Alll Things Thrifty-interesting ahhh..

IT'S GREEN!!! CYRPTON....

So I just found the coolest fabric ever and in case you don't already know about it I thought I'd share. It's called Crypton and they have all kinds of patterns and textures. I just got a sample in the mail and the kids and I spent the evening coloring all over it with pen, highlighter,crayons, and jelly. The best part is it all wipes off with soap and water (you don't even use stain cleaner). It's amazing! The swatch I got felt like suede. I can't wait to use this on dining chairs. Joann's even sells it, so you use coupons on it. Sorry for this sounding like an infomercial, but I can't believe it's actually as cool as it looked on the internet!

ahhhhh.....The Homemade Home........really?

10. Dry them out on a cookie sheet and then put them in a bowl in your refrigerator or freezer, or rub them on your hands to get rid of food prep smells.

9. Plants such as rosebushes, azaleas, rhododendrons, evergreen and camellias that prefer acidic soils will appreciate the leftovers from your morning cup. Also, grounds can add nutrients to your compost bin.

8. Sprinkle old grounds around places you don’t want ants, or on the ant piles themselves. The little buggers will move on or stay away. Used grounds are also said to repel snails and slugs.

7. By steeping grounds in hot water, you can make brown dye for fabric,paper and even Easter eggs.

6. Steep grounds and apply a bit of the liquid to furniture scratches with a Q-tip.

5. As they’re slightly abrasive, grounds can be used as a scouring agent for greasy and grimy stain-resistant objects.

4. To keep kitty from using the garden as her personal powder room, sprinkle grounds mixed with orange peels around your plants.

3. Follow up Fido’s shampoo with a coffee ground rub down, working them down to his skin. Not only are the fleas suppose to vamoose, but puppy’s hair will feel soft too.

2. Before you clean out the fireplace, toss wet coffee grounds over the ashes to keep the ash dust under control.

And, finally, the #1 use for used coffee grounds....drum roll here....

Mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds and 1 tablespoon ofolive oil. While standing over an old towel or newspaper, apply the mixture to your "problem areas". Next, wrap the areas with shrink wrap and leave on for several minutes. Unwind the wrap, brush loose grounds off your skin and then shower with warm water. For best results, it is recommended to repeat this procedure twice a week. A little weird to be sure, but as high priced cellulite creams have coffee in them, it just might work.

10 Homemade Art Paints

A wonderful way to spend the cold, winter days ahead...hearing...."I'm bored!''....children can also help gather to make these paints, which in turn will make the adventure of using them even more FUN! V

Fingerpaint - In a small saucepan, mix together 1/4 cup cornflour and 2 cups of water. Add food coloring to get to desired color. Boil until mixture thickens, then allow to cool. Pour into lidded containers to store.

Watercolor paint - Simply mix together 3 tablespoons corn starch, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup, 3 tablespoons baking soda, and 3 tablespoons white vinegar. Pour into separate containers with lids for use & storage. Mix in a few drops of food coloring into each container to make different colors.

Puffy paint - In a bowl, mix together equal parts of flour, salt, and water. Mix in tempera paint for color. Pour into squeeze bottle for use and storage. {Note: I haven’t made this yet, so I am assuming the tempera paint is supposed to be the powdered kind. Please comment if you know.}

Playdough – Combine 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, and a cup of boiling water until you get a playdough consistency. Store in a ziplock bag when not in use. You can add a few drops of food coloring for color, or a packet of Kool-aid for color and scent!

Flubber - In one bowl, stir together 3/4 cup warm water, 1 cup of glue, and food coloring to get the color you want. In a second bowl, stir together 1/2 cup water and 2 teaspoons of Borax (find by the laundry soap in the store). Pour the first mix into the second bowl and you have flubber! Just reach in and pull out the chunk of flubber (pour out the extra liquid).

Bath crayons - Grate a bar of soap until you have about 1 cup. Mix with 1 cup of hot water until the gratings are melted and you have a stiff dough. Mix in a few drops of food coloring for color. Press the dough into molds (you can use candy or soap molds from a craft store) and allow to harden.

Lick & stick stickers – Pour 2 tablespoons of cold water into a bowl and sprinkle 1 packet of plain gelatin over it. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of boiling water until gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup and a few drops of flavored extract for taste. Apply a thin layer of this solution to the back of whatever you want to make into a “sticker”. Let it completely dry, and there you have it – your child can simply lick and stick when ready!

Bubble mix - Mix together 6 cups of water, 2 cups of liquid dishwashing soap, and 3/4 cup corn syrup or liquid gycerine. Allow to sit for a couple of hours before using to blow bubbles!

Sidewalk chalk - In a bowl, mix together 1/3 cup quick-setting plaster of paris, 1 tablespoon of powdered paint for color, and 3 tablespoons water. Quickly spoon mixture into soap or candy molds (from a craft store), or into cookie cutters set on wax paper. Tap to remove air bubbles. Allow to dry for 45 minutes, then carefully remove from mold or cookie cutters.

Chalkboard paint - Paint a chalkboard on your wall, a kids’ tabletop, anywhere you want to be able to write with chalk! Mix 2 tablespoons of tile grout for every 1 cup of paint. Apply at least 2 coats of paint to your surface, and when it dries smooth it with 150-grit sandpaper. Before using any chalkboard, its best to turn a piece of chalk sideways and color the entire surface once, then wipe off with a damp cloth. This “conditions” your new chalkboard.

Source: These recipes come from my manilla folder filled with cut-out arts & crafts recipes saved over the last decade of schooling! Enjoy!

Well, it's definately something to think about....

Checking out at the grocery store recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then…? After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have.... Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? Just another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation so a smarty-pants young person can add to this..