Pin No. 9 & 10 Cleaning Carpets

So for some strange reason I decided I needed to clean my carpets.  I think it was going through all my pins and reading all these amazing stories of stains people have gotten out of their carpet.  The whole time I'm thinking, yeah right!  When we moved into our house there were already existing stains, and with 6 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats stains have gotten added.   I vacuum pretty much everyday and shampoo on a regular basis, but there are still lingering stains that drive me crazy.  I feel like everytime I clean the carpets that just yell "Ha! Ha! I'm still here!"  I have tried every product I could fnd in a store and ordered some too.  Nothing worked, and some had awful smells.   Lately I have been getting greener with my cleaning supplies so the idea of using a cleaning solution that didn't have any harmful chemicals in it was a welcome one.  I found this pin

Source: moderndaymoms.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I have read about Blue Dawn and Peroxide working wonders before so I thought it was worth a shot

First I mixed everything together then I vacuumed.  And yes, that is a cheap old vacuum cleaner.  My favorite purple Dyson is getting repaired (short in the cord) and I miss her dearly!

I sprayed it on the carpet and took a toothbrush and gently scrubbed it in, then I took my carpet cleaner and went over the spots.

I was truly amazed at how well this worked.   I left it on the spots long enough to fill up my carpet cleaner with warm water, and went over them and they were just gone!   I will DEFINATELY be remembering this one!



After cleaning all these spots I decided I wanted to try a whole room.  I do not have the patience to spray a whole room with a spray bottle.  I would be insane before I got half way done. I couldn't really find any info on using the above mixture in a carpet cleaner, so I decided to search for something that had been tried before.  I came across this

Source: survivingthestores.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I basically doubled the solution to fill my machine, I did my entire Family Room. I washed the carpets with this solution, then I went back over it with warm water mixed with a few Tablespoons of white vinegar. White vinegar is great in so many ways, for this it helps break up any soap residue that might be left. I was in such a hurry to try this, that I didn't take any pics of before, It wasn't spotted, but was dingy. This is the room that we use the most, and also the room that the dogs are in 90% of the time.

 

Overall I'm pretty happy with this one too.  I will be using it next time I get the urge to clean my carpets

Pin No. 7, 8 & 9 Storing Those Pesky Plastic Bags (aka Wal-Mart Bags)

Mondays are usually a day I spend recovering from the weekend. It usually invovles cleaning, laundry and a ton of dishes. For some odd reason I was on top of my game this a.m., and had the cleaning and dishes along with vacuuming all done before 8 am. Laundry is still being done, but then that is endless in this family! I had to restock the basics in the pantry and fridge. Milk, bread and eggs seems to vanish into thin air over the weekends. I ran my errands, then stopped at the grocery store, when I started unpacking my bags I realized that the perfect pins to try today dealt with all the plastic bags that were laying empty at my feet. I really do try and be good and use the reusable shopping bags, but they tend to get left in the garage or the car.......I found two pins that were perfect. I started with this one

Source: mousechirpy-polkadotpineapple.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Then I tried this one

Source: infarrantlycreative.net via Nicole on Pinterest

I started with a pile of bags


Then I took one bag and straightened it out and and folded it in half


Then fold it in half again

Spend a little timing folding triangles just like those old paper footballs  you used to make as a a kid (directions are in the first pin) and you end up with a neat little pile of bags.


Next I moved on to putting bags in an old Lysol (or Clorox) Wipe container.  I'm always throwing these in the recycling bin so it was nice to actually have a purpose for them!  This was simple.  My dogs decided to help out so I didn't get any pics of laying the bags out, but the instructions are right in the pin, and are easy to follow.  This is what mine looked like after I rolled them up.

Then I put them in the empty container


I decided that I needed to cover my container just like the original pinner.  I didn't feel like digging through my fabric, so I just grabbed a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to size and glued it on.

