Colorful Creation

Disclaimer: Today's post is random and has nothing to do with home improvement or painting things black (shocker!). It's just that every so often something other than shiny candlesticks and burlap pillows stops me dead in my tracks and brings me back. It makes me realize how small I am and how unimportant the shade of green in our kitchen is. 


A little backstory . . . Justin & I help out with the youth group at our church. I basically gab with the girls, and Justin leads the teen worship band. 

Before youth group on Sunday while I was watching them practice, I noticed something beyond the 80s couches. . . 

I frantically ran outside to take some pictures of it.

For a moment, this view left me - the girl that has way too much to say -  simply speechless.

It reminds me that when I sit on the couch and look over paint swatches - there isn't a color in the world that God didn't create. And there isn't a thing in the world He doesn't know about. 

And I find a whole lot of comfort in that.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. 

~ Psalm 19:1

Has anything taken your breath away lately?

MTV Cribs Style

I was hopping around CNN yesterday when I stumbled upon this article. National Clean out your Refrigerator Day. Huh. Somehow this holiday didn't show up on my google calendar. 


Well, as I read the article I realized I had 2 things: 
1. 40 minutes until I needed to get ready for work
2. A messy and neglected fridge


So I did what any crazy lady would do and filled a bucket up with hot water/soap and emptied out that ole' refrigerator box. 


Before:
 I'll spare you the before shot!


During:

After:

Note: Go shopping soon!!

I try to keep track of what's in our fridge that way I'm not throwing away spoiled food. Remember, I like to save money? So the only spoiled food we had was a half-full container of sour cream and a thing of crescent rolls. I'm not sure how those rolls managed to stay under my radar that long - they usually get gobbled up faster than cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving dinner.


What I continued to neglect though was the freezer. And it's definitely ready for a good clean out. It's on my to-do list. 


Did anyone else have any random cleaning bouts recently? How do you organize your fridge - do you put condiments or drinks on the door? I used to have the drinks on the door but I rearranged yesterday so it holds more condiments. So far, so good.

Shopping Spoils

At the end of our dresser reveal post, I mentioned this local store that sells partially used craft supplies for super cheap. Well, if you read yesterday's post you would have seen that I'm all about saving moolah. So naturally a store that sells fabric scraps and wreath forms for cents, I was all over like white on rice.


I went to this store last week with my friend Amanda. It took us about an hour to really scour the store and discover the loot we wanted to call our babies, but it was so worth it. Wanna see my spoils? 


They have a big container full of old buttons. You can fill up a cup of buttons for $1.50. I specifically chose blue/gray buttons for a project I have in mind. You'll have to just hold your breath until I reveal the project. 

For 0.75 cents, this bag of burlap scraps was mine. Some of the pieces are smaller, but some are fairly large. I think I'm going to use this to jazz up the Christmas wreath I've been working on (details coming soon!).

For 0.50 cents, I bought this fabric scrap. It has red and pink hearts and glitter. I'm going to hem the edges and make a table runner for Valentine's day. It's the one day of the year I can decorate with pink hearts and glitter and you better believe George I'm going to milk that sucker for all it's worth.

* That glitter makes me giddy.


Now my big splurge of the day. . . For $1.75, I bought a fabric scrap that is 1 3/4 yard long and 56" wide. We were about to leave the store when Amanda spotted this baby lying under some other fabric scrapes. And when she decided not to buy it, my heart may have squealed a little. I am going to make this darling in to a beautiful tree skirt. It fits perfectly with my theme for the year! (Don't worry, I'll start talking about Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over!)

And lastly, this old wooden art piece was sitting in the corner at the back of the store. It's mustardy-yellow color called to me and asked if I would bring it home. For $1, there was no way I would let this baby go unnoticed again. You can see the black trim is missing on 2 edges. I'm either going to make 2 more trim pieces or pull the other 2 pieces off and paint the edges . . . I haven't decided yet.

Grand Total: $5.83 


I'm so excited to have all these new projects that need to be done! Is it too early to decorate for Valentine's day? What good spoils have you found lately?


ps: if you're interested in finding a creative reuse store near you, check out this link. Creative Reuse doesn't know that I exist and they certainly didn't ask me to write about their awesomeness - I just wanted all 6 of my readers to know about this great resource. All of the opinions I've expressed are entirely my own.

Super Duper Savings

Let's talk laundry. If you're anything like me, your eyes just perked up.


I kinda enjoy doing laundry. The actual task of gathering clothes and putting them in the washer/dryer is satisfying. It's one thing I can get done quickly and cross off that never ending to-do list. I don't like putting the clothes away.. but that's a post for another day.


Justin & I accumulate a lot of laundry each week. I don't like to wear jeans or anything more than once. And I like to change kitchen washcloths/towels every other day. All this unnecessary information is just to paint a picture of several overflowing laundry tubs each week at the Rothenberger casa.


When I thought about that Tide I was pouring several times a week I regarded it as liquid gold. That blue liquid was costing us a lot of moolah. And I don't like spending moolah on things that aren't beautiful or shiny or comfy.


Seriously, I'll pinch a penny anyway I can. So I made my own detergent. And you know what? I love it. It's soft on our clothes, good for the environment, and the best part is . . . it costs next to nothing. Seriously nothing and laundry detergent are standing in line together.


If you want to save money or smell good or get down with Mother Nature, here's what to do.


Step 1: Buy Borax, washing soda & a bar of soap. 
* I got all of these at the grocery store. I lost my receipt, but I remember it cost between $6.50 - $7.00 for these items.

Step 2: Grate the bar of soap into cute little crumbles.
* I used my regular ole' cheese grater and it took me all of 2 minutes to grate the whole bar. Way easier than grating a block of cheese I'll tell you that much.

Step 3: Boil 4 cups on water on high heat. Then add the grated bar of soap and stir until it's all disolved. 

*My water turned yellow-ish because that was the color of the soap. 






















Step 4: Pour 3 gallons of water in to a 5-gallon bucket.


Step 5: Add your soapy water to the bucket. Add 1 cup of the washing soda and 1/2 cup of the borax to the bucket.


Step 6: Stir really well. 

Step 7: Cover it with a lid and let it sit for 24 hours. Unless you're impatient like me and check it out first thing in the morning.


This is what my detergent looked like the next day.

I would compare the consistency to a watery jello. I tried to illustrate the texture by grabbing a gelatinous blob with my wooden spoon.

It's all good though. Just use 1 cup of this liquid goodness in each load and do a happy dance about all the money you'll be saving.


It cost $7 for all the ingredients up front - but I still have enough borax and washing soda to make at least 12 more bucketfuls. I'd have to buy some more bars of soap though and they cost $1 each.  So I could make a minimum of 65 gallons of detergent for $19!! That's 0.29 cents a gallon!


My homemade detergent just karate kicked Tide to the curb.


ps: when I was researching how to make detergent one source said that you could add a couple drops of scented oil to make your detergent pleasing to your smelly sense. My nose just prefers my clothes to smell like clothes, not wildflowers or fresh rain, so I didn't add anything.


pps: do you have any secrets to save a quick buck? any awesome at-home recipes you'd like to share? Let me know! I'd love to hear all about them!