Mom Life in the PNW

DIY All Natural Cleaning Spray For Any Surface

Diy all natural cleaning spray

The one thing that irks me is that some companies get away with not listing ALL or ANY of the ingredients on their products ingredients label because the FDA doesn’t require it. Why? Who knows. That’s why I don’t trust the FDA or much of anything from our government. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good or bad, but it does make you wonder why they don’t want to list them in the first place, especially when you’re dealing with chemicals that you’re breathing in and possibly touching with your skin. Because of this, I decided I was going make my own all natural cleaning spray.

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DIY All Natural Eyelash Growth Serum

DIY All Natural Eyelash Growth Serum

Since I have really short eyelashes and don’t want to pay a well-known beauty brand big bucks for their magical eyelash growth serum, I decided I would make my own. Plus, I am not fond of all the unknown chemicals that these companies add into their products. I am trying to go through life now with a more natural approach even though it’s a little more expensive. My family and I are important to me and so is our health, so it’s worth it.

The Ultimate DIY All Natural Eyelash Growth Serum

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Shark Rocket With DuoClean Technology Review + DIY Natural Carpet Deodorizer!

Shark Rocket With DuoClean Technology Review + DIY Natural Carpet Deodorizer!

 *This post is in partnership with Shark. I received the Shark Rocket Duo Vacuum for free in order to facilitate this review*

Choosing a good vacuum is almost as hard as choosing a new car. Will it last? Does it have the power to do what I need it to do? How well does it maneuver? Those are all questions and concerns I have when it comes to vacuums and cars, but this post isn’t about car buying; it’s about the Ultralight Upright Shark Rocket With DuoClean Technology.

What Does DuoClean Technology Even Mean?

Essentially, there are 2 brush rolls. One that is soft that helps engage in small, large and stuck-on particles of debris on your floor, and a bristle roller that accelerates the particles into a high-velocity suction channel, which then ends up in your canister at the top.

If you’re like the average household, you have kids, animals, and messes galore from both. I swear, between the cat’s clumps of missing hair from winter coat and cat litter, as well as Arya’s food messes, vacuuming is a twice a day chore.

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Bird Themed Baby Shower For One of My Sisters

Bird Themed Baby Shower For One of My Sisters

For the past couple months, I’ve been working on one of my sister’s baby showers (yes another one) all the while trying to focus more on blogging and my etsy shop. Etsy has been slow this month for me, so it’s given me a little breathing room to get stuff done in preparation for the baby shower.

Since my sister is obsessed with birds, I of course decided to do a bird themed baby shower since this will be her last child.

I bought most of my supplies from Joanns since I can use multiple coupons, which in turn saves me more money.

Bird Themed Baby Shower

Premade bird houses at Joanns are inexpensive. All you need is a little paint and some paint brushes.

The colors she wanted were mint and navy blue. I had a hard time finding mint colored items, so I made due with other color variations.

Bird themed Baby Shower

A bird house cant be a bird house without birds, so I then cut out a bird image on card stock paper and mod podged it onto the front. My plan was to stick it on top of a diaper cake. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get a better photo than the one I took at 11pm the night before the baby shower.)

Bird themed Baby Shower

For baby showers, I try to create stuff that won’t get thrown away. That way, my time, money and energy isn’t wasted.

I then created a bird themed name banner out of card stock paper and ribbon. I always do a name instead of “baby shower” or “welcome baby” because they’re more likely be tossed in the trash.

Name banners can be hung in the nursery by a crib or bed.

Bird themed Baby Shower

I found this pink chalkboard sign at Michaels on clearance for a couple dollars, but I didn’t have mint colored vinyl so I decided to paint it the same color as the bird house and applied navy blue vinyl. The vinyl wasn’t wanting to stick to the paint, so I had to put a mod podge gloss coat over it to get it to stay. It worked and gave it a glossy effect instead of matte and flat!

I found the premade bird nest at a vintage shop for a few bucks, so I grabbed it and applied it with some mod podge as well.

Bird themed Baby Shower

For the item below, I had a little something different in mind. I didn’t find the right type of twig branch I wanted to use, so I made the thick branch work instead.

I cut out double sided birds in coordinating colors to the theme (I decided to add in pink since navy blue and mint didn’t scream WELCOME BABY GIRL Lol) and dangled them from twine. Then I added flowers onto the branch with some mod podge.

Bird themed Baby Shower

Makes a great backdrop and nursery decor for a little ones bird themed room.

Again, not the best photo, but I had no other place to hang it with natural light near.

