Dollar Store Homemade Deodorant

I have been searching the internet for recipes to make deodorant and I have found there are just as many different recipes as there are brands of deodorant in a store. I took bits and pieces from the different recipes and made my own deodorant. Let me just say, it works! I have put in to the test for three days now. I put some on in the morning and that evening, I mowed grass, the deodorant held up! Ryan wore some to work yesterday to test it himself. It was a hot day and was out in the elements all day delivering several appliances. In other words, he had a hot and busy day. He even came home and worked in the yard without applying more deodorant, he really put the deodorant to the test. It's amazing how it kept odor away all day! This is a keeper! He usually has to reapply deodorant when he gets home from work, but didn't yesterday!

I bought all the ingredients at Dollar General to make this and spent $3.50 for supplies that will make a ton of deodorant. A big price break from store bought, plus this stuff isn't giving Ryan a rash like the store bought does. This deodorant will not keep you dry, but it defiantly keeps the smell away!

I just used a plastic spoon for measuring and stored it a mini Glad container.

Homemade Deodorant

3 tsp. Queen Helene Cocoa Butter Cream
1 tsp. Vitamin E skin oil
2 tsp. baking soda

Stir all together to make a cream deodorant. It may be necessary to add more coca butter for a smoother consistency.

Star Spangled Dress

Last night I realized that I didn't get the girls anything to wear for the 4th of July! I knew I could go get an outfit, but I wanted something more than just something to wear once. I found this fabric at Walmart for $2.44 a yard and thought it was perfect! I am in the process of making them matching dresses to wear to the festival we are going to tomorrow night.

I made my own pattern for the dress. It is a lot like the Pillowcase Dresses I made last summer, with the exception of a more A-Line type skirt than the straight line. If you are uncomfortable making your own pattern, you could buy New Look 6578. Just use the front panel of the dress and cut straight across the neck line instead of making a scoop and straps.


I think the best, and cheapest, way to make a pattern is to buy the paper bag looking wrapping paper Dollar Tree sells. It works great!

Supplies:
1 yd. material
60" bias tape/ binding
12" thin elastic ( I think I used 1/4")
pattern paper/pattern

1. Fold your paper in half and make your pattern. The pattern shown is for Arya's dress; she is about a 2T. Fold your material in half and place pattern on top. Cut out. Repeat for back of dress.



2. Sew the front and back together, right sides together, from the bottom of the arms down. Fold over about an 1" on the front and the back to make a casing for the elastic. From here, I followed the directions of the Pillowcase Dress starting at #5 to the end.


I made my own Bias Tape for this, but you could buy it also. I have $2.50 invested in each dress!

Honey Do Belt

What more does a husband need other than a list from you! I have had so much success selling my "Daddy Tool belts" that I decided to give these a try. I know Ryan hates summer because his "honey do" list keeps expanding as the weather gets warmer!

These belts are really simple to make, if you have the right supplies. I use my T-Shirt Marker program to make the iron-on on the belt. I bought this program about 2 years ago at Office Depot for $20 and I make all kinds of things with it. It's a great investment if you want to make your own printed shirts. I got my canvas waist aprons at Oriental Trading, but I think you can find them at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I got all of my stuffers at the Dollar Tree

Supplies:
canvas waist apron
iron-on transfer "Hubby's Honey Do Belt"
screwdriver
work gloves
tape measure
paint brush
carpenter's pencil (Home Depot or Lowe's)
picture hanging kit
card stock
safety pin

1.Prepare transfer and transfer onto apron.
2. Using card stock, make a card with emergency numbers (I used Publisher).

3. Arrange items in pockets of apron.
4. Attach emergency card with safety pin to apron.

Little Girl Mirror

I finally had some time last night to do crafts!! I saw these mirrors at Hobby Lobby yesterday and thought I could make them for less than the $3.00 they were selling for! Plus, the store bought ones were made entirely out out foam, which would last 2 minutes in my house.

I got my mirror at the Dollar Tree and used glue to attach a foam wig I made. I think I might make a little bow to put in the hair. Jaiden just loved it! These would make great treats for a little girl's birthday party with a little over $1 in each one!

I made this very inexpensive plaque for Jaiden's door. I got the plaque at Dollar Tree in the craft section. I painted it with one coat of purple paint. I used a black sharpie to write her name. I got a thin white ribbon and threaded it through the rivets to hang it. Jaiden loves it, that's all that matters! It almost looks as though the name was been burned in. My cost was a whole $1.00!

Log Coasters

I guess I have been on a coaster kick lately! These coasters are made from logs! I think the are really neat and would be a nice gift for someone that has rustic decor!

