Clogged Drain? Clean it up! With Baking Soda!

A little trick that I have learned is that baking soda can be used for EVERYTHING! Especially when cleaning. If you ever get a clogged drain and don't want to spend money on expensive drain cleaner, here is a simple way to do the same job with only 2 house hold products and water!

Things you will need:

• 1/2 baking soda
• 1 cup of vinegar
• 1 gallon of boiling water

Instructions:

• Shove the baking soda down your drain. This is kind of tricky because, like when I did it, the baking soda got stuck so I ended up using the handle of my measuring cup to shove it down the drain.

• Once you think you have the baking soda down far enough, pour 1/2 cup of vinegar down the drain making sure to cup your hand over the drain to make the bubbles go down the drain not into your tub.

• Pour the rest of the vinegar down the drain, cupping the drain like you did before, and let it sit 10-15 minutes. Pour the boiling water down the drain and you're done.

CAUTION! Don't do this too much at one time to your drains because it can harm your them. Allow only 3 times per one unclogging.

♥ Mrs. Suzie

Photograph Words and Names

Need something to cover that empty wall or just looking for something fun and simple to do? These photographed letters turned into words has become quite popular and looks so nice hanging on the wall in the entrance of your home. People have been ordering these with words ranging from last names to words of inspiration. Well I have come up with a simple and easy way to make them all on your own.

Things you will need:

• Camera
• Poster Board/ Matting
• Picture Frame
• Scissors or Exacto Knife
• Ruler
• Pencil

Instructions:

• Before you do anything, you need to find a frame to be able to hold your letters. If you are going to use a standard 4" by 6" photo you can use this equation to figure out the size you need.

• (number of letters) x 3.75" + (number of letters - 1) x 0.5" = the minimal length
• As long as the height is larger than 6" you are fine.
• Here is a diagram to help you picture it:

• Go around town taking various, vertical pictures of the letters you are wanting keeping in mind that even though the letter needs to fill up the frame of the camera you also needs about a 1/2" allowance on all sides.
• Print out your pictures. It really doesn't matter if it's on photo paper or not it's just a preference.
• Now the tough part begins. Cut out your poster board or matting to fit the size of the frame. Take the "minimal length" that you calculated from earlier and subtract it from the length of the frame and divide it by 2, this is the width of the space between the frame and the first photograph length-wise. Mark this width in the center of the short side with a pencil, see mark "A" in diagram.

• Next mark out 5 3/4" out from the last mark, mark "B". Then mark out 1/2", mark "C".

• Continue mark "B" and mark "C" until you have the same number of "B" marks as the number of letters you are wanting to add, making sure that you end with mark "B" not "C". Measure the remaining space to the end of the board and make sure that it is the same a mark "A".

• Next take the height of the frame, subtract it by 5.75", and divide it by 2, this is mark "D". Extend mark "D" to the other end of the board, as shown as the 2 red lines in the diagram. Then extend all of your original marks to the mark "D" lines, as shown as the blue lines in the diagram.

• Now with the ruler cut out all of the "B" boxes and tape your pictures in the center of the boxes in order starting from your right to your left.

• Put the board in the frame and viola!

♥ Mrs. Suzie

How to make Coasters

If you have wood surfaces, condensation off your guests cups can leave watermarks and what better way to keep your surface nice and neat than to make your own cute, custom coasters!

Instructions:

• 1/2 yard of fabric (or more depending on how many you want to make)
• 1/2 yard of thick batting
• Sewing essentials

Directions:

1. Cut out 2 squares of fabric that is 4 1/2" by 4 1/2".

2. With right sides together, sew a 1/4" seam on all sides except for a 2" inch opening in the center of one side.

3. Trim corners and seams. Flip square inside-out through the small opening. Iron down seams. Add a 4 1/4" by 4 1/4" square of batting. Sew down the very edge.

4. From one side, sew 1/4" away from the seam and continue to the right side.

Viola! A Coaster!



♥ Mrs. Suzie

Make your own Laundry Soap!

