Twisted Pearl Necklace

Scrolling through the internet I stumbled upon this beautiful picture.

Oh, I instantly feel in love.  And wahoo  there is a tutorial for it too!!!!! It was my lucky day.

A day or two later I went out and got the materials I needed.  Ribbon and stands of pearls.  And at hobby lobby together they were 1.50 before tax.  So it was worth it.  

Anyways...

I gathered all of my materials:

• ribbon
• strand of pearls
• embroidery thread
• needle

Then I sat down and got started.  You can see the original tutorial you can go here: http://www.flaxandtwine.com/2011/12/day-16-twisted-pearls-diy-pearl.html. They have good pictures to better explain my horrible instructions.

I began by measuring out 2, 36 inch strands of ribbon.  At about 10 inches in I crossed the ribbon and threaded the needle through, then tied a knot and was ready to begin beading. 
Bead one pearl, then cross a long ribbon end over the pearl, and thread through.  Be careful, you want the thread to sit nicely on top of the pearl, no excess and no stretching.  You want the ribbon to fall nicely on top of the pearls.
Thread the second pearl, and cross the other long strand of ribbon over this second pearl.  It should look like this:

Then you repeat, alternating the ribbons after you add a pearl. 

When you find the length that you like you stop, make a small knot at this point, then re-thread through the last three or four beads, and make a small knot that it is hidden in the strands.

After that I knotted the ends right after the pearls ended.  Then made small knots the remaining length of the strands.

To attach it, I put a safety pin at the end as a closure.  This also allows me to adjust the length of the necklace.  The original tutorial has a better (more professional) way to complete the necklace, which you can check out here. 


This is one of the prettiest necklaces I have made.  But I am not going to make another one.  It was somewhat frustrating to make because the necklace kept moving, the beads were slick, and I could not always tell how much ribbon to use so that it would sit nicely over the pearls.  This necklace was a lot of trial and error.

New Hair-do

One day I was going out with some friends and in need of a cool hair do.  So what did I do you ask? I strolled through Pinterest, looking for hair tutorials.  I found a few, but one really stuck out to me its from The Beauty Department, check it out!

AND here it IS!!!!

Steps:
1. Start with wavy hair. If your hair is naturally straight, curl some sections to give it texture.

2. Separate the hair on the left & right sides of your head. Using your part as a guide, continue the part down the middle of the back of your head. To maintain the effortless, imperfect look, use your fingers instead of a comb. Tie one section with a hair tie to keep it out of the way.

3. French braid the free section of hair back to the nape of your neck & secure with bobby pins or a clip. To add more texture, try a Reverse French braid: Alternate crossing the 2 outer sections of hair UNDER the middle section instead of over. To make the look more free-spirited, leave out bangs & short layers around your face.

4. Repeat Step 3 on the other side of your head, clipping the French braid at the nape of your neck.

5. Gather the hair into a low ponytail below the clips & secure with a hair tie. When the ponytail is secure, remove the clips from the braids.

6. Time to add some volume! With your fine tooth comb, tease 1” sections of hair where they come out of the pony tail, keeping the ends less distressed, & secure with a medium hold hair spray.

7. Create more volume & texture in the braids by lightly pulling the loops apart with your fingers.

8. To finish the look, wrap a section of hair from underneath the pony tail around the hair tie. Secure with bobby pins.

I skipped step 8.  I especially liked the suggestion to pull the loops apart to create volume.   BRILLIANT! why could I not have come up with something like that.  I also liked this a lot because I am really good and french braiding my own hair, so this was pretty easy.

Linking to: A creative Princess.  House of Hepworths.  Somewhat Simple. 

Good Deal

Have you ever been to the wonderful site called MONEY MAKING MOM?  Its amazing.  She shares deals on all sorts of products.  Food, toys, books, and magazines. She recently shared a deal of Natural Health Magazine. A years subscription is only 3.50!!!!!! Go to MONEY MAKING MOM and check out her post, HERE. 

I really love these type of magazines, I usually go to bookmans to try to find these, which can still be expensive over the long run.  So I bought my subscription for three years, because it was a pretty good deal. 

Double Bean Enchilada Dinner

On one of my last days of winter break I got pretty bored, odd.  So I decided I needed to cook, and figured enchiladas would be good.  So I went into the cupboard and searched for things to add.

What I found:

• one can of pinto beans
• one can of black beans
• one can of green chilies
• one can of green enchilada sauce

With these I was set to make a complete dish.

Double Bean Enchiladas:

Ingredient List
- 1 (15oz) can pinto beans
- 1 (15oz) can black beans
- 1 (28oz) can enchilada sauce of your choice
- 1 (7oz) can of diced green chilies
- 1 small onion chopped
- package of tortillas - the number you will use will be different depending on how large your tortillas are, how you pack your ingredients in, and what kind of tortillas you use. I used corn. 
- mexican cheese blend
- olive oil for frying tortillas

Recipe
1. Open cans of beans and rinse the beans.  Then place the beans in a bowl.  Add  in can of green chilies.  Chop onion, or used frozen ones, and add them to the mixture.

2. Fry tortillas in oil over medium heat.  Fry on each side for 5-10 seconds.  Have a plate with paper towels on top off hand, so that after the tortilla is fried you can wide off the excess oil.

