Post Summer Camp Music Fest

This is the last pic taken of my beautiful velvet kimono jacket before she was destroyed in the washing machine......  Looking for a fabulous replacement.  

All in all "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful."

Cheap Friday: Hair Flower

The Icing $7

Ok.  I'll admit it.... I shopped at The Icing today in Penn Square Mall.  It's full of tacky & trendy jewelry & purses but they have some legitimate gems there.   I signed on to Summer Camp Music Festival next weekend and I needed some cheap hair accessories that I could lose/ruin/combat crazy hair.  I won't talk of what all I bought (think pink & blue hair extensions) but this barrette will translate to every day life if it survives the trip.  

I found this guy in the back with many other fake floral hair clips.   It's an off-white flower with a secure hair clip attached.   I figured it will look cute pulling back sweaty bangs or stuck on the side with some beachy waves.  We shall see how it goes! 

Trying Out B.B. Cream

$38, Sephora

Somewhere in between college graduation & landing a high-stress job at an oil & gas company,  I developed an unwelcome case of pizza face.  Becoming an adult included the large amount of worry over work emails, deadlines, bills, budgets, credit card statements, etc....etc....etc.... Throw in a large amount of coffee & little sleep, and you've got major skin problems.  

After trying every harsh 3-step plan in the book, I decided to try the less-is-more approach.   This brought me to B.B. Creams (aka Blemish Balms):  moisturizers with moderate coverage, SPF & lots of yummy skin smoothing ingredients.   I wanted to stray from thick foundations and lots of concealer so I chose Boscia's oil-free cream.   I love this brand, although it's slightly expensive.  It tries to use natural ingredients and generally has great reviews.  PLUS, this cream is oil-free which is very important.

I've used it for days and can honestly say that this stuff works wonders.  It covers your problem areas and keeps your face hydrated but not greasy for LITERALLY the entire day.  I've only had to add concealer to one or two places in the past week and I'm already seeing improvements.  I think the key to clearing up blemishes is simplifying your makeup & skincare routine and oil control.  Boscia's B.B. Cream is the way to go.

Super Moon

The Cinco de Mayo Moon over Oklahoma City is phenomenal tonight.  I hope you get to see it. 

D.I.Y. Hand Towel Bow

In an effort to turn my fabric scraps into something useful and pretty, I whipped up a hand towel bow for my kitchen.   Paper towels aren't the greenest thing in the world so I try to use hand towels in my kitchen and bathroom.   I decided to make the average hand towel a bit cuter so I added a fabric ribbon to the middle and tied it onto a drawer knob.

I used a 20" x 7" inch scrap and cut it into two skinny strips.  However, if you had one long strip, that would work too.   I sewed the strips into tubes, pretty side facing each other.   I used a safety pin to turn the tubes inside out and finished the ends by tucking them in and sewing across the top.  I attached the strips to the middle of the towel and sewed about 4 rows of stitches across.   Tie the bow around a handle and voila, you have a pretty hand towel.  

Cheap Friday: L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion

$8

I adore suntans.  Absolutely.  But the skin cancer & early aging that come along with sun bathing worries me a bit.  Also, I work 40 hours a week and don't necessarily have the time to bake by the pool.  My Saturdays and Sundays are incredibly precious to me.   Spending them half naked covered in sweat (well to some people that sounds awesome) isn't something I'm interested in.  I would rather be sewing, cleaning my house or exploring Netflix in my air conditioned living room. 

For the past two years (or maybe 3) I've been a HUGE advocate for L'Oreal's sunless tanning line.   The Sublime Bronze Tinted Self-Tanning Lotion is my absolute favorite and looks beautiful after the first application.  The tint shows you where the lotion is AND makes you sparkly.   I like to use it after a shower on a Friday night and then once again on Monday or Tuesday to keep the color during the week. 

At 8 bucks and maybe 10 applications, it's a total steal.  (I also think they're on sale at the May and 50th CVS right now).  

NOTE:  Like all sunless tanners, you will start to see the color flake (especially between your boobs where your bra rubs all day)...It's weird.  It sucks.  But just apply again and it will camoflauge it.   Much better to have slightly splotchy cleavage than freckles and wrinkles.  

Decorative Pillows (24" x 24")

$36.50

I have been desperately needing to decorate my house.  Because I live alone, I can do whatever I want to the place, but since I play the bills alone, I can't really afford to decorate it.  To camouflage my hand-me-down couch from my bachelor uncle, I set out on my lunch break yesterday to buy fabric for some throw pillows.   With coupons to Jo-Anns, I bought two 24" by 24" pillow forms and 2 yards of home decor fabric.  I chose this modern print with white, black & chartreuse colors called "Making Waves" by Waverly.  

I followed the "Craft Gemini Tutorials" video on YouTube to learn how to make an envelope pillow case.   This is a simple way to make a pillow cover with a hidden opening so you can change out the fabric easily.  If I wasn't busy talking on the phone or watching Netflix all night, I could have finished the project in under 90 minutes.  

I honestly have no constructive criticism for this pattern.   If you follow the simple mathematical formula and the maybe 5 steps it takes to make, your pillows will turn out nearly perfect.  It's a better alternative to store bought pillows because (1) those pillows are $30 a piece while mine were a little over $15 each, (2) you can make them LARGE which is a much more expensive look and (3) you can change out the pillow cover when you redecorate and you don't need to buy new pillows.