Saving Money on Vicks Vaporizing Steam Liquid with a Homemade Substitute

Our pediatricians have always recommended steam vaporizers with Vicks for the little ones when they get a stuffy nose and congestion. Unfortunately, the liquid Vicks is really expensive and only last us three nights. I began buying the Rite Aid brand which was still over $6.00 for 4 ounces, and not quite a strong.

I was researching homemade vaporizing steam liquid when I came upon a possible alternative to the store brought liquid - eucalyptus leaves and camphor liquid. I read that the liquid eucalyptus oil is not recommended for the vaporizers, so I purchased the leaves.

I love Mountain Rose Herbs organic products, so I ordered from them. I've mentioned them here on my blog before in other posts. I've decided to add the company to my sidebar because I trust their certified organic products, and their prices are good.

A little about their bulk organic herbs & spices:

"Our promise to you, that the line of bulk herbs and botanicals
offered by Mountain Rose Herbs are...

True certified organic by OTCO
Certified Kosher Through Earth Kosher
Free from irradiation, ozone treatment, sulfites, gasses and other sanitary chemicals
Unsurpassable in color, depth, taste and aroma
Ethically wildharvested when not certified organic
Processed and handled according to strict organic standards
Grown, harvested, processed and handled by fun, knowledgeable and caring people
Lab analyzed for quality, safety and true botanical identity"

So here's what I purchased: a pound of organic eucalyptus leaf($7.00) and one ounce camphor essential oil($5.00).

I am not sure how much of the eucalyptus to add, so I'll begin with a tablespoon at a time, and a few drops of the camphor.

The pound french green clay pictured was for me. I use this for homemade facial masks.

I'll be sure to update this post with my results.

6/22/09 Update: Don't Bother with the eucalyptus leaves in a humidifier! These had no scent at all. The camphor drops on the other hand worked like a charm. I've used it for at least three colds, and I still have quite a bit of the camphor left, so it's a better deal for us than the bottles of Vicks which last only two nights.

Free Celtic Monastery Model

From Cuspa paper models, ancient Irish buildings brought to life with some scissors and glue.

Free model.

Crafting with Vintage Images: Victorian Paper Doll House

My three year old daughter and I began making this paper doll house with vintage images from this post, 1903 House Beautiful today. There is no floor yet, just some incomplete walls. It's a work in progress. We may add more rooms, but for now it's just one.

Frozen store bought pizza boxes are so handy with paper crafts. We glued the printed images to these boxes, and shaped them into this house with the help of clear packing tape. The bed is made of the folded edges of the pizza box with a paper towel sheet and pillow roll.

I'm thinking about adding a fourth wall which would fold down for play, and adding some handles to the box for toting around. I'll probably rip the handles off a paper bag I am using to store the pizza boxes. I'll cover the walls with clear contact paper when I'm done so it will last a while.

What about color? I have a black and white printer, so this will either need to be colored or remain black and white. I may selectively color nature scenes on the outside.

I've already selected some more vintage images for the outside walls, a vintage family, and some more furniture pieces. The pieces aren't exactly to scale; I'm better at more abstract art! Exacting measurements and getting things to scale are not my forte. I'm lucky to get a straight line here and there.

It's been fun planning the rest of the project. I'll post more of our little house under construction as we progress. I had to stop when the little one tried to run off with the scissors and began unraveling the packing tape. Fun crafting with a three year old is about 10 minutes! She'll enjoy the finished product for longer periods of time; I'm sure.

The vintage pictures here are a few potential ideas for the outside, and family. There is a man, but I can't find him at the moment. I shrink the full page images of people and things down to wallet size, and the backgrounds to 5X7 using Google's Picasa.

All images are in public domain from Google Books.

Make Your Own Hair Clips

These children's hair clips are made using alligator clips. See tutorial. I plan to try these soon, and I think I'd like to add some danglies to look like Japanese hair accessories. You could even spray paint them and add doo-dads. I think I might also like to add found shells and sea glass; I've got a pickle jar full of these.

