Kitchen Magician

It's been a very busy couple of days, at least as far as making things goes.  Can't say there's been a lot of creativity to what I've done, but I'm pretty darn good at following directions (when I bother to read them).


Typically I do a number of different craft type things, but lately, I've been hooked on what one friend calls Kitchen Magician crafts.  She and I have made a couple of different lotions and a bubble bath, and will be looking at some other things coming up.  Since I discovered Pinterest, I've gotten a LOT of ideas, but even more recipes for Kitchen Magician activities as well as food recipes.

I think my good friend, Duck Brand Duct Tape, started the itch to make things when I saw these 3 new designs.  I was actually looking for a cupcake design, which I still haven't found, when these called my name.  I haven't opened them yet, but there are a couple of ideas percolating.  I'll have to hide the polka dot roll from the favorite pre-15 year old niece though . . . 

Thursday evening I started whipping up a batch of laundry detergent, using a grated bar of Fels Naptha and just a few other ingredients.  It makes 10 gallons!  Here are the 3 I bottled, each of them a different scent:  Lilac, Lavender, and Baby Powder (left to right if you really care that much).  I think I like the scent of the Baby Powder the best of all of them.  I picked up a couple more scents today - Honey Almond, Relaxation, and Vanilla, so I'll have to bottle up the rest of the detergent, or at least another 3 gallons!

I love having hand sanitizer on hand, but I hate the cost of the brand names, and am not always happy with the quality of the cheap stuff.  Found a recipe for hand sanitizer (and it fits the requirement I heard from a doctor that it should be at least 60% alcohol)!  Super easy, and I can choose the scent I like.  This has the baby powder scent; I'm going to make some with the vanilla scent to take to Mom.

This batch of relaxing bath salts was VERY difficult to make.  I had to get a bowl, a wooden spoon, and then mix sea salt, dead sea salt, and Epsom salt together.  I was sweatin' bullets over this one.  Since I used lavender scented Epsom salt, I didn't need to add a scent to it.  You can guess I bought some unscented Epsom salts and will be making a variety of scents in the near future!  Trying to get ahead on some Christmas, birthday, and/or Mother's Day presents . . . 


These are just a few of the projects I've taken on since Pinterest became kind of an obsession.  I've made body wash, hand lotion, liquid soap, ant bait, anti-bacterial spray, all purpose cleaner, grease cutter, and tub and tile cleaner too.  Oh, and fabric softener to go along w/ the detergent.


No, I'm not Martha Stewart and I have no desire to be Martha Stewart.  But, I do like making things, and having some control over the ingredients being used.  I also like things to be simple.  I always read the directions for a project that interests me, and if the directions are difficult to follow, I don't bother with it.  My number one personal rule on Pinterest is:   if it isn't easy, I won't think about pinning it.  Closely following is personal rule number two:  if you pin it, you better make it (at some point).  So far I've managed to try out a good number of things, and most of them have worked wonderfully.


Now, if I can just figure out a way to incorporate that Duck Tape with some of this . . . ohhhhh, just had an idea!