Coming up next....2 Seperate tests....DIY NYLON HEADBAND and FREE CROCHET BIB TUTORIAL!!!!

So I decided to test 2 different ones because they are fairly simple.  One of them I've already completed but I had to do a few practice runs before I go and take pictures.  On the down side of things both of my hands (one worse than the other) are acting up and I might have tendinitis with my left hand so it's challenging to do repetitious work but I'll try!


The first test will be from a another blogger called: LittleMissMomma.com. She has a lot of wonderful crafts and other projects so I would suggest checking her out!

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Our other test I will be doing will be on a free pattern from: Favecrafts.com
This website has some cute tutorials that give you the instructions in the common crochet language.  If you need help with crocheting it, I have "how to crochet classes" on my pinterest account :)

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I"ll be posting the results soon!

Saving crumbled makeup

So I did this WEEKS ago and forgot to post it because it slipped my mind.  I remembered that I did this test already because I found the pictures on my IPOD.

Are you tired of throwing away makeup because it broke into pieces in the compact and don't know how to use it without making smaller pieces?
Well then this is for you because it'll help save you money and the frustration as I have found.  It works AMAZINGLY and I recommend using this trick to help salvage your makeup.

Here is the pin source for how to fix the makeup with rubbing alcohol.

Step 1: Get some rubbing alcohol and fill just the cap.  It'll help control how much you put in your makeup so that it doesn't swamp it.

 Step 2: Put just enough in the crumbled make up to were it becomes a paste.
Once done take a utensil of some kind ( I took the cotton off a q tip) and stir it.

This is what it should look like after you put the rubbing alcohol in it.

 Step 3: Now let dry for a good couple hours, I left mine in a warm place and away from things so that way it wouldn't get bumped while drying. 

And PRESTO!

The rubbing alcohol will dry out and you are now left with a perfectly smooth and not crumbly make up!

Bunny cake...FAIL

So my bunny cake didn't even turn out to be a bunny cake sadly :( It ended up turning into what I wanted and I got impatient and therefore, no bunny cake...

So here was to original idea that I wanted to do...

And this is what ended up happening as the end result....

 Yea...not even CLOSE to a bunny or anything..... Just a spiky weird design cake.........

So here is the pin source for the original idea
To begin:
I needed to have a buttercream frosting so that I could decorate the cake since I had no way to get to the store.
Here is the pin source for buttercream frosting.
So I began pipping in a very simple manor.  I took my time and was excited because I was thinking that after I had layered my cake that I didn't make it tall enough.  Well I figured that I could pipe the "fur" of the rabbit and that the entire cake would look like a rabbit instead of a stump with rabbit feet.

So to explain I did it in these steps:
*I forgot to post the cake I made but it was made from a store bought cake mix that I made in two round cake pans

step 1:

I followed the recipe from the buttercream recipe I found on pinterest and made it like so.  It makes A LOT of frosting so it would be good to make if you want to store some for later.  

Step 2: I took a zip lock bag and a pipping tip and put that in the corner of the bag.

 Step 3: I then filled the bag and then closed it off so looked like so.

As you can see here I began to do it in neat pipping and pretty consistent with the amount I was putting on as well.
I felt like a pro as I carefully placed each bit of frosting. (thanks cake boss for the visual aid!)

As you can see here, there are a DOZEN different types of designs on the cake because I did't realize how long it would take to pipe.  I have to hand it to decorators.  I am definitely not meant for a bakery job in the future.

So i couldn't change what I had put on the cake so I just smoothed the whole thing out.  Pretty much gave up on making the whole cake a bunny.  So i decided to go with plan b.
Which was to then make a bunny out of frosting.

I used marshmellows as a base for the bunny because I thought it would look cool once I put frosting on top of it.
I didn't take a picture because it just looked like one giant blob of chunky frosting.
I had gotten creative before and thought that green sprinkles would be the grass.....until that idea didn't work because there was no rabbit on the grass. So it got smoothed out into the frosting. Now giving the frosting a crunch.

So in the end.....
this is what my cake turned out to be.

I just took a metal spatula and flipped the frosting upwards to create the frosting this way.
So maybe I'll try this cake again in April and have better luck next time......

Coming up next.....EASTER BUNNY CAKE!!!!

 Pin Source

So I am going to try and take a crack at making a bunny cake!  

I have a fundraiser in my church coming up and I volunteered to make something for it.  I can promise you that it probably won't end up this fancy but wish me luck! I have to make this by tomorrow so hopefully it'll turn out okay!

If you have any suggestions for me let me know!

Baby oil....for shaving your legs with?

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Soooo I'm not going to post pictures of my nasty, pasty-white legs for this one ;p

So you guys all know that baby oil is what you lather up your wee one with so that they can keep their skin moist and protected right?
 I never used mine on my baby because she has sensitive skin and oil is a pain in the butt to clean up anyway.  Especially on clothes so how would it affect my legs if I shaved with it?

Now the story behind this for me is that oiling your razor or "greasing it" will help it to stay sharp.  Makes sense because you have to keep it from dulling or else you have to go spend money buying another head for it or another razor all together.

So I went ahead with the pin idea because I'm a penny pincher, and if I can go and save some money, I will.

K so it's pretty basic on how this works out.