Then since I figured this would be perfect to put in the kids bathroom next to the trash can I labeled it.  Didn't want to leave any doubt to what it was, and I also wanted to take away any excuses the kids might have for emptying their bathroom trash.  They would let it pile up to the ceiling if they could.

I am not happy with the the label and will probably redo it but considering the whole project took me like 10 min. I can't complain.  I definately love the idea of being able to have the small bags right in the bathrooms next to the trashcans and looking nice, not cluttered.  I fit about 12 walmart bags into one container.

I got my label from here

Source: celebrationsathomeblog.com via Nicole on Pinterest

This is something I will definately keep doing.  I love that when I open the cabinet under my kitchen sink that I don't have plastic bags falling out, and that I can have these right in the bathrooms too!

Pin No. 5 & No. 6 The Crochet Flower

So we gained an extra hour today, and it feels as if I have less time in my day. The whole house seems a little bit out of sorts. Everybody is just spending the day lounging around watching football. Well almost everybody, the Hubs had to head back to work for the week! Boo! I have been working on a crochet blanket from another pin, but that is obviously something that can't be done in a day, so I wanted something simple that I could do while sitting on the couch watching football. These crochet flowers were perfect!

Source: 2crazy4crafting.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

or this (this one has pattern in link)

Source: jennozkan.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I thought these would be great since I needed some flowers for hats that I made.....ummm, last year.  They have been sitting in the bottom of the my yarn pile and with the weather getting colder I figured it was time to finally finish them.  Small flowers, especially ones made with cotton yarn work great on hair clips, or headbands also.


The first one that I did I made using cotton yarn, with a size H hook.  I chained 40 to start. 


It didn't turn out to badly.....I missed a few stitches (I was paying more attention the TV,lol)

The next one I tried I still chained 40 but used some cheap old Super Saver Worsted Weight yarn.  I still used my H hook.  You can see the spiral that should form if you are paying attention and not skipping stitches........

Once you have your spiral it is just a matter of rolling up the yarn to form the flower.  Just cut a piece of yarn and thread your needle.  The really nice thing about yarn is it is really easy to hide sloppy stitching.  I was not careful about where I placed my stitches, I followed no rhyme or reason, just did what I needed to do to keep my flower together.

Here is what is looks like as your are rolling it up to form the flower

I did the tan one by also using worsted weight yarn and my H hook, but I only chained 20 this time.

The tan flower where I chained 20 and the cotton yarn (creme) where I chained 40 turned out the same size.  All in all a good project and these can be used to embellish a ton of things.  If you are new to the world of crochet I encourage you to check out The Crochet Geek.  Teresa has a ton of youtube videos that are really easy to follow, and she slows things down so you can see what she is doing step by step. http://www.youtube.com/show/crochetgeek

Pin No. 4 Crockpot Potato Soup

It's Saturday, and for this household its always a big day of the week.   We are a huge Football family.  We LOVE The Ohio State Buckeyes.   We like them so much we literally named one of our kids after their school colors, Scarlett-Ann Greye.   Weekends are also special because my Hubby works away from home all week and we only see him on the weekends.  I like to pick meals that allow me to enjoy time with him and the kids, instead of spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  I went through my Crockpot/ Recipes-Dinner Pins and come across this

Source: flickr.com via Nicole on Pinterest

I'm actually Cheating a little bit here!  I think I'm in trouble if I' doing that already, Lol!   I have made this before, it's simple and very delicious.   Everyone loves it, and it takes minimal effort, and best of all it's cooked in my favorite appliance, the CrockPot! 
We ate a little later than planned tonight. I sorta forgot to plug in the Crockpot!  Turned out to be the perfect day for soup.  It was cold and sleeting.  I should add I use the above pin as a base......I add ham, and season as I go.

For my crockpot I used 3 boxes of Chicken Broth (I do not add the water called for) 2 bags of hashbrowns, and 4 cups of Shredded Cheddar.

About an hour before we were ready to eat I mixed the milk with the flour then added it to the crockpot. 

