Organizing Task - Recipes ... and other foodie books

For a while now I have wanted to get my recipe's and cookbooks out of my bedroom and into my kitchen where I use them.  You see, we only have one bookshelf in the house for adult books (the kids each have one in their rooms), so all of my books no matter the subject are in my bedroom.  Which means constant tromping between rooms when I am looking for a recipe.

I was inspired to get this done this week by the 52 Weeks of Organizing on Home Storage Solutions - Here's the post in case you are inspired too! http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/organize-recipes.html

Several years ago I made 2 binders full of page protectors, photo pages, and made fabric covers for them.  The fabric covers are showing their age now, but that is a project for another day!  I love the page protector sleeves because when I find a recipe that has been given the husband and boy stamp of approval, then I can just drop it in the page protector.

Generally I don't have a lot of recipes that haven't been given the hubby and boy stamp of approval.  I tend to keep a bookmark folder on my computer with potential recipes, and then I print them when I want to make them.  If they are no good the paper goes in the trash, and if they are winners they go in the binder.

So, I decided to clean out one space in one cabinet for my books ... this is the cabinet that I chose to tackle

 I decided that the spinning thing for plastic containers needed to go.  Sure, it is handy-dandy, but several of the containers have broken, most of the small ones are just too small, and the larger ones are all being used by food in the freezer and can be easily stacked with the other plastic containers.  So ... it is gone!

Next, I gathered all of my cookbooks and recipe books.  I have a few other gardening books that are an excellent resource for canning and preserving foods that I pulled out also to store with the cookbooks. I also got rid of some of the cookbooks that I really just felt repeated recipes from the other books, put my recipes in the binder into the sleeves, and tossed the ones that I have decided I don't like or will never make.

Unfortunately there was a glitch in my plan ... because the books were too tall for my shelf!  So I opened the cabinet next door and a larger space that was occupied by the bread maker looked like perfect real estate!

In the challenge it also talks about organizing your recipes, but luckily besides putting some away in my binder, my recipes are fairly organized already!

I have decided that I use the bread maker a lot more when it is on my counter and not in the cabinet.  Cause really it is too heavy to be on that top shelf anyway. 

Homemade Spray Starch Tutorial

I really dislike ironing.  However, since I work with lots of fabric, it is a necessary evil.

I tend to use a lot of spray starch, just because I do think that it adds a crispness to the fabric and ultimately makes my job a bit easier.

I do not, however, like the smell of spray starch that you purchase at the store.  So again ... in my quest to find more natural products and things that will save me money and I can make at home ... I have discovered the spray starch recipe!

This one is so easy!! 

Just one pint of cold water and one heaping tablespoon of corn starch!  You can add a drop or two of essential oil, but since I am sensitive to scents I do not add any smelly stuff.  Shake it well!!  and remember to give it a good shake before each use!

I had to try it out on some black cotton fabric, and I was pleasently surprised that there were very minimal if any at all white flakes ... which is almost always an issue when using store bought starch.

I had to make a pretty label for my bottle!

Other homemade recipes:

Weed Killer (White Vinegar and Dishwashing liquid)
Bathroom Cleaner (White Vinegar and Dishwashing liquid)

Homemade weed killers ... a tutorial and results

I really dispise spraying chemicals all over the place ... seems that you need a gagillion chemicals around your house for cleaning, pest control, weed control, and all sorts of other things. I have seen a lot of neat ideas for storing all of these bottles of stuff on Pinterest lately, but what I would really like to do is take a different approach.

First, I would like to reduce the number of chemicals in my house significantly! Second, I would like to take a more natural approach for tackling these things. Lastly, I would really like to have more space for things I actually want in my house and not so much space dedicated to stuff I dislike having in my house.

Therefore I have been really researching homemade remedies for things. Now, it would be wonderful to say that I could eliminate my need for weed killer 100% by mulching and pulling weeds. However, since we live on almost 7 acres and I love to garden veggies and flowers ... I am fairly realistic that I don't have what it takes to maintain all of that without a little weed killing intervention.

So ... I have seen several recipes for weed killers that are a mixture of distilled white vinegar and diswashing soap. Which is absolutely fantastic since it is the same two things that I am mixing together for tub, shower, sink, and general bathroom cleaner. You can find a post about that here: http://mooremagnets.blogspot.com/2012/01/skeptical-about-homemade-cleaning.html

So, I am trying out the recipe for 1 quart white vinegar with 1 tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing liquid.  I have to note that the mixture that I am using today has more Dawn dishwashing liquid because I am using my partially empty bottle of the shower cleaner mixture which is 2 parts white vinegar to 1 part Dawn dishwashing liquid.  However, at the moment I don't have another spray bottle empty.

Here is the weed ... I gave it a good spray

 

And this is 24 hours later - Please note that we have not had any rain and our temperatures just barely reached freezing, so no frost was involved.

 

I am actually pretty pleased with the results on this particular weed.  However, there were several others that I sprayed and the results were not nearly as significant.  So, this morning I poured more vinegar in my mixture to make it closer to the 1 quart to 2 tablespoons recipe.  I will update you again in a few days! 

Featured Friends! Sarah-Lambert, TuckooandMooCow

I think one of the best and most unexpected things that has happened since I started selling on Etsy and selling at craft shows are the wonderful and talented friends that I have made along the way.

I hope you will enjoy seeing objects made by a few of these friends!

This week I would like to introduce you to Sarah-Lambert, aka TuckooandMooCow.  She is a watercolor artist and paints the most fabulous miniatures that are captured as jewelry, pocket mirrors, and various other goodies! 

I love this luna moth necklace!  It reminds me of seeing luna moths flying around our neighborhood as a child.  I am so thankful that my parents took the time to point out these amazing creatures!

Wearable Art Pendant-- Luna Moth

Around the Shop

I've been working busily in the shop over the last few weeks, unfortunately all of my extra camera batteries have been mysteriously running off and jumping into wii controllers, remote control cars, and things that whizz, shoot, and beep.

So, I did manage to take this picture today ... at the expense of a wii remote!

I had hoped to have some more goodies to show you, but with a order of 20 magnet displays going to Maine keeping up with custom orders there aren't too many new things in the shop! 

I did manage to list this collection of coupon organizers ... but they are selling like crazy and even some of these are not available at this time.

Now - Back to work!  I promise to have more exciting things to show you next time around the shop!