Creative cleaning part Two

I've been trying to continue to get the chemicals out of my cleaning around my place. I've had some victories and some troubles with it all. My dishwasher powder was a bit of a problem - leaving the dishes dirty and a white film all over things, so back to stuff that works.

Bicarb and vinegar has been such a great and versatile cleaner. I've used it to clean my oven, get mold off my shower and sink, and have now replaced my toothpaste with bicarb. It has been great.
To clean the oven I just sprinkled the bicarb on the oven door then sprayed it with vinegar then wiped it off, no scrubbing. The shower I made a bicarb mixture of bicarb and vinegar in a paste put it on the tiles and then sprayed it with vinegar, a bit of scrubbing with an old toothbrush and then it was clean.
I now have a bicarb in a dish in my bathroom to clean my teeth - just dip my toothbrush in and brush.

dirty oven door

sprinkle with bicarb and spray with vinegar

wipe it off

clean door

basin plug before

after bicarb and vinegar 

mould

bicarb and vinegar paste

much cleaner

clean teeth with bicarb

creative recycling - carry bag take 2

I had a pair of jeans that had started to wear out and I thought how can I reuse and recycle them. I had previous made a pair of shorts into a bag ( a brown one) and thought Denim would go with lots more of my stuff so decided to do the same with the jeans. I cut them off and sewed the legs; attached an old silk rope from an old robe to the belt loops for a strap and then tied a piece of string onto another belt loop at the back to put over the front button to help keep it a bit closed. I like how it has turned out and have already had a compliment from a lady who served me in a shop the other day when I was using it.
I love being able to have things that I have created that are useful.

Creative Kitchen Organisation

I have taken time on my holidays to sort out my kitchen. I saw an idea for storage labels so I decided to make my own. I like the idea of dictionary definitions so I used them as part of the labels. It is amazing how these added to the cheap glass jars makes a difference to my kitchen. 

creative window covering

Well today was my first official day of easter break holidays. I love getting into DIY jobs on holidays so I have time to work on things. My blinds that I had bought when I first moved in over 4 years ago had broken and were dust collectors. I have been trying to reduce things I might be allergic to so I pulled the blinds down and replaced them with curtains. As my room was already going with a black and red theme I thought I would continue this with my curtains. I love being able to express my creativity through so many things including my home.

Blinds - broken table to put them up. 

other blind also broken

New Curtains - with a black and white day curtain and red curtains 

Red smaller curtain over higher window

culinary creativity

Been a while since I blogged and was reflecting on what creative things I had been up to and mainly it has been cooking. I've been trying to eat less packaged food and make more things just like my grandmother would have done.  Here are are few of my creative culinary experiments.

Nectarine Moscatto frozen blend

Blueberry yogurt ice blocks

Burger and sweet potato fries

mint and watermelon with mineral water

almond milk, homemade yoghurt and berry smoothy

Chai Porridge

grilled Hollumi cheese and peppered figs

crackers

burger and zucchini chips

Abstract attempt

I went to my art group this morning, it was so nice to get back there and actually play with some paint. One of the other girls had some old school art magazines, and there was one from the 80's that had some cool retro abstract art. I found one abstract painting that inspired me. I had fun playing with shapes and colour once I got the still life centre sketched. It was so nice just to play and experiment.

creative counting

Being  back at work (aka school) has meant a new class, and new challenges. One of these was that I had several students struggling with counting in 5's. I had found some square cards that counted in 5's but I thought it was a bit boring. Then I got this idea, we have 5 fingers on our hands (well technically 4 and thumb - as one of my students told me) but you get the idea; so I got them to make hand prints, then I cut them out and glued them on a black backing. Then I wrote the numbers counting in 5's on them, I then plan to laminate them so they keep longer. I hope these will help students understand they are counting groups of 5 when they are counting in 5's. They also look really fun and bright.

