Last month my girl Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere did a post on making your own lip color (here) and I couldn't wait to try it.  My gal pal Faith from thats just fabulous also created a great lip color (see it here).  It's pretty easy just take two lip colors , mush them together and viola you have a lip color. The trickiest part is picking two lip colors that will make a great color. For the sake of saving my favorite lipsticks  I picked up some cheap-o lipsticks at Wal-Mart and began to play. I chose a pinkish mauve color +  a bright red = which made a orangey pink color - easy peasy! I love this idea and you bet I'll be making many more lipstick colors in the future.

 

 

Valentine's Day cards

print here

With Valentine's day just around the corner (actually 3 days away) have you gotten that special person a card yet? Incase you haven't the wonderful Jasmine Dowling from  the fabulous blog Jas+Mine was kind enough to share some printable cards with all of us. You might remember her work from the calendars I shared last month (here) . As you can probably tell I love her work and her style, if you haven't done so you must check out her wonderful blog.



Mexican Soup

Here is one of the few recipes I will share on the blog, I wish I could share recipes however my cooking is pretty remedial but there are those times I come across a recipe that I want to try . I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest {here} and I finally decided to try it lets just say I have been making it every week since. The first time I made this it was delicious however not filling enough so the next day I added shredded chicken  to the left overs and it transformed it into the perfect dish- with approval from the Husband.  

Mexican Vegetable Soup

Serves four to six.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced 
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-rounds
8 ounces green beans, tipped and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
6 cups of chicken stock
1/4 cup cooked hominy

3 skinless chicken breast
2 teaspoons chilpotle chilies, minced
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
cilantro leaves, for garnish
6 wedges lime
Corn tortillas

Directions
- Warm the oil in a soup pot, add onion, garlic, oregano, and salt, and cook over medium-low heat until the onion softens.

- In a separate pot boil chicken breast for 20 min. then shred

- Add the carrots, beans, and tomatoes; pour in the heated stock and simmer.

- After 20 minutes add the hominy , shredded chicken  and then gradually stir in the   
chilpotle chilies to taste.

- Cook another 10 minutes; then taste for salt.

- Ladle the soup into bowls; garnish with the avocado and cilantro leaves. Serve the lime and corn tortilla on the side.

{recipe taken from Sacramento Street }

¡buen provecho!



Christmas wreath DIY

A couple of weeks ago I came across Taylor Morgan homemade wreath {here}. And I fell in love, it was the perfect wreath ,not too traditional and something I could use after the holidays. So I made a trip to Michaels to buy my supplies.  I really wanted to use burlap for my bow however Michaels was all out of burlap so instead I went with ribbon that looked like burlap. This wreath only took about two days and $15 to complete and the process was pretty painless. FYI you can always find Michaels coupons on their website HERE.  Happy Crafting !!!

  

 You will need : letter {purchased at Michael's} , sponge, acrylic paint, berry's

Step 1: Make sure sponge is damp , start painting . I did 3 coats.



Step 2: Cut berry's off of plastic vine , hot glue each berry to letter.

Step 3: Glue two strips to the back of letter

 Step 4/5 : Make a bow , glue the back of bow to the two strips.

{I also used a safety pin for extra hold}

Your done!



How - To : dry painted nails quickly

You will need : nail polish and a bowl of cold water

After nails are painted put your polished nails in a bowl of cold water for 3 min.

The other night before bed I was doing my usual -surfing Pinterest . I stumbled upon this DIY and had to try it. I am notorious for painting my nails waiting what seems like forever for them to dry and no matter how long I wait I ALWAYS end up having to repaint one nail if not one hand. So , I tried it and ladies it worked ! Thank you random DIY and Pinterest.

DIY

Since we are homeless and cooped up in a hotel , Sunday night I decided to DIY. I found this polka dot button up at my local Goodwill. I wanted to jazz it up a little so I chose to replace buttons. These gold buttons gave this top the right amount of sparkle it needed. Very important when thrifting you may not always find the perfect item some may need alterations or to be jazzed. Now let's see what DC thrift stores have in store for me.

My first DIY

Welcome to my first DIY {Do It Yourself} !
I am constantly finding these polyester or silk tops my local thrift store. I have purchased a handful of these in different colors, patterns, long or short sleeve however regardless of how small I buy them my main problem is arm length and there too long . This is how I fix these two small problems.
 

Prep : Decide on arm and body length.

You will need : Scissors and pins

Step 1 : Adjust length and pin

Step 2 : Iron over fold
 (this helps fabric hold it's place when sewing)

Step 3 : Cut excess fabric

Step 4: Sew above pinning



 Here is the finished product.
Perfect length sits above hip and covers my bicep.