Shop Your Closet: How to Remove Yellow Armpit Stains

Not shopping has been a success since I last checked in with you folks. Working around the clock really helps. 

So I'm back to tending to the wardrobe that I currently have to make it as lovely and wearable as possible. Today we're talkin' laundry.

source

Summer is finally here and wearing all black has become impractical and too toasty. On inspection of my whites I noticed many of them were looking less than fresh. Ew.

TMI: I can be a bit sweaty in the underarm area if I don't wear the right antiperspirant. My heavy duty antiperspirant leads to yellowed stains in the underarms of all of my whites. Yup! It's not sweat itself that causes staining, it's the aluminium in antiperspirant combined with sweat that causes those unsightly pit stains.

I have tried many, many diy methods for pit stain removal and have found only ONE to work.
Enter: Oxyclean!!

I like the scent free powder version of Oxy personally. You can use it to make a paste to take out stubborn stains and it dissolves fairly easily in water to soak dingy clothes. My laundry room is never without this wonderful product.



Here's the grody before pic. This is my No Doubt Concert Tee. And to be honest, this stain looks better in the picture than in person (truth be told this will be my second application of Oxy to this poor, well loved t-shirt).

A small note about temperature before we get started. Heat sets in stains. Don't use hot or even warm water to soak or wash your clothes when you're attempting stain removal. And if you can manage, don't put them in the dryer after either - if you must, put them in on a cool setting, but preferably you should be hanging these garments to dry after washing.
And, resist the urge to bleach yellowed pit stains - bleach actually makes them worse if you can believe it.


Cleaning stains with Oxy is easy, you just need some time for it to do its work.

Get a little container (I use one of the plastic cups that comes with my liquid laundry detergent), pour in some Oxy and add cold water to make a paste. Gently rub a generous amount of the paste into the stain.

This is not what I would call a generous amount by the way...I applied more Oxy paste after I took this picture. 

Then let the clothes sit - the longer the better - so the paste can work its magic. I left mine for a few hours, but sometimes I forget about them and leave them overnight. Oxyclean is gentle on fabrics (even vintage!), so you don't have to worry about damaging your clothes by leaving the stain remover on too long.
You could also soak your clothes in cool water with more Oxy dissolved in it at this point as well - this helps if you have old, or stubborn stains. If you are soaking multiple items, soak like colours with like to avoid any possible colour bleed.
Old, set-in stains sometimes need a couple applications of Oxyclean before you get results.

Once they've sat for a few hours wash in your machine with cold water. Then hang them to dry.

Ta da! Like new!
Now I'm ready to put my hands in the air...and wave them like I just don't care...

Sorry...that was bad..

DISCLAIMER: This post was not sponsored by Oxyclean. I really love this product!


Lisa.xo

How to Clean a Ring with Toothpaste

This was my Grandma Cotton's family ring. It has my Mom's, my Aunts' and my Uncle's birthstones in it. It was given to my Grandma by my Grandpa...well I'm not quite sure when... (Mom? Do you know?)

When my Grandparents passed away (I believe it was about 8 or 9 years ago now) no one in my family claimed it. My Mom inherited most of my Grandma's other jewellery, so she took this home too and asked me if I'd like it.

I have worn it every day since. I feel naked without it.

It's looking a little grungy these days. I only take it off to sleep, to shower, to apply hand lotion, when I'm baking or cutting raw meat. And I can't remember the last time I took it to a jeweller to get cleaned.

The front of the ring is dirty too, but the camera wasn't showing it as well as the back.

I went out for coffee with my Mom the other night and asked her where I could take it to get it cleaned. She replied "Clean it at home with toothpaste and an old toothbrush". What?! Won't that hurt the ring? She said "You clean your teeth that way and it's not like you're doing it every day."

So I tried it! And it worked like a charm!! Thanks Mom!

It's simple, I know you'll have all the "tools" at home and it takes about 5 minutes.

NOTE: 

Be sure to plug the drain in your sink before you begin. This will ensure that your ring doesn't fall into the drain pipe if you drop it while you are cleaning. (I don't have a tutorial on how to take apart a drain pipe! lol!)

You'll Need:

Once rinsed, dry your ring on a clean, lint free towel.

And for fun, here's the before and after:

Pretty awesome right?! And it only took me about 5 minutes! I will use this method again for sure!

Do you have a different DIY method you use to clean your jewellery at home? Do tell!

Lisa.xo

December DIY: How to Wrap the Perfect Present

Here's my third and final instalment of December DIY.

