Home-made Non-Toxic Chemical-Free Unhyphenated-Glue

So sorry about that title - I think I'm funny.

Anyhow I had a craft in mind that was going to call for glue and shocker of shockers I preferred to keep my project as natural and child-safe as I felt I could.

I found this recipe for home-made glue using a simple Google search.

I got all my materials together.

Put the flour into the jar first.

Then water.

Then the sugar and vinegar.

I gave it a good shake but saw there was still a noticable amount of flour at the bottom so I used an iced tea spoon to reach in and stir the rest of the mix.

I tried the glue out and it was a bit watery and didn't seem to be bonding my items at all.

I ended up just using Gorilla Glue to make sure my choking hazard wouldn't be coming off any time soon.

After letting the glue sit for a while the glue would separate so I would just  shake the jar a bit.

After all that work when I began to write my post I realized I spaced out on a pretty important step. I needed to heat the glue. No wonder it wasn't working for me!!!

Pintesting - Chemical-Free Body Wash

I was out of the body wash my mother was so kind to buy for me and feeling indignant about buying more. I mean why do that when I could make my own and have a lot more control over what would and would not be in it?

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the info found here.

You will need:

1/2 Gallon distilled water - I'd actually already bought a gallon. Yes, I see how it seems a bit silly to buy distilled water but not body wash.

2 cups grated bar soap - I knew I wanted something organic. I ended up choosing a Nubian Heritage soap because their products are certified organic, contain fair trade ingredients; and are free from parabens, sulfates, phthalates, mineral oil, petrolatum, DEA, PABA, synthetic fragrance, artificial color, and animal testing.

2 tbsp vegetable glycerine oil

I grated my soap and stored it in a Mason jar along with the label from the box so I wouldn't forget what was in the jar or what volume the soap had come in when I'd gotten it.

Melt 2 cups grated soap in 1/2 gallon distilled water

Along with 2TBSP of Vegetable Glycerin oil

I also chose to add a few drops of tamanau oil.

Mix well.

I poured the mixed soap, water, glycerine, and oil into half of a milk jug I had around and used the handle to neatly pour the  body wash into my container.

There was more there than it took to fill my original container so I also called upon a Mason jar to come to my aid.

The mix gelled in about an hour I'd say.

The body wash wash low-lather but definitely did its job. My skin was left soft and clean.

Pintest -Chemical-Free Cleaning - Dishwashing Detergent

I do a lot of dishes and when I say a lot I mean I pretty much have to do them every day. Frequently I do more than one load a day. Dish-washing detergent is another one of those extra expenses I've just been living with.

Having long-since switched to an ecologically safe brand I could at least take solace in that fact. Not having to run out and buy more whenever I run out would be even nicer though.

I've tried other pins about making your own dish-washing detergent and have so far been left feeling incredibly unimpressed. This one is supposed to gel - a trait I found promising.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the info found here.

Bring 8 cups of water to boil.

Turn off heat (I didn't have space to move the pot someplace else) and stir in washing soda, borax, and liquid castille until they dissolve.

 I used a whisk to do this. It dissolved quite quickly.

 Add 8 more cups of water and stir it in.

Pour cooled liquid into container of your choice.

I waited 24 hours for it to "gel" but it didn't look quite right so I waited another 24 hours. My gel was watery in places and chunky in others.

My husband tried it in the dishwasher and it left film all over our dishes.

I decided this may be one of those times where I was best off employing the use of my handy dandy immersion blender. I was really worried it was too late for this batch and that I would have to just try this again and use the immersion blender from the get go.

My first wash with the newly blended dish-washing detergent and a vinegar chaser produce sparkling clean dishes.  My second attempt without the vinegar chaser left me with filmy dishes that I felt needed to be washed again.

Try, try again - I tried one more time but this time again with the vinegar in the jet dry again.

What To Do About A Dishwasher Full of Beeswax Pt. 2

I really wish this didn't have to be a two-parter but sometimes that's just way the beeswax crumbles . . . all. Over. Your. Dishes.

You really can't go on very long with no clean dishes. If nothing else, this kind of mess attracts pests.

We removed all the offending dishes from the dishwasher and set them out to wait while we tried to clean the rest of them.

My husband expressed the completely reasonable concern that we should run the dishwasher with only one dish in it just in case there were gunk left in there. I suggested we run the dishwasher with a cup full of vinegar on the top rack.

This whole thing was so intensely wasteful of water that frankly I'm pretty ashamed and disgusted to admit to and post about my waste.

