DIY Lipbalm

This is the first time I made my very own lip balm, so I thought I would share with you the process!

This lip balm is made of coconut oil. 

So, the very first thing you need is a container where you're going to store your lip balm. I'm using my old EOS container which I'm sure everyone has one lost in the bottom of their bag. 

So, my EOS is pretty full because I really don't like these, but what I'm going to do is clean it out.  So, the base is attached to the bottom and if you stick a knife into the groove and pop it out, the base should detach. 

So, this is the base popped out. And I used an exacto knife, Tip: Push the knife or any other shar object into the groove as far as it can go then pop it out. 

So, then you should be left with 3 separate pieces. The lid, the base, and the little circle with the lip balm in it. 

I cleaned out all the leftover EOS and you're left with this wagon wheel looking shape. 

I then washed my EOS container with an old toothbrush and hand soap. Then you're going to screw the wagon wheel piece onto the LID of the Eos container. NOT THE BOTTOM. 

Okay so getting to the actual lip balm making process. I have this jar or Organic Coconut Oil which I got at my local super store for $7.00. 

I'm using a candle holder made of glass because I didn't want to use any container that I'm going to be re-using again for food. So this is about 2 heaping TEASPOONS of coconut oil. And because I leave my coconut oil in the fridge, it comes out as this white paste. 

Pop the coconut oil in the microwave for 1 minute-1 minute and 30 seconds, and you should have this liquid with a yellow tint. 

To this liquid mixture I actually added a tiny bit of the leftover EOS chapstick for the summer berry scent. And I also added a little bit of my MAC's "Tumblr dry" lipstick for a tint. 

I microwaved that for 20 seconds and after gave it a good stir, making sure everything was melted and there are no lumps. And this is what the coconut oil+ little bit of EOS+ Mac Lipstick came to. You don't have to add any lipstick to your coconut oil if you don't want a tint. As well as using the EOS lip balm is completely optional. You can use other scents such as peppermint, etc. 

(I forgot to take a picture of this part) Then the next step is to pour this liquid into the LID OF THE EOS CONTAINER making sure the liquid COVERS the wagon wheel part. I had enough liquid to fill 2 EOS containers. 

Then pop that sucker into the fridge for about an hour, or until it becomes a solid. I popped mine into the freezer because I have no patience. 

So then when you take it out of the freezer, it looks like this. Then you want to snap the base of the EOS container back on so that your EOS is put back together again. 

This time, unscrew the lid. This is how my chap-stick turned out with the colouring from the MAC lipstick. It looks a little different in different lighting, but Tumble dry doesn't really come off as a colour on my lips, it just has a little bit of sparkle because it is a lustre lipstick. As well, when I added that tiny amount of the old EOS in here, the scent still stuck. 

Just a side note: Because this lip balm is made of coconut oil, it started to melt when you leave it out at room temperature, so make sure to keep it in the fridge after use. This lip balm would be more effective if beeswax went in it, but all in all it was a fun process and I liked the way the lip balm transferred into the container. Rather on my lips, I prefer to use this balm on small dry spots on my skin, so if you are going to make lip balm out of the coconut oil, I recommend you don't use any lipstick for the tint.  

DIY Scrunchie: Super easy!!!

Here's how to make a super simple scrunchie with an optional bow

This is a great project if you have some leftover fabric lying around, and these are addicting to make because you can use any pattern of your choice. 

So for the actual scrunchie part I cut out a rectangle that's 18 inches long and 3 inches wide. The length can be adjusted later when you're doing the elastic bit.

 If you choose to make the little bow or "bunny ears"cut out a rectangle on fold that's 8 inches long and 3 inches wide. Make sure the fold is on the 3 inches side. This means that when you cut out your rectangle, there should be 2 layers, and when you unfold it, the length should be double. 

So first the actual scrunchie, Fold it in half so that it becomes this long tube. Make sure that when you fold, the non-patterned side is facing up. Where the purple lines are, I left the spaced between them un-sewn so I can flip the tube inside out. Go ahead and stitch along the red dotted lines. 

I used a 1/8 of an inch seam allowance, but you're welcome to sew alongside the presser foot or use 1/4 seam allowance. 

This is what it should look like after everything's been turned inside out. 

Get your elastic (Usually if you're buying an elastic it's white and kind of thick, but this is some weird stretchy fabric I found that I'm using instead because I don't have fabric)

Stick a safety pin onto one end of the elastic. Then you put the safety pin through one opening of your  tube. Make sure that when you're feeding the safety pin through the tube, you're holding the head of safety pin with your fingers, and scrunching the fabric down towards you. 

It should end up looking something like this. Sew one end of the elastic onto the fabric, so it doesn't move around. Then, depending on how tight you want your scrunchie, pull the other end of the elastic (The end you didn't sew down) to make it tighter. Tip for measuring: wrap the scrunchie around your wrist and find a size that won't cut off your blood circulation, but one that won't fall off. 