Creative class display

School in Queensland starts back on Monday, so I spent some time setting up my classroom. I had taken some photos of my class for this year when they came for orientation in the last week of school, last year. I had tried hanging coloured laminated photos but they had already started to slide off the fishing line I had hung them up with. So I was looking for another creative way to put up the photos and Welcome my class. Then I was inspired by the very popular My family stickers that many people have on the back of their cars.
I ended up printing their faces in black and white cutting them out and gluing them on paper. I then drew stick person bodies on them; cut them out and laminated them. The photos are of the results - I have blurred the faces of the students for privacy reasons. It is amazing how necessity leads to creative solutions.

Creative Cleaning

Well today is my last day of holidays before I go back to work. Thinking over my holidays, particularly my time I spent at home, much of it has been about reorganising, spring cleaning and sorting out ready for a new year.  One thing that I have done is start to use alternative (or old school) cleaning products instead of the chemicals used in so many expensive manufactured ones.
At the beginning of the holidays I cleaned my tile floor with Bi-carb and vinegar and it came up so well. I have made some homemade washing powder with blue soap and washing soda.
I am about to trial washing soda and bicarb in my dishwasher, and have heard that you can also use vinegar as a rinse aid, which I am keen to try.
I guess I am starting to experiment with all these alternative cleaning for a few reasons, was diagnosed with high allergies a few months ago and figure removing more chemicals from my life must help with my health. Also these alternatives are so much cheaper than the supermarket alternatives. I would much rather spend my money on some yummy food or a night out than cleaning products.

Here are a few things that I have been trailing:

Cleaning Tiles: 
Sprinkle some bicarb on the tiles and then spray with white vinegar, scrub any stubborn areas with a scrubbing brush. Mop with warm water and small amount of vinegar.

Cleaning Oven door ( and the rest of it I would say):
Pretty much like the tiles - sprinkle with bircarb, sprinkle or spray vinegar on bicarb let it bubble etc. then wipe off with a cloth.

Dishwasher powder:
Mix Bicarb with washing soda - more Bicarb than washing soda.

Use white vinegar as a rinse aide. (read somewhere you can add a small amount of lemon oil too but not sure)

Cleaning Glass: 
Add some vinegar or mentholated spirits to water and wash the glass. Squeegee off or use old newspaper.

Laundry soap: 

Mix grated soap - eg. sunlight (I'm currently using blue soap I bought many years ago in Fiji) with a small amount of washing soda.

creative organisation

I think this holiday break has all been about organising and using the small amount of space I have in my unit in a better way. This morning I heard a crash in my bedroom cupboard, upon closer inspection I found the clothes rail hanging down and my clothes everywhere. This was cause for some creative organisation. I was grateful for my parents who came and helped me fix the rail and make up some new shelves to help organise all the mess.

mess all over my room

more mess

more organised

more creative organisation

wall art

I had some creative fun decorating my unit with some wall stickers. I have a fascination with lamps so when I found a lamp wall sticker I could not resist getting it for my room. I also had recently had changed my 2nd bedroom into a more functional but also more aesthetic room. I now had a wall that was previous covered by a lounge as a blank wall, I could not resist adding some more colour with some red poppies to match the red I had already added.

Fun In Melbourne

Seeing it is Summer Holidays I headed off to Melbourne for just over a week for a break. I had such a great time and enjoyed the beautiful country that is Australia. I would have to say one highlight was seeing the rock formations on the coast along the Great Ocean Road - it was so beautiful. I also had time to take in a few Art Galleries in Melbourne and see some street art. It was also so nice to watch the Midnight fireworks from the balcony of my cousin's apartment on NYE. I was also inspired to do a small amount of drawing myself. It is really nice to chill and take time to enjoy the creation (both God and mans). I have included a few examples of the beauty I experienced.

the beauty of the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Rd

my attempt at sketching the Princess bridge over the Yarra River

another picture of the rock formations known as 12 apostles

Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Rd

beautiful view of the Fireworks on NYE

St Pauls Cathedral, Fed Square and Flinders station from the Sky deck

lights of Southgate on the Yarra River

my love of lamps continues 

sunset from the Skydeck

MCG, the gardens and the Arts centre from the Sky deck