Bottle Cap Earrings

I've had a bag full of bottle caps sitting on a shelf for a few years now.  The plan was to make necklaces out of them, but I never quite got around to it.  When I saw THIS tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, I found the inspiration I needed to finally do something with all those bottle caps!

These would make such a fun gift for birthdays or Christmas!!  Can't wait to make more!



I'm linking to these parties:

Whatever Goes Wednesday @Someday Crafts
Hoo's Got Talent @Night Owl Crafting
Look What I Made! @Creations By Kara
Sugar & Spice Weekly Link Party @seven-thirty-three
Upcycled Awesome @The T-Shirt Diaries
Show Off Your Stuff Party @Fireflies & Jellybeans
It's Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday @It's Sew Stinkin' Cute
Motivate Me Monday @Keeping It Simple

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Several months ago while browsing the web, I came across a recipe for homemade laundry detergent.  It looked simple enough to make, and the reviews on it were wonderful.  Everyone commented that it got their clothes clean, and saved them lots of money.  I love saving money and try to cut costs wherever I can.....so I decided to give it a try.

The first batch I made was a small one, and didn't include an 'oxygen cleaner'.  After a while, I noticed my whites were starting to look pretty dingy.  Adding an 'oxygen cleaner' to the detergent has helped some, but I have resorted to using my "Tide with Bleach" every other time I wash my whites.  Other than that, I'm really happy with my homemade laundry detergent!

Want to try it out?  Here's what you'll need:

* 4 lb. box of Super Washing Soda
* 4 lb. box of Borax
*4 lb. box of Baking Soda
* 3 bars of Zote (can also use Fels Naptha or Ivory soap)
* a small container of 'oxygen cleaner'

When I make mine, I use a bucket lined with a garbage sack.  I dump the Washing Soda, Borax, Baking Soda, and Oxygen Cleaner in the bucket and mix it up.  Then comes the hard part......grating the 3 bars of Zote (kills my arm every time!!).  Once you've got them grated, mix everything up really well, and put in a plastic container!

I store my laundry soap in 2 plastic ice cream containers, and use the scoop that came with the oxygen cleaner to scoop it out.  It only takes one scoop for a large load, and a half a scoop for a smaller load.  I love that one batch of this lasts several months!  We are definitely saving money, and that makes this Momma happy!!

Mini Tie Keychain

How adorable is this mini tie keychain?!  All you need is an old tie, a key ring, and some Fray Check.  So easy and SO CUTE!!

I made this one really quick out of a tie of my husband's that I hope he won't miss!  After a quick trip to the DI for more ties, my girls will be making more for their Grandpa's for Father's Day!

Click  HERE for the directions! 




Linking to these parties:

Look What I Made @Creations By Kara
Hoo's Got Talent @Night Owl Crafting
Project Show & Tell @Tip Junkie
Father's Day Ideas @The Creative Crate
Show Off Your Stuff @Fireflies & Jellybeans
It's Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday @It's Sew Stinkin' Cute

Fun with Juice Pouches

**Update:  Some of you have expressed an interest in a tutorial for the wallets and notepad holder.  I wish I could provide one for you, but I bought a pattern online showing me how to make them and can't reproduce the pattern in any form.  If you're interested in the patterns, you can find them HERE. 
**The purses/bags and headbands are a different story.  I made those on my own, and would be willing to do a tutorial for them if you'd like!  Just let me know by leaving a comment!

I've mentioned before that my awesome SIL has been saving/collecting empty juice pouches for me. These are just a few of the things I've been making with them:

I'm loving these cute wallets....
There's plenty of space for your bills.....

....and for your change!


A fun notebook holder lined with fabric that has a place for your pen/pencil.


And a reversible headband! I'm still trying to work out the kinks on this one so it's easier to make, but it's still pretty cute!

I've got 7 messenger bags in the works, along with a few other things I'll hopefully be able to share soon! I LOVE making stuff out of juice pouches, but HATE that my stash never seems to stay stocked up for long! I guess I need to be more assertive about collecting them....even if it means digging through the trash when I see some there(or making my kids do it for me;)!



I'm linking to these fabulous parties:

Hoo's Got Talent @Night Owl Crafting

Sugar & Spice @seven-thirty-three

Whatever Goes Wednesday @Someday Crafts

Letting the Creative Juices Flow @These Creative Juices

Modern Craftswoman Monday @Tools Are For Women Too

Look What I Made @Creations By Kara

Spotlight "Yourself" Wednesday @Santa's Gift Shoppe & Ideas

It's Stinkin' Cute Craft Thursday @It's Sew Stinkin' Cute

{Mother's Day} Candy Boxes

Remember THESE boxes that I made for Valentine's Day? I thought they'd be perfect for Mother's Day as well.

