Homemade organic sugar scrub

When it comes to beauty rituals, I am pretty simple with it. But I recently started making my own sugar scrubs inspired by my cousin. So in the spirit of the upcoming summer, where I imagine many pina coladas and coconut scented sunblock in my future, I decided to make a "Pina Colada" Sugar Scrub. It's made by mixing together cane sugar, melted coconut oil and lemon juice with zest. That's it! It smells wonderful and leaves your skin feeling soft and fresh. Use it for your hands, face and body.

Pina Colada Sugar Scrub

1 1/2 cup of organic cane sugar
1/4 cup of organic virgin coconut oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon

Mix all ingredients together and add more coconut oil to fit your preference.



Wet your skin with warm water and gentle exfoliate with a dollop of sugar scrub.

Handmade Holiday: DIY Miniature Christmas Tree

Who says you only need one Christmas tree? Maybe one MAIN Christmas tree... but then maybe you want one in your room too so that you can wake up to a lovely pine and Christmasy aroma each morning. Or maybe you want another one just to make a room festive or maybe you live in a small space and want a small tree.

Whatever your reason may be, there is a simple and super inexpensive solution... a DIY miniature Christmas tree.

I got the idea after going to pick up a tree from the lot, and the vendor was giving away free tree clippings. He said take as much as you want, and so I took two armfuls. As I was holding a bunch in my hand, I was thinking how it kind of looked like a mini tree. So in that moment, I decided I would make a little tree for my room.

Supplies you need:
Christmas tree trimmings (usually free where they sell trees)
Twine
Square burlap fabric
Wire (from the hardware store)
Clippers
Pebbles



Pick the branches you'd like for your tree, trim them as you like. Use the wire to tie the branches together. When you've gotten your tree's shape, use a little bit of wire to wrap the "trunk" together to make sure they hold strong. You can also use twine to do this.




To create the base, put the rocks and tree in the middle of the burlap, bunch up the fabric around the "trunk" and tie it all together with your twine.

And there you have it, a mini Christmas tree for any room of your home!

I've been doing a lot of holiday crafting lately and I'm excited to share some more simple projects over the next couple weeks.

I'd love to see what your crafty projects are too, please share your links!

Linking up with Southern Lovely's Show & Share, My Girlish Whims's Your Whims Wednesday, Snap! Show and Tell, Simply Designing 

DIY Jack O' Lantern String Lights

Getting my house decorated properly for Halloween means cutting out little pumpkins and putting them on string lights. Just a simple DIY project, just in time for Halloween. Although, I do love eerie and dark Halloween decorations I've seen out there... this year, I'm more inclined to sweet and simple. I'm hanging these above my desk, which is against the window so it casts neat little pumpkin shadows to those looking from the outside. Not to be creeping I hope. 

Sort-of instructions:
Doodle a mini pumpkin on card stock as your template // trace on orange paper or cardstock // hole punch the eyes // poke the light bulbs through carefully // light and be merry.

DIY Camera Bag

Over the weekend, if you saw on Facebook or instagram, I've been working on a little project: a do-it-yourself camera bag. While I've had my eyes on a Kelly Moore camera bag for a while, I really just can't afford it. So with my road trip coming up in a few days, I really need a better place to lug my camera than around my shoulder. I used a tutorial from Make it and Love it that helped me turn a purse I got from Target into a camera bag. The whole thing cost about $25, the purse was on sale for $14.99 and the materials came out to $10. It was so simple! What do you think?

Funky colors in this bag makes it so fun!

Now, I can turn any of my purses and totes into a camera bag. :)

What have you made yourself to save money?

Linking up with Sew Chatty, Hope Studios, DIY Home Sweet Home, Not Just a Housewife, DIY Showoff

Tissue Paper Flowers

With a little down time on Friday, what can ya do?

Answer: Make tissue paper pom-poms. We kind of had a mini craft workshop. Martha Stewart taught me how to make tissue paper pom-poms, and I passed it along to my co-worker, Stephanie. The idea started from the tissue paper flowers I made as office decor for my cube. The gray drab walls at work totally needed some color and a dash of girly-girl.  So with some extra time on our hands, we whipped out the tissue paper and started folding, cutting and creating pretty flowers. Why not add more color to our already colorful office area? We have colorful banners, infographic posters and Krabby Patties on the walls. :) 

I made two flowers, then decided that I wanted to make it into a pom-pom. So I just tied the "stems" of the flower together, cut off the excess and strung it to the ceiling. And now my office looks like this: 

I like to keep my cube vibrant and fun. I even had that map custom made to fit my teal and pink office theme.

