Peachy Keen Crafting Queens

Homemade Laundry Soap

2012-03-08T20:38:00.003-08:00

We all wish money grew on trees and we could do and buy what ever we wanted, but in my world whenever I can save a buck or two I jump on it! I came across this recipe for homemade laundry detergent on my favorite new place...PINTEREST!!! It showed that you spent $20 for laundry soap that lasts up to 9 months. I happened to find this right when I was running low on laundry detergent which worked out great! I headed to the store and picked up all the ingredients, came home and made it and have been thoroughly satisfied with it!

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz

3 bars of Fels-naptha soap

2 small containers of oxy clean or store brand oxy clean

I started out by grating all 3 bars of the fels-naptha soap. It looks just like cheese! Then I poured a 1/4 of each item in a bucket, mixed and continued the pattern until each container was empty.

I knew I would like this soap knowing that it had fels-naptha soap and oxy clean in it. Those are two of my favorite products! Anytime I have a hard stain to get out those are my go-to's.

When using all you need are two scoops (that is what the blog I got the recipe from used) of the detergent. I used the scoops from the oxy clean containers. It has a nice clean smell, but if you want more use a fabric softener along with it. Hope this works for whomever makes it!

Valentine Plant Stake

2012-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder what to do with your old sponge paint brush when the sponge has taken a turn for the worse? Don't throw it away, turn it into a decorative plant stake!

Simply cut two hearts out of red felt, place the stake in the center of one of them, and stuff with cotton balls. Then with a hot glue gun, glue the second heart on top and seal the edges. Add some ribbon to dress it up.

There you have it, a Valentine's Day Heart Plant Stake!

Valentine's Felt Flower Ball

2012-02-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

Such a fun way to dress up you Valentine's decor with this simple to make Felt Flower ball.

You will need:

2-3 sheets of red felt

Scissors

Hot glue gun

Small styrafoam ball

Small tupperware lid for template

Step 1: Draw circle by tracing the small tupperware lid on the felt. It takes any where from 40-50 circles. I was able to get 20 circle per sheet, but that will depend on the size of tupperware lid you use.

Step 2 & 3: Fold circle into quarters. Put glue on corner point of folded felt and glue to the styrafoam ball.

Step 4: Continue gluing folded circles until the ball is completely covered.

And this is what you will end up with--SO CUTE!!!

Valentine's Button Heart Plaque

2012-02-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

This by far is my favorite Valentine decoration in my house! It was fun and easy to make and turned out great!

You will need:

Old cabinet door

White spray paint

Buttons (red, white, pink, black, or gray)

Hot glue gun

Vinyl lettering (optional)

You start out by spray painting your old cabinet door white (you can pick up old remnant doors at a local cabinet shop for a pretty good deal). As soon as the door is dry gather all your buttons and start arranging them in the shape of a heart. When you get your desired shape, heat up the glue gun and start gluing them into place. When finished add a Valentine's expression in vinyl (optional).

Here are the ones my sister-in-law and Mom made. I love how each of ours turned out to fit our personalities. My sister-in-law added black buttons to hers and my Mom kept her door oak to match all the oak in her house. What a fun project!

Baked French Fries & Hamburgers from Pinterest

2012-01-31T13:29:00.000-08:00

3-4 medium to large potatoes, sliced into 1/8ths

2 TBS Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 teas salt

1/4 ground pepper

1/4 to 1/2 teas of Johnny's seasoning salt (Greatest Seasoning EVER)

2 TBS of grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Wash and cut potatoes into 1/8ths.

In a large zip lock bag add olive oil, spices, and Parmesan cheese. Then add potatoes. Shake the bag well until potatoes are evenly coated with mixture. Then dump potatoes onto well greased cookie sheet. and bake for 30-45 minutes or until tender and golden brown.

I also made some hamburgers to go with the yummy fries. I got the recipe for Pinterest my new favorite place! They were the best hamburgers I've had in a long time. You've got to try them out!

