lemony-minty toner diy

yesterday, PI said something to me he hadn't said in a long time.

'why are you so sweaty?'

he had just come home from work, and we were both laying on the couch and decompressing.  i mentioned it was a pretty hot day out, and he looked at me and examined the greasiness of my face.  i thought i had a healthful glow from my jog that morning, but he set me straight.  it looked like my face was dripping with sweat [though i assure you it was not].  but either way, it wasn't a good look.

but don't judge me.  it's hot out.  really, really hot.  it's smack-you-in-the-face, never-dry-off-from-the-shower type hot.  it's that east coast humidity that really gets in your bones, and once it shows up in june [or the last weekend of may] you aren't getting rid of it.  all. summer.  long.

to help combat summer-sweat-face, i like to use a garden tomato toner in the morning and whenever i feel like i need it to freshen up.  but my toner seems to be gone from just about everywhere i can find it, so i was stuck looking for a new one.  but then, after coming across a few recipes online, i decided i would try my hand at making my own. 

my favorite recipe i found was from shwin & shwin, and i made only minor adaptations.


all you'll need is:

1 c of filtered or distilled water
2/3 c cucumber witch hazel [i used thayer's, available at whole foods]
1/2 c fresh lemon juice [took me 2 1/2 lemons worth]
2 tbsp rubbing alcohol
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
a plastic container or jar

directions after the jump ...

pinspiration #8: ribbon bobby pins

i am always running out of ideas of what to do with my hair.  i see so many cute ideas on pinterest - but some are nearly impossible for me, because i have pretty low skills when it comes to styling my hair.

when i came across this pin, it looked so easy i just had to try it.

not only was the hairstyle super easy and cute - but mine came out just like the picture.  except for that little ribboned bobby pin.


so i got out my trusty glue gun [MAN does that thing come in handy!], some ribbon, and went to town.

i threaded the ribbon through the pin, tied it in a bow, and then dotted the hot glue over the knot to make sure it stuck.

i even went out and bought some big, pretty ribbon to make a few additional pins.  but the ribbons were so pretty i couldn't bear to glue them to anything.  i'll just leave them alone so i can wrap them around a ponytail or sock bun any old day. 

pretty much the easiest thing i have ever found on pinterest ever.

pinspiration #7: tea tin magnets

i made another pinspiration today!  and i am so excited about it.  i've been wanting to do this for a while, because i have a ton of tea tins i've been saving.  my fave tea in the world is harney & sons, which come in these beautifully delicate brightly colored tea tins.  my love of these teas go all the way back to when i was living in prague.  during my 2nd semester while pi was living in la, we would catch up via skype in the afternoon for a bit after my classes and while he was just waking up in the morning.  there were a few internet cafes by my apartment, but my favorite [and the closest] served up harney's dragon pearl jasmine tea.  it's jasmine tea serve in little sachets filled with pearls of loose jasmine leaves, and they explode in your tea to look like flowers, smell like a garden and taste like heaven.

but come on - how adorable are those tins?

since i fell in love with the jasmine, i've come to love quite a few of their others, including paris.  it has the most enchanting aroma but a very subtle taste.  the tin for that tea is the gorgeous deep blue... i had been keeping the eye-pleasing tins for a while with no clue what to do with them.  then one day i saw this pin and thought i'd give it a shot.

pin from bippity boppity  boo, but i can't find where.

i love herbs, i love my tea tins.  what could go wrong?   if you have cats, you can guess where this story ended.  my cats, trying to eat the herbs and knocking them over.  no go.

so when i came across this pin, i knew it was for me.

thank you, martha stewart!

for these bad boys, all you need are the tea tins, magnets, and something magnetic.  done and done.  i did go the extra mile of hot gluing the magnets on to the back of the tins.  this way, if you take the tin off of the fridge, the magnets stay with the tin and not on the front of the refrigerator, which i found annoying.

my paris tea tin turned out lovely!

pen holder, front and center

since i am not a huge pink fan, i made my second tin out of an herbal peppermint tea with a green tin.

more storage on the side of the fridge

i love them and if i had more magnetic surfaces i'd make six more.

til next time! 

pinspiration #6: bow tee

i love bows.

now, i'm not a big girlie-girl.  i don't like pink, i'm not big on ruffles or lace, and have never been into shabby chic.  but i do love me some bows once in a while, and this shirt definitely caught my eye on pinterest not too long ago.

so what is a lover of bows with lots of extra time and a pile of tees to throw out supposed to do?  make this shirt i guess.

bow shirt diy from amanda's closet

now i did not own, nor have i ever heard of anything called, liquid stitch.  but one order from amazon and $7 later it was delivered to my doorstep.  everything else i had, except the rotary cutter, and turns out a simple blade worked fine.

since this seemed a little tricky to me, i did a test shirt first on an old brown one i was just going to throw in the trash.

