Easter

Here's a quick and belated Easter Post.

 This is my Easter Banner.  I cut egg shapes out of scrapbook paper and pasted it to Cardstock to give it sturdyness.

 I made some Chicks and a Bunny too.

 Then I tied each piece together with ribbon.

 A few more views.

 Now for the Basket.  Super easy and cheap.  A stack of 100 plates was less than $2 at Walmart.  I'll be good for baskets for a long time.  It needs to be the regular old paper ones.

 Cut a 4 inch square out of paper for a template.

 Center the square and lightly trace around the square.  These will be your fold lines.

 Now cut from the edge of the paper plate to the corner of the square you drew.

 Fold up on the fold line and press.  You can use a bone folder here or just your fingernail to get a nice firm crease.

 Now fold in the corners like shown.

 Continue all the way around.

 With your glue stick glue the corners to each other to form the basket.

 Finished.

 Now fill and decorate.  I just tied some cute ribbon around the basket, but scrapbook paper would be very cute too.  Be as detailed and creative as you want to be.

 I used my paper shredder and some green printer paper to make the grass.  I really hate the plastic grass they sell at the store.  It gets everywhere.  This way when they are done it all goes into Recycle.

Happy Easter!

Upcycled Wrap

I love design inspiration. Mine came from this shirt I had in my closet.

 I love the drape and the wrap.  I wanted to try to duplicate it using this mens long sleeve t-shirt.  It worked great. All you need is one long sleeve shirt that is about 2 sizes too big for you. I got this one for free from a clothing swap.  I think next time, I'll go Goodwill Hunting!

Here's the finished shirt.

Now the how to...

 Cut the shirt apart.  All the way.  All the seams and remove the stitching too.

 Find a shirt with a cut you like to use as a template.  Take the back of the shirt you cut up and cut it out leaving 1/4-1/3 inch seam allowance.

 Like shown. Remember the sleeves too.

 Now measure where you want the wrap to come too.  I wanted it to be close to my natural waistline but you could put it anywhere you wanted.

 Cut the swoop saving both pieces.

 Flip the right side over to the left and trim the sleeve holes to match the back piece.

 Using both sleeves you cut from the shirt, cut two new short sleeves for the new shirt.

 Like shown.

 Now with the left over sleeve pieces, we are going to piece together the inside of the wrap.  If I had 2 shirts this wouldn't be necessary, but it will be on the inside and it will look fine.

Seam together the pieces to make a wrap the same size and shape as the first one.

 I top stitched each seam for a finished look.

 Now you have two pieces for the front wrap.

 Let's add some ruffle.  I cut up the remaining pieces of sleeve into strips about 1/2 inch wide.

 Sew each strip together into one continuous strip.

 Gather the long strip of fabric.

 Sew the shoulder seams together making sure they are right sides together.

 Now add the ruffle to the neckline.  I had enough ruffle to double the ruffle on the outer wrap piece.  Feel free to embellish as strikes your fancy.

 For the sleeves, I added a tiny gather to the top of the shoulder to help the fit.

 Now assemble the shirt.  I sewed in the sleeves, then the side seams making sure the whole wrap piece is on the inside since when you turn it, this will be on the outside.  Top stitch the seams to make it look more professional. I did a simple one turn hem on the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt.

Here's the finished top.

Before and after. 

I love it!  Now I need to find another one in a different color.  Maybe add a gather to the shoulder and side seam for more drape next time.  It's so fun to play with upcycling.

Clean Shower Anyone?

So I have a conundrum.

I love having clean showers/bathrooms.

I hate cleaning them, especially the shower/tubs. Usually I end up all wet and covered in Comet and tired from scrubbing.

Arizona is synonymous with Hard Water and soap scum.

When we moved back to AZ from Seattle, I asked my husband if we could just pipe the water from Seattle down to AZ.

He said we could, but....

So until then, I'm willing to try different things to clean my shower.  I found one solution on Pinterest.  I just looked for it and it has magically disappeared, but I followed the instructions and I was FLOORED to say the least.

My showers literally looked like new with minimal effort.  No scrubbing.  I promise.

Here's the before pic. Usually I squeegie the glass and it helps alot, but still the AZ water does it's worst.

 Lovely Soap scum on the chrome.  SO nice.

How do I fix this you ask?

It's simple.

Equal parts of Regular White Vinegar, heated up in the microwave until about boiling - 2 minutes; and Blue Dawn diswashing liquid.

That's it.

Put the hot vinegar and dawn in a spray bottle, shake slightly and go to town.

I did 3/4 cups of each and had enough to liberally do my glass shower, including the marble walls and floor.

Note: The vinegar smell is really strong.  Turn on the bathroom fans and open the windows if you are highly sensitive to smell.  My kids asked what that smell was and I told them it's the smell of clean showers!

 When I first tried it, I was worried that the blue Dawn would stain the white marble and fiberglass.  Nope!  So awesome!

Now let it sit for  a few hours.  Longer if you have really bad scum.  Then get a regular kitchen sponge, and a bucket of water and wipe down the walls.  It does take a lot of water since you're using Dawn and it gets all bubbly.

 Here's some after shots.

 It beautifully took all the soap scum off the fixtures too.  My bathroom seriously looks brand new.
I didn't want to use the shower this morning because I didn't want to mess it up.  Nope.  I'm clean and so is my shower.  BONUS!

I was so excited I decided to try a few other things.

Here's what I tried and the verdict:

Marble and Glass showers: Awesome.  Definitely do again and again.

Fiberglass tub/shower: Awesome. Do again and again.

Toilet bowl: It worked well and I was very happy with the results. I will do it again.

Bathroom Counters/Sinks/Fixtures: I was happy with the results.  They definitely look brand new, but it takes a lot of water to clean up the dawn, not scrubbing mind you, but wiping away all the bubbles.  My 4 year old asked if I was making bubble pies in the sinks.  I had to use paper towels to finish up the job.  I may do this again, but it's much easier just to spray everything with 409.  I will probably use the vinegar/dawn on occation but not regularly.

Stainless Steel Kitchen sink: It's clean but doesn't look brand new. I'm on the fence about using it again.

Glasstop Stove: Again it's clean, but it was a lot of wiping, rinsing, and wiping to get all the soap gone.  I probably won't use it again.

I don't know how this will work for Tile showers since I don't have any.  I'd love to hear how it works if you have tile.

I also won't use it on my floors.  Too much water for clean up.  My kids would love sliding around on soapy floors but I definitely won't love cleaning up all the soapy water.  Maybe if I had a drain in the center of the kitchen I might consider it.  But since that would be weird and I don't want to put one it... there you go.

Honestly I've never been excited about cleaning showers until now.
Weird I know but hey... I have clean bathrooms.
Do you? ;)