Friday, February 10, 2012

An *Almost* Triumph

Today is my daddy's birthday, and since we couldn't afford to get him a gift this year I wanted to at least make him a nice card. The problem is, I'm pretty new to card making. I was going for something masculine yet nice-looking, and I think I did succeed at that. I know this is very simple, but for me, it is a great triumph. Except for one part...see if you can spot it.
Yup, I got red ink on my fingers and it smudged on the front of the card! To top it off, I sealed up the card in the envelope before realizing that I'd taken a horrible photo of it--it looked fine in the preview. When I went to give it to him, I found that the acid-free glue stick I had used had not been strong enough to adhere the paper permanently, and the card began falling apart! Craft Fail, anyone?

What happened to my blog?

I have this set up so that there is a poll on the left, the About Me thing on the left, followers and previous posts all on the left...and none of them are showing up as of yesterday. I keep going to the Layout page and making sure everything is set right and it is, but none of those things are showing up. I'd appreciate any help! I have no idea what happened.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Easy, inexpensive Valentine's Candy?

Money is especially tight right now, so Valentine's Day will be celebrated sometime after the official day. However, I may get around to trying to make some fudge using the simple method found here.

Strawberry 2 Ingredient Fudge

at Cookies and Cups.

I would like to use cherry icing and dark chocolate chips and see how that turns out. If I can scrape the money together, I will post the results on here! By the way, I hope to soon start adding pictures to my posts...things have just been crazy ever since our little girl arrived in July! The cherub image comes from The Graphics Fairy

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Removing Cat Urine Odor from Fabric

When a cat pees on the towels on the floor in the laundry room, you may be tempted just to throw them out. After all, the smell is horrendous, and nothing will ever get it out, right? WRONG! Turns out, removing that awful odor is simple and cheap. The secret is plain old white vinegar. Put your yucky items in the washing machine, add 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar, depending on the size of the load, and set the time for Extra Wash or your machine's equivalent. Allow the machine to fill with water. Stay by it or it will go into the next part of the cycle and you don't want that yet. As soon as the machine is full of water, stop it and allow the items to soak for a while--at least 3 hours. If the odor is really bad I sometimes do this right before bed and leave them overnight. When the soaking is done, add your detergent and start the machine again. Usually your smell problem will be completely gone after this, but if it's not, BEFORE you put anything in the dryer, repeat the vinegar soak and washing process. If you dry the clothes while they smell of cat urine, that odor is going to be kind of baked in and I can't guarantee that it will be removable!
Now you've cleaned your clothes and they smell nice and fresh, and you haven't spent a fortune, which is good, because you may need to spend one on a cat psychologist to find out why the cat is peeing on your towels! Thanks to The Graphics Fairy for the cute picture.