Carpet Powder

As I’ve confessed on here before, I am an avid vacuum-er, {eh-hum, possible addict}. I love how fresh and clean my home feels after I vacuum even if there is toys & shoes still everywhere! My obsession has become even more crazy now that we have a pup. Of course the puppy chews and chews on anything and everything leaving crumbs behind in the process… and that’s when I come in, the crazy lady with the vacuum. I had bought some inexpensive carpet powder at Walmart forever and a day ago but I recently ran out. Anytime I run out of a store bought product I like to replace it with a home-made one! Obviously the more natural the cleaning products I use, the better the environment is for our family and even the pup {Lennon}! Baking soda is ALWAYS my go-to product that I love, love, LOVE to use. It disinfects areas as well as eliminates smells! Win, Win in my book {especially when you have a stinky pup running around. ;-)}. Here is my very SIMPLE version on carpet powder that I found to work for our family… feel free to try it out!

Items Needed:

• 1 1/2 cups Baking Soda
• Essential Oil or spice  to desired smell {I used cinnamon}
• Bottle to store it in {I used a mason jar with a parmesan cheese lid. It fits perfectly!}

How To:

• Mix together your baking soda and essential oil/spice.
• Shake well.
• Sprinkle freely amongst your carpet. {I let mine sit for approx. 5 mins just to let it do it’s work.}
• Vacuum

I love simple yet “green” home-made products! You may be wondering why I chose baking soda and cinnamon…

Q & A’s:

Why baking soda? –Baking soda is known for it’s disinfecting powers as well as neutralizing smells.

Why cinnamon? –Leaves a fresh, pleasant scent and duals as an ant repellent. {Yes!}

Enjoy!! 🙂

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MIA

I just wanted to touch base with all of you and let you know the reason I’ve been MIA lately. I’m so excited to announce that DIYconfessions is currently getting redesigned by the amazingly, wonderful Emily from Designerblogs.com and will soon have a fresh, modern look! {Screaming} Yayyy! The look of DIYconfessions will most likely be changing for the next couple weeks until all is snug to perfection. I honestly cannot WAIT for the final product! It’s incredible to be a part of this growth and expansion to bigger and better things! I appreciate your patience and excitement as we experience bloggy “growing pains”. 🙂

Here’s a sneak peak of the new “pin it” and “DIY confessions” header design:

Fabulous things are underway!

Love, love, love you all!

-Ceara

SUGAR COOKIES

Lately I have been cooking and baking A LOT more than normal. I’m talking like every night there has been a meal on the table by the time hubs gets home. For some of you supermoms out there, this is your normal. For me… eh, not so much. I decided to go all “Leave it to Beaver” on my family and make sugar cookies to top it off! I think it’s the prego side coming out but either way, I’m going to ride this wave for as longgg as I can. I’ll warn you, these are pure deliciousness with not an ounce of healthy in them so, get ready! 😉

Ingredients:

• 1 C Butter
• 3/4 C Vegetable Oil
• 1 1/4 C Sugar
• 3/4 C Powdered Sugar
• 2 T Water
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1/2 t Cream of Tarter
• 1 t Salt
• 5 1/2 C Flour

Click the link for the FULL recipe with instructions! C’mon,  you know you want to 😉  vintagerevivals.com

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35 Easter Basket ideas {besides candy}

Spring has arrived and has brought cold weather with it here in Indiana! I’m anxious for a little sunshine! Easter is right around the corner thought and I’m hoping for a nice, Spring day! As a little girl I remember my mom waking me up on Easter, telling me to go find where she hid my basket. I loved seeing what surprises she had tucked inside the basket. Of course she gave some candy but she would always throw in little goodies as well. This year I wanted to make a fun Easter basket for my little one but not full of candy, especially since she is 1 1/2 yrs old. I figured some of you are racking your brain too trying to think of what to toss in the basket that your kiddo’s will find fun so I made up a list! Here’s some ideas that I found…

1. Play dough
2. Puzzles
3. Bubbles
4. Coloring books – I still love coloring 😉
5. Markers and crayons
6. Fun toothbrush
7. Silly putty
8. Slinky
9. Movies
10. Sand toys
11. Pool toys (squirt guns, goggles, etc.)
12. Superheros
13. Bouncy balls
14. Sidewalk chalk
15. Barbies
16. Legos
17. Letters and shapes for bath time
18. Eggs full of small toys
19. Blocks
20. Sunglasses
21. Hair accessories
22. Nail polish
23. Movie tickets
24. Stuffed animal
25. Cologne
26. Frisbee
27. Personalized stationary
28. New PJ’s
29. Sippy Cups
30. Stickers
31. Children’s Bible
32. Crazy socks
33. Finger paints
34. Jump rope
35. Board game

Hope you find some of these helpful!

Love your guts!

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SLUIS, party of 4

I don’t even know where to start with this post because I’m about to flippin’ explode with news! You know when you buy a Christmas present for your best friend and you have to wait weeeeeks before you can give it to them and you’re just practically dying inside? Well, that’s just about how I feel right now! I was planning on waiting to share some news with you until a few more weeks but… I just can’t wait. I’m not good at waiting, at all. 🙂 So, here’s the fun news…..

It’s such an amazing blessing to be the mommy of that little ham and to think I’m going to have another baby in November is just more than I can handle! AHHH! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m incredibly excited… 😉 Well, if you follow me be prepared to see baby bump pics on Instagram & hear a lot of baby news along the way.

Love your guts!

Eek!

