I love tradition, I love to work with my hands, I love the old time ways of doing things so when my children were invited last year to the home of a sweet and generous woman to learn the art of sugar eggs, I was over the moon.  

​Grandma had the connection and the kind woman, Nancy, was willing to show my children how to craft this almost lost art.  I patiently waited for their return to hear all about how to craft this masterpiece, when the girls came home they gushed about the adorable scenes they had created, the fun they had and how they couldn't wait to bring the eggs home to put in our glass cabinet.  

Here it is again, a crafty Tuesday edition of handmade Christmas ornaments.  This one turned out really cute and I think would also look great with a monogram letter in the center for a hostess gift!  The total materials for this one set me back 30 cents plus the spray of leftover spraypaint I had in the garage.  Looks pretty classy for 16 cents, no? 

This is an older post, back from when my now 2 y/o was a little babe, but since we are headed into this land again with baby #6 on the way I thought a re-post of this was worth it as I know I will be using this again!

I admit to being a bit sleepy as I sit down this morning to write my blog post...we have a teething baby at our house.  It has been over a week now of up and down in the night, extra snotty-ness and a desire to constantly be held, all signs that here we go... (I have learned the signs well with the experience of 4 other children).  But this time around I have something else in my arsenal, homemade teething gel.  I never did like using over the counter teething gel, I usually just opt for cold wet rags, ice teethers, and occasionally Motrin, but this little one's bottom tooth is so stubborn that I tried another route.  I had read quite a bit about Clove essential oil and its numbing properties so I tried it, and I am sold! (even if my baby now smells like a holiday ham)

  I always try oils on myself first so I put a drop on my gums and incidentally got  A bit on my tounge...whoa...totally numb!!!  But, at full strength Clove oil burns when put on your gums so I knew I needed to dilute it for baby.  I first tried a ratio of 1 drop of oil to 1 T of coconut oil but that was not strong enough so I settled with 2 drops of Clove oil to 1 T of coconut oil.  I keep this mixture in an old makeup container that I washed and re-purposed.  I take it with me everywhere at this point as I know that I can use it multiple times as needed and it is all natural so no found side effects!

I always prefer methods of homeopathy when caring for my family, cold and flu season is no different.  Now that it is coming round the corner I wanted to be sure I had a fresh stash of this fantastic old-timer remedy on hands.  It also just so happened that I had a little one with a crunky cough which made it that much more important to get on the task at hand.

 Last year a dear friend had given me some of her homemade Elderberry Syrup and I liked it even better than the store bought versions that I was used to by this point.  I began searching my property and the adjacent properties for some Elderberry, but to no avail.  I found lots of poisonous berries (pokeberry, water hemlock and Silky dogwood, but none of the desired Elderberry).

 Like any determined farmgirl I went ahead and ordered an Elderberry plant so that at least in the future I could be sure about plant identification and hopefully have my own stash of berries to make this fantastic herbal remedy.

However, in the meantime I decided to go ahead and run to the local health food store to purchase my own dried Elderberry to make this fantastic herbal remedy.

Why Elderberry you ask?  For starters Elderberries are known to be very rich in antioxidants they contain 87 percent of the daily value in vitamin C, and high amounts of vitamin A, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, fiber, and betacarotene. This medicinal plant has a long history with native Americans who used it to treat conjunctivitis, cold and flu symptoms, congestion, arthritis pain, upset stomachs, gas, and for detoxification.  Modern day herbalists and natural homeopathic doctors tout its boost to the immune system, and use to battle coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsillitis. Elderberry juice was even used to treat a flu epidemic in Panama in 1995.

Being that Elderberries are all natural, easy to procure, and have known health fighting benefits as well as immune boosting effects I use this as the main ingredient in my battle for wellness.  

Other ingredients are Slippery Elm (a substance that has been known to reduce sore throats, coughs and contains mucilage to soothe). Echinacea (a known immunity booster that works great for colds, coughs and acts as an anti inflammatory agent) Ginger (another anti inflammatory agent that also aids in battling bacterial infections as well as respiratory issues and another great all natural immune booster) Cinnamon (another antioxidant as well as bacterial infection fighter) and then some good old fashioned Honey, what our grandparents used to soothe a sore throat and a cough.

