Spring Cleaning

Saturday morning I was honored with the opportunity to share in a class called Cheaper and Better at my neighbor's church.  What a fun group of ladies was present!  And I learned a lot, got to bring home more cleaning recipes and ideas, plus helped the ladies make a powder sink/ tub cleanser along with a Soft Scrub imitation cleanser.

I wish I had brought pictures of our garage sink.  I did not take notice of the sink since early fall, so when I actually stopped and looked at it last week I was grossed out.  It was disgusting.  But on the bright side, a fun project because it was so gross.  I decided to use my homemade cleanser and see how it cleaned, although I was tempted to jerk the sink off the wall and take it to the dump.

This DISGUSTING sink....

Plus homemade cleanser - recipe below - and a cloth.....

got the sink this clean.  Good, but not good enough....

So I used a little more cleanser and a green scrubbie to finish it up!
This is an old, antique sink and in our over-used garage.
This cleanser is super!  See below for recipe:

Recipe for imitation Soft Scrub:
Plan to mix this in a good sized bowl, as it will fizz from the baking soda and vinegar combination.  And storing it in a squirt bottle is a good idea -it will be thicker, like Soft Scrub.  (If it thickens, then just add a little more water and shake it up.)
2/3 c. baking soda
1/2 c. Castile soap (liquid)
2 T. vinegar
1/2 c. water
a few drops of tea tree oil

Use a funnel to transfer from bowl to squirt bottle and clean away!

Revisiting Mom's Comment

Back at Thanksgiving, my mom made a comment about a corner cupboard that I had purchased and placed in the dining room. She wasn't wild about it.  Actually she said she'd get rid of 'that thing' if she were me.  It was dated and a little out of character for our house and decorating.  Oh, I liked that cupboard, though, so I decided it needed to become a priority for a redo.

During the short, bearable winter here in northern Michigan (that's the first time I've ever had the privilege to express those feelings about our winters!!),  Anthony hauled the cupboard downstairs to the craft room for me.  The inspiration I was getting for the cupboard would have it end up in Laney's room, which I have decorated with black and cream toile for bed clothes and curtain.  Laney is using a den-type room as her bedroom, so it's not really decorated for a young girl, but it's pretty and comfortable, and her own!  

First I lightly sanded the cabinet, since the previous owner had toiled on handpainted florals along the top.  Then I applied a gloss cream paint.  When dry, I applied a 'crackle medium' which is clear and dries quickly.  Once that's dry I painted black acrylic craft paint carefully but quickly, watching the 'crackles' appear as it dried.  It was exactly the look I was going for!  


I had some black and cream toile left over from the curtain, so I stapled it where the glass would have been in the doors of the cabinet.  


The family gave it mixed reviews; but Laney loves it, and I do, too!  The whole toile obesession thing - not sure if it's ever going to end.  Fifteen years ago when we built this house, my husband suggested I not commit to any of the toile fabrics or dishes that I had selected, since I would probably 'grow tired of them.'  Ha.  I am still wild about them - and they've come very much in style, too. 

Lord willing, we have another project coming up - a house project - and just maybe I'll do some toile things there....

Babes and Buffnesses

Heard of the expression, "Out of the mouths of babes..."??  Once upon a time I was creative.  I even used to have a few good design ideas.  Somehow as time has passed my ability to eye things for size, fit, color match, and other design elements has dwindled.  So sad.

Take for instance the plate and bowl tower that I tried to create for Autie's Open House.  The middle part - the champagne flute - really should have had a wider rim to hold the bowl.  But it looked good to me, until Autie pointed out the obvious.

There was more 'obvious' to be found with the second attempt on a tower, but advice coming from a boy 'babe' (he'll KILL me for calling him that).  I found another champagne glass - not a flute this time - at the Goodwill.  I really liked its empty stem - looked like it was calling out for a stem of daisies to dress up the tower.

Anthony was eating (again) at the kitchen nook and watching me.  I dropped the stem of three daisies into the stem, smiling and gloating a little, exclaiming how much I loved the glass, especially how it held the flowers.  As I placed the bowl on top - Squish went the flowers, completely out of sight by the bowl.  Oh, the laughter from Babe Buffness.









He sauntered over, took the bowl off, flipped the champagne glass over, and placed the bowl onto the bottom (now top) of the glass.  Yeah, he was smiling and gloating the whole time, too.

So now, thanks to babes and buffnesses, we have a few cute raised thing-a-ma-jigs for the Open House!