Coconut-Lime Sugar Scrub {diy}

I love sugar scrubs.  And I love coconut oil.  When I first saw this, I knew I had to make it.  There's just something about the smell of lime and coconut that is tropical and summery... makes you feel like you should be sitting on a beach somewhere.. with a pina colada or mojito in hand.  Beach or not, I kind of wish I had a mojito right now, as I sit here on the couch binge watching Gossip Girl (don't judge).  And don't even get me started with coconut oil.  There are so many uses for it.  This is just one of them.

*Disclaimer:  If you buy coconut oil, please buy it unrefined.  Or better yet.. buy virgin cold-pressed coconut oil.  It's better for you.  I didn't realize I bought the wrong one until it was open and on my counter, so I won't be using this for cooking.  I guess that's what happens when you have a distracting toddler with you on your shopping trips;)

I love how silky and soft my skin feels after I use this.  I didn't even need to use lotion after I got out of the shower (though I might need to in the winter).  Your skin will just soak up the coconut oil, but won't leave it feeling greasy.  I prefer to use regular granulated sugar... it's coarse enough for me, and I have sensitive skin.  But if you like the grains to be bigger, then you can sub it out for turbinado sugar. 

Also... this would make a great gift!  Birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas... just because.  :) 

Coconut-Lime Sugar Scrub

• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• zest of one lime
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• lime and/or coconut flavoring/essentials oils (optional)

Place all the ingredients in a bowl.  You may or may not have to warm up the coconut oil in the microwave for a few depending on the temperature.  It's so hot out right now that mine is pretty soft, but in the winter it might need to get warmed up.  Stir to combine.  Feel free to add lime or coconut essential oils to give the scent some more oomph if you so wish.  :)  And play around with the oil/sugar ratios if you need to, until you get your desired consistency.  It's not a science... just throw the stuff together until it works for you.

Store at room temp for several weeks (I just keep it in my shower).  Exfoliate, moisturize... enjoy!

Moon Sand {diy}

Keeping my 2 year old busy during the day is getting to be quite tricky.  She's easily bored, and goes stir-crazy if we're in the house for too long.  We go to the park a lot, go to the pool, etc.. but it's nice to switch it up and find something different and fun to do.  She absolutely loves this moon sand.. it's a fun rainy day activity, too (we might be doing this today... looks a little gloomy out)!

Minnie likes to play too.. as you can see below.. Clara likes to take her and go 'HIIII-YA!' like a ninja.  I'm not sure, but I think her Papa taught her that when he was visiting.. makes her giggle every time.

There are quite a few moon sand recipes out there, but I just found this one worked the best for us.  It was the cheapest and I had everything on hand to make it.  It's soft and smooth, and molds well.  Next time I want to get some little dixie cups so she can build a little 'castle'.  :)  It's super easy to make.. so get to it!  Your toddler will love it.

4 cups flour
1/2 cup baby oil

Put in a big bowl and mix up with your hands until thoroughly blended together.  Put it in a container of your choice.. grab some cups, spoons, toys, pretend your at the beach.. and play!  I halved this recipe for Clara, and then stored it in an air-tight container and it kept good for a few days.

 

 

 What are your favorite rainy day activities?  

(PS:  If you haven't yet, enter my Peter Rabbit Organics giveaway!  Ends 8/9/13.)

Pretty Plastic Bag Organizer

So while I was cleaning out the laundry room last weekend, I came across a huge problem.  Plastic bags.  No wonder why I didn't have any cabinet space -- they were stuffed full of plastic bags (I always forget to bring my own bags when we go grocery shopping).  We do use plastic bags here and there for certain things around the house, but my problem was out of control.

There are plastic bags within plastic bags within plastic bags within plastic bags... you get the idea.  Hundreds.  Of.  Bags.  I was a tad disgusted with myself at this point.

And a while ago I saw a super easy tutorial on Martha Stewart's website for a Pretty Plastic Bag Organizer.  Perfect for my plastic bag problem.  And I've decided that I only need to keep as many as that organizer can hold.  I found some some cute and colorful kitchen towels at the BX that were on clearance for way cheap, so I snagged myself some and got to work.

3 bucks for 3 kitchen towels & 15 minutes of my time.. a cheap (and pretty cute) solution for my little fiasco, right?  I think so!

A Little Love For The Front Door...

