peppermint tooth scrub

i've been loving making things from scratch lately. last week i found an idea for homemade toothpaste and decided to give it a try. after further research, discovered using baking soda daily on teeth may not be a good idea due to abrasion of the enamel, but boy are my teeth feeling clean since using a couple doses of this simple, scrubby, minty paste. i love it. tartar begone. i am going to try and restrain my use to bi-monthly.

2 T glycerin
1 T xylitol (available from sweetener section of healthfood stores, it is a natural fluoride-like substance)
1/2 tsp salt
3 T baking soda
1/4 tsp peppermint extract

mix all ingredients until well incorporated. you may have to add a little more glycerin or a little more baking soda depending on how you want the consistency. mine turned out a little less pasty than normal toothpaste.

my efforts towards making toothpaste aren't over. i've been reading about safer abrasives to use, and i haven't read anything conclusive as of yet.

happy scrubbing!

5 things i will never (never?!) buy again

image via flickr

last week one of my favourite bloggers, rhonda jean over at Down to Earth wrote a post about the 5 things she would never buy again.

i could not get this topic out of my head. five things i will NEVER buy again? never is a long time. never is forever. and what is the point, besides saving money/consuming less/being green etc? i've been thinking a lot recently about how to opt out of our disfunctional economic system in small ways, and i think this is one of them.


so, without further ado, here are the 5 things i will never buy again.


1. paper napkins. i've never been a big napkin user and have never bought paper napkins for personal use before. but then i started thinking, what about kids birthday parties? then what? i think in the past i have (ahem) 'borrowed' paper napkins from my mother in law for said birthday parties. this year i am seriously making a large number of fabric napkins. i am not joking. watch me.

another point about napkin use. what about using paper napkins? i may use them at restaurants but shall not use them excessively.

2. pizza bases. again, never been big on buying pizza bases, so i think it's safe to say that i will not in the future. they are way too easy to make and way too tasty.

3. deodorant after a recent foray into making my own

4. commercial cleaning products. all baking soda and vinegar from here on in.

5. factory farm eggs. hmm. i am hoping i can fulfill this fifth thing. could there be a moment in my future where i am so desperate for eggs that i will buy anything less than free-range or organic? possibly. but i don't see it as likely, so here is my fifth. factory farm eggs.

i suppose there are plenty of things i will never buy again because i have never bought them before, but those things don't count. i'm thinking that things i am consciously choosing not to buy are the only things that count. i am hoping to add to this list. currently i am on a no clothes diet. no store bought clothes, although i can buy second hand. i'd like to try to make all my clothes this year, excluding underwear, hosiery and shoes for now.

there are lots of things i hope never to buy again and will be trying hard not to buy again. canned beans and baby wipes are definitely on my radar at the moment, but i'm not ready to say never quite yet.

i think i would like this list to a habit, a sort of bi-annual vow. maybe even a quarterly. 2o things per year i will never buy again.

what things will you never buy again?

shot this week

sleepy 4 month old



daddy love



bea hijacking baby toy at the gallery of modern art



is that a happy meal toy she's playing with?



'painting' with a flashlight. bea loved this activity.



silly serious tableau the other night

my creative space

there's been a bit of quilt mania over here as summer threatens in queensland. folks have eloped, babies are about to be born, and i have secured a tentative affirmation that a quilt may be welcome on our bed.

i'm pleased to say that i completed one picnic quilt on sunday. it is meant for a family of four who sneakily snuck off to secretly seal the deal and probably didn't receive many gifts as a result.

also, i completed the top piece of a baby cot quilt, made for future third baby of a family. he is probably going to have a lot of hand me downs from his older brothers so i thought it might be nice for him to have something of his own. it is a brick sort of style pieced quilt, which works well for my gift of imprecision. in the photo above it is falsely seen as complete as it was placed on an already existing cot quilt for folding and photographing.

the main quilting excitement for me this week is that my man has possibly given me the go-ahead to make a quilt for our bed. this is a big deal. he has very strict standards? stipulations? style requirements? so that is why i say possibly. the condition/s is/are that the quilt must basically be one colour. i'm allowed to do various squares but must use one colour (preferably white or off-white, ideally unbleached organic cotton or something). it may have some colour details such as a few patterned posts and borders and maybe little reverse appliqued circles. it must be subtle. i am to submit my design and then i may or may not be able to start.

to see what others have been making, visit kootoyoo.

homemade deodourant

image from here

we've been off the commercial deodorant/antiperspirant bandwagon for a while now, as the knowledge that standard brands include aluminum, pthalates and fragrances linked to neurological problems (including Alzheimer's), cancers and reproductive toxicity (see this cosmetic safety database). plus those roll up roll on spray on type bottles contain a lot of unnecessary plastic packaging.