not too bad.

the edges were a little rougher than i had first imagined, but it was ok.  i learned the right way to pull the shirt so it didn't snag and how to use the liquid stitch.

before - boring shirt!

i used a white shirt for my real attempt, because too many colors with bows i feel like wouldn't be a good thing.  of course AFTER i cut the bottom off of the shirt i had the idea to cut some pieces off of other colored shirts i have lying around that i need to toss out to make multi-colored bows.  oh well.

after - much more fun shirt!

 it's not too bad.  in retrospect i got a little over-excited about the bows and made them waaaay too close together - if i did this again [which i probably will] then i would just make four or five slits further apart for bigger bows.

not too shabby.

but it's a fun colored shirt, way less boring than it was before.  next time i will definitely make less bows.

can you really have too many bows though?

UPDATE: ok, i made another shirt.  i had all the materials not so why the hell not.

MUCH happier with this one - except that it's black and white.  the three slits were much easier to make and i didn't have to cut the bottom of this one, so it's no shorter than a normal shirt, which is a plus.  when i find another white tee that i am ready to upcycle i will be sure to make more rain-bows.  hahaha.

pinspiration #5: t-shirt necklace

i have taken a looong break from my pinspiration series,  but let's be honest.  i'm not doing too much these days.  and i like it :) 

now, honestly, how hard could this possibly be?

DIY from a little tipsy

supplies needed are scissors, an old tee shirt, and a hot glue gun.  unbelievably, i actually have all of those things.  i have been the proud owner of a glue gun since my first pinspiraiton attempt.  not too shabby of a start for me - i usually need at least one trip to a craft store to get supplies that normal women have around the house.

finished product this morning

so, it's a little heavy for the flowers to hang on the side like i intended.  but by adjusting the knot in the back of the necklace, i got it to hang with the flowers in the middle of my neck. 

not too bad!  i'd make it again in another color - or maybe even use the cloth rosettes to embellish an old tank top or something.  they are pretty cute.  it's just a matter of if i'll actually wear it or not.

well, it's not a total failure!

til next time...

painted doors.

i love my new building [except for the fire drill we had at 9am on a monday morning - not cool].  our building, being largely an artistic community, allows tenants to paint their doors.  yup - the outside of their loft doors.  whatever they want.

here is a sample of the super cool doors just on our floor:

bright blue, my fave

clouds

a little overboard here, but beautiful

keep calm and be british

painted to look like a regular door

first line of fairy tales - soooo creative!

 

close up of above door

well, there is no doubt by me that i can't really compete with these doors.  however, it's a very fun thing to do in my building and i have absolutely no intention of not painting my door.  so i need to start coming up with fun ideas that i can manage on my own [or with pi's hep].  maybe some sort of decals or collage or something? 

who knows.  but i need to start brainstorming.  ideas are welcome.  so are artists who can be commissioned to paint my door [for free].

til next time...!

ikea night stand hack

i am loving the loft still.  and i am still totally craving some color.

so, i struck a compromise with my husband.  we picked the cheapy nightstands from ikea that i wasn't totally sure of - but with the promise that i could paint them a new, happy bright hue and of course he reminded me that the money we'd save could go to other fun items, such as:

my new footstool/coffee table from world market! should be here in a week.

which means that my ikea nightstands looked like this when we picked them up:

 my first step was to put them together.

but after getting through step 2 [seriously, has anyone ever tried to put something together from ikea?!], i decided to wait til pi got home so he could put it together for me. that worked much better.

 

 

once the nightstand was put together, it was actually pretty simple to paint and revamp the nightstand.  first, i had to pick a color.  i decided to go with my favorite color - blue - so if i get out of this color phase pretty soon at least they will be in my favorite blue color.

supplies: paint, paint brush, sandpaper, and of course a dropcloth.

because the nightstands were originally a fairly pretty grey-ish color, i decided to only do one coat of paint.  they grey base underneath really stuck out with just one coat.  when doing only one coat of paint, brush strokes are key.  after coating each side with the bright blue, i dragged the brush from top to bottom to keep the brush stripes the same and make it look more like i had painted directly over wood.

the finished product!

closeup of the top of the nightstand.

i am pretty happy with the outcome, i gotta say!  the bedroom still needs some pictures hung up over the night stands and a few other decorative accents - and once i have a few of those put together i'll throw some pictures up. 

but so far so good, and it's beginning to feel more like home.

happy sunday!  til next time...

pinspiration #4: pillow covers

i don't sew.  that's exactly what i said to the woman cutting my fabric at joann's last week.  she looked at me like i was kind of crazy, which i understand.  who buys fabric, and then, while it's being cut, says they don't plan on sewing at all?  the woman tried to tell me about ways to iron fabric together like a hem but without sewing, and i told her i still wasn't going to do that. 

