Cleaning Green

Okay, so this post has absolutely nothing to do with crafts or kids but it's going to be about cleaning.  If cleaning is of no interest to you...move right along!  What I am going to share with you excites me to no end as I have found cleaning supplies that are WAY cheap, easy to use and work great and not harmful on the environment.

First, Drain Cleaner.  Man....that is just some plain nasty stuff (both the chemicals and the stuff that's stuck).  We had a rather slow drain in the kids' bathroom....while we stress over and over the importance of using just a "pea-size" amount of toothpaste, I'm pretty sure we have more of the "peanut M&M" size going down.  Anyway, I went about taking the drain stopper out and looking for the sludge and clog....got some out, but it was still slow.  So, after hearing great reviews, I decided to try the simple recipe of 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda to unclog the drain.  It was SO cool!  The second those two touched, it bubbled and fizzled and the sludge and slim just peeled off the pipes and "melted" away.  I let it sit for a few minutes and then just ran really hot water through...Hooray!

I've also tried my own dishwasher detergent.  It never occurred to me to make my own detergents....that is until the power of Pinterest.  I have learned that Borax, Baking Soda, Washing Soda, Fels Naptha are huge cleaning agents in many cleaners and WAY cheaper than the pre-made kind.  After doing some research, I decided I'm not totally ready to completely dump the idea of pre-made detergents....i just don't need to use ALL of it.  So, I made a mix of 1/3 Cascade, 1/3 Borax and 1/3 Baking Soda (I've read that Washing Soda will work just as well).  Mix it all together and use 1 tbsp for softer water and if you have really hard water then 2 tbsp may be necessary.  Anyway, I've been using it in my machine and it works GREAT!  Detergent lasts WAY longer and dishes are just as clean.

I haven't done this yet, but I will be tossing out my JetDry once it's all used up and will then start putting in straight vinegar in the spot rinse container in my machine.  Have read great things about that too.

I'm really toying with the idea of making my own laundry detergent too.  Basically a mix of Fels Naptha, Borax and Washing Soda.....it makes a ton and pennies to make compared to the big brands.  I'm still researching to see how I want to handle that as there are different "recipes" and such...and making sure it's safe for HE washers.

So, there you have it.  A post about cleaning.  How much more exciting does it really get???

Butterfly Hearts

 We were feeling the need for some pink today with Valentine's Day just around the corner.  The girls were very excited to get out the paints and they had a lot of fun making their heart prints.  We just used some cookie cutters to make our prints and they worked really well using them upside down to get the thicker lines.  They also thought mixing the red and white to make new pinks was pretty cool.

 We really didn't have a plan at first.  Printing the hearts was just plain fun, but then I started cutting out some larger hearts for them to print on.  That's when we noticed they looked like butterfly wings........HEY!  Let's turn one into a butterfly!  Love these kinds of projects where the kids take charge and come up with some really cool ideas. 

 So, we started digging through the craft cupboard and this is what we came up with!  Paint dotters, heart and x and o prints, gemstones, sparkly antennas, pom-poms, googly-eyes and little hot glue get you these cute little heart butterflies.