DIY: Easy Sugar Scrub

Cheap skin care...yes please!!

This is a quickie.  Who doesn't like sugar scrubs?  They make your skin so smooth.  However, they are expensive.  Here is an easy option.  Simply put some sugar in a bowl and add olive oil or grape seed oil.  You can add coloring if you want (but why bother) or you can also add some oil essence to make it smell good.  It should be an oatmeal like texture.  Use within a couple days.  Nice, easy, and effective!!!  We love that!

Benefits of Babyfood

Quickie but a goodie!!

This is a quick one but wanted to share an added benefit of making your own baby food.  As you are boiling your veggies, keep using the same water and scope the veggies out when they are ready.  When you are done you will have an amazing vegetable broth.  Use it where ever you would use a chicken or beef broth.  I made an amazing soup yesterday with the broth.  It was rich and flavorful.  Give it a go and let me know what you use it in!

Just a reminder, we are boiling 3 -4 difference veggies (for example squash, peas, green beans, and broccoli).  This water will reduce down and condense the flavor of the different foods.

Yup!!

CHECK YOUR EMAIL!!!

Finally a reward system that I can use!!!  Well....at least the news letter.

I have found a really great value that I wanted to share.  Normally I don't like reward systems.  They never actually seem to have a benefit.  There are all these "price clubs" for certain stores and there doesn't seem to be value.

However, I have round a value with the "R"-Us stores.  We signed up for their rewards card after purchasing a couple things for Remy.  I then started to get their newsletters.  I never really opened them until I saw one that said 2 for 1 Matchbook cars.  I thought what a deal and opened it.  WOW, there really are deals.  I got a great ride on toy for Remy for Christmas for $15 instead of $50.  Good deals, you just have to be able to act fast because they are one day only kind of deals.  Hope this helps some mommies stock up for Christmas and birthdays!!

 



Oh and ps. I have been informed that none of my pictures have been coming through.  Hopefully, I have fixed the problem!

Money Saving Tip:Fresh food

Cheaper food, yes please!!

Grow your own food!!  It can take a couple tries depending on your own abilities, but growing some of your own foods can help keep costs down.  We grow lettuce and tomatoes regularly. And we got very lucky and our new house had blueberry bushes.   We also plant various other veggies like zucchinis, potatoes, and green beans.  Additionally fresh herbs are very easy to grow.  You can purchase any of these in a store however seeds are at a fraction of the cost.  Not only will you save money over the standard quality produce from a grocer but you will also get fresh organic food as well upping the overall savings.

There does need to be a commitment though to working witht he plants as well as eating seasonally.  It is better for our bodies to get variety and better for our wallets.  Out of season fruits and veggies tend to be more expensive because of the cost to transport.  They also are typically not organic.  Starting a couple tomato plants, lettuce, and some kind of berry (raspberry, blueberry etc) will give you a great start.  They are all easy to grow and will harvest quickly.

If you struggle and/or don't want to supplement all your food just having a little bit here and there will help. Image having something as expensive and blueberrys or raspberrys a couple times in the summer. Or being able to have fresh oregano or cilantro? Even if you don't use this as a large money saving tool, it most certainly can be a nice treat.

DIY: Updated Silverware Box

Preserve, preserve, preserve...

So my grandma had to move into a nursing home and she gave me some great heirlooms.  One, was a real silverware set.  It is a beautiful set, however I have had it shoved in a closet.  The box really wasn't anything to right home about and I really didn't want to buy a new one.  I wanted to keep it original, the way she had it as much as possible.  So, I decided to see what I could do to improve the look of the box.

I did this a little free form.  I haven't done anything like it so I just went for it!!  It was fun and I like the way it turned out.  Now to really fix the box up right I would have had to bondo the missing strip, sand down, and paint a solid color.  I really didn't want to go through all the effort if I am being frank so this is what I came up with.



So this is the original box.  Beaten up and tired looking.



First step was to strengthen the box.  I used fine nails and secured the corners and the bottom.



