Natural Linens ~A Review and Giveaway~

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

Our family, like so many other families today, is always looking for ways to reduce our spending and give a little more wiggle room to our budget.  We also take great pride in producing less garbage than a family half our size, and I encourage our children to get creative and find new ways of further reducing our family’s garbage output.  (These are great lessons in stewardship for Mark and I and our children!)

When the wonderful family at Natural Linens contacted me, I saw this as a great opportunity to take another step in the direction of saving money, reducing waste, and I get to give a great organic product!

When looking over their store, I was intrigued by the thought of unpaper towels.  We go through a good bit of paper towels in this house, much to my aggravation.

Unpaper Towels

Being the retired cloth diaper pro that I am, the moment I opened up the lovely hand-wrapped package of unpaper towels I soaked them in a container of water for a few days.  (This greatly increases their absorbancy)

So, what did we use the unpaper towels to do?

• They are awesome for cleaning glass and windows without leaving streaks or fuzz.
• They worked beautifully when disinfecting the kitchen counters.
• I was able to clean all of our doorknobs, door frames, and light switches with only one unpaper towel as opposed to 7 or 8 paper towels.
• They make quick work of bathroom sinks and counters with only one unpaper towel for three bathrooms.

I love how thin, yet absorbent they are.  I much prefer them to wash cloths when cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, and they are perfect southern napkins!

Next, I would love to make the switch to cloth coffee filters and tea bags!

Reusable Coffee Filters

Reusable Tea Bags

Now YOU get the chance to win a set of their fantastic unpaper towels!

You know me, I like to make entering giveaways and getting additional entries easy.

How do you enter?  Simple!

Pop over and visit Natural Linens Etsy store and choose a product they offer that you are not already using.  Post a comment below telling me what that product is.  That’s it!

Earning additional entries:

• Subscribe to Natural Linens newsletter (post a comment telling me that you did)
• Like Natural Linens on Facebook (post a comment telling me that you did)
• Share this giveaway on Facebook (you can do this once per day ~leave a comment each time telling me that you did)
• Tweet about this giveaway (you can do this once per day ~leave a link in a comment)
• Like Yes, They Are All Mine on Facebook (leave a comment telling me you did)
• Share this Giveaway on Pinterest (you can do this once per day ~leave a link in the comments)
• Share Natural Linens (Etsy store or FB page) on Pinterest (leave a link in comments)
• Follow Natural Linens on Twitter (leave a comment telling me you did)

This giveaway will end at Midnight (12:00 am) on Sunday December 8th.  One winner will  be chosen via Random.org.  The winner will be announced here on the blog and emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Any questions?

Thank you for joining in this giveaway and supporting a small family owned business.  Every time you share them with someone or make a purchase, you make a difference for their family!  Thank you!

All for God’s glory,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Fall Cleaning

There is a definite nip to the air when I head outside in the morning to feed and water the animals.  A very brisk reminder that cold temperatures on their way.

In the same manner that spring cleaning inside and out when the weather warms up is essential for getting our homes and homesteads “woken up”, fall cleaning helps us to get it all put to bed.

The shimmering leaves of fall. Sigh.

What does my fall cleaning list for outside look like?

Let’s start with the house:

• clean off all cobwebs, stray wasp nests, and mud dobber nests that are around the eaves and porches
• clean the windows and screens
• WD-40 hinges and sliding doors
• spray peppermint around the doors and windows to repel spiders and bugs who may want to use our house a haven from the cold
• the potted plants will soon be brought in and the pots need to be cleaned up before their trip inside.
• put away or finish all of the projects that are on the porches!
• clean up the patio and the firepit- we will soon be snuggling around a fire and sipping on hot cider

In the gardens:

• time to pull the few weeds that have sprouted up in the past couple of weeks
• pull and chicken compost plants that are spent
• as leaves fall, we will gather some of them and turn them into the garden soil
• use more of the leaves to put a thick layer of mulch around fall growing plants, fruit trees, and perennials
• clean and oil all gardening tools
• put floating row cover ribs over garden area where we will be using it
• clean out flower boxes and outdoor pots
• disconnect and drain water hoses
• put insulating covers on water spigots

Our head rooster what’s in charge.

