DIY Room Spray

There has been a funky smell lingering in our kitchen the last few days. Its not super obvious (well, I certainly hope not). I only catch whiffs of it here and there. But its pretty nasty. I have a feeling its the garbage can. But I really don't want to clean it....not today anyway. Its Friday after all. So I thought I would make a home made room spray instead to help kill the smell. I will be annoying and tell you, to NOT buy sprays or air fresheners from the store! They are so bad for you! If you don't believe me, look it up and then come back and read the rest of this post. :) They are bad, just take it from me. It is so easy to make your own natural room spray that it is silly not to. And once you have the essential oils (which I'll admit are a little expensive), you will always have them on hand to use again and again. Here's how to do it.

You will need:
Distilled water (regular water won't kill it)
Vodka (not for drinking...but hey, it IS Friday)
Essential oil of your preference (I used Geranium and Ylang Ylang...love Ylang Ylang)
A small spray bottle (I used an old Method bottle, but if you had a glass one, that would be better)

Stop judging the size of my vodka....its multi-purpose, ok!

Instructions:
In a small glass bowl, mix 1 Tbls. of vodka and add 30 drops of the essential oil. Let sit for about 10 mins. The oil will mix in a bit. Pour into your spray bottle (a funnel is pretty useful) and then top off with distilled water. Shake, Shake, Shake. Then spray the room to your hearts content. That's it.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Homemade Syrups

I'm not a morning person. My poor husband can attest to that. I get mad at him for even talking to me before I've had my coffee. Which is anytime before 7am usually. He also knows that if we run out of coffee, its NOT going to be a good day. That and when he steals all the hot water and I have to shower in freezing cold water. So cruel! Borderline abusive!....or when he turns on every light possible in the house. Who needs or wants to see that much in the morning!? It practically burns! I may have been a vampire in another life....but not like in a dorky, Twighlight kind of way. Just a normal, I don't like bright light kind of way. ANYWAY.....being out of coffee is a huge tragedy at our house to say the least. It truly is "The Elixir of Life". Studies have even shown it can improve clarity of the mind, among other wonderful things. I found out recently that you can MAKE your own coffee syrups. After I found out this amazing bit of knowledge I have been making ours ever since. Hello, those bottles cost $11 each! Its a rip-off! So if I can make my own, in about 10 mins, for pennies you bet I'm gonna do it. And I'm gonna show you how...

Vanilla Syrup
Ingredients:
Water
Sugar
Vanilla extract
I'm not joking....that's all you need.

In a saucepan place 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. Stir over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. You should not be able to see any grains of sugar. It should be clear. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Allow to cool then pour through a funnel into an empty syrup dispenser. Done!

and if you want to make caramel....

Caramel Syrup
Ingredients:
Water
Sugar
Caramel
In a saucepan combine 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar just like you did for the vanilla. When the sugar has dissolved, add 1/2 cup of caramel. (Fran's is especially yummy) Mix well until thoroughly combined. Done!

There are lots of flavors out there you could try. I found Raspberry, Lavender and Honey over at A Beautiful Mess. Yum! Enjoy with your morning coffee or if your feeling gift-y, give to a friend with a cute coffee mug. You can also buy cute fun bottles at The Container Store to store the syrup in if you don't have any old bottles to recycle. (Just make sure they are approximately 25 ounces...that's how much fits in the Torani bottles) See!? They have everything!

I have been using my old Torani bottles to store my syrups in, but today I decided to take it a step further and might I say, "greener" and make chalkboard labels for them so that I can change the label if I'm ever making a different flavor. I didn't think I would be painting again so soon. But here I am. Painting again.

If you want to do the same, all you do is take off the top plastic part on the bottle, then line around the label with blue painters tape.

Spray a light layer of chalkboard paint and let dry.

Then you can label your syrup and make any cute designs you want on it! Adorable. 

My artistry is a little lacking and they still look cute. There now. You can all flavor your coffee for practically nothing! Enjoy!