New Pillows

2012-01-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

So I've been searching for new material to recover my pillows with. I was never happy with the material I had on them in the first place. I came across some fabric at the DI for $2 and fell in love with it (the yellow/gold pillow). Knowing my Mom was coming for a visit and her being my sewing lady and all, I had her bring her sewing machine along so we could fix my pillows. While she was here we just happen to come across some pillows (the back pillow with all the colors) at Sam's Club for $4.91 a piece. I snagged the last two knowing they would look great with my yellow/gold fabric. We then came home and started sewing. Once the sewing was all done and the pillows were on the couch it seemed to be missing something...the blue color. So out we went looking for some more fabric. We ended up at our local craft store, using my 50% coupon I found the color and ended up paying $2 for a yard of it. I'm so happy with the combination of all three pillows. It is the best $14 I spent in a long time!

I decided to add a couple of rosettes to the yellow/gold pillow. Aren't they cute?

Since I changed the color scheme in the room I had to change a bit of my decor. I picked up a bottle of paint to bring in the blue and painted some of my picture frames.

And I painted this "C" gold to match my yellow/gold pillows.

I'm so happy with how it all turned out! A big thanks to my Mom for all her help sewing my pillows!

Homemade Chili

2012-01-19T23:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a yummy recipe for a blustery winter day...

Homemade Chili

1 lb ground beef or turkey

1 small onion, chopped

1 can pinto or white beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

3/4 cup water

1 cup ketchup

3 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS chili powder

2 teas ground cumin

1/4 teas salt

1/4 teas garlic salt

1/8 teas ground pepper

1 to 2 bay leaves

Brown meat, add onion and cook until onion is soft. Add spices, then liquids. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Another option would be to add 1 green pepper, diced. Serve with bread sticks (from a past post), rolls, or cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!!!

Re-finished Tool Box

2012-01-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

We are renting a home and out in the back yard is a pile of wood scraps and junk. So I decided to rumage through it and see what I could find and low and behold I found this--an awesome wooden tool box. It was covered in mud and leaves. I brought it inside and cleaned it up, put a new coat of stain on it and looky there, it became a new place to store books! I love it!

It has taught me to never pass up something that is old and worn out. You never know, if you just put a little thinking and elbow grease into it you've got yourself something useful and great!

Crayon Valentine-Heart Sun Catchers

2012-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Aren't they adorable? This is such a fun activity to do with the kids and most likely you already have all the supplies you'll need laying around your house! Perfect! Love that!
These cute sun catchers would work with any holiday really. We usually do it for St. Patrick's Day too and cut clovers instead of hearts. :)

Step 1: Shave up all those old and broken, red, pink, white, purple crayons you have laying around the house. Everybody has some right? :) I just used a sharp knife to make my shavings.

Step 2: Place a piece of wax paper over a brown paper bag. Let your kids spread crayon shavings over the wax paper, using whatever color combo they'd like.

Step 3: Place another piece of wax paper on top of your shavings, then place another brown paper bag on top of the wax paper. Iron on top of the brown paper bag with a warm iron until your crayon shavings begin to melt and spread.
Wa-la! You've got yourself a fancy, colorful, Valentine sun catcher.

Step 4: Let them cool for just a minute or two, then let your kids get busy drawing and cutting heart shapes out of them. My kids especially LOVE this part!

Step 5: Tape all your cutesy Valentine colored hearts to the windows and watch them gleam in the sunshine!

Beautiful, just beautiful!

Now, go gather up all those old, un-wanted crayons and get shaving! :)

You've Got {Valentine} Mail

2012-01-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

I had this fun idea that I did for my kids last year and they LOVED IT!
I thought I'd share...

While browsing the craft store I found this cute little mailbox and some felt heart stickers to decorate it.

Who wouldn't LOOOVE getting Valentine mail???