You simply take all of the "dry" ingredients (not the honey) and add to a small saucepan with 3 cups of water.  Bring to a simmer (not a boil) and simmer until your water is reduced by almost half.  At this time use a sieve to strain all the bits and pieces so you get the beautiful medicinal liquid.  

While still warm add in your honey and stir, stir, stir.  You can then store your liquid gold in amber bottles in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.  Note: This recipe makes 16 ounces of medicinal Elderberry syrup that works wonders at the beginning of a cold or flu like symptoms, to treat sore throats or coughs, or after exposure to someone ill.  Typical dose is 1 tsp daily until symptoms cease or for a few days if using as  preventative.

Do you make your own Elderberry Syrup?  If so is your recipe similar?  Give this one a try as the "extra" ingredients really do make a huge difference!

I love to read about what other homesteaders are up to...check out this homestead blog hop to read what others blog about too.

I did it, I do it every year, I get so excited by the brilliant warm sunshine that I go whole hog working all day in the garden, then a swim in the pool to cool off and I give little care to the largest organ I own...my skin.  Then, when the fun is over and the day is worn down I head in and am usually a bit taken aback by the bright red hue my skin has taken on.  OUCH!  I came across this concoction that I have tweaked a bit and it works really well for soothing red and angry sunburnt skin. Bonus- the moisturizing base has helped keep me from peeling!

If you are curious as to why it works, here is the breakdown...

Lavender soothes skin (burns, abrasions, irritations)
Melalueca heals skin (antibacterial and antimicrobial)
Peppermint cools skin (optional)
Witch Hazel reduces redness, is an astringent and skin soother
Fractionated coconut oil will moisturize the skin (less peeling!)
​

I have a 3 oz spray glass spray bottle that I fill half with the fractionated coconut oil (you can also try grapeseed or even olive oil in a pinch but fractionated coconut oil is by far my favorite.  I then fill the other half with straight witch hazel which is fantastic as an astringent and skin soother.  I then add 20 drops Melalueca (tea tree oil), 20 drops Lavender and if you want the cooling sensation you can then add 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil (caution don't use the spray near your face/eyes with peppermint in it).

This is my go-to soother all summer long.  I use it on myself, hubby and the kids and it can be used as often as needed, win-win!

​ (if you are curious about which essential oils I feel are the best to use, please contact me I would be happy to chat!) or feel free to click here.

This is the time of year when my empty mason jars are lining shelves and filling cupboards.  We have consumed a number of the delectable goodies that the jars contained over the winter months and as I am awaiting the harvests that will again fill these jars I always wonder how else I can creatively use them.  The best thing about a mason jar is that it can be re-purposed forever, unless of course you happen to drop it on the floor. (yup, I've done that).  

Note, if someone gives you a gift of homemade deliciousness in a jar, it is very courteous of you to return the jar if you do not intend on reusing it yourself, kind of like egg cartons, if you buy farm fresh eggs, return the cartons.  We farmgirls repurpose everything!

So, what can you do with the jars if you do want to repurpose them?  I have some great ideas for you!

photo courtesy "country living magazine" 

And that's not all...

Here is a list of 22 uses for your Mason Jars

Love this list of 100 uses for Mason Jars

and the Master 400 list!!!

got any other ideas?  I would love to hear them, I am inspired for sure, how about you?

When I started cloth diapering I was so proud of myself.  I was doing something that I had wanted to try for some time.  However, it wasn't long before I realized that there was a problem.  When you are cloth diapering you dump solid matter into the toilet and wash everything else.  When I change a diaper (as any other mom I know) we fold all the wipes up into the diaper and toss in the trash...but, if you are cloth diapering and using disposable wipes this makes for a tricky situation.  I have a wet bag to put my dirty/wet diaper in until it gets home and into the wash but I don't just readily have a trash bag handy for those dirty wipes, and you can't flush them.  I was in a bit of a situation.  So, I decided that if I was already going to be doing the diaper laundry, I might as well launder the wipes too.

Enter in a bit of ingenuity.  I had some flannel in my sewing stash and I had some homemade liquid soap (recipe here) that I could easily dilute.  I got busy.

