Cat Ears & Coffee: Projects

DIY: Toner

I made this toner months ago, but I wanted to make sure that it worked well before I did a post on it. Then I made more, and more, and finally realized that I never did the blog post. Whoops. Here it is now! So that counts for something, correct?

I didn't really know what purpose toner served until I was in my early twenties, was working at McDonald's, and had the oiliest skin known to man. It was gross. There was a guy that I worked with who would dump straight witch hazel on a washcloth, then rub it all over his head and neck once he clocked out every day. Yep, we took drastic measures.

Eventually I quit the fast food business, but the oil never really quit my face (how rude). I get a little oily around my hair line, and have gone through several different face washes, toners, you name it to help get rid of the oil. I actually bought a pretty expensive, rosewater scented toner back in February, and it was so strong, it dried my skin out to the point where it burned. Not good. I didn't want to spend that much money on something else, so I tried my hand at making my own.

Get

1 part apple cider vinegar

2 parts water

4-5 drops of tea tree oil

Mix everything in a bottle, and apply with a cotton ball. That is it! This is hands-down the best toner I have ever used. It leaves my face feeling clean, and the acidity from the ACV makes my skin all tingly and I just love it. Of course you can alter the amount of vinegar to your own personal needs, and I am sure that a different essential oil would work fine too. I have a small obsession with melaleuca oil, aka tea tree oil. It helps to reduce the amount of oils the body produces naturally, it helps dry out pimples, and most recently I discovered that if you put a little bit of it on a mosquito bite, it gives instant relief to the itching. There are loads of other uses for it too, and I also really love the scent.

The best part about this toner? It is all-natural and super, super cheap! It has also helped so much with my skin, that I no longer have the need to use it twice per day, I use it only once and it lasts pretty long. Can't beat that!

I still have a few products that I would really like to try making myself, but I now have a completely all-natural face cleansing routine that I will have to do a post on soon. Maybe in the next couple of weeks? I have a couple things that I am working on that I have sitting in draft now, so stay tuned.

9:22 AM
9 Comments

DIY: Organic Whipped Body Lotion

Beauty

I have been enjoying learning how to make my own beauty products the past few months, mostly because it always excites me when I make something and it actually comes out really well. I am one who is addicted to lotion, but I always had a hard time finding one that I really liked. The organic ones without all of the weird chemicals and additives were super expensive, and the cheaper ones contained basically plastic, which I am sure in small amounts won't kill you, but I found myself needing to use more and more of it. I really wanted to try making my own, but it also had to be affordable, and simple enough so that I wouldn't screw it up.

This one was perfect! I had all of the ingredients, except for the Shea butter. I am not entirely sure what the cost breakdown was in the end, but because I use the other ingredients for other things, as well as having plenty of Shea butter left over for another batch, I think it came out pretty cheap.

Get

1 cup organic Shea butter

1/2 cup organic olive oil (almond oil, or jojoba oil will work too)

1/2 cup organic cold-pressed coconut oil

Essential oils of your choice (I used lavender).

In a small pot, mix the Shea butter, and the coconut oil over a medium heat until they melt completely. Stir in the olive oil, and then add the essential oil. I used 2 cap fulls, but you can add as little or as much as you prefer. Remove from heat and let it sit in the fridge until it firms, but is not completely solid (took a little over an hour for me). Next, whip the mixture together until it is really light (I did this by hand with an egg beater, but you can use a blender/hand beater if you want). Scoop out of pot and store in jars at room temperature.

This made a little over one jar, and it is heavenly! I had been using plain coconut oil up until this point, but since it is such a light oil, I was getting dry spots. This mix will go on a little greasy, but your skin will quickly absorb it up. A little bit will go a long way, so I am pretty sure that this will last me a while.

Tips: When I was mixing this, it had a heavy Shea butter scent, but the next morning the lavender scent was more potent. Also, I use this right after I shower so that my skin absorbs it quickly, but I have also used a little of it on dry skin throughout the day, works great either way.

12:51 PM
11 Comments

DIY: Oil Diffuser

DIY

10:44 AM
16 Comments

Coffee + Cocoa Face Scrub

Beauty

I mentioned in a previous post that I have been working on making cleaning products and beauty treatments at home, so I thought I would share a really simple one today. I found a lot of recipes based off of used coffee grounds, and since I am a coffee fiend, I figured I would give it a shot. I posted the mix on Instagram, and my friend Dave suggested I try adding cocoa and sugar to the mix. I don't know how it is possible, but we ran out of sugar, so I left it at coffee grounds and cocoa.

Get

1 tablespoon coffee grounds

1 tablespoon cocoa (unsweetened)

1 tablespoon water or oil, such as cold-pressed coconut oil, olive oil, etc.

