Floating

Lets start with the washing pile:

TO BE FOLDED. Mamma mia

Moving on to the children:

Toot toot

Curling hair

Making a new dress:

Admiring another dress although my hand was twitching for the credit card:

Green Bow? Yes please

Punching holes in brass for jewellery:

Looks like I uses a machine gun

The Kooky Green Owl was also very privileged to be included in a new shop launch. FRIDA. was launched on the 11th April at 25 Woods Street Beaconsfield. Labels in store include Douglas & Hope, Mad Love, Living Doll, Homeworks Design and many other designers. FRIDA. features an eclectic mix of accessories, housewares and collectibles. Pictures to come.

I hope you are enjoying your week. I know I am:)

Keeping my medium size hands warm.

Autumn is here! And a mountain girl has to keep warm somehow. A massive mug full of tea solves every chilly issue:)

I've started making cold pressed soap again!. I first started making soap around 5 years ago.....it's very tedious and highly addictive- they make great presents and also feel a lot better on the skin than the commercial stuff you can buy at supermarkets. I've made 3 batches so far (around 53 bars) but they will take 6 weeks to cure.

Making soap is lots of fun, but not great to do around children or animals due to the fumes and and the burning potential of caustic soda. Soap making is a simple process made more difficult by using caustic soda. There is absolutely no way to make soap from scratch without using caustic soda. Even natural soaps used in shops is made using caustic soda But the process of soap making, saponification- neutralises the caustic soda and by the time the soap is cures, there is no caustic soda in the soap. You also need oils or fats to make soap and when mixed with the oils, the caustic soda chemically reacts and neutralises. Caustic soda is the part that cleans, and the oils are the part that feels good on your skin.

Probably the most difficult part is mixing the oils and the caustic soda together. You can only mix them together when both have reached a temperature of 45-50 degrees Celsius. If they are at different temperatures, the soap will not work. You also  need to be prepared to stir for a long time but a stick blender can help that.

You can create different effects with the soap- you can make it look like an iced cake, or you can use perfect molds.

I like mine to look handmade and rough but that's just me. You can also add fragrance at the 'trace' stage (when slight ripples form on the surface and remain there after mixing for a while). But you also need to make sure you don't put too much fragrance in or it can burn. I use essential oils.

There are many books out there, with different recipes. And there are so many lovely oils you can use like coconut oil, macadamia oil, almond oil, palm oil, olive oil (you get the drift)...

If you have the patience and the time, it's worth giving a go.

Have a lovely week.

Hanging out in thought land.

Hi everybody!

I've had a cluttered brain lately so I decided to declutter the house hoping it would help. And it did!

Besides rearranging furniture, taking several trips to Ikea, deciding what things to discard, stubbing my toe on at least 3 occasions, eating way too much lime slice and making new jewellery, not much else has happened.

However I did find a genuine 60's Parker table with four chairs in perfect condition for next to nothing. The Owl scored!

Mid sort. Thank you Ikea for my Billy (budget) bookcases

And, I also rearranged one of the rooms that two little owls share....things are a little more organised now- hopefully we will never find socks hanging on hangers again (I'm not sure who did that)

rearranging the desk

We did have a lovely anniversary, in which Mr Owl and I celebrated our 12th year of him hanging around....he's still hanging around and I think he likes me:) We had the pleasure of going to a Beethoven Violin Concerto at the Melbourne Recital centre and it was so inspiring- although, it did point out to me how much work I have to do to actually play 1/10 of what those violinists achieve.

Backpack Cello's? Australia says yes!

He surprised me and bought me a lovely new lens for my camera- it is giving me much joy and I of course bought him his smiley puppy (a while ago) and a man lunch box (those ones with the thermos attatched to a box?) considering that he has been making his lunches in attempt to become a little more healthy.


The dog got hold of my boy's favourite sleeping toy....

Super boy with an Adductor strain (tear in the groin muscle)

I guess the toy of steel really wasn't. No good for PR.

I am busily planning my next market- and I have not stock left so the next couple of week are going to be intense- but good.

Butterfly pendant with glass resin dome and vintage image

My crochet hook has also been working- and I have been making a snood! I hope you all know what it is:)

I'm in the mood. The mood for a snood (if you're American)...otherwise, if you are English or Australian
I like hoods, and I like snoods:)

Have a lovely week everyone

Food based jewellery. No diets allowed.

I have been working on these cute rings.

They are lots of fun and I am learning to make more food items (and other things) out of clay.....I think Watermelon, Donuts and Milkshakes are on the menu. Eat up!

x

Graffiti quotes

My favourite

Homemade Laundry cleaner.

Itchy, scratchy and poor?

Look no further, homemade laundry cleaners that help eliminate a lot of the extra chemicals that cause many allergies and also saves the mean green as well:). Borax has chemicals in it, so if you wanted to eliminate all chemicals, maybe dont put the borax in.

These recipes were found in a great little book by Rhonda Hetzel- Down to Earth (a guide to simple living). She also has a cool little blog found here.

The most cost effect version of the laundry cleaner in the laundry liquid. You will need:

1 1/2 litres water
1 cup grated yellow laundry soap or homemade soap or soap flakes
1/2 cup washing soda (lectric soda, not baking soda)
1/2 cup borax

Method
Into a medium sized saucepan add the water and the soap. Over a medium heat, stir until the soap is completely dissolved.
Add the washing soda and borax. If you use the grey water from your laundry on your garden, leave out the borax because it can build up in the soil and affect your plants. Its safe to use if you have a sceptic tank. Stir until thickened and remove from heat.
Pour this mixture into a bucket and then fill the bucket with water from the tap. Stir to combine- it will thicken up as it cools and often separates, the more you stir, the smoother the liquid will be.
Poor the liquid into the container that you fill almost to the top. Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load and see what works for your level of dirtiness:) You can rub some of the liquid into a stain before you wash too.

Powder version (Easier but not as cost effective)
4 cups of grated laundry soap or soap flakes
2 cups borax
2 cups of washing soda.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in a container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash.

I have a few sickies in the house. I'm hoping the sun comes out to play so I can catch a bit of vitamin D.

:) x

Updating an old piece of furniture

It has been nothing but rain, rain and rain down these parts lately. The ground is so water logged, the rain water just seems to be sitting on the top- nowhere to go.....which is awesome for children and puppies who like to bring the outside, inside......... But, nothing a mop can't fix I guess!....and poor Lola has been neglected due to the weather...



So if you love old furniture and hate seeing an original piece be massacred LOOK AWAY NOW.

I have been rearranging the owlette's rooms, trying to reorganise and get ready for a one weekend makeover. Its kind of a surprise for the two older ones, who share a room, and so I've dragged all the toys out, pulled all the books off the bookcase in readiness for the upcoming weekend. We have arranged the children to be away with extended family that day, so me and Mr Owl can get down low, and go go GO!

Baby Owl has her own room at the moment. So I just rearranged her room and moved some furniture around. I've had this old piece for quite some time:

And decided to give it a minor colour uplift for the baby owl. I love it as it is, but it is probably a bit too "heavy"for a child and needed a little bit of oomph for baby Owl.

So I got some wonder colourful paper- scrapbookers paper, some mod podge and away I went. I'm not a scrapbooker but I've always admired the beautiful paper you can buy. It didn't take long.

I probably will do something about those door handles though

 

They are all overlapping as I didn't want it to look too perfect. And if I decide to go back to its original state one day, I'm sure it won't take long to take off.

I hope everybody has a lovely week.

x