Recipes on Tea Towels - Perfect for Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to everyone today! I'm quite fortunate to still have my mother around and I asked her to scan some of her mother's recipes to me, because I knew when I saw this post from Sometimes Handmade, I wanted to give it a shot. I can tell you if you skip the first step, it's not too late to give as a Mother's Day gift! It'll last longer than flowers, it's something you made, it's inexpensive, and it's generational - what more could you ask for in a gift?

If you want to prep the towels (so the ink doesn't fade when washing), you'll need:

* 1/2 teaspoon of fabric softener
* 2 1/2 teaspoons of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
* 2 Tablespoons of Alum (found in the seasonings aisle)
* 1 Cup of HOT water

If you are short on time, then just gather:
* Flour sack tea towels
* A black Sharpie (or fabric pen, but I doubt most people would have one on hand)
* Print outs of your favorite recipes

If you want to prep your towels, start by combining all of the ingredients together and letting it sit for 15 minutes so the bubbles can minimize.

Once the bubbles go down, dip your tea towels in until they're completely soaked.

Note that I only used two 30" x 30" tea towels (which is WAY too big, by the way!) and they soaked up every last drop, so if you're making more or have bigger towels, you might want to double the recipe. Give them about 10-15 minutes to set before rinsing and air dry them for 24 hours (or overnight, however long it takes).

Once the tea towels are dry, I recommend ironing them before you add the recipe (it'll be easier to transfer over the text on a flat surface).

Now some of you could:
a.) print out the recipe directly on the towel (but I'm too afraid to ruin my printer that way!) or
b.) could use freezer paper to transfer the image.

However, I'm going to stick with the original post and simply transfer the handwriting over... by hand.

Start by tracing over the recipe with your Sharpie (especially if it's an old recipe). That way, it'll be easier to see the words through the towel.

Place a tea towel over your recipe, make sure it's securely attached to the paper (I recommend taping it down so it doesn't move around during the transfer process).

If you still can't see the words through the towel, try taping it to a window. That's what I did and it worked perfectly!

Very slowly and carefully, trace the words of the recipe with your Sharpie. Don't rush it or it will look sloppy.

Once you're done tracing, take off the tape, fold it, and present to your Mom for Mother's Day or maybe even give to a bride as a bridal shower gift - it will last a lifetime!

TOTAL COSTS: $3.99 (or about $20 if you want to prep the towels)
If you want to prep the towels:
   $2.99 for fabric softener from Vons
   $4.99 for Alum from Vons
   $9.16 for Arm & Hammer super washing soda (for 55 oz. worth) on Amazon
If you want to skip the prep:
   $3.99 for tea towels from Target
   Sharpie and recipes on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Varies on how many recipes, how long they are, and if you're prepping the towels
15 minutes to prep the towels & overnight to dry
10 minutes to trace each recipe
10 minutes to transfer recipe to towel

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
The hardest part of this is having the patience to go over the text without rushing. You want to be sure to include every nuance of the original writer's text, as those are what make the recipe so special.

Store-bought vs. Homemade Laundry Detergent

Today's post comes to us from DIYNatural. I knew I had to eventually try this out - making laundry detergent vs. using store-bought detergent - however I wanted to try and be as methodical and scientific as possible. I bought two brand new white socks, got them equally dirty, and put them in two separate white-only loads - one with the store-bought detergent and one with the homemade detergent. There is one thing that I should have done, just to be completely thorough, that I didn't do: I used store-bought liquid detergent instead of dry but in my defense, it's Arm & Hammer and so is the washing soda for the homemade detergent, so at least it's the same company!

Making the homemade detergent isn't hard at all. All you need is:

1. 1 cup of borax
2. 1 cup of washing soda
3. 1 bar of soap (I used Fels-Naptha but you could also use Ivory, Dr. Bronner's, etc.)
4. A grater, a bowl, and a mixing spoon

First, grate the entire bar of soap into a bowl. This might take you a while so be prepared to work your arms!

Next, pour in one cup of washing soda and 1 cup of borax and mix together.

The original post said to use 1 tablespoon per load or 2-3 for larger loads but I would think 1 Tablespoon for a small load, 2 for a medium, and 3 for a large would suffice. I used 2 Tablespoons this time around. I found there was some floating to the top of the water but none of it stuck to the clothes, in case you're worried about that.

Make sure to keep in an air-tight container and properly label so your kids don't accidentally eat it!

Then came the moment of truth: did the homemade detergent do just as well as the store-bought?

Can you guess which sock used which detergent?

In the second photo, the sock on the left was washed with the homemade detergent and the sock on the right used the liquid store-bought detergent. The photo puts in some shadows that aren't there unfortunately because to the naked eye, they look like they were washed in the same load! I definitely plan on using this homemade detergent - it's cheap and super easy and believe it or not, it works!

TOTAL COSTS: Almost $20 (and supposedly makes 10 gallons worth)
$4.25 for Fels-Naptha bar of soap on Amazon (currently listing it as $4.41 but I think you can get it cheaper at stores like Target, Walmart, etc.)
$9.16 for Arm & Hammer super washing soda (for 55 oz. worth) on Amazon
$5.46 for 20 Mule Team Borax for 76 oz. worth on Amazon (currently listing as $5.26 but you can also buy this at your grocery store in the aisle with the detergent)

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 10 minutes
9 minutes to grate a bar of soap
1 minute to mix in ingredients

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
Unless you're not good at grating things, then this will be very easy for you to do in between commercial breaks or while you're waiting for the next load of laundry to be done!