see, i had found this pin on pinterest:

and i was determined to give it a shot.  all i needed was two yards of fabric (that was just a guess that turned out to work).  i have some very boring pillows and have been wanting to mix it up.  but i am not too crazy about the idea of spending money on fancy pillows (i usually use them as a plate and/or desk), especially because i like to change them up with the seasons.  end result?

well hello there, fancy pillow!

all for two yards of fabric.  plus it took me twice to tie the knot just right.  but i pretty happy with it - i'd say it's my favorite pinterest project so far!

i did a LOT of awesome stuff this weekend with my sister in law n!  i have tons of pictures to share, but unfortunately i am super behind in school with the funeral last week and n's visit - plus we are heading out to new york in just three short days!  so lots to do around here.  i'll be back soon with pictures from the weekend and updates.

til next time...

pinspiration #3: outlet covers

so you all know we've been working on the bathroom for a while now.  but there are a few things that remain unfinished (small details).  and one of them was light switch and outlet covers.  we haven't had them on for months, which i'm pretty sure isn't good for the wiring. 

which is why i was so happy to find this pin!

from the real housewives of riverton

seems easy enough.  all you need is switchplate covers, scrapbook paper, an exacto knife and modge podge.  which means i only had to buy four things at the store.  this was also my first experience with modge podge, which is much stickier and smellier than i thought it would be.  but in my defense, i didn't know what it was. 

switch cover one

close up

outlet cover

not bad...

to be honest, it wasn't worth the hours they took me.  outlet covers aren't expensive.  HOWEVER, having looked for months i know how difficult it is to find just the right outlet covers.  so i guess it wasn't so bad.  and since i have three more pages of scrapbook paper, i guess i could do a few more for our bedroom or something.

lots more house projects coming up! i have lots of cleaning and organizing to do before our party on saturday.

til tomorrow!

pinspiration #1: coffee filter wreath

hey friends!

so i've decided to create a new series called pinspiration.  it's going to be things i have attempted to make from pinterest.  see, i'm not a very crafty lady.  in fact quite the opposite.  i love little handmade things, but i'd prefer to pay for the goods that others have made.  i could never color inside the lines, i never learned how to sew, and i don't own a hot glue gun

but since we've bought our house i've tried to start doing more things myself, very little things mind you.  so i am going to be taking on some new projects!  i have a pinterest board where i'm starting to collect ideas for new projects.

pin i love: coffee filter wreath

the pin

now how easy is this?  it looks easy, and i happen to know my sister in law b made one and hers looks fabulous - of course she's 1000x more crafy than i am.  but really, all you need a is a styrofoam circle of some kind, coffee filters, and a hot glue gun.  this required me purchasing my own glue gun at hobby lobby.  man those things get hot!  luckily i had all the coffee filters i need as a horrible coffee addict.

my version

so, in retrospect, i learned a few things. first, i should have wrapped the sytrofoam wreath in something before pinning on the filters, as you can still kind of see the green wreath.  second, i shouldn't have used the filters i had that are straight.  should have used the curvy kind.

i'm only a little ashamed to display it.  but i made it!  myself! 

my late-summer mantel this morning

i need to stop taking pics with my iPhone of my house, that looks awful. i am so lazy!

hospital care kit

i am not too crafty.  i don't make too many things (including dinner), but i've been known to make the occasional present.  i've made limoncello, books of my photography, and now... this!

as i've mentioned before, my cousin (who is like my sister) is pregnant - and the countdown has begun! so for her (belated) birthday and impending hospital stay, i made her a hospital care package.  it is full of things that she will need while before, during and after giving birth.  now it should be noted that i don't know what a woman needs during this time having never been through it myself - but i did enlist the help of some friends, including my b, my sister-in-law.  it's pretty cool... almost makes me wish i had one!  almost :)

 

 

items in the package include:

• healthy snacks, such as larabars & dark chocolate covered almonds
• burt's bees chapstick
• all natural kiss-my-face hand and body lotion
• no-elastic hair ties and headbands
• neutrogena face pre-moistened face wipes that you don't need to rinse off - perfect for hospital beds!
• hand sanitizer (i scrubbed off the label and put my own glittery letters on for fun)
• a comfy nightgown that won't touch her belly in case of a c-section
• four CDs of labor music - i opted for calming, soothing music

all packed into a re-sealable container that can be taken into the hospital, then brought back for baby's nursery!

i am sooo happy and excited to meet my little niece or nephew!  my cousin is such a strong woman i know she's going to do great and will make a wonderful mother.

well, thought i'd share this little crafty bit with you since this rarely happens.  i finished my last class tonight, and tomorrow's agenda includes sleeping in, getting a massage, seeing some of my favorite people and then flying out to nashville for some serious sister time!  it's going to be a GREAT weekend!

til next time!

xoxo