How to Wrap the Perfect Present

Now I know wrapping a gift may not exactly be a DIY project, but I love wrapping gifts and would like to pass some of my tips onto you.

I truly believe that you can wrap beautiful gifts on a budget with items you already have at home.

This year I opted for a more old fashioned, rustic look and used brown kraft paper instead of printed wrapping paper. All of my ribbons and bows are from the Dollarstore. The ribbon is left over from last year, and I only spent $2 on bows for this years presents! I really like the results. 

Here is what you need:

Here's what you do:

A Quick Note About Boxes: I save boxes all year for gifts. A square is always easier to wrap than some sort of odd shaped gift. You can also raid your pantry for cereal boxes if you haven't saved boxes. I've done this. Cereal still tastes good if it no longer has its box.

So put your gift into the appropriate sized box and tape the open end closed.

Let's carry on!

1. Now you want to cut your paper in the appropriate size. Herein lies the the secret in gift wrapping. You don't want your paper to be too large, or too small. I like to cut a nice rectangular shape. I've weighed down my paper in the photo below so you can get an idea of a good shape. I like to give myself a lot of overlap on the long side of the paper. I'll talk a little more about the appropriate width a little later on.

2. Place the top of your box (if there is one) face down on the paper and wrap the long ends over the back of the box. I like to fold to visible edge under about a 1/4" as shown below to make a clean crisp line and hide any cut marks. Pull the paper taught around the gift and tape this edge down.

3. Now we want to wrap the sides. This is the trickiest part of wrapping. This is where the length of the wrapping paper is really important. You want to length of the paper to just cover the side of the box as shown below. This will ensure proper coverage of your gift, but keep the end from being too bulky and looking like a mess. 

If you've cut the ends too long, trim them like so:

4. Another key to tidy gift ends is making crisp edges. Fold down the middle of the paper over the end of the gift box and press the side of the little triangles that appears at both sides of the gift as shown in the photo below.

5. Next you want to fold these little triangles in to meet the paper on the edge of the gift.  I didn't take a photo of this. Sorry! You can see below how I've folded it in though. Crease the edge again. This trick here before you crease the edge is to smooth out the paper and press it firmly against the gift box. 

Next I fold down the outermost edge 1/4" as shown to hide the cutting marks. Fold this flap towards the box and tape down. 

6. Next wrap the other end of the gift. The first one is always the trickiest to make nice. The second one is really easy because you can put the gift box on it's edge and pull the paper taught before creasing and folding.

Repeat steps 3, 4 & 5 for the other end of the gift!

7. Tape the end down as shown. See how pretty that is?!

8. Now you want to add ribbon to your perfectly wrapped gift. Cut a loooong piece of ribbon more than you think you'll need. You want to make sure it will be long enough to wrap around your gift twice with some extra.

9. Start by placing the ribbon right side out on the top of the gift, like so:

10. Wrap the ribbon tightly around to the back of the gift, twist it and wrap the ribbon back around to the front of the gift. It should look like an X on the back and the front. Keep the ribbon tight so it doesn't slide around too much!

11. Tie your ribbon in a double knot on the top of the gift as shown Having a second set of hands to keep the first knot in place is always helpful, but with practice and patience you can master this skill on your own. I wrapped this one by myself. If you've wrapped your ribbon too loose, untie it and try again! 

The beauty of wrapping the ribbon this way is that you can shift it around a little to get it to sit where you want it to. 

12. Almost Done! Now you want to curl the ends of your ribbon (If you've bought ribbon that can be curled, if you've bought grosgrain cut the ends at an angle and call it a day!).

To curl ribbon grab your scissors and open them up all the way. Place the blade of the scissors against the wrong side of the ribbon, place your thumb over the ribbon and gently press it into the blade. Now pull straight up! If you don't do this right the first time you can usually go over the same piece of ribbon once or twice without ruining it. 

13. Now place your bow on top of the knot with the curled ends sticking out on either side. Press your bow firmly onto the gift to secure your ribbon in place. 

14. Ta Da! Enjoy your perfectly wrapped gift!

You could even jazz them up a little more if you've like. These gifts already came in pretty little boxes so I wrapped them in a little vintage gift wrap and added my ribbon. You could easily do this over the kraft paper for the same effect.

What I like about the kraft paper is that I could just write "To" and "From" right on it with a marker. I've done this with birthday gifts before.  

But I made my own gift tags this year. What can I say? I'm not working right now! But really, these were a cinch to throw together and they look freakin' adorable!