The next step is to clean and paint.  I used acrylic paints that I had lying around.  Now to have a more natural look, I wanted to blend in various different colors.  Since I don't have a variety of browns pre-made, I had to make they myself.  You can add in red to get more of the mahogany look, and tone down the brightness with some green.  I used black as well to darken up the colors.  I thined the paint here and there with water in order to let the original wood shine through in a couple areas.



Let this be free form.  If you try to plan it all out it wont be very organic in look.  Wood is very variable :) so don't worry just keep working in darks and lights, reds and browns in order to create the most natural effect.

I didn't photo the final step, but I sprayed on some clear enamel.  Rust-o-Lem makes the one that I used, it is great.  It gives the project a nice glossy look, and helps blend the brush strokes.



Never mind the ugly paint color in the background.  We haven't painted our new house yet.  But ehre is the finished product in place.  Looks nice enough to put out.  And with it out, I am more likely to actually use the silverware!!

Product Review: E.L.F.

New E.L.F.

I tried a new ELF product that I thought I would share.  Their products are very hit or miss so I thought I should share this one in case anyone is interested in trying it.

This is their wrinkle refiner in clear.  It does smooth our wrinkles a bit, but it is a great under eye primer.  I sets quickly and combined with my concealer it lasts all day.  I have been really happy with the performance.  However I haven't been 100% on the packaging.  It takes for ever for the product to come out and it doesn't always.  It is a twist up top and it sees to come out when it wants to and is very smooth and goes everywhere. 

However that is all a moot point because the product works really well and I have been really happy with it.

Let me know if you give some E.L.F. products a try!

DIY: Dresser/TV Stand Makeover

$250 for the price of $0!!!

My hubby picked up a disgusting old dresser.  We really didn't have any idea of what to do with it and it just stored garden tools outside.  When we moved into our new home we needed a new TV stand and I called upon the dresser.

Before, very dirty and stinky.  But after, shabby but chic.  It is always a great idea to pull from old before buying new.  It leads to less waste in the landfills and is a more responsible decision.  Plus, you can actually get something nice and unique without breaking the bank.

Here are the steps that I took for this project:


1.) Pulled apart the drawers and remove the top.  Sand down all pieces.


2.) Wipe clean.


3.) White wash everything.  In order to do this either wet your brush and apply.  Or water down your paint.  either way, whenever I an doing a weathered wore look I like to have thin paint.  If you have old painted furniture you can see where the paint has naturally worn away.  In order to faux this, I like to white wash.

4.) Optional step.  You can decide to add colors at this stage and/or scrape more.  Sometimes I like to use a scraper, and rough up all the corners.  Then I would add wood stain.  This darkens the corners and aids in the weathered look.  This specific product I want to keep light and it already has a couple colors so I want to keep it simple.


5.) Handles.  If your pulls are nice, terrific use those.  However my pulls in this case where rusted and dingy.  I always like to keep silver paint around.  You can use it in so many different ways.  If you like bronze, or gold etc. etc. then keep that around.  I like silver metal accents so I keep that around.  Make sure to spray your item lightly.  You really don't want drips in your handles.

6.) Top.  Now with the dresser that I used I didn't like the top.  It was water damaged and I think it smelled.  I had some scrap Corian (a countertop material) around so I used that.  However it would be easy to get either some reclaimed wood and/or new plywood and either paint or stain.

Now with my itty bitty TV on top it looks great.  I am so happy that I didn't have to spend $250!!!  Yeah :)

Product Review: Skin Care Routine Update

Oldie but a goodie!!

I have had to update my skin care routine.  My skin has been getting dry, I think that is normal as women get older.  So in order to get more moisture into my skin I have changed a few things.  I am now using Noxema in the mornings.  This gives me a boost of moisture and helps overcome the dryness from the shower and the night of a ceiling fan blowing on me.



Noxema is a great product.  It is inexpensive and has been around forever.  It is a cream cleanser so it does give a boost of moisture.  However, with my skin type I can't use it twice a day or I will get too oily.

I have also had to stop using my St. Yves Apricot Scrub everyday.  It is just exfoliating too much and irritating my dryer skin.  So I have use started using it once or twice a week and have continued to use my Oxy 10 pads which also act as an exfoliate.

Noxema is a great product that goes to show you that you don't have to break the bank to get a great product.