Flower Rings

I am always breaking my jewelery. Don't ask me how. I will just put on a necklace sometimes and it literally just falls apart. Maybe its because the majority of my jewelery is cheap....Maybe its the children pulling on it all day. Probably a good assumption. My husband knows all about it (he is my professional jewelery fixer). One by one my necklaces fall apart and I put them aside in a little jar for him to fix. You would think that as crafty as I am I could fix them myself......but I can't. Bending those little metal things hurts! He gets around to fixing them maybe twice a year and then its like I have brand new jewelery again! Whoo Hoo! I was browsing craftgawker for ideas today and came across these......um, hello gorgeous! What a cool idea. I thought what a great way to make some fun new rings. So natural and earthy! So Free People! So me! (I adore FP.....FYI) Except I wanted to make mine with fake flowers so that they would last a bit longer.....potentially anyway. If they do break at least I will be able to fix them myself.

You will need:
Fake flowers (small)
Jewelery wire
Hot glue

1. Cut a piece of wire and wrap around the finger you want to put it on. Twist to close.

2. Make a small circle above the twist that is large enough to fit the base of the fake flower. Trim the excess wire.

3. Dab some hot glue in the small circle and push your flower into it. Let dry.

Now you can make some gorgeous, fun Free People-esque rings!

Anyone reminded of Maid Marian's ring in the cartoon Robin Hood? Anyone? Totally looks like hers.

Had to copy her adorable cat pic. Lola wanted to eat it.

And of course I had to make a couple....Just in case.

I am in love with these! Perfect cocktail rings for wearing on hot Summer nights while sipping fruity drinks under the sun......I want a drink now. lol. This could be a great gift for your girlfriends too. Maybe tie it onto the top of a brown papered package....tied up with strings. haha. Hope the song doesn't get stuck in your head.

Dress-Up Necklace

Good morning friends! So I'm still working on my dress-up present for Princess's upcoming birthday. I decided that she needs accessories next. So I'm thinking bracelets, necklaces, scarves, hats. Today I'm making a dress-up necklace that I found inspiration from here. I must say, hers is pretty rad. Those are actual gumballs she uses for beads! Yum! I'm sure Princess would prefer that one to mine! Oh well. I thought mine turned out pretty cute anyway and it will be great for using again and again in her dress-up box. And for once I didn't use the little miss as a model, so at least this part of the present will be a surprise! :)

What you will need:
Beads (wooden or other)
Paint (to paint the wooden beads)
Ribbon
Craft paint
A hair clip
Felt
Fabric
Glue

1. If your beads are wooden, (mine were) paint two coats of paint on them, then do a layer of Modge Podge. (If you have other beads, such as plastic, skip this part.) Let dry completely.

2. String the beads onto your ribbon putting a small knot in between each one (just like the Fabric Necklaces)

Love that Robin's Egg Blue!

3. Make your fabric flowers. Joyfolie has a great video tutorial here or you can just follow my pictures and directions. Cut out 6 small circles of fabric, roughly the same size and one that is slightly smaller than the rest.

The top two piles are the circles for flowers. The bottom right are my two leaves and the bottom left is my circle of felt for the base of the clip.

Take a larger circle and glue a small dot then fold in half, then glue another small dot and fold in half again.

First fold.

 

There is one petal.

These are your "petals". Continue with the rest of the larger circles. Then glue all of your petals onto the small circle.

4. Cut out 2 green leaves and prepare any extra embellishments you may want (beads, extra petals in different colors etc). Cut a small circle of felt and then make two small slits in it. Slide the clip through.

5. Now glue together your flower how you want it, then glue to the felt/clip base.

6. Clip onto the necklace. Voila! Ready for the dress-up collection.

My little girl loves her necklaces....Can't wait for her to see this one.

Beautiful!

So Anthropologie looking! Hmmm. Might need to make one for me.

Our Weekend In Whidbey

Another beautiful weekend spent with friends! We had such a wonderful time on Whidbey Island. We were spoiled rotten with good food, good wine and we stayed in the most picturesque place ever right by the water. It was truly heaven. The little town we stayed in was so cute with lots of fun shops that included an amazing ice cream place, a yummy bakery with GIANT cinnamon rolls and......a HUGE toy store. Trouble!

Check out this adorable little bath toy we picked up! A mamma orca and her babies? How cute is that?

I think it may have been more fun for me than it was for the girls. Princess just wanted the candy (chocolate covered gummy bears anyone?), but I loved seeing all the fun toys and books they had. I'm not exactly sure how we got out of there only spending $20. We got to walk around the local farmer's market (I'm obsessed with farmer's markets) where I bought some incredible cheese. It literally melts in your mouth. We walked on the beach and saw sea stars and urchins and tiny crabs that Princess thought were spiders (haha....oh gosh. That's a Momma trait).

