DIY Body Wash

I ran across a tutorial a whole ago for a liquid hand soap made from a bar of soap. I figured if you could make liquid hand soap with it, why not body wash?! So I grabbed my favorite soap (Dove) and followed the instructions for the tutorial. I cut the ingredients in half seeing as the Dove bar was 4.5oz, not 8. Check out the tutorial here.
By they way, my half gallon of body wash ended up costing me $1.40. 24oz (much less than half a gallon) of Dove body wash costs anywhere from $7-$8. Major savings!

Dyed Book Page Flower

Hey all! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving :). This weekend I worked on dyed "flowers" made out of book pages! You can see the techniques for these flowers by just typing "paper flower" in to google. So I didn't use just one site, I saw tons for inspiration and did my own style that worked best for me. Today I'll be showing you a basic rolled flower made from book pages and then dipping it in to dye to make fun colors!
Supplies:
-Food Coloring in any color (I'm using green)
-Vinegar or water
-Old book that you don't mind ripping apart
-Bowl
-Spoon
-Hot glue gun and glue

Step 1: We'll start by mixing our dye. I used vinegar because I heard that helps set the dye when used on products such as T-Shirts so I thought it would work better for the paper too. However, yesterday I just ran across a project by Martha Stewart where she died paper using just water and food coloring, So I guess either would work. Anyways, pour enough water or vinegar in to the bowl, just enough to cover the bottom. Put drops of food coloring in to reach your desired color and stir. I used 5 drops of green to create a nice dark green, perfect for Christmas.

Now set this aside, we'll get back to the dye in a bit.

Step 2: Lets start our flowers! Rip out some pages from your book. Each Page will make about one flower.

Step 3: Cut a circle out of one page. It doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, mine tend to look like ovals.

Step 4: Now cut a spiral pattern in your circle. You can experiment with a thick or thin spiral, depending on how you want your flower to look. When your spiral pattern is done, it should look something like this:

(Sorry for all the shadows, I did this project at night.)

Step 5: Begin rolling your spiral. Start at the end where you made your first cut. You'll need the other end (that should have a small circle) to secure your flower together. Start rolling tightly, When you get a few rolls in, secure it with hot glue.

Step 6: Continue rolling your flower. Start making loose rolls, this is how you will get a sort of "blooming" effect. Continue rolling until you run out of paper and are left with the small circle at the end of your paper.

Step 7: Add some hot glue to the end of the paper. Place on flat surface and press the center of your flower down, so that the center is glued to the end of the paper. I'm not sure if those two sentences made sense but yay for pictures to explain!

Now you have your finished flower! Time to move on to the dying process...

Step 8: Take your flower and dip it in to your bowl of dye. When dipping, the bottom of the flower should be face up and the front end should be in the dye. Leave in just for a second then remove.

Step 8: Leave your flower to dry. I would recommend drying it upside down, or else the dye will run down the petals of the flower. Here is what my finished flower looked like:

I made several of these in green and red, using this rolling technique and another one that I will show in a later post. I plan on attaching them to a Christmas wreath :). Let me know what you come up with using these dyed flowers. Happy Crafting!



Burnt Ribbon Flowers

So apparently I am obsessed with flowers at the moment, thus explaining my second tutorial: Burnt Ribbon Flowers inspired by Carolyn's Homework, super easy, super fun! So here we go:

Supplies:
-Wide Ribbon (the ribbon I used was about 1 in)
-Lighter
-Scissors
-Needles and thread
-Sequins
-Glue gun (optional)

Step 1: Take your ribbon and cut out 3 circles in 3 different sizes.

Step 2: Take your lighter and burn the edges of your ribbon. It doesn't take long to start burning so don't hold it to the flame for too long. It may take a few practice runs to develop a technique that produces the look you want. Be careful, the ribbon becomes extremely hot so make sure you allow it to cool before moving on (it only takes a few seconds). When done, your pieces of ribbon should look something like this:

 Step 3: Like in the photo above, stack and arrange your pieces of ribbon in a way that is appealing to you. Now thread your needle and pick the center point of your "flower". Thread through the bottom end first and add your sequin(s). You can also choose to just sew your ribbon pieces together and glue on your sequins with a hot glue gun.

Step 4: Finish sewing on your sequins. Once done, I added a dab of hot glue for extra security. You are now done!

 I decided to attach mine to a bobby pin for a coworker's pesky bangs!

Enjoy! Hope to see you back soon for another adventure in crafting!

Denim Flower Tutorial

Hello there! So here is my first tutorial inspired by Prudent Baby. (Awesome site by the way, explore it!). In the Prudent Baby tutorial, the author uses a different fabric but pretty much the same technique as I used. So here we go!

Supplies:
-Denim Fabric
-Scissors
-Hot Glue Gun with Glue
and that's it! This is a great project to use old scraps of fabric or recycled clothing. In this tutorial I used an old pair of Danny's jeans.

Step 1: Assemble all your supplies. Cut a strip fabric to desired width and length. My fabric ended up being about 1 1/2 inches wide and 16 inches long, roughly (I didn't measure).

Step 2: Start at which ever end you like and begin to roll your fabric. I used a flat surface at first until it was sturdy enough to hold between my fingers.



Step 3: While holding the started roll between your fingers, use your other hand to start twisting the other end of the fabric. Wrap, while twisting, the fabric around the roll.

Step 4: Keep wrapping until you run out of fabric. Use your hot glue gun to place a small dab of glue on the end of your fabric and press it on to your rolled flower to keep it in place. It should now look like a flower! Mine ended up having a stem but don't worry about that, we will deal with that later.

Step 5: We now need to make the bottom to keep the flower secure. Cut a circular piece of fabric, a little smaller than your flower. I placed my flower on my fabric to measure it.

Step 6: Cut the "stem" off your flower. Use your hot glue gun and cover the circular piece of your fabric in hot glue. Press on to the Bottom of your flower firmly and you are done!

I made two of these in different sizes and placed on a headband for my co worker's baby girl :)

Enjoy making your fabric flowers and thanks for reading! Stop by soon for more tutorials and fun ideas!



Gift Set

Okay, so this was my first homemade gift set! I made a "Margarita" Candle, Moisturizing Lemon Scrub, and a Peppermint Foot Scrub! I'll Post the tutorials this weekend for all three of these items.

Hello Out There!

Hey Everyone! So this is my brand new blog! I will be updating at least weekly with pictures of my latest creative adventures including: Crafts, Baked Goods, Clothing, DIY Ideas, and Tutorials so stay tuned!