little craft project: lavender oatmeal face scrub.

So.  It happens to be right in the middle of the essay writing/tech drawing/omg I finish school in 6 weeks time frame, ie. I should be writing an essay not doing craft projects.

However, this is also the reason why craft projects are great, because otherwise I would probably just die from only thinking about concrete construction and magical sugar worlds.  Although I drew a plan of a sugar cafe today that involved drawing electric mixers and that was pretty wonderful.

It's even better when they take like two minutes! 

Flipping through the body & soul magazine website (yes Martha Stewart owns it) I spied the D.I.Y facials section.  You should probably know that I often get really excited about making my own beauty products (that sounds so pretentious, but it's midnight and I can't think of a better word, sorry!) So healthy! Natural! I get to pretend to be a hippie child! Field trips to Vitahealth!!

And then I read the ingredient list (which of course, is supposed to be oh so simple) and realize that half the ingredients are so natural that I have no idea what they are/where to buy them and that I do not possess the magical pioneer skill set to mix said ingredients.  And then I go back to back to buying Burt's Bees lip balm.

But, this one was different!  I could pronounce all of the ingredients!  AND we had all of the ingredients in my kitchen!  Even the lavender! (This is a big deal, because if you know me you know that I somewhat despise lavender.  But, we're trying to be friends so I bought some this summer with visions of magical floral cupcakes in my head.  Lets just say we won't be making those again.)

And the only steps was dumping it all into a jar.  And I love jars.  So much happiness.

Oatmeal Lavender Face Scrub from body & soul

1 C. oatmeal.

1/2 C. lavender dried flowers.

1/2 C. powdered milk. (okay so I lied, I couldn't find the powdered milk, its somewhere in the deep recesses of our cupboards and I plan on buying some to add next time I'm out.)

2 tsps.  cornmeal.

Mix all together and store in a jar! 
Massage onto damp skin.

They suggest using it once and seeing how your skin reacts, and then possibly increasing it to three times a week.  I have pretty sensitive skin and it just felt lovely and smooth after!

Lasts for six months, but I have a feeling it will be gone before then!  There is something so comforting about oatmeal...even when it happens to be on your face. 

I also went fabric shopping that afternoon, because even though I probably won't touch my sewing machine until May, I needed to buy things while all the lovely projects were dancing around my head.

I hope your day is beautiful.xo.

Oh! and this is post number 20! yay! I love all 7 readers that read this. 

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little craft project: earring frame.

So I've been meaning to post this one for a while, like  possibly two months, so here you finally go!  This is maybe my favourite recent craft project as it involves three of my favourite things: value village shopping, pretty paper and...power tools.  I like saws, they're fun.

Anyways, this project came about while I was attempting to decide what to get my mother for Christmas.  I wanted to find something that she would love, and that I could make.  In the like four days I had between school and Christmas.  So, when she listed a earring tree as one of her Christmas wishes I was like "I CAN TOTALLY MAKE THAT!" And then I happily set off on a search to find an appropriate DIY.  And failed.  They were all ugly.  Or involved wire, which, as soon as it gets bent, looks gross and drives me mad. 

Then I realized that having been practically raised by Martha Stewart I could probably think of something myself. 

This is the result.  It was super simple and I like that it involves nails (read: no bent wires with earrings hanging off of them, yay!) and pretty paper.  I also really love paper.

However, because I was having so much fun making this I didn't take any photos.  So, in place of that you get these awesome sketches.  Lucky you!

1.  Go on a super fun shopping trip to the thrift store.  After buying a new purse go look at the picture frames.  Find one that is wood.  Mine is roughly 10" x 12" and I chose a frame that had some depth to it so that I could prop it against a  mirror if I wanted.  It doesn't matter if your frame has a back, you'll replace it later anyways.

2.  Take out the super ugly German pastel picture of some terrifying child with her fluffy cat.

3.  Paint it.  Mine was just wood without any coating so I painted it with two coats of white primer.  If yours does have a coating or a layer of paint I suggest sanding it lightly first.

4.  Cut a piece of wood to fit the back of your frame.  Mine was 1/8" thick pine siding that was in our garage but it doesn't really matter as long as it is smoothish and easy enough to nail into.

5.  Pick some pretty paper and spray glue the sheet to your piece of wood.  trim the excess edges with a knife.

6.  Decide on a grid.  My nails were spaced 1.5" apart across and 3" apart high, but choose a grid that fits with width of your frame and allows for longer or wider earrings - you don't want them to get more tangled! Lightly draw out this grid in pencil and erase later.  Then go for it and have a fun time hammering things and making lots of noise in your basement and impressing your father with how straight you can hammer nails.  I used small finishing nails.

7.  Once your frame is dry screw your piece of wood into the back, one on each side should hold it tight enough. 

8.  You're done!  You can lean it on a shelf or attach a frame hanger on the back and mount it on the wall to display all your lovely little sparkly earrings!

Have a lovely week!  xo.