Crayon Monogram Tutorial

I saw several versions of these crayon monograms on Pinterest.  I pieced together ideas from different tutorials and this is what I came up with.

You will need:
New crayons - I used all the pretty colors from a box of 64 making 2 letters
Old crayons - for filler and practice
Frame - I used a $2.98 black plastic frame from Walmart.  You could go more expensive.  My only requirement was the the frame was thicker than a crayon so the crayons wouldn't stick out past the frame.
Razor blade knife - I'm not sure what these are called, but I think they cost about a dollar.  The blade slides up and you can break off the tip to get a new sharp point.  You could try other knives but when I explain my cutting method, you'll see why I like this one.
A cutting board - mine obviously needs a good bleaching!
Glue - I used hot glue but I think tacky glue would also work well
Paper - I used white cardstock...big enough to fit the frame
Letter - either printed or drawn.  I used Elephant font and made it as big as it would fit on a regular sheet of paper.  Then I adapted it to fit my crayon size and look right.
Pencil and Pen
Scissors
Whatever random box or book that will work as a flat surface and is nearby if you're doing this on the floor in front of the TV like I did.

Start by laying crayons on the printed letter.  I did a few tries with old crayons and brown crayons (cuz I wasn't going to use them in the finished letter) to get the spacing and the cutting technique down.  With your razor blade out past the point that it's safe, but just right for rolling completely around the crayon, lay the blade across the crayon and use it to roll the crayon along the cutting board.  Ideally your line will be straight and you will have cut through the paper all the way around the crayon.  You will have also scored the crayon and it will snap right where you've scored it.

The angle cuts are harder, but I think they are what make the whole thing look more finished.  I used a sawing motion to get through as far as I could and tried not to tear the paper.  Only a few crayons gave my trouble.  Most cut pretty easy, even on an angle.
Note: see the red tip at the very top of the letter.  That's where the old crayon bucket came in handy.  I found the same color of red to make the pointy part (serif, maybe?) stick out farther, since one crayon length wasn't wide enough.

Keep filling in, cutting crayons at different lengths.  It's not shown, but up through about the green zone, there were middle parts of the crayon that were just thrown out.  By the blue, I was using the whole crayon with just one cut.
You can see how I adapted my printed letter to fit the crayons better.  I slimmed down the right front of the D.  If I had left it full size, 1 crayon wouldn't have covered the full width.

At this poing I wanted to check how my letter was going to end.  I used different crayon pieces to fill in spaces (on the left), but also paid attention to my rainbow pattern (on the right).

Using the cut crayons from the top section, I mirror imaged them from the bottom up.  So, the orange crayon that was already cut at the top was used to measure and cut the periwinkle crayon at the bottom...and so forth, to make it symetrical.

Next I gently rolled the crayons off the D paper, keeping them in their places.  Then I cut out the D, but narrowed it down quite a bit.  I used this to lightly make lines on my white cardstock so I'd know where to glue the crayons.  Each letter is different, but for the D, I really only needed the inside as a guide.
I think that a shadowbox frame would be really neat.  However, I am cheap, so I didn't get shadowbox frames.  I just put the white scrapbook paper in front of the glass (I did take the frame apart so that my paper is going behind the frame edges...thought I should add that in for the extrememly craftily challenged who may try this).

Time to start gluing.  If you are using a glue gun, once the glue touches the paper, it's pretty much dry, so make sure you have it in place before you press down.  Tacky glue would give you more time to adjust the individual crayons.  Something else to consider is whether or not you care which way your crayon label faces.  I just let mine fall randomly.  I guess that depends on just how OCD you are. ;)
Note: About halfway down the right side of my D, I realized that my crayons were wondering back and forth a bit so I used my pencil as a straight edge to keep the rest in line.
Something else to keep in mind...as you are gluing your curved edge, it will matter which part of your crayon faces up.  Line up the cut edge with the angle facing along the curve so that you know where to glue.

Not perfect, but not bad for my first try!  In the final picture you'll see that I also added the teacher's name at the bottom.  You could print this on the paper before you start.  I wrote it lightly in pencil first and then traced over with a fine point sharpie.