I tried this with both finely ground, and coarse grounds, and I would strongly recommend the finer grounds. You can add more or less water/oil depending on your thickness preference. I just used water, because I used argan oil as a moisturiser after, but you can skip adding a moisturizer if you mix oil in. I also obviously used way more than a tablespoon in that picture because I was sharing it with Kyle. I could not get him to let me document it though. Sadness.

Next: Make a stupid face!

All you have to do is mix all of the ingredients together, and let it sit on your face for a few minutes. I recommend putting a fine strainer over your sink when you rinse, because clogged sinks are bad news bears.

Why this mix? Well, I wanted to try something that I had around the house, plus it called for used coffee grounds, so there is plenty of that around. Coffee and cocoa are a good combination because they reduce puffiness in the face and eye area, brighten skin, and wake up your complexion, because COFFEE.

My skin isn't perfect, but it felt pretty amazeballs after using this mask, which I have been doing 3x per week. AND, I totally decided to document this after a night of drinking with friends, so my face was at its puffiest. GO ME. Anywho, when Kyle first saw me doing this, he said that I had taken my love for coffee a bit far. Then of course he went and tried it too and liked it so WHATEVER KYLE.

I will probably some other DIY face scrubs in the future, so stay tuned! ...or whatever.

10:31 AM
15 Comments

Pretty Good Year

Goals

Oy! With the resolutions already! Every year I do them, and every year I fail at most of them. Last year I did my best to keep up with them each month, I think that worked until about July, and then, who knows. Is it going to stop me from making more again this year? Nope. I am however, going to try my best to take a different approach this year.

1) Fitness routine- Instead of just posting that I want to lose 15 pounds, I want to keep a good fitness routine. Right now I am about halfway through Insanity and although I am getting my ass kicked, I really love it. When it is over, I would like to try another program, and also do more yoga, ballet, and go on more hikes. I also have not been rock-climbing since I was in middle-school, so I would love to try that again.

2) Finances- I did a pretty decent job of making up a spreadsheet in excel to keep track of our finances, as well as downloading our bank's mobile app. I just need to keep up with it, because having bills paid on time is always a good thing.

3) Quality time- When I think of 2013, I think of a year of fun, but also stress. One of the easiest ways to see all of our friends is to have everyone over, or to all meetup at a bar for some drinks. However, this also leads to people constantly crashing at our house/us getting nothing done the next day. This year I need to do things differently. An occasional night out is one thing, but I would like to plan more activities during the day, so that I can still have some free time during the rest of the weekend. I also just need to say "no" more to always hanging out. It seems that there is always an excuse: It's someone's birthday, we haven't seen so-and-so in a long time, etc. What happens is that we end up hanging out with people 3/4 weekends per month, and also during the week and I just get too burnt out. Not to mention Kyle is still working full time, and is in school full-time, leaving me with all of the rest of the household duties (as well as working full time myself) and I need time to do said duties. Staying up until 2am on a Sunday night to make sure that our underwear gets put in the dryer so we have some for the week is not something I can do because come Monday I will try to murder all of my coworkers on account of lack of sleep. This is going to be the hardest one, as friends and family already get disappointed when I have to say "no" to them, but it is a work in progress.

4) Scarf- Okay, this is the only one that a 'typical' resolution, but I want to crochet the Fourth Doctor's scarf for Kyle to wear to Motor City Comic Con in May. And for me to wear all of the time.

5) Be realistic- I love projects. I love being busy, especially if the result is something really positive. For instance: working on the house, or gardening. What I have to keep in mind though, is that these things take time. I cannot try to finish an entire room in one weekend. The garden will need to be watered/weeded regularly. This also ties into having to say "no" to people in order to get these things done, because I often try to cram too much into one weekend. As much as I want to, I am not going to be able to watch a new movie each week, or finish a book per week. Mostly because things come up (hello broken dryer!) and beating myself up for not getting ALL the things done is not worth it. Also, sleep, I need to be better friends with you!

6) Punctuality- I am lucky in the sense that my work is very lenient on punctuality. I can pretty much come in whenever I want, as long as I work eight hours. Cool. However, I need to be on time for other things. Again, it also comes down to trying not to fit too many things in one day. I probably should not schedule a coffee date with a friend, even if I have not seen them in awhile, on the same night that I have to babysit/plan on painting my hallway.

I am going to leave it at that for now. I am nervous about tackling some of these items, but I am trying to stay optimistic about it. What are your plans for 2014?

