A Fun Little Recipe!

Hi All! I thought I would start posting again after a loooooong break and share with you a really cute, and easy gift to give someone :} Several months ago, I stumbled onto a recipe for making your own homemade laundry detergent on Pinterest and just had to try it out! Laundry detergent can be so expensive and I'm always looking for ways to stretch my dollars. 

The recipe I based mine off of was from, the "Queen of Doing Laundry", Michelle Duggar from the show 19 Kids and Counting. I figured if it works for her than it will work for me right? Her recipe, on their website, calls for: 1 bar Fels-Naptha, 1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, and 1/2 cup of Borax that's it! I found all of the ingredients easily in the laundry isle in Walmart. I tried it out and for sure this stuff is wonderful!! It smells awesome, works better than the expensive brands, and is so incredibly cheap!

Over time, I made my recipe with 1 full cup of Borax instead of 1/2 cup, just because it was easier for me to remember. This brain can't seem to remember much nowadays! Also, if you wanted to save on Fabric Softener, you can use plain old vinegar! Just put some in the Fabric Softener Dispenser and it will also clean your washing machine and make it smell fresh! All ingredients listed above is perfectly safe for HE washers too! 

Keep in mind the amount that fills the jar in the picture is a double batch of the recipe :}

Today is a new challenge over at The Outlawz in the Paper A La Mode group! The challenge is to make something other than a card. I needed to make my mom a much overdue birthday present (like April overdue...OOPS!) and thought this would be the perfect project!

I found an old glass container with an airtight lid to use (so the detergent doesn't clump) and wanted to label the jar. I decided to cut a design out of vinyl on my Silhouette SD, place it on the jar, and then use their Etching Cream to etch the design onto the glass. So fun!! 

I then made a cute little tag on the Silhouette out of  Echo Park's This & That Graceful paper and then printed the recipe out on it too. I tied a large sage green ribbon around the top of the jar and left the lid empty because my mom would have to open and close it a lot. Tied the tag with a bit of twine, slapped on some ribbon, stickers, flower and a brad and we were good to go!

A close up of the design for the label.

Here is the jar without the detergent inside. You can see the design a bit better here.

Here is exactly how I made this recipe for Laundry Detergent! First, I poured all of the Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and Borax into my food processor with the blade to help mix it up well. Then, I used the grater to grate the Fels-Naptha Bar into the other mixture while mixing at the same time so it was well blended. You could grate the Fels-Naptha by hand too, but make sure to mix all of the ingredients well before using. Use 1 tablespoon for light loads and two tablespoons for heavy loads. I use two and a half because I have a colossal size washer and do very large loads. You can use a bar of Fels-Naptha to rub onto stains as a pre-treat and it works wonderfully! Lots of grass stains in this family!

Hope you liked this cute little gift idea and the recipe if you try it! Hopefully it will not take me 8 months to post again!