I cut my cute flannel scraps into roughly 4 x 5 inch sections (I totally eyeballed this).  NOTE:  I SHOULD HAVE USED EITHER PINKING SHEARS OR SURGED UP THE SIDES BECAUSE THESE HAVE SINCE STARTED TO FRAY ON THE SIDES A BIT...At the time though I was in such a hurry to find a solution to my problem that I didn't consider the unraveling/fraying factor.

I then used a wide mouth pint sized mason jar.  To the jar I added 1/8 cup distilled water and 1 Tablespoon of homemade liquid hand soap.  I took my flannel scraps and wet them first then added them to the jar and gave it a healthy shake...voila!  These work wonderfully, they are very soft on the skin and they do a great job with diaper clean up!  win-win!

We go through a lot of hand soap around here.  At the sale price of $1 a pump for store bought it was high time to come up with an alternative. I am continuing to perfect this one but I had a few random bars of soap lying around and I decided to give it a whirl with what I had at my disposal.  I know that some people only use pure castile soap for this but I went with what I had, and it worked great.  

I thought about how I make my homemade laundry soap (recipe here) and wondered why I couldn't just make some hand soap with the same method of grating a bar of soap and adding water over heat until it was dissolved.  It worked!  It is definitely runnier than store bought but the price break down is phenomenal.  This bar of Dove soap was $1 and it made 3 quarts of liquid soap.  Being that a normal store bought dispenser type soap is $1 for 8oz and I got 96 oz out of $1 bar of soap that makes my 8 ounces of hand soap cost .08 cents!!!

What is my recipe?  it's simple,  I took 1 bar of soap (any kind would do, you can use a bar of castile, your favorite bar of homemade soap or any other kind you choose) and 3 quarts of distilled water. (You can use tap water but boil it first and let it cool)
​

I shredded the bar of soap with my cheese grater (no worries folks, its just soap, it washes off).  Then I added the water and shredded soap flakes to a pot and heated it over medium until all the soap flakes were dissolved.

After it cooled I simply refill my bathroom soap pumps and keep the remainder in mason jars in my laundry room for soap refills!  That was simple.

Do you have a favorite recipe for home made liquid hand soap?  Feel free to link up or comment below.

Remember that barn demolition we did earlier in the fall?  (post here) You wouldn't believe the number of people who were clamoring for my barn wood, all wanted to know what I was going to do with "all that wood."  Well true to my re-purposing spirit we are planning to use the wood for a new pigeon coop, chicken coop and hopefully someday a new horse stall, but I also wanted to snag some pieces for a few craft projects.  I am waiting on hubby to teach me to use his miter saw so I can craft with ease (while not cutting off any of my own limbs) but in the mean time I saw something on pinterest that caught my eye...

It looked easy enough and I sure did like it.  I often see ideas on pinterest or other sites and I don't necessarily copy them exactly but I do like to get ideas.  Here is the one I saw on Pinterest, here is my rendition:

It cost me a whopping $7.25 to make (it would have been less but I had to buy a whole bottle of wood glue since I was all out).  The letters were 40% off at Hobby Lobby so they ran about .75 each and I already had some black craft paint and leftover lacquer from some of the other DIY projects I've been into lately (post here).

It was a super easy project as I just painted the storebought letters and used the wood glue to put them in place...voila!

Here are a few of my favorite things...(cue sound of music song).  When you are budget minded at Christmas you get creative and often make gifts.  I like to personalize gifts by making ornaments and I often stick these (or some other goody) to the Christmas cards we hand out at church.  My thinking is that when you give someone a card it often barely gets glanced at and then it gets tossed, I certainly can't afford gifts for all those people so I get creative and make many of them, I figure even if the card gets tossed maybe it will have at least brought a smile for a moment because there was something inside the card besides an inscription (and who doesn't like to open a bulky card with a goody inside?)

