DIY Stockings

Yep, I am making those too. Here's one I did last year. Super fast, super easy. No pattern I made my own. Im working on making 3 more this year -  one for Charles, one for the cats and one for the dog. Yes we are that kind of family.

I love being able to take scraps of fabric, and turn them into something useful for free. Instead of going to buy anything. I mean really, do you HAVE to have that 20.00 stocking that is just going to get put up in a few weeks. Why not make one for yourself and take pride in having something unique!!!

If you have not caught on yet, I am kind of a craft-a-holic ;)

( sorry for the bad picture, I am def not a photographer)

DIY Christmas Tree Skirt

Apparently, when I moved, my tree skirt did NOT move with me. We did not put up a regular tree last year, just a small one. So when I got out all my Christmas stuff, I learned that my tree skirt had found a new home. I hope its happy. Because that means I am OUT a tree skirt- and I do not have the funds to buy a new one.

So what do I do? Make one!

I didnt want it to be overly huge, but I didnt want it to be too small. I did not have a pattern. So here's what I did:

Found a piece of fabric ( i used a yard) and then, to be even more frugal, I used a piece of white sheet i had left from another project. Cut a hole in the middle, made a circle. Pieced the right sides together, cut a slit in the back of both pieces, then sewed it up. I left the middle hole open so I could turn it right side out. Then folded the fabric of the middle hole inside and top stitched them together. I did not add velcro i just left it open and put it around the tree.

Super simple. Took me all of about 30 min start to finish. Very basic sewing skills. I didnt even pin it, so it came out a little lopsided lol but its ok you cant tell when its down. Id recommend pinning the sides together though. I will be making a 2nd one for next year , but bigger, as this was a bit small for me. And will be doing panels I believe!

Great idea for some scraps. You can make smaller ones for your trees at work, your smaller tree's, etc. Total cost was free as it was items I had laying around!

Paris in the Fall- Audrey Hepburn and Paris Themed Bedroom DIY

For those of you that know me, you know I am obsessed with Audrey Hepburn. That my favorite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany's. That I think she was one of the most inspiring role models ever. So elegant. Graceful. And a humanitarian up until her passing. I love her, everything she stood for, and that period of time.

I also love the romance of Paris. The vintage decor. Everything. It just screams "Stephanie!!!!!"

So this is what I bought for my DIY makeover!!!

First up- this adorabs pink stand was on sale for 20 bucks! They had some of the cutest pink furniture- antiqued, for a very good price. But i have a VERY strict budget and so the other item, had to wait till I have the extra. But this is going to double duty for my vendor events I do with Perfectly Posh 

SOOOO I could justify the 20.00 price tag!

 Next up- The fabric for the panels. Im using foam board and covering them with fabric. The middle part, to give it some depth, is a cut up egg crate foam that you put on top of your bed. The fabric is GRAY chevron ( the picture makes it look black) Im doing 3 panels above my bed in place of a head board! Im also going to go back and get more gray chevron to do curtains ( of which im making) Total cost for this fabric and the one below 27.00

This fabric is going to be used to make two accent pillows for my bed! My mom found it and it was perfect! It will bring out the pops of pink in the Audrey Hepburn poster i have up, as well as the pink pillowcases on my bed ( comforter is black and sheets will be a set of gray and a set of pink) 

The piece de la resistance is this beauty. It was originally 50 bucks but on sale for half price. My mom purchased this for me! 

Total cost of everything (including comforter b/c i needed a new one) and the foam boards not picture- 80.00
I will be doing the curtains myself- and i have not purchased that fabric. I already had all my Audrey Posters framed and canvases from years before just waiting for our home. I only need the curtains left for this part of the project.

My total should be around 100 flat for everything. The next step is a new king size bed set, king size sheets and a new table lamp and two bedside tables.  But that will come eventually!

xoxo-
Stephanie

DIY Mickey Mouse Shaped Crayons

You know all those cheap .25 box crayons you buy at the beginning of the school year? And by halfway through , the kids want new ones because the old ones are worn out, too short, not "all shiny and new anymore". And then what do you do with those half crayons, crayon stubs, broken crayons. Why throw them away? Why not melt them down into new crayons!!!

I found this project on Pinterest, and modified it to fit what I wanted to do. 

You need a significant amount of broken crayon pieces, more if you have a bigger mold, less if you have a smaller mold. 

Supplies Needed: 

• Crayons- Figure out what colors you want to melt together. I chose various colors ( reds, oranges, white, purples etc) for mine
• Silicone mold- this is very important. You need something that is not going to stick and you pop out of. I am not sure if cupcake liners would work but you might can try!

That's it. Oh and patience. It took me a good 10 min to peel the paper off the crayons! 

All you do is break the crayons apart into small pieces( if they are not already small etc). Then fill the molds up. 

Stick them in the oven at 225. I tried 10 min and they weren't quite melted, so i did another 4 minutes and it worked. Just check on them often to see.