Step 1:
Put a dime to quarter sized amount on your leg and rub in

Step 2:
Shave legs

Step 3:
Rinse off

DONE!

So I can say that it DID give me a closer shave and my legs are JUST starting to feel prickly to me.  That was about 3-4 days ago.  But I honestly don't want to do this to often for a few of these reasons....

The pros and cons to this method to me.

PROS

• Closer shave
• makes razor last longer
• skin is silky smooth afterwards

CONS

• Leaves bathtub EXTRA slick from the oil
• Can hurt your skin if you use to much
• Pain in the REAR to clean up the shower
• Gummed up my razor and I couldn't get the extra out :/

Main issue here is that it can be harmful to use to often. As it can clog up your pores and make it to were your skin get's dry and you have a bigger problem with itching and all kinds of nasty things.  UGH!  It's not the best thing in the world to have zits or pimples on your legs which you CAN get there.  And it's NOT fun to shave. If I even do this again, I'll probably end up shaving over a wide bucket so that it'll be easier to clean.
So use sparingly.  Every once in a blue moon wouldn't hurt to use.

DIY: MINKY DOT BLANKET

Hey everyone!
I'm super excited to show this to you today.
Minky dot blankets to me have become more popular lately because of the fact that they are perfect for the new arrivals in your home.
I got one from several people and I had never even heard of this material before.  But let me tell you, I am a HUGE sucker for this blanket because I've always been a soft blanket person.

Now of course you can go and buy these pre-made.  I got mine from different friends that got them from a website called BEBE BELLA DESIGNS.
Granted I love the blankets I got from here because they always have something different.
Problem is for me is that it seems like they don't keep the patterns a whole lot from what I've noticed and it's so sad because I wanted to get the same blankets I got for my friends.
Now there's also the fact that you have to pay shipping.  Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE there blankets.  I just feel that I want to make my own and not be limited to what they sell.

So I went out and bought some of that fabric which I discovered that Hobby Lobby always has it on sale for 30 % off! in the store! Now they always want to give you an opportunity to save so they give you a 40% coupon you can use any day and don't have to wait for a special sales day like Joann's.
It may not sound like much but when you add things up it's a lot cheaper than buying it from someone else.

So here are the sources for my project today
Pin: DIY MINKY BLANKET! From ICraft
Video tutorial: Double sided minky blanket

Materials needed:

• 1.5 yards of Minky dot in the color of your choosing
• 1 yard of cotton fabric of your choosing
• Stitch Picker (because I can guarantee that you will have to fix it because mink dot is notorious for bunching up when sewing)
• Matching thread for the fabric you've chosen
• Needles
• Straight Pins

So here are the steps:
Step 1:  Lay your material out on the floor with the mink dot up and the cotton fabric facing the WRONG way on the minky dot.
What this means is that you want to sew it with the wrong side of the fabric facing you because when you turn it inside out later, you'll be hiding the stitches you made on the sewing machine.

Step 2: Pin around the entire blanket except for about a 7 inch hold on one side.  Why? Because this whole is where you will turn the material inside out later
It's important on your spacing because if you don't know how to sew like me, the more pins you have, the easier it will be to sew it so that it won't come apart and sew weird or have the problem that I did and get bunched up.

 Step 3:
After sewing around the blanket, Turn it inside out.  Once you have take the corners of the blanket and cut them.  The video tutorial will show you what I mean.
This way when you turn it inside out, the corners won't be all bulky.

Step 4: Now pin across the hole and sew across.

*optional steps
Step 5:
Now you can leave it as it is but I don't like how my blanket separates in the middle, and I didn't want to have annoying string sticking out everywhere so here is what I did.

Pin in 9 different spots on the blanket.  For me it was super easy because I had these large dots with the dogs in them to give me a good guide line.  if your material doesn't have that what  I would suggest is that you use a ruler and guide yourself across so that you are even when placing the pins.

Step 6:
Sew in a zig-zag stitch across your spots about 1 inch.
I know it's hard to see but that is what it looks like on the minky dot side.

And here you have it! All done!!!!!

DIY Fixing squeaky doors

Pin: Fixing squeaky doors
15 tips for olive oil and it's uses.
It's easy as 1-2-3!
I was effortless and I didn't have to do anything special to do this.
Most products will tell you to let it sit a while and to be careful when spraying and so forth and so on.  But this DIY fix up for the hinges was perfect for a simple project.

See all that rust in there? The olive oil actually cleaned it up for me!

I tested this one already months before I got this blog up so I could see the REAL results.
Here is what I used for this test:
Olive oil
Small bowl
Spoon
Paper towels

Yep. That's it.


Now I didn't know how my hinges to the doors in our bedrooms would look or react and I didn't know if my mother in law would appreciate me using her oil either :p But I can say that she didn't mind it at all when she saw the results.

So it's pretty simple really.  Anything oil based like let's say...Baby oil, olive oil, Pam spray etc.  These will all work.  And I can tell you that I did this test about 2 months ago and we STILL don't have ANY squeak from these doors.

1. To do this all I did was put a little bowl underneath the hinges as I dropped oil down them.  
2. Next I swung the door back and forth to get the hinges greased.  
3. Wiped up what as left\

And PRESTO! No squeaky doors and like I said its' been going strong for over 2 months now.  And I didn't have to go to the store for any special solvent or clean my hinges at all.