Each day leading up to Valentine's Day, I'd fill it with sweet treats, little love notes or a fun Valentine activity to do together with my kids.

For one of the days I colored heart paper doilies, wrote a special "love" message for each of my kids on the back, stuck a treat to it, shoved them in the mailbox and put the
"Attention: You've Got Mail" flag up.

My three sweeties squealed with delight every time they noticed the "You've Got Mail" flag was up!
They LOVED it!

It turned out to be a fun and simply way to let my little cuties know how much I love them. Plus, it's always fun to celebrate the upcoming Valentine's holiday. Can't wait to pull out our mailbox and get started with our Valentine countdown this year!

Pinterest recipe put to the test. . .

2012-01-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

Orange Kissed Cookies

Like many of you, I too am addicted to Pinterest! :) I pinned these little cuties last week and knew I wanted to make them ASAP.

Okay, so can I just say, they did not disappoint! Oh my goodness! If you're a fan of orange flavored things then you've got to try this recipe. It's the perfect combo of sweetness mixed with just the right amount of orange flavor. To die for! Really!

Go give them a whirl, you won't be sorry you did! My family gives them two thumbs up!

*Note: I didn't put orange food coloring in my frosting because I didn't have any, that's why mine are a little lighter in color than the original. No worries though, super delish either way!

Christmas Thank-you's for Kids

2011-12-28T12:21:00.000-08:00

This is such a fun way for little kids to thank Grandma's, Grandpa's, Aunt's, Uncle's, Cousins, Friends, or even Mom and Dad for the gifts they received this holiday season. Simple open up your Microsoft Word program, search in for clipart pictures that are similar the gifts they received, and end it with a signature from your child. Printing it in gray scale or black gives your child the chance to personalize the letter by coloring it. It's a great activity to keep the kids busy after the holiday!

Super Easy Toffee

2011-12-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

Super Easy Toffee

1-cup butter

1-cup brown sugar

Mix in pot and boil for 6 minutes. Test in ice water for hard crack stage. Sprinkle almond chunks onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Pour butter and sugar mixture over. Top with milk chocolate chips or a Hershey bar broken up; once melted spread with a butter knife.

Christmas Blocks

2011-12-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

For you people out there that have a Cricut machine and some handy dandy cartridges this project is for you! I used the "Lyrical Lyrics" and the "Christmas Village" cartridges, some wood scrap, paint, and vinyl and look what cute Christmas blocks I came up with. What an easy and quick Christmas project!

Christmas Gifts Neighbor

2011-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here are few Christmas neighbor gifts that I have gathered over the years. This year we are using the flashlight saying. I just loved the meaning behind the saying. It truly says how we feel about our friends!

Flashlight--We love how you "light up" our lives. We've come to depend on your "glow". Here's a "flashlight" to store, so you'll always be sure to create "light" wherever you go!

Christmas Ornament--Twinkle, twinkle, sparkled, shine, this ornament comes just in time! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Towel--Sending "clean" and "sparkling" Christmas wishes your way!

Oven mitt--For a "warm" hand of friendship just as you've given me, and the wish for a joyous season with love aplenty under the tree!

Bounty paper towels--This season may the "absorbing" spirit of Christ "blot" out your problems, "soak up" your sorrows, and "wipe" away your difficulties and may the new year bring you "bounteous" blessings all the year through!

Soup mix--We wish you a wonderful holiday "simmering" gently with love!

Fritos Scoops and bean dip--Here is the "scoop" for "bean" so nice. "Dip" into a fun holiday!

Batteries--"Twas this night before Christmas and Santa was worried, he had an emergency. Boy was he flurried! The power was off, and his flashlight was dead. He didn't buy "batteries" when Mrs. Santa said. We don't want you in ta similar plight, so we give you "batteries" to "lighten" your night! Merry Christmas to you. May you walk in the "light"!

Strainer--With the stress and "strain" of the holiday season we wanted to take the time to wish you a Merry Christmas!