Once you are done, let it cool and then pop it out! And voila! Instant cute, shaped crayon. Be creative with it! You can, of course, pair same colors out of various boxes to get a large one color crayon. Here's mine:

Happy Coloring! 
Stephanie

Chocolate Cookies with Orange Buttercream Filling

So I am trying to find new ways to use up some of the stuff I have in my pantry. I have these boxes of Chocolate Peppermint mix I got after Christmas for cheap- like .25 cents a box. I do not really care for the peppermint- so I wanted to use the mix but give it more kick.


So i found this pinterest pin, and  HERE is the original post/site where it came from.

Here's what you need:

Cookie Mix or Cake mix ( chocolate) Follow directions on the package of the cooking mix. I used a cookie mix NOT a cake mix.

For the Cake Mix to make cookies:
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Mix all ingredients together.
 Roll into 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch balls
350 degrees for about 8 minutes.
Let them cool before you frost them

For the Orange Buttercream filling

1/2 cup of butter, softened to room temp.

2 tablespoons milk

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. orange extract

I omitted making them orange like the original poster did. I dont care for food coloring. I also made them chocolate buttercream instead of orange buttercream. I just used cocoa powder to taste

Mix all together and spread on cookies.  Voila!

Here's a picture of my cookies . OH. MY. HEAVENS. They were amazing.

xoxo
Stephanie

Pros and Cons - Bath Fizzies DIY

I am all for making things to save some money. Just ask anyone that knows me. So when I saw the bath fizzies, or bath bombs as people call them, on Pinterest, I just had to try them.

My advice? Buy them pre-made. Seriously. Unless you want to buy in bulk for your supplies, spend hours making them, and then have 1332353 bath bombs in your kitchen, this is not for you. 

I am a Scentsy Independent Consultant. And we have a line of bath tablets that are A. more cost effective, B. smells great, and C. already have packaging that are 100 times better then the ones you can make for yourself. Again, unless you are wanting to make these to sell.... check out Scentsy's. I promise you they are great. I have used them. And now I have made my own. 

Here's the cost of Scentsy Bath Tablets: 

10.00 

They come in a lot of different fragrances ( my personal favorite is Lucky in Love which smells like Love Spell)

Here's a link to check them out- Scentsy Bath Tablets

Now you might be thinking "10.00! That's kind of expensive." 

Here's what it cost to make my own ( and keep in mind this does not include colors- you have to use special colorants so it wont stain, or any essential oils or carrier oils for your body like the Scentsy ones does.)

All I used was 3 ingredients:

Baking Soda

Citric Acid

Peppermint Oil ( not extract!!!)

The cheapest citric acid i could find w/ shipping was 4.49 and that was for 4 oz. 

The cheapest Peppermint Oil i could find was 1 oz for 6.30 shipped

Um that adds up to over 10.00

that doesnt include the baking soda which is relatively inexpensive but you are now at around 12.00 w/ tax for all your items. 

This was just to make a gift. One gift. This doesnt include your time to do this either. Or a mold. I had to go dig out a mold! ( mine are very small b/c I did not have the funds to buy a mold just for a bath bomb!)

Not to mention i have to let them sit for 4-8 hours before i can touch them.

So I followed this Pinterest link HERE and made my own. But do not get me wrong- Soap Queen is amazing. And there are some things in her blog and on her youtube link that I really cant wait to try. But if I did it with everything she wanted me to use, id be out over 20 bucks just for some bath fizzies. For one person. Im too frugal for that and know when purchasing them is a lot easier and better then doing it yourself. 

Its a fun project to do, do not get me wrong, but about 5 of mine didnt come out :( and if i wanted to make them larger, you are looking at getting about 4 out of what i used for about 13.00. And if you want to make them colored or maybe add some oils for your skin add on another 10 plus bucks. So 23.00 and up for 4 no thanks. Too much work for me. I encourage replies and responses. I also encourage you, if you are skeptical, to try it for yourself. Try the Scentsy and try your own. Ill stick with Scentsy!

xoxo-

Stephanie

DIY Bodywash- Pinterest Project

First off- Merry Christmas! ( yes I know its still 48 hours away) I wanted to wish my new fans a very Merry Christmas. Not a Happy Holiday. Sorry, not that kinda girl here ;)

Ok so onto the fun part. My DIY adventure into making my own body wash. Here is the original Pinterest Link - DIY Bodywash that i went off of when doing this little task.

I have to say, that whoever originally pinned this, must have had some magic on their side, because I followed it to a T and still came out runny. I had to let mine sit for about 24 hours in the bottle before it became body wash, and not body milk. Works great now.

Also, the original pinner said to use 2 cups of water and half a bar. Um yeah no.

Here's what I used to make it :

2 Cups of water and 1 full bar

This filled up one of those disposable ketchup/mustard bottles perfectly.

I grated and chunked my bar soap up first. Then put it all on my stove in a pan. I used a candy thermometer to get it up to 190 degrees which seemed to be the trick it making it thicker. I then had a milk like substance, very very thin, so i just poured it in the bottle and waited. After 24 hours and a good shake, its now pretty decent in the consistency of actual body wash. 

Here's my finished project 

I just used a regular bar of Olay soap. I had gotten some for .27 cents for 2 bars with some coupons I had and figured why not try it out. My advice? Play with the recipe and see what works best. Im glad i added the extra soap !

xoxox-

Stephanie