Skin Soothing Oatmeal Dog Shampoo

Image from http://nutritiongyan.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/21/


Yes, dog shampoo. I know, I know, it's kind of lame and rather specific, but if you have a dog (or 2) and you've had to pay more for dog shampoo than you do for your own shampoo, this post will be helpful!

We've recently inherited an old Labradoodle and I'm not sure if this is breed specific, but she has really dry itchy skin and needs some kind of special shampoo to help. I looked around and was not happy with what I found in the stores. So I Googled Homemade Oatmeal Dog Shampoo and found tons of recipes. I used the most commonly listed ingredients that I had on hand and viola, super cheep, toxin-free puppy shampoo!

It seems to be working well, so far. Our doggie isn't scratching nearly as much and smells pretty good too! Here is the recipe if you're interested and want to save some cash!

Oatmeal Dog Shampoo

-1 Cup Oatmeal (I don't think it really matters if you use instant or rolled oats, I found recipes with both. I used rolled though)

- 1 Cup Baking Soda

1 Quart Warm Water

-A couple drops of essential oil

Grind oatmeal into a powder using a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder.
Mix ground oatmeal and baking soda. Add warm water and essential oil and mix until well blended. Pour on to dog's coat and let sit for about 5 minutes and rinse thoroughly.

Good luck! The only word of advice from me is to try and get the oatmeal ground as fine as possibly, because if it is slightly chunky and your dog shakes while it is soaking, you'll have a bit of a mess on your hands (and wall and pretty much everywhere!).

Orea Birthday Cake

I love cake really, I do. But I personally prefer a health-ified version of cake. But my Adam on the other hand likes his cake rich and chocolaty, topped with cookies and a heap of ice cream on the side. And when its your birthday around, you get what cha want. So, here is my latest smoosh up of recipes, that if I do say so myself was friggin' delicious! The frosting was basically a creation of things I had on hand that sounded like they'd mix together well (and they did!).

Oreo Cake
(recipe and picture from My Recipe Finds Online)

1 boxed devil’s food cake mix (with or without pudding)
1 small box instant chocolate pudding (5.9oz)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting:

8 oz. package Light Cream Cheese
8 oz. container Lite Whip Topping
2 - 2 1/2 cups Powder Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
10- 15 crushed Oreos

For Cake:
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Spray 2 9" round cake pans (or line with parchment).
In a large bowl hand mix together the cake, pudding mix, salt, vanilla, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and divide batter into the prepared pans.
Bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. (mine took more like 40 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool at least 30 minutes in pan and then cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting:
Mix softened cream cheese and sugar together until well blended. Add Vanilla. Mix in thawed whip topping and then fold in crushed Oreos.

Ice the top of on cake and place the other on top. Frost all the way around and top with halved Oreos.



This cake was a hit! Small slices were the key for me. I don't want to even know how many calories the sucker has. But, all in all, sooo tasty!!

The calm after the storm

Ahh,the past month has been hectic to say the least. For such a simple event, the wedding took up so much of my time and energy. And then it seemed that as soon as the wedding was over, we started in on Christmas. And now that we are almost done with the Holiday season, I feel like I'm ready to write a few blog posts.

There have been some really great projects happening around here! My favorite was the doll bed we (yes we. My hubby and I both worked on this one)made for Maya. I also made a bundle of these kimono dresses for my Wren and my younger nieces. And of course there are all of the wedding details to share. The dress turned out beautifully, the cake was lovely, and the food was so yummy. I feel like we have so much catching up to do! I shall start tomorrow with one project at a time and hopefully we'll be caught up in no time!!

DIY Ring Pillow

With only 3 weeks left until the wedding, I am suddenly getting my butt in gear. Procrastination is no longer an option. I've delegated some tasks and started in on my last few hand made projects. Last night I finished up our ring pillow.

I wanted the pillow to have a handmade heirloom look to it. Something we would hold on to forever as a memento. I feel that way about a lot of the things I make around here. I value things from my family's history so much. I especially love things that were made by someone and passed down through generations. It's like you have a little piece of that person to hold on to forever.

