Freecycle Friday~Make Your Soap Last Forever

Ok, so I've been lame about my Freecycle Friday feature the last few months, but I pinky-swear that I will try, try, try to do better.

So here goes........

Well, I LOVE the great foaming soap from Bath & Body Works, but I alway have to wait till it's on sale dirt cheap, and then I buy out the whole store :)

Then.......

My friend Ginny posted this and opened my eyes to how I can save BIG $$$$ on my fancy soap.

Two Christmases ago hubby got me a soap foamer from Kohls for the kitchen.....and I was LOVIN' it!

Till a few months later and it suddenly stopped working and I was SO SAD :(

But now (thanks to my smart friend) we just recycle the empty soap bottles over and over and just refill them as they run out.......and they work great!

I especially LOVE the one in the kitchen filled with dish soap!! So easy just to pump out some foam (with plenty of cleaning power!) and off  I go hubby goes washing dishes!

For the ones in the bathrooms, I just use my favorite liquid soap (not dish soap, but you could).

This works with any liquid soap, but I haven't tried it with the soap that has the tiny washing beads.

 You want to do a 90% water to 10% soap (see how long your soap can last!!!).

These ones are 8.75oz bottles, (but I just mix up 8oz each time to make it a bit easier) so I put a little less than an ounce of soap into a glass measuring cup........

.......and then fill it to 8oz with warm water (not a high stream to keep it from foaming).

Then, I stir it carefully and pour it into the container.

(I love how you can totally tell this wasn't the original scent that came in this bottle :)

Ta-da!!

Now, I don't have a heart attack every time I find the kiddos in the bathroom with a sink full of foam and an empty soap bottle on the floor :)

Have fun!

Baby Legs For My Baby's Legs

So........

I know I've been kinda MIA, but the jetlag has brought me a wonderful gift;

DAILY MIGRAINES again!

But, I'm feeling a little better and am ITCHIN' to get crafting again!

So, Kira was crawling around the other day in her dress (YES! She's already crawling!!), and I thought "Self,..... this kid needs some protection for those scrawny little legs of hers."

Therefore, I whipped up a cute set of baby legs for her to crawl around in.

These were SO easy and turned out SO cute!

I found a great tute here at Nannygoat with awesome pics and easy to follow instructions. I didn't even need to change a thing to make these, and it took less than 10 minutes to whip these out!

I got these ca-ute knee high socks at Gymboree on clearance for $1.99, and I saw the baby eyeing them.So, I knew she would LOVE em'!

I know that everyone else uses adult sized socks, but.........our girl is so tiny still (about the size of a skinny 4 month old) that I got a kids size 3-4 yrs. But, as she grows, if she's still not walking yet, I may make a bigger size since these fit just perfect right now.

The cute baby sportin' her cool new babylegs (on the really cold kitchen tile, but that's ok cuz' her little legs are protected ;)!

Perfect fit and now her little knees will be safe from rug burn when she wears dresses, or once summer hits.

Have fun!

I'm Back! And Giveaway Winners!!!!

So, I just flew back from Russia.......

AND BOY ARE MY ARMS TIRED!!!!

(hahahahahahahaha!)

Ok, really, I got back late Sat., but Kira and I got SICK and this jetlag is really kicking my butt!

I can barely stay awake all day, and I'm sacked out by 8pm every night (my usual bedtime is midnite.....or later :)

Anyhoo, today I'm feeling a little better, so without further ado.......

THE WINNERS ARE:

(by random.org)

#19~Camrin for the little boy crayon roll

#124~Angie for the little girl crayon roll

#6~Stephanie for the cute hairbows

AND

#21~Greetingarts for the heart clippies

Congrats all you lucky winners!

Please email me with all your info within 7 days and I will send it along to Aubrey so she can ship it all off.

Also, don't forget to stop by her Etsy store and take a gender at all her cute stuff.

If you didn't win, you can still get %20 off your order throughthe end of February if you enter the code "idlehands" at checkout.

A BIG thank you to her for the great giveaway!!!

Thanks so much everyone for your continued support and patience with me as I get back on track here.

Hopefully, it won't take much longer :)

Have fun!

Another Awesome Giveaway!!!

Ok, so I was contacted by Taylor of Mary Janes and Galoshes about at SUPER-SWEET giveaway she's having on her blog right now (almost as good as mine!).

Her friend from Miss Pretty Pretty on Etsy is giving her one of her fabulous felt play houses to give away on her blog!!!

She is seriously talented......I even want one for myself (hey, there were 5 kids in my family, so we never got cool stuff like this :), and maybe I would let my girls play in it too........

Anyhoo, here is some eye candy to get you excited, or you could just go look at her store for yourself.

To enter to win one of these lovelies......simply go to Mary Janes and Galoshes and leave a comment about which house is your fav.

YUP! That's all you have to do to enter (one entry per person, please).

So, why are you still here?

Oh, yeah, and don't forget to enter my giveaway too before you leave.

Have fun!

Update........And A Giveaway!!!

FIRST of all.....

I would love to thank you all for your awesome and kind comments!

MY READERS ROCK!!!!!

AND.....

Since I have utterly NOTHING to do here,

(and no, I can't go sightseeing with the baby, silly gooses)

So, I'm gonna post some pics I've taken here in the last few days and on (very brief) outtings.

Here is the morning of the day we went to go get Kira from the orphanage (you should have seen it once we returned!). People here acted like all this snow was nothing and there were plenty of drivers AND people out walking.
You can't see the snow, but it's falling heavily.

Last Saturday, I saw this wedding party coming to this bridge over the river to put their "love lock" on it (like I talked about here). See the big arrow pointing the the happy couple and their photographer. The rest seems to be their family and friends.

But think how cold that poor bride must be with the short sleeves!!

This is one of Kira's favorite things to do when she's rolling around on the floor :)

She likes to roll under the bed and play with the bed skirt :)

Now, on to the giveaway!

I was contacted by Aubrey who is a momprenuer and owner of Simply Couture on Etsy.

She wanted to do a giveaway for my readers and I said YES!

First of all, I LOVE being able to help out momprenuers.
I was/am one myself :)

Aubrey makes a variety of hair bows and clips, cute crayon rolls for your kids on the go, reusable coffee cozys, decorated wipes cases and snuggly quilts. She is so talented and her stuff is so cute! I need to ask her when she has the time to sew all this cute stuff :)

Look what she's giving away!
(4 winners, with each winner receiving one prize)

2 adorable crayon rolls
1 for the little man in your life
and 1 for that sassy little girl of yours

A set of 2 beautiful princess hair bows

and a set of 3 Valentine hair clips (yes, I know it's almost V-Day, but these would be great anytime!)
How cute would these be on my 3 girls.....Aaaawwwwwww.

So, how to enter?

Well, I thought I would do this one a little differently.

All you need to do is leave a comment......

Yup, just leave a comment,

IN FACT.....you can leave as many comments as you want!!!!

So, get going, and don't forget I like reading your jokes :)

I'll choose the winners next Friday the 12th.

Also, be sure to stop by Aubrey's Etsy store, there are TONS of cute things there

AND

through the end of February enter the code "idlehands" during checkout and you'll get %20 off your order!!!

Even though her prices are already so great!

Good luck and

Have fun!