NAILED IT! photos/post/design: Kristin Ess (wood floor insert photo from remodelista.com) You gotta love those magical moments when you’re just minding your own bizz and inspiration jumps out and smacks you right between the eyes. Not long ago I was looking through floor patterns for a home project. NOTE: Before you start, use one of your polish colors as a base for your nails about an hour before (or the night before) so they have plenty of time to dry before you apply the nail strips! Take a section of nail strips from the Sally Hansen Hard as Nails French Manicure kit and cut them in half long ways. The Busy Girl’s Guide to Waking Up Pretty As much as we all wish we could wake up from a slumber looking Sleeping Beauty-flawless, the reality isn’t always as pretty (read: not even close). After all, it seems like even the most effortless beauty looks involve some dedication and time spent in front of the mirror (or a talent with the blow dryer, at best). This works on the mornings when we miraculously avoid hitting snooze, but let’s be real – between all of our late nights and early mornings, the snooze button has become a close friend we’d rather not ditch. So what’s a busy girl to do? Before Bed: Clean your face Time: 2 minutes This seems like a given, but a recent study found that only 50% of women wash their face regularly. Simplify your products Time: 1 minute Did you know that the term “beauty sleep” comes from the fact that your skin cells actually regenerate at night? Hyaluronic acid is another ingredient to look for in your nighttime regime. Braid it Time: 5-7 minutes While You Sleep: Use a humidifier Sleep on your back
Make a Butter “Pen” to Quickly Grease Baking Dishes and Pans Another example of using a dispenser for a use not intended... I was visiting my brother last year and went to cook breakfast for us. There was an olive oil dispenser next to the sink, so I liberally added it to the pan where I was sauteing onions and peppers for our breakfast burritos. When we sat down to eat, there was a strange flavor, very slight, but very strange. We finished the whole meal, before he grabbed the same dispenser and proceeded to wash the dishes with its contents. We had just had breakfast burritos a la Joy dish soap! Apparently, his cleaning lady thought it would be a cute dispenser for soap. Oh. For two people that regularly had their mouths washed out with dish soap while growing up, you'd think we would have been able to identify the curious taste. Side note...Dawn dish soap is the reason I cannot stand cilantro even today. Things like this are why I don't trust people to come into my home to do anything for me without my direct supervision.
The Digi Nails – A Hybrid Manicure I’ve been seeing lots of outrageous nail art lately on pinterest. One hot new product that’s really caught my eye is adhesive nail polish strips. I love the funky designs and bold colors with these products, but they’re usually a little spendy for me. I have a great alternative and I’m super-excited to share with you a really fun, new way to use digital scrapbooking supplies! We are going to give ourselves a little hybrid manicure. To begin with, you will need the following: light color nail polish (white, light pink, cream, pale green, light turquoise, you get the idea….)rubbing alcoholsmall cup (I used a medicine cup.)digital supplies (laser print or copy)nail polish topcoat 1) Before getting started, quickly measure your fingernails. 2) Open a new Photoshop document and create for yourself 10-15 boxes that are a little larger than your nails. 3) Find some great papers that you’d like to have on your nails. 4) Print your page. 5) Paint your nails with your light colored nail polish.
5 Big Nail Trends Happening Right Now: Which Would You Wear? : Girls in the Beauty Department: Beauty The 5 biggest nail trends happening right now all have very different vibes, which means that there's probably at least 1 you'll be drawn to. Celebration! Woot woot! Which one of these pretty looks would you most like to wear? Trend 1: Bold blue polish, like the cobalt you see here. The idea here is to go bright and saturated. Trend 2: Funky French manis, like this one I spotted on Jennifer Lopez. Here's where you can get creative with your combos. Trend 3: Bright, citrus-y orange shades (like you see here on Kim Kardashian). Think the color of a glass of OJ and you'll be on the right track. Trend 4: Ombre glitter styles (as found on Pinterest). Source: glitterandnails.blogspot.com via Beth on Pinterest The glitter can be at the base or at the tips, but either way, the idea is to make your nails look like they were dipped in sparkles. And trend 5: Sherbet-y pastels shades like Petra's March pick for Nail Polish of the Month. All pretty fun, no?
The College Girl's Guide to Makeup for Class | College Gloss The middle of the semester is here and tests, quizzes and papers are becoming a normal part of the weekly routine, not to mention football games, work, and that little thing called sleep. Whew! With all this stuff going on, it can be really easy to let things like a makeup routine go by the wayside. Tinted Moisturizer: Tinted moisturizer is a college girl's best friend. Peachy, pink blush: Blush is one of those products that really makes a huge difference in a little amount of time. Eye shadow: You don't have to get crazy and put six different shades on your eyes for class, but you can sweep a light shimmery brown shade across your lids for added dimension. Lengthening mascara: If you only have time for one thing in the morning, mascara should be at the top of your list. Tinted Lip Balm: Okay ladies, a show of hands: how many of you have gotten your hair caught in your lip gloss on your way to class? By: Kelly Courington | Image Credit: 1
Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot After my fairly successful attempt at making homemade toothpaste, I was again inspired by Thankfully Thrifty to try making homemade yogurt in my crockpot. I’ve made yogurt on the stove and in a yogurt maker before, but I’ve always worried that it wouldn’t turn out right in the crock pot. Don’t ask me why! And now I’m wondering why I was scared to try. I’d picked up a half gallon of whole organic milk marked down to $1.99 at the health food store on Tuesday, so I used that for the milk. The recipe requires very little effort on your part, but it takes a long time to make: I started it yesterday morning and it wasn’t done until I woke up this morning (well, it would have be done in the middle of the night, but I wasn’t about to get up at 2 a.m. just to put the yogurt in the fridge! And you might want to set a timer to remind you when you need to go do something to it. My beautiful bowl of homemade yogurt. Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot Recipe Have you made homemade yogurt before?