I also made some bird shaped bird feeders out of bird seed, gelatin, honey and water. My friend picked up the bird seed and it wasn’t the right type. It didn’t want to dry very well inside the cookie cutters and kept breaking in spots. These 6 were the only ones to survive and then I left them at home. Go figure. They were supposed to be a favor gift for those who didn’t win any of the games or diaper raffle.

Bird themed Baby Shower

And unfortunately, the baby shower day we selected called for rain. There was no real protection from getting wet since we were outside at a park, so we packed stuff up and moved it to my sisters small apartment since half the people didn’t come anyways. I hate that! But at least she enjoyed it and I guess that’s all that matters. But, that’s PNW weather for ya! Felt like the first official day of Fall and looked like it too.

When I set stuff up at the baby shower, I didnt get any pics and neither did anyone else besides that one. There really wasn’t a place to put everything to make it cute, but I made due with the space we had.

For food, we did potato salad, chips, sandwhiches for the kids, pinwheels for adults, deviled eggs, a vegetable and fruit tray in the shape of an owl.

Bird themed baby shower

One of my other sisters did the fruit tray and I did the veggies.

Bird themed Baby Shower

I left the eye area open to put ranch when we arrived at the shower. Then you top it off with a couple of cherry tomatoes as well for the eyes.

And yes, that is a purple platter. I couldn’t find pink or blue. Lol

So this is our bird themed baby shower. I didn’t take a picture of a couple of things, but she loved it all. If she didn’t, I’d have to beat her. Ha.

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DIY Lavender-Orange Body Butter

DIY Lavender-Orange Body Butter

With the high costs of beauty products nowadays, I decided I wanted to start making my own. Plus, the ingredient list of some items you see in the store or even have in your bathroom is mind baffling. Like why would I want to put all of those chemicals on one of the most important organs; my skin? No thanks!

So I started collecting some items I would need, like organic coconut oil, African Raw unrefined shea butter, apricot kernel oil, and an array of essential oils just to get me started.

For this recipe, I used the above and doTERRA’s lavender and wild orange essential oils.

doterra essential oils

Wild Orange:

  • High in monoterpenes, Wild Orange possesses stimulating and purifying qualities, making it ideal to support healthy immune system function when seasonal threats are high.
  • As with many citrus peel oils, Wild Orange contains powerful antioxidants that help maintain overall health.

Lavender:

  • In ancient times, the Egyptians and Romans used Lavender for bathing, relaxation, cooking, and as a perfume; it is widely used for its calming and relaxing qualities which continue to be Lavender’s most notable qualities.
  • Lavender is frequently used to reduce the appearance of skin imperfections.
  • Add to bath water to soak away stress or apply to the temples and the back of the neck.
  • Add a few drops of Lavender to pillows, bedding, or bottoms of feet to promote a restful night’s sleep.

How to make Lavender-Orange Body Butter

Lavender-Orange Body Butter

What you’ll need:

  • 1 cup of unrefined shea butter.
  • 1/2 cup of coconut oil.
  • 1/2 cup of apricot kernel oil. (or any other fast absorbing carrier oil)
  • 15 drops of Lavender and 15 drops of wild orange. (add more for a stronger smell.

Instructions:

  1. Combine the shea butter, the coconut oil, and apricot together in a double boiler, or use a pan and a metal or glass bowl if you don’t have a double boiler. Heat until melted. It’s faster if you break up the shea butter into smaller chunks.
  2. Once melted, remove from heat and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. It should still be warm.
  3. Add your drops of essential oils. (If it needs more, add 5-10 more drops each.)
  4. Place the bowl in the freezer until slightly hardened. Around 30 minutes. I forgot about mine and it was solid, but it still worked, just took a bit longer to whip.body butter
  5. Whip the solid contents for 5-8 minutes until you get a whipped consistency using a mixer, either hand or stand. I used hand cause that’s all I have atm.
  6. Add body butter to jars. I used Ball brand 4oz jelly jars and it only filled about 3 of them.

I made these as baby shower prizes for my sisters baby shower a couple weeks ago and it was a hit!

I was afraid they’d melt in the summer heat, but nope they stayed whipped. Granted it wasn’t super hot that day, maybe mid-70s.

One of these 4 oz jars lasts a long time and should be shelf stable as long as you get no water in it for at least 6 months. A little bit goes a long way too!

I love it because I have dry skin. Makes my bumpy arms feel so soft after a week of using it.

I’ll be trying to make more chemical free items when I get the chance now that I have a little one, so stay tuned!

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