Sugar is not just for baking anymore....

The other day I noticed I was starting to peel from the latest sunburn I got.  I know, I know, I should be using sunscreen and I do, but when you are a fair skinned and have reddish hair, sunburn is going to happen.  But, I digress.  When I noticed this I couldn't help but think about what I can do to help get rid of it and make my skin better.  I had several thoughts, but the best was a body scrub.

Why not? Right?  Many may use a facial scrub, but why not a body scrub.  I can be honest I never thought about it for my self until now. After a few years of sun damage and cold dry winters, I started thinking I should look into this.  Now, I have no idea what a jar scrub would cost at your local bath and body store or at the spa, I assume they aren't cheap.  So, I didn't even bother looking.  I went right for doing it myself.  I also thought this was as better route because my thought was the "more natural",  "organic", or "simple" the product, the higher the price.

After some poking around on Pinterest,  I found that most scrubs are either sugar or salt based.  I wanted to go with a scrub that I had most if not all of the ingredients.  Keeping this in mind, I looked at mostly sugar based scrubs.  I found two that seemed very promising.

The first one I found was for a brown sugar cinnamon scrub by One more Moore.  I liked this one because I had everything I needed.

Pretty simple so far.

It was extremely easy to put together.  I did do what was suggested and put it into an air-tight container because I knew I would not use it all at once.  Looking at it, I will get a few uses out of it.

Now, I will be honest I not to thrilled with the smell that the olive oil gave it when I first put it together. It wasn't bad, just didn't like the scent.  I let it sit about 3 days before I used it and smelled much better.   I was careful while using it in the shower.  I did turn off the water while scrubbing and sealed the container before turning the water back on.  I am happy with the results.  My skin does feel softer even two days later.  Also, I was worried about feeling slightly "oily" after using, but had none of that.

The next one I found and decided to make was a coconut lavender scrub by Homemade Mamas.  Now this one I was missing the coconut oil, but since I had seen other things that I wanted to try that had coconut oil, it was worth buying it.

I threw the three ingredients together and.... Viola!

I didn't get the buttery texture they said I would.  It was thicker then the other scrub, but definitely not a paste.  Next, time I need to make this I will add more lavender because I didn't smell it at all.  Truth, it didn't have a coconut smell either.  It's ok, I guess, but I do like when things like this smell good also.  Just a quirk about me I guess.  Unlike the brown sugar scrub this one did have more of an "oily" feeling to it, both while using it and for about day afterwards.  This feeling doesn't thrill me, but I can live with it because my skin felt smoother and softer longer then with the brown sugar scrub.

Both of these, are absolutely Worth the Try!

Next I am thinking either a facial scrub or a lip scrub..... How about both?

Something for the Kids

My main job is being a Mom.  I am always on the look out for things that pertain to kids, whether it is crafts, food, or school.  I started back at the beginning of the year collecting ideas for this summer to do with my daughter.

When the school was about to finish and summer was going to start, I looked at some of the things I pinned on Pinterest.  Most of what I came across looked great a few months ago, but not so great now.  Truth, there is only maybe one or two worth trying.  Yesterday, Mini-Me and I set out to try one.

Hubby is usually out the door by 7am to head to work.  I would say 87.634568% of the time I am semi-concious when this occurs.  I am NOT a morning person.  Never have been and Never will be.  With that said, I would say 96.673516% of the time Mini-Me is awake and ready to go at this time.  

Without saying much to each other, Mini-Me and I usually get our day moving by 8am.  Breakfast in our house is very simple most of the time.... frozen waffles, toasted English muffins, cereal, Pop-Tarts.  Don't get me wrong I love to cook and bake, just not that early in the morning and definitely NOT before my cup of coffee.  But, yesterday was a little different.... we relaxed and chilled.

When I saw how the morning was going I thought it was a good morning to try an easy meal that I found on the Betty Crocker website.  It was Strawberry Breakfast Crescent Rolls.  I thought it was easy enough that Mini-Me was able to help since the only two ingredients were fruit roll ups and crescent rolls.  We worked well together.  I cut up the fruit roll ups to fit the crescent rolls and she rolled them to form the crescents.  After about 10 minutes we were done and into the oven then went.  We had to wait a WHOLE 12 minutes.  I know for a 7 year old this is FOREVER.  But the end result was worth it....