I decided to do the C a little differently.  I alternated the points of the crayons left and right.  I think it turned out pretty cool too.  You can see how I altered the shape of the printed letter here too.

Here are my finished letters.  I still have a W to do.  Might try it out of pencils since I used up all my good crayons on these 2!

We need a little Christmas

Looking for a new, fun way to decorate for Christmas?  Buy a red (or white, or green, or all 3) feather boa!  Cut it up and wrap it in fun places.  I bought one at our old house where I had 3 slim, black shelves on the wall.  I cut lengths for each shelf, took off my regular knick-knacks and replaced them with Christmas-y ones.  It was really cute.  I don't have the shelves anymore, so I improvised with the boa pieces.  I wrapped them around 4 candles on wroght iron stands.  I put them around another candle that's in a bird cage shaped thingie (feathers...bird cage.  Appropriate, right?).  And the last little bit I wrapped around a white flower that I stuck on a lampshade a while back.  BTW...got the white flower at Claire's for $1!

I think feather pieces would be really pretty in the tree too, if you had one of those matchy-matchy trees (which I don't).  How about surrounding a mirror or sticking out behind a picture?  Woven through a metal sculpture?  I think you can get away with more, decorating-wise, when it comes to the holidays.  I mean, you don't want to go OTT (over the top), but you can take some liberties.  For example, I have a picture that I gift wrapped and hung back on the wall for Christmas.  Actually, it's the picture with oranges in it behind the bird cage thingie.  At no other time of year would this be cute, but at Christmas, it just fits.  A little OTT is called for.

I also have an orange and black mixed boa that I bring out in the fall.  I like birdies in my decorating.  I guess feathers were the next logical step!

Go out!  Buy a BOA!  Go CRAZY!  Or at least look for one on sale after the season so you can go crazy next year. ;)

Summer Delight

I was taught this recipe my freshman year of college (who says you never use what you learn in college?!?).  One of my friends had to do a demonstrative speech and we reaped the fruits of her labor by being her guinea pigs for the pracitce round.

This simple, delicious dessert is always a crowd pleaser.  It looks so pretty and tastes so good, but requires no more work than a bit of chopping, stirring and dumping.  I've taken it many times to carry-ins and I'm always asked for the recipe.  It's also very light so you can have ten more than one helping without getting overwhelmed.

Since my freshman year seventeen a few years ago, I have made this dessert countless times.  Every time that my mom was around when I was making or had made it she never failed to ask, "What's this dessert called again?"  To which, I always replied (with less and less patience each time), "I don't know mom.  I just make it."  After the millionth 10th or so time that she asked, I finally just made up the name "Summer Delight".  I couldn't come up with anything more creative and everytime I say it, I think of Afternoon Delight, so I'm open to name suggestions.  Maybe something like Summer Trifle?  But then I'd have to re-train my mom on the name!!!  And I'm not opposed to having dessert ranked up there with "other" delights!

I am not a low-fat, no-fat, low-sugar, no-sugar type girl.  I like sugar.  I like fat.  It tastes good!  Real good!  However, this is one dessert that can easily be converted to all that low/no stuff and still be rather tasty.  Sugar free pudding w/ skim milk and lite cool whip.  I think angel food cake is relatively low fat/sugar, but I could be wrong.  Fruit is fruit...sugar, but the good-for-you kind.  That just leaves the chocolate chips, which you could possibly leave out if you're a Sugar Nazi (story for another time...let's just leave it as one of "those" moms that I encountered at my kids' pre-school), but please don't call it Summer Delight if you do.  Change the name to something way more boring for my sake, please!  Plus, dark chocolate is good for you, right?  Antioxidants and all that.

One last thing...sometimes it's hard to get good strawberries and kiwis in the winter.  Hence SUMMER delight.  I took these pictures with plans to blog back when it was summer.  Early summer, in fact.  I tried other fruit before, but it just didn't have the same ring for me.  You have to have that tarty bite of sweetness that only strawberries and kiwis create together.  I'm sure someone possesing a more distinguished pallette than I could make some suggestions (I'll drink day old coffee, reheated in the microwave and can't tell that much difference from the original stuff, so my pallette isn't up for the challenge of finding substitutions).

