Fitness Blog Sneak Peek

    I am doing a mini series this week on fitness.  A major life style change I and my husband made about 2 or 3 years ago was getting a work out in.  We went to the gym when we "had" time and decided that the cost wasn't worth how much we weren't  going.  However, we told ourselves that if we stopped going to the gym we had to push each  other, make time for a work out and stick to it.  So that's what we did and we haven't looked back.  Walking a couple laps at the local high school track is what we started out with then slowly progressed from there.  This has been such an improvement in our lives and if it's not something in yours I am hoping this week will get you started.  This series will be informational and inspirational.

  Here is the lay out for the week:

Day 1- Meet your personal trainer

            Tons of questions answered for you to get started

Day 2- Work out ideas

             I will post a video and pictures of several different work outs that you can mix and match for beginners to advanced.  

Day 3- Staying Motivated and overview

         Disclaimer:  Please know your own abilities.  Make sure you consult a doctor before you begin a work out routine.  You are responsible for your own wellness and physical being.  We are not responsible for any injuries, or death.  You are at your own risk and we are in no means responsible for you or your actions. 

Capturing Spring Time

  As I was doing yard work I found some great shots of what is blooming.  Spring time has sprung and this is what I have found...

Bright pink flowers on our tree.

Bleeding hearts.

Our Lilac bush that looks like a tree.

  

My Husband's T-shirts Refashioned For Me

  Pinterest was a very influential site for this project.  I really just winged this whole project taking a few ideas from each re fashion t-shirt site that I came across.  This was super easy.  Here's how I did it.

1.  I took some of my husband's old cotton t-shirts and tried them on.  I measured my sides by pinching the fabric together.
2.  Then I turned the shirt inside out and drew an arched line from the bottom of the shirt to the bottom corner of the arm pit like this....

3.  Then I took it to the sewing machine.

4.   After I got both sides sewn I cut the neck and the arms off.  I stretched the material slightly to get rid of the raw cut.

5.  I made a flower out of a strip of t-shirt about 18 inches long.  I bunched one end like an accordion then ran a needle and thread through the bunch to secure it.
6.  Then I wove the thread down the strip of fabric spacing each point about an inch apart.
7.  I pushed the fabric down the thread and twisted forming a flower.  Then I sewed it to my shirt.

Medium mens shirt to fashion refab!

My flower.

The back of the neckline.

  I hope you guys like this.  Hopefully my hubby will want to get rid of some more shirts soon and I could try to refashion them.  Now that I have tried it I am not afraid to re fashion more!

My Eyelash Curler Saved My Eyes!

  For a very long time I figured that I would have to wear fake eyelashes for the rest of my life.  You can't see them unless I have mascara on, they are short and stick straight out.  I got the runt of the pack when it came to the eyelash hand out.  My mission, to make my eyes POP.
   After discovering my new found fabulous mascara I decided I would suck it up and try the eye lash curler again. I avoided this makeup tool like you avoid that one person you don't want to see in the grocery store.  Yes, that bad.  I thought I could make it work on my own by holding my index fingers up to my eyelashes and pressing.  Nope!  The pulling out eyelashes, crimping your eyelid and making your eyes water doesn't sound like fun.  However, I attempted curling my eyelashes one last time.  I told myself to give it a week.  Every day for a week I put the eyelash curler to my eye and made every effort to love it.  Now I can't live without it.
  I bought an E.L.F.  eyelash curler at Target for $1.00.  I love it.  If you don't use one give it a try!  You will be amazed how much of a difference it makes.

Hair Brushes and How to Clean Them

  Have you ever looked at your hair brush and see how...well how dirty it is?  Not so much dirt dirty but built up from product dirty.  I have decided to share a disgusting before picture of my hair brush and a gorgeous after picture.
  Because I use a lot of products in my hair I get a lot of build up on my bristles on my brush and combs.  Just like you do in your hair product builds up and if its on your brush it will be in your hair.  I do have dry hair for the most part.  I color treat my hair, use protein leave in treatment as well as argan oil so no wonder my brush looked the way it did.  So I decided to do a little experiment.  I bought some fortifying shampoo and gave my brushes and combs a bath hoping it would take off the build up.  IT WORKED!!  How excited am I to share this.

What you need:
1. Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo Pure Clean
2. Large tupperware or glass bowl- I used a 14 cup bowl
3. Toothbrush- No not the one I use on my teeth it was an extra one from the dentist

  Fill your bowl with hot water and half a cup of shampoo.  Remove hair from your combs and brushes.  Put your brushes in with the bristles facing down into the water.  Let them and your combs soak up to 12 hours depending how much build up you have.  I let mine soak over night which was 12 hours.  After they are done soaking I took my toothbrush and scrubbed my  brush and combs.  I didn't have to scrub hard and all the oil, wax and grime came right off.  See for yourself.  I would have taken a picture of the water but it was gross.

GROSS!  See all that built up?

  I have actually avoided using this brush because there is so much build up.