As far as the construction of this little pretty went, it was fairly simple. The most time consuming part was the embroidered "H" in the center. I hand embroidered it over a few nights while watching television. It sat around for a few weeks after that while I decided exactly how I wanted to use it. The white and tan fabrics are both pieces that are cut from old linen clothing. In fact most of this pillow is made from re-purposed pieces.I ironed the edges of the white fabric down and pinned it to the tan fabric (which measured 12" x 24 " but is folded over in the picture). I used a simple stitch on my sewing machine to applique (which really just means sew one piece of fabric on to another) the white on to the tan. Then I folded the the fabric over so that the right sides were facing each other and sewed around the outside edges to create a pillow, which I then stuffed and hand stitched closed.

The finishing touches were the applique heart, cut from scraps and hand stitched on the finished pillow. And the ribbon (which was salvaged from a piece of clothing), which was also hand stitched on. The rings on the pillow are stand ins for the real things. All in all, this pillow really didn't cost me a dime, I had all the supplies on hand. Now it will wait a few more weeks before it is carried down the aisle by possibly the cutest ring bearer in history.

Pesto Pizza

image from makeandtakes.com

This is my new favorite homemade pizza combination. We made it for our pizza and a movie night this week and it was so yummy. It is such a simple meal and with it's thin crispy crust and small amounts of cheese, it is far healthier than your normal pie.

I use a simple thin pizza crust recipe (found below). A thin layer of pesto sauce stands in for pizza sauce. I use jarred store bought pesto, for the sake of simplicity (I've yet to make my own pesto). Then a light sprinkle of mozzarella followed by thin slices of tomatoes. Finish it off with a bit of parmesan cheese. Bake according to crust directions (or until the cheese is melted and bubbly).

This pizza taste best right from the oven, but the cold left overs aren't bad (I'm eating some as I type this). Really, I don't know how we ever ate so many frozen pizzas in the past when there are homemade recipes that are so quick and simple.

Thin Pizza Crust
(I'm not sure where exactly this recipe came from, but I didn't come up with it myself)

1 package Active Dry Yeast
1/2 Cup Warm Water
1 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 1/4- 1/2 Cups Flour

Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast into warm water and stir. Stir in sugar, salt, and oil. Begin adding flour by 1/2 cup fulls. Begin kneading by hand when necessary. When flour is all added, knead dough on a lightly floured surface for approx. 5 minutes. Roll on to a 16" pizza pan and add toppings. Bake for 15-2o minutes.

20 Minute Cardigan Refashion

Take one ordinary cardigan.

Add a beaded cut from an ill fitting t-shirt. Pin, sew, and...

Bada bing, Bada boom! An embellished cardigan that cost me nothing. Not a Penny! And in less than 20 minutes! Uh huh, that's right.

DIY Wedding Programs

This is the current state of my desk; a drying space for my wedding programs. I have been marking little tasks off my Wedding To Do List, slowly but surely. The dress hasn't been started, but I think we'll get to that this week. But in the mean time, I created these simple, yet lovely programs.


There is no way I was going to pay the cost of printing elsewhere and I liked the idea of creating something that was unique. I found a sample program online that I liked and pretty much copied the format and used similar fonts and styles. Our ceremony is going to be short and sweet, so I didn't need to include that in the program. I wanted to keep it at one page length.

The paper is 4.5" X 6.5" scrapbook paper that I bought for $5 (for pack of 60) at Jo Ann's. The tree stamp was $10 (from Jo Ann's), but I used it on my invitations as well (also DIY) and I'm sure I'll use it again and again. Making it well worth the money.


The front of the paper (I printed on the back) looks like this, all shiny and pretty. It only took me about one evening (while watching T.V.) to get the formatting right and then the length Wren's nap time to print them out and stamp each one. I love how they turned out and the whole thing cost my less than $20!! One task crossed off. The list gets shorter!