Baking Cake In A Tin Can

Did you know you can bake cake in tin cans?! 

Isn't that amazing?

   It not only makes a fun cylinder shape, but it also makes 

little mini cakes that you can slice into the perfect size for parties! 

Use any size can you like, make sure you remove the label and

 clean the can really well. Then whip up any batch of cake mix 

and pour the batter into greased, floured cans. 

   Place them on a cookie sheet and bake as you would a normal 

cake! Use a toothpick to test for doneness, then allow them to cool

 before sliding the cake from the can. You may need to use a 

butter knife to release the sides easier.

Once the cakes are out and cooled off, you can slice them into mini cakes, or you can leave them as cylinders for a fun shape! 

Check out some of my delicious cake recipes below:

Carrot Cake

Zebra Cake 

Juicer Pulp Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Chocolate Red Wine Cake

 Mandarin Orange Poke Cake

World's Easiest Chocolate Cake 

DIY Liquid Hand Soap

I'm always looking for ways to save money for my family and came across this simple recipe on how to make DIY Liquid Hand Soap from a bar of soap! One bar makes a lot of soap!

 

To make it you need:

4 Cups of Water

A Pot to Boil

A Bar of Soap

A Cheese Grater 

 To begin, finely grate or shred the bar of soap, 
(I used Ivory but any soap should do?). While grating soap, boil the 4 cups of water in your pot. Once it begins boiling, turn the stove off and add in the soap flakes.  Stir until soap and water is fully combined.
(I used a whisk to do this.)
Your mixture will be very liquidy, but it does coagulate after time.
Allow mixture to cool for 15 minutes, then mix again.
It should be slightly thicker, but if not, don't worry, it will get there.

Let the soap sit over night and by the morning, it should have reached the desired consistency! It tends to separate, so you will need to whisk together again. You can add essential oils for extra scent 

or if the bar is already scented, feel free to keep as is. 

Pour the soap into chosen container/dispenser for it (may have to use funnel), and enjoy!

I loved how easy it was to turn a bar of soap into liquid hand soap!! But I will warn you, the soap has more of a "Snot" like consistency and when it's used in a normal soap dispenser, it leaves a trail lol. This I did not like, but I found that if you put it in a foam soap dispenser, with some warm water and shake it up, it works well. Occasionally it may clog your dispenser though. After much trial and error of trying to figure out how to reduce the "snot" texture, I've decided store bought liquid hand soap is easier on my OCD ;) But it still works great as a body wash in the shower!!

Have you ever made your own soap?

* Also, check out my DIY Laundry Detergent recipe!

Lose 5lbs in 7 Days??

Jillian Michael's

Jillian Michael's Detox Drink is going around on Pinterest and I decided to give it a shot! This detox drink is said that you will lose 5lbs in 7 Days and it's a pretty simple regime.

To make this detox drink you need:

60oz (7.5 cups) of distilled water (tap works just fine)

1 Tbsp of 100% pure cranberry juice (no sugar added)

2 Tbsp of lemon juice

1 Dandelion Root Tea Bag

 

    You make this concoction each day in a pitcher, drink it throughout the day and do this for 7 days in a row. I filled my pitcher with hot water and let the dandelion root tea bag simmer for at least an hour before I added in the other ingredients. It has a boring bitter taste but you quickly get use to that and it eventually teases your taste-buds into thinking it's good ;) It definitely gets your system on track and regulates your insides lol but I'm sad to say I didn't lose the said 5lbs...I lost a max of one and that could just be natural weight fluctuation. I peed like crazy after the first 2days so I'm surprised water weight didn't melt off of me...But my body feels slimmer and less heavy so it must have done something :) It helped in decreasing the bloat feeling even though the scale never changed and that's good enough for me! One thing I do want to take away with me from trying this detox is I want to make sure I try to drink 60oz of water each and everyday..or at least close to it. I don't want to be peeing like crazy but I want to make sure I'm keeping my body hydrated daily as it will help with skin aging and overall health anyways. 

   Though I didn't lose the 5lbs, drinking Jillian Michael's Detox plan was worth trying out and I'd love to hear from those who have tried this too! 

 

Has it worked for you? Let me know in the comments!

DIY Laundry Detergent!!

I am SO happy I came across this DIY Laundry detergent recipe over at HowDoesShe. I've always wanted to make my own laundry detergent but never wanted to mess with melted the shredded bar soap on my stove top. This recipe is to make powdered laundry soap and it's really easy to do too!!