Soaking in it's bath.

My supplies.

My results!  It looks brand new.

  Amazing.  I surprised myself with this and how clean my brush and combs got!  The scent is wonderful too so another benefit.  Try this and let me know what you think.

Chalkboard!

  With my office I wanted to make it very a multi purpose room.  Somewhere I could do crafts, pay bills and surf the internet.  When I decorate a room I think of the feeling that I want in that space.  With the office I wanted to make it feel exciting.  So I added different textures and brighter colors.  We get amazing sun light in there so I wanted it to be cheery.  One thing I knew I could add was a chalkboard.  I chose to stray from the traditional black and went with grey.


Products I used:
1.  Paint brush
2.  Martha Stewart's Chalkboard Paint
3.  1/8 inch thick MDF wood paneling
4.  1/4 inch molding
5.  Craft paint-whatever color you desire
6.  Loctite Power Grab molding glue

  If you don't want to cut and frame your own chalkboard a great alternative would be an old cupboard door.  It's already framed and has an area to paint with the chalkboard paint.

How I did it:
1.  I measured and cut my MDF the size I wanted my board to be.
2.  Then I measured my molding pieces to the size of my board.  Top, bottom and both sides and cut to that length.  Then I cut the corners at a 45 degree angle.  Remember that your top and bottom won't have the same cuts of a 45 degree angle as well as your sides.
3.  I painted my MDF with the chalkboard paint and let it dry.  On the bottle it says to coat it at least 2 or 3 times.  This does dry pretty fast.  I also painted my molding.
4.  After all my paint was dry I glued my molding to my board using Loctite Power Grab molding glue.  Let that dry.  Then I used the alligator frame hooks on the back to be able to hang my board.

                                             Here is how it turned out

My chalkboard paint

My board painted with chalkboard paint

My molding/frame for my chalkboard

The finished product

   I really hope you guys liked this.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Happy chalking!

Fancy Cat Bed

   After I revamped my wicker dresser in the office I had the entire bottom drawer left with nothing to put in it.  Meanwhile the spoiled cats that we have were left to suffer sleeping on our nice fluffy bed.  Then it came to me, I can use that bottom drawer for a cat bed.  So I did.
   How you ask.  Easy I just painted the basket white.  Once that fully dried I put their favorite blanket in the bottom to line it.  Of course I dressed it up with wooden name plaques.  I found the wooden plaques at Michaels and just painted them black in the center and sage green around the edge.

Before

After.  She is already enjoying it.

  My cat enjoys the bed very much.  Especially when I am in the office making a project or blogging.  She has her toys and a nice blanket to keep her happy.  This was much cheaper then buying one and much heart felt.
  So what do you have around your house that you could do this to?  You never know what is lying around the house that could be used for something else.

Mascara: Rant, Rave and Review

  Why can't a girl find a good mascara.  Seriously I have spent so much money on this one product and have been disappointed.  It's given me so much anxiety (yes, I am being dramatic) that I don't want to go and buy the higher end mascaras to add to my pile of grief.   I just want a good, inexpensive mascara.   You know, one that doesn't make my lashes clump into all one lash, either flake off or takes a sand blaster to remove, or one that doesn't dry my lashes out so bad I begin to lose them!
  So, I have decided to share my two favorites and my two least favorites with you.  I hope it will help you if you struggle with the same thing.  Please know that this is just my experience and opinion.  If you have one of them work for you please share how you trained it.

  I will start at the top and work my way down (black bottle to gold bottle)
WORST
  1. Cover Girl's Lash Blast 24 hour.  This has an extremely huge brush and the bristles are not very long.  So it is a little hard to put it on my top lashes without getting it on my lid.  This is a waterproof mascara which isn't bad (I don't normally buy them) but this was so hard to remove.  Once I started to take it off it clumped all of my lashes together and then I had to scrub it off.  My eyes hurt.  And after all that effort I still had to got to bed with some of it on and pray it would rub off in the night.  It didn't.
  2.  Maybelline's the Falsies Volum' Express.  At first I loved this, it gave me length and full lashes until I started to have flakes of mascara on my cheeks by the end of the day.  Then after a week or so my eyelashes were so dry they started thinning out.

BEST
  1.  Maybelline's Great Lash.  This has been around forever.  The one thing that I don't like about this is that they changed the brush.  However, this stays on all day, no smudging and it comes off easily.  This one has been around long enough that it doesn't have the hype price.  Great Lashes don't give me the volume and "multi lash" look that sometimes I want (hence the reason why I tried to find a different mascara).  But, for every day use this is great.
  2.  L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes.  This is my all time favorite, waterproof and all.  It makes my lashes look amazing and it doesn't take a miracle to get off.  To be quite honest I love the bottle.  It makes me feel fancy.  Even though it's waterproof it feels soft all day long and doesn't fade or flake off.

  With that being said I am off to enjoy my new discovery!  What an accomplishment for a woman to finally find a mascara that works for her.