Easy Rolled Braid Updo

I was just playing with my hair today, and I came up with this hairstyle. It was super easy and took only a few minutes to achieve. 

You simply braid your hair in a semi-loose braid, roll the braid up, and secure it with a couple bobby pins. I don't think it can get much easier than that!

-Sarah

DIY Skull Scarf

Stamping fabric is a fun and easy way to update an old piece. Using fabric foam you can make your own stamp that you can use over and over again. I recently made a top with a feather stamp that I made, and it turned out really great. I didn't blog about it, so I decided to do another stamp project and this time blog about it so I could share the idea.

Ok, so I already have an amazing stamped tee, so I decided for my next project to stamp a scarf.

Materials:

-scarf (or other material)

-foam sheet

-scissors

-craft razor knife

-pen

-fabric paint

-glue

Begin by drawing a skull on a piece of foam stamp. If you don't want to do it free hand, just look up an image on google.

I searched "plain skull image" on google and found this, which I thought would work well. I printed out the image and cut it out, then traced it with the pen on the foam stamp. I then cut out the foam stamp with the scissors, and used the craft razor knife to cut out the eyes, nose, and teeth. With the remaining foam, cut out a rectangle slighty larger than the skull and glue it to the skull. You now have a stamp! (I didn't take any photos of this process because I used a black pen and you couldn't see it in the photos very well) 

Test out your stamp before using it on your material to make sure you are satisfied with it.

 

I used a paintbrush to paint the skull on the left, and I didn't like the way it turned out. So I used a foam brush to paint the skull on the right, and it turned out much better, so I used the foam brush throughout.

Use the foam brush to paint the fabric paint on the stamp.

Make sure you iron your material that you are using so you have a nice, flat surface.

And start stamping!

 

End product!

-Sarah

DIY Laundry Detergent

Earlier this week I finally got around to doing what I have been saying I was going to do for months; I made my very own laundry detergent! I feel so domestic and frugal, but I also feel embarrassed that I have been wasting my hard earned money on store bought detergents when it was so easy (and kinda fun) to make my own. I will be honest though; I did a little research and my very own experiment to make sure I was doing this the fastest and easiest way possible. So, you're welcome. Here it is...

You will need:
-1 Fels-Naptha Bar Soap ($1.99)
-1 Ivory Bar Soap ($0.46)
-2 cups Super Washing Soda ($2.25)
-2 cups Borax ($2.00)
-A little helper (optional but way more fun!)

All the recipes for detergent I found said to sit and grate the bars of soap by hand. ...Uh, no thanks. I found alternative ways that were quicker, easier and way more fun!

 I started with the bar of Ivory soap and my little helper. After seeing this cool mom trick on pinterest, I thought this would be the perfect time to try it out. We put the bar of soap in the microwave for two minutes on a sheet of wax paper. I let my helper guess what would happen to it. He guessed it would melt and turn into liquid. He waited for it patiently...

 ...but he was wrong! It expanded into a big soap cloud and we were both thoroughly impressed.

 Lucky for us, our Ivory cloud crumbled easily with our fingers.

 While my helper finished up with the bar of Ivory soap, I got out my chef's knife and diced up the Fels-Naptha bar into one inch cubes.

 I dumped both bars of soap into the blender (Depending on the quality of your blender/food processor you may only want to add a couple cubes at a time.)

 along with the two cups of borax and two cups of Super Washing Soda. I pulsed the mixture until the bars were well chopped and then blended until the soaps were evenly distributed throughout.

 Transfer the detergent to a container with a lid. I found this one at Garden Ridge and it was the perfect size for a double batch. It even came with a 2 tbls scoop and flip-top lid!

For small to regular loads I use 1tbls and for larger or heavily soiled loads I use 2tbls. This recipe makes 6 cups of detergent (64ish loads) for less than $7. I doubled the recipe and made enough to last our family of three about 6 months. I can't help but think about all the money I am going to save, not on only on detergent, but also on all the other crap that I end up buying when I go to Target to buy the detergent. 

Happy savings everyone!

-Amy

Easy Jewelry Tray Makeover

I recently saw this adorable vanity tray at Urban Outfitters, and I loved it...but it was $24, and I really didn't want to spend that much money on it.

 

I decided to make my own vanity tray, so I hit up my favorite resale shop, the Goodwill, and I found this lovely little piece for $.59!

 

I spray painted it two coats of a matte white color.

Then I used this gold paint to add some little triangles on the tray.

 

It was so easy, and turned out great!

 

 

-Sarah

A Recipe for Good Luck and Prosperity

Growing up, we always had ham and beans with corn bread on New Year's Day. It was probably my least favorite meal. As a kid, I would complain, saying "Mom, whyyyyy do we have to eat this EVERY year?" In many cultures it is believed that eating certain foods would bring certain things into your life. Pork brings an abundant new year, good luck and prosperity; beans (representing a coin) and cornbread (representing gold) both bring wealth. As I've gotten older my tastes have definitely changed and now I actually like ham and beans. I decided I wanted to come up with a new recipe to continue this tradition with my family. Now, this wasn't an easy sell to my kids. They both complained "Mom, whyyyyy do we have to eat that?" We have always had a  '3 Bite Rule' - try three bites and if you don't like it, you can have something else. Once they tried it, the rule was not necessary, they both had two bowls!

Not my Momma's Ham and Beans

- 1 T olive oil

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

- 1 large onion, chopped

- 1/4 t kosher salt

- 1/2 t black pepper

- 1 T dried parsley

- 1/4 t ground cloves

- 1 lb ham, cubed or shredded

- 4 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

- 6 c water

First heat oil and saute garlic and onions. Next, add the salt, pepper, parsley, cloves and ham. Heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the beans and water. Bring to a low boil, then reduce to simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with corn bread and enjoy!

Happy New Year!

- Stacy

Check out some of Sarah's jewelry on her etsy page! www.ohsweetdarling.etsy.com

Vintage Book Page Flower Wreath Tutorial

My neighbor, Henry, makes grapevine wreaths. He recently brought me over a couple, so I decided to make a new wreath.

A few months ago I made a wreath with burlap and fabric flowers, and I thought it would be neat to make flowers for my new wreath, but instead of using fabric, using paper!

Materials:
- wreath
- Elmer's glue
- scissors
- old book
- super glue

To make a flower, cut a circle out of the book page. 

Cut out a spiral starting on the outside of the circle until you reach the middle.

Begin rolling up the spiral from the outside.

Keep on rolling until there's no more left to roll.

All done!

Make as many flowers as you want. Super glue them to the wreath.

I decided to add a few "leaves" as well.

All done, what do you think?

          

-Sarah