You begin by gathering all your ingredients. You need:

A big bucket

A 3lb 7oz box of Washing Soda

A 4lb box of Baking Soda

A 4lb 12oz box of Borax

A 3lb tub of Oxi Clean

2 Bar soaps (recipe calls for Zote but you can use Fels-Naptha as well. 

That's what I used but I forgot to buy two bars 

so I used 1 bar of Dial's White Peach & Shea Butter (not pictured) along with my Fels-Naptha)

A 55oz bottle of Purex Crystals-any scent 

(I used the 28oz bottle-just adds softness & scent so this is optional)

Shred your bars of soap and blend them in a blender or food processor 

to get the pieces extra fine.

(my lil man loved helping)

 Once you have those ingredients finely grated, your ready to add all ingredients into your bucket! It's best to layer each ingredient into the bucket, for easier mixing. That's what we did and stirred it all up with a big wooden dowel stick :)

(Be careful for the powder dust particles. You don't want to be breathing those in)

 Once finished mixing, you can choose to leave your detergent in the bucket, sealed tight til needed, or put it in a cute container. I like HowDoesShe's idea of putting the detergent in the Purex Crystals bottle. I did that for some of the detergent to share for my mom to try.

When you're ready to wash your laundry, use 2-4 Tablespoons (depending on load size) of the detergent and apply to water before you put your clothes in. I washed my sheets in this detergent and it worked wonderfully! No soap scum, no residue, and a nice scent! Next time I would add the 55oz of Purex Crystals as recipe called for, just because I like my laundry smelling strong. Using the 28oz bottle works just fine, but the smell is light. This was a super easy way to make your own laundry detergent and it is said to last a whole YEAR, based on washing 6 loads of laundry a week!! In my family of three, we wash maybe 2-3 loads a week so this should last us a long time!!

 If you've ever made laundry soap or plan to, I'd love to know how it turned out!!

Have You Made A Shutterfly Photobook?

 Shutterfly gives a great opportunity in keeping memories alive; With their customizable photo books, you can capture all those memories in one book! {But if you're like me, you'll need several books for all those photos taken ;) } Great for making a wedding album, baby book, travel album, personalized children's book...the possibilities are endless! With Christmas coming, photo books work great for giving as a gift. A few years back, my husband studied abroad in Japan and from that trip, he has several photos in folders on our computer. I thought he would love to have those photos sorted into an album that we could keep on the coffee table, for easy reminiscing and sharing with friends. Thanks to Shutterfly, I gave him a Shutterfly photo book for Christmas! It was fun seeing his reaction. It came at the perfect time since he's been missing Japan and wanting to revisit again. And since we can't afford another trip to Japan just yet, this photo book will, in a way, bring Japan to him :)

TWO Lucky Readers will win their very own Shutterfly 8x8 hardcover photo book to personalize!!! Follow Rafflecopter below and don't forget to leave me your name and Email address so I can contact the winner!!! 
Contest Ends 12/13/2012

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 *This post & giveaway is sponsored by Shutterfly &Global Influence Network . In return for my review, I will be compensated with my own 8x8 Shutterfly photobook to personalize. Image & video belong to Shutterfly. All opinions are my own.

DIY Captain America Shield

I've seen this throughout the internet and wanted to give it a shot.... 

A DIY Captain America's shield, made from a Frisbee!! so much fun.

I started with my supplies:

A Frisbee

Felt

Hot Glue

Star Stencil

Cardboard pieces

I first cut a circle, the size of the Frisbee out in red felt. Next, a smaller white circle.  Then the red again, and last, I cut the smallest, a blue circle. I hot glued these all in their right places and hot glued it onto the Frisbee. I was origionally going to use the wooden star -painted white- as the middle star, but lil man wanted to use that on a shirt, so I just cut a star from the white felt and glued it on. On the back of the Frisbee, I glued on a cardboard handle that was wrapped with red felt for comfort, and glued white triangles over the edges.

Came out pretty darn cute! My son just loves it. He wanted a Captain America suit but since they're way more then I feel like paying for right now, I let my son make his own Captain America t-shirt :) Builds the creativity this way :)

He began with a white t-shirt and added a big blue square of felt down with the added white and red felts. I did all the hot gluing of course. And He decided where everything would go. He had a lot of fun doing this!

He needed a mask to complete the "costume" So I made a blue felt mask with the letter "A" between the eyes. Then I added on a white strip to hold in place on the head, and topped it off with white wings :) So cute.