Around the homestead

• clean out and deep mulch the chicken house
• clean out and re-hay the goat/ geese house
• move old bedding and dig it into the gardens
• give the brooder box a good cleaning and disinfecting in the sun
• give the pond area a thorough weed whacking
• clean off the fallen branches and leaves that are gathering on the chicken house roof and the top of the chicken run.
• reorganize all of the tools we have been using through-out the warm weather
• as the leaves fall and the woods clear out, we will gather fallen branches, cut up fallen trees, and give the wooded acres a good underbrush cleaning- almost bonfire time!

A few projects we have listed for this fall while the weather is gorgeous:

• dismantle old playset and rebuild into a sturdier, nicer one
• clear a few trees from the edge of the yard and open it up a bit
• map out a bike/ hiking trail and start getting it cleaned up and clearly marked

Do we share a lot of items for fall cleaning?  What did I miss that is on your list?

All for God’s glory,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Menu Planning- Stepping up our game

If you are like me and look for every great idea to trim your grocery budget, then you have already discovered the awesome grocery budget fat buster of menu planning.

Menu planning alone has not only helped reduce our costs, but is has also reduced food waste and given us far better meal options.  When you know what is being prepared and you have all of the necessary ingredients, then it is not a crapshoot to try and pull a healthy, filling meal together.

Up until a few weeks ago, I was the menu planner.  I checked our pantry and freezer stock to create a menu for the week as well as a grocery list.

Then it it hit me.  I have THREE teenagers and at least 4 of our children can cook!  Why am I the only one making these decisions and getting everything lined up for the week?

Enter in operation FAMILY Meal Planning.

After a little powwow, we came up with a new strategy, not only for meal planning but also for meal preparation.

No longer is it a toss up as to who is going to cook, what they are going to prepare, and on what night will they be doing so.

Here’s how we do it.

Our oldest three, Renee (16), Noah (14), and Emily Grace (13), and the team of Hannah (10) and Dad each take a night to fully plan and prepare dinner for the family.  I take the three nights that they do not claim.

Each one of our chefs-in-training puts together all aspects of the meal and makes sure that we either have the ingredients or they are written on the grocery list.

When I head out to Costco with my list, I know that we will have exactly what need for the week’s breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners.

One of the great, yet unexpected, blessings of having our oldest children plan and prepare meals, they are getting inspired to try new dishes, new veggies, new spices, and new combinations.  Their creative juices are flowing!  {pun intended}

It does my momma heart good to see them researching new dinners to create.  Thank, you Pinterest!

Other blessings we noticed:

• they are learning that planning ahead to ensure they have everything they need makes the job much easier and faster
• they are widening their culinary scope and experimenting with new flavors
• the new recipes are introducing new veggies and fruits
• they are learning timing and time management to get all parts of the meal ready and on the table at the same time.
• there has been finally come about a realization that they cannot “graze” in the pantry and fridge all of the time and still have what they need to prepare their meals.
• bonus, this has worked so well, that they have also taken over lunches.

I love that my older kids will not be dependent on a microwave or takeout to eat in those beginning adult years that are in the very near future.  You never know, this may bring out a passion for cooking and a direction in life one of them never thought about.

Next, I need to get one of them interested in being a chocolatier.  *wink*

In your home, do the parents do all of the cooking?  Do you have teenagers who cook?  If not, now is a great time to start something new and get them interested in preparing fantastic meals and stretching themselves as chefs!

When you were a teenager, what were some of your favorite things to cook?

Mine, steak bites with onion and peppers.  Yum!

