Monday, September 22, 2014

DIY Rice Packs

Hello everyone!
 
Happy Monday once again! Sorry that I've been AWOL, school and my Avon sales seem to be consuming most of my life right now. And on the weekends, I'm typically out fishing with Tommy so I have no internet access!
 
But don't worry, I have plenty of tutorials and DIYs for you!
 
This is a DIY Rice Pack.
 
What is a rice pack exactly? Basically, you can heat it up in the microwave to use as a heating pad or you can stick it in the freezer to use as an ice pack.
 
Ever since I made one for Tommy, I've had tons of requests from family members, so I thought I'd do a tutorial when I made my next ones to share the knowledge!
 
I read somewhere that you can put essential oils or different herbs and spices i here for different effects. I haven't tried that out yet, but I imagine lavender would be great to use for calming purposes!
 
What you need:
  •  A dish towel
  • Thread
  • A needle
  • Scissors
  • Uncooked white rice (enough to fill the pack 1/4 of the way)
This is a picture of the towel I used to make my grandma's. I went out and bought towels, but you could easily use an old dish towel you have laying around!
 

This is about how much rice you need. I'm not the type to use measurements.
 
 
Step 1. Fold your towel in half, inside out.

 
Step 2. Thread your needle and start sewing the bottom.
**You want your stitches pretty close together so no rice falls out.
***Don't worry about having perfect stitches. You'll be turning this inside-out anyway!


Step 3. Once you are close to the end of your thread, make a knot.
 
Here is how I prefer to tie my knots:
 
*Act as if you're making another stitch but leave a portion of your thread up.
 

*Bring your needle back through to the same side as your loop
 
 
*Now, pull your needle through the loop and pull tight.


*Pull your needle under this tightened thread 1 more time just to be safe!
 

*Cut off your extra thread and you're done!
 

Step 4. Now sew up the side of your towel and flip it so it is right-side out.


Step 5. Add your rice.
 
**To tell if you have enough rice, you can lay your rice pack down and hold the top and spread the rice out.If there is a decent amount of rice throughout, you have enough!
 
 
This is about how much rice mine had in it when sitting upright.

 
Step 6. Sew the top and test your stitches over a trash can.
 
Ta-Da!


Let me know if you have any suggestions!

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Monday, September 8, 2014

DIY Bow Accent French Tips

Happy Monday Everyone!
 
I'm still extremely behind on my blogging and have tons of drafts sitting out there waiting to be shared with you all!
 
I'll keep pressing on between school and work and eventually I'll get them all caught up!
 
But for now, I'll show you all how to recreate my manicure from 2 weeks ago!
 
This is the same process as my breast cancer manicure which you can find at the link. I'll include all the steps here, just not in as much detail.
 
Here is the finished look:
 

What you need:
  • A neutral base color (I used Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect in Satin)
  • American Classics Gelous base/top coat
  • A color for your tips (I used Essie Bikini So Teeny)
  • Black Polish (either in a decorating bottle or use a nail art brush)
  • Top coat (I used Seche Vite)

 
After this manicure only lasted 8 days, I decided to try something different. I didn't dot his technique with this manicure, but I'm going to post it with this one so you can all actually enjoy your manicures for longer than a week as well! Coming soon will be my tutorial where my manicure lasted about 11 days!
 
Step 1. Paint a base coat on your nails. I use one that I bought from Avon recently.
 
Step 2. Paint your neutral color and allow to dry.

 
Step 3. Now take your tip color and wipe the brush so there's a small amount of polish on there. Carefully paint the "outline" of your tips.
 
Step 4. Paint a thin coat of Gelous over top.


Step 5. Paint a second line over your tips.


Step 6. Choose your accent finger and paint a black line where your tip ends.


Step 7. Paint 2 triangles that meet on the line.


Step 8. Paint a layer of top coat.
 
Step 9. Paint one last layer of Gelous and let dry.
 
Now, as I said, I didn't follow this method. I used the first method which is mentioned at the beginning of the post. I think what happens when you use gelous as a base coat is that it doesn't stick well to the nail, which seemed to cause my manicure to peel right off my nail. When I used a different base coat, my manicure lasted much longer, as you'll see in my next post!
 
Here is my wear test for this manicure!













Notice the "crack" on my pointer finger? I had to seal this with another
layer of Gelous.









Send me any questions or concerns and I'd love to see recreations and hear your comments!
 
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