I started with liquid hand soap. Since we have a farm, and I am just kind of messy (especially in the kitchen), I think we tend to use more hand soap than the average family. I usually buy it in the big containers, but I haven’t found any without all the chemical additives.

Overall, the project was pretty easy and not too time consuming. It usually takes me much longer than the estimated time to complete a project, but I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly this went. Maybe it’s because I actually have counter space to work on these days.

First, I got my supplies. I found some Burt’s Bee’s soap at Grocery Outlet (or the Used Food Store as my husband calls it). It was 99 cents…a pretty good deal. Then I went looking for glycerine and couldn’t find it at the drugstores, so I took advantage of our Amazon Prime 2 day shipping and ended up getting it (for $9) by the next day.

I then grated the soap, which I think looked suspiciously like Parmesan cheese.

Next I added the soap to 2 quarts of water and added 1 Tablespoon of glycerine. Since my bar of soap was only 4 ounces instead of eight ounces, I only used 2 quarts of water. I actually used a bit less, because I had read about many people ending up with soap that was too runny, and I figured it would be easier to thin it than to try to thicken it. I cooked this mixture over medium heat just until the soap melted.

At this point, it just looks like soapy water. I then left it on my stove overnight in order to thicken it up.

When I got up in the morning, it was pretty thick, so I knew I would have to add a bit of water and blend it with my hand mixer. But then I turned on the oven to bake something and forgot all about the soap. The heat from the oven softened it up to a great consistency, but it was still warm, so I thought it would thicken up again after a couple of hours. It didn’t. It stayed the perfect consistency.

I still ended up using my hand mixer to beat it a little bit, because the top layer sorted of hardened over.

I then poured it into a recycled soap bottle (only spilling a little bit). And there you have it: homemade hand soap for just a couple of dollars and a little work.

We haven’t had a chance to use it much, so I don’t have a good review on how it works or how it lasts long term. It is not sudsy, because I didn’t add a sudsing agent, so that is something to be aware of.

Do you make your own soap, or have you made any pinterest inspired projects?

This year I have decided that I really want to make an effort to make handmade gifts. There are a few reasons for this: I think it could save us money, it is more personal, and they all have plenty of plastic toys. (Before we were married, my husband used to give them each a special silver dollar, but that got pretty expensive. We also give them a lot of books.)

One of my nieces had a birthday party Saturday night, and as of Friday evening, I hadn’t even thought about a gift for her. I needed something quick and easy.

I decided to make some easy fabric flowers and was going to put them on a headband, but they just didn’t look right on the headband. So, I decided to use hot glue to put them on some clips, and tada!

I think they turned out pretty cute. I just cut some slits in the birthday card and attached them. Pretty quick and easy.

But the real test is whether or not she liked them. I think she did. She came up to me after we had cake and quite animatedly told me how much she loved them. Of course, in the words of her Papa (grandpa) she is an expressive girl.

We loaded it into my Subaru and brought it home. The only problem is that we have a tiny house and I already have one vintage trunk in the house. There was certainly no room for another. Since we needed to get it out of the weather, we decided that we would put it in the enclosed porch area of our fixer-upper.

That is also the place where we have been putting up siding and installing windows. (Have I mentioned that I’m totally becoming an expert at installing windows?) So, now the trunk is our new workbench. Not exactly the look that I had imagined when I bought it.

Not only has it become the workbench, it has also become the sawhorse.

I hope he doesn’t damage the trunk. Oh, it is already “weathered”, so any more injuries would just give it more character, right? In that case, I hope that he doesn’t cut his fingers.

Maybe someday I will be able to show you a picture of the trunk being used for it’s intended purpose. I’m not sure what that purpose is. Probably to sit there and look nice while hiding treasures inside.

I got this adorable book for my nephew when he was born a couple of months ago. I love the artwork and the story and the cute little finger puppet.

The store where I work also carries In My Forest, so guess what my nephew got for Christmas?

The other night, my husband and I were at the bookstore and as we were heading to the checkout counter, I saw this book:

I had to buy it, but I’m keeping this one for myself! And I may have to buy the rest of the series. They are too cute.

I think it might be spring. There are certainly signs of it everywhere. Of course, snow is predicted this evening, but I’m going to focus on the good things.

We received our first batch of baby chicks in the mail.

My daffodils are blooming!

I made a spring cake

And there are astronauts in my house.

(That’s my husband in his beekeeping suit that came in the mail yesterday. We will soon be the proud caretakers of 2 hives of bees.)

Today, I visited on of my favorite middle of nowhere shops. This cute little Christmas gift shop is in an old farmhouse along the highway. Blink and you miss it. They are only open on weekends in December, so shopping days are limited.

I’d been planning on taking a special trip out there this season, and realized that today was my last chance since I will be out of town next weekend. I decided that even though the snow was falling pretty heavily, I would venture out to see what treasures I could find.

And I did find some treasures. Not only is this shop cute and charming, but they are also cheap. Just my style.

I think I mentioned that it has been cold here…very cold. So cold that the pipes at work are frozen, which means that there is no working bathroom.

After 8 1/2 hours of no restroom breaks, I had to go pee. And I had to go bad. I didn’t even get a chance to leave for a lunch break, since I was the only employee there. (I work in a retail garden and gift shop.) So, I was in a huge rush to get out of there and find a bathroom quickly.

In my haste, I forgot to blow out the candles and turn off the heater. But of course I didn’t remember until the middle of the night. Well, 12:30 am, which is close to the middle of the night.

So, after a few minutes of deliberations, I got out of bed, bundled up to go out in the freezing cold to drive back to work and blow out the candles. I knew I wouldn’t get good sleep if I didn’t. Worst case scenarios were running through my head. Like the cat getting in and knocking the candle over which would of course lead to a fire and burn all of the Christmas decorations.

But you know what made it all better? When I got in my car, my favorite Christmas album was playing. I found it in my car cassette player yesterday, where I have apparently been storing it since last Christmas.

Here is a little slide show that I put together to show what our farm has been up to for the last couple of years.

For a little more information on CSAs and to find a local farm near you, visit localharvest.org.