we've both been using the salt crystal type deodorant which neutralizes odour causing bacteria. it generally works, however lately it has been heating up here in Queensland as winter comes to an end and i'm not always getting a shower every day (due to baby and 3 year old intervening in my ability to tend self) and i was finding the salt crystal was just not neutralizing those odour causing bacteria enough for me.

happened to read this post over at soozs and she mentioned making her own deodorant and that it really really worked (i, like others it seems, find the 'natural' brands just didn't cut it) and it piqued my interest. so i found my way to the original source and made some of my own. i must say, i am very impressed thus far! no smelliness after full two days with no re application. wow. that seems better than store bought. also although it turns out as a white paste it doesn't leave actually white marks on clothes as long as it is rubbed in properly.

here is what i ended up adding, slightly different from the original recipe and slightly different from the sew green recipe it is based on.

1/8 cup cornstarch
1/8 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup baking soda
5-6 tablespoons of coconut oil
some essential oil for scent
enough witch hazel to make mixture into a paste

then mixed to form a paste. i wanted a really pasty paste (ie like normal deodorant but a bit softer so it would be easy to rub into skin) so i ended up adding the witch hazel to moisten it a bit further.

i'm more motivated to try more home made cosmetics now. i've never been a bit fan of shampoo, i use it as little as possible, so that might be the next item to try.

zoom

for more see here

fish

we've been mildly obsessed with fishing around our place. B is into play games about it and i've been fantasizing about catching our own fish from the shore for a while now.

this weekend it all came to fruition.

all except for the 'catching' the fish part.





finished magnetic fishing game. its a pretty big hit.

more magnetic fishing games here and here




'ted the head'.

he was my secondhand fishing rod dealer. he straps a multitude of rods and reels onto his triumph and peddles them at the chandler markets on sundays.





fish and chips at the esplanade yesterday afternoon.

not caught by me.




me, on my maiden cast off the jetty.


i didn't catch anything! can you believe it? i had the right bait, waited til the tide was coming in and had it on good authority that it was going to be a good evening for fishing, but it got so dark and cold and my baby was coughing up his poor little lungs. and i didn't know that you should hide the hook. i swear i could feel them biting and at one point i sweat i had something big on my hook but it got away.

i will be catching fish in the near future though, and i will let you know when that happens.

creative space

we painted some wooden family members the other day. i ordered them a coupla months ago from goose grease undone on etsy. i've been saving them for a rainy day.

it hasn't rained this week, in fact the weather has been perfect, but we've been cooped up with colds. the kitchen counter looks like a chemist. there's paw paw ointment under the nose and euky bearub in the air. i bought one of those syringes that you can use to suck snot out of babies noses. my 3 year old a red raw mustache under her nose from wiping and my 3 month old has lost his voice. his squeaky attempt to cry is the saddest thing i've ever heard.

but we're coming out of it. and most importantly, i'm coming out of it with my motherly virtue unscathed. yay for me! i didn't even have to get the Mr to come home from work. i survived my first all-of-us-sick episode, and it wasn't that bad. i mean, the TV has been on a lot but it hasn't been on all day and we did manage to do some crafty activities and cook dinner 2 out of 3 times so yeah, i didn't completely wuss out.

the experience made my heart go out to those who have truly sick children. from that perspective, we are so lucky to have had just the sniffles. lucky doesn't even begin to say it.

to see what other folks have been up to this week, visit kootoyoo.

wordless wednesday

join here

kiddie canape

yesterday we made these yummy and fancy looking canapes for our morning snack. they were a big hit! we used banana slices, nutella and a mixture of cashews and frozen blueberries. any nut and berry combo would be good though me thinks!

with a dusting of confectioners sugar, they were gobbled up by B. she had to make another plate. fruit, nut and a bit of hazelnut spread to sweeten the deal. healthy? well, it involved fruit and nuts and really nutella isn't that bad if you look at the label. i'm going with healthy treat.

for more easy peasy food ideas, see here

mini quilt #2

i made another miniature quilt this weekend, inspired by the flickr group mini quilt monday, I am sort of getting obsessed with miniature quilts. they are so cute and easy to make, being so small and all. when i woke up to do a night feed all i could think about was schemes for mini quilts.

this little star hexagon didn't lay flat in the end, but still looks OK, i think. i might actually quilt it a little more to try to get some of the puffier sections to lie flat. again i am guilty of being product focused rather than process focused.

what will i do with such a small quilt, you may ask yourself. well, i have asked myself the very same question. of course, many mini quilts are used for playmats, doll blankets, wall hangings or table runners (umm, not really the table runner type) but i must admit a 'modern' mini quilt might not be so bad as a trivet of sorts i suppose. but my actual plan for this mini quilt in particular came to me last night. i will be sure to share when the plan comes to fruition. . .

oh, the things they say

lying in bed together, B is on her way to sleep

B: mummy, are there germs in toots?

Me: no, why? (stifled laughter)

B: oh good. i just didn't want to get germs in the bed.

