Homemade Hand Soap and Dispenser

You may remember a couple of days ago (in this post) when I showed you a gift basket of homemade items that I made for my sister in law. Today I thought I would share a little about one of the items in that basket!

Next time I make a batch of hand soap (which will not be for a while...I will show you why!) I will be sure to take step by step pictures to share with you guys. Basically, you find a bar of soap that you really like. You use a cheese grater to grate said bar of soap (4 oz is plenty unless you add more water). While you are grating the soap, heat a gallon of water on the stove just until it is steaming. Once it steams, remove it from the heat and pour in your ground soap. Let it sit for 15 minutes. After that, you will need to whip it with a hand mixer until it is well stirred. This is what mine looked like:

After this step it will need to sit for a minimum of 15 hours, overnight is best. In the meantime I decided to start working on my dispenser. I took a cute little smooth side mason jar.

And a soap pump that I had been saving for a project such as this.

Now the fixtures in their house are all Oil Rubbed Bronze, so I wanted to make this match. I taped off the pump head (paint would rub off with use) and the straw to the pump like this:

And I took it as well as the jar lid outside and sprayed them with Krylon ORB spray paint. In the meantime, my soap had been settling long enough. Now is the harder part (which is still not hard). The soap should be a big squishy blob in your bowl. Take your hand mixer and beat it well until it is smooth consistency like hand soap. It will probably form a froth on top like mine did. If it is too solid you can add just a little more water to thin it a bit. That is all you have to do!

I had my husband drill a hole in the lip of my jar to slide the pump through.

Then I simply used hot glue to secure the pump in place.

I filled my jar with soap and voila! A super cute Mason jar soap dispenser! I plan to make another one soon but witha cute twist! Can't wait to share it!

Now the reason I will not have the need to make soap to show you is this:

Yep! AFTER filling that large Mason jar, I still have a gallon of hand soap! I added a bit of lotion to this recipe by the way. It was just an unscented moisture cream. Made the texture so smooth! I highly recomment this recipe! So easy and you can totally choose your scent!

DIY Thursday: Pet Food Canister

Its DIY Thursday!

Today's project shows how I used EAD Designs Vinyl to create a cute alternative to kitty chow bags taking up visual space in our kitchen! It is such an easy project and literally takes about 3 minutes! Head on over to EAD Designs to see how I did it!

Living Room Reveal!

Okay so I know it has been a week or two since we finished putting the living room back together, but I wanted to do an official reveal on here since things are finally just about all back in place. I really am so happy with the way it has turned out!

Here is our new gallery wall. Similar elements to the old one, just laid out better, more centered on the wall and the cute little plate is new.

Here is the view from the hallway. Love the mantle and mirrors!

New pillows, and a cute little kitty :)

Don't you just want to squeeeeeeze her?

But this is what she has done to our poor plant. We are working on it. Just hang in there plant!

You have to love that face. and she is part of the living room :)

Okay anyways. Sorry! Just love the squishy little baby. :) Please don't mind the Christmas Tree still on the mirror. I am working on it.

I also got that blanket basket on clearance at Wal Mart and using a duplicate gift return, so free! I love having a place to neatly store blankets that is accessible but still stylish.

So there you have it, our new living room. Everything feels so much more put together, bright and airy!

Fabulous Friday #17: Napkin Pillows

Hey guys! Its Fab Friday!

I know that I do not always share a project of my own for Fabulous Friday, but I had this super easy and super cute one that I really wanted to share!

As part of our living room makeover, I wanted to add some fun pillows to brighten the room a bit, but I did not want to spend a fortune. While returning a duplicate Christmas Gift at Belk, I came across these really cute double lined napkins for $4 each on sale. They were PERFECT For the room! And the cream added the brightness that I wanted while the brown matched the curtains perfectly.

Here is the back. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pattern!

So what you do with these is take a seam ripper:

And you tear out the stitches for a section large enough to fit your hand into.

Then You simply fill it with fluff. I gutted an old pillow that someone gave me for crafting purposes (Ew to sleeping on an old pillow of someone else's)

Hand stitch that hole shut and you have a cute pillow! Easy Peasy!

Here is the back. I made two of them, one for each end of the couch.

Once I am ready, I will do a whole living room post and show you how cute they look in the room! For now, I would love to see what you have been up to!