Liquid Detergent:


What you'll need:

• Box of Borax Natural Laundry Boost
• Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 bar of soap, preferably a stain removing laundry soap but soaps like Dove or Ivory will work
• Scented oil of your choice (optional)
• 1 gallon container with a lid (ex. milk jug)
• Funnel

Instructions:
**Note: This will make 1 gallon (32 Loads)

1. Cut off a fifth of soap and grate with a cheese grater (the 4/5 of soap will not be used).
2. Put the grated soap in a sauce pan with 2 cups water. Heat until soap melts.
3. Add 1/4 cup Washing Soda and 1/4 cup Borax. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.
4. Pour 3 1/4 cups of hot water into container with funnel. Add soap mixture and stir. Add 11 1/4 cups of hot water and stir. Add 1/2 tsp. scented oil (you can add more or less depending on your preference).
5. Let sit for 24 hours until thickened and gel like. Be sure to shake every so often


Shake your bottle well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of detergent for large loads.


Dry Detergent:


What you will need:

• Box of Borax Natural Laundry Boost
• Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 2 bar of soap, preferably a stain removing laundry soap but soaps like Dove or Ivory will work
• Container with a lid (can hold 4 cups or more)

Instructions:

1. Grate 2 bars soap and add to storage container.

2. Add 1 cup of Borax with 1 cup of Washing Soda in storage container. You can dump the soap mixture into a food processor with the blade attached to grate down into smaller pieces which is better for front loading washing machines. You can also add 1 cup of oxygen cleaner to add extra stain fighting to your detergent.

3. Make sure all powders and soap are mixed together well.

Use 1 Tbsp. for small loads and 2 Tbsp. for large loads. Makes 32 loads.

To watch how I made my detergent check out my video here:

♥ Mrs. Suzie

Featured: SteffaneB

If you like cheap, vintage inspired clothing you will like this!

Today I am featuring SteffaneB on how to make a cute and inexpensive dress. There are two parts to this video and make sure that you have all of your materials before starting the process. The materials are listed in the video.

Part One

Part Two

Please comment below if you like this feed so that I can keep posting other videos from this youtube-er. 

♥ Mrs. Suzie

White Chicken Chili

This spicy chili is a good way to say good-bye to the Winter and hello to Spring!

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Pinto Beans (15.5 oz cans)
• 2 cans of Navy Beans (15.5 oz cans)
• 4 fresh Anaheim chilies (about 1/2 pound)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 large onions, chopped
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 4 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 3 cups half and half
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken (precooked; about a whole chicken)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup sour cream

Preparation

• Drain and wash beans in a colander. 
• Put chilies on a cookie sheet in an oven set to broil until blackened on all sides. When done, put the chiles in paper bag and close; let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed, and chop chilies. Set aside.
• Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until tender. Add flour and stir 5 minutes (do not brown). Gradually stir in chicken broth and half and half. Simmer gently until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add roasted chilies, shredded chicken, and next 5 ingredients. Simmer gently to blend flavors, about 20 minutes. 
• Add grated cheese and sour cream to chili; stir just until chili is heated through and cheese melts (do not boil).
• Serve :)

Happy Chili Making!

♥ Mrs. Suzie

How to make potholders

What you need:

• Old sheet or about 2 yards of fabric
• A piece of paper or newspaper to make template
• Sewing machine or needle and thread
• Scissors
• Thread
• Coordinating Bias Tape

Directions:

• Trace a circle on your paper with a diameter of 7 inches and cut out.
• Use this template to cut out 5 circles of fabric for every potholder, for example, if you wanted 4 potholders you would cut out 20 circles. Tedious I know, but if you layer the fabric and then cut out the circles it subtracts a lot of time, just make sure you are cutting out good circles.

• Pile the 5 circles on top of each other with the one’s of the outer sides faced right side out. This is what the potholder looks like without being sewn together so make sure this is what you want it to look like here.
• Sew a star pattern (or a different shape if you prefer) through the 5 circles. Be careful to go slow when you sew because the fabric will be really thick. Trim the sides if they shifted during sewing.

• Sew on bias tape to the outer edge for the finished look. Be sure to fold the end down before you sew over it to make it look nice.

Viola! A potholder!

♥ Mrs. Suzie