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linked with:

 

The Almost Overwhelming Urge to Purge and Organize

Recently, I have been overcome with an almost overwhelming urge to purge. I am not talking about that moment when you are stepping over the toys in your living room and you think to yourself, I have got to get rid of a few of these trip hazards.
I am referring to that feeling where you have to control yourself so that you do not end up tossing everything from the house into the back of the truck to go donate.
It is not that the kids have huge amounts of toys or that every room in our house is filled with toys. This desire to purge isn’t even about the toys. It is about everything. It is about boxes of home decor I will never use. It is about books I have no interest in reading (we are not taking about my favorites!). It is about the clothes I know full well I cannot stand and will never wear. It is about kitchen items that do not get used even once a year.

While I would love to simplify the cleaning process and make maintaining that organized kind of clean even easier, there are certain aspects to my life that hinder my ability to purge to that degree.  *wink*

We have chosen to educate our brood at home. There is no way I am getting rid of curriculum with a line of children who will be moving up and using it. In the past year I have donated about half of the curriculum that once filled boxes and tubs. I had to make some hard decisions about what I do or will really use.

We have a large family that ranges from toddlers to teens. Having toys, games, art supplies, and activities for that variety of people does not take up a small amount of space!

We are a homesteading family. There are things that we need and use on a daily basis that are necessary for taking care of our animals, managing our property, and planting and growing large gardens of fruits and vegetables.

I am a soaper.  Specifically, I am a handcrafted goat milk soaper!  I buy my supplies in bulk quantities and I make large batches of soap.  There is always soap in some part of the creating/ drying/ labeling process.

So, what is a girl to do?  Purge AND organize with a plan and a very helpful Hubs!!   Hubs and I have broken each one of these areas (and more) down into a list of “needs”, “wants”, and “donates”.  As we tackle,  we look at the items in front of us and decide which category it goes in.   Once the purge has been completed, it is then time to organize.

That is where I am at now.  Organizing.  It is my favorite part, but it also seems to be the most expensive.  Going to the store to check out their organizing section when you have a huge list of organizing ideas is like going to the grocery store hungry.  It is so hard to control myself!!   To make matters worse, I have been searching Pinterest.  That place feeds my project and organizing addictions!  Good gracious.

So, that is where I am.  Trying to make decisions, come up with ingenious ways to organize materials, and make everything streamlined and hidden.  This would be so much easier with three or four more of me to tackle this list, oh, and winning a shopping spree to a container store would be nice, too!

How about you?  What area would you like to be able to purge and organize to perfection?

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Middle Girl’s Room Makeover

Decorating a room to incorporate the likes, favorite color, toys, and personalities  of four girls ranging in age from four to ten is no easy feat, but I think I got!

The previous residents attempted a “tuscany” feel to several areas of the downstairs by using the stucco method and somewhat painting it with earthy colors.  The white you see is where there is no paint.  They didn’t quite hit the nail on the head.

I chose to cover up the orange flat paint with a very warm and soothing green eggshell.   Green is a color that is the common thread in each of the girls’ quilts.

It took me an entire afternoon to paint this large room.  What seemed to take up the biggest amount of time was moving all of the furniture and toys out of the way.  *grin*

I am still toying with the idea of building a shelf around the pole seen in the picture.  I found an example on Pinterest I really like.

Now we are ready to purge, build, and decorate!

Mark exceeded my expectations building bases for each of the girls’ bed frames.  After hanging the curtains and putting their beds together, I hung their name signs over each of their beds.  I want to sew a couple of throw pillows for each of the girls in their favorite colors to match their name signs and quilts.  That will happen as I find the material I am looking for on clearance.

Here is a view of the kitchen play area I created, as well as little Layla’s (4) bed.  She is not yet big enough for a twin sized mattress.

I created the “EAT” and “Say Grace” signs out of a couple of scraps of wood and some extra ribbon from my craft tub.  The chalkboard menu lists the specials of the day.  You can also see the footprint butterflies we made with each of the girls.

I gave away most of our plastic toy bins and containers and opted for this shelf and matching baskets.   I put a lot of time into searching and finding the right containers for the girls to organize their toys in.  I could spend a WHOLE LOT of money to buy bins that look good and will stand the test of time or something cute but cheap enough not to get all worked up about if it was torn up.  Considering I don’t have $300.00 to spend on the first option, I chose to go with cute and not heartbreaking if they didn’t last too long.  These baskets were less than $5 each at Old Time Pottery, and after almost three months… not one has been torn up or even nicked!  Booyah!

