Nails! :3

About a year and a half ago, I started doing my own nails. I was never one to go to a salon to get them done, and whenever I did, it was like a "big treat" because it's always so damn expensive. So I decided I was done having to choose between not having pretty nails, or paying anything from $30-$50 to get my nails done.
So I started doing my own. I didn't entirely "not know" what I was doing, but it wasn't like everything started out all neat and dandy. Yes, I could paint my nails just fine. But you don't, at least I don't, go to a salon to get someone to "just paint my nails." I want something pretty! I want nail art! And I didn't know how to do any fun things, except I still have this little thing of jewels I think my mom got me...prooobably about 12 years ago now. And I'm still using them. But aside from those, I didn't know how to do anything.
I threw out all the polishes I've had since I was 6 (...no, seriously, I kept those) and I started a whole new "collection," if you will. I looked online for tutorials for simple nail art and came up with some homemade nail art tools until I could get an actual set of them.

 My nail bin! I store this on the floor of my closet.

I keep my nail "accessories" in the top (brushes, cuticle things, nail art stuff)

Aaand in the bottom, I keep all of my polishes

And I went crazy that first few months with doing my nails. I was experimenting with different ideas and colors and I didn't have any nail rings or anything to practice on, so my nails took a beating. They became dry and brittle and I couldn't figure out why. When they started becoming yellow and began peeling, I knew I needed to take a pretty-nail hiatus. I needed to figure out why my nails were doing what they were doing, and when I figured out that it was because I was drying them out with nail polish remover, it was like the biggest "DUH" moment of my life.
So I took about a