Home made beauty supplies are better for you, better for the planet, and less expensive than their conventional counterparts. If you want to make your own, check out my roundup of beauty supply recipes over at Crafting a Green World! >>

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by meaduva

<3,
Becky

Spoonflower is considering organic cotton! You can read all about it on Becky’s post to Crafting a Green World! There’s still time left to vote!

<3,
Becky

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Embarrassing as it is to admit, I started gardening during the sick years, when I had no income, but a lot of time and land galore. We were beyond broke and had so many dinners centered around figs, blackberries and tomatoes that my husband is still suspicious of anything in a canning jar. To hear that growing and eating your own is considered elitist just leaves me speechless.

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There is a lot more I want to say on this subject, but it will have to wait for another post. I need a day or two to collect my thoughts on this matter, right now I’m having a hard time reconciling the happy meal with true happiness.

xoxo,
Lori

Our friend Christie posted a really awesome writeup of the most recent Mission: Possible! It has lots of great pictures from the evening. Please just promise to scroll past the one in which I look like a man. You’ll know the one.

<3,
Becky

For starters, we made laundry detergent and rinse. We’ll be making dryer balls at a future point. The laundry recipes both came from the modcottage blog, and just like she claims, they were super-easy to whip up!

For the detergent:

1. 1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated. We found the smaller grating holes made it easier to mix up. We also discovered that two of our bars were hard, while the rest were more soft. You might want to peek inside the soap wrapper before you buy.
2. 1 c Borax
3. 1 c Washing Soda
4. 1/4 c OxyClean (not necessary, but we add it)
Mix it all together into a bumpy, granular mix. Don’t worry about stuff getting correctly dispersed, it does, even if it doesn’t quite look like it.

Use 1T for a light load
Use 2T for a large or dirty load (It’s true! Only 2 Tablespoons per load!)

And the rinse:

1. 1 gal white vinegar
2. 25-30 drops essential oil in whatever scent you want your clothes to smell like.

Use 1/4 c in the rinse cycle. The vinegar clears the last bit of soap remaining on all your clothes and reduces static. (and doesn’t leave a smell behind, promise!)

The next products we tackled were window cleaner, and a general purpose spray cleaner/disinfectant.
We got these recipes from the women and environment blog

WINDOW CLEANER
1/4-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent, we use Dr Bronner’s
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past. Remember, one of the best things to use for a “rag” when cleaning windows is old newspapers. Streak-free!!

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
A dab of liquid soap (we use Dr Bronners!)
2 cups hot tap water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.

The last thing we made was a soft scouring powder. You can mix this up as you go, but we chose to add the vegetable glycerine so we could make big batches to store. It keeps for about 2 years in the fridge.

CREAMY SOFT SCRUBBER
suggested uses: Use this creamy soft scrub on kitchen counters, stoves, bathroom sinks, etc.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap (again, Dr Bronner’s)
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer. We chose lemon and a thyme tincture that Kip made with thyme grown in her garden. She’s going to show us how to make tinctures soon, so we’ll have a tutorial for that up in the near future as well.

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We’ll be posting notes and reviews from everyone as they roll in, so check back for updates!!

I couldn’t resist posting this super-rad dress made from used plastic grocery bags by Emily Berezin! She did such a fantastic job…I didn’t even realize what she made it from at first! It’s so inspiring!

[via Rachel Marie]

<3,
Becky

Make a solar cell in your kitchen.

~liz