Singed Flower Hair Accessory Tutorial

What you need -

• Candle
• Scissors
• Tweezers
• Organza or Chiffon or other synthetic fabric
• Needle and thread
• Beads or brads
• Matching felt
• Elastic, bobby pins or clips

Step 1. Cut circles of fabric. About 4 or 5 pieces depending on how full you want your flower to be. My pieces start from about 2.5cm(1inch) and the biggest is about 9cm(3.5in).

Step 2. Light your candle and singe the edges of each piece of fabric. You won't need to put your fabric IN the flame, just hold it above and the heat will make it curl. This can take some practice. Don't hold it over for too long or it will melt completely. You need to be quick and move it around.
These are all the pieces done. The bigger ones i've singed in the middle of the petal so it's not so bowl shaped.
Step 3. Assemble. Just lay the pieces on top of each other.

Step 4. Sew together. Get some matching thread or you can use invisible thread and sew them together in the middle. Just a couple of stitches and then you can thread on some beads and secrure them with a couple more stitches. DONE! almost..... Step 5. Cut 2 pieces of felt - one circle and one rectangle that will fit inside the circle. Sew down two sides as shown to make a little 'tunnel'. That's for elastic or clip to go in.

Step 6. Hot glue it to the back of your flower.

Step 7. Insert elastic or clips.

VOILA!!

And if you are feeling adventurous you can even make baby ones and do something like this -

Try it with different fabrics and colours. You can also use them to accessorize your clothes if you want.

I made this one out of ribbon for my 6yr old niece and used brads in the middle instead of beads.

Homemade Cleaning Products

I've been experimenting with homemade cleaning products. I LOVE that i make my own baby wipes. And they cost me $2.77 instead of the $4-5 i was paying. But as much as they are great for wiping bottoms and messy mouths i didn't really want to use them for cleaning other things. I love kitchen wipes. So easy but also pricey. So i found a recipe for homemade cleaner. Who knew it was so easy!? I know lots of people already know about the excellentness that is vinegar but i'm a little slow on the uptake. But that's ok, i've now 'discovered' it. I made my own Spray Cleaner and it is fabulous.

For a while now i've been buying Earth Choice products. They are grey water safe and cheap! So i have incorporated the Floor and Surface Cleaner into my own.

So for the recipe you need-

A spray bottle

1/8 cup Earth Choice Floor and Surface Cleaner

1/4 cup white vinegar (Homebrand. It's so cheap it's like you never bought it.)

And then top the bottle up with water. Give it a shake and away you go! I like to label my stuff too so i know what it is. Total cost per bottle - 11cents. Not including the bottle. Cost of shop bought spray of the same quantity - $3.87

Then came the Cleaning Wipes. You will need -

1 roll of Viva Paper Towel (i recommend this brand because it is the only one that doesn't fall apart when wet)

1/8 cup Earth Choice Floor and Surface Cleaner or cleaner of your choice

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 1/4 cup of water

a cylinder container with lid (cost me $4 at Woolies)

First off remove the cardboard roll out of the middle of the paper towel. You will be pulling from the centre so you don't need it in there.

In the container mix all your liquid ingredients. Then place the paper towel in there pushing down if you need too so it fits inside. Pop the lid on and wait for it all to absorb and for no reason other then my own quirkiness i turn the container upside down while it's absorbing. Total cost for this is $2.10 per roll - 60 sheets per roll. I use it in my kitchen or for wet dusting of furniture. Cost of shop bought kitchen wipes - $4.85 for 40 wipes.

I also made my own Laundry Powder. It so easy!

You will need for 1 batch (32 loads)-

1 cup Borax ( you can find it at Bunnings)

1 cup Washing Soda (in the laundry aisle at Woolies)

2 bars of laundry soap (i use Woolies brand)

A container to put it in (The Reject Shop has cheap jars)

A 1/8 cup scoop (which i already had in my kitchen)

First off cut up your soap, just roughly chop it with a sharp knife. I then wizzed it in my hand blender. You want it to be like a powder. Place the Soap, Borax and Washing Soda in the jar, put the lid on and shake it around to mix it. And that's it. Use 1/8 cup(or 2 tablespoons) scoop per load of washing. The cost of this is $3.44 per batch. That's 10 cents per load!! I compared that with the Aldi brand of laundry liquid that i usually buy and it is $5.99 per 2L bottle - 37 cents per load. Over 3 TIMES the cost.

Homemade Stain Remover

This was a bit of an experiment. And i am pleased with the results.

What you need -

750ml Spray bottle (i recycled one that i had)

1/4 cup bleach( I used White King)

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon of your homemade laundry powder(i made a seperate batch just for using for stain remover)

water

Put the first 3 ingredients in and then top up the bottle with water. Just mix it all up in your bottle.

I experimented with one of Lachlan's outfits. These are fresh 'stains'of chocolate, warm milo and baby drool. I first washed it in my laundry powder and most of the stains came out. I just wanted to see how much it cleans. There were a few dots of brown still left up near the collar which was the messiest spot.

I sprayed it with the stain remover and left it for 5-10 minutes and washed it again. It came out pretty clean!

In future of course i will spray the stains first and then wash. I just wanted to see how much came out in the regular wash. If you wanted a strong stain remover i'd try experimenting with the quantity of bleach.

The cost of my 750ml bottle of Spray Stain Remover was 22 cents. See if you can find a stain remover that cheap in the shops.