This has been a no-money-in-the-bank kind of year. It was our first year of being really, really, really broke. It is stressful but also full of little lessons. Kyle and I work great together in challenging times... it's one of the things I love most about our relationship. I decided to make Kyle something special for Christmas that would remind us that, even though we don't have money, we are beyond fortunate. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, this would be a great, inexpensive gift. The whole thing cost $30.

Supplies:
frame (I bought this 16x20 Ribba frame with matte from Ikea for $20)
posterboard (30 cents each)
1 tube Acrylic paint ($7)
felt pen
wet wipes or a damp paper towel

Directions:
Step 1: Lay your posterboard over the frame. Use your pencil to mark where the edge of the painting will be (where it goes under the matte) to make sure it your painting fits within the frame. Trim the excess with scissors if needed.

Step 2: Use the felt tip pen to write your words onto the plastic wrap that covers your frame. Use wet wipes to erase it until you get the spacing and style the way you want it.

Step 3: Copy the words/spacing onto the posterboard gently with the pencil. Put a bit of paint into a jar or on a small plate. Using the paintbrush practice a few times on a spare peice of paper or posterboard. When you are confident, paint over the pencil writing on the posterboard. Allow to dry completely before carefully erasing any visible pencil marks.

Step 4: Wipe the pen from the frame wrap, then remove the wrapping and discard it. Frame your words. Wrap in gift wrap and write a lovely note.

That's it! It's really easy and budget friendly.

For this project, I was inspired by this DIY from A Beautiful Mess, this one from Oh Happy Day, and this room decor from Amanda Johnson.

I scoured the Internet for soap recipes, tips and tricks.  After lots of research, and combining of methods, here's the best way I've discovered to make liquid hand soap from one bar of soap!

        
 

For the soap:
1 bar of your favorite hand soap.  From my research I found that types that have a lot of lotion, like Dove, won't work as well.  Finding something with pure ingredients like Mrs. Meyer's will work best.

Glycerin.  The glycerin helps keep your hand moisturized and helps the soap thicken.  If you don't see it at your local health food store or drug store, ask your pharmacist to order it for you.

1 gallon of water.  You will use 3/4 gallon of water to make the soap, plus the other 1/4 for thinning once the soap has thickened.

Optional:
1 Tablespoon honey. The sugar in the honey will help the soap foam and it's a humectant a.k.a it'll make your skin soft. 
1 cup hydrosol (floral water), or a 1/4 teaspoon pure essential oil.  Smells extra yummy.

For storage:
Jars, large Ziploc bags, or a 1 gallon jug.

A funnel and a spoon

Directions:
1. Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater, or the grater attachment for your food processor.
2. Put 3/4 gallon of water and your soap in a large pot.  Turn the heat on to medium high.  Add 2 Tablespoons of glycerin.  (Optional: also add 1 Tablespoon of honey, 1 cup of hydrosol, or 1/4 teaspoon of essential oil.
3. Once your soap has dissolved, remove from heat. Let it cool overnight.
4. In the morning it should have set and thickened. 
5. Break up the soap using a whisk before transferring it to a stand mixer, or in batches to a blender.
6. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 of your gallon of water until the soap reaches your desired thinness.
7. Let the soap settle, use a large spoon to scrape the foamy stuff off the top (discard the foam).
8.  Using a measuring cup, transfer your soap into jars.  Or, using a funnel, pour it into a soap pump.
9. You can store the remaining soap in a large Ziploc bag, big jars, or a 1 gallon container.

A few notes:
The soap consistency is a bit like egg whites.  It can be a little globby, therefore, it can be a bit tricky to transfer.  I highly recommend using a funnel.  You may find it helpful to use a spoon to push the soap through the funnel and into your container.

I have yet to find a recipe for this method that does not come out a little slimy.  Once in a dispenser the soap works great and smells lovely.

You can easily double this recipe.  The day I made this soap, I actually made 3 gallons.  It was really fun and easy.

I found that the white, scented bar worked better than the hard, lavender bar.  Not sure why, but consider that when soap shopping.  The white soap was definitely a little softer and easier to grate.  The white soap came out a little better too.  The food processor worked best on the slightly softer soap (basil) and not so great with the harder (in this case, lavender).

A stand mixer, or handheld mixer, will work best since a blender foams up the soap a lot.  It will take longer to settle if you use a blender.

Some photos of the process:

Grated soap for our separate kinds.  Basil (white) and Lavender (green).