Then stick one open end of the tube into the other opening to create the circle. Sew the two ends together. This is what the regular scrunchie should look like!

If you would like to add this little bow here keep reading! (makes small bow like seen in picture at start of this blog post)

Remember that rectangle you cut that was 8 inches long and 3 inches wide? Grab that.

I forgot to take pictures for this part but essentially:

Pretend this is the fabric. Before you cut out a rectangle of 9 inches long and 3 inches wide on fold. 

you get that and fold it in half lengthwise. MAKE SURE THE NON PATTERNED SIDE IS FACING UP. 

Draw this weird leaf shape like this. 

cut it out. 

you should end up with something like this when it's unfolded. IT SHOULD BE ONE SOLID PIECE LIKE THIS. it shouldn't be 2 separate pieces. 

Fold it in half lengthwise

Sew along the red dots. Leave the speace between the yellow dots un-stitched. 

so then once you flip it all inside out it should look like this. Now sew up that gap closed. 

and then essentially, you just tie your bow onto your scrunchie. The bow you made is pretty small, so if you would like a bigger bow, cut the rectangle bigger. 

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! 

and of course, if you don't have a sewing machine this is super easy to do with some fabric glue! 

This is the video I watched to recreate this scrunchie: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOKNg8JQV-Q

Watermelon DIY

Summer is so hot! Especially here in Alberta, the temperatures been reaching to the 30 degrees (Celsius) mark and what better way to cool off than eating watermelon? 

Here are some watermelon DIY's you can do at home to cool off! 

WATERMELON FACE MASK

I've used this recipe before thanks to Elle's watermelon video and it's super refreshing and cleanses your face in an all-natural way.

Step 1: Cut your watermelon into small pieces

Step 2: Mash your watermelon pieces into the strainer to get the juice without the pulp

Step 3: You can also mash the watermelon first then strain, or use a blender and strain.

Step 4: Make sure your face is clean!!!

Step 5: Using a cotton ball/pad dip it in the watermelon juice and rub into skin

Step 6: leave it on skin for about 10 minutes, if you're face starts to feel irritated or itchy, wash it off!

Step 7: Continue with your regular nightly routine

Your face should feel refreshed and smooth! 

WATERMELON JUICE RECIPE:

I learned this watermelon juice recipe from my uncle and it's super refreshing and super tasty. There a whole bunch of variations you can use. 

For this recipe, I chopped up about 1/3 of watermelon and liquified it in my blender. Then I added the juice of one whole orange. 

My uncle usually makes it with pineapple juice (you can squeeze your own or use store bought pineapple juice) instead of orange.

You can also use lemonade instead of the juices.

**Just remember that whatever juice you're using. it should have a little acidity for it to be refreshing and cut some of the sugary-ness from the watermelon**

If you're not into pulp, you can strain the juice before serving. Try experimenting with different fruits as well. You could do a Watermelon, pineapple, raspberry combo, etc

HAVE A FANTASTIC SUMMER EVERYONE! 

Diy earring box

Valentines day was recently and I'm sure you've got plenty of chocolate boxes lying around. Heres a super simple way to turn those empty chocolate boxes into an earring holder.

Just rinse out the chocolate box so you don't have any chocolate stuck to it. 

Decorate your box however you like, I just left mine the way it is because it's already pretty nice.
Just fill the little compartments with your earrings! You can also fill this box with other things such as rings, beads, buttons, paper clips, thumb tacks. You name it.

DIY MAKEUP BAG

So I've been meaning to make a make-up bag for THE longest time, and I watched this makeup bag tutorial and recreated it. I used design #2 by the way. 

You can use fabric glue for the whole process but I used my sewing machine. 

So you're going to need 2 fabrics 10 inches( 25.5 cm approx.) in width and 15 inches (38cm approx.) in length. I used the muted brown/pink/green fabric as my LINING and the blue striped fabric as my outside fabric. 

aditional materials that you need is a ruler to measure out your fabric (I used my fabric ruler). a pen, and a zipper approx 8 inches in length (20.5 cm approx.)

Then put the two wrong sides of the fabric together.

I created a 1/2 inch seam allowance to guide the location of my zipper. 

Sew the zipper onto one side of the seam allowance. I'm using my zipper foot on my sewing machine. (Also the safety pin is there because I don't have pins) 

Once you have sewn one edge of the zipper to the yellow line, bring the other side of the seam allowance, and sew the remaining side of the zipper to the yellow line. The zipper should match up with the red line. 

You should be left with something like this. Make sure you have flipped your make-up bag inside out so you're looking at the lining. 

Then you're going to fold the side in as shown above. 

*BEFORE YOU START SEWING THIS PART, MAKE SURE TO OPEN YOUR ZIPPER as this will make it 10000x easier to flip your make-up bag inside out.* Then just sew the two sides all the way, I have represented this with the black dotted line. Make sure you are using your REGULAR FOOT for sewing. 

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT- 1 make up bag! happy sewing!!