Pepper Paints

Win a Bounce Dryer Bar & a $50 Visa Gift Card!

I love to hang my clothes outside to dry, but here in Central Ohio, that amounts to a couple short months of warm enough temperatures and sunshine to get that job done. That means the other eight and a half months I use my dryer. Which to me means lots of static electricity. My kids hate finding their socks pasted to the quilt Aunt Rosie crocheted a few years back!

So when I was asked to try out the new Bounce Dryer Bar, I quickly agreed. I don’t usually use dryer sheets for a couple of reasons. I forget to use them and I find those sheets stuck to the quilts just as often as I find the socks. I don’t particularly like the perfumey scent of most dryer sheets either! After receiving my Bounce Dryer Bar in the mail, I anxiously unwrapped it and headed to my dryer. It easily stuck to the side of the drum in my dryer and within seconds I was armed with a Bounce Dryer Bar that promised me fresh, soft, static controlled clothes.

Sure enough, my clothes were super soft and the static was under control. I chose the unscented Bounce Dryer Bar and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of the overwhelming scent of typical dryer sheets. My entire load smelled clean without a perfume scent.Which is just the way I like it! I absolutely love the convenience of the Bounce Dryer Bar. No more having to remember to throw a sheet in with each load. With no static electricity, I managed to fold an entire load with no lonely, unmatched socks left over. Now that’s a bonus!

Yet, the real bonus for my dog-loving family is that once our clothes went through a load with the Bounce Dryer Bar, it definitely lived up to its hair repellency claim! Normally we are a static magnet for our pets’ hair but not so after using the Bounce Dryer Bar! I love the convenience of the bar! Months of soft, static controlled clothes and bedding! And so simple too! Just stick it and forget it! Visit Bounce’s Facebook page for more information on the Bounce Dryer Bar!

Would you like to try one? You can win a Bounce Dry Bar and a $50 Visa gift card from Bounce and BlogHer right here. Leave me a comment, or answer this question to enter: Do you dry clothes outside when it’s warm? Why or why not?

Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here.

For more opportunities to win, visit the Bounce round-up page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers’ reviews!

You Are A Winner!!!

Today is Learn Nothing Day

It’s absurd isn’t it? The sheer idea that you could ever learn NOTHING? Especially in a whole 24 hours. I have barely even been up for an hour and I have learned about a Gum Wall in Seattle, How to Regrow Celery, I found this thought provoking and mostly funny!, Niagara Falls goes Rainbow for Marriage equality in NY and that is just while having my first cup of coffee with my best friends fb and twitter!

With more failure to come today– I plan on listening to THIS , re reading HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST and finishing up a book I am reading. I haven’t even considered all of the  unplanned learning that will inevitably happen while I go about my day.

We are all failures at learning nothing. It is a non discriminating holiday. Age, race, sex or location can not keep you from learning. And it’s a great thing to be a failure at!! Congratulations-you win!!

My Art

This is a piece I have showing at The Upper Arlington Concourse Gallery. The LABORING show includes excellent pieces of art by fellow women in our group of Mother Artists at Work.  The show opening is Friday April 29 from 2 to 5 pm. There will be a screening of WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? at 2:45 followed by a round table discussion. If you are a woman, a mother an artist you need to see this movie. If you can’t make it to the opening, the show will run through May 20. Our best work so far!!

Color Project 1

Cheap and Easy Homemade Cleaners

Spring is just around the corner (thank the heavens above)!!!! I love Spring cleaning. Strike that-I love my house when I am done Spring cleaning. I purge and scrub and always move things around for a fresh new look. I am not big on buying lots of cleaning supplies. They are super simple to make and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.

Here are two easy and cheap  homemade cleaners that contain no harmful chemicals and still smell good!

Homemade Soft Scrub

Mix together

1/4 cup borax

1 cup baking soda

1 T biodegradable liquid soap (I use citrus castille)

Add enough water to make a pasty consistency

add 10 drops essential oils ( I like the smell of lemon and orange for cleaning)

If the scrub gets dry add a few more drops of water.

Anti-Bacterial Spray

To 1 cup white vinegar add

3 cups water

10 drops grapefruit seed extract

10 drops tea tree oil

1 teaspoon castille soap

10 to 20 drops lemon, lavender and/or orange essential oils

I am hoping to find my blogging mojo again. We are still creating messes all over the place–I promise to share more soon!!

DIY Lunch Bags And Gift Bags

I bought white lunch bags from one of my favorite local gems, Cake Craft. Cake Craft is a bakers oasis. Every type of candy mold, cake decor, boxes etc you can imagine.And all the sprinkles oooh!!

We used liquid water colors to paint our gift bags. I barely diluted the water colors keeping them as bright as possible. Open the bags up to keep the paint from bleeding through.

We let the colors run together on some and painted designs on others.

Take care not to tear them when they are wet. Once they dry they are ready to be filled with a gift or a lunch!

Look at the pretty bags at Artsyville! Actually look at all the pretty things there!!

Our Annual Holiday Crafting Day–Novena Candles, Beaded star Ornaments and Folded Magazine Trees

For the past several years we have gotten together with friends to have a day full of holiday crafting and snacking. I posted a past years event here.

This year we made xmas trees out of magazines. I found it very relaxing to sit and fold these!

I found this great idea at Just Like Martha

We also made beaded star ornaments.

The beaded star idea came from Mrs Picasso’s Art Room

We also made these beautiful novena candles inspired by Artsyville

I personally made 4 of these!  Who said crafting day was just for the kids?!

Thursday’s Recipe … Overnight Coffee Cake

Years ago I followed a “large family blog”. Not that my family is all that large but she posted hints and tips and recipes. I used to half this recipe but with 2 working teen aged boys in my home these days–plus a zillion friends that seem to be here eating several days a week, a double recipe worked out just fine.

The Hoover at work!

Luckily there was still this pan full for the rest of us!

Overnight Coffee Cake

Beat the following until fluffy–

4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups coconut oil, 2 t vanilla  (I used 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter)

Mix with a whisk–

6 cups pastry flour, 8 t baking powder, 2 t salt  ( I also added cinnamon)

Add dry alternately with 2 cups of milk or buttermilk (I used plain yogurt)

Pour into 2 oiled 9x 13 pans  (I used 1 9x 13 and 1 deep dish pie pan)

Lay fruit on top ( I used a  frozen berry mixture)

Topping– 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/3 c flour, 2t cinnamon, cut in enough butter to make it crumbly)

Put in fridge overnight

Bake 350 for 40 minutes