05/20/13

make it monday: homemade natural cleaners

Good morning!

I cannot believe Hunter’s birthday party is less than 1 week away. I am such a procrastinator… other than cleaning up the house a bit and yard work, I have not gotten to too much prepping. In the decor department I’ve almost finished the banner. I still have so much more I want to make! Good thing I work well under pressure. Maybe that’s why I haven’t decided on what kind of cupcakes to make yet? I think I just need to not have time left to flip flop between decisions and it’ll come to me. Oh the tough life decisions.

How was your weekend? We have been a tired family here the past couple of days. Jacob was working on getting over being sick (which he got from Hunter), Hunter was tired and had a couple early morning wake ups, and I just felt tired right along with them. Hence the lack of preparation. Oh well, what can you do? I the midst of all that, I did get a little bit of cleaning in.

From around the time I got pregnant I began trying to clean with more natural products. Vinegar is always a good all purpose cleaner, but Jacob absolutely hates the smell and vetoes the idea whenever I use it. I had to come up with something else. So I did.

Originally I made up this concoction as a cleaned for our hardwood floors. I ended up liking it so much I use it all over the house.

Homemade Natural All Purpose Cleaner

20 oz water

1.5 TBSP Dr. Bronner’s pure castile soap

1 TBSP rubbing alcohol

Combine ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake to combine then spray and wipe down with a rag.

I use this cleaner for:

Floors (hardwood, tile and linoleum)
Silks
Counters
Toilets
Walls
Baseboards
Tabletops
Toys
Pretty much any hard surface

It smells amazing from the castile soap. I use the peppermint variety.

The all purpose cleaner is great for surface cleaning, but what about deep stains? I have to admit, when it comes to cleaning my tub and shower, I never do it as often as I should. I’m never a preventative cleaner there, I’m a reactive one. Before I started using my next cleaner, I would have to use tons of that powder comet cleaner and scrub like crazy to make it cleaner. Now I have a natural cleaner that doesn’t smell like bleach, works amazingly and actually makes me want to clean my shower more often!

Homemade Natural Tub Scrub

2 TBSP Castile soap

2 TBSP baking soda

Combine and stir together in a small bowl. It should thicken up like icing. To use, spoon a little onto your scrubber, and apply to the damp area. Scrub for a few seconds, let it sit for 1-2 minutes and then rinse off.

The first time I used this tub scrub I was amazed. It made my shower and tub the cleanest it had been in a loooonnngggg time with less elbow grease. Plus it’s minty fresh smelling. Much better than breathing in chemical fumes while cleaning.

Want to include your Make it Monday post? Add it below! To read more about Make it Monday, or to get the image and info click here .

Do you have any natural cleaning tips and tricks? Do you clean your shower/tub often? Are you a procrastinator like me?

Hope your Monday is starting out well!

Heather

05/17/13

fun font friday {2nd edition}

This morning I woke up with sore, sore abs. And I don’t think it was from those planks…

At the end of my strength class yesterday we did a bunch of rolling out on stability balls + spelling different things (like ‘I love to workout’ and ‘Heather is awesome’) while rolling out on the ball. Holy abs. Try it and see how your abs feel the next day… and make sure to spell Heather is awesome, I think that’s the one that did it.

I get so obsessed with fonts. I go looking for just one and I end up downloads wwaaayyyyy too many. I download all of mine from dafonts.com for free. Here are 10 of my latest favs for FUN FONT FRIDAY 2nd edition!

For more fun font inspiration, check out the first FUN FONT FRIDAY!

When were your abs sore last? Are you an ab roller? What do you use the stability ball for? What are you up to this weekend?

Heather

05/13/13

make it monday: DIY fancy door or window molding

Hello and happy Make it Monday! My little man Hunter woke up sick early this morning , so instead of getting this post out a bit earlier, mommy duty called and it is here now, during afternoon nap time.

I hope you all got to check out my Secret Recipe Club reveal of bircher muesli – not your average overnight oatmeal. It’s an awesome and quite refreshing summer time make ahead breakfast.

Now, on to Make it Monday!

If you are anything like me, you’ll want to print this out and tell your husband to do this in your house. But, if your husband is anything like mine, he won’t want to see it and will just figure it out on his own. It’s like asking for directions, men just won’t. Maybe he’ll use this tutorial and the pictures as inspiration???

Recently Jacob installed a new to us, old back door in our house.

Along with the door install, he added some fancy shmansy molding above the door. The door was already really cool, then the molding took it over the top and made it fit in even better in our old house.

Here’s how you (or your man) can do this, in just 10 easy (or challenging, depending on skill level) steps!!

Gather your supplies.

exacto knife
pry bar
liquid nails
nails and screws
electric drill
hammer
miter saw (10″ blade)
finishing nails
nail set
5″ x 1″ wide molding (width based on need)
decorative molding (width based on need)
caulking
paint

Step 1) Take an exacto knife and run it along the paint between the existing molding and the wall.

Step 2) Isolate where the existing nails are and pry the molding off of all 3 parts around the door (top and both sides). Make sure you are careful to not break the existing side molding, as this will get put back on.

Step 3) Cut a straight horizontal line across both pieces of side molding, at the top (if it is angled like ours was). Run your liquid nails along the back of the molding. Hold it there to allow the liquid nails to set. Use your finishing nails and hammer them into the existing door. Use the nail set to set the nails into the molding. Repeat on with other piece, so both side molding pieces are reattached.

Step 4) Measure the width between both outer pieces of side molding. Cut your large 5″ x 1″ top molding piece, allowing 2 extra inches (which will be 1 inch on each side).

Step 5) Run your liquid nails along the back of the molding. Put it in place above the door. Make sure it is evenly spaced. Hold it there to allow the liquid nails to set. Use your finishing nails and hammer them into the existing door. Use the nail set to set the nails into the molding.

Step 6) Take 3 small pieces of remaining top molding and drill screws them into the wall above the molding (at both sides and center). Make sure the pieces are not taller than your decorative molding.

Step 7) Measure by the base and cut your decorative molding at a 45 degree angle (using the miter saw), the same length as your top molding. Use liquid nails to put it onto the small pieces of molding. Have someone hold it (this is where I got to help!!) while you very delicately hammer in finishing nails and finish it with the nail set.

Step 8) Measure by the base and cut two small side pieces of decorative molding, cut at a 45 degree angle. Attach with liquid nails.