Handmade Craft Market Giveaway

 To celebrate the Launch of the first

Handmade Craft Market 

 this Sunday, 22 August 2010.

I'll be giving away a Gift Box

All you need to do is visit the

Purely Natural Living stall 

&  put you name in the box.

So what's in the Gift Box???

Over $40 worth of Purely Natural Living goodies

Goddess Bath Salts, Spearmint & Seaweed Goats Milk Soap,
Classic Dragons Blood Soap, Solid Moisturising Stars,
Nourishing Hand & Body Cream,
Lip Balm with Vitamin E,
Foaming Sugar Scrub, Loofah & Face washer.

 

Looking forward to seeing you at
Handmade Craft Market this Sunday, 22 August 2010. 

Limiting my impact

Hello  again, back in February I posted an article on Homemade Laundry Powder and believe it or not I have just run out.  

Now I have a family of 5; two of them are male, one adult and one toddler (need I say more) and two female tweens who constantly seem to change their clothes, so I'm sure you can imagine how much washing I do. 

Just one example

So if I made this powder up in February, that means that my Laundry Powder lasted 6 months, I am now making more.  I do have to say that on the rare occasion I have use a stain removing booster for my wash but over all I have just used the Homemade powder.  

I am happy to say that my whites are white, my colours are still bright and my towels are still soft, which I think is great.  But you know the best part is how much I have managed to lessen my impact on the environment, not to mention lessen the impact on my pocket.

Toowoon Bay

If you haven't tried to make your own Homemade Laundry Powder, why not give it a go today.

New project

It started like this

While I realise this has very little to do with natural products, it does has everything to do with being handcrafted by me.

I recently learnt how to crochet thanks to my friend Stephanie of Moobear and OverIt and my mother. I've been working on my crocheting for a few weeks now but as I'm one of those people who really hates to see waste I needed to find something that was useful and that was going to be loved.  So I decided I need a project, but what?

  

Well, I have two girls and they are pre-teens so I was surprised to find that they thought me crochet was pretty cool, OK OK after they had a little giggle.  Anyway while practicing my chains, trebles and clusters, I found that I could make flowers and they didn't look too bad but what was I going to do with them, then it came to me add them to a headband.  Now, by putting these on to a headband, I had a win and the girls had a win.  The girls got something that their friends don't have, which they think is cool and it keeps the hair out of their eyes (which is where I win). 

I forgot to mention, my 22 month old son loved the headbands so much I wasn't sure if the girls would get them at all. 

Modeling the black

Modeling the pink

I love learning new things!

Homemade Laudry Powder

It's been a while since my last post, it's been a bit hectic, with Christmas, New Year, Holiday to SA & WA and the start of school.  I can't believe that my eldest girl is in High School, time certainly flies.

But I digress, I wanted to let you know about a fantastic Homemade Laundry Powder I have made & used following Julie's recipe from Towards Sustainability.  I've been using it for about 3 months now and it is fantastic. 

I have two girls & a one little boy and although the eldest girl is usually clean and tidy the younger two are magnets when it comes to dirt and stains. 

If you are looking to save money and help the environment try these recipes.  I do have a front loader and I have had no problems at all.  As I make soap I generally use the soap that doesn't look good enough to sell, nothing goes to waste.  Try it, you'll be surprised

Concentrated Laundry Powder

2 cups grated laundry or homemade soap or soap flakes (Lux)

2 cups borax

2 cups washing soda

2 cups bicarbonate of soda (which acts as a deodoriser)

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash. Again, this powder will not make suds and again, this is perfectly okay.

Heavy Duty Laundry Powder

2 cups grated stain remover soap (e.g. Napisan or Sards Soap; Sards has a nice eucalyptus scent)

2 cups grated pure soap or Lux flakes

2 cups Borax

2 cups washing soda

Mix all ingredients together well and store in an airtight container. As above, use two tablespoons per wash, and it is suitable for front loaders.

Try it and let me know what you think.

I have also found Down---to---earth which have number of other recipes for various types of cleaning product.