Homemade Toothpowder - DIY Tutorial

Are you looking for my great, easy and cheap tooth powder recipe? It moved! Check out the new location at Pocket Pause!

Here's an excerpt:

As my long-term readers know, i like to save money and packaging by making all natural alternatives to common and oft-used around the house products. I make all our soap, i try to can or freeze most of our preserved foods, i buy bulk and use reusable handmade bags, and i especially like to keep my family healthy by keeping almost all commercially made body products out of our house. Products like tooth paste. Did you know that sodium laureth sulfate, the same stuff used to make commercial shampoos rather, is in most toothpaste? Have you read the ingredients on most toothpastes in the store... if you have you'll see lots of chemicals, flavors, colors and other artificial nastiness. And flouride. I have mixed feelings on flouride, but despite my dentist's opinion on the stuff, he checked out my teeth as 'problem free' in my last visit.... after i'd switched to making my own tooth powder. I've been using my tooth powder for about 1.5 years. My last dentist appointment was also about 1.5 years ago, before the tooth powder. I had 2 supposed cavities and gingivitis. Commercial toothpaste: cavities and gingivitis. Homemade tooth powder: no cavities or gingivitis and a clean bill of mouth health. Want to make some for yourself? I thought so: Homemade Tooth Powder

Feeling Behind - Lavender Facial Toner Recipe

Buh! This week is a disaster. First i was sick, now i have an illustration commission, next week is deemed 'soap making extravaganza' plus we'll be house sitting for 3 weeks in the country. I'm a bit overwhelmed!

Needless to say i'm being a bit remiss in the blogging. So, i think i'll borrow a blog post from my OTHER blog for Nude Soap. It's a great DIY facial toner, plus lavender vinegar recipe. I actually borrowed both recipes from another blogger that i found at the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop - a great little hop that you should check out today!

Skin toners work like an astringent, smoothing skin tone and tightening pores. When you wash your face with our Facial Beauty Bar and some hot water, your pores are opened and thoroughly cleaned, as well as moisturized. The kaolin clay in our beauty bar helps to draw out impurities from your pores, and the nourishing oils condition your skin. Hot water is great for opening up those pores, but after washing you want to tighten them back up again, to keep grit and grease out, moisture in. Make this easy facial toner and dab on with a cotton ball after every face wash. Follow with some light moisturizing cream or jojoba oil for a truly divine face washing experience.

• 1 half gallon white vinegar (may also use apple cider vinegar)
• 1 bunch fresh or dried lavender
• Water

Simply infuse the vinegar with the lavender (broken up some) for about 1 month…. It’s worth the wait! Dilute the vinegar 1 to 1 or less in a glass bottle to use as a facial toner: easy as that! Use the lovely smelling, lavender infused vinegar for all sorts of things: mix with Sal Suds and water for a perfect dish soap, pour some in the laundry to soften clothes, substitute for any home made cleaning recipe that calls for vinegar.

You’ll love it!

Check out the original post and other fun soapy updates over at the Nude Soap blog.

Building a very shotty chicken tractor

I am not a craftsman. i have grrreat ideas and can draw them out pretty well, but the combination of my lack of knack and the crappiness of my screw gun's battery life create pretty poorly constructed projects.
That being said, this didn't need to be THAT sturdy, just a little day playpen for the girls to get some nicer front yard grass, and maybe borrow the neighbor's grass on occasion. Needed to be lightish weight, sturdy enough to compete with the cats, and roomy enough for 2 - 4 wandering chickens.

The best laid plans......   did not come out as they were planned, but i think it'll do the trick:

I planned to do a triangular structure at first... then changed my mind to do a little square, then went back to the triangle idea. I should have put the handle on the inside for better integrity, and i should have used a screw driver, but as i said my gun sucks so i stuck to mostly nails.

I soon discovered that the old scraps of wood i had laying around were insufficient and employed the husband to pick up some supplemental (and just the right amount of) lumber from Lowes.

I was going to cut nice angles at the top of some pieces of wood to make the top of the triangle, but sticking them at an angle together seemed to work just fine.

The frame held together alright, though the ricketyness of nails is obvious. I used a skillsaw for most of my cuts, but used my miter saw for some smaller pieces. To patch up some of the ricketyness i added some little scraps of masonite to hold the separating pieces together.