Here are a few of my favorite decorations, I have made the cinnamon ones as well as a few of the others, the more 3 dimensional ones obviously would not fit into a card but they make great gift toppers for that personalized touch.  For the ones that are not my own, I have included links under the pictures to the original how-to posts.  Happy Crafting!

http://www.hometalk.com/692459/twine-wreath-ornaments-mason-jar-lids-repurposed
​

/http://stowandtellu.com/rustic-twig-christmas-tree-ornaments/

​http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/20-easy-handmade-holiday-ornaments-and-decorations-pictures?soc=pinterest

​http://www.ehow.com/how_4549722_make-wirewrapped-star-ornament.html

Pretty ugly isn't it?  Yep, that is my coffee table that has gone through 3 boys.  The problem is that I love that the lid lifts and provides ample storage for blankets but it is so scratched and horrible looking that quite frankly it was becoming embarrassing to have.  As you can see from the previous posts I have been on a painting kick so I figure, what can go wrong?  I certainly couldn't make it look any worse!

A friend who has upcycled so many amazing things told me to get "GRIPPER" primer from Home Depot as she has a specific way she re-does furniture.  In order to avoid sanding or any other prep work she paints on a coat of Gripper, waits 24 hours, paints another coat of Gripper, another 24 hours then paint whatever color she wants...sounds easy enough.

here goes nothing...

I admit that about this time I did begin to get a bit nervous but then I reminded myself that almost anything was going to be an improvement over what I started with.

It was very hard to give it 24 hours because by nature I am not a patient person, this was killing me!!!

The pictures I snapped are not the best but I am waiting until the "big reveal" to take pictures of the whole room with my total out of pocket cost for this budget makeover.  I first used a sponge roller with black semi gloss paint but I was finding that I was seeing roller and brush streaks, which I did not like at all.  I also was not getting that high gloss finish that I was going for so I decided to pull out some spray paint, that did the trick and I think that is where I should have started from the get-go.

So here are my lessons learned... I should have painted with Gripper and then after the two coats and 48 hours of dry time I should have gone straight to the spray paint.  Also, I was too rushed to get the tables back into the house so when I set my newly painted lamps on the tables after the tables had only cured for 24 hours there was a bit of an imprint from the lamp, that could have been avoided had I been a bit more patient.

All in all I am super pleased.  Out of pocket on this one? $21 for the Grippper (I still have more than 3/4 of the gallon left) $15 for the black semi gloss paint (next time I would skip this all together) and 2 cans of Rustoleum Spray paint ($5 each so $10).  Grand total...$46 but if you think about the fact that I only used 1/4 of the Gripper that would knock the price down to $15.25 for the whole project had I just bought a small amount of Gripper and 2 cans of spray paint!!! (live and learn)

I have been wanting to makeover my livingroom for sometime but with the all of the outside work going on this year (read barn demo and rebuild) it didn't seem that there was ever time. Now that the colder weather is settling in I thought that it would be the perfect time to get started.  You see, when we moved into our farm I became pregnant with baby #5 within just 2 months of moving in, then the baby came and well before you know it almost 3 years have passed without me ever making my house look like my home.  This is it though, only problem?  This is going to have to be a tight budget overhaul... cue the creativity and various hours spent pouring over pinterest ideas for re-purposing items.

Step one...the lamps.  I didn't have a single set of matching lamps in my home.  I​ was dismayed at the prices of new lamps and frankly didn't find them very fun looking.  Then I saw what I thought was a re-purpose worthy item...a set of table lamps on a local buy-sell-trade group.  It was $10 for the set so I jumped and hoped that spray paint would work.  I have to say that I am pretty pleased with the outcome!

Here they are...out of pocket total? $13.95.  $10 for the lamps and $3.95 for the silver spray paint.  Not bad for some trendy looking lighting.​

In my quest to update and make things look a bit more modern and personalized I tried to figure out how to update my living room without breaking the bank.  I had to stick with the furniture I had as there wasn't budget for new couches so I began thinking about how to update the look and since I hate the look of slipcovers the only option I came up with was new throw pillows.  However, if one buys throw pillows it can be quite pricey so a trip to the fabric store was in order.  I am very blessed that I was taught the basics of sewing as a young girl by both my grandmother and my aunt.  I find this skill invaluable as it has saved me so much money over the years.  

