Homemade anniversary gift

    Daniel and I recently celebrated our anniversary!!! It was very different than how we usually celebrate. This year he had to work and then the evening was spent at church and then baby didn't want to sleep at all that night. However, we ate lunch together and exchanged what was supposed to be small gifts since we are on a tight budget! Daniel broke the spending rules and bought me a lovely bracelet and flowers!! I think I'll forgive him though! :) I had decided to make his gift since we weren't supposed to spend much money.

     A couple weeks ago I wrote things I loved or appreciated about him on sticky notes and plastered them all over the windows of his car while he was at work. He really liked that so I decided to take the things I wrote down and make it into something that he can keep, instead of a bunch of sticky notes. 

     There have been some tutorials on Pinterest and also here about a deck of cards used to make a book similar to what I did. However, I didn't have the budget to go buy stuff to make it all cutesy. And I figured it was a gift for my husband and he doesn't really care about cutesy. So I used only things I had on hand.

- cheap deck of cards

- pen

- scissors 

- card stock

- sharpie (or any marker)

- glue stick or tape

- hole punch

- string

     I cut pieces of card stock to fit on one side of the playing cards. I ran the marker on the edges of the paper to give it some definition. Then I wrote all the little things on each piece of card stock. The tutorials on Pinterest used all 52 of the playing cards. I used about 42 because the deck was getting really thick and a little hard to manage. And the things left to say probably would be a little embarrassing to anyone accidentally reading it so I decided to save those special things for later. ;) 

      Next, I glued all the pieces of card stock onto the playing cards. Then I punched holes on one edge of all the cards. I decided to also make a cover from a paint chip sample to go on top of the deck. Lastly, I ran string through the holes to bind the cards into one "book". 

     Not nearly as cute or crafty looking as the one on Pinterest, but it was made with love and it was free!  :)   Hope this inspires you to try your hand at making a gift for your special someone. Doesn't have to be expensive or even cutesy if it comes from the heart!

Clean your jewelry with kitchen supplies!

     I've had some jewelry sitting around that I haven't worn since college, mostly because it looked really tarnished. I saw a recipe online to clean your jewelry so I thought I'd give it a try! Let me tell ya! It works like a charm! And I didn't have to buy anything. I had all the supplies on hand!

     -Cover the inside of a bowl with aluminum foil. You can not skip this step or it will turn your jewelry black! 

     -Heat 1 cup of water in the microwave for about 2 minutes. It doesn't need to boil it just needs to be really hot! Pour the water into the aluminum covered bowl.   

     -Add 1 tablespoon each of salt, baking soda, and dish washing soap. Add your jewelry in the bowl after that. 

     Now you wait for 5-10 minutes!! After the time is up, remove the jewelry and rinse with water then dry and buff with a soft cloth. Admire your clean jewelry!!! 

     Note: this will not replace silver finish that has worn away, it just cleans the silver finish that is still on your jewelry.

DIY Orange Cleaner

     Not long after we moved to Texas, my sister came to visit us! She brought a bag of oranges for us to snack on, and I remembered this DIY cleaner I had seen on the internet. Time to experiment!!

    I placed peels from about 6 oranges in a canning jar and filled it up with white vinegar. Then I placed it on the shelf in our laundry closet. Most of the tutorials I had read suggested letting the peels soak for about 2 weeks. Well, I totally forgot about this little jar of goodness so the peels soaked for about a month! Anyways! I strained out the peels and other little bits and was left with about a cup and a half of orange syrupy stuff. I filled the rest of the jar with water and now a beautiful jar of all natural homemade cleaner awaits my OCD self to take it on a cleaning spree! 

     Is it sad that I'm so excited to try this stuff out? It smells fresh and citrusy. (Is that a word?) 

This cleaner was so easy to make, if I can do it, anyone can! Happy cleaning!