Showing posts with label D.I.Y.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D.I.Y.. Show all posts

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Does Your Soap Get Smushy?


Since I became a homemade "soaper" I've begun to notice soaps and their condition more closely.

Too much soap gets wasted and thrown away for ONE SIMPLE reason!
The reason is that people allow the soap they have just used to sit on wet counters or on a wet tub rim!

When homemade soaps ....and most commercial soaps too, sit in water too long, they absorb that water and get SMUSHY and useless...and the owners usually throw them out because they just don't know what to do.

So, as I love to putter around like a pioneer woman, I grabbed some scrap pieces of wood and  a couple plain rubber bands and Voila! I invented a rustic "soap saver" to rest my homemade soaps on after using.

Now, when I use my homemade soaps they dry up quickly after using and last MUCH MUCH LONGER!

Would you like to try to make your own "soap saver"?

All you need is:

1/ four pieces of scrap wood that are free of splinters and are close to the same size. If you can't find four pieces to make a square "soap saver" then just use two equal pieces and then another two matching longer pieces to make a rectangular shaped "soap saver".

2/Hammer the pieces together, but don't let the nail heads touch the bottom surface. You don't want the possibility of the metal nails to touch a wet counter top or tub rim and cause rust.

3/ Use some sand paper to sand down any rough edges that remain. You want your "soap saver" to be safe to touch even with wet hands.

3/ Take a couple of plain ole rubber bands, the kind that come from around the local newspaper that is delivered to your door and wrap them around the wooden frame. Criss cross the design until the grid is small enough that a bar of small soap won't fall through the holes made between the rubber bands.

That's it you're done!

D.I.Y. heaven :)
Peaceful productivity,
Carla.



Friday, December 26, 2014

Oy Vey Money Versus Proud Mary Money

Most of us have some sort of income... Income from a job, from rental real estate, or from royalties from something that we have invented or created like a book or a witty invention.

Then there's money that comes just because we are a citizen of a certain country...a government refund.
Although I appreciate it, no matter what it's label....it's just "Oy vey" money....because I did nothing to deserve it or earn it. "Oy vey" money is useful, but not inspiring..... utilitarian, but not fulfilling.

I've noticed that the source of the money really strongly affects how I feel about a certain chunk of change....and the size of that chunk matters very little in terms of how it makes me feel.

For example, there's a writer I follow who has created a homespun fishing lure business on the side.
It is his love and passion to create lures and find the best places to sell them. At this point, the business is not enough to entirely carry his household expenses, but the joy and fulfillment he is getting from seeing the progress of his homemade creations is inspiring. He's at the stage where he is considering great expansion in marketing his goods. Whatever nickels, dimes and dollars he earns from this venture...I would be tempted to call his "Proud Mary Money".

I have upon occasion celebrated this kinda money too. I can assert, that "Proud Mary Money"
has a lot going for it. It contains within it's DNA all sorts of good stuff....momentum, hope, fulfillment of a life's dream, and hint of a better tomorrow. "Proud Mary Money" has my sweat, focus and artistic bent written all over it. This kinda money is gutsy and has a pioneering spirit. "Proud Mary Money" goes where no man has gone before.

Do you have some of each? Does that five bucks you earned selling one of your homemade treasures on Etsy make you grin for 5 hours straight? Did that Youtube video you created that's earning you 3 cents per day, make you chuckle while you're driving to your "day job" ?

Even if your "Proud Mary" fund is so teeny tiny as to not even deserve a bank account of it's own, I'll bet that you are already bragging about that new book you wrote, video you created, item you sold on line, etc....because you created it with your own sheer will, curiosity, artistry, and pioneering spirit.

When push comes to shove, my goal is to focus on creating more in 2015. I am so pumped! It's gonna work...it's gonna bring increase....more Proud Mary Moments.