​ I came up with a print I liked and then I also went searching through some of my old stash of fabrics with creativity in mind.  I decided to sew a few of the pillows from the fun fabric I found and then take a very neutral fabric and paint on it to add to the fun.

The design I painted was just inspired by the printed fabric and I did it free-hand just to play around a bit.  I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  All in all I ended up with 4 of the patterned pillows and two of the hand painted pillows.  My total out of pocket for this project? $18 (a mere $3 per pillow!)

If you don't sew, pillows are a perfect beginner project as they are just squares that you put together by sewing the fabric printed side to printed side and leaving about 3" of space to stuff, then you turn them rightside out and stuff, then sew the 3" gap.  This project was all done in one evening (probably 3 hours because of the hand painting and dry time).

I was so pleased with my new throw pillows that I decided this would be a great project for me to make for a few Christmas presents too!

Let me start by saying that I realize that "cheap" is a relative term here...What I view as cheap may not be what someone else does but let me share this awesome tip with you all!  

My 3 year old son (turning 4 in a few days) has been begging for a John Deere Gator ride on toy, you know the outdoor motorized power ones?  He had seen one at another child's home and he was smitten.  The problem?  They cost a FORTUNE!!! I mean that.  Even on sale the least I have ever seen them for was $400 and sometimes they run as high as $500...FOR A CHILD's TOY!!!  Ugh, what is a mama to do.  I knew that not only my 3 year old would love this but also his younger brother as they would likely play together for hours all over the farm.  Then there were also the memories of how much fun my older children had with a hand-me-down ride on jeep that they had for years.  But, there was that price tag and there was NO WAY I could in my right mind pull that off.

So, I began looking everywhere for a used one, I looked at garage sales, craigslist, swap sites, etc.  I mean I was on the hunt.  I kept coming up short.  This hunt went on for months...Even super old and beat up ones were going for around $150+.

Then it happened.  Just this week.  I was looking on craigslist and there it was...a post for a used gator.  It was a little rough, but I hoped that a little TLC would make it at least a fun toy for the kids.  And if not for Christmas then for birthday, afterall that could be a gift for 2 kids at once!

Here is what I came home with....yup- its a little rough.  But just wait till you see it's transformation!  And I only paid $75 for it

It worked, it was only a few years old, and I had a plan.  On the way home I spent another $8 on spray paint for plastic toys.  Here we go.  My sons helped to wash it (notice they are trying to drive away with soap suds on the hood).  The gator had obviously been outside for some time as it seriously needed a bath.

Bath complete and now it was time to disassemble, these things seriously come apart into a hundred or more pieces, great for painting though!  And, we were lucky enough to get the manual with ours so when I called the company (Peg Perego) I learned that if I wanted I could even order replacement parts.

Once apart, I began the makeover, just look at that amazing color!  All from spray paint I bought at Lowes (just be sure to buy the kind specific to plastic)

The kids went down for a nap with the promise that daddy would put it all back together and it should be dry for them to use when they woke up.

To say that mom and kids were pleased is a serious understatement.  I was ecstatic!!!  My total out of pocket for this project was $83, and some elbow grease.

I know for a fact I could turn around today and sell it for over $150 so that made it all the better (no, I was not planning on selling it but it made me feel good to know that I could totally get my money back out of it plus profit with no problems)

The boys ran all over the place with it until the battery was dead and it had to be recharged.  This thing can hold up to 130 lbs so I know that for years to come this should be an enjoyment!

Yes, I know you may wonder why in the world someone would bother with making their own deodorant.  I mean, just one more thing to make right?  Well, I have always been intrigued by natural deodorants, however, I have not been intrigued by the fact that many of them do not seem to "work".  I want to be all natural...but I do not want to SMELL ALL NATURAL if you get my drift.  I had never really had someone tell me about a natural one that worked well, (lets face it if you are a true farm girl, you sweat when you work) until recently.

So, again with the why.  I recently read a statistic that said the average woman exposes herself to over 100 chemicals before breakfast.  We are amassing a vast cocktail of substances on our bodies and in our homes.  I don't believe that it is possible to eliminate them all, but I do want to reduce the amount of harmful toxins by as much as possible.  Our skin is our largest organ and many substances applied to the skin are absorbed directly into our bloodstream, so, I decided that would be an area worth working on.