Festive Holiday Wreath

2011-12-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make a new holiday wreath for my front door for a few years now.
This year, I finally did it.
It's hard not to when you walk into Michael's and the wreaths are 50% off and all the picks are 60% off! Score!!

Also, I saw this red burlap at JoAnn's last week and COULD NOT pass it up. I sat there dreaming up projects I could do with it because well, quite frankly, I was NOT leaving the store without it!! :)
{In fact, I bought the rest of the fabric bolt! ha ha}

A holiday wreath turned out to be the perfect thing. . .

LOVE IT!

Now, what to do with the rest of that fancy red burlap?!
I've got a few ideas up my sleeve! :)

Christmas Shirts

2011-12-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for cutesie holiday shirts and as long as my kids are still young enough to wear them, they're gonna! :)

I made these fun Christmas shirts for my little kiddies this year. Who doesn't love a good holiday shirt, right?! They were so simple to make and took no time at all!

First we'll start with my Little Lady's ruffle tree shirt.

You'll need a plain white t-shirt and Christmas material. You could use as many different Christmas fabrics as you'd like but I found these two fabrics that went perfect together so I just stuck with two alternating ruffles.

Next I cut a 3" strip of each material for the ruffles. Sew the strips together, then open the seam and iron flat down the center. {see pic below}

Next step, the ruffles. After you've back stitched a few stitches to start on your ruffle piece, stop sewing with the needle still down in the material to hold it secure. Then, lift the presser foot, scrunch the material a little from the sides then put the presser foot back down and sew the scrunched section. Repeat this until your whole strip is ruffled, back stitching at the end.

Next, decide how long you want your tree "branches" on your shirt and cut your ruffle stripes to size--be very careful not to pull too hard on the ruffles once their cut. Then, back tack a few stitches at the ends of each "branch" so your ruffles don't come apart.

Place your finished ruffles on your shirt and pin them in place. When they're nice and secure where you want them, sew the ruffles on the shirt with your sewing machine. And that's it, you're done! Isn't it so cute?

I made a cute ruffle flower clip for my daughters hair with the extra ruffles I had using my trusty glue gun and an alligator clip. So cute!

Now, for the cute Snowman shirts I followed a way easy tutorial on Brassy Apple. I've already had so many comments on these cute shirts and better yet, my boys love their Snowman shirts!

Happy Holiday sewing!!

Flour and Sugar Containers

2011-12-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

For the longest time I have been with out flour and sugar containers. I found some at Ross and decided to add some vinyl to them.

Simple, but cute at the same time!

Summer PJ's into Winter PJ's

2011-12-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

I found a pair of pajama's on the clearance rack for my daughter for $3.25, but they were short sleeved and had a pair of shorts with it. I decided to convert them into winter pajamas by cutting sleeves out of the shorts material and adding them to the shirt. It worked great and is keeping my little Allee Bean warm a night!

Thankful Turkey Ideas

2011-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

The first idea. . .

With Thanksgiving just around the corner we decided to help Allee understand what it means to be thankful by making a "Thankful Turkey".

With some construciton paper, crayons, markers, and a glue stick you've got yourself a "Thankful Turkey". We wrote on each feather the things that Allee are thankful for.

Her favorite part was coloring and gluing on the feathers.

She had to tape the turkey up on the door herself and added her own tape memento to the turkey's face.

Later I added the "Give Thanks" banner cut out from my Cricut to finish it off!

The second idea. . .

I found this fun 'Thankful Turkey Wreath' idea on pinterest. It was so fun and easy to make with my kids, they loved it! We decided to add a little something extra to our Turkey Wreaths though, and wrote things we are grateful for on the feathers.

All you need is a paper plate, construction paper, scissors, a marker, and glue. You can follow the tutorial on the pinterest link. Enjoy! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

DIY Children's Play Kitchen

2011-11-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

For my daughter's 2nd birthday I really wanted to get her a play kitchen, but didn't want to pay the price! I came across this child size, wood curio cabinet at a consignment store and the ideas started rolling. Working for a local cabinet business I was lucky to get the knobs, corbels to add to the side, and a piece of new laminate for the top. The other huge help was my Dad. He helped me put it all together.