Talk about yummy looking!

And they were absolutely, completely, totally DELICIOUS!  I lost count how many times Mini-Me said, "Mommy, these are SO awesome!"

Now, we did use strawberry fruit rollups like recipe called for, but I don't see why you couldn't use whatever flavor you wanted.  Also, after telling Hubby about them and a bit of discussion, we don't see why you couldn't also make these ahead of time and pop them in the microwave to warm them up for a snack.

This is worth the try.

Cleaning Your Grandmother's Silver

If you are like me, you may have inherited some silver pieces from some family member at some point in time.  For me, it was a few service pieces from my Mother that I believed belonged to my Great-Grandmother.  Truth be told at 23 when I was given them I had no idea what I would do with them or if I would ever do anything with them.  I haven't done anything with them until now.

Every time I would come across one of the dozen pieces I have I would look at it and say to myself... "I really should clean these."  But, of course I never did, mostly because I never had silver cleaner.  No cleaner meant they got put back into the drawer to be forgotten until some time later.  And repeat.

Jump forward about 20 years....

I had been thinking for about a week what my new post should be about.  I wanted to be able to try something that I had everything I needed.  I have list of things, but I was always missing at least one item to make it work.  Then I saw my Grandmother's silverware.... Light Bulb!  I needed to find a natural way to clean silver.

I was able to find two different recipes one from DIY & Crafts and Apartment Therapy.  They both called for hot boiling water and baking soda.  DIY & Craft has you add vinegar and salt.  I thought I would try both to see if one worked better then the other.

I gathered up what was needed.....

 I set up two dishes and got started.

There was a bigger chemical reaction with the vinegar and baking soda then with just the water.  I let them sit for 10 minutes.  And here are results.....

Not bad for having 20 years of grime on them.

Honestly, I didn't see much of a difference in which cleaned better.  Now, I know for me because the bulk of the pieces look like this....

...... I will have some major scrubbing to do with maybe even a toothbrush.

This would most definitely be a few hours to get everything clean and shiny, but I believe it can be done.  I could also see this being used for you silver jewelry.

This is worth the try.

.

Dying Ombre Curtains

Today I was feeling a bit crafty, so I decided to try hand-dying curtains for my daughter's playroom. I had thought this was a better route because I really wanted to have those ombre curtains after seeing them all over Pinterest.  The downside to those curtains is they can be expensive if you can find them.  JCPenny was the only website I was able to find them on and theirs started at $60 a panel.

Not bad, but not worth the money, in my opinion.  

The only problem with this project I had no idea where to start.  Of course where do I go for inspiration .... Pinterest. I found that Emily over at Better Remade had the best post about how to go about making these curtains.  Hers turned out pretty well, so I thought "Why not? How hard can it be?".

I gathered up what I needed.

And got started....

Ok, truth be told I had a feeling this was not going to work to well before I started.  The biggest thing was the dye bottle said it was not recommended for use on 100% polyester.... and what were the curtains... 100% polyester.  I figured I would still give it a try.

I did use this scale to help with the length of time to dye each section.

I didn't measure anything out.  I am not much into that unless I HAVE to do it.  The only thing I did do was clip the two panels together.  This way I knew that the dye job would be much closer then if did them separately.  

After waiting ALL that time.... (lol).....here is what I got....

Not much of anything..... I know because of it being a sheer, I wasn't expecting this deep deep color, but it took awhile for me to find the right angle and lighting to even get a picture to show you the results.

This wasn't a complete fail, but far from a complete success.  Next time, I will be much more diligent about what I am using before I start.

This is worth a Second try.

Do you take cream with your coffee?

I promise this is not a start of a trend.  But, I do think it was only logical to make my next post about the homemade creamer.