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Home-Made Febreze

Last night we ran into an uh-hum, “incident” with our new puppy, Lennon. Like all puppies do, she had an accident buuuuut…. it just so happened to be in OUR bedroom! It was quite possibly the worst smell I’ve ever encountered. Of course we got out the big guns and cleaned it up quickly but the smell still lingered and lingered and lingered. The next morning I had to get that ronchi smell out ASAP! Lyla was sick though and there was no way I was going to be able to take her to the store so on a whim I made my own Febreze. I got the recipe here and I couldn’t thank this blogger enough! The stink is gone and my house smells super fresh! Oh and you want to hear the best part about it? It costs less than $0.25 to make! No worries, I’m more than willing to share the recipe folks. Check it out…

Items Needed:

• 1/8 Cup of Fabric Softener
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
• Hot Water
• Spray Bottle (I used an empty windex bottle)

How-To:

• Using a funnel, pour the fabric softener & baking soda into your spray bottle.
• Fill the spray bottle with hot water and shake well.
• TIP: Don’t forget to twist the nozzle over to the LOCK position if you’re using a Febreze bottle, or you might fall on your hiney.
• Now spray every stinkin’ inch of your house! 

Store-bought Febreze: $5.59

Homemade Febreze: $0.15

Total Savings: $5.44 OR  97.3%!

Stoked to add this to my list of home-made cleaning supplies! 🙂

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Meet Lennon. Lennon, meet world.

Well, my husband has been dying for a dog for years now and I was a little “anti- dog” up to now because I knew I’d be the one taking care of it… all the time. My little lady {Lyla} is 18 months and is an animal lover galore though so between hubs and Lyla, I gave in, folks. We searched around at Uncle Bills pet shop and researched puppies online but we ended up falling in love with a little boxer mix at the Humane Society of Indianapolis! She was giving us those “puppy dog eyes” aaaand we caved. I want to introduce you to our newest addition to the family! She is currently three months old, FULL of life and loves to chew… everything!

Meet Lennon. Lennon, meet world.

I love the beautiful brindle color that she has and those brown puppy dog eyes. ❤

I knew you’d love her just as much as we do so I had to share! Now any suggestions on the teething part? She’s not a huge fan of her bones. {{Help!}}

Find more pics of Lennon on Instagram!

Have a great day! 🙂

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Protein Hair Mask

Since I’ve had my little one, I have really struggled to find time to do my hair! It’s sometimes complicated to just find time to wash it! {I know it’s gross but let’s be real folks.} These days I tend to just “throw it up”, spray a little hair spray on it and go. I normally have a lot of body to my hair since it’s naturally wavy but lately it has been limp, dry and just plain blah. I researched and found that a hair mask is supposed to boost the body and give it shine as well as nourish the scalp which sounded wonderful but I really didn’t see how it could give it body. I figured that the olive oil in the hair mask would just make it greasy and weigh it down. Either way though, I was desperate and gave it a shot. My expectations were pretty low and I honestly didn’t know if my hair would end up looking like a grease pit when I was finished with the mask but to my surprise, it worked beautifully!!! Honest… I felt I needed to take the time and share this with all of you because it’s just that amazing. You HAVE to try this!

Protein Hair Mask {Recipe}

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 Cup WARM Water

How To:

• Make sure your hair is freshly washed & detangled. Also, pat hair with towel to soak up moisture.
• Mix all ingredients together.
• Apply to damp hair. {The best way to do this is to use a bottle with a small opening at the tip and distribute throughout hair.}
• Once mask is applied, run a comb through your hair to be sure the mask is evenly distributed.
• Let sit for 30 mins.
• Rinse hair with warm water & shampoo & condition as normal.

This mask gave my hair more body than ever before and helped to sooth my dry scalp! Loved everything about it! I know you’ll love it too!

Q’s & A’s:

• What are the benefits of using a protein hair mask? It creates healthy, smooth & shiny hair that has more body than before as well as encourages hair growth.

Why olive oil for your hair? Olive oil improves the elasticity of your hair, conditions and reduces frizz.

Why egg yolk for your hair? Egg yolk makes your hair softer, silkier and more manageable, and the added strength from the protein prevents breakage. Your hair will also have more volume and will reflect light better, making it shinier.

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Winner Reveal!!!

I have been counting down the days to give the winner reveal for the $50 Hair-Hardware Giveaway and it’s finally here!! There were soo many excellent entries and I couldn’t stand the pressure of JUST picking ONE soooo… I let the random number generator do it for me. 😉 Everyone had a number {everyone’s number was determined by the order their comment was submitted, I just typed in the amount of entries there were and let the generator spit back a winning number. I am happy to announce that Mandy Blank won!

Congrats!! You have until Monday the 11th at midnight to claim your $50 gift card! Please e-mail me at ceara.sluis@gmail.com and we will work out the details. 🙂

Thank you everyone for your entries! There will be more giveaways to come shortly!

Love your guts!

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Photo Shoot!

Recently my friend Chrissy and I had a photo shoot with my daughter to help show off some items! The pics turned out great even though my little one {Lyla} had a bit of a breakdown. She had not napped at ALL that day and let me tell you, she was not feeling a photo shoot. We still had fun though and I was happily surprised to see a handful of them turned out wonderfully! Check out how fun and girly these photos are!

 

Oh and I just had to throw this one in to show off her doggy bows she makes! 😉

How adorable is this? My incredibly talented friend Chrissy actually made the tu-tu and the hair bow you see in the photos! She also makes a variety of other items such as fruit arrangements, wreaths, etc. {{By the way, she did not ask me to advertise her. I just love these photos and her products and wanted to share with everyone!}} If you’re interested in seeing more of her products please contact her at csmccurry3@yahoo.com.

Have a wonderful week folks!!

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P.S. There is still time to win the $50 giveaway going on! Winner will be revealed March 8th!