I started out by taking off all the doors, hinges and handles. Then I sanded down everything and re-painted it all white using leftover paint from my parents house. I picked up a can of silver spray paint for the appliance doors, black spray paint for the burners and handles, and hinges for the additional microwave door. Doing some research online I found that using old cottage cheese container lids for the burners worked great!

After spraying everything and putting it all back together we began to add the details...

We used knobs for the faucet handles, I got a small stainless steel bowl from the a local thrift store for the sink, re-used the black handles for the appliance handles, cut-out and spray painted a faucet for the sink, glued on the stove burners and added some black vinyl squares for windows on the appliances.

A couple other fun additions were some salt and pepper shakers made out of old spools of thread. I added a button on top and a "S" and "P" out of pink vinyl for the fronts. I picked up a small chalkboard to add to the side at a local craft store and added some vinyl to it also.

This little kitchen turned out just how I had planned and my little daughter LOVES it! I added up the total cost for the cabinet and materials and it came to $30. What more can you ask for? How great is that!!!

Child's Art Display

2011-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make this for my daughters room to display all of her cute art projects for awhile now. I finely did it. It was SO quick and easy!

First, I made the rosette flowers that will cover the nails.

I used the same fabric as I did to make her bed pillows so it all coordinates together, remember these. . .

Next, I measured how far up the wall I wanted my art string to hang and marked it with a pencil on both sides. Then, I hammered a very small nail {wire nail} where I had marked.

*I chose to use a smaller nail because I didn't want the hole to be too big in case we change things up a bit in her room, later down the road.

After you've hammered your nail in, tie your string to the nail. I used a dab of hot glue when I tied the second knot, just to keep the knot from pulling apart once I hung my daughters art on it.

After you've got your string tied to both nails, dab a small drop of hot glue on the back of your rosette flower and slap it onto the nail head.

I originally bought regular wood clothes pins that I had planned on spray painting white, but, then look what I found on clearance at JoAnn's! Cute ladybug clothes pins... Hooray! They saved me some work and they look great in her room! :)

Next step, hang your child's favorite art and you're done!

I love how it turned out! Now we have somewhere special to display all my daughters cutest art projects instead of shoving them on the shelf in her closet!

Fall Banner

2011-11-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

I felt like this little table needed just a little bit more color on the bottom shelf. So I made this simple banner to brighten it up a bit.

I picked three cute fall papers, cut out my flags and attached them onto my string with the stapler. So easy! This project seriously only took me about 10 minutes to complete. And I think it turned out quite cute if I do say so myself!

I've already been scoping out the Christmas paper, I just might make one to hang up for Christmas too!

Halloween Headband

2011-10-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Scraps of black, purple, orange, and green material rolled into flowers, then bunched together. Add a jewel to the center of the purple flower, then sew them onto a stretchy headband and you've got yourself a Halloween Headband!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween Stacker

2011-10-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Isn't it cute? And so easy too!

Here are all the supplies you'll need:
the wood is a 2x2 board, cut into a 10' block, 8' block and a 6' block. Black, orange and purple paint, paint brush, vinyl words, purple tulle, black wire ribbon and orange feathers. Oh and don't forget your hot glue gun, always a must when crafting! :)

First, paint your blocks and let them dry. Then stick your vinyl words on the blocks. Hot glue your blocks on top of each other just to make it a little more sturdy. Wrap the tulle around the sides of your stacker and tie at the top. Lay the black ribbon and another small piece of tulle over your knot and tie it again. Trim your tulle and black ribbon to your liking. Hot glue the orange feathers in place and you're done!

So quick and easy!

Looks fabulous on any shelf in your home!

Happy Halloween!