Sunday, January 30, 2011

Homemade Salt Scrub

I tried this past week to make my own salt scrub. I love using a scrub at least once a week, but that stuff can get pricey! I knew it could not be that hard to make it, so I started with what I had on hand around the house and looking at these directions here

I started with Epsom salts, safflower oil, a jar from IKEA, and essentials oil. I love peppermint and lavender so these I already had.





Lessons learned – try a finer grain salt next time and mix different oils. It still worked out well, but looking at the ingredients on my other salt scrubs it looks like they mix the oils. Almond oil looks pricey but it seems to be in every one that I owned. The oil I used was alittle too oily afterwards for my tastes. Also, one of my favorite salt scrubs is citrus so I want to try and make that scent. Overall it was a great idea and fun to do! I am hooked on making this a DIY project!




Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Target Bedding

Tar-jay is my BFF. It seems every time I go in there I find something on clearance that screams “buy me!!”. This time while looking for my Valentines decorations I found this little beauty….







Wahoo! Just what I was looking for! This is the higher end bedding for Target. It just so happens on the day I was in 30% off all of it!  I had my eye on it and was just waiting for it to somehow go on sale. The fabric is heavenly, soft and silky. I got the king coverlet and two gorgeous pillow cases for just alittle over $70! Now, this bed is looking to find a new home elsewhere in the house. Currently this bed is in the future fitness room office. One of these upcoming weekends I am going to bribe B to take apart the two guest beds and rearrange (and if you are reading this, pretty please this weekend?? ) Pics to come when it is done! For now I am just glad this bed is not bare anymore!

Before



After (the other pillow on the bed was another clearance item from Target awhile back!!





Monday, January 24, 2011

Valentines Vignette

With Valentines right around the corner I decided to make a small display to show the Love. Target has a great selected of $1 items right when you come in the door to choose from so many of these items are from there.

First got some scrapbook paper to frame ($1 for a package at Target!), $1 for a foam Love from Tar-jay as well and topped it off with the ribbon rose my sis made for me! Frame is one I had from Ikea.



Every display I see seems to have a candy Jar, so here is mine. Filled with Dark Chocolate M &M's and the Live, Laugh, Love jards from the bargin bins at Target as well!


I also added a candle from Christmas and the candle holder I spray painted from Goodwill awhile back. I thought these little mailboxes from the bargin bin from Target as well were too cute - I wonder if I will get a Valentine in it?? :)






Linked to:


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Weekend Hiking

I have been working this afternoon on the house, but this morning it was time for a long hike! I live really close to a trail, which in Arizona is not too common. I had never tried to hike up to the cell towers on the mountain, so today was the day! Enjoy some pics! I have some projects now to post for later in the week so stay tuned!









Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sew Happy!

I am having one of those weeks where my full time work takes the place of any work on the house...but luckily the internet can keep me at least somewhat on track! I have been thinking to learn sewing for some time now. Sure, I heart my no sew projects with hem tape (curtains here and no sew table runners here) but that cannot do everything! I took the plunge this week and ordered a sewing machine!


This one is a top pick around the web for beginners and is #1 on Amazon. I have been watching it and then saw the price dropped some this week - sold!


Brother CS6000I






Now on to find some easy projects to start with once I get it! Any suggestions out there??

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Under $25 DIY Starburst Mirror

Yes, these are all over the blogs and been done before but they are too pretty to pass up! I actually started this mirror over a month ago, completed it, then delayed finishing it. I could not decide what color to paint it, but finally just went with good old white. Changing it is just a spray paint can away if I change my mind! Here are all of the details how this was made.

Supply List:

Mirror from Hobby Lobby – half off for $12.50! The mirror for this project is 14 in wide.


Dowel Rods – Also from Hobby Lobby. I had 16 sticks for this mirror which came out to $11


Spray Paint – For this project I used Gloss White from Rustoleum and Rustoleum Primer that I already had.

Glue Gun


Excuse the bad pics, I was still learning how to use the camera I have now when I took these (but getting a new one soon!)




First I used a miter box to cut the dowel rods (you can get one of these at Home Depot ). Here are the specific cuts I did for this mirror.