Ingredients:

1 lg or 2 sm packages of instant vanilla pudding *

Milk - enough to make pudding according to package instructions

Cool Whip - again, 1 lg or 2 sm *

Angel Food Cake - one, either store bought or homemade

Strawberries - 1 regular rectangular container (what is that, a pint? 2 pints? IDK)

Kiwis - 3-5 depending on size and how much you love kiwi

MINI chocolate chips (you have to buy a bag, but end up using less than half of it...the extras can be eaten by any dark chocolate lover than you know or mailed directly to me)**

*the size of pudding and cool whip probably depend more on your bowl size than anything else.  I usually buy based on whichever size is the best value at the time...it all tastes yummy in the end.

**do NOT be tempted to use regular size chips.  They get cold, hard and stick to your teeth.  Granted, there are worse problems than having chocolate in your teeth, but buying the mini chips is the way to go on this.

In a bowl that will ultimately be large enough to hold the pudding and the cool whip, make the pudding according the package instructions.

While the pudding is setting up in the fridge, clean, hull and slice the strawberries and peel and slice kiwi (or cut into small chunks).

Remove pudding from fridge.  Add  the cool whip, reserving some for topping, and stir to combine.

Now starts the layering.  I like to do 4 because it's easy for me to visually divide everyting into fourths.  If you're taking this to a party and have one of those pretty glass trifle bowls, you'll wanna break it out and be careful/fancy with your layering.  If not, just slop it in there cuz it all tastes the same in the end.

Layer 1: Angel food cake, torn/cut into small chunks/cubes (roughly 1")

Layer 2: Pudding/Cool Whip mixture

Layer 3: Strawberries and Kiwis

Layer 4: a generous sprinkling of Mini Chocolate Chips (maybe 1/8 cup-ish per layer)

**Repeat***

Top with dallops of reserved Cool Whip (but it looks pretty with just the fruit on top too).

Refrigerate.  You could serve right away, but it tastes better after sitting for a few hours or overnight.  The cake soaks up the pudding and the flavors just meld together.

Now's the part where you splash your face with flour and water and act like you've been slaving ALL day, so you get even more credit for your amazing creation!

By the way, anyone notice my slight obsession preference towards writing with strikeouts?  Anytime you can convey sarcasm thru writing, I'm on board! ;)

My favorite video clip ever!

This is probably my favorite video clip from our family videos.  The lighting was terrible and the camera was my first digital, therefore not great quality.  But it's still great to watch.  This would have been the summer before the kids turned 2.  We have watched this video tons of times and laugh every single time we watch. :)  Claire wanted a piece of ice so badly!

Pride!!!

Right now I am wishing like crazy that I did not give up facebook for lent.  I am bursting and the seams with pride and want so badly to post this there!  But, alas, if Jesus could fast in the desert for 40 days, surely I can not post on facebook for the same length of time.  Since I can't post there, you, my 18 followers, are gonna have to do.  Please comment so I'll feel the love and excitement!!!!

My daughter got an absolutely PERFECT report card!  First grade, so all Os (for outstanding) and all pluses under the individual grades (as opposed to minuses or checks), including behavior.  She could not have done any better on any area than what she did.  I almost cried over it!

OK, so I'm a little crazy.  All 3 of my kids have been on the honor roll every grading period so far (which also makes me very proud), but there have always been areas for improvement.  An S here, a check there, the occasional minus for something (usually behavior - DH's fault, for sure - haha).  I was one of "those" kids who had to get straight As every single time.  I cried when I got my first B in third grade, got only a few C's throughout junior high and high school and never got a D on anything.  So, although my kids do great in school and I brag on them like crazy and am so super proud of them, this level of perfection just swells me that much more with pride!

Sis, YOU ROCK!!!!!

