Friday DIY- Spring Cleaning!

It's a beautiful spring day today in Brooklyn! : ) and it's my birthday! yay!

anyways, lately I'v been cleaning my apt like crazy, so I felt it was appropriate to to do a DIY cleaning blog. I've been trying out recipes for eco-friendly cleaning substances, because what good does a cleaning spree do ya if your house ends up smelling like clorox in the end? It just seems counter-productive to use something as unhealthy as bleach to "clean" up.

I found this website: http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm and it's full of recipes for eco-friendly cleaning stuff. Here's the recipes I've tried so far:


Drain Declogger
Pour together:
¼ c baking soda down the drain, followed by
½ c. vinegar
Cover drain and let sit for 15 minutes. Follow with 2 qts. boiling water.

Mildew Remover
Dissolve together: ½ c, vinegar
½ c. borax in warm water.
Apply with sponge or spray bottle.

I kept an eye out for borax and didn't happen to find any until I popped into a Met grocery store the other day.

I was most impressed with the the drain declogger. It worked just as well as regular draino and definately better than the CVS-brand rip off of draino I tried awhile ago.

The mildew remover recipe worked pretty well, I tried it on my shower curtain. I think I'll have to give it one more go for it to be really completely clean. On the plus side, it always takes awhile to scrub the whole curtain and I tend to get whatever cleaner I use for that all over myself and the entire bathroom, so it was a much pleasanter experience to be covered in vinegar, borax and water than the usual nasty chemicals.







...and now for something completely different. I cranked out a few new stud earrings, this time using a leftover netted fabric. I like how the yellow ones came out because the texture reminds me of honeycomb.

DIY Friday- the Mac & Cheese Gift Box!

This week's Firday DIY is the Mac & Cheese Gift Box! I often make these boxes to send my earrings or bracelets to my customers on etsy. It's pretty quick and cute!

Here's most of the supplies you'll need: cutting mat, xacto knife, ruler, pencil. You'll also need doublesided tape or rubber cement, whichever you prefer.



















The first thing you do is find the seam on the side of your mac & cheese box and carefully peel it apart.
















Next use the scissors to cut straight down the second side of the box.














So here's what you've got:















Next measure the length of your box. Most Mac& Cheese boxes are 7" long.



















Next you mark a line straight across at the 3.5" point. Score the line by very lightly dragging the xacto across it. The idea is to cut about 1/2 through the cardboard.












Then you cut at an angle slanting away from the closed part of your box, starting at the corner you just scored.



















Next measure the height of the box. Measure and mark a line that distance away from the first line you scored. The newly marked line should be on the side towards the open end of the box.



















Here's what your box looks like unfolded at this stage:

















You'll need to slice off a triangle on each side next to where you cut the angle.

















The tab gets taped down using the doublesided tape.

I like to use the permanent double sided tape because it isn't smelly like rubber cement.





















Here's what your box looks like. But it won't stay closed! So here's what comes next.....














...Find an extra plastic bag or packaging in a color that goes with your box. cut off a few smallish pieces and dress up your box with some recycled "tissue paper"!
















...and here's how you seal the deal...with a nice bow made from the plastic bag/packaging!

Friday DIY- Earrings Update

This week I tried the ol Fabric Covered Stud Earrings project out again. This time I used stetchy fabric and made smaller little fimo circles.






















I think they came out a lot better than the last ones. And I didn't even burn the fimo this time! ; )












Next Friday I'll post a how-to for making a cute gift box out of a mac & cheese box!