When Mark finally brought home the pallets I have been whining longing for, I made each of the girls a little place of their own to display their masterpieces.

In the corner opposite of their little cafe spot I created a place for their dollhouses and put some books on the wall.  I am keeping my oh so frugal eyes open for a chair or two to put here so they can snuggle up and read their books.

While I may have the bulk of their makeover completed, I have a few projects left up my sleeve.  I am on the hunt for little bedside tables to set next to each of their beds.

I am also looking for a great rug to put in the middle of the room.  It has to be an incredible price and incorporate the colors of the room:  green, blue, pink, brown, orange, and yellow.  I am sure the perfect rug is out there…somewhere.

Finally, I am going to paint one of their doors with chalkboard paint to give them a spot to let their inner Picasso and Van Gogh out.

Granted, it took me about 4 months to get their room to this state of completion, but I have done it all for less than $100.00.  Thank you Pinterest for so much frugal inspiration!!

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Reclaiming An Old Frame

I am nearing the finish line on an incredibly frugal master bedroom and bathroom makeover.

My inspiration for the “British Isles/ British Colonial” design is a painting that has been hanging naked on my wall for years.  Yes, NAKED!

I have long intended on getting a frame to display my beautiful painting with the distinction it deserves, but a proper canvas frame is out of my extremely limited budget.  The best price I could find was $50.00 at Hobby Lobby.  I don’t have $50.00 to spend on a frame, so that means it is time for creativity!

Why not purchase a DIY empty frame?  This painting was created by a Haitian artist who crafted and nailed the canvas herself.  It is not of standard size.    Not to mention, all of the DIY empty frames I could find are for pictures, not canvases.  Sigh.

Over the past few weeks Hubs has been cleaning out and organizing our upstairs space.  During the overhaul he found an old frame and put it to the side to throw away.  While “shopping” upstairs for something to make a frame out of, I spotted it.  It is a true canvas frame!  SCORE a free frame!

While the length was near perfect, the width was far too wide.  I removed one side of the frame carefully.

I set the removed side in the appropriate position and used a marker to draw my cut lines.  I used a battery-powered skill saw to cut along the line I made.

Next, I predrilled and inserted 1 1/2 ” wood screws to put the frame back together.  I did this at all four corners to strengthen the frame.

Then, I attached to frame hangers at the top of the frame and inserted small screws on either side the painting to hold it in place.

The final step was to hang my beautiful painting on the wall and display it properly.  A good wiping and oiling brought the frame back to its warm and lovely dark wood glory.

Want to see what my frugal master bedroom and bathroom makeover looks like? I will be posting before and after pictures next week!

Thanks for stopping by!

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

This post is linked up with:

Someday Crafts- Whatever Goes Wednesday

and

Ginger Snap Crafts- Wow Me Wednesday!

The most time-consuming bathroom redo I have ever done

I love my grandma, but I have no interest in having a bathroom that is styled after the well-known “a-grandmother’s-love-of-big-flowers” design.

The kids were not fans of the outdated bathroom either.  Time for a fun and fantastic bathroom redo!

Here are a few “before” shots:

View from the main entry door.

Looking toward a second entry door.

Looking toward the main entry door.

I decided to go with an ocean theme for the kids’ bathroom.  They love going to the beach, it would allow me to insert a lot of color, and it fits with all of the water they are constantly splashing on to the floor.

Here are the after pictures:

View from the bathroom’s main entrance.

View towards the second entrance door.

All of the outlet and switch plates were detailed to match the bathroom.

View of the mirror.

Here is a closeup of the mirror’s detail.

To get the ombre paint effect, aka:  color fading from a darker shade to a lighter shade, I did a bit of research on how artists achieve this in their paintings, and then I replicated it on a larger scale.