My favorite Bible verse

I originally started to post about being a substitute teacher (which has been quite interesting), but as soon as I began to type about this change in my life, I started to think about how lucky and blessed I have been to NOT be subbing (or doing any other "real" job) for the past 7 years while my kids were at home.

Being a stay-at-home mom has been (or I guess was, at this point) one of the absolute biggest blessings in my life.  As we spent 5 years trying to conceive, I prayed and prayed that God would someday reveal the reason that we had to wait SO long to have a baby (or babies, in our case).  Along our journey, friends would tell me that they were pregnant.  I would be happy for them, but also VERY sad for myself.  I could see absolutely no reason why God would make us wait to have a baby while so many others around us were having babies...some of them great parents, some of them not so great.  I could never come up with a even a remote possibility as to why God was making us wait.  But I was wrong!

After the joyful Christmas morning (at 3am...but that's another story) when I peed on the umpteenth stick of my life, but FINALLY saw TWO lines and not one, the hurt and pain that I had experienced during our infertility trial disappeared in an instant, but some of the questions remained.  I was so happy to be pregnant, but still didn't understand why we had to go through the trial of trying and waiting.  Then, after our 3 little bundles of (crazy) joy were born, God answered my prayer to reveal why we had to wait.  And He didn't reveal just one small reason.  He revealed several major reasons!

If you personally know my husband and I, then you know that we are both first borns, both leaders, both know-it-alls.  We love each other like crazy, but we also butt heads like crazy.  God had, in His good plan for us, THREE babies...all at once.  If we had been given them right away, like I had wanted (and had seen no reason as to why we shouldn't have) I can 99.9% guarantee that our marriage would have crumbled under the stress of parenting 3 babies (and maybe even one).  We had no idea what we were in store for.  Although it was ridiculously stressful...and we still fought a lot...we had grown together over 7 years and were more prepared for the challenge of raising children than we were when we first started trying to get pregnant.

When I got pregnant, there was an "extenuating circumstance" that you could chalk up to coincidence, but I chalk it up to God having a good plan for our life.  We had tried one round of fertility meds, which we paid for ourselves, without success.  Realizing that the cost of fertility treatments would quickly go beyond what we could afford at the time, we decided to look into adoption.  Adopting a newborn is also quite expensive, but adopting a slightly older child (as a "foster to adopt") is not.  In fact, they pay you to foster in many instances.  This sounded like the answer to our troubles.  We'd get the child we wanted, while also giving a home to a child who needed one.  However, after going through the required classes, we were starting to feel that the cons outweighed the pros.  The poor children in the foster system have been exposed to SO many terrible things.  We felt so ill-prepared and were pretty much scared to death.  My hat goes off to any and all who offer a home to these precious children!

After going over that huge hill on the emotional roller coaster, we decided that giving fertility treatments one more try might be the way to go before committing to adopting an older child.  Because I was nervous that our insurance might clue into the fact that we were doing fertility treatments and therefore screw us over (like only insurance and taxes can) I was planning on paying for any and all fertility treatments directly to the doctor without even turing them into our insurance company.  If you're still reading, here comes the "oh wow!" part.  We were talking with our friends about our plans to do fertility treatments again and how we weren't turing them into our insurance company.  Our friend just so happened to be a personal trainer.  The owner of the company where my husband worked at the time just so happened to be one of his clients.  The 2 of them just to happened to be making conversation about us one day when our infertility issues came up.  The owner says to our friend, "I wonder if they know that they have $5,000 fertility coverage with our insurance policy?"  (Apparently he and his wife had spent years and lots of money trying to get pregnant without success and he had added the fertility coverage for his employees due to this.  FYI, fertility insurance is pretty much unheard of.)  We did not know about this coverage that we'd had all along!  I still remember hanging out in our pool when this conversation took place.  A little spark of hope started to grow inside me.  We used the coverage, and the rest, as they say, is history!