I think the girls really enjoyed playing and being able to run around in the sunshine.

My gorgeous, bratty little thing.

And I mean, literally...they were running the whole time.

Why are those moments so fleeting? Why are weekends so short? Its just not fair at all.
One of the coolest parts of the trip was taking the girls on the ferry. Not many people get to experience that (I mean really. How many places are there where you can drive your car onto a boat and have it carry you across the water?) and Princess was just at the age where she could really appreciate it.

Her lovely "cheese" face.

Although at first I think she thought we were talking about "Fairies".....not "ferrys". lol. I think she got it in the end and she was very sad when we had to get off.......like throwing a tantrum sad. And now back to reality. Sigh. Happy Monday everyone!

Toddler Apron

Its been the most stressful, busy, crazy day today. So glad its Friday! We are going out of town again this weekend (I know right? Why the heck are we so busy lately!?) with some friends, so I am really excited to drown my sorrows with good company and booze. The girls get to come with us too, which is exciting because I hate leaving them. I am with them 24/7 so being away from them even for a little bit can be really sad. I usually miss them as soon as we leave. It sounds strange, but they make the weekend more relaxing just by being around playing. Its different during the week. During the week we are all working and stressed and tired and just drive each other crazy. But on weekends everyone can relax and forget about the hell that is work and just focus on each other. My husband and I love just watching the girls play. Princess's imagination is really starting to grow and it is so cool to see. Lately, she started acting out scenes from her movies and shows. She'll put on wings when she is doing her Tinkerbell movie and her dress when she acts out one of the princess movies. So freaking cute! I can't wait til one day when she and her little sister are putting on "plays" for us. I know it will be sooner than I think. Some of you may have guessed already, but I am putting together a "dress up" present to give to Princess for her birthday. I am going to include the Lace Crowns I made, a princess dress that I made and today I made an apron for her to wear. For all those times she pretends to be a maid or a peasant girl. Cinderella wore rags before she married the prince, you know. I remember loving the simple white apron that my mother made for us for a Halloween costume one year. My sister and I wore it all the time when we played "dress up". Our collection wouldn't have been complete without it. I made this one a little fancier by adding a fabric with a pattern and a ruffle at the bottom. This can also be turned into a boy apron. All you have to do is skip the ruffle and use a boy-ish print. Hey, there are lots of cool male chefs out there! Did you know they even make boy Easy Bake Ovens now? Anyway, here's how to do it.

You will need:
Cream colored fabric (approx 1/2 yard)
A contrasting fabric for the pocket and ruffle.
Sewing machine
Thread
And these instructions! (These measurements should fit most 2-3 year olds)

1. First cut out two 13.5X10 inches of the cream colored fabric. Fold in about 1/4 inch one long side of both and iron down.
2. Cut out a pocket about 4X4.5 inches out of the contrasting fabric. Fold down the top about 1/4 inch, iron down then sew down. Iron in the other 3 sides, each 1/4 inch then sew onto the front side of one of the cream pieces. This will be the front of the apron. Obviously.

3. Cut a long strip (approx. 4X30 inches) of your contrasting fabric, then fold in half lengthwise. Making it 2X30 inches. Sew a straight line through the top and pull one thread to make a ruche. Ruche until it is 13.5 inches long (You can cut off some if it gets too ruffly). This will be your ruffle. Pin the ruffle to the two pieces of the cream colored fabric (the sides where you ironed) then sew in place.

4. Flip the whole thing inside out and tuck the ruffle out of the way (I used safety pins). Then pin together the sides and sew down both sides of the apron. Then flip right side out again.

5. Cut a 40X6 inch strip of the cream colored fabric and fold in half length wise. Sew down, then flip right side out. This is your waistband /tie. Tuck in the top of your apron about 1/4 inch, iron down, then pin and sew your waistband onto the top of the apron. Finish the ends of the ties, by trimming to desired length, then tucking in and sewing closed.

Now you have a sweet little apron for your little girl (or boy!) to wear for dress up or baking in the kitchen.

She insisted on showing us the back first...

 So much tude!

There you have it! Sorry, but I have to go pack now! Have an amazing weekend everyone!