To do this choose a paint chip from your local hardware/ paint store that has 3-4 colors on it.  My paint chip had four colors, and I chose the lightest three.  I then bought a pint of both the darkest and the second darkest of the three.  I bought a gallon of the lightest paint.

It is much easier to blend a darker paint color into a lighter paint color.  (Thank you artists I researched for that little gem)  I painted about 65% of the wall the lightest shade starting at the ceiling and working my way down.  Only do a block that is about three to four-foot wide.  You do not want your paint drying so quickly that you cannot work with it.

With the second darkest color, paint a section of wall that is about 2 foot wide just beneath the light color.  Using a sea sponge, blend the darker color into the lighter color.  Just work with it until you like what you see.

Next, paint the final bottom section, from the second darkest color to the baseboard, with the darkest color.  Blend this color into the color above it.  Again, work it until you are pleased with the results.  Continue working down the wall until the whole this is painted.

I wish I had taken pictures of the process, but I was so into what I was doing that I just didn’t think about it.

Did you notice that I did not paint any fish or underwater creatures on the wall?  I  was not interested in creating a mural in the bathroom, rather I was looking to create an underwater background.

I want all of the fish and the creatures to be their own works of art that create a 3D effect.  At the moment, we only have a few on the wall.  As I find different fish and such that strike my fancy and add to the over all ocean in the bathroom, they will be added to our collection!

A couple of the details are the outlet and switch covers and the mirror.

All of the outlet and switch covers are created using modge podge, colored sand, and a glossy spray sealer.  I layered modge podge and colored sand like this:  modge podge, sand, modge podge, sand, modge podge.  Once the modge podge had fully dried I coated it twice with the gloss spray sealant to protect the sand and make it wipe-able.

The final detail is the “frame” I created with glass stones.  I chose a darker color for the initial rows, a lighter color for the inside, and an almost clear to add a little “bubble” look to the very inside.  If you look at the closeup you can see the third almost clear stone.

I glued each one on using clear E-6000 glue.  It took about two weeks to get them all up there.  Once I got halfway up the sides and for the top, I used packing tape to hold the stones in place until the glue dried.  I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out.  The darker to lighter stones match the paint effect on the walls.  *grin*

Just in case you wanted to know, there are 329 large stones and 399 small stones.  No, I didn’t realize it was that many until after it was all done.

Once I have the details completed on the vanity, I will share that with you as well.

So, am I crazy for gluing that many glass stones?

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

New Life For Old Jeans!

If your kids are anything like mine, then you have more than your share of jeans with holes in the knees.  After a while, patching just doesn’t work any longer.

What next?  Let’s make those old jeans into some cute little shorts!

It is very easy and it only took about 45 min for this sewing machine novice to create 3 pairs of adorable shorts.

I started out by having Susu (6) put her shorts on so that I could carefully cut them at the appropriate height.  I cut them a little long so I would have enough material to hem and still have a pair shorts that are a lady-like length.

I folded the bottom of the new shorts under by 1/4″ and ironed them to keep the fold in place.  I then used my sewing machine to stitch that hem into place.

I folded the hem under by 1/4″ again and repeated the ironing and sewing process that I had just done.

Once the hems were secure I used a fabric glue to attach 1″ wide ribbon around the hem.

Make sure you start and finish the ribbon on the inside of the leg so you don’t see where the line is.  I chose three different ribbons to mix and match with the shirts she already has.

Here is Susu (6) modeling one pair of her new shorts.

I wish I had taken a few shots of the hems while I was working on them, but I was so focused that I didn’t think about it until I was done.

If you have any questions about how I did something, just ask!

All for the glory of God,

~Rhen

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

For the Love of Strawberries

We are a family who loves fresh fruits and veggies, so when the opportunity came to pick strawberries, we loaded up the van and headed to the strawberry fields!

I thoroughly enjoyed our little adventure.   It was a great morning that rolled  science lessons, math lessons, a field trip, a buffet, and a fun time all in to one.

We divided the girls into teams of one Big, one Middle, and one Little with a basket and a goal.  The boys grabbed a basket and headed off with manly swagger to fill theirs faster than their sisters.    It is always a race.  Whatever it is, it is always a race!