The next morning I tried boiling those mason jars you see in some water and seeing if they yielded a positive result.

It did not.

In the end every dish had to be scrubbed by hand in the hottest water we could stand. My grater will never be the same . . .

Diaper Rash Cream

Full of parental paranoia and worry I decided to also make some diaper cream. If you cloth diaper do not apply this to your childs' bottom and then put them into the cloth diaper. The oils will keep the cloth from doing its absorbent job and void any warranty your diaper may still have. Use a diaper liner to protect the diaper. Then you have a layer between baby booty, oil, and the cloth of your diaper.

To make it I took a little bit of coconut oil,

Put it into a bowl and did my best to stir it until it was "whipped" in texture,

then I added a bit of my baby powder. Mix the two together until you get a reasonable texture.

Store in an airtight container.

Diaper cream, made at home, chemical and talc-free!

Making Baby Wipes Out of (Recycled) Paper Towels

I needed baby wipes and was still really set on making this work. I finally got the paper towels I planned to try to use instead of napkins.

We needed wipes fast so I had my husband cut the roll in half while I mixed up some more solution.

We were going to need a container that could be quickly and easily opened and closed - a container we were using to hold snacks (that we weren't even eating) was sacrificed to our cause.

In the paper towels went and the solution was poured over top. My husband thought we would need more solution but it's always easier to add than to take away so I suggested we just wait a little while and see.

The towels all seemed sufficiently moist.

I removed the cardboard bit in the center.

Now you're ready to pull a bit of paper towel from the center.

It wasn't long until someone with a stinky tushy plopped down into my lap. While I ran to the laundry room to grab the freshly laundered cloth diapers my husband tended to the mess.

Once the diaper was changed I asked him how the wipes worked. He said that they were useable but they still fell apart a bit. When I asked him if they fell apart more or less than the ones you buy at the store he said more.

Pintesting - Herbal Vapo Rub

In November my little lamb developed a really nasty, persistent cough. You could very clearly hear she had a lot of fluid. Lots of hot steamy showers weren't really doing the job. We made sure to keep her in her warmest jammies - but still, her cough persisted.

Eventually we just got some medicated Halls and allowed her to have one in the hope that it would help and she wouldn't choke. The cough drop didn't work so I used the Vick's vapo rub we had at home. The container says that it wasn't really for children her age but I was feeling enough concern over this cough that I put a little on her for two nights.

It was time to stock up on the things I would need to make my own.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the information found here.

Get your materials together.

Add 2 parts coconut oil to 1 part beeswax in a pan or small pot. I used 1/2 c. coconut oil and 1/4 c. beeswax.

Once it's melted add your essential oils and place the mixture in whatever container you plan to store this in. I  made 6 ounces so I put it into a half-pint mason jar.

Refrigerate for around 15 minutes and you should be left with a ready batch of home-made, chemical-free, Vick's vapo rub-styled chest rub.

The resulting rub smelled more like eucalyptus than camphor like I'd expected. We're just really happy to have a safe chest rub to use on children under the age of 2 - 5.

Pintesting - Teething Gel

As you know we're doing everything we can to run a chemical-free house-hold. With a new addition on his way in I didn't want anything other than a super trustworthy teething gel in my mommy arsenal for him.

Today's pintest comes to us via this pin and the info found here. 

Get all of your things together so you can avoid running all over your house while you're working.

Add your food grade cocoa butter and coconut oil to a pan or small pot and let it melt. 

It will melt quickly.

Once it has add your essential oils and put them into whatever container you planned on storing it in.
WARNING: this recipe makes 4 ounces!!!! That's A LOT of teething gel. I put mine in a 4 ounce container for the night and then reheated it and split it into smaller containers in the morning.

Cleaning Crayon Off of Your Walls

I knew it would happen sooner or later. What I really should have thought about was the fact that it would happen when I wasn't looking.

My little lamb drew on the wall.

Well, I thought it was just one wall

- it turns out that it was five different walls.

No longer having any magic erasers in my house and not wanting to because of the harmful chemicals they contain I chose to go the old fashioned rout first. Water and a rag.

I'm happy to tell you that Crayola's Jumbo Crayons

 seem to be washable. With minimal wiping of my walls the crayon came right up.

If you find yourself in this position. Please try simpler, more natural options before turning to chemicals.

The offending crayon was put into time out.

