How to Remove Lipstick Stains from Clothing

I had a complete freak-out moment last weekend when I went to get my clothes out of the dryer and found this:

That would be an empty tube of lipstick… that made it through an entire cycle in the dryer with some of my favorite clothing!  Noooooo!  Once I regained my composure, I decided that trying to get this lipstick out of my clothes would be a cheaper alternative to replacing them all.  Happily, I was able to get most of the lipstick out so I’m here to share the details with you in case you’re ever in my shoes.

Note: there are not before/after photos for this post.  See aforementioned reference to freaking out.

Here’s what I did:

1. Apply liquid detergent to each (yes, each) lipstick stain.  There will be a lot so prepare yourself for this to take a while.  Rub in detergent to stain with a toothbrush or old towel.

2.  Soak your clothing in the warmest water it can tolerate, either with a pre-soak option in your washer or in a sink/tub.

3.  Follow this soak with a full wash cycle in the warmest water your clothing can tolerate.

4.  Once your wash cycle is complete, inspect clothing for remaining stains.  If stains persist, repeat soak and wash cycle.  (I ran mine through three of these cycles and about 90% of the lipstick stains were gone.)

5.  Before your dry your clothing, make sure you’ve cleaned your dryer of any remaining lipstick residue.  If you don’t do this, you’re likely to end up right where you began.

 

I was quite ecstatic that I was able to get most of the lipstick out – it was everywhere, y’all.  There were a few items of clothing that didn’t have a lot of success: a few camis and unmentionables made out of a stretch knit material.  Since they go under my clothing, it was no big deal.  My jeans survived, as did some of my favorite tops – whew.  Mr. home.made. would not have been happy about me replacing all of that in one fell swoop.

I hope you’re better than me about checking pockets and you’re never in this situation, but just in case… try this out and see if it works for you before you throw everything out.  Your husbands will thank me.

Happy Monday y’all!

DIY Felt Acorn Garland

One of my favorite things about this time of year is collecting fallen acorns as I walk around my neighborhood.  I love using them in my décor and fall crafts, like my Acorn Tree or Glittered Acorns or Giving Thanks Wreath… and my latest addition, a DIY Felt Acorn Garland.

One of the bad things about fresh acorns is that they eventually begin to dry out and shrink and then fall out of their caps, so making a garland out of the real deal would be beautiful but it wouldn’t last long.  I decided to use some leftover felt balls to create a longer-lasting acorn garland.

To make this, you will need:

• Acorn caps of varying sizes
• Felt balls of varying sizes
• Twine or Yarn
• Hot Glue

This project is very simple – simply hot glue the felt ball inside the acorn cap.

Next, hot glue the acorns to a thin piece of twine or yarn for your garland, leaving room at the ends for hanging.  So simple and such a sweet touch of fall.

I added mine to my Dining Room Hutch, along with a glittered apple garland.

I look forward to using this garland for many seasons to come… I’m already thinking about making another with all white felt balls – wouldn’t that be pretty?  I could even find a way to work it into my Christmas décor somehow…

Have you been making anything with fallen acorns?  Link up in the comments so I can see!

Linking here:

Tatertots and Jello

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Be Different Act Normal

The Party Bunch

White Cabinets and a Laundry Room Reveal

I am so excited to finally show you a room that has been in progress for a long, long time… my hard-working, sweet little laundry room.

Here’s a little glimpse of what it looked like before:

See those almost orange cabinets?  They were the catalyst for this little makeover.  They actually used to be off white, but because the painter sprayed them with an oil-based gloss (a band-aid to make up for painting these in the wrong paint finish), they ambered over the past four years to this.  Every time I walked in there I wanted to vomit, mostly because I was so dang mad about it.  He even sprayed them while they were hanging, so there were obvious drip marks.  *Fuming*

So, I did what any DIY gal would do: I stopped getting mad and started painting.

See the inside of this cabinet?  That’s the color it’s supposed to be.

Yeah.

Anyhoo… after deglossing, sanding, priming, and painting these cabinets, I’m thankfully no longer seeing orange.

The cabinets are painted in Sherwin Williams Pro Classic paint in Alabaster – it’s the perfect creamy white, and the paint finish is really smooth since it self-levels as it dries.  I used a trim brush to get into corners and details and rolled the rest with a foam roller.

My laundry room is really more like a laundry hallway, as it is the entry point to my home from my garage (no glamorous mudroom here folks) – and although I really wanted to get front loaders when we replaced our washer and dryer, I knew that keeping the washer door open to discourage mildew growth would likely lead to a broken washer in this thoroughfare.  We went instead with a traditional top load washer, but upgraded to high-efficiency to save water and we’ve been quite happy with our choice.

I use the tops of the cabinets for additional storage by adding baskets – these hold bulk paper towels, seasonal items, and seldom used appliances.  I made the cute patchwork grocery bag dispenser a while back and it’s still hanging in there!

Since this is the door my family walks through as we leave our home to start our days, I wanted it to be fun and inspiring so there’s a message to be awesome and a fun little fabric garland on the door.  The laundry chalkboard printables were free from the Simple Things and Sweet Bellaroos.

