Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

If you haven't done so yet, be sure and thank your child's Teacher tomorrow. This week is Teacher Appreciation week and we need to let all of our good teacher's know just how much we appreciate them. We have been blessed this first year of preschool with 2 loving, patient and compassionate teachers. A good teacher can make such a positive impact on a child and a mother can only be forever grateful. Thank you!

Here is a little something I put together for Reagan's teachers. They are dish towels I bought from Target and I just "fancied" them up with some cute fabric. Hope they love them.

It's a Onesie Shower!

See how a wonderfully creative friend of mine used her appliqued onesies to decorate for a baby shower she threw. Very cute!

Appliqued Tee and Headband Gift Set

Here is a great gift idea for a special little girl. Pair an appliqued tee shirt with a coordinating headband.

$16 for set

Sister Sister

What a cute way to coordinate your Lil Sis and Big Sis!



Applique Tee $16
Applique Onesie $10

Crayon Rolls

Crayon rolls are another great way to keep your toddler busy whether you're at a restaurant, waiting in the doctors office or in the car. Each roll holds 10 crayons and has a ribbon attached to tie closed when your done. You can choose your own fabric or I can create one for you. These are great for a boy or girl and make an awesome gift if paired with a coloring book and matching tote bag.

$8

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Several of you have asked about my homemade detergent. Here is the recipe. It has worked great for me. I wash my cloth baby wipes and cloth diapers with it and haven't had any problems. I find the only hard part to making your own detergent is the grating the soap part! If you don't mind that part, it is a cinch!

Laundry Detergent Recipe

Lately, given the way the economy is for us all, I have become all things frugal. I decided to give making my own laundry detergent a try. I made it up a few days ago and have been using it since and I LOVE it. It works great and it's going to save TONS of money. I found the recipe at Living On a Dime. The recipe is really simple:

Mix the following:

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda ($2.79)

1 cup 40-Team Mule Borax ($3.79)

1 bar Fels-Naptha soap or Zote Soap (grate the bar into fine powder first) ($1.29)

1/2 cup OxyClean (Optional) ($8.69)

The great thing is that you only need 1-2 tablespoons per load depending on the size. I tend to always have huge loads so I marked 2 tablespoons on my handy scoop that came in the box of Oxyclean.

The only annoying part out of the whole process is grating the soap bar. When I made the recipe I tripled it, so I had to grate 3 bars. After making the triple recipe I still have over half a box of Arm and Hammer Washing soda and Borax and 3/4 of the tub of Oxyclean left. If you like a realy flowery or fruity smelling laundry detergent you may need to add some kind of essentials oils to your mix. I have also heard you can use lever 2000 or some kind of body soap bar instead of the Fels-Naptha soap to get the desired smell. I like the clean smell of this detergent and I always use a fabric softner so I get the good smell from that. (By the way, I could only find my ingredients at Kroger.)

My next project is to make my own household cleaners like vinegar and water for my all purpose cleaner and olive oil and lemon juice for my furniture polish. Maybe I'll sew up some cloth napkins next? Now, go and make your detergent and save some money!

Cloth Baby Wipes

Cloth baby wipes are great for lots of things. Around my house I use them in my wipe warmer as baby wipes, as cloth napkins for my little ones and I keep a stash of dry ones in my diaper bag. To use them in our warmer all you have to do is wet them, fold them in half and place them in your warmer. (You will probably want to wash them with a non-additive detergent.) They will be warm and wet when you're ready for them. They can also be used as swipies to keep little noses wiped and keep drool off of little chins!

Each wipe is approximately 7.5 x 7.5 inches. They are made with 2 pieces of cotton flannel in your choice of print. These will last through lots and lots of washes. They get even softer the more you wash them and your baby will LOVE the soft flannel on their tooshies!

Click here to view my current stash of flannel fabrics.

Pack of 6, $12