how to make a doggie bed.

     I wanted to share with you all a little diy I came up with the other day, inspired by project restyle (click on the link in my sidebar for details). 
  Our doggie was getting a wee bit too big for his puppy bed, so he needed a new one, see.... 
I'm broke and I can't sew, so naturally I thought of the very green living approach, shopping in my own house for supplies...

We had a micro-suede comforter that was really soft and cushy (but nobody ever wanted to use because the un-natural fibers were uncomfortable to sleep in), and had some cute doggie print fleece on hand.  One of my Christmas gifts to the girls was making no-sew fleece blankets together.  The girls tried, bless their hearts, ...but little fingers cut wobbly lines when working with fleece....

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 My instructions are pretty simple....
1. Grab an old comforter, and about a yard of patterned fleece, and a yard of contrasting solid colored fleece.
2.  Fold up your comforter to a good size for your dog.
3.  Lay your fleece out on top of the folded comforter.
4.  Cut excess fabric all around the edges of the comforter, leaving about a 5 inch boarder all around.
5.  Start cutting fringe all around the edges of your bed, in one inch strips, also cutting a square out at each corner.
6.  Starting at one corner, tie top and bottom pieces of fleece together at the fringe, double knotting.  Continue around the bed, leaving one side open at this point.
7.  Stuff bed with folded comforter.
8.  Finish tying off the last side.
9.  Trim fringe all around the bed so it is all relatively the same length.
10.  To wash, just untie one side again and wash cover and comforter separately.
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Your doggie might settle right into his new bed as you are working on it....this is a good sign.  All my animals seem to like sleeping on fleece.  Hope you find this useful!

homemade laundry detergent

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I finally have a working washer and dryer back in my laundry room again!!!!  You have no idea how excited I am!  It has been nearly 2 months since our washer broke.  At first I didn't think it would be that bad.......laundromats are fun right?  Wrong.  They are scary.  And dirty.  And full of creepy characters like this one:

 

(source)

Ok so I didn't actually see a guy in a bunny suit, but still.  And did I mention inconvenient?!  Clumsily lugging huge baskets of dirty clothes and heavy bottles of detergent and ziplocs full of quarters cannot be done alone while watching out for creepers who might steal your purse or your nintendo ds or try to murder you.  You gotta have a companion.  Preferably an adult male companion.  Taking the kids along adds a whole other level of stress.  And you definitely can't go at night.  Or early in the morning.  That means clothes accumulate if you only get the chance to wash them about 3 times a month.

So you can imagine my delight when I finished my first load in our new to us washer and dryer.  No problems.  Just clean fresh fluffy clothes.  I was a bit worried about the smell of our second hand washer though.  I made sure I put bleach in the first load and washed with hot water.  It seemed to do the trick.  All is well.

I bought a book a while back on natural cleaning recipes.  I've been feeling really crafty lately, so I thought what better than a lazy Memorial Day Monday to try some of them out?  We made the regular washing detergent, and the hard water detergent & mixed them together, adding essential oils.  Here's our recipe:

Lavender Mint Laundry Detergent

2 C grated soap flakes (we used peppermint Dr.Bronners)

2 C washing soda (we used Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda)

1 C baking soda

1/2 C borax (we used 20 mule team)

essential oils (we used tea tree, lavender, and spearmint)

Pour all dry ingredients into large storage container.  Shake well to mix.  Add in a few drops of essential oil.  Shake again.  That's it!  Easy.  You just use half a cup for each load and wash as usual.  Our clothes came out clean and fresh.  The detergent smells wonderful before and during washing, but after drying I couldn't smell anything at all.  Maybe more essential oil next time?  We also made fabric softener.

Lavender Mint Fabric Softener

2 C white vinegar

20 drops essential oil (we used tea tree, lavender, and spearmint)

Pour ingredients into clean empty squirt bottle (we used an old soft scrub bottle that we de-labled and rinsed out really well) and shake to mix.  Add a half cup to the wash during the rinse cycle.  I worried about the vinegar smell, but mixed with the oils it smells fresh.  Clothes came out smelling clean.  Come to think of it, I didn't catch the wash during the rinse cycle, so I rinsed again adding the fabric softener.  Maybe that's why the clothes didn't smell at all when they were done.

Anyway, I was really pleased with the results.  This is a very fun and rewarding project to do.  And it saves lots of money!!     

enjoy