Heartsy, anyone?

If you have not heard of Heartsy; the Etsy-store promo equivalent to Groupon, then you must hear now! You can sign up with facebook and/or email to get each daily deal sent to you. Some of the shops featured may not be to your liking, but you will find gems in there you can't pass up. I have. More than I'd like to admit. Enjoy!

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10 Earth Saving Ideas

Whether you have kids or not, its good to be (Im so sick of this word )"green". Its mainly good for you - which is most important. Lots of cleansers & household products are extremely harmful - which is why the companies never post the ingredients to their formulas; they don't want you to know you're buying something that's quite toxic. Well, here are a few ideas from the past that I've revamped :

1. Fix a squeaky hinge; door, box, wheel, etc. How do you do this? Easy, just spray the hinge with cooking spray like PAM or whatever type you use. Olive oil will also work, but it can get a bit runny.

2. Freshen up a room: Option A - get a small spray bottle -say 2 oz. - fill with water and a lovely smelling essential oil. Shake it and spray til the room's scent is to your liking. Option B-Just get a small decorative jar and fill it with baking soda and a few drops of essential oil till its scent is to your liking - this works great in the washroom. I love the lemon/eucalyptus blend. God knows what is in Febreze!

3. Get a large spray bottle 16+ oz., fill with water and about 25 drops of Lavender & Tea Tree essential oil (its a combo oil). This should kill any mold and mildew thru out your home, just spray on surfaces and let air dry. It also smells great and works well as an air freshener too.

4. Use 1/4 cup vinegar during the rinse cycle when your doing laundry. It will work as a fabric softener without all the chemicals but with all the softness. And no, your clothes won't smell like vinegar.

5. Clean your windows, mirrors, glass with a spray that 50/50 water and vinegar (add an essential oil to tame the vinegary smell if you like) - but the smell goes away very quickly.

6. Try not to buy things new. If you can find them at the GoodWill or Salvation Army, do it. You can always find Target's clearance items at these shops so you can buy things 'new' too! You help others as well as finding cool stuff.

7. Used coffee grounds work to keep pests away from your plants. Make sure your plants can tolerate the acidity the grounds may add to the plant soil tho!

8. Kill weeds by spraying them with vinegar - careful not to spray what you want kept healthy in your yard/plant/garden. Vinegar can kill the important stuff too! Its better to use this then items like Round Up, which is very toxic.

9. Use baking soda to scrub just about anything - the oven range, toilet, bath tub, sinks, your teeth, etc. Dab some mixed with a bit of soap to get stains out of clothes as you would with Shout.

10. If you do buy any cleansers I highly recommend Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. Its like an all-purpose miracle cleaner! Use it to wash your laundry; floors; bathrooms; counters; walls; dishes; car; fruits & vegetables; plus its mild & gentle on the skin. I swear it gets our hardwood floors looking cleaner and better than Murphy's Oil Soap does. And it lasts a LONG time - so its totally with the $9 - $12 for a 32 oz bottle - a little goes a long way.

Ok, thats all 10! I hope it helps anyone who needs it!
Image used: Bulb Apartment Plants from Here

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Project Review: One Yard Wonders - Folklore Bag

Finally! I finally found some time to review this nifty Folklore bag! The purse itself has been hanging in the closet for well over a month, I'd say. Well, this pattern comes from the very useful and fullofawesomelycoolpatterns, One Yard Wonders, page 159.
The turquoise owl fabric was actually a bed spread from Urban Outfitters that I found on clearance a while ago. I used to sell fat quarters of it in my shop and I had just enough left to make the bag. Seriously, I had not a scrap left! I just went with a simple off-white kona cotton lining and added lots of pockets, more than the pattern called for. You can never have too many pockets!

Now to the review! The instructions were very clear and easy. The hardest part is just getting all the pattern pieces traced and cut out; the sewing part was quite simple. If you decide to make this bag, don't forget to add the magnetic snap to the lining before you finish sewing it! I made that mistake. Good thing I keep the seam ripper close by! I thought it was a bit strange that you had to sew the top band together (so it made a circular band) before you attached it to the pleated bottom part of the bag. I always fear that my fabric won't line up properly...but it was fine. I just had to make sure I cut the pieces from the pattern exactly. (sometimes I wing it and well, haste makes waste!)

This was a great pattern and I'd love to make more of them with all my new Echino fabrics I just bought. Maybe make one for each day of the week...
I'd  definitely recommend the pattern to an intermediate to advanced seamstress..beginners can give it a whirl if they 're feeling adventurous.

Overall a great pattern with fabulous results! Now I think I'll just have to sell it in my shop or something. I have way too many bags lying around here!

For my next review, I'd love to do one about cloth diapers. I'll search around for a good pattern. If anyone knows of one, let me know!!

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New Living Room via Craigslist

Our living room  (or "frunchroom" if you're from 'round here) has been quite dark and dungeonous, as I posted before, and as you can see in the pic above. It was the dark furniture and ugly woodwork that made it so. Don't get me wrong, I love the original oak woodwork throughout our 1926 Bungalow, but after years of not much maintenance...or some bad staining...it just looks blah. So we cut to the chase and painted the wood in this room white. Much better!

Anyway, as I've stated this all to my husband, he, so sweetly and secretly, left early yesterday morning to pick up a sweeeeet craigslist find in order to give me what I wanted - something new (as in new to us) and some color! Now I can't say he swindled the sellers because he just paid what they asked, but It was quite an awesome deal at $150 for all 3 pieces - which are in near perfect condition for their age. He got 2 green swivel chairs and one long wool tufted sofa in mauve. Can't get much more colorful than that!

Much better. Yes? We've completely redecorated this room - not by adding much but taking all the crud out like the radio, cabinets and misc junk we don't use or want in there. And we're selling the black vinyl couch in the photo above, if anyone is interested...and in the Chicagoland area. The couch is great for people with grubby handed kids - like us. And it was made in Chicago way back when things were actually made in America.  

Its nice being married to a picker!

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