They worked hard, but enjoyed every moment of it.  My job was to run the filled baskets up to the “office” and grab an empty one for them to fill.

In the picture above, you can see my boys (Israel -2, and Noah -14) roaming the fields eating and picking.   I am not sure if any of the strawberries that made it into Israel’s hands were ever put into the baskets.

The strawberries were so ripe, juicy, and sweet.

At the top of the fields stood an old shack whose front porch served as the “office”.  It fit perfectly with the couple who handed out baskets and took payment.

We took our bounty of eight overly full gallon baskets home to process.  The little trick of using a straw to core each berry worked beautifully.   Simply use a clean straw to poke through the berry from the bottom up towards the stem.  It will core it and pop the top off with ease.

We put all of the tops, cores, and trimmings to the side and fed them to the chickens.  They were delighted with their treat!  Oh, the happy squawking!

I dried 5 trays of strawberries in my dehydrator.  The chips will be used in our homemade energy bars.  They add nice crunch and flavor.

I cut up and froze a large portion of the strawberries to use in cobblers, smoothies, pies, and homemade ice cream this summer.

 I also attempted to oven dry strawberries as seen in this pin on Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/pin/102527328989401617/).   It did not work well at all.  The berries never dried as described and were far too moist to can in jars or bags.  Mold would have spoiled them quickly.  It is too bad it didn’t work.  If you try to oven dry them (not dehydrate them into chips), and it actually works, let me know what you did!    I am still intrigued by the idea.

With our strawberry harvest such a success, I am now looking toward our next fruit-filled adventure at the end of the month when we head out to pick peaches!

Do you enjoy getting out to the farms and being a part of the harvesting?

All for God’s glory,

~Rhen 

Find me on:

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Progress in the Upper Garden- It’s Getting There!

It’s not easy building gardens from scratch or rebuilding ones that are in complete disrepair, but it’s well worth the time and effort!   One of our three raised beds is just to the side of the house and named The Upper Garden.

It started out with giant gardenia bushes taking up most of the front of the bed.  I trimmed those back pretty drastically, but it will help with the shock of transplant and make them healthier as they grow back.  It took a good bit of digging to get them out of the ground.  They are now planted along the side of the driveway and will help to create a living screen between our closest neighbors and ourselves.  They are wonderful people, but I am sure they will appreciate the addition of privacy as much as we will.

  Most of the landscaping timbers were rotten and in desperate need of replacing. The railing on the back of the bed is attached to a cinderblock wall.  There is a about a 12 foot drop to the patio that our basement opens up to.  This railing was a top priority to keep the kids safe!

Once the bushes were removed, the rotten wood torn away, and the railing completed, Mark and I began rebuilding the terraced garden with 2×6’s and 4×4 posts.

We worked compost, shredded leaves, soil, and other amendments into both tiers of the garden to give a healthy and living base for our plants.

An afternoon of companion planting research and I have decided that this bed is for tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, lavender, multiple herbs, carrots, and a few marigolds.

The bottom left of the bed has cucumber and squash seeds that I am eagerly awaiting the sprouting of.

I have lavender, basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and cilantro is planted around my fountain on the right of the bed.  The top tier is full of tomato plants, and is awaiting the carrots and marigolds I have yet to sow.

I have planted lavender to use in my soaps and around the house.  After many years of being stored in tubs, I am finally able to unpack my collection of frogs to decorate my gardens.  This fat toad is one of my favorites.

I am also working on a little pathway to access the water spigot as well as harvest the herbs that are now in this area.

I am short just a few bricks to finish this path.  I am thinking of planting something in the spaces.  Any recommendations?

Next up, getting my fountain flowing!  I find the splashing sounds of the water trickling over the sides to be very relaxing.   A seating area just to the right of this garden (up on the porch) is where you will find me most mornings.

Once the plants have started filling out, I will update with a picture.

How are your garden plans going?  If you have written about it, share the link in the comments!

God bless,

~Rhen