Oxy Clean and a craft, at last!

Here's the last of what I owe from January!  Now, I do have a confession regarding the craft.  I had said I was going to show you a cheap way to dress up your throw pillows.  Well...I didn't do it.  The idea of hauling out the sewing machine, going to the craft store to get bobbins and whatnot for it, and actually making the time to it seemed too overwhelming.  So I'm tabling it until a later date, preferably one in which I'm home alone in a sparkling house for an entire weekend, where the only people I see will either be one of the cast members of Downton Abbey, or will be the delivery guy from the local Chinese restaurant.  So I did something else instead, which was not nearly as exciting, but it at least was practical.

Here's the Oxy Clean recipe.  You can either make it as needed to use as a soak, or you can use it in a spray bottle.  The mixture is 2 parts water, 1 part hydrogen peroxide, and 1 part of either baking soda OR washing soda.  I had great results from either, but found the baking soda to not play well with a spray bottle.  If you want to use a spray bottle for it, make sure it's a dark colored bottle.  I just recycled an actual Oxy Clean spray bottle, which is a lovely dark blue.  If you make it as needed for a soak, just repurpose a jar with a tight fitting lid, so you can shake it together.  I used it as a treatment on a blanket that Jeffrey had spilled chocolate milk on, and it got it out with no problems at all.  Yes, I give my child the occasional dose of chocolate milk.  He also eats green beans like they're french fries, thinks salmon with dill is tasty, and wants his own salad at dinner.  :-)

My craft made me feel like I was back in Girl Scouts, but I wanted some pretty hot pads to coordinate with my springtime table linens.  So I founds some coordinating fabric pieces in my craft stash, and cut them into 1" wide strips.  I then braided them into a rope that was maybe 3 feet long.  Then I simply wrapped it around itself so it formed a flat, circular mat, stitching it into place as I went.  My final step was to stitch a piece of felt onto the bottom, and voila!  A craft the mother of any 8 year old girl would love.  I know it sounds small and silly, but the braiding was kind of therapeutic.  I intend to hand wash or spot treat it as necessary, but that's because the material I used isn't machine washable.

Next post will have this week's "love" themed recipe, and look for birthday party pic spam, wibbles about my baby's first day of preschool, DIY laundry supplies, and (my favorite) our first review and giveaway!