My friends who make their own deodorants (thank you Stacy and Mandy) even assured me that their husbands did not stink...okay I decided to try it...I was WAAAY impressed!  It works!  I mean, I went out in the garden, worked all around the farm, weeded, helped demolish the barn, etc.  I DID NOT STINK!  The only down side that I have found is that some people do have a sensitivity to baking soda, this can cause redness or irritation under the arm, weird thing is this only happens to me if I apply immediately after shaving.

The other bonus is that the ingredients in this deodorant are also many of the same used for homemade lotions and salves so I have everything I need on hand to keep on making our natural products!

I purchased most of my ingredients from Amazon but since a batch of deodorant can last 2-3 months and I clearly have enough ingredients for about 2 years worth of deodorant, salves, lotions, etc I think I did pretty good.  The only thing I would change is that next round of making my deodorant, I would not bother with putting it into a roll up deodorant style tube like pictured above, I will just scoop out a pea sized amount and smooth it on (works better that way).

So, here is how to do it:
·         1 T Beeswax

·         1T Cocoa butter

·         1 T Shea butter

·         1 T Coconut oil

·         2.5 T arrowroot powder

·         1 T clay, (I used bentonite, but Kaolin or french green would be fine also)

·         1/4 t vitamin E oil (2-4 capsules) or 2-3 drops if you have a bottle

·         2 T Baking Soda

·         Essential Oils– aprox. 10-25 drops

I use Lavender and Melalueca. The Melalueca is good for its anti-bacterial properties and the Lavender is soothing for sensitive skin.

Method: Use a wide mouth pint mason jar set inside of a sauce pan.  Fill the sauce pan with about 1-2 inches of water and set the mason jar inside of it.  Then on medium heat melt the ingredients in order (beeswax first, then cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil) being careful not to get it too hot as shea butter doesn't like to get too hot.  I mix the ingredients while I am melting them together by using a wooden popsicle stick.  Once melted add in your dry ingredients and your vitamin E oil.  When it is all mixed together it is about the consistency of warm peanut butter.  Then put into the container of your choice.  It can be used immediately but it does take up to a week to reach its final consistency of firmness. It has a green tint to it but it does not stain my clothing at all!

If you need any of the ingredients, head on over to Amazon, that is where I usually get mine, or even bulk Herb store.  These are affiliate links which add nothing to your cost but do help maintain this site.  Thanks!

I love herbal teas, but I don't always love the pricetag attached to getting tea leaves that are certified to be free from pesticides and chemicals.  Which got me thinking...I wondered if any of the medicinal plants on my little farm were able to be made into teas.  I did LOTS of research...I surely did not want to poison myself!  I found that some of my favorite teas made from Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) And Wild Blackberry (Rubus laciniatus) were teas that I could make from the plants growing around my property...totally free!!!


I continued to research just to be sure that there was nothing about the Raspberry plant or the Blackberry plant themselves that was at all poisonious and I discovered that I was sitting on plenty of free tea leaves for the taking!  So began my latest journey in homesteading!

I started by harvesting the leaves of the canes in a sort of random fashion.  I have everbearing raspberries, meaning that I get more than one round of berries from them a season so I did not want to kill off any of the canes by harvesting too many leaves from a single one.

Did you know that raspberries and blackberries operate on a 3 year cycle?  The first year a cane (stem) shoots up, the second year it flowers and produces and the third year it dries out and dies?  This all happens randomly in a patch so you will see canes with no flowers, canes with flowers and then berries and then other canes that are old and dried out prickers.

Next, I brought the leaves inside where you can wash and pat them dry.

Though I did put the leaves to dry in my food dehydrator I opted not to turn it on as I did not want to heat the leaves at all while drying (I learned from doing this with my peppermint leaves last year that it does alter the taste of the tea).  It took a few days to get the leaves to the point where they were "crunchy" and able to be crushed into my tea ball.

I have to admit that I am pretty excited by this as I can now dry and store my own tea!!! This will be pretty fantastic come winter time when a hot cup of tea is just perfect by the fire!