One last peek…

So there you have it guys – the little laundry room that could, made much more cheerful with a nice coat of bright, white paint.

Next up, some kitchen cabinets that fell victim to the same awful painting mistake will be getting a fresh coat of white paint as well – this time, I’ll be trying my hand with a paint sprayer.  Whoop!  If you have any tips for using a paint sprayer, please share – I’m a little intimidated by the whole thing.  Talk me off the ledge?

Linking here:

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It's Overflowing

DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners

Hey hey friends!  Happy Friday to you!  I’m back from my unplanned but much needed summer sabbatical with a fun project that totally changed the look of my refrigerator: DIY Oilcloth Fridge Liners. 

Our refrigerator had some sort of mishap last week that involved the smell of something burning (according to Mr. home.made.), so we unplugged and unloaded it to investigate the issue… luckily it was apparently nothing major so we were able to put the fridge back in service, but not before cleaning it.  Ew.  I don’t think I realized how gross things had become in there until it was completely empty and out there for all to see: spilled yogurt, dried up lettuce leaves, and Lord knows what else.

After removing and scrubbing shelves for what seemed like forever, I was ready to not do that again anytime soon.  I found these great Fridge Coasters online, but I wasn’t ready to invest in them until I knew the concept would work for my family.  Instead, I got out what remained of my oilcloth stash.  A few measurements and cuts later, I had my own version of fridge liners that were just as cute and functional but didn’t cost me anything.  The plan is to remove these liners when soiled and simply wash/dry/replace.

I lined my produce and meat/cheese drawers with the liners, as well as the shelves on the refrigerator doors.  I chose to not line the additional glass shelves as the oilcloth is light-blocking, which makes it difficult to see what’s on the darker shelves below.

I made the door shelf liners by tracing the shelf onto the oilcloth, cutting in an inch from the outer front edge so the liner would fit the inside of the shelf.  Super easy. 

I couldn’t leave you without a shot of the organized, clean (and empty) fridge *hallelujah!* – the liners really go a long way to making it appear much cleaner and neater so I’m hoping it will stay that way. 

Note: must get wine to fill that empty bottle holder.

Hope you’ve had a great week – enjoy the weekend!

Linking here:

Tatertots and Jello

{The Vinegar Experiment} Cleaning Stinky Drains

My experimentation with using vinegar around the household continues this month.  Last month, I showed you my results of using vinegar to remove hard water buildup.  This month, I’m tackling a stinky sink drain.

My daughters went on a trip with my sister and her husband and during their absence, their bathroom started to smell of mildew.  It took me a while to figure out the source, but it ended up being their sink drain.  Turns out that my little girls shed quite a bit of hair and then apparently wash it down the drain… leading to a nice hair plug (see what I did there) that was mildewed.  Ick.  I removed the hair and cleaned the drain plug but it still reeked of mildew, so I put vinegar to the test again.

The first step was pouring baking soda down the drain and letting it sit for a bit.

Then, pour in your vinegar.  This part is fun (remember those middle school science experiments with volcano “lava”?) – it bubbles like crazy!

This part would probably be fun for your kiddos to “help” with, although it doesn’t smell the best…

The final step is following the vinegar and baking soda with boiling water.  I used a large mixing bowl (about six cups of water) that I heated to boiling in the microwave.

While you can’t smell the results for yourself, this method did work on my stinky drain!  I had to repeat the process once to remove the smell completely, but haven’t had to bother with it since.  I’ve also started using this same method to clean my sink disposal in my kitchen – I follow it with running a lemon slice through the disposal and it smells amazing.

So two vinegar experiments down and so far it’s proving to be quite the useful, eco-friendly, and inexpensive household helper.  I can’t wait to share the next vinegar experiment.  I’m already doing it and loving the results… stay tuned!

Linking here:

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(Recipe} Oven-Fried Chicken

When you grow up in the south, fried chicken is a frequent menu item albeit probably not the healthiest menu item… I’ve been making this healthier oven-fried chicken for years.  It’s easy to make with ingredients I usually have on hand and it’s always a hit with my family.  While you can use any chicken cut for this, we tend to go for the drumsticks since they’re easy for my girls to grab and eat.  Delish!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3- to 3 1/2-lb cut-up whole chicken (or cut of your choice)

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in 13x9-inch pan in oven.
2. In shallow dish, mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Place chicken, skin sides down, in pan.
3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Turn chicken; bake about 30 minutes longer or until juice is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and legs).

Enjoy!

Well hello there... and Summer Decor!

Hey, hey, hey friends!  Hello from the silence that has been brought to you by summertime and a new job.  Things have been pretty slow around here but that doesn't mean my to-do list has gone away.  And next on that list is some summer decor... here's some inspiration from the web.

Summer Table Setting from City Farmhouse

Summer Open Shelves from Beneath My Heart

Summer Porch Decorating Ideas from the Inspired Room

Summer Decor at Emily A Clark

Summer Dining Room from Town n Country Living

Aren't these some great ideas?  Makes me want to start freshening things up right now... just something about summer that screams light and bright.

Have a great weekend friends!