Revisiting Chemical Free Laundry Detergent

My very first try at making laundry detergent was acceptable but I didn't feel as wowed by the whole experience as I wanted and for a short period actually went back to using store bought (yet still locally made) laundry detergent. This is a fact that I feel worked out for me in the end because it left me with more suitable containers for my home made laundry detergent than I was previously using.

With a new baby on the way I've been considering making a bit more to have at the ready and storing it in empty milk jugs (I don't throw ours away. You might be surprised how often you can find another use for an empty milk jug.) Keep your eyes open for containers around your house in which to store this almost amount of laundry soap.

To begin you will need a bar of Fels-Naptha soap (which I shamefully purchase at my local WalMart), Borax (also purchased at WalMart, it can be found in the laundry aisle), and one of both of these optional ingredients I have also been using - tamanau oil and tee tree oil.

Begin by grating your bar of Fels-Naptha soap. I like to grate as finely as possibly so it will dissolve quickly and easily. Doing this over a large container like a bucket seems to be helpful because it catches shavings that might otherwise just sit next to you on your chair.

Once it's grated, if it isn't already in a large bucket or container, put it in one. The first times I made my detergent I used the largest pot I had available in the house.

Now, I have what I call my, "making stuff bucket" - it's a 3 gallon bucket that was given to me by my husbands grandmother.

You could also consider using something like an emptied out and thoroughly clean cat littler bucket - those are pretty large.

With your grated soap now in your bucket add a bit of hot water. I run my tap and let the water get as hot as it can. I add just enough to swish it around really well and dissolve it. Stir vigorously with whatever you've got on hand - I usually use a slotted or perforated spoon to get everything moving around really well.

Once you feel satisfied about how much of the soap you have gotten to dissolve add more hot water. You really don't need to finish filling the bucket just yet. Now add one cup of borax and vigorously mix once again. Sometimes the borax gets clumpy and if it does that it can leave you with lumps you later need to get out of your soap. It wont hurt anything but it can be a bit annoying. I've even plunged my hand into the bucket once or twice to finish breaking up offending clumps.

Your borax should now be dissolved into your mixture. Here is where the optional portion comes in. I add either 100 drops of tea tree oil or 50 drops of tamanau oil followed by 50 drops of tee tree oil. These oils have amazing anti-fungal and antiseptic qualities and I really feel they give my soap a phenomenal boost.

Finish filling your bucket with hot water - like I said I work with a three gallon bucket, if your container is smaller your soap will be a bit more potent or even thicker, we can take care of that later. Give your laundry soap another really good stir and then set it aside overnight.

When it's ready you should have a very thick gel in your bucket. When I try and finish up sooner than 24 hours I check to see if the mixture is ready by just jostling the bucket and seeing how solidly gelled it seems to be. If it's relatively immobile (meaning no sloshing) but shakes a little bit like jello (not exactly like jello but close enough) your soap can be considered ready.

In the past I used spoons to stir and break up my laundry detergent, this left me with what seems to be a common complaint/problem people have with making their own detergent. To really break it up and get it the best possible consistency (in my mind at least) I use an immersion blender. If you don't have an immersion blender I don't see a lot of reason why you can't try and have good success using your regular kitchen blender.

Once you now have a nice fluid you're ready to begin transferring it to the containers you plan to keep your soap in. I have four old laundry containers. Using a metal ladle because it seems to work the best with this fluid, I carefully begin filling each jug approximately half-way.

Once all of them are (half-way) full, add water, It really doesn't have to be hot water now so I just use whatever temperature comes out of the tap. Shake your container up really well to get it mixed together and you're done. Just put your laundry jugs wherever you keep them when not in use and they will patiently wait for you until you call upon them.

For anyone who was using a smaller container to mix their laundry detergent you can solve the issue of how much water you originally had by just evenly dispersing your soap across the amount of container you intend to use. Because I'm not there with you and have no idea what size container you are using as a general rule of thumb I won't recommend filling your container more than half-way with detergent. Try all of this out on only your first container so that you have the best chance of ending this experience positively.

Now that you've filled this "mystery container" half-way with laundry detergent, fill it the rest of the rest of the way with water. Shake the container and look to see how happy you are with the consistency. The key for me really seems to be evenly dispersing the amount of laundry soap across the amount of containers I plan to use.

I owe a lot of the success I now have in making my laundry detergent to the immersion blender my mother so kindly gifted me (she wasn't using it.) Thoroughly blending your detergent yields the highest rate of success in creating a laundry detergent that isn't lumpy.