A few more ideas for candle jars

I came up with a couple more ideas for candles jars. I am still messing around with what I want, and what gets good feed back so here are 2 more. Thanks for peeking.

New items I am adding for a Greener Business

So it's really important to me to do everything with this little business of mine as green as I can. I few months back I decided to start hand cutting recycled glass wine and some beer bottles. I have been working like crazy to come up with something that was still really pretty, but a bit more green. I have been testing and burning like crazy so I can be ready by fall with alot of great new upcycled items. Here is what I have been working on:

I added the first one to my etsy shop today. They require a lot more work then buying glass bottles, but I feel like it's worth it and hopefully others will too.

My first attempted at home made laundry soap.

Well it was actually about a month ago, but a few bouts of sick kids, sick me and sick kids again have taken up a lot of my time lately. I wanted to share with you how it went and what I will do differently next time. So the recipe is pretty basic. All the ingredients were pretty easy to find. I purchased everything from Fred Meyer, but I think you could get most everything at most stores.


What you need:
Water-currently we all have that.
1 cup Borax- I have seen this everywhere, Safeway, Albertsons, Target- You name it.
1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap (This is the part I would change)
1/2 cup washing soda(a bit harder to find but Fred Meyer has it for sure)
and a 2 gallon or larger bucket.
2 to 4 tbsp of your favorite essential oil (optional)

so here is what you do:
cut up your soap or grate it into a sauce pan with 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap is fully melted. It took a bit longer then I had expected so be patient. Something I am working on. Now add in the washing soda and the borax and stir it all up until dissolved. Remove from heat and add 4 more cups of Hot tap water. pour mixture into your bucket and add a bit less then 1 and a half gallons of water. Add essential oil (I love either lavender or sweet orange.) Stir it all together and let sit over night. It turns into a sort of gel or the sort of slim stuff you see on the Nick Choice Awards (Yes I have kids and watch to much TV.) Most the recipes I found recommend 1/2 cup per load.

I am not completely sold on this recipe. Personally I like to see suds. I know, I know suds don't mean something is clean, but they make me feel clean so next batch I will add 1 hole bar of the fels naptha soap.
It was pretty fun to make and now that I have tried it once the next go around will be a kid and mom activity.

Lastly this soap is way cheaper then buying laundry soap, especially if you are buying the eco laundry soap. The costs works out to be about a third so give it a try and tell me how it goes. You can adjust any of the ingredients you want to. I have heard some people like to double the borax to boost stain removal. I tend to pour a bit of extra borax right into the washer with my laundry soap when washing heavily soiled cloth anyhow.

Good luck and happy washing!!!

Get out and Do Something- May 17th

Check out Alberta Art Hop- May 17th. I'll be vending along with so many other talented artist and crafts people. Hope to see you there.

Life Never Looked so Green as in the Garden

I wanted to share an upcoming event with everyone that my dear friend Susan Toler is heavily involved in. If you know Susan you know she has a deep love of gardening. I would go so far as to say it is her passion and true calling in life (along with many other gifts she possesses.
About 5 or 6 years ago before I did any gardening of any kind, (I don't do much now, but it is something I am working on.) I was at a friends home and spotted the most beautiful plant I had ever seen. She must have had 10 to 15 varieties. I asked what it was. She said "that's a Clematis". They come in so many beautiful vivid colors and have the most unique blooms.
If you are a plant lover, a gardener or just an admirer you will appriciate the beauty of a garden, and of the Clematis.
Below is a link to information for this event, but of you would like Tickets please contact Susan directly, or myself and I will relay the info. She has to sell a certain number of tickets. Hope you all can enjoy a taste of summer and check it out.

http://www.rogersonclematiscollection.org/

Do something Eco Friendly for Earth Day

Buy a soy candle. Visit Autumn Comfort Candles for A today Only Earth Day Special.

In Honor of Earth Day

So Earth Day is right around the corner. April 22nd to be exact. In the last year or so myself and my family have been making small changes to become greener and reduce our foot print in this world. Before my kids I didn't think much about what we were doing to contribute to the ever growing problem of, well frankly, Earth abuse. Since I have moved in to the realm of eco-ism I have really had a chance to see just what we were not recycling, reusing, and what we were waisting. Now I'm not saying we are perfect. Not by a long shot. I must confess we still buy paper towels, (although, much less) and my youngest is, yes, I confess wearing disposable diapers. (Don't think I can't hear your gasps of disappointment.) But we all must start somewhere.

So in further steps to undo my daily damage I have come up with 2 more things (we I would consider substantial for our family,) to move out of the red and into the Green. Here they are; First I vow to (and have started some) replace all my cleaning supplies with more natural, and hopefully home made cleaning solutions. I have been searching the web for recipes for everything from a replacement for my beloved 407 to home made laundry soap. I will let you know how my new found recipes turn out. Second as a family, (ok my husband and I) have decided to declare Friday as NO TV DAY!!!! I know this doesn't sound like much, but we are serious TV addicts. But isn't that what the DVR is for. I figure since summer has to get here eventually this is a good time of year to make this change. We watch much less in the summer anyhow. Now those of you with children know that TV can be a big part of a preschool and toddlers life unfortunately. I know there will be those (probably childless) who say "kids should be watching TV anyway. Why not NO TV ever?!" Get back to me when you have 2, 3 or 4 little ones and just need 20 minutes to make dinner. We have decided to give this special Friday a different name. NO TV Friday will only incite children to bag for TV they would have otherwise not even missed. We have declared it Special Activity Day instead. I have discovered that if you call anything"special" my 4 year old thinks it's the greatest day of his life. I am excited for these special changes to take place. Hopefully these small/big changes will inspire you to celebrate Earth Day all year long. It can be like New Years, but with Green Resolutions.