Reclaiming My Basement Space

I have basement envy from my fellow blogger

 Amy at  Stow and Tell U .

Check it out!

She's also the dear friend that surprised me with this beautiful

speckled mason jar!

It will be perfect for my spring lilacs,

 and also this gorgeous Herb Chart all the way from Salem Massachusetts. 

 I feel almost witchy with this in my possession.  I am now practicing spells!  It still hasn't worked on the basement clean-up but I try everyday.

Pocus mundatis FUNDAMENTUM

That might be Witchcraft for

Hocus Pocus...Clean The Basement!

After weeks of sorting, sneezing, and many

 visits to the local waste engineer,

a.k.a The Dump Guy, the basement was ready for phase two.

And this was a picture of the VERY  best part of the floor!

You can see my first and second attempt of a clean-up

  here

and here

Phase two.......Flooring

Just cheap flooring that I could walk on without having to put on my big rubber boots.

  

Part two of the new floor coming soon.  I have a large bookcase that my grandpa built full of books to relocate and then I will be on my knees again.

"MOVERE HOC SCRINIUM"

that means move this bookcase in witchcraft!

UNBELIEVABLE.... it worked!

Stay tuned!

Cheers from

Activated Charcoal Soap

I really needed a shower after clearing out my storage room. 

 Wading through the junk and spider webs,

 I asked myself, "Self, why do you have this crap?" 

Self decided that we really didn't need this crap, and made numerous

 trips to the recycle outlet and dump....yes some of it was just plain crap!

Anyways, back to the shower. 

 I needed a bar that could scrub off basement renos

This batch of soap I will title

 "Activated Charcoal Cleaning out the Storage Room Sweaty Dust Bustin Soap"

Please follow all safe soaping procedures with the right safety

 equipment if you are going to make this soap!

1 oz. Pumpkin Seed Oil

1 oz. Cocoa Butter

2 oz. Shea Butter

3 oz. Castor Oil

9 oz. Coconut oil

2 oz. Hemp Oil

8 oz Olive Oil

7 oz Palm Oil

2 oz. Beeswax

2 Tsp. activated Charcoal

1.5 oz Lavender Essential Oil

1.5 ounces Peppermint EO

7 oz Water

4 oz. Coconut Milk

4.8 oz Lye

I mixed my coconut milk with water in a 500 ml. canning jar in the sink.  I slowly added the lye to the water/milk mix and stirred with a wooden skewer.  I was wearing my gloves, long sleeves and safety glasses!

I added all of the hard fats into the bowl.  I used to use stainless steel bowls but found these
 Betty Crocker bowls at our local Dollarama as they have pouring spouts.

The lye solution is poured into the hard fats and stirred until it is all melted wearing all my safety gear.

The liquid oils are added to the lye / hard fat solution.  Using this method, I no longer have to melt the hard oils as the heat from the lye solution does that job for me!  After I stirred it so that the oils were mixed with the lye thoroughly, it was separated into two bowls.  I added  lavender EO to one half, and peppermint EO and charcoal to the other half.  I layered my mix as I poured it into the mold.....again, still wearing all my safety gear!

and this is the result!

need more soap recipes?

Castile Soap

Shampoo Bars

Poppy Seed Castile Soap and Hard Lotion Bars

Cheers!

Hearts Everywhere

Todays post is all about love and hearts....

Out for our daily walk, Mr. FT and myself happened upon a red bush. 

All I could see was love!

The love of getting poked with wire, 

whipped in the face with branches,

traipsing back to the house to fetch the pruning shears, (half a mile)

and of course Mr FT's heart health, which requires

 trudging through knee high snow carrying a bundle of frozen sticks back to the house.

The branches sat on the heated floor and thawed for a few hours.

  They were slowly and gently bent to form half the heart and secured with wire. 

 A few branches were harmed in this process but all were used!

 I wired both halves together and finished them with red Christmas bows.

  I think it's a conspiracy and they just recycle

 Christmas ribbon with some heart packaging. 

 Ever notice how those Valentine chocolates always seem to taste slightly stale. 

  

The Ladybug Tree. 

 I secretly love the snow, and there  is nothing

 better than a walk on a warm winter's day!

The Ladybug Tree picture was one of those days.

Happy Valentines Day!

Cheers.

I've been featured!!

Linking Up With

The Enchanting Rose

A Glimpse Into My Wildlife!

WARNING:  THIS IS PRETTY WILD!

Our friends were over for a visit and as they were leaving, we decided to see if we could get a glimpse of this big guy, which was taken this summer past.

Instead, I spied this little fellow perched in one of the trees that our local porcupine feasts on.

If you missed my other owls, you can see them here!

That's my wildlife!  Pretty wild eh.

Cheers.  

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope this isn't you today!

SOURCE

Not the best way to bring in the New Year.

Speaking of New Years, did you make any resolutions?

I decided to continue with my yearly resolution of being organized.

 I feel last year was a success. 

 I didn't end up like miss Barbie above....bless, 

 and I built this:

 a Custom Cupboard Organizer. 

 It has inspired me to do more custom organizing in 2015. 

Believe it or not it still looks like this....

Except the Crock Pot isn't as shiny and I think one of my cookie sheets is M.I.A.

Cheers!

Partying with:

Chai Gift Cards

This is an easy Christmas card and gift in one

  I dug out some card stock from my stash.

I headed over to The Graphics Fairy and had a look at her labels.  Thanks again Graphics Fairy.

  I found one that had tea
 written all over it...
"Galon de Coton" means "Drink Tea and Enjoy!"
If you do speak french just ignore that last sentence.
  I downloaded it, modified it to make it personal,  and printed four per page.
 I tore the labels with a ruler into equal sizes as  I didn't want the edges to look cut.
 (Actually my scissors were nowhere to be found.) 

  Each one was sewn onto a piece of card stock  measuring 4.5 x 6.5 inches.

I grabbed another piece of card stock, and sewed it onto the back, so that  I formed an envelope with a label on the front. 

Two holes were punched in the top.

 My homemade Chai was put into plastic bags from the dollar store and each card was tied with some ribbon.   To see my chai mix recipe, click H E R E !

I can take handwriting cards off my list this year.

enjoy!!!

Cheers!