One of the other big reasons that God has revealed to me that we had to wait to have children is where this post first started.  When I was younger and thought about having children, I always thought it would be so nice to be able to stay home with our children, but it was always more of a dream than something that I thought could ever be a reality.  At the time that I go pregnant I was making at least half of our income (which, by the way, I had insurance and so did Greg, so we were doubly covered when we had the babies and never paid on red cent in medical bills - those were the happy insurance days - lol).  Even as we were trying to get pregnant, I figured I would have to do like all the other moms that I worked with - leave my precious little 8 week old baby with someone else while I tried to care about a stupid job**.  I never did price exactly what a babysitter or daycare for 3 newborns would have cost because without getting the actual figures, we knew that it would be really close to my entire paycheck every 2 weeks.  We didn't know how it was going to work, but we knew that God had finally given us our hope and that He would somehow make it work.  He SO did!  My husband had to make some changes...some of them quite bold, which had me scared to death.  But we have never suffered financially.  In less than a year after the kids were born my husband was making more by himself than we had been making together when I was still working.  Did I mention that I had short-term disability insurance at my job that covered my 6 months of bedrest as well as 12 weeks of maternity leave?  I got paid to lay around and grow my babies...what a gig!

So, to my favorite verse, if you haven't guessed it.  Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declared the Lord.  "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you a hope and a future."

I remember receiving this verse, printed on cardstock, at church camp during my senior year of high school. It was tear stained because I had spent time holding it while I prayed, trying to figure out what my major should be.  Talk about perspective - something that was so consuming at the time could now matter so little to me.  I mean, I'm glad that I have a degree...and do occasionally use it now...but if adult Heather could go back in time and talk to 18 year old Heather, she would tell her to figure out what paid the most for the least amount of work but that she didn't hate.  LOL  Don't worry - I will pass this insight on to my children. :)

Being raised in a christian home and very involved in church, I had heard this verse so many times throughout my life.  If someone would have asked me, "Does God have a good plan for your life?" my automatic response would have been "yes".  But although I could spit out the proper words, I don't know that I ever fully had the assurance DEEP, DEEP down in my soul until after going through 5 years of infertility, where I questioned if God even cared about me, much less loved me and had a good plan for me.  Then, after that long trial, being utterly blessed with 3 beautiful, healthy babies.  Although being a mom to 3 at once was possibly even tougher than not being able to be a mom at all, both things gave me the complete assurance that God DOES have a good plan for my life.  It may not come packaged the way that I want.  I may not understand the pain that I have to go through to get to His plan.  But I know that no matter what happens to me, God has a plan to prosper and not to harm me.  A plan to bring me a hope and a future.

Good news folks, the Bible wasn't written just for me.  It was written for ALL of us!  He has a good plan for your life too.  It's a promise!  How awesome is that?!  Work every day to follow that plan.  Ask Him to reveal it to you in His time.  Pray for patience and understanding when His plan doesn't make sense to you.  Spend less time trying to tell God what you want His plan to be for you.  Spend more time giving God "permission" to let His plan lose in your life.  These are words that I'm writing to you, but also to myself.  Because even after my life changing experience there are still times when life hits me in the face and I start out by thinking "why me?"  It may take a while, but eventually, I let God bring me back around to the point where I realize that whatever I'm going through is mostly trivial and that God will make ALL things good in HIS time (another verse there, but IDK the reference).

Thank you God for blessing me with 5 years of infertility where you grew me into the mother that you wanted me to be, the father that you wanted my husband to be, both of us into the couple that you needed us to be in order to raise 3 children and blessing us financially so that I have been able to spend the last 7 years being driven crazy 24/7 by my lovely children.  Please knock me upside the head with the reminder that Your Plan is the Only Plan and that's no problem because is is a wonderfully good plan.