8 pieces of 8 in rods


16 pieces of 10 in rods


16 pieces of 12 in rods


8 pieces of 14 in rods




After grouping the sizes together I got to work on gluing the rods to the mirror!






I then taped the mirror with frog tape, used Rustolemum primer and then the high gloss white spray paint.




All Finished!





I changed out a candle holder in the master bedroom for this mirror.

 
Before






After

 




Monday, January 17, 2011

Photo Tips from around the web and Camera Dilemma

If there is one thing I notice from the best blogs out there, it is fabulous photos. You will notice this missing from my blog! Last night I spent time looking though some of my favorite blogs and other websites for photo tips. If you have any, please send them on! It is obvious that I need help. My biggest issue I have with taking photos is that most of them are done at night. I work full time and have other activities, so most of my project photos are taken in the evenings. Right now in winter it gets dark at 6 pm so all of my photos have no natural light. By summer the light will be better, but I knew I had to figure out a way to get better at least for now. I am trying to plan more so that photos are taken on the weekend for posts during the week, but with projects that is not always possible.

Some of the sites I am looking at:

Bower Power

Centsational Girl

Pioneer Woman

For editing, right now I am using Picasa that Centsational Girl  tipped me on to. It is FA-REE from Google and allows you to crop, edit, paste words, and create colleges like this

Holiday collage:




And like this from my trip to Palau:





I was a point and shoot kind of girl – easy setting with a flash or no flash. That meant that it was hit and miss on the light and picture quality. Thanks to this post from Centsational Girl  I actually dug out the manual and discovered the camera had more settings than I am aware of! ISO, light settings, and smile detected oh my! It really comes down to is understanding my camera like Centsational Girl posted about. Who knew my camera had more than one setting?

Now for the dilemma part….what new camera to get? I know I need to upgrade from a point and click type and use (gasp) lenses! I need my first DSLR! Nikon or Canon? What level? Here are a few I am looking at, let me know your thoughts! I worry about not buying enough camera and they are so pricey I do not want to buy another one soo! Right now the Nikon D3100 is the front runner but I wonder if it will be able to do what I want it to do later, but seems to be best for the price?

Nikon 3100

Nikon D90

Nikon 7000 (pricey, but will this do all I want to do??)

Canon EOC Rebel T2I

 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Telluride!!

I have been MIA from the blog some over the last week but with good reason. I got to go skiing!! Last weekend I had a blast in Telluride, Colorado. A huge group from Arizona goes every year up on buses (usually 700-800) through Alpine Ski club. This very trip is where I learned to ski about 10 years ago. I have a group of friends that organize it every year. The weather was gorgeous the first two days, in the mid 30's. I get super cold so that temp is perfect for me. The last day it did start to snow some so it was nice to have some powder!

 I immediately had to travel to Vegas for work this last week as well, but now back in town.









Thursday, January 13, 2011

Favorite Moments of 2010


Some other blogs have listed either the top 10 posts of the year or 10 moments, but since I just started this blog I am not quite there yet. So I took after Ashley at the Domestic Fasionista to recap what my fav moments of 2010 were. Sure it is 2011 now, but better late than never! Looking back over the year makes me realize how much I truly have to be grateful for and how much fun was had!

 
10. Girls Sedona Weekend Get away! Went with some of my besties from college for a annual girls weekend! We went on a Pink Jeep Tour!



9. Attending an image workshop in  February from Janice Hurley-Trailor. I was amazed at how much perception can be created based on how you look! I went to change my image for work and literally was life changing.



4. Skiing on Easter at Park City - gives new meaning to the term ski bunny!






7. Backing the Superstitions with B and Brittany




6. Learning to build. I cannot believe I have started to build things! I heart Ana White!



5. Visiting my old home away from Home, Sky Y camp!


 4. Offroading with my brothers to Crown King




3. Starting this blog!





2. Visit from my Sis over the holidays. We took a trip up north to hike and went horseback riding!



1. And number one is….my scuba trip to Palau in May with B! Unbelievable, I will never  be the same again! I lived for a week on a scuba boat in the most amazing place to scuba in the world!


 
I am really excited to see what I can recap for 2011 since I am documenting on the blog all year!



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