I scavanged some plywood from my neighbor's house (shh, don't tell them) to use as the door, and had some hinges left over from a salvage of the other neighbor's old cupboards.

I had some chicken wire scraps laying around and used those to cover the two ends. Was going to use some bigger wire for the rest of it, but it is a pain in the butt to use, has too large of holes, and i'll have other uses for more wire anyway so i took another trip to lowes to get more chicken wire and some staples for my staple gun. The wire is attached with both staples at frequent intervals, and bracket v shaped nail things that are a pain to nail in but quite sturdy - those are at strategic structural intervals.
I also sandwiched the chicken wire at the two ends with two pieces of wood to hold the wire down and hold the bottom of the triangle together.
I also attached a big honkin clasp to the door that my husband brought home the other day. it is huge. but i like it.

After all the chicken wire is wrapped and tightened aroudn the top and sides, i cut a piece of the larger wire to fit along the bottom. This will ensure no knocking over of tractor will result in 'get the chickens from underneath'' as well as preventing the girls from completely decimating my lawn.

Voila! Add a water cup and some chickens and you have an instant play date or snack bar. They were a bit confused at first, but the lush grass is keepign them occupied.

The ladies left behind were quite displeased at the removal of their friends, but i found them a tiny patch of grass in the back to keep them occupied and they quickly forgot they even had other friends.

A success!
This project was quite inexpensive. The two pieces of wood we had to buy were about $10 total. I had all the nails and screws and the rest of the lumber already from previous projects, and the chicken wire was about $20 with lots left over for fencing around gardens. I wouldn't recommend a structure like this to be a long term habitat, but it's just fine for a portable 'eat the grass over here, girls' type enclosure.
PS: both these girls have laid today already, i think i will be sure to make it a habit to only bring the chickens who have already laid into this enclosure as there is no nest box.

Do you have urban chickens? Do you let them free range in unfenced areas, or do you use tractors?

Sewing an Apron, and Creating the Pattern

We'll see if this works, and i hope it does!

I'm a huge fan of retro aprons. I have a little apron i wear to bake in, but it's old, christmasy, and fit a lot better when I was about 9.  So i popped by Hancock Fabrics the other day and bought some cute cotton fabric featuring my signature bright blue color (featured prominently in my wardrobe, on my toenails, and in my tattoos): a gingham type with little strawberries, and a polka dot of blue with white dots.  My goal is to create something like this:

with a little pencil pocket on the top bib, and a little 'put things in me' pocket down in the skirt area. Flouncy, pleated, ruffly skirt, with straps that loop over the shoulders and attach to the waste tie instead of looping behind the neck, which i can't stand.

Measuring isn't proving to be TOO difficult - but i sure wish i had some of that nice pattern paper stuff. i'm using some tissue paper which is okay. Soon forgoed the tissure paper and just drew on the back of the fabric using a pencil and a nice straight yard stick for the lines.

Alright, coming along smoothly. Top seems to be the right size. Skirt cut and hemmed with a nice little folded over hem to look more finished. Now i have to approach the 'dart' dilemma. Cool, instead of just doing regular darts that slide along the hem, i'm squishing them down to make a nice flat square type situation. i'm sure this isn't new to anyone who sews regularly, but i'm just figuring it out as i go. In fact, i think the husband just nailed it: pleats!

Just pinned the top and bottom together: thumbs up! Now i sew them together and then make the waste band and over the shoulder straps. Final step will be the pockets and lace at the bottom.


A. I wish i had an ironing board so that i wouldn't be crouching right now
B. I wish i'd done the hems on the top part differently... there are ravvly edges , i could have done inside out as it is double sided to have a nice finished edge. but no. wah wah. That would have even been easier to do. I know for next time i guess.

Alright! waist band turned out great: glad i got as many yards as i did. Now it's over the shoulder time, trickier i'm guessing. Straps worked out, a little irrritating and loose but good i think.

All in all the apron turned out great. the pockets are swell, the straps slightly less irritating if i cross them in the back. Next time i'd make the top differently, even with some added darts to the side it sticks out a little bit.  I like it so much, however that i made another one with just the skirt part and a pocket that has  little separate divider for a pencil.

Voila!