Once again a big hit with the family.  We never have much left over, but there are 8 of us, and 4 of those are teenagers!  I have frozen this successfully.  After thawed I just add a little water or chicken broth to thin it out some.  This has become a recipe that is in regular rotation!  Yummo!

Pin No. 3 Tulle HeadBand

Wow, I'm already ahead of the curve!   Day 2 and I'm going to try my third pin.  For some reason I'm really drawn to Hair Accesories.   Love to make them and my girls love to wear them, so it is a win, win!  Sometimes the hardest thing for me is to find something that Teenagers and 8 & 9 year olds will all 3 wear.   I think this might be a winner. 

Source: sixsistersstuff.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Once again I already have everything I need on hand.  In fact this is perfect because my 17 year old cut up a ton of tulle that she ended up not using, so waste not want not!

First I gathered my supplies.  I just used some plastic headbands that I had from Targets Dollar Spot.  I used some tulle that my teen had cut, but also some that was still on rolls. 

I cut  2 feet of Tulle of the spools.  I then doubled it over, then doubled over again and repeated till the tulle was 6" long.

I just used slipknots to tie my tulle on the headbands.  They were a little extra poofy at first.

After a trim I still wasn't too sure how I felt about them.   I trimmed them using Pinking Shears.



Turns out they are pretty cute when worn......all 3 girls want more in other colors.  So we have another winner! 

Pin No.1 & 2 Felt Hairbows

As the first day of this adventure starts I realize that the hardest part of this whole thing might be picking the pins that I want to try. There are just way too many!!!! It is the day after Halloween and with 6 kids I am tired! I'm not afraid to admit that I was looking for something simple, so that my sleep deprived brain could handle it. All 3 of my girls love hair goodies (Thank goodness since They have like a million of them!), so I'm always looking for new and different ones to try. I came across these little cuties a few days ago.

Source: grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.ca via Alice on Pinterest HSPACE=50

I think these will be perfect for my teenager and my two gradeschoolers. Simple, sweet and being made of felt they have a nice warm feel for these cold days ahead. Now to decide if I want to attach them to hair elastics, headbands, bigger bows or small clippies............




Finished Project: I definately did not like the result of this project. While all the pictures look cute, the lack of a template to follow made things, lets just say, interesting! I cut out numerous different pieces trying to get the same effect and it just didn't work.




I decided since I already had my felt out that I would look for something else to try........I really hate feeling disappointed with a craft.  There's this sense of satisfaction I get when I try something new and I love the outcome........I WANT MY CRAFT HIGH!

Source: nattybydesign.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

So I went with this.......The best thing about this pin, was that it came with a printable template, no guessing.   I think I will be pulling out my "good" felt to do some more of these.  I decided to leave the split tails off of mine.  I liked the nice simple look without it.  This I will do again. (and probably again, and again and again.)  These were made with Wal-Mart/Hobby Lobby felt.



I had trouble deciding whether or not I wanted to put this on a simple alligator clip or on a headband, and I decided to go with the clip.   The girls can use the clips to attach them to headbands or wear them in their hair just the way they are.



If you have never lined an alligator clip all you have to do is cut a piece of ribbon (3/8" width) at
 4 1/2".  You can take a lighter to quickly seal the ends.  Just run it by the end quickly so you don't burn it.   You do not even have to touch the ribbon just get close.  This prevents the ends from fraying. 



I just used hot glue to line my clips..... I partially line mine.  This makes it much easier to put in the hair.


I also always add a "no slip grip" to the inside of every clip I make.   This helps keep them from slidding out.  My choice of product to use is..............just shelf liner.  I like to use the shelf liner that is like a foam sponge.  It comes in a great big roll and last forever.  Just cut it to size.


So this last pic is driving me up a wall.  I have tried and tried to fix it.  For now it is just going to have to stay the way it is.......Now to go search for what I want to try tomorrow!  Woot! Woot!