For the longest time now I've been wanting to make something to hang at our front door.  You know, to make it a little more happy and welcoming.  It was so very boring and blah, especially living in this apartment building - everything just looks the same!  The other day I was so bored out of my mind (and didn't feel well) so I decided to finally tackle this project.  I just used up some things that I already had laying around for this... because I really needed to get rid of some fabric/yarn before I go out and by new stuff... which I'm actually going to do today.  ;)

I think it turned out pretty nice considering I was just using up old stuff I already owned!  I can't wait to make more of these wreaths, though.  After making this one, my mind was racing with endless possibilities! 

Just add some ribbon on top, hang it on our front door... and I think it will definitely brighten things up a little bit.  It's already making me happier!  :)

The Ripple Effect

So a while ago I started making a little blankie for my niece.  She turned TWO earlier this month, and I just finally got it sent out a little while ago.  A little late, but it was made with lots of time and love.  I think it's adorable.  And from what I know she likes the color purple.  :)  She has a purple big girl room, and she even told me I should name my baby girl purple.  Ha ha!  I love her.

Yarn Puffs & Cute Stuffed Animals!

I made these cute little yarn puffs the other day with some leftover yarn that I had - what a good way to use up odds and ends!  I absolutely adore them.  They remind of those dandelion puffs, you know, the white ones you used to blow as a kid.  I also had an old glass vase sitting around, and I decided to spray paint it white (spray paint is one of my good friends:).  A little bouquet of colorful yarn puffs... they are a lovely addition to the nursery!  And cost absolutely nothing for me to make since I had everything on hand already.  Love those kind of projects!

And the other day when my husband and I were at E-Mart (a store here in Korea) picking up a side table/book shelf, we saw some super fun stuffed animals.  I fell in love with the owl.  :)

 I will show more pictures of these things in their respective places in the nursery once it's completely finished.  My husband is gone on a TDY this week, so I'm going to try to have all the picture frames, etc, ready to hang so we can get those things up on the walls once he gets back.  And... our maternity photoshoot is this Saturday!  SO excited!  The forecast is rain, but we're praying it holds off... at least for the photoshoot!  :)

Nursery: Baby Closet Dividers

I've been working on this project for about the past week.  It probably would have only taken me a day or so, but I never seem to have enough time to finish something in one sitting.  Ah, well.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out!  I got the idea from a few different websites.  Here, here, and here is where I came across them.  They're super easy and a cute way to divide up the baby's clothes so the sizes are easier to find.

I bought the wooden door hangers from Hobby Lobby for just .99 cents.  Then I sanded then down so they were nice and smooth, and primed them with some white paint.  Then just painted them with some acrylic paints and hand-painted on the sizes.  Then I bought some cute scrapbook paper and traced out some little girly outfits and mod-modged them onto the hangers.  I also mod-podged the whole thing so it gave it a sealed, glossy look.  I used some ribbon to tie them to the rod in the closet, since we can't remove it.  I like that they're facing forward instead of to the side, anyway.

A closer look at a couple of them..

Now I just need to get some baby hangers so I can hang all of her clothes up.  She has quite the wardrobe going already!  Sometimes I'll just go in there to go through them and at how adorable they are.  :)  There are a few other things I need to get to organize the closet, too.  Everything is coming along nicely!

And then some of of her other clothes and things I need to get hangers and wicker baskets for...

 We're getting more and more excited every day.  I constantly wonder what she's going to look like, what color eyes will she have.. blue like her daddy or green like her mommy?  Or what outfit I want to bring her home in.  And I can't even describe the feeling of when she's rolling around in my belly.  It's the best, most comforting feeling in the world.  This whole pregnancy thing is pretty wonderful.  :)

Handmade Baby Goodies!

A very special friend of mine is due to have a baby girl any day now.  I just had to make some goodies for the little beauty that's about to be born - baby things are so fun to make!  I crocheted a baby beanie and a few washcloths, and I also sewed up a receiving blanket (that wasn't in my original plans, but when I saw the bright, beautiful fabric at Happy Quilt, I just couldn't resist!).

Materials

• 2 yards of flannel material.  I used 1 yard of print, and 1 yard of solid white.  You can use whatever you want.
• Coordinating thread.

Prep

• Wash and dry the fabric.  Iron if necessary.
• Place one piece of flannel right side up, and lay the second piece of flannel on top of the first, right side down.
• Pin the layers together, every inch or so, the whole way around.  

