Homemade Playdough

I got the idea to make homemade playdough with Jillian from Pintrest but all the recipes I would find called for either Cream of Tarter or Koolaid and we had neither in the house so I had to come up with my own recipe.  I looked online to see if there were any good substitutes for Cream of Tarter and several things said substitute lemon juice so that's what we did!

Jillian's Homemade Playdough

4 Cups All Purpose Flour
4 Cups water
8 teaspoons of Lemon Juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons salt
food coloring (I prefer gel color)

Mix all ingredients except the food coloring in a pan on the stove.  Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently until the mixture dries up to the consistency of playdough. Our playdough was on the stove for about 15 minutes. 

Remove the dough from the pan and sit it on the counter to cool.  Once cooled divide the dough into sections for coloring, we colored our playdough four different colors. You might want to wear gloves when mixing the color in because it's easiest to do it by hand, I didn't have any gloves so my hands are currently multicolored!

You can easily cut the recipe in half or make an even bigger batch.  Our finish playdough almost fills up a gallon ziplock bag. 

Now it's time to play!  Jillian enjoyed using different kitchen gadgets to make me playdough food!

At Home Gel Nails

I've been seeing stuff online about the new Shellac Nails and had been wanting to try it out.  I love to have my nails polished but I hate that after a day or two they are always chipped and looking bad so I thought that Shellac might be the solution!

Back in May I took my mom and Jillian to get nail salon to get pedicures and my mom treated me to a Shellac manicure.  I LOVED the results but I just couldn't justify spending $30 every 2-3 weeks to get my nails done.  Gelish polish applies on your nails like a regular nail polish but stays on your nails like traditional gel nails do.  The gelish nails do not damage your natural nails and soak off easily with acetone. 

I set out to research the different products to see if gel nail polish was something I could do at home.  I first thought I wanted to buy CND's Shellac system but after doing research I found that Hand & Nail Harmony makes a Gellish system that is a little more affordable, has much more color choices and other at home DIYers liked the Harmony Gelish polish better.  Once I decided which polish system I wanted to try I needed to find the best place to buy it all! 
The most expensive item that you have to purchase is the UV light.  A lot of sites suggest you buy one off ebay but I was really leery because most came from China and I was afraid if I had a problem with it I would have issues returning with a buyer that was out of the country.  I decided to spend a few more dollars and purchase from Amazon.  In my research I found that you need to purchase a UV light with at least 36 watts and one that has bulbs on top and on the sides. I ended up buying this light, it has a timer on the back for both 2 minutes and 3 minutes.

To do your nails you will need to purchase these Nail Harmony Products, I have purchased some from Amazon and some from Ebay. 

Cleanse is used to clean your nails before the base coat.

Base coat.

Top Coat

and the best part, polish!  I have the following 5 colors Gossip Girl, It's a Lily, Passion, Good Gossip and Tutti Frutti (the color I am using in this tutorial).

The first step is to prep your nails with the cleanser, it is used to clean the nail as a prep to ensure the nail is free from oil and disinfected.

Once you have used the cleanser it's time for the base coat.  The smaller brush ensures the right amount of product is applied to the nail. It is clear and remains clear after curing under UV lamp.  I cure my base coat for 2 minutes in the light.

After the base coat cures it's time for the polish.  I like to use two coats of polish and after each coat I cure it in the UV light for 2 minutes.

Once you are finished curing the last coat of polish it's time for the top it off sealer!  I cure my sealer for 3 minutes under the UV light. Once this last step is finished I use regular Isopropyl Alcohol to remove any residue.  If you don't remove the residue your nails will be sticky/tacky.  I like to finish my manicure off with some cuticle oil.

I have been VERY happy with everything and my manicures last almost 2 weeks (if I can resist changing colors before then)!  There is a small initial investment but it has already paid for itself! 

Let me know if you decide to try gel nails at home or if you have any questions at all!