10:30 AM
18 Comments

Jarring Tips

Homesteading

One of my favorite projects that I recently tackled, was teaching myself how to jar and preserve food. I had picked up the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving on a whim at Costco a few years ago, and it sat in my kitchen for the better part of a year. After our harvest at the end of last summer, I ended up with more tomatoes than I knew what to do with, so I taught myself how to make tomato sauce, as well as spicy salsa. After playing around with some mint jelly, I taught myself how to make peach and strawberry jam this summer-best idea ever! Homemade jams and jellies are awesome. I cannot wait to learn how to make more varieties so that I can give them away as gifts. Free homemade food and a mason jar, how cool! My inner grandma is geeking out right now.

Anyway, I thought I would do a little post with some tips for jarring since I have been having a lot of fun with it.

First up: You are going to need some instructions. Like I said, I have an actual copy of the book, but Ball actually has quite a few recipes online for free, so just check out the website. If there is something specific that you want to make, just type it in the search bar. If you feel like browsing, I would probably just get the book (it is pretty cheap, like $12) and there are loads of tips in it.

Second: You are going to need supplies. Most importantly, you need something to sterilize and pressure-cook the jars in. You can get all fancy with something like this (an automatic home canning system), a regular pressure-cooker, or, you can use a giant pot. I use a pot that I bought from Ikea, just make sure that it is big enough to fit whatever size jars you are using as well as room for water (you will need to cover the jars with water and boil them). You can also go as far as getting a jar lifter, but I use a hand one like this. I honestly do recommend a rubber hand one, because the grip is really good on them. The first time that I jarred something I used hot dog tongs, they don't work very well. Remember, you are going to be handling extremely hot jars, so making sure you have something that grips well is very important.

*Keep in mind of what you are making to jar. If you are making a large batch of something, you will probably need a giant pot to cook the food in. The jars will need to be sterilized while you are cooking, so you will need to keep two large pots on hand, or, cook in smaller batches.

Next up you will need jars, lids, and bands. Jars will very in size, but to start out I would recommend a few 4 oz jars, and a few 8 oz jars. Also, depending on what you are jarring up, you might want to consider the mouth of the jar. Most of mine are regular-sized, but wide-mouth jars might be best for salsas so you can dip the chips right into the jar. Which also means that you will need to buy the correct size of lids and bands accordingly.

Speaking of lids, you will need to have a small pot for sterilizing the lids. You will also need a magnetic wand to get them out of the hot water. You won't need to sterilize the bands, just wash them in hot soapy water. You can reuse the bands and jars as long as they are in good condition. The lids cannot be reused for jarring once they have been sealed, but you can reuse them if you just want to freeze a jar. I will usually just mark the used lids with a little star using a permanent marker, so I know which lids are for freezing, and which ones are for sealing.

You will also need a thick cloth for handing the jars. The book recommends a cheese-cloth, but I just use a thick, kitchen towel. You need this for holding the jars while filling them, and also for wiping any food that may have dripped on the jar before you pressure-cook them. You can get a funnel for this to make it easier, but I don't have one.

Preserving certain foods calls for extra additives, based on the recipe. Most highly acidic recipes will call for lemon juice to be added to the jars, so you might want to pick some up. Jams and jellies will need pectin, there are two kinds, powdered and liquid. I have used both, and I tend to like the powdered more, but they both work.

As far as marking the jars, I use little tiny post-its with the date they were made, and stick them to the lids. You will need to let the jars sit overnight to make sure that they sealed properly, if they didn't (the seal clicks) then there are instructions for re-sealing the jars. You will then need a cool, dry place to store them.

Well there you have it, some tips for jarring. Most of theses will be online, or in the book if you pick it up, but it is nice to have a list of supplies and options before you start on a project such as this. I personally think that handling hot jars with food I cooked myself is kind of badass. Also, it is a really cool way to store food that you grew, or have an overabundance of, AND, you know what is is in it-no mystery ingredients.

10:30 AM
9 Comments

DIY: Carpet Deodorizer

DIY

10:43 AM
5 Comments

DIY: Backyard Garden Tips

DIY

This is a little tricky as I really have no clue to what I am doing for the most part, and I also should have done this earlier in the year but readers have asked for advice in the past, so here goes. Tips for your own backyard garden:

Shop around:Kyle and I usually go to Eastern Market in Detroit to get flats of plants every year. It is a good way to start a garden with some of the plants already growing for you, then you just have to plant them and take care of them. Make sure to keep the tags that say what is what as most plants look very similar at this stage (little green leafy things). I also bought a pack of seeds from Home Depot and grew my own seedlings indoors, so there is always that option.

*Remember that plants need space to grow and need to be planted 1-2 ft apart from each other. Don't do what we do and get excited and buy 30 plants and then wonder where to put them all when you get home.