By the way, the Spongebob and Mr. Potatohead were gifts that I couldn't pass up as decor. I'm sure it looks like a play area or a bit childish, but I'm not complaining :)

If you have an office, how did you decorate it? 

A New Bowtie for Benji

I was thinking about buying Benji a new bowtie collar like the one Joshua got him a few months ago (here) since he lost it. Sadly. But I thought sewing him a collar would be more fun. It seemed like a good opportunity to learn how to sew anyways, seemed simple enough. Kinda makes me seem even more of a crazy cat lady, but I'm not complaining. Benji looks cute :)

How to sew a bowtie collar for your cat:

1. Cut out a square from fabric and smaller rectangle. 

2. Fold it down half way inside out so that the stitch is on the inside.

3. Sew along the edge leaving enough room to turn it right side out and hand stitch the hole.

4. Pinch your rectangle like in the picture below and wrap the smaller rectangle around the middle and stitch it together. 

5. Sew the bowtie onto a collar. Done. 

Misa decided that my thread spool was her new toy and got tangled in it while I was sewing.

My Updated Closet

Before making the move back home, I knew that I needed to update my room. It was once painted a baby pink with a slew of childish decor. But it was my closet that I really wanted to fix up. With only one rod and a shelf, this offered me no organization. It's a rather awkward closet because it's long and storage space hides behind the wall, which makes it hard to reach clothes that are further back. But I drew up how I wanted to fix it, so here's the sketch I made a couple months ago and I how it actually looks now.

I moved the dresser from a corner in my room into the closet. Can you believe it actually fits in?! My coats are hiding on the left side, then color coded light tops, darker colors on the right and my dresses hiding behind the wall. I added an extra rod under the shirts on the left for my skits and jeans, and three shelves on the right for shoes. Sigh,  that's the best I could do with it. But I dream of closets like these! One day... I hope I can make it happen :) 

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Fleece socks

I have a pile of fabric laying around the house. It's what was supposed to be made into a Halloween costume, but it just didn't happen. Twenty bucks just sitting there on my floor. So a couple nights ago, I tried to make socks out of it. Now, I am no seamstress or anything, so this is really my first venture into actually creating something I can wear. I think it turned out pretty well. :) 

I actually tried sewing the green with a sewing machine, but because the fleece stretches, it also stretched out the hole. So I had to redo my right sock. That was a pain. Then the only thing I could do was to hand stitch it on. That was also a pain. But I can wear it now! 

How I did it:

1. Top and bottom of the sock: Cut out 4 oval shapes of fabric. They should be the size of your foot plus an inch or two so that you have room to sew.
2. Green border: Cut two long (1.5 inch wide) strips.
3. Choose the fabric that will become tops of the socks and cut out 4 inch holes in them.
4. Sew on the border by folding the strip over the edge of the hole. It was tricky to keep it on, so I held it together with pins while I hand stitched it.
5. Take the top and bottom of the sock and stack them on top of each other with what will become the inside of the sock facing out.
6. Sew the two together and repeat for the other side.
7. Flip the sock inside out and done!

DIY Gift Wrap

I finally got around to doing some Christmas shopping. Yes, I know it's a bit late in the game, but I just dread holiday shopping. Mainly because of the long lines, limited parking and crowds and crowds of people. But I was out with my sister picking wrapping paper, and I just could not bring myself to buy any of it. I didn't want to wrap my gifts with just ordinary wrapping paper or spend money to buy it. After all, the wrap is going to just be ripped off and thrown away anyways. So, like the DIY gifts I shared earlier, I went home and tried to find some inspiration that I can make at home that was easy, inexpensive and stands out. Here's what I found:

Confetti dipped wrap 
 

Cupcake paper toppers. Who knew cupcake paper can be used in other ways?

Typographic

Yarn topper

Cloth wrapper. It can be reused in other ways. Secondary gift maybe?

Woven yarn.
More yarn...

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Happy wrapping :)

DIY Gifts

I love making and receiving handmade gifts! It's a more unique and personalized 

way of giving a gift to someone you love. So I'm sharing a few do-it-yourself kind

 of gift ideas I found over the internet. They are simple and inexpensive crafts. A lot

 of the materials are things laying around the house that you may not use that can

 be recycled into something new and lovely. 

Rubber stamps from The Sweetest Occasion

Friendship necklace from Planet Green

Sugar bowl candles from Martha Stewart

Monogram mugs from Design Mom

Pom pom necklace from Stay at Home Artist

Customized candle design from A Girl in Paradise

Sewing button pillows from Country Living