Add the water and hydrosol (from when I helped my Dad and Stepmom distill lavender oil). Note: I only used the hydrosol in the lavender soap.


Adding the grated soap, turn heat up to medium high and stir.


Keep heating and stirring until the soap is totally dissolved.  Remove from heat and let it sit overnight.

This is what our soap looked like once it rested overnight.  It was a bit like jello.

Break the soap up with a whisk.  Then whip it up in a stand mixer or blender adding water until you get the consistency you want.  Let it settle, scrape the foamy bubbles off the top.


Use a measuring cup to fill your jars. You may end up wanting to skim the bubbles off the top again here too, especially if they are gifts. If it's just for home use, transfer it to a Ziploc or jug.


While our soap settled we made simple gift tags out of watercolor paper.  Just cut out the desired shape and make a small "X" slit for your ribbon or twine.

Use a funnel, and a spoon if needed, to fill your dispenser.  I also found adding a tiny splash of water helped make it easier to fill...


...or fill up your jars and attach little gift tags!

Danelle and I both gave these out as our Christmas gifts this year and everyone loved them.  The best part, the total cost was about $45.  That includes 36 jars ($8/12), glycerin ($6), 3 bars of soap ($5/bar).

A couple weeks back Poppy and I decided to make Gigi some Tag Blankies since her favorite thing about her favorite toys had become the tags on them.  We used my Simple Sewing for Baby book and it couldn't have been any easier!  If you are an avid (or even mediocre) sewer you probably don't even need this book although I totally recommend it!  Also, I'm sure there are easy patterns online.  It was such a great project to do with Poppy and it only took a couple of hours.  The pattern in the book makes one but I made two.  One for the diaper bag and one for home. 

We picked out our ribbon and cut it into the right lengths.

Cut out the (washed and dried) fabric.

Pinned everything in place and sewed it together.

Ta Da!

Presented it to Gigi!  She loves it!

Painting Onesies

To start off, I have to be honest and say that, I don't really consider myself to be a craft-y person.  I do, however, love being creative and doing little projects.  I wanted to make Gigi some unique Onsies so I took it upon myself to figure out how to do it!  It's really easy and really fun.  It would be a great baby shower activity or something to do with a friend who just had a baby.  They could also make great little gifts, stocking stuffers etc.  This method would also work on little kid T's.  The best thing about it?  It's totally a wine-friendly craft project, so grab a glass of vino and get painting.

Supplies:

Some plain Onesies.  Any color will work.

Pencil, Exacto knife, scissors, a sketchbook/paper, a cutting board and some pieces of cardboard.

A plain roll of contact paper.

Fabric paint and brushes.

Directions:

Creat your own stencils by drawing the images onto plain sketchbook paper and then tracing them onto the contact paper.  You can also search online for images/stencils, trace/use them.  I made a couple myself and found a couple online.

Once you have your image on your contact paper, use scissors or the Exacto knife to cut your the stencil.  Peel off the back of the contact paper and stick it where you want it on the Onsesie.

Insert a small piece of cardboard between the layers of your Onesie so the paint doean't leak through onto the back of the Onesie.  Then, simply pick our paint colors and start painting in your design.  You can get elaborate as you want.  Allow the first coat of paint to dry before applying a second, and if desired, a third.  The paint does seem to fade rather quickly in the washing machine but they grow out of them so quickly it doesn't really matter.  The more coats you do, the longer the image will stay really saturated. Allow to dry for about 15 minutes before peeling off your stencil!  Follow the directions on the fabric paint for washing.  Most of them recommend that you leave the paint on for three days before washing the first time.  It's also a great idea to put a thin piece of scrap fabric over the painted area and give it a nice hot iron.  It'll help the paint set!

Here's a few Onesies I made for G when she was a few months old.  We're due for another Onesie-makin' session!

We take our Oscars very seriously around here.

And our Hepburns!

Gigi wore her "Charlie" Onesie A LOT!

This one says, "I'm drunk" in Spanish.  I made it special for our trip to Mexico!

They're so easy and fun!  Enjoy and please send me a photo if you make some!

To enter the giveaway, just head over and visit Nadia's blog Little Projectiles and come back and leave a comment letting me know which of her projects is your favorite.  Please be sure to leave your email address too! I'll draw a winner next Wednesday!  

She has other necklaces available at her Etsy shop (including a cool avocado one which is my personal favorite)! 

If you have any more questions for Nadia, please feel free to email her at  littleprojectiles@gmail.com

The fabric

The machine

Curtain perfection!