Beauty 2 - Recipes for pampering

I've never been a girly girl, paid much attention to makeup, fashion, and did too much sports/crafts/on a computer to allow manicures. However, these are some things I expect even the tomboys out there can benefit from. Here are a few recipe's that'll save you money and make you feel better.There are literally thousands of recipes out there. Most are generally inexpensive and use things you already have around the house. Just do a search! These are a few recipies that I've tried and stuck to.

1) Ready for bathingsuit season - Exfoliating body scrub

I've used this for 2 weeks now (in combination with the Cetaphil wash I was usuing before) and my shoulders have stopped breaking out! Its also helping to fade those embarassing old scars. Honey is also not only a moisturizer for your skin but is an anti-bacterial substance. No bacteria can grow in honey (according to the Discovery channel) and the ancient Egyptians treated open wounds with honey for exactly that reason. It may also seem odd to rub oil on your skin if you're acne prone but it moisturizes, leaves your skin feeling soft, and the olive oil (IMPORTANT use only extra virgin!) will not clog your pores. This is a recipe that has been used in the mediterranean for centuries. There are literally hundreds of recipies available online. Just do a search. I liked this because I had everything I needed in my kitchen.

You'll need:

• A jar for the scrub
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp honey
• Optional: 1 tbsp salt - I added a little salt to target my acne (its another anti-bacterial agent), but it stings if you have any cuts on your skin.

Mix well. The sugar should only be slightly wet and stick together when you press it - mushy is the texture you're going for. When you're in the shower, rub the scrub gently in circles and rinse it off.

2) Ths spa is expensive - Milk bath soak

This is the simplest recipe of all and Cleopatra's very own trick to beautiful skin. Why it works? The lactic acid in milk is a natural alpha-hydroxy acid. You'll see AHA's on labels of many expensive beauty products.

You'll need:

• 2 - 4 cups fresh milk
• Optional: a handful of oatmeal, two tbsp honey.

Add the milk to the bathtub as you fill it up. Soak for at least 20 minutes and rub your skin gently with a washcloth to get rid of dead skin. Rinse off well when you're done.

MAKE YOUR OWN swiffer duster instructions

MAKE YOUR OWN swiffer duster instructions Originally uploaded by merwing

This is awesome. It makes so much sense! Swiffers work great but it pains me that you have to throw away the sheets. It doesn't take a lot of effort to make your own washable reusable swiffer sheets like this one here. This one is made of microfibre dish cloths (you can buy those at the dollar store) but you can also use felt. Merwing also posted a photo of a regular swiffer mop cover. Its super simple and I think it looks great too. Swiffer mop photo. If you're even more ambitious you can do a search for crocheted swiffer cover patterns but I really enjoy simple solutions like this for adding a litle more "green" into the household.

Recycled Jewelry

These beads look like colorful pebbles. I think they'd be just beautiful strung on a silk ribbon. Better yet, they're made of recycled paper - newspaper to be precise. I've got a ton of scrap paper lying around and this looks like just the project to use it up. I'm definately going to try this at home. You can view a tutorial on how to make the beads here: A Storybook Life

Now this isn't quite a DIY project but it sure is beautiful! These earrings were made from recycled sake bottles. You can also find lovely shades of green and amber - a product of recycled beer bottles. You can buy these online at various locations including this one.

Beauty tips 1 - Soft romantic waves

Sequins, sequins, everywhere… I’ve been working on stage props again. My apologies for my sudden dissapearance! In the meantime, this is first in a short series of cheap, no fuss, beauty secrets I’ve recently discovered. Is it crafty? I’ve realized that applying makeup’s much like painting, and working with hair is just like working with any other medium. Here’s a little technique to add to your repertoire.

How to wakeup in the morning with soft romantic waves

This technique will save your hair from heat damage, and doesn’t require hair products (salvation for those of us with acne prone skin!) This is also great if you’re traveling and don’t have room to pack rollers or a curling iron.

1. Take a shower in the evening and dry your hair until its 90% dry – if your hair is too wet it’s uncomfortable to sleep on and you’ll wake up with wet hair. I’ve tried it. As soon as I combed out my hair it was straight again.
2. Section your hair - the smaller the sections the smaller the curls.
3. Twist each section until it begins to curl up on itself and form a bun - the tightness of your twist also determines the tightness of the curls. Keep them loose if you want soft waves.
4. Secure with a hair elastic and make sure that the tips are folded neatly underneath. The tips can come out bent in different directions if you’re not careful. Someone somewhere suggested wrapping the tips in tissue to make sure they stay together, but if you’re careful you won’t have to.
5. In the morning, carefully remove the elastics, lightly comb out your hair, and used a little water to smooth out any stray ends.

My hair is notoriously heavy and hard to curl (I had to literally spend hours under a heat dryer for my wedding because curls from a curling iron disappear in an hour). This took me minutes, and lasted all day without any hair products. I'll try to post photos of this weekend.

Extra tips:

• The curls do soften and loosen a little as the day goes on, which is perfect if you want romantic waves, but if you’re going out at night and want the curls to stay springy a little longer, add a little mousse after showering, or spray the curls with a little hairspray in the morning.
• For a slightly different look, you can also braid your hair and sleep on it.

Paper sculpture

If you haven’t already noticed, I love paper art! Molly Jey makes some fun and beautiful pieces (available on Curlby). I really like the clean and modern look of the white on white pieces. This picture and the artist I found this via the Something Old Something New blog.

Photoshop levels tutorial

An easy way to correct exposure problems in your digital photos is to adjust the levels of your image in Photoshop.

T's simple levels cheat:

1. In Photoshop click Image > Adjustments > Levels.
2. A dialog with a histogram appears.
3. There are three eye dropper icons in the lower left hand corner of the box. The far right allows you to set the white point of the image, the middle sets the gray point, and the left-most dropper sets the black point of your image.
4. Select the white dropper, and click on a point in the image that should be pure white.
5. Select the black dropper, and click on a point in the image that should be pure black (or the darkest point in your image).

This helps with images taken on dark/overcast days. It may not be 100% accurate, but if you play around with it, you can do a much better job than the automatic levels set by your camera.

Here are two before and after examples using a couple of my photos. The first photo was taken in full sunshine but the camera exposure was off. The second was taken in the hazy sunset light. The haziness is much less noticable after the levels have been adjusted.

In some cases there may not be an appropriate white point, black point, or a grey point that you can use in your photo. This is when a gray card comes in handy. I'm thinking about investing in one, but in the meantime I'll stick to using this simple levels cheat.

To learn more about levels you can see these more advanced tutorials:

• Cambridge in Color
• Twisted Tree Photography

Honeymoon photo album

I designed a photo album and ordered a print from Viovio. It finally arrived and the photos look amazing! There were, however, a couple of problems. I ordered a hardcover, but was shipped a softcover, and there were streaks at the top of the interior pages. Both of these problems were promptly addressed by the staff at Viovio and they've already shipped us a new copy. I'm still waiting for a replacement but I hope it will be fine.