of something really cool to make for relatively cheep as Christmas presents? So do I. So when I came up with this list, I just HAD to pass it on.

   They vary in difficulty and cost. So just scan through and see what sparks your interest. These are also SUPER GREAT to make with your kids or siblings. Good quality time ;-) And if you don't know how to make something, google it! I'm sure you can find a tutorial.

   And most of all - be creative! These are all very, very basic descriptions. Take the idea, sit down with the kids, and RUN WITH IT! Have fun!

1. Partially pre-made "photo album recipe book" with recipes in it using index cards

2. Wooden toy chest or stacking organizing boxes

3. Leather-bound book (pages home-sewed too)

4. Various (blank inside) hand-made stationary

5. Body-care kit (lotion, soap, bath salts, bath bombs, soap-cozy, lip gloss, deodorant)

6. Birdhouse

7. Hair accessories (beads, sewed, etc.)

8. Jewelry

9. Food in a jar

10. Notes in a jar

11. Quilt

12. Doll clothes

13. Simple girls' skirt/dress

14. Framed art picture, poem, or saying (painted, colored, pressed flowers, etc.)

15. Homemade play-dough

16. Pre-made healthy snack/dessert/meal (frozen, canned, dried, "just add water", etc.)

17. Sewed purse

18. Cute guitar-string wiping cloth

19. Wind chime

20. Wooden car/truck toy (ride-able size?)

21. Wooden toy blocks

22. Dog/cat treats

23. Pretty doily

24. Tool-box

25. Jewelry box

26. Family/individual picture, framed

27. Water-paints

28. Pick-up-Sticks game

29. Mancala game

30. Hacky-sacks

31. Braided rug

32. "Favorite Crafts" book with all your favorite craft ideas in it

33. Wooden toy horse barn

34. Windowsill herbs in cute pots

35. Make computer game on the program called GameMaker (I remember this neat program from my younger years)

36.Make a home-movie

37. Make a home-cd of you singing music

38. Painted coffee mug, plate, or bowl (and glazed)

39. Princess crown

40. Write on a whole roll of toilet paper for a funny (don't make holes!)

41. Wall hanging (paper, wood, metal, cloth, etc.)

42. Write a book

43. Garden seed organizer container (for big and small seeds)

44. Sewed slippers

45. Cute or manly tack-board

46. Washcloth/scrubby (knit or crochet)

47. Paint a glass vase/bottle

48. Sidewalk chalk

49. Kids' baking apron

50. Bird bath (mold from concrete)

51. Wooden bowls (via lathe)

52. Chair

53. Baby-doll bed

54. Cedar picture-frame

55. Glass board used like a white-board (hang it on the wall and it looks nifty)

57. Simple wooden bench (to put by back door for shoes, plus storage space, etc)

58. Flower arbor

59. Leather knife sheath

60. Woven bike basket

61. Bobsled

62. Cool bookends

63. Christmas ornaments

64. Kite

65. Leather-braided watch band

66. Simple wooden medicine cabinet

67. Simple hand-propelled merry-go-round (popular mechanics volume 6, back of book)

68. Outdoor rotating worm bin

69. CD holder

70. Wooden child's play house

71. Clothes hamper

72. Make essential oils

73. Hammok

   Share some of your ideas with us!

This post is linked to:

Tips-n-Tricks Tuesday: Bath Bombs In The Toilet??? -And- GIVEAWAY!!

    ~~~~~Welcome to Tips-n-Tricks Tuesday! This is where I give little tips on things that aren't really projects (e.g. not how to make a pillow, but the best stitch for when you make the pillow - make sense?). ~~~~~

   Yup! It was my mom's great idea :D Remember the bath bombs we made a while back? My mom came up with the idea of using them as a fun way to clean the toilet! Just make the bath bombs in smaller molds. Plop in your bath bomb and scrub away! It works because baking soda kills bacteria and the essential oils will make your toilet smell pretty enough to eat lunch off of it! Oh...well...I guess not quite THAT pretty....

   Try it out! Whether it's your chore or someone else's to scrub that nasty thing clean, put some adventure into the job!

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   I also want to let you know about a giveaway happening on a blog I happen stumble upon. She is giving away a FREE copy of the book "Back To Basics". This book tells, obviously, all about how to do basic things that are important and so cool to know. Livestock, sewing, gardening - it covers quite a few topics. So click here and stop by her blog to enter!

Some great blogs this post is linked to:

Creating A Cute Nightstand

    Check out this cute idea over on one of my favorite blogs. If I needed some drawers, I might have done it! But I don't, so I'll pass it along to you all and maybe you can put this great idea to use!

Click here to go to her website.

Make Your Own Bath Bombs

   These are SO much fun - for kiddos and adults alike! You can just plop one into the tub for a fun fizz! PLUS you can chose what ingredients go in it which makes it a great way to naturally cleanse your skin. Spend some time with your kiddos or siblings - have some fun girl time while you sqoosh these fun pieces of art together. You could even use something like this to make a little money. You could sell them at an online store, your local farmers market, friends and family, or even make them for gifts at different holidays (sometimes it's so hard to figure out a *good* gift to make that is actually something worth giving).

You'll need...

Dry Ingredients

-1 cup baking soda

-1 cup corn starch

-2/3 cup citric acid

-1/2 cup Epsom salts (or other salts)

Wet Ingredients

- 1/4 Tblsp. water

- 2 tsp.. essential oil (your choice of scent - we used pepermint)

- 2 1/2 Tblsp. light vegetable oil (your choice)

- 1 to 2 drops of food coloring (optional - we didn't use any)

     1. Mix together the dry ingredients and set aside.

2. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

3. SLOWLY pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture while stirring with a whisk. If you pour it too fast it will activate the ingredients and it will fizz - don't use up your fizz yet! It will probably seem like there's not enough wet mixture, but keep mixing and it should turn into a sand-like consistency.

4. Line muffin tin with muffin papers (notice we didn't do this, see tips below) and squoosh the sand-like mixture into the molds. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

 5. Next, carefully pop them out of the mold to finish dry for about 3 days.

 6. Store them in an air-tight container after they are completely dry for up to 6 months. When you're ready to use it, simply fill the tub with nice warm water, plop one in, and watch it fizz!

Tips:

- If the mixture starts to foam while adding ingredients, quickly stir the excess wet in to dilute it in the dry mixture.

- After stirring it in completely, if it needs more liquid or more dry ingredient, you can add more - just make sure you don't over-do it.

- We didn't use paper muffin cups for ours, but I'd probably suggest it because it would be easier to get them out - so really it's your choice.

- As a rule of thumb, the more surface area, the faster they'll fizzle away into the water.

   That's it! Be creative by using things around the house to make your own fun mold! Some people even use those plastic Christmas ornaments that come apart so you can fill the insides with candy.

   Try it out! It's fun. I need to seal ours up in a container because my bedroom smells like peppermint right now with them sitting out!

This post is linked up at what I think I'd call my two favorite blogs <3