I made them the same way as the heart ones, but just used different shapes...in this case, squares and circles.

For the flowers, I combined two tutorials....using THIS tutorial for the big flower, and THIS tutorial for the small flower in the middle.

I love how they turned out and can't wait to give them to my Mom and MIL for Mother's Day (filled with their favorite treats, of course!)!!

{Juice Pouch Makeup Bag}

I'm a little embarrassed to show this, but hopefully I'm not the only who had a makeup bag that looked like this.....
Not so functional, huh?! Every morning I'd get so frustrated trying to find what I needed! I finally decided since I'm too cheap to buy a makeup bag, I may as well try and make one.

So I made a quick sketch of what I wanted it to look like....
.....then dug into my juice pouch stash, and went to work.


It turned out mostly how I had envisioned. I didn't end up using elastic on the inside like I had on the sketch. It would have looked too messy on the outside. And I was all out of white thread, so had to go with red. I'm not a huge fan of how it looks with the red thread, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I couldn't get completely away from the ziploc bags either! I went ahead and grouped my makeup into 3 smaller bags so it's easier to find what I'm looking for. No more digging through everything to find those darn tweezers!!

It all fits nicely into my new makeup bag! Yay!!
We recently went on a weekend trip to visit family, and it was so nice having this makeup bag! Everything was all in one place and it was so much easier to pack! And since juice pouches are so durable, I plan on having this one around for a long time!

I'm linking to: Fireflies & Jellybeans, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping It Simple, Making the World Cuter, The Girl Creative, The Trendy Treehouse, Someday Crafts

Simple Jewelry Holders

My 2 older daughters needed a place to put their growing amount of earrings and jewelry. Badly. I'm a big believer of having a 'place' for everything, so I went to work making some simple earring/jewelry holders.
To make these, I:

**found 3 frames from my frame stash
**cut some wire to fit
**hot glued the wire to the back of the frame
**hot glued some ribbon to the back of the frame
**twisted some cup hooks into the front of the frame

My girls love them and immediately started hanging up their earrings and jewelry. Hopefully we'll have less lost jewelry now that they have these. {keeping my fingers crossed!}.

I'm linking to:
Making the World Cuter, Keeping it Simple, Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Personalized Planner

I've been on the hunt for a new planner. My previous one worked for a few years for me, but it had a snap closure. Things kept falling out of it, and I always worried that I'd lose something important. So when I saw one at the DI that had a zipper closure, I snatched it up. It was only $2.00. And in perfect condition!

To personalize it a bit, I decided to break out some vinyl that I won in a giveaway a while ago. This is what I came up with.

I thought about making a bigger flower to put in the center of the front of it, but decided that less was more in this case.

I was out and about the other day, and had several people comment on how cute my planner is. One lady even asked me if I painted the name and flowers on......I wish I was that talented!!

I'm linking to:

Making the World Cuter, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Keeping it Simple, Fireflies & Jellybeans

Thrifty Valentine M&M Cookies

As I've mentioned before, we love M&M cookies at our house. But I don't always love the price of the M&M's! As I was checking out the Christmas clearance candy at the grocery store, I saw tons of the Christmas M&M's. In fact, there's still a box of them there. So I grabbed several bags, knowing exactly what I would do with them.

My 2-year-old helped me sort them, then we used the red M&M's to bake our favorite cookies. Perfect for Valentine's Day!!
And what's even better? We're going to save the green M&M's and use them to bake some more cookies for St. Patrick's Day next month! I love it when I get a good deal!

**Edited to add: You can find the recipe for these M&M Cookies HERE from taste buds. Seriously...they are the best!!

{Cute Jewelry made by my 10-year-old!}

I just had to post about this cute jewelry that my 10-year-old made recently. She loves to make jewelry, but hasn't been able to lately because we're out of the stretchy string. So far, we haven't found any stores in our small town that sells it. So she came up with her own solution. Rubberbands!! I never would have thought of that, but they worked perfectly for all these cute little rings!! And it's a great way to recycle rubberbands that would have otherwise gone in the trash!
This ring is her favorite. So adorable!!
I'm so proud of my daughter and how creative (and thrifty) she is! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!!