**Please note that I am not knocking on working moms!  Every family has to do what is right for them.  For some that is working.  For me it was definitely being home with my children.  I do feel, very strongly, that our society is missing the boat when it comes to women, working and children.  When we women are preparing for life, no one ever whispers in our ears (much less shouts from the rooftops, like I think they should), "Spend some time thinking about a career, but keep in mind that some day you're probably going to want to have babies.  And you're more-than-probably going to want to stay home with those babies.  So work that into your plan, if you can."  We're told, "You can be anything you want to be!", but we're never told that what we'll probably want, deep in our hearts, is to be "just a mom" to our kids.  No one tells you what a wonderful blessing that is.  Well, here I am to say it.  If anyone reads this as they are thinking about their future and having children, know this...while not all women feel the need to be home, many (and I'd go as far as to say most) do.  No one can raise your children like you do.  If you can fit working into your life, great.  But nothing you do will count as much as raising your children.  Rocket scientist, brain surgeon, Mother Theresa...OK, well, maybe not her...but nothing else is as important as raising your children into the people that they are going to be.  Your children will drive you nuts.  You will long for the days when you could pee by yourself, eat without interruption, have a belly that doesn't have a roadmap of stretch marks.  But the day will come for you, like it has for me, when your children are in school and you miss being driven nuts.  When it feels strange to pee by yourself, not have to share bites of your food...and you'll buy some spanks...unfortunately the stretch marks are there to stay!  LOL
Again, although I am VERY pro-stay-at-home mom, please don't let my words guilt you (unless you feel that God is the one pushing that guilt).  It is not my intent to make any mother feel bad about doing what they feel is right for their family.  I am not that narrow minded that I think there is only one right way.  I just want to say something that I don't think gets said often enough.

Random (and not deep) thoughts

OK, so here are a few thoughts that sometimes pop into my head. I consider facebooking them, but then realize that no one really cares about this stuff. Ha! So, if you make the choice to read on you may have a laugh or 2, or you may be left thinking "I'll never get those 5 minutes of my life back".

Dear Clinique - please make your waxy eyebrow pencil in a screw-up-able form. I am tired of constantly sharpening mine. And half the time I knock the newly sharpened point into the toilet (because I shave it over the toilet and let the shavings fall in) or into the sink. I love the product, but hate the delivery. Thanks!

My husband currently only has 6 pairs of underwear. No wonder he's always running out of clean pairs. ***UPDATE*** In case you're worried, I bought an 8 pack so the underwear situation is under control once again!

Who decided that indigo should be part of the rainbow, or ROY G. BIV? Isn't indigo just a combination of blue and violet and therefore a tertiary (I think) color? No different from yellow-green or red-orange, etc. How does indigo get included? I feel this is not just to the other tertiary colors!

Why is it that every time you come into some extra money, you end up needing it for something and it doesn't end up being extra after all. I guess to be glass-half-full, I should be happy that we have the "extra" there to cover what it's needed for, but I feel more glass-half-empty about it since it happens way too often.  **UPDATE** Feeling way more glass-half-full about the money deal since I wrote the first half of this a while back (it takes me some time to compile random and not deep thoughts).  This month we unexpectedly came up quite a bit short on money.  And then we got money from 3 different sources that we don't usually get it from.  So, life's not always out to get ya. :)

It is sad that my memory is now so terrible that I originally came here to add another "thought" to the list, but after seeing the previous money thought and updating it, I now have NO CLUE what  the first thought was that I was going to add.  GRRRRR!!!  I blame the kids!

Oh, hooray, after clicking on the other tab that I had open in my browser, I remembered what prompted me to open my blog!  Has anyone seen the new Rachel Ray cooking show where she does a week's worth of cooking in one day?  Personally, I think she's missing the boat on that one.  The whole point of cooking several meals at once is to use the same ingredient/cooking method in several different dishes and therefore save prep time and clean up time.  She saves no time, just does 5 unrelated meals back to back.  I only watched 2 episodes before I deleted it from the DVR schedule, but in those 2 episodes I only saw her use ONE ingredient in more than one of her week's worth of meals.  I could so do that show WAY better...minus the raspy voice, of course.

Given the choices of Rick, Rich, Ricky, Richy why is it that people named Richard choose to have people call them Dick?

I gave up Facebook for lent...other than replying to messages and wall posts that are sent to me.  I'm amazed at how little I miss it.