The homemade creamer was actually the first DIY that I had tried.  I kept seeing friends on Facebook keeping share pictures of the creamer.  After about a month I finally thought I needed to give this a try, since I was pretty much buying myself creamer every other a week.  I needed an alternative.

After searching a bit, I found several sites, all with different combinations depending on what flavor creamer you wanted.  No matter what flavor, they have 2-3 basic ingredients.

Milk (2cups), Sweetened Condensed milk (14oz), and Heavy Whipping Cream( 1/2 pint).

How hard is that?

Now, of course, depending on your diet needs, you can use low fat, non-fat, sugar-free, or what ever your little heart desires.  Also, the whipping cream can be left out altogether.  I use it only because I feel it adds a nice thicker creamy taste to it.    

The only other thing you need is whatever sealable container you have on hand.  I personally use my old store-bought coffee creamer jug.  If this is what you end up using,  just make sure it is the 32 oz size.

Now once you have mixed that all together, here comes the fun part..... the FLAVOR!

The options are endless!

You can have chocolate, vanilla, caramel, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, mint.... let's see what else?  Well, you get the picture.  I just have one suggestion.   When using solid flavors, like chocolate syrup or cinnamon, add it to the milk first and heat it on the stove for a bit.  This will help incorporate them into the creamer better.  If you don't you may have floating things in the mix. Umm, yeah, no.  (I found this out the hard way.)  Next time I will listen to my own advice.

In the end.... This is worth the try.

Happy creating!

Coffee, Please.

I have always LOVED the smell of coffee brewing in the morning.  Which is a bit strange because I didn't grow up in a home where there was pot on every morning.  We had a coffee maker, but I could probably count on one hand how many times I remember it ever being used.  Also, truth be told I hated the taste of coffee.  No matter how much milk or sugar I put into it, it was always too strong and bitter to me.

Then a few years ago while working I made a coffee run for a few co-workers and I was introduced to Starbucks.  I found out there was more to coffee then strong and bitter.  Like many others, I would stop for my morning coffee, my hot summer day iced coffee, or just a random pick me up.  (Even as I write this I have my mug.)

Eventually, things got a bit out of hand. I knew I needed to find alternatives to my coffee consumption. Don't worry I didn't stop drinking coffee. OMG, NO!  I couldn't never do that.  But, I needed a less expensive way to feed the demon.

As you will find out if you read and follow this blog, I am a BIG Pinterest addict.  I could easily spend days looking through all those pins.... DIY, kid crafts, home projects, food, sweets...... OK focus.  I never really found anything about making hot coffee itself, which ok.  I have been able to find some very nice flavored coffees that are great.  Between the coffee and the homemade creamer (that is my next post), I am pretty happy with my hot cup of joe in the morning.  

My next challenge was being happy with Iced Coffee.  I did like probably many have done.  I would let my hot coffee cool and used that.  I never liked it.  It always had a bitter taste to it.  It took some searching, then I found something I thought might work if it did what was claimed.  I follow a website called The Yummy Life.  She posted about cold-brewing your coffee.  The claim was by cold-brewing your coffee there was less acid, which in turn made it less bitter tasting.  It sounded good to me.  So, I gave it a try.  She explains two methods to brew the coffee.  You can check it out yourself if you want.... Iced Coffee.

Here is all you need to start.......

Pretty easy, right?

Now this NOT an instant gratification.  I repeat... NOT instant.  But, if you are willing to wait the 12 hours until the first batch of coffee is brewed, I think this is definitely the way to go.  The coffee does not have that strong bitter coffee taste to it, in my opinion. And I think it looks pretty good too...

After, I made this for the first time, I made a comment on my personal Facebook.  I received a few comments that I think were very good advice.  The two main things were if you truly, truly can't wait for the first batch to brew, you could always use instant coffee.  The other one was to make some ice cubes from the coffee and use them instead of regular ice.  That way the coffee won't get watered down.  Once, I get around to buying some ice cube trays, I'll try this myself.

There in no limit on what can be done with the coffee.  The combinations are endless.  You can fit it to whatever you like..... I am even thinking of trying in a frap.  Why not?

In the end.... this one is worth the try.

Enjoy!