 

Faux Stained Glass

I got this idea from All Thumbs Crafts and as soon as I saw it I KNEW I had to try it out!  I've had a package of Alcohol inks for probably over a year and its just sat on my shelf.  I decided to try this out on a plain vase I had around the house.  Also needed for this project is a can of canned air.

I started out by dropping a few drops of the lightest color ink, i dropped some on the side too. 

Then spray away with your air!

I followed my yellow with pink and then teal. 

I kept working around the vase until all the blank areas were colored!  Some of the colors mixed to make new colors, I LOVE how it turned out. It was REALLY rainy this weekend but next time the sun is out I'll take some better pictures outside to show it off better!

Too Short Jeans Into Shorts!

My tall skinny girl is constantly growing out of her jeans in the length but they still fit fine in the waist.  She can actually still wear 18-24 month in the waist but her 4T jeans are too short!  When shopping for some spring clothes for her I noticed that there are TONS of cute cuffed looks this year and figured instead of buying her shorts I can just turn the jeans into cuffed shorts! 

I marked right above her knees.

Then cut one side off.

Then folded the cut side over the uncut side and matched them up. 

Then cut the 2nd side off.

I folded both sides over about an inch.

Then folded them a 2nd time.

The look great and saved us money!

Painted T-Shirt with Freezer Paper Stencil

I've seen tutorials all over the web for painting shirts using freezer paper stencils and of course I had to try it out myself!  I am a perfectionist when it comes to my crafts and I see the flaws in this but I still think it turned out pretty cute.  I think part of the problem is I wasn't patient enough and tried to speed up the process and I kept messing up the paint. 

I used my cricut to cut out a design I liked for my stencil.  I used my Forever Young cartridge and picked out a cute purse design, I didn't want to do anything too complicated for my first shirt. 

I placed the freezer paper on my cricut carrier sheet and cut away! 

Before I ironed the freezer paper design to the front of the shirt I ironed a piece to the inside to keep my shirt more stable.

Then I placed the purse design how I liked it and ironed it down.  I used a low heat setting with no steam to iron it down. 

Now it's time to paint!  I used Tulip Soft Fabric Paint that I bought at Joann's and a foam brush. 

I painted two layers and then removed the freezer paper when the last layer was still a little wet. 

After the paint is totally dry you can add other details.  I found that if I tried to iron on more freezer paper on top of what I already painted it messed it up so I just held my flower sencil in place while I painted the purple flower. 

 

I wasn't happy with the lines on the flower, maybe I should have used a small brush to go back and make them straigter but I decided to use hot fix crystals to add a "pop" to the design and cover the lines.

I have this hot fix applicator and I buy most my crystals at hobby lobby, michaels or joanna's (where ever I have a coupon or they are on sale). 

I just created a pattern I liked with different sized crystals and set them down.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and Jillian loves it!

Tie-Dye with Sharpies!

I found a similar tutorial online last week and for the life of me I can't find the link again!  If you google Tie-Dye with sharpies there are tons of different posts and website that give ideas and instruction, this is our take on it!  **edit 3/15, I came accross the link again!  I got the idea from Sun Scholars.

This was a great project to do with Jillian, she enjoyed coloring in the sections and picking out what colors went where.  Next time we try this we will buy regular size sharpies and not use the thin ones, they made our job a lot harder.

Supplies

Start by taking sections of the fabric and twisting them.  Once they are twisted tight you will rubber band them.  You will do this is sections all over the shirt, don't forget the back and sleeves! We used hairbands since that is all we had on hand.  I found the little clear bands of Jillian's worked better than my hairbands.

After all your twists are made it's time to start coloring!  Color the different sections however you want.

After you have colored in everything it's magic time!

I filled a small bowl with rubbing alcohol and dipped each "twist" into the alcohol.

Then we hung the t-shirt outside for several hours to dry.

Once it's dry it's time to undo the twists and see your work.

I wanted more color to the shirt and a few more tie-dye sections so I twisted and colored again.

Our final shirt, front:

Back:

Jillian can't wait to wear it to school to show her friends!