~ Whitfield's Home ♥ In The Country ~: Ivory

Monday, February 3, 2014

Leaf Silhouette on Canvas Tutorial

It's been awhile since my last post, I apologize, but I have a full time job now that takes up most of my time. ツ Before I started my job I had a couple projects in the making that I've wanted to post for awhile now, so here is one of them. I'm sure some of you have seen something similair on Pinterest. Here is my version....

You will need:

Canvas (mine was 11x 14) I have a large wall area to cover, and 8x10 would have looked small!

Spray Paint - your color choice ( I used Krylon Color Master Gloss Purple and Ivory Satin )

Craft Spray Adhesive

Spray the canvas what color you want the base to be.

Let it dry between coats, I did two coats and don't worry about the sides to much with the base color because your top color will cover it anyways.

I let my canvas dry a couple days before I used the adhesive to put the leaves on.

Get an idea where you want the placement of the leaves, before you use the adhesive.

On newspaper, give the leaves a light coat of adhesive (you don't want it to stick forever!) and gently press down all the edges. Some of mine lifted a little but thats okay, it gave it a feathered egde on some leaves.

Spray your top color making sure to get the sides of the canvas.

Let it dry enough that you won't smear the paint, but don't leave the leaves on to long, or they will be harder to get off!

The leaves on the Black Locust (above) lifted while I was spray painting, its okay it still looks good. ツ You can touch up if you want.

Kimberly Queen Fern & Maple

Black Locust & Dogwood

These look really good in my master bathroom, and they will look even better once I get around to painting the master suite ... I'm painting my bedroom wall with a life size silhoutte of a bare leafed tree.... I think it will tie in nicely.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent with Scent Crystals

So I bought some Zote Laundry Soap a couple weeks ago and have been waiting to make some powdered detergent till my Whipped Detergent was gone. I used the Fels-Naptha Soap in my Liquid & Whipped Laundry Detergents, and that does smell good, and works really well too, but after the clothes are washed and dried they don't have a scent. I like a good smelling shirt. :) That's why I made the Dryer Sheets , but I wanted to try the scent crystals in the Powdered Detergent. I used the Blue Bottle which is "Fresh Spring Waters" I would like to try the Lavender Blossom but my hubby needs to smell that one first to see if its okay by him! Wouldn't that be so pretty though? Pink, Purple, & White!!! Even the Purex Crystals for Baby smells good...

Here is what you need:

2 Bars of Zote, or Fels-Naptha (You can use any bar soap you like, I've seen some recipes with Dove, Ivory etc. (but I wouldn't use any that had oils in them, just my opinion)
2 Cups of Borax
2 Cups of Super Washing Soda
1 1/2 Cups of Purex Scent Crystals (you can use more or less to your liking) Updated 6/29/13 (see Edit below) I used my Gain Scent Crystals...I used the whole bottle. :)
1 Cup of Baking Soda (optional) (I didn't add this in, but have seen it added to other recipes)

I cut my Zote with a knife (its kinda soft-ish) into small cubes and put it into my little food processor along with some of the borax or washing soda so it wouldn't stick to the blades so much. I just did a little at a time so as not to burn up the motor. I also put the scent crystals in the processor too, it kinda chopped those up as well. If you don't have a food processor you can put your bars of soap in the freezer and use a small grater. Freezing the soap makes the grating a little easier and makes it into smaller flakes.

You only need 1 or 2 Tablespoons Per load! If its a really dirty load, you probably want to use 2. This detergent dissolves in cold water just fine. Its safe in HE machines, as this doesnt suds up at all, so don't add more thinking you'll get suds ;)