A random collection of crafts, costume ideas, recipes, and other miscellaneous nonsense.

I tried this recipe for stacked roasted vegetable enchiladas as my latest Pinterest recipe to test. It was so delicious and easy to make! The time consuming part was chopping all of the veggies, but once that was done it was quick to throw together the ingredients and then bake it until done. My brother in law hates vegetables and he even gobbled this up! This one is a definite recommend and going in my recipe book to make again another day!

My house goes through laundry detergent way too quickly. We normally go through 1 large bottle of detergent every two weeks, but sometimes it seems like we're buying it every week. At $15 each, we're spending $30-$45 a month in laundry detergent. I looked up a few different 'recipes' for making your own detergent online. Washing soda was the most difficult to find. Walmart normally carries it, but the two closest to me were sold out. I finally found some at Kroger. I also bought Lemishine (not pictured) for dishwashing detergent, and it cost $28 for all of the ingredients for the laundry and dish detergent. One of the Pinterest recipes I read said this lasted almost 6 months for them. If it lasts 2 months, I'll still be saving money. DIY LAUNDRY DETERGENT 1 box Borax 1 box Washing Soda 1 2lb box of baking soda 1 box OxiClean 14oz worth of grated Zote  I bought the Zote pre-grated at Walmart, but you can also grate 2 bars of Zot

Some of main things my household goes through quickly are laundry and dishwasher detergent (and toilet paper, but i'm not about to make diy tp). I tried some dollar store dishwasher detergent and it did not work at all. We may as well have been just running hot water with no detergent. Then I thought of making my own detergent. I reviewed a few different recipes online for DIY detergents first. Luckily, borax and washing soda are the main ingredients in both detergent mixes. I already had salt at home, so I just bought Lemishine from Walmart to make my dishwasher detergent. The used the entire bottle of Lemishine, which equaled about 1 1/2 cups. Mix all of the ingredients and store in an airtight container. Use approximately 1 tablespoon per load. DIY Dishwasher Detergent   1 1/2 cups Borax    1 1/2  Washing Soda   1 1/2 LemiShine  3/4 cup Kosher Salt    At the time I made this, I had not yet found washing soda. If you can not find it either, don't f

After seeing a blanket like this that my cousin had made recently, I just had to make one too! My dog needed a new blanket anyway. I bought some red and grey fabric from the scrap pile at Joann's on sale for under $8. Cut both pieces to the same size, then cut a 5 inch square off each corner. Cut strips on each side about 2 inches wide, and tie them into knots. Tying the knots is the most time consuming, but look how happy my lil man was once I finally finished!

It's snowed in South Carolina for the second time within a month, which is incredibly rare here. The snow two weeks ago was light and fluffy. There were about 3-4 inches in my area, but it had all melted by day two. We did the stock up on bread and milk then, and thought it was pointless, so we didn't bother this time. I actually did buy bread since we were out, but the grocery store was out of milk two days before the storm since everyone stormed the stores. Our state basically shuts down from snow or ice as we don't have the resources to clear all of the roads, and there tend to be a lot of power outages from tree limbs breaking. Well this time the snow has not melted and the roads are covered. We had hail and freezing rain for hours last night, so it's frozen over the top and every small puddle has turned to ice. We watched many cars today trying to make it up the small hill in front of our house. They all slid backwards and had to go back the way they came. Tempe

The Corley Mill House and Gardens is another all inclusive venue. You can have the wedding outside by this gazebo, or indoors in the large hall area. The Wisteria around the gazebo in the spring and summer really makes the setting. They also have a large outdoor deck. This location is very scenic, but at a wedding where I was a bridesmaid I was not pleased with the coordination. There is a small balcony at the front of the house and we had asked for it to be swept off the day before so that the bride could take photos on it, yet wedding day it was still covered in pollen and not cleaned at all. The day of the wedding it was raining, and as the driver ran each of the bridesmaids and bride up under an umbrella and to the front door, we discovered the front door was locked, and one bridesmaid had to run in the rain to the back door to get in. This may have all been a one time thing however, and the location really is lovely. The River Road and Jasmine House can also b

When I was searching for an outdoor wedding location in 2012, it was difficult for me to find many of the locations that were near Columbia, SC that could host the wedding and reception. I found a few lists on different wedding websites like the Knot, and decoration ideas on Pinterest , but most of the actual locations I found were from general searches and driving around. I thought it would be useful for Columbia brides to have a list of outdoor wedding spaces available, so I bookmarked everything for later use. If you are just looking for a reception area, you can still look through the links below. These are in no particular order. The links are included for the locations that do have websites, so you can view the galleries and features. Dupre Catering hosts 3 venues. They have The Hall and Wedding Garden , 300 Senate , and The Manor House . I believe you have to use their catering for these venues. I drove by and looked in 300 Senate and the exposed beams and paper lantern

 My dog can be a bit of a maniac when it comes to his toys. He often won't sleep until we find his stuffed dog for him to cuddle with. He goes crazy over frisbees and soccer balls. Whenever we throw toys for my Shih Tzu to fetch, he undoubtedly will run into a wall. I finally compiled a short video of his craziness.

Want to make some extra cash during those bored moments when you're in the elevator or a doctor's waiting room? Yes, there is an app for that. There are actually many apps for that. I've had the iSecretShop app on my phone for months now, and i've yet to find a secret shop available near me to make even a dime off of the app. I decided to search for other apps that might pay out, and do a test for a week or two to see which (if any) are successful. I started out going by this infographic from topapps.net: The one I was most interested in was App Trailers, but unfortunately that one is no longer available in the Apple app store. It appears to still be available in the Android market, so I may try that one on my husbands phone. Some of the app reviews had less stars than this infographic shows. I focused on apps that pay through Paypal and only tried to only get the ones with 4 stars or more. One or two of the ones i'm trying currently have 3.5 stars in the App

When I was planning my wedding, I was constantly researching decorations, invitations, and other little things that could show a part of my husband and I. As I've reviewed different parts of my wedding and those i've attended with friends that are planning their upcoming nuptials, I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to write a few wedding posts. My mind tends to get muddled and I go off from one topic to the next, so I apologize if this gets out of order. I'll bypass the norms for now, and give some examples for what may not be mentioned as often.  For someone who has lost a parent or loved one, they tend to want to have them in their wedding somehow. Here are a few examples of how to honor and include your deceased love one in your special day: - Place a rose on a reserved chair in the front row (you can add a tag saying "In Memory of") - Have a photo with a lit candle in front of it at the reception, or at the alter. If you have more than one lost