HT to Tip Nut

Make Your Own Teriyaki Sauce

I ran out of teriyaki sauce last week, but had soy sauce on hand. I decided to look at the contents on the bottle of teriyaki sauce and make my own. It came out even better than store bought teriyaki sauce!

I rinsed out the bottle, removed the plug pour top, and funneled in the following:

3/4 cup of soy sauce
1 1/2 cup of Goya white cooking wine mixed with two tablespoons of sugar, a tablespoon of onion power, and a tablespoon of garlic powder.

We had this over some thin steaks with stir fry veggies tonight. I slow cooked the meat and veggies in a good amount of teriyaki sauce, about three pours, and served both over *egg rice. My husband loved it!

I'm going to have it over salmon steaks on Friday.

* Egg rice is rice cooked with one scrambled egg. I prepare the rice as usual and add one raw scrambled egg. The rice comes out a little stickier than usual, but very tasty.

See more at the Make-It-From-Scratch Carnival.

Also see Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes.

Free Girl's Dress and Skirt Patterns

Short Sleeved A-line Dress

Wrap Dress

Wrap Skirt

T-shirt Dress

Easy Skirt Tutorial

Pillowcase Dress



Jumper Dress










Tea Towel Skirt(cute!)

Sundress

Baby Kimono

Smockette

Baby Sundress

Favorite T shirt turned baby/toddler dress

Sheet dress(use smaller sheet for children)

Blue Scotty Dress
Onesie Dress 

Make a Bandanna Dress

Pinafore dress



Pocketed dish towel skirt

Make a Napkin Skirt

Turn a woman's skirt into a dress(tutorial)

T-shirt Refashion and Men's Shirt to Jumper Dress.

Simple, No-pattern, Two-tiered Girls Skirt

Source: iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Source: tadacreations.blogspot.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Source: charmstitch.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Source: herlittleworld.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Free Vintage Children's Homeschool ebook: Happy Spring-time in Pictures, with Rhymes by Mrs. C. Heaton

Free and in public domain. Begin reading here.
Main page.

Happy Spring-time in Pictures, with Rhymes by Mrs. C. Heaton

By Oscar Pletsch, Mary Margaret Heaton

Published by , 1874

Original from Oxford University

Printing and Saving Tips: Make sure that the page is set to HTML(bottom right sidebar at page). It should be defaulted to this setting in my first link above, so try saving first before messing with the setting. Click on image of book page to save and print. Book is fully downloadable. I use a free download helper with my slow internet.

The Harbinger of Spring, The Plum Blossom

"Ice-flakes are failing fast
Through the chilly air, and now
Yonder trees with snow bloom laden
Do assume the wild plum's guise.
With their mass of snowy flowers
Gladdening winter's dreary time."

''Amid the branches of sil'vry bowers
The nightingale doth sing; perchance he knows
That spring has come, and takes the later snows
For the white petals of the plum's sweet flowers."

(From Chamberlain's Classical Poetry of the Japanese.)

"The flowers of the plum-trees
All through the day make snow-light.
Moonlight through the night.
Like the icy spray which the breeze
Scatters from the stream,
Like the snow-flake's flight,
Falling petals seem."

From The Japanese Floral Calendar

Main page

The Japanese Floral Calendar

By Ernest Wilson Clement

Published by The Open court publishing company, 1904

57 pages

Free Homeschool Stuff: Victorian Alphabet Cards

Laminate them with clear contact paper, and cut them out for the child to place in order, or use as flash cards.

Originally from Warne's Victoria, picture spelling book, by Laura Valentine, published in 1866. Free and in public domain.


These would look cute framed if you convert them to sepia.

Free Cupid Paper Chain Template

Courtesy of That Artist Woman.

Homemade Tea Cup Candle

I made a tea cup candle today inspired by an earlier post. It was very easy and took all of 15 minutes. I used a scented tea light candle that I purchased at a thrift for .45 cents in the center of the tea cup. The tea cup and saucer was also found at a thrift for $1.00.



I decided to use a scented tea light candle, and surround this with plain white wax. I salvaged wax out of a tall container candle by gently softening it in the microwave for about one minute. I then scooped it out with a spoon into a glass measuring cup set in boiling water. Keep the temperature on low while the cup sits in the water, otherwise it may crack. I don't have a double boiler, so this was my make-do.