We love pickles around here...but not the sweet ones, just garlic, dill, hot, etc.  I used to go to all the trouble of canning my cukes to make pickles but there were two problems with that method. #1 My pickles were always soggy no matter what technique I tried...we don't like soggy dills.  #2 My family would eat a whole jar in one sitting so it seemed like such a waste to go to all the work of hot water bathing the jars only to have them gone before they were even ready to be preserved!  

So, here is how we have been doing them lately.

There you have it, Easy Peasy Refrigerator Pickles!!!

​

I was teaching an essential oils 101 class not too long ago when I  met a sweet and wonderful mama.  She was expecting her 5th baby and that always leads to laughs and disucssions between two mamas of large families.  I have begun to ask, when I hear of a mama having a new baby, if she has ever used a ring sling as this has been a saving grace for me.  Through fussy babies, grocery trips with toddlers, and just general "trying to get things done" my ring sling has been my best friend when I have babies.

After we made a connection and chatted on a few different occasions I decided that I wanted to give her a ring sling as her baby gift.  If you look on etsy or any number of stores you can find the price range for ring slings to be astronomical...however, with a sewing machiene and the right instructions this is a simple undertaking that will mean the world to a mama.

First and foremost is getting the right quality rings.  These are seamless and weight tested rings that I only purchase at www.slingrings.com (I have no affiliation with this company, I just love their products).  The sets are $5.95 each but I always order at least 3 because there is always a baby shower to go to and I can save on shipping that way.

Secondly, I just followed the instructions I found on the slingrings site...this is the shoulder type I use with photo tutorial here...  As for the material, since this baby will be worn all summer I wanted something light, but sturdy so linen was my go to choice. (Don't use a stretchy or jersey fabric).  It is so simple then just hemmng the 4 sides and pleating and sewing the shoulder!

The mama loved it!  If you need to see one in action, this is me with my now active toddler when he was in his fussy teething stage.

I have a creative friend who brought over a clear plastic tub of sheer entertainment when she visited recently.  Both of our toddlers and preschoolers were entertained while we visited on my porch and the idea was pretty ingenious.  So, not my original idea...but so worth sharing!

After my friend left there was a constant request for her "sand" from my little ones.  So, what's a mama to do but to recreate the fun.  This is play sand that reallly is actually edible if need be (not that I want my children to eat it but I won't be quite as upset as when they eat real sand).  Here is the recipie I used: two 5lb bags of flour ($1.50 each at Aldi) two cups of cheap cooking oil (less then $1).  That's it!  You put the flour in the tub you are using and then pour the oil around and mix together (kids can even help with the mixing).  The finished product feels cool to the touch but similar to moon sand. There is however a warning that comes with this project:

Warning: you may experience an unexpected space of time for yourself as your little ones will be so totally engrossed in thier play...however, you will be best to do this project outdoors and will likely need to strip your children's clothing off before returning inside as it is messy.

all was fine and the play was going very well...but then we got excited.  And then it snowed.

I was lauging so hard that the picture ended up crooked.  Luckily it brushed out of his hair much better than real sand does and the clothes?  We just dusted them off and washed them.

I haven't done a DIY (Do it Yourself) in awhile so I thought I would post this recent one I did at a friend's crafting party.  This was really easy and it holds the scent of essential oils for several days.  I love the color and the terra cotta is amazingly absorbant.

all you do is purchase DAS Terracotta modeling material from Hobby Lobby or Michael's craft stores.  Cut round shapes (we used empty pill bottles and bottle caps) and then stamp an imprint (any stamp will do but often really cool ones can be found in the soap making supplies aisle).  Make sure to use a toothpick or other very small pointy item to poke a hole for the string.  Then dry overnight and once dry add 2-3 drops of your favorite essential oils to the necklace for a scent that lasts several days!  


I made one of these for myself and my two daughters and they love theirs.  When the scent starts to wane add a new and different one or a few drops more of the same.  It is pleasant to have a favorite scent under your nose all day too!  For more information on where to buy high quality therapuetic grade essential oils CLICK HERE.  Happy Crafting! 


Here is a tutorial with pictures: http://doterrablog.com/diy-aromatherapy-jewelry-for-your-doterra-essential-oils/