I had to enlist Ryan's help in making these! We tried two different kinds of wood to see what would work best. The first kind I tried, it was just a thick weed, split after it was cut and dried. This one is a log from an ash tree that my grandmother had cut down. It has been cut and drying for about 3 weeks now. I do not see any signs of splitting. It has held up well. I have been waiting to post this to see how the logs would do.


Ryan took a fresh cut log and used his miter saw to cut thin slices from the log. I'd say the slices are 1-1 1/2" thick. I then took a paint brush and put on 4 coats of polyurethane. Make sure to cover both sides and the bark. After it dried, I also used a spray acyclic sealer for extra protection.


You can either cover the bottom with felt or get some felt feet from the Dollar Tree in the "hardware" aisle and glue 3 or 4 to the bottom. They would look really nice stacked and tied together with a piece of raffia to give as a gift.

Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation Day is coming up on May 5th. This is a nice gift to give any teacher that actually serves a purpose! It is a bottle of hand sanitizer with teacher stickers decorating the bottle. Best of all, there is only about $1.50 invest in each one!

I got both my hand sanitizer and stickers at the Dollar Tree. Make sure that your sanitizer bottle has labels that can be removed. Just remove the labels from the bottle, you might need to just Goo Gone to get some of the stickiness off, and just add your stickers.

The original idea for this gift was found on Just a Girl.

Saucer Coasters

I really, really liked this coaster until I went and used glittered Mod Podge! With that being said, I still like. You can make a set of 4 of these coasters for about $4.00.

I got my saucers for $0.75 each at Walmart and my stickers also for $0.97 for a whole sheet. I found the felt feet at the Dollar Tree in the "tool" aisle

Supplies:
4" clay saucers
stickers
craft paint
clear acyclic spray finish
Mod Podge
4 felt feet

1. Paint saucer with several coats of paint.
2. Position stickers on saucer.
3. Coat with Mod Podge.
4. Spray with acyclic sealer to make them waterproof.
6. Add felt feet to bottom of coaster.

With the cost being so low, your little one could make these for grandma for a nice and personal gift for Mother's Day.

Framed Mirror

Pretty, easy and cheap! No, it's no a date! I got both the mirror and frame from the Dollar Tree. My total investment was $2.

Remove glass from 3.5 x 5.5 frame. Using E-600 glue, glue the mirror to the inside of the frame and let dry.


Remove rubber feet from back of mirror. Glue frame back to back of mirror and let dry.


I bought an easel frame, but it also had hooks on the back. You could either hang this on the wall or place on a coffee table.

Eraser Pads

Arya decided to try out some of her artistic abilities on my backdoor, window, and my TV room window. I had always heard to get those Mr. Clean eraser pads to remove anything off of your walls. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought their version on the cleaning pads (2/$1). It took the crayon right off of my metal door and the windows. It left a little brown residue from the crayon, but I wiped it clean with a wet paper towel. I definitely would recommend this product!

St. Patrick's Day Treats

I made these for Jaiden to take to dance class and to school tomorrow. I made green Play Dough for the kids. I got food containers from the Dollar Tree (6/$1) and attached a shamrock cookie cutter from Sugarcraft. I have less than a $1 invested in each one.

Princess Easter Basket

I am really happy how this turned out!! Jaiden saw it and thinks it I should give it to her! I had already planned on it, she just didn't know!

I wanted to make a fabric liner for the basket to give it a more finished look. If you do not sew, just skip the liner and add the skirt to your bucket.

Supplies:
White material (step 1 tells how much depending on your bucket)
2/3 yd tulle
7/8" grosgrain ribbon
hot glue gun
needle & thread
Easter bucket ($1 at the Dollar Tree)

1. Turn the bucket upside down and trace around the top. Cut this piece out. Measure the circumference of the bucket and the height. Mine was 26" around and 6" tall. Now double the height and add an inch. My height is now 13". Add 1/2" to the circumference, so it is now 26 1/2". So, I cut out a piece that measured 13"x26 1/2". Now, cut this piece in half. I had 2 pieces that measured 13x13 1/4".



2. Sew the two side pieces together to form a tube. Sew bottom (circle) to tube.






3. Place the fabric tube into the bucket. Fold the edges down over the outside of the bucket.







4. On the fabric, mark where the handle goes. Take the fabric off the bucket and with a seam ripper, rip out a few stitches where you marked the handle. Place fabric back over bucket. The handle now should stick out of the tube. (This is why you sewed 2 pieces to make the body of the tube.)



5. Put the handle back on the bucket and it should look like this now.







6. Hot glue the bottom edge of the fabric to the bottom of the bucket to hold it in place.








This is what the bucket should look like with the fabric cover on it.