I set the tea light candle on a rock from my garden, and poured the white wax all around it. The wax will dry white; this picture shows it right after I poured the wax.

It turned out nicely; however I did not sink the tea light candle down far enough, so it stuck up out of the wax a little.




*It will burn out quickly because of the short wick, but I figure this is much safer as the thin tea cup could break if I had a wick going all the way to the bottom. Another safety mechanism is to sink a tea light sold in those thin tin cups in the middle. That way you could replace it, and continue to enjoy the candle.

*I'll update this theory when I have burned the candle down.

See more entries at this week's Make-It-From-Scratch Carnival.

Free Vintage Botantical Prints

I found this over at Google Books. Free and in public domain. Pages and pages of botanical prints:

Paxton's Flower Garden: By Professor Lindley and Sir Joseph Paxton. Revised by Thomas Baines, ... With Coloured Plates

By John Lindley, Joseph Paxton, Thomas Baines

Published by Cassell, Petter, Galpin, 1883

Original from Oxford University

179 pages
Main page

To save pages at link, make sure that the page is in HTML mode on the left sidebar on bottom. Click on image of page to save.

Valentine's Day Printables

These are coloring pages/templates, but not just for children. I plan to give one to my hubby. Lots to choose from, see here.

St. Valentine's Day Free Vintage Children's Printables, Stories, and More

Some posts from this year and last with free vintage Valentine Day items. Enjoy! XOXO

Vintage Valentine Poem

Vintage St. Valentine's Day Children's Stories, Cards, and Lesson Plans

Vintage St. Valentine's Day Poem

Free Vintage Children's Valentine Day Cards

Homeschool: Free Christian Girl's Book, The Orange Seed

A gentle Christian girl's tale roughly for ages 9-12.

This is a nicely written, pleasant storyline for children, teaching them the morality of living through your soul rather than through the flesh. The story is free of any obvious(or at least blatant) denominational theology.

See how eight year old Helen fares as a stranger comes to stay with the family. Helen is an only children, a bit spoiled, but big hearted in a self pleasing sort of way. When Ally, a more reserved older girl comes to stay with Helen's family while her mother recovers from an illness, the two meet spiritual obstacles with their personalities. Both grow in Christ as a result of their experiences, and more opportunities present themselves.

Click here.

Main page

The Orange Seed

By Sarah Schoonmaker Baker

Published by A.D.F. Randolph, 1863

103 pages

Free and in public domain. Downloadable or readable online. If you have a slow dial-up, use a free download helper. I use this with great success, otherwise the download is corrupted with my slow dial-up.

Thrifty Homemade Tea Cup Candles

This project over at Dollar Store Crafts recycles pillar candles by melting them down into thrifted tea cups. To make them a little healthier, I'd use clean burning soy candles. That would bump up the cost a bit, but soy wax apparently lasts longer than regular paraffin wax.

Scented candles found at a thrift store would preclude having to purchase a scent, and would be the least expensive route. I often see bags of old scented candles at our thrift stores for under a dollar.

If all you have are white candles and you want to change the color, Heather recommends melting a crayon with the candles. How clever! I do love the way the white looks inside these shabby tea cups.

Candle wicks can be made by recycling the old wick from the melted down candle, or purchased new at a craft store, or better yet, simply make your own.

The Dollar Store Crafts link above leads to a tutorial for this tea cup candle project, or this is a good general tutorial as well. If you have any questions or concerns, ask at the tutorial site because I have not personally tried this specific craft yet.

Rebatched candles and soap are some of my favorite crafts because they are inexpensive, fairly simple, and leave a lot of room for creativity. The results are amazing custom soaps and candles.

Safety Issues: Any container can crack. Be sure that you choose a sturdy wide mouthed container, and never leave a candle unsupervised. Candles should be placed on a heat safe surface well away from drapes and other flammable surfaces. Never burn a container candle all the way down. See State Farm's Candles and Fire Safety tips.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

A very simple recipe over at Frugal Granola, a great way to stretch a bar of soap. I've rebatched soap using a similar method.