Start small: If you have never tried growing your own veggies before, or have failed at it in the past (like I have), don't worry about it. The first year I planted veggies, everything died but the basil and tomatoes. So the very next spring, that is all I planted.

I have found that most herbs are pretty easy to maintain, we have basil, mint, curry, oregano, cilantro, and dill. Mint is really easy to grow, but be careful as it will take over your yard. We sectioned ours off, but you can always just pot it if you are that worried about it. I have basil all over the yard, even in pots on the porch where there is little sun and it still grows.

As for veggies, kale is hearty and will flourish. Unless you completely neglect it, it will grow. I have also found chili peppers and tomatoes pretty easy to grow, as well as summer squash if you have the room for it.

Pick a spot: Most plants will need lots of sun and space to grow. You don't need a large backyard for this, Kyle and I grew veggies and herbs in a small patch of lawn in front of our old apartment. Again, you really want 1-2 ft of space between plants. See the above pic? Right now the plants are so big that you can barely see the mulch walkway. Don't do that. You can also pot them, but you are going to need to get large pots or the plants won't grow. Most herbs do pretty well in pots, and I have found that peppers do also.

If you are without a yard, you can still grow plants inside. I am actually going to pick up some more basil and oregano to pot and put on a shelf by the window of our living room for the colder months. If you do this, just remember that the window works like magnifying glass and will make your plants hotter, so you will have to water them a bit more.

General care: After you get home with your plants, you really don't want to wait longer than a week to get them in the ground. Make sure to water them everyday if you leave them in the flats as well.

As far as adding things when planting, my brother is pretty big on making sure that we sprinkle peat moss in with the soil before placing the plant in. However, I have planted veggies and herbs in the past without it, so that is really up to you. Kyle and I have a compost pile behind the garage that we started last year and it broke down nicely so that we added it to the soil before planting. It seems to have really helped this year. If you don't have room for a compost pile you can save your coffee grounds and mix that in. I have even seen Starbucks give out used coffee grounds in March/April so you could always stop at a coffee place and ask.

It is also important to make sure that the plant has a small mound of dirt surrounding it when it goes in. You don't want to just place them flat in the ground because when it rains/you water them, they will most likely drown (you don't have to worry about that if they are in pots). You should water them every single day, either in the morning or the evening as it is too hot in the afternoon. Just don't accidentally leave a sprinkler on for an hour like we do, water bills are lame.

There you have it, some tips from a half-ass city gardener who seems to do okay despite not really knowing what she is doing. It is beyond gratifying making tomato soup with our own tomatoes, or adding a few leaves of basil to our pasta sauce. I honestly wish that we could own another plot of land and grow more and I could quit my job and just be an urban farmer, but that might be too much for me to handle with the book I am going to write and the coffee shop/bar/bakery/resale shop I am going to open and all.

10:30 AM
8 Comments

Little Bits: The Yard (phase 1)

House

5:30 PM
11 Comments

Little Bits: Mini Cactus Farm

Little Bits

8:36 PM
8 Comments

Table Make-over

DIY

10:55 AM
8 Comments

House: The Bathroom

House

Yep, here I am, posting pictures of my bathroom again, but hey its the first room of the house that is completely finished! Granted we did not do too much to it because it was already painted a nice color, the only room that is not mud-brown, and I already took pictures of most of the stuff in this room before so there are no before & after pics but there are a few new things. The cabinet is the most noticeable. When we first got it, Kyle took it out of the box and had the pieces all over the floor for days. I really thought that we were going to end up losing part of it but one day I came home and there it was, all intact. Kyle was/is so proud of himself, haha. For the decor, I took things that we had already and just put them in there. It's funny because some of these items used to be in the living room for so long back in the apartment, its strange seeing them in the bathroom, but hey, it works!

Seriously, lately all I have been wanting to do is work on house-stuff. I am burnt out from school, but in three weeks I will be done with Summer classes, and work isn't too bad right now. But if I just had about $800 and a week off, haha. It's probably good that we are pacing ourselves though, we changed our minds 3-4 times on the entire theme of the house. Kyle likes kind of modern-country style decor, we both really like nature incorporated into the house, and as you can tell, we like color. I think it is going to work out really nice in the end, the house will be girly, the basement will look like the one from That 70's show, but we are going to love it. Kyle is actually on board with almost everything I like, and he keeps finding really cool things that he likes too that looks great! I just have to convince him to let me get a hamburger phone and then it will be perfect, haha.

Details

Cabinet-Bed, Bath & Beyond

Frog art-Grandma :)

Orange candle holder-Party-lite

Frame-Garage sale

Copper rose-Copper World

Garbage can-Ikea

Curtains, rug & towels-Kmart

Silver frame-Target, all photos by Kyle

6:37 PM
28 Comments

Outfits