To make the skirt:

1. Cut the width of your tulle into 5 strips, keeping the length at 24". Make a line of stitching at the top of the tulle. Neatness doesn't matter.





2. Glue one end of the thread and the edge of the tulle to basket. Pull thread tightly and glue the other side down into place.





3. Even out the fluffiness of the tulle and glue down in a few spots to hold it better to the bucket.







4. Glue the ribbon under the rim of the bucket. Put the glue on the ribbon and pull it tightly. Press down really good on the ribbon to glue it down. Cut any tulle down that is hanging out over the top of the ribbon.




5. To make the bow: Cut two lengths of ribbon



6. Make the larger piece into a loop and sew the ends together and to the front of the ribbon.


7. Sew the smaller piece to the back of the loop. Wrap a piece of thread around the front to gather the middle.

8. Glue a small piece of ribbon around the center of the bow to hide the thread. Glue bow to center of ribbon on bucket.

Cupcake Bath Puff

When a friend explained this to me she said it is a flower bath puff, but I think it looks more like a cupcake than a flower. So, I am calling it a cupcake bath puff. What's more convenient than a bath puff with the soap already in it?

Supplies:
1 pound melt & pour glycerin soap (I used Dial glycerin soap and not the kind I should have!)
5 Mini/travel bath puff
Cupcake pan (I used a silicone pan)

1. Melt soap in microwave for 30 seconds at a time until soap is melted.
2. Pour into cupcake pan, filling it half full.
3. Press puff into pan.
4. Allow to set and remove from pan.



This would make a nice filler in an Easter basket or a very nice gift for Mother's Day.

Easter Basket Ideas

Here is a list of some ideas to fill an Easter Basket for all ages. Growing up, my grandmother always gave us grandchildren a swim suit and a beach towel in our baskets. I loved this tradition!

1. Swim Suit
2. Beach Towel
3. Gardening Tools
4. Gift Cards
5. Watering Pail
6. Plastic Wagon (instead of basket)
7. Stickers
8. Sun Glasses
9. Coloring Books & Crayons
10. Games
11. Homemade Play Dough
12. Sidewalk Chalk
13. Jump Rope
14. Books
15. Make-Up Bag
16. Change Purse
17. Wallet
18. Rice Crispy Treats
19. Spring Pillow Case (Instructions)
20. Bubbles
21. DVD
22. Individual Snack Bags
23. Teen Coupons (curfew extension, sleep in late, get out of 1 chore, etc..)
24. Ball
25. Bath Toys

Asian Trinket Box

Jaiden is very proud of her Japanese heritage (from her daddy) so I thought I would make her this little jewelry box for her trinkets. I have a whole $1.00 invested in this box!! I got the box at the Deals dollar store. I wrapped a piece of cardboard in quilt batting and then silk fabric. I used a hot glue gun to hold the fabric to the cardboard and then glued it into the box. Oh, I sprayed the box with a high gloss black.

Review of Dollar Tree Products

I have been shopping at the Dollar Tree and thought I would put two products to the test. First off is the cookie spatula. LOVE this!!! No more scrunched up cookies! I hate it when I remove cookies from the pan with a regular spatula and my cookies look like they are all scrunched up. This worked great! The cookies came right off the spatula and did not stick to it at all!! I give this a 10 out of 10!!!

Next is a set of two disposable cookie sheets. They have guides so you will know how to properly space your cookies. I sprayed the sheet the first time with non-stick spray and they slid right off.
Likes: No pans to wash after cookies are baked, grid makes cookies evenly spaced so they don't create one large cookie (speaking from experience here), and cookies are removed easily. Dislikes: Pans are so flimsy. They bend at the slightest touch. Getting the pans into and out of the oven are a challenge. I give this pan 7 out of 10.(The higher rating comes from my hatred of washing dishes!)

I did put this pan to the test further; I baked one batch of cookies using my more expensive baking sheet.















Here are the results: The front and back cookies of the left of your screen was cooked on baking sheet "A" and the cookies on the right with baking sheet "B". Can you tell which is which??

Stocking Bags

I decided to do a little something different for our Christmas stockings. I think they are just too small and cannot accommodate all of the goodies we receive. The items that won't fit into the stockings just end up in a Walmart bag on the floor next to the stockings.

I decided to eliminate the stocking all together and just go for the bag. I bought plain red paper bags at the Dollar Store. We got all kinds of glitter, stickers, markers, and paint to decorate the bags. We had had the best time making our masterpieces.

I decided to make this a tradition and keep the bags every year and give them to the girls when they get older.