Here is what you'll need:

I thought I would spare you the steps. All I did was cut out shapes from the vintage wrapping paper I got from my Mom, glue the shapes to strips of cardstock and hole punch the end. 

Take a fine tipped marker, write your "To"'s and "From"''s on them, wrap a ribbon though the hole and tie them to your gifts! 

Aren't they cute?! I just love them. And they look amazing on the gifts. See?

I'm so pleased with how these have turned out. The Boy feels a little differently, he's not crazy about the kraft paper. He said it looks like we couldn't afford real wrapping paper. lol! What do boys know anyway?!   I think they'll be a hit!

Missed the last two instalments of December DIY? Check them out here and here!

Lisa.xo

December DIY: Feather Wreath

Here's my second instalment of December DIY:

Feather Wreath

I have wanted a feather wreath for some time now. They're just so expensive. And I'm so cheap.
It only occurred to me fairly recently that I should make one. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it earlier.

Note: You may need to be slightly crafty to accomplish this project.

Here's what you will need:

In hindsight, you may also need these:

Now if you'd like you can buy a wreath. But as I've said, I'm cheap and don't want to shell out $30+ for the size I'd like at a craft store.
So I decided to make my own. I got some free styrofoam from Urban Barn when I worked there and have been hoarding it in my basement until the time I was ready to make a wreath.
I glued three thin pieces together to make one thick piece.
If you're not blessed enough to work somewhere with spare styrofoam floating around you could always ask a store (they're just gonna throw it away anyway, so they'll give it to you for sure!), or if you've just bought something packed in styro, SAVE IT!

But, I digress...Let's get started.

Here's What You Do:

1. If, like me, you're making your own foam wreath you'll want to cut it into shape first. If you've bought a wreath, skip to step #7. Get yourself your pin and thread the string through it and tie it to the eyehole. Like so:

2. Stick the pin into the middle of the styrofoam. If you're anal retentive and love math you could measure where the centre of your foam is. I didn't. I like to eyeball things. I guessed and stuck the pin into what I figured was centre.

3. Measure (or eyeball like me!!) where you want the outside of your wreath to be and tie your marker or pen onto the string at that point.

4. You've made yourself a compass! Now pull the string taut and draw your circle around the styrofoam. Next you want to figure out how thick you want your wreath to be, shorten your string and draw a second circle inside the first one.
As you can see I have three rings. I drew the second circle, decided my wreath was too wide and drew another one closer to the outer circle. See? I eyeball everything. At this point it's pretty hard to mess things up.

5. This is where you cut out your wreath (now this is where you can mess things up!! Make sure you've drawn a wreath shape you're happy with). I used an old serrated bread knife. Cut around your lines. Easy peasy!

Side Note: Cutting out your wreath will be really messy!! You will have tiny pieces of styrofoam everywhere, stuck to everything!! If you have a partner who HATES messes like I do I suggest doing this while they are not home like I did. lol!

6. Ta Da! A wreath! Now, before you continue decorating your wreath you should clean up the mess before your significant other comes home sees it and has a brain aneurysm in your living room. I used my vacuum cleaner. Worked like a charm!

Anyway...this is what I ended up with: 

 It's not perfect, but I'll be covering it so I don't care. I'm not perfect either and people still love me! :)

7. Ok. This is where we cover the wreath with the feather boas. I used 3. I could've used 4, but 3 did the job. The number of boas will depend on how big your wreath is. I stapled the string ends to the wreath like so. That way, if I get bored of this wreath I can take it apart easily and not have damaged the form with glue.
Then, wrap your feather boas until the wreath is totally covered!

8. And here she is! Feathery goodness! If you've a minimalist you're done! Hang it up! I, on the other hand, am not a minimalist. I've just started decorating this wreath.

9. For us non-minimalists, this is where the fun starts! I wanted my wreath to "speak" to the rest of my Christmas decor, so I grabbed these peacock feathers from the Dollarstore to tie them in to the peacock ornaments on my tree. I had originally planned on tying a big bow a the bottom centre of the wreath, but it was too much with the fullness of the feathers. So I opted to simply wrap the ribbon over the peacock feathers.

10. All there is to do next is to hang your wreath! I've used a 3M Hook.

And there you have it! Feel free to decorate your wreath however you choose. Wouldn't it be pretty in marabou? Or maybe in another colour? What about adding twinkle lights?

I've got a one more DIY project planned for next week. So stay tuned!

Check out my first instalment of December DIY here!

Lisa.xo