Cleaning Naturally...with STYLE!

My sister recently got married and got a new FABULOUS place to live and so I wanted to get her a lovely housewarming gift. So, ofcourse, I got her...cleaning supplies??!! Yes, I did that. These were no ordinary cleaning supplies though, they are natural, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies! I did, however, feel the need to explain the gift a little just to reassure her that I was NOT getting her this bc I felt she needed to clean the place up...but I was just giving her things that are necessities to a new place. Hopefully, that message got across! Plus, I am a cleaner and anyone who is a cleaner, or knows a cleaner, should know that if we give you a cleaning related gift it is out of love---love of you and love of a clean house! :)

Here's what I put together:

-an assortment of empty plastic spray bottles

-a plastic basket

-some various scrubbers

-a few key essential oils (I chose sweet orange oil and rosewater)

-typed out some recipes of natural cleaners on scrapbook paper (some from my own recollection and some from a book, but you can seriously find these ANYWHERE on the web!)

-sewed some of those cute rubber gloves with the ruffle on the cuff, so hat's some scrap fabric and rubber kitchen gloves

-terrycloth and bias tape for some fun cleaning rags

Cleaning doesn't have to be dull...does it??

*Now, I was sending this in the mail so I kind of had to leave out some of the heavier, yet essential, items on a natural cleaning menu: vinegar, borax, washing soda, olive oil, baking soda and lemon juice--to name a few. If I were able to give this in person...I would def put these in!!

Here's some things I did:

1. Cut rectagular rags from terrycloth and sewed bias tape all around the perimeter. I had never used bias tape before and I thought this would be a good experiment. If you haven't either I would definitely recommend going with the WIDE to start. Also, I did see a tutorial on the "right" way to sew bias tape. But I just couldn't see why in the world that extra step in the middle was necessary...so I literally just sandwiched the terrycloth between the fold of the bias tape...and sewed. What's the big whoop? Am I missing something with the bias tape?

I did do a nice and neat little fold at each corner, like so:

2. For the ruffle cuff on the gloves I just double folded the edges of a long, skinny rectagle scrap of fabric...the longer the rectangle, the more "ruffley" it will be...I made less of a ruffle and more of a pleated skirt for the gloves. HA! I really did. I did little pleat folds and pinned it and sewed that rubber glove with skirt on WITH THE MACHINE! It was fantastic! I thought the rubber glove would do horrible things...but it was actually very easy....I sewed rubber glove on bottom, fabric ruffle on top.

3. I had a roll of lace from my mother-in-law (Thanks!) and I wrapped a piece of that around the the basket to measure, took it in like a 1/2 inch and sewed it up like a band, then put it back around the basket. Then, I hand-sewed it in a couple of places just so it would stay in place. (The basket I chose had open holes around...if yours is more of a bucket you could probably use a little hot glue.

So it's a very practical housewarming gift...just dressed up! You know it's a good gift if it's one you want too...right?!