Tips & Tricks #1

I've been trying to clean more naturally in the last year or so. I'm not perfect though. I still have a bunch of super toxic chemicals that live under our sink. But I'm trying to move away from that method. So a few months ago I looked on Pinterest for natural ways to clean grout. I came across a million posts that all mentioned baking soda and vinegar. 

Materials:

-Empty spray bottle

-Old toothbrush or grout brush

-Small container

-Vinegar

-Baking Soda

Add half vinegar half water into the spray bottle. Spray grout and let sit for 5 minutes. (WARNING: This will make your house smell weird so you might want to light up a candle.) While that sits make your baking soda mixture by dumping some baking soda into a container. Then add the tiniest bit of water. Keep adding water until it turns into a paste (this also a good face scrub!). Use the toothbrush to scoop a little bit and work it into the cracks. The dirt comes up pretty fast but if you have a lot of tile (like me) then your arm is still going to get quite the workout from scrubbing. It was easier for me to do  it in sections. So after 4-6 tiles I'd wipe up the baking soda and dirt with an old towel. Then I'd move onto the next section. Once I was done with a large area I mopped over everything. And voila! I mop our floors on a regular basis but I have never cleaned the grout in the 3 years we've been here. So yeah, I'd say it was about time. 

But I cannot get over the transformation. I was patting myself on the back for days! Ha!

Pinterest V.6

My boss' daughter saw a photo I posted a while back of some pillows I had made for our couch and asked if I wouldn't mind sewing some for her son's play area. I was more than happy to help. So on Friday, we loaded all the materials into my car. I knew I wanted to finish them by the end of the weekend because that's just me. I am a selective procrastinator. I didn't want them to wait any longer since they have had the pillows and fabric for a year!

My boss mentioned that they wanted envelope pillows because it would be much easier to clean. I had never sewn envelope pillows before but I was up for the challenge. My first thought was to go to Pinterest (which is where the whole envelope pillow idea originated). I could not find any kind of post or tutorial that didn't confuse the hell out of me. Pinterest, you failed me! So, I went to YouTube and found this video which was tremendously helpful. Once I got it down, it was a very simple process. I only messed up once. I showed Dustin the finished product of the globe pillow cover when he says "Why is one side so much lighter?". It was at that moment I realized I had sewn the wrong side. I had to unstitch the ENTIRE thing by hand. I wanted to cry. Such a stupid, careless thing to do on my part. But I fixed it! And I had one battle wound when the needle went through the tip of my thumb. It has throbbed all day long. I cringe at the sight of soap and/or sanitizer. I learned a very good lesson in thimble wearing. Safety first, kids!

Pinterest V.5

-CRAFTY-

photo

I posted this fabric banner on my 'crafty' board. I thought it was a nice little tutorial on how to make them but it turns out that the link just went to a shop where you could buy it. This sucker was originally priced at $40 then marked down to $18 (because there is no way it is worth $40!). Just by looking at the photo I knew I could make my own with all of my leftover scrap pieces of fabric. So I went to town cutting old fabric and even old t-shirts that I knew Dustin and I would never wear again but I wasn't exactly ready to get rid of them either. This is a great way to not only recycle but to get double use out of something you love. I hate holding on to things unless I'm putting them to use so this was the perfect excuse. Halfway in the middle of cutting all of this old fabric a lightbulb went off. I remembered that I had a some leftover holiday fabric from making my co-workers stockings last Christmas. So I decided to hold off on the regular random fabric banner and started on the Christmas banner. 

I cut a 'V' into each piece. I had no template nor did I want one. I didn't want them to look perfect so I just eyeballed them all to look similar. I like the look of different lengths, widths and even a little fraying where they have been cut into. After I had all of my pieces I organized them on the floor. Again, I wasn't looking for a matchy matchy look. The only thing I care about is that all the fabric was Christmas themed (some had reindeers on them, others had snowflakes or the Grinch and even some with the word 'PEACE'). I arranged them how I wanted them and pinned the top over a piece of yarn. This was helpful in knowing which one I was going to sew next because they were already in order.
I sewed them at the top and around the yarn so that I am still able to move them . This is cool because now I have options to put them really close together or spread them apart depending where they get hung over the years. This year, I plan on hanging this over our living room window where we put our Christmas tree. Right now it's stored in my 'Christmas' bin with all of our other ornaments and random decorations but pretty soon it'll be getting plenty of use. I am really excited how it turned out. Total success!

Oh, and it didn't cost ANYTHING. I already had the fabric. Already owned a sewing machine and all the thread. Already had the yarn from knitting scarves. Recycle. Reuse. Repurpose.

-NAILS-

I have seen a lot of people use regular old Scotch tape to create different designs on their nails on Pinterest - here and here. I have tried it as an accent nail before and it's always worked well but this was my first time trying it on all my nails. The reason I even thought of it was because my regular nail polish was chipping at the ends of my nails but I wasn't ready to take the polish off, so I figured I would just add another layer of color over the chipping. It really worked perfectly. Another success!

All I did was lay little pieces of tape across my nail. Painted. Waited until they dried until removing the tape and voila! A old new manicure. I like it because not only does it give new life to your week old manicure but it's again free. Everyone has different color nail polish and everyone has tape. So easy!

Pinterest V.4

-HAIR BOARD-

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As you can tell, the link above doesn't have any kind of instructions to help create the really pretty double braid, bun look. So I just had to go for it and improvise. There were two attempts.

#1 - This was my own take on it. Basically the photo above was the inspiration for this. It's similar but not really the same thing. One bun, 2 small braids (left), and one bigger braid (right). It was fairly simple. All I did was leave some hair down on the left - braided two braids and finished with an elastic. French braided the left side. Grabbed all of my hair (except the top braid on the left) and swirled them around in a circle - placed an elastic around the whole thing. Then I swooped the top braid around the back of my hair and secured with a bobby pin. It kind of reminds me of my wedding hair which of course makes me super happy. I went to work like this AND to the gym. It stayed perfect the entire day. Success.

#2 - For this one I tried to do exactly what is in the photo above. I separated my hair into three sections. I did the top bun first so it was out of the way. I can french braid like a mother fucker anywhere in the front of my head but I suck doing it on the sides/back. So I just tried to do regular braids and pull them back with the rest of my hair. Didn't really come together. I think one of the problems is my hair is actually TOO LONG for this exact hairstyle. Her buns are super small and cute and mine are huge! My braids didn't go as planned either. This one is a total FAIL.

I will definitely re-try whenever I decide to cut my hair. But I think I prefer my own ninja mohawk creation seen here.

OUTTAKES aka Dustin wouldn't stop taking photos of me.

  -CRAFTY BOARD-

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I also tried making this super cute I <3 U card. There weren't any instructions or helpful hints for this one either. How convenient! So I was on my own again. I mean it's pretty self explanatory but still, this thing was way harder than it looks. Since I don't have any ink in my printer I couldn't print this out SO I freehanded it on some scrapbook paper. I first tried to use scissors but that was a disaster. Don't even bother with them. You really need a good craft knife. I have one but it was still kind of difficult.

My version, although not terrible, is not as crisp. The edges of the letters and heart are kind of rough but other than that - not too shabby. But don't think I'm making a bunch of these for Valentine's Day. Nope, never making this card again. This whole project was more of a hassle than anything.