Sewing

• Being sewing in the middle of one side.  Do not start at a corner.  Using a straight stitch and a 1/4-inch seam allowance, sew all the way around the blanket, but leave about a 6-inch hole in the side where you started, or big enough to put your hand through.
• Turn the blanket right side out.  Use your fingers to poke the corners into points.  Smooth out blanket edges so they're smooth, or press them flat with an iron.
• Pin the 6-inch hole together so the edges stay tucked inside while you finish the blanket.
• Then, sew around the edge of the blanket a second time.  Do not start on the side where you have the hole pinned shut.  Start anywhere else except there.
• Use a very small seam allowance when sewing the second time.  1/8-inch, if possible.  Sew the whole way around the blanket, and back stitch a the beginning and end.

That's it.  Your blanket is finished!!  Fairly easy and basic, right?  It should be about 36 inches by 45 inches.

And here are the few other goodies I made for her.  A few washcloths, and an adorable beanie.  I just love that flower on there!

I had so much fun making all of these things... I hope she enjoys them!  :)

Nursery: No-Sew Custom Crib Skirt

So I decided to make our baby girl's crib skirt out of the same material I used for the curtains.  And I think it turned out very nicely!

I followed a tutorial I found at an awesome website called Young House Love.  I won't waste my time writing it out for you -- you can just go check out that tutorial yourself if you're interested.  Actually you should just go check out that website anyways, it's awesome!  And I totally want their living room.  Just sayin'.

The material for the curtains & crib skirt only cost me about $18.  I used 2 rolls of heavy duty hem tape, which cost about $1.50 per roll, and a little bit of velcro.  So all in all, I spent roughly $21.00.  I'm pretty sure I saved us some money!  Wahoo!  Not only that, but I think they look 100x better than anything I could just go out and buy, because I was able to make them exactly how I wanted them (I didn't really want anything with animals all over it, and I didn't see anything else that caught my eye).  I think that deserves an iced white chocolate mocha from Starbucks... right?  I thought so too.

Here are a couple photos.  One is without the flash, and one is with the flash.. because, once again, the lighting in there just awesome.  Not.

The crib sheet is actually a really light pink, if you can't tell from the photos.  It's from Target, and it's so soft... I need to get a few more!  The crib is coming along nicely, I think!  The nursery is definitely starting to look like a nursery.  :)

DIY Pretty Dry Erase Board

I have seen this idea on quite a few different websites (here, here, here, and here).  It's fairly inexpensive and it can also double as wall art when you're not using it as a dry erase board.  Bonus!  This took me all of about 10 minutes to do.

Materials
1.  Glass picture frame.  You can find one at a thrift store for next to nothing, or find something you really like at the store.  I bought mine for $2.50 at the BX here on base.  If you don't like the color of the frame, always remember you can spray paint it and fix it up.  :)
2.  Fabric of your choice.  This is the fun part... so many options.  Be sure to wash, dry, and iron your fabric before you use it.  You don't want a wrinkled dry erase board!
3.  Duct tape.  Or any heavy duty tape.
4.  Dry erase markers.  I've found black to be the best choice of color.

How-To
1. Remove the backing from the frame.  
2. Cut a piece of fabric slightly larger than your frame, leave about an inch or so all the way around.
3. Place cut fabric over frame backing and then flip over.  
4. Fold over excess fabric and use the heavy duty tape to attach the fabric to your backing. 
5. Place the now fabric-covered frame backing into the frame... done!  You can now write all over your beautiful, new dry erase board.  The markers wipe off of the glass easier than on store bought dry erase boards, imo.

As of right now, our bedroom is greens, teals, & browns.  So I chose this beautiful green fabric.  I have a few more DIY projects for our bedroom that I'd like to do..

You can use it as a to-do list.

Leave a message on it for your hunny.. :)

Hang it on the wall and write your favorite Bible verse, quote, or saying..

If you decide to make one, leave a link in the comments to a picture of it.  I love to see how other people's turns out too.  :)

Made With Love For My Nephew...

My extremely handsome nephew was born in November and I have been working on this baby afghan since then, and I finally finished it and mailed it out almost a week ago.  I will admit, it was a tedious pattern and a little frustrating at times, but it turned out perfect and I'm proud of myself for keeping at it and getting it done!  I'm excited for them to receive it in the mail.  :)

The hardest thing about living in Korea is being so far away from family.  I miss my nieces and nephew like crazy.  But I thank God for skype.  :)

Made with love...

This blanket was inspired by the State Fair Blanket pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn website.  Although I altered the pattern to fit my needs and make the blanket a bit bigger with more colors.  :)  Crocheted using the half double crochet, worsted weight yarn, and a H8/5.00mm hook.

I have quite a few more projects that I'm working on.. so keep an eye out for those!  I'm planning on opening up an Etsy shop in the (hopefully near) future, so watch out for that update as well.  :)