A few of My Favorite Things

If you are a new reader here, it might be a lot for you to comb through all of my back posts looking for juicy tidbits to make your day. I thought I’d make that easy for you and show you a few fun things I’ve done over the past year or so. One of these projects might just become your favorite, too. A girl can dream, right?

Broken Mirror Art from recycled mirror bits and pieces. When the light hits it, the whole room shimmers!

A Springy, Silk Scarf Shirt is the perfect answer for a wintery wardrobe. And, it’s so easy & cheap to make yourself!

If you haven’t seen my DIY Spinning Composter already, here she is. (And here’s the video of it in action.) This composter design speeds up the composting process from months to weeks. And made from recycled/salvaged materials makes it easy on the pocketbook, too.

Make your own Simple, Organic balm quickly, easily and cheaply. I love it better than my Burt’s Bees. I ain’t goin’ back, baby!

In an effort to rid my house of nasty chemicals, I made my own Cheap, Organic Face Wash-made from ground oatmeal. So easy. So lovely. So breakfasty.

Use an old tablecloth or curtain to make this Lace Cape Shirt. Simple, practical and it looks great with a little tank top underneath.

I wanted to replace the cleansers in my house with something more organic and cheap. My Homemade Household Green Cleansers list several recipes to get you ready to boot out nasty chemicals from your house, too!

Hope you’ve found a little something that suits your fancy. If not, I’ll keep trying to get you hooked. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Compost Beginnings-Circle of Life

Last year, Biceps and I made our DIY Spinning Composter to speed up the process of breaking down organic materials (a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months).

The composter was repinned so many times on pinterest, that we made a video showing exactly how the composter operates.

I love recycling the stuff I normally would toss in the garbage as I’m cooking.

I’m using a large pickle jar to gather my kitchen scraps-taking it out to the composter when it’s full and overflowing with goodness.

I opted for a glass jar, rather than plastic-due to the stinky factor.

Soon, what you see here will be composted down into beautiful black compost.

My garden will say “Yum!”, pushing this nutrient rich compost through their hardy roots and into the plant .

And I will say “Yum” when my plants are producing a bountiful harvest due to the increased nutrients, with which I will once again compost the peelings, tips and scraps back into the garden.

It’s the circle of life.

DIY Organic Eye Makeup Remover

I’ve been having a blast this past month finding replacements for every day things I buy and use at home. My month long challenge of slowly ridding our house of nasty chemicals began several weeks ago.

My first item to replace was my face lotion. I created a Recipe for Facial Moisturizer. I moved on to replacing my dishwasher detergent-DIY Organic Dishwasher Detergent, face wash–Cheap, Organic Face Wash  and finally last week I shared several DIY Household Green Cleaner recipes.

I am concocting my own household replacements with little more than what I have on hand or what I can find at the organic market.

But the replacements must meet or exceed three important expectations for this frugal gal:
1. It must be easy to replace-no beakers or science lab experiments. Thank you.
2. It must be just as good or better than the current product I’m using and,
3. It must cost the same or less than the current product I’m using.

photo source unknown

If the product I create passes the final test-me using it for over two plus weeks to make sure it does its job-then I’ll be sharing it with you. I will break down the cost for you, provide you the recipe and give you my honest opinion of the final product.

Today, I’ll be sharing a tested and loved recipe for Eye Makeup Remover.

This recipe only requires two ingredients. And, it ends up costing $1.13 for 3.5 oz.

I have very delicate skin, and my eyes irritate pretty easily. I was skeptical making my own remover, but was pleased with the simple results.

Here’s all that you’ll need to make your very own Eye Makeup Remover:

(This recipe will make 3.5 oz of remover)
4 TBS Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 TBS Organic Sweet Almond Oil
Container

Use a funnel if needed and measure the 4 TBS of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Next, add the 3 TBS of Sweet Almond Oil. Cap tightly and shake.

Squeeze out a little onto a pure cotton ball and gently wipe across your eyes to remove makeup.

I always wash my face first with my Cheap, Organic Face Wash before removing my eye makeup. This softens up the eyeliner and mascara, which will remove easier and it helps to avoid tugging at the delicate skin around my eyes.

It only takes a little of the Eye Makeup remover to go a long ways.

This recipe was very simple to make and super cheap. There’s no going back for this gal.

Here’s the financial breakdown of this Eye Makeup Remover Recipe (know that 1 oz = 2 TBS):

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is $5 for 16 oz (or $.31 per oz). For this recipe, we needed 2 oz (or 4 TBS)=$.61.
The Sweet Almond Oil is $5.75 for 16 oz (or $.35/oz). For this recipe, we needed 1.5 oz (or 3 TBS)=$.52.

To make 3.5 oz of Eye Makeup Remover the total cost was=$1.13

(This recipe is replacing my 2 oz Physician’s Formula eye makeup remover which is $5.50.)

Linking up to this and other parties:
The Thrifty Home

Plethora of Cans, Ideas and Your help

Dear Readers:

I am a minimalist by nature; the garbage can and the goodwill drop-off locations are my dearest friends. I often get into trouble for throwing something that we needed away.

That said, I am beginning to do something I swore I would never do. I am “saving up” for a project. What that project is, I don’t know. But, by golly, I am saving this stuff up for it.

These Wasabi Pea cans are just too good to throw in the recycle bin. And with each passing week, one more can is added to my stash.

Since all of you are a bunch of crazy creative nutjobs-just like me, I need your creative input on my multiplying can collection.

I have already made lanterns-Can You? I can, I CAN!. I am not opposed to making more of these, if I have a purpose for them. I know I can do the obvious luminary, too.

The cans are 7″ in heigth-tall and skinny (just like I like ’em).

They are about 3″ in diamter.

And they have a plastic lid that snaps on very tightly.

So, here’s your assignment, creative ladies:

Before I am featured on the show “Hoarders”, what do I do with these cans? Your input is much appreciated.