3.  After all of your tortillas are fried, fill each with some bean mixture.  Because I used corn tortillas I used about 16 tortillas - because they were small - and each one had a small amount of filling in it.  Once rolled place the tortillas in a greased glass pan.  Repeat this step until the pan is full.
       **I would recommend not placing the tortillas to close to each other because the sauce will not get to all the tortillas if they are too tightly packed. I speak from personal experience.

4. Once all tortillas are rolled open the enchilada sauce and pour over.  Then add cheese to your liking to the top.

5.  Bake at 375, for 35 minutes. You may need more time though, I tend to underestimate the time needed to bake things.  When I do is make sure the entree reaches at least 125 degrees, then I take it out.

I hope you enjoy this recipe.


:)

Where I am linking: Sew much ado.  Lil Luna.  Ginger snap craft.  My girlish whim. 

Made my own deodorant

So this past year I switched to the 'clinical strength' deodorant that they sell at the drug store.  I found the Secret brand to be my favorite.  But after the first day I noticed that it did not keep me from smelling.  I usually shower every other day, so I need to smell good for two days generally.  And at the end of day 1 I would not smell pretty.  It wasn't a big stench, but it was enough for me to wonder why the extra strength stuff was not enough.

So I began applying the stuff every morning, and therefore began buying it more often, and at $7 or $8 a box I questioned this investment.  One day perusing blogs I found a site discussing homemade deodorant.  I am pretty sure it was an older post because there were at least 50 comments on the post. After reading every comment, I decided I needed to give the homemade deodorant a try.  So I ran out to the store to get arrowroot powder.

The recipe I use is:
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil
tea tree essential oil
seal-able container for storage

To make you combine all ingredients in a glass bowl of some kind.  I mix mine with a fork, I find that I am better able to mix it that way.  I would suggest making it into a really thick paste.  It should be firm when you look at it, and touch it.  It should have a little shine to it, but should not look liquidy.  If you find it to be on the liquid side I would suggest adding a small amount of baking soda, stirring it in, and if it is still not firm then add a little bit of arrowroot. 

I store it in one of those 100 calorie ziplock brand tupperwares.

The first time I made this recipe it was an experiment.  After a few days I saw my mixture begin to separate as it sat out.  When I noticed it I mixed in more baking soda, then more arrowroot.  I waited several more days and it was still a bit separated, so I added more again.  This time I found the perfect combination.  It is the consistency I like, and it does not separate at all at night, and its nice because it stays hard until I put it on, and when I put it on it melts a little into my pit.

You put it on by getting a bit on your finger, then rubbing that around your armpit.  When it hits your armpit it will also melt a little, but should immediately absorb into the skin.  It is a little oily, but does not stain your clothes. 

Sometimes I use more, it depends on how I feel.

I have been using this concoction since July, and I made two batches for others for christmas.  It is that good, and other people are willing to try it after you have tested it out.



Linking to: Flamingo Toes.  Nifty Thrifty Things.  Simple as that.  Making the world cuter.  DIY home sweet home. Singing three little birds.  Sumos sweet stuff.  CRAFT.  5 minutes just for me. 

New Year's Cupcakes

Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes

Strolling through the internet I came across Sparkling Champagne Cupcakes.  And they are very pretty.  I adapted my recipe from the original a little bit. 

Because of their name I decided they needed to be made over New Year's.  I made them on January 1, 2012.  I feel so cool, using champagne in my cupcakes for the celebration of New Year's.   

The Recipe

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of champagne or sparkling wine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.  in a medium sized bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup yogurt with 1/2 tsp baking powder to give the yogurt better rising ability  (mixture will fizz and bubble a little).  Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick.

Fill cupcake papers with batter, bake for 17-22 minutes.  (17 worked perfect for me)


The cupcakes turned out very yummy.  They are sweet and a little dense, but still moist and awesome. 


The basic frosting recipe: 
1 cup softened butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla
           Using a hand mixer whip the butter.  Then add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time, and whip with butter.  Then add vanilla.  And you can add more powdered sugar until you like the flavor, too much powdered sugar is not possible. 

Then I pipped it onto the tops of the cupcakes and boom, they read to be devoured.


My end result:

Find the original recipe here. 

Linking to: A creative princess.  House of Hepworths.  Somewhat Simple. A vision to remember.  Thirty hand made days.  Be different act normal.   Craft envy. 

Side Note

I recently finished the book "206 Bones" by Kathy Reichs.

Another book that is like the television show "Bones."  I love this show.  So I think/thought I would like this book.  I tried very hard to like this book.  For me Kathy Reichs puts way way to much plot into her books.  There are at least four story lines going on at once.  I write down all the names and how they relate to one another, but by the end of the book I have no idea who anyone is anymore, because some people have been mentioned only one or two times.  Plus with the multitude of characters I try to picture each one, and give them a face, but with so many I get confused as to who is who.  On a positive note:  The book is pretty suspenseful, and keeps you reading.  She is very crafty in that the ends of the chapters are all cliff hangers, and it takes all the self discipline you have to put the book down.  So parts of the book are very good, like the main plot, but at the same time all the extra plot confuses me, and is a major negative while I am reading.