Please don't forget the button!

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DIY Thursday: Decorative Storage

Its DIY Thursday!

Today's project is also all about organization! I am working hard to get my office/craft room all organized and set up now that I am working from home. This project is a fun practical way to store crafting supplies. Head on over to EAD Designs to see how I turned boring, old boxes into cute storage!

Also just a quick little "what we've been up to." This past weekend my hubby and I met my in-laws and some friends in Las Vegas for the weekend. It was so much fun! I did not take a camera, but have a few photos from our phones and I jacked a few that my mother-in-law took! Here is my brother in-law, hubby and I in Caesar's palace.

 My husband is insane and rode the ride that hangs you over the edge of the Stratosphere with my brother-in-law. No way in he** would you ever see me on that! Just the observation deck made me sick.

 Here is our hotel, the Luxor. It was so neat inside! The pyramid shape is deceptive...it is actually super huge!

This is the view from our room. I have never been farther west than Chicago (I know...that is not far west at all) so it was really neat to me to see the red mountains. The photos don't even do it justice, it was breathtaking!

 And then there was this really awesome light canopy on Freemont Street. We went down there for dinner and to sight see one night.

I really wish that we could have stayed longer. It was such a fun little get away but ended too soon. Next time we go, I would really love to see a cirque show, the grand canyon and the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. Some of our friends that were with us were able to be on the show! We flew over the Grand Canyon on the way out and it was probably one of my favorite things about the trip. I would love to go explore it! It was a really amazing time and a welcome break from the monotony. Thanks Mom-in-law and Chris! (This trip was our Christmas gift from them).

Fabulous Friday #16!

Its Fabulous Friday!

This is the first Fabulous Friday of 2012! I cannot believe I am coming up on my one-year anniversary with OhhBaby Designs. This past year has flown by! This year is all about new beginnings and growth for me. I can't wait to see what it holds! That being said, I can't wait to see what you guys link up! Any fun organization ideas? I know that usually this party is just for crafts, but if you have any new years resolution posts or goals, I would love to read them. I need a little motivation to do some of my own!

Please don't forget the button!

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Mirror Windows for the Fireplace

Here I am again with another living room project! This makes the room! In case you forgot, here is the room with the new paint color and the mantle. (Please excuse the night shots...the color is less than desirable!)

 I have been wanting to find a way to bring more light into the room and open up the space a bit. While scavenging on Pinterest, I became inspired to use mirrors:

 

(Source)

Upon realizing how much I loved the look of the mirrors, I knew just what I wanted to do. I hopped on over to the dollar store, hoping to find some simple, frameless mirrors to create the look of the first photo. What I found, I ended up loving more! They have these cute little framed mirrors and they are, obviously, a dollar each! so for $8 I got these:

 To test them out o size and placement, I nailed each one up to the wall separately, starting with the top left and using a level to get them even.

 I then used a measuring tape to get the distance from the top of the mantle to start the other side. On this side I started with the bottom right, because it was the easiest to measure. You may notice the space between the top and bottom row is a bit off, but I fixed that later :)

 Now, when I dreamed up this little project, I envisioned white frames. So, I covered each mirror with paper and painted them with a brush. The hair dryer was a product of my impatience between coats. :) Would it have been far, far easier to pop the mirrors out and spray paint them? I am sure of it. But I was on a roll and decided to go this route using the same paint that we used for the door and mantle to make sure that it matched.

 After giving them adequate (just barely) time to dry, I used a razor to scrape any paint off of the mirror and then I popped those babies back on the wall, fixing the placement of the bottom two when I did.

They are absolutely perfect for what I had in mind! I love how they reflect the sunlight around the room! Because of the way that our house sits on the lot, the majority of the day, sun comes in through the back of the house in the kitchen. It is amazing to have mirrors placed exactly where they catch that sunlight and shine it into the living room.

 They are so cute and look like they came with the room! I love the way that the white pops off of the tan walls.

 We do have our winter mantle up, and it is fabulous! But that is another post for another day. For now, I will continue to marvel in this little $8 room pick-me-up.

Seriously, isn't it so fun to walk into a room in your house and feel like you can't help but stare??? I LOVE it! I think that this is by far a perfect solution for a windowless wall to bring some light in. I could not be more pleased!