Nails by Kayla Shevonne: Tutorial - Gradient Nails Hey guys! You all seemed to really like yesterday's challenge mani! Thank you for all the lovely and kind comments that you left for me - I truly appreciate each and every one of them. I also received several emails asking how I did such smooth gradients as the base for the design, so I decided that the best way to explain it would be through a picture tutorial! Keep reading for the step-by-step tutorial! Supplies: Base and top coatTwo or more polishes (I'm using ones from the same colour family, but that's not necessary)A makeup sponge Step 1: Apply your base coat. Step 2: Paint all of your nails with the lightest of the colours you chose. Step 3: In the order that you want the gradient to appear on your nails, paint your sponge with all of the polishes, including the one that you used as your base colour. Step 4: Dab the sponge lightly onto your nail several times. Step 5: So now you've got a big ol' mess on your fingers. A few tips:Don't throw your sponge away after only 1 use!
Back to Basics.... So this might not exactly be basic to some of you, but it was one of my very first 'edgy' manis I did, lol. I never used to wear dark colors. I actually think this mani is what helped me fall in love with the matte polishes. Now, I know this is posted in my 'Playing Catch Up' post, back when I started this blog, but I decided to re-do it. For this I used OPI Lincoln Park After Dark Matte and just Seche Vite for the tips, to make them extra shiny :) I also noticed that my older version's pic was floating around on Tumblr a while ago, and some post had wrong info about it! This is not done with a black polish and matte top coat, although you could very well achieve the same mani using those, nor are the tips photoshopped in any way.
25 Uses for Leftover Scraps It’s easier to toss the orange rinds, apple cores, steak fat and pepper peels when you’re cooking a specific meal, but it’s also a total waste of perfectly good food. In this article we will go over some of the uses of leftover cooking scraps that will spare your garbage can of bad odors and open the door of creativity in the kitchen. Beef Fat Most people see beef fat as unhealthy to eat no matter what form it’s in, but it’s actually been proven to be very healthy since it contains the same monounsaturated fat called oleic acid which is found in olive oil, and if you’re in the kitchen a lot then you most likely use olive oil a lot. Furthermore, the LDL (bad) cholesterol in your blood is actually lowered by eating beef. Yorkshire Pudding Servings In the meantime, however, instead of tossing your beef fat, you can either use it right away or save by freezer storage for some great dishes later on such as: 1. Orange Rinds 9. 10. Lemon, Cantelope, Cucumbers, Bananas and Celery 21.
Underwire Bra Repair in 10 Seconds or Less Update: We are absolutely astonished at the number of women who have under wire issues with their bras! We now offer a new and improved version of the medical grade moleskin shown in the post below that you can purchase directly from our site for only 3.99! Items needed for 10 second or less Bra Fix Scissors The other day I put on my favorite bra. Don’t you hate it when the underwire starts protruding through your favorite bra. Then I remembered I had a whole baggy full of moleskin left over from my husband’s many years of road marches in the Infantry. Next I took off the back piece of paper. Using my thumbs I smoothed the moleskin a few times. Here is an up close view of the moleskin on the bra. Here’s a shot of my purple bra with the moleskin and as you can tell it’s barely noticeable and even less noticeable on the nude bra. Disclaimer: As mentioned below in the comments these bras were both purchased from Victoria Secrets where I have always purchased my bras.
Wood Pallet Room Divider | My Friend Staci Update 7/12/11Thank you to everyone who finds this page through google, stumbleupon or pinterest (among others). It is by far the most-visited page on my blog! I never thought this project would be so popular! Inch by inch, the master bedroom is coming together. While in Boston, we saw something like this in a fancy modern furniture store, retailing somewhere between $200-$300. After a bit of finessing and perfecting, we moved them into place where they sat blank for over a month. Now if only the perfect headboard would fall right into my lap… actually, that would probably really hurt… Here is a wider shot of the divider in action. Like this: Like Loading...
Brick House May 5th, 2011 I’ve been helping out Shelly Leer – aka ModHomeEc – with the design of her brand new upholstery workshop in Indianapolis. Shelly is a fantastic upholster and hosts classes to teach folks the ins and outs of fixing up and reupholstering their old forlorn stuff (a skill I can really appreciate). With this open warehouse space, one big design issue Shelly needed help with was figuring out how to layout and define areas for various work and private “zones”. She needed areas for tools, areas for storage, an area for a personal office, a waiting area, an area to teach and work with students and so on and so forth. Since cost is always an issue (and this space is a rental), it wasn’t prudent to dump a bunch of cash into building traditional solid walls that would split up the space and make it feel smaller and darker. The construction process is pretty simple. With this design the overall costs are kept pretty low for such a big impact. Come on.
DIY: Rope Room Divider by Alwill in Australia Older DIY: Rope Room Divider by Alwill in Australia by Julie Carlson Issue 31 · Pacific Northwest Living · August 4, 2010 Newer Here's a clever idea for a room divider from Sidney-based Alwill Studio : a simple rope screen made with two wooden dowels. EXPLORE MORE: Issue 31: Pacific Northwest Living , Dining Rooms , Living Rooms , DIY , Rope Decor , Nautical Style , Australia Furniture: Forest Stool by Out of Stock Design Collective By Julie Carlson Design Sleuth: Muuto Pendant Light By Janet Hall