Me: hehehehehehehe

making

daddy chair.



fabric drying on the line. love the possibilities running through my head at the sight of all the purdy colours together. i'm surprised i ever cut into any of it.



slightly wonky fabric tent. must make alterations but that is a boring sewing project so have been putting it off. harumph.



chopsticks and buttons and egg carton. go b!



about to be creamed. into spinach soup, that is.

my creative space. . .

have i really been meaning to join this thursday ritual for nearly a year? today is the day!

and i'm feeling so pleased to be adding this to my list of things done this morn, which already includes packing child's lunch (including making egg salad) 2 loads of laundry cleaning out the fridge having a shower feeding and changing and putting a baby to sleep hanging out 2 loads of laundry chalk drawing outside plucking my eyebrows having a cup of coffee making a grocery list and now writing this post.

please be advised the above is not a normal sort of list of things done, just a freakish one. but i'm feeling a little smug with myself after looking at that list. if i accomplish nothing else today i'll be happy.

on my sewing table i have little fish, cut from hand screen-printed fabric by Thea and Sami.
i bought some scrap packs from her ages ago and have finally cut into them. we're making a fishing game, involving magnets and nuts and doweling and string.

because we love to play fishing at our place.

for more creative spaces, visit kootoyoo. . . .

wordless wednesday

join here

i heart canon G11

muffin batter licking munchkin.



finger licking muffin.



mini quilt (possible new craft addiction).
with food face (bea's new fixation).



beach sunset worship.



car park chalk drawing.



byron bay lunching.







byron bay sun catching.



baby sleeping.

new man in blog-town

i have been loving a newly discovered blog called made by joel. he's a part-time stay at home dad/artist with twins who makes them toys and posts lots of download-able arts and crafts on his visually stunning blog. no big deal. ahem. a craft blog being written by a man is rare and truly, the little games and toys he comes up with for his kids are both creative and often so aesthetically appealing that the adult in me likes the look of them lying around the house. in fact he is allegedly working on a book, which is probably going to be awesome.

recently we cut out his paper city and had fun colouring in the little people. B arranged them into couples (she is obsessed with marriage at the moment, embarrassingly). we were just getting over a spate of illness and had multiple boxes of toddler panadol lying around which reminded us a little of big buildings so we made some tea light candle holders with them by turning the boxes inside out so the writing was on the inside and cut some holes in the sides to let the light through.

colourwheel quilt

i have a big project queue at the moment due to the tiny guy who seems to be nearly permanently fastened to my front, either feeding or in his wrap/carrier. i can get some sewing in if i bounce on the fit ball at the same time (not great for precision, but most of my sewing is pretty basic stuff) but cutting is a no go. i have actually made some things for myself, including a few dresses which has been pretty exciting. haven't photographed due to aforementioned tiny person blocking the views of said dresses.

anyhoo, one thing i do do on the fit ball is bounce in front of the computer while poring over various pages online, daily. as a result i find i am adding more to my to do list
(ahem, and virtual shopping carts) than usual. i'm convinced that i need to make a queen sized quilt. i'm quite sure that normally the man in the relationship isn't all that keen on the same sort of quilts his mate may be, but how can you not love this stack:

via PurlSoho

some colour wheel quilt ideas via flickr

I like the colour wheel effect against black. a quilt with a black background is appealing, don't you think? if this colour wheel ever happens to me, i think i will stick with squares instead of the wheel design. i think.

i did do one thing while bouncing on the fit ball on the computer today which was fun and constructive. i downloaded a couple of issues of Parasol, which is a digital magazine featuring crafters and each issue includes some downloadables such as prints to use with photoshop or illustrator. so i did some mucking about with photos of our new baby in an effort to get together a little thank you photo type thing. OK, i know this is getting dangerously close to digital scrapbooking, but isn't it a cute thank you photo? i like that it allows space to write a little personal message to the thankee. . .

back from the abyss

hi! i have a new baby, well he is now 2 months old and not brand new any longer but still tiny i have been so happily engrossed in him that i haven't been blogging. i have been crafting in spare time but blogging has gone by the wayside. understandably.

lately i have been looking at lots of fabric online because it is an easy thing to do while bouncing babe on the fit ball while getting him off to sleep. i've been back onto the lovely spoonflower busily filling up my virtual shopping cart and then emptying it out again as we are back to one income. that aside, check out this super amazing apron pattern! i think i might actually wear an apron that looked like this:


and here is the yard of fabric that you make it with, complete with instructions.




is this not the most amazing apron/apron project you have ever seen!? check out the rest of Cean Irminger's work via spoonflower. i like a lot of the prints, including this kitty...




could make quite a nice softie/pillow doncha think?

Ruben and Bea

A safe and lovely arrival in the early hours of May 5th. El Cinco de Mayo for our new little guy Ruben!

Yay!