Keep an eye out for a couple of recipe blogs that I need to post.  One for a frappuccino mix!  YUMMO!!!  And another for what I call "Summer Delight" which is a crowd pleasing dessert that includes pudding, fresh fruit, angel food cake and chocolate!  And also a tutorial for making really cool flowers out of old satin shirts.

Homemade DRY laundry soap and other laundry tips

I have several friends that use homemade laundry soap.  The number one reason - cost!  I haven't done the math, but it's pennies a load.  I made liquid laundry soap a time or two and while it did save a lot of money, it was a pain.  Cooking it.  Storing it.  Shaking it before every load.  Too much work for lazy old me!  I stumbled across a recipe for dry laundry soap and thought I would give it a try.  I've been using it pretty much exclusively ever since.  It's super easy to make/store/use.  And is just as cheap as the liquid version.  The only hard part is finding the ingredients.  Kroger carries them all in the laundry aisle.  Not sure about other stores, but if you ask around, I'm sure you can find them.

The ingredients are:

2 cups Washing Soda (not baking soda, although it is made by Arm & Hammer too),

2 cups Borax,

1 bar Fels-Naptha soap (I've heard that you can use other bar soaps, but have never tried).

First grate the bar of Fels-Naptha onto a piece of waxed paper.

If your kids are cheese lovers like mine, warn them not to eat the soap that looks deceptively like freshly grated cheddar!

Spread the soap out and let it air dry for a day or two.  This isn't a crucial step, but if you have the time it helps the soap break into smaller particles in the finished product.

 Using the waxed paper as a funnel, put dried soap along with one cup each of Washing Soda and Borax into a food processor.  Save waxed paper to use again as a funnel later.  You can use your every day food processor.  It's just soap.  Wash it when your done and you can still use it for food.

Process until WELL combined and the Fels-Naptha has broken down into small particles.  Add another cup each of Washing Soda and Borax (2 cups total each) and process until combined again.

Dump onto the waxed paper that you saved.

Used waxed paper as a funnel again and store in an air-tight container.  I use quart canning jars because I had them on hand.  My sister gave me a plastic lid that fits onto a wide-mouthed jar.  It's super handy because I don't have to fight with the lid and rim every time I open the jar.  You could also glue a lid into a rim to keep them together.  From one batch I get over one quart.  I store the extra in a regular sized mouth canning jar, which makes it easy to dump into the wide-mouth jar when I need a refill.

Now, here's the part you're going to have a hard time believing, but you're just going to have to take my word for it.  USE ONE TABLESPOON PER LOAD!!!!  I have washed hundreds of loads with this stuff and it works!  Trust me!  If you use too much it will build up on your clothes and washer parts.  Don't ask me how it works with so little, just trust that it does.

 

Using 1 TBSP at a time, you can see that a batch lasts a LONG time!  I don't know for sure how many loads it does.  Assuming that the end result yields about 5 cups, then you get 80 TBSP (thank you unit converter on my computer - ha!).  So, 80 loads.  I don't remember exact amounts, but let's say the Washing Soda and Borax each cost about $4.00 and the Fels-Naptha is about $2.00.  Also, you can get at least 4 batches out of each box of Washing Soda and Borax.  So, basically $3.00 for 80 loads of laundry - less than 4 cents per load.  And that's probably figuring high.

Some people have said that they don't want to use it because they like their laundry to have a certain smell.  That doesn't bother me, but I use softner in the washer and just buy a scent that I like for that.

I also dilute my softner with half white vinegar.  You can actually use just white vinegar as a softner, but I like to have the scent in there too.

Another laundry money saving tip...use cold water on most loads.  Unless you've got some really dirty, nasty, smelly stuff, cold water will get it clean.

One last money and time saving tip - Bounce dryer bars.  I bought one in March 2010 and haven't had to replace it yet!  It's just starting to show through to the bottom and will probably need replaced this March.  I think they cost about $3.  Can't beat that price.  And not having to throw a dryer sheet in with each load is just one more little time saver.

With 3 kids, I do a lot of laundry.  Probably averages out to a load a day.  So I've done anything I can to make it simpler and cheaper.  Hope what I have learned helps you out too.