Homemade Parsley Tea

I was watching Dr. Oz the other day and he was giving some tips on homemade anti aging recipes, one being for tired, aging eyes. His tip was to use parsley tea in the form of ice cubes to rub beneath your eyes to help stimulate them and reduce eye baggage and tiredness.

Me, being a young mom, and not getting enough sleep, 

I feel I am getting those tired age-ey eyes.. :/ So I wanted to give this a shot!

I searched the store for Parsley tea but never found any so I thought I'd make it myself. 

Seemed simple enough.

I began by buying fresh parsley at the grocery store. Washed it all up and cut the stems off. Placed the parsley on a cookie sheet and dried it out in the oven at 200 degrees. The timing differs per oven, but for my oven it took approximately 45-50 minutes. The smell of baking parsley was surprising to my nose... a slightly similar smell to stinky drain pipes so you will want some good ventilation lol. Once the parsley was all dried out, I put it into a sandwich baggy and sealed it up to start crunching it. Also to save it for later. But if you plan on storing parsley for a longer time, 

I would suggest keeping it in a glass container to keep it fresh.

I put about 3 spoons of the dried parsley into my tea infuser 

and poured in enough boiling water to cover to the top and I let it sit for the day.

 

Once it sat, I then poured the tea into my ice cube tray and let it freeze.

 

 I've tried the ice, once under my eyes so far...And it's cold! lol...

we'll see if it does anything. You're welcome to try this out, and if you do, 

please let me know how it works for ya! :)

You can also drink the tea warmed, with some lemon and honey added in. 

Parsley has a lot of other health benefits as well!

I Made A Skirt!

I'm so excited about this...

Kind of a funny story, coming from a girl who doesn't usually like wearing dresses and skirts...I was wanting a jean skirt to wear and had the idea of turning an old pair of jeans, into a skirt for myself! The night before Thanksgiving, I got to it.

I cut the legs off of the jean pants, to my designated skirt length, and cut the inner thigh seams up to the crotch. I then laid out Heat N Bond hem tape

and cut the size needed, then laid it inside the material, to hold my clothing together, and ironed it. I did this in every spot needed, to have my skirt shaped and put together. I then sewed, by hand, certain spots that could possibly come undone.

Wish I took a photo of the back of the skirt! It has a slit in it, hence the inner leg seams made it that way, but it turned out just right and not too high up!

It was a really easy, simple change to an old pair of pants!

I love how it came out, now I just have to have the courage to wear it in public :)

DIY Kid Jammy Pants

A few weeks back, my mom gave me a box of old clothes, that my Aunt had given her, so I could use them as material for sewing. A lot of the fabrics are ugly, from the 80's style so it has been a challenge to find things to make with them, but with a pair of dark blue stretchy pants, I made my son a pair of jammy pants! I started by using a pair of my sons store bought jammy pants as my pattern and folded them, laying them on each pant leg and cut the shape out, making 2 cuts. Use something to measure the exact length you need, about an inch on the side from normal jammy pants, and about 3 inches on the end so the pants fit.  
 
(As you can see in the pic to the right, I used my son's foam blocks as my measurement...he had his foam blocks all over the floor where I was working, so I figured, why not! :)

Once both cut, I unfolded them and set 1 on top of the other, 

outsides facing each other, then pinned and sewed the top sides-

double stitching

 Once the sides were sewn, 

I put them into the pants position as you see here, 

then sewed the leg seems closed.

I pulled the pants right side in and pinned where I wanted the waist to be and sewed that, while leaving a small opening to thread elastic through. Attaching a safety pin on the end of your elastic makes it easier to pull the elastic through, without losing it. Once elastic is pulled through, I sewed up the small hole.

 I used this cute Train ribbon as a design for the bottom-using heat bond would work great for this. But if you don't have that...hot glue holds..at least until a wash that is...but definitely not super glue...

 And there ya have it, some cute, frugal, diy kid jammy pants! :)

Checkout my DIY Baby Girl Dress from the same box of ugly clothes! :)

Tea Infuser Gone Coffee

I purchased this cute little tea infuser pot at World Market for only $4.99 with the idea of using it as a coffee pot. I don't drink enough coffee but there are occasions where I want to drink a cup or two so this fits me perfectly. The pot has a infuser cup inside it where I just put in a paper towel, or a mini filter once I buy those :) I put in the coffee grounds, boil about 6 cups of water, and slowly pour it into the infuser/coffee grounds section. It steeps into the tea pot and keeps warm. I love this because it keeps me from drinking too much coffee but allows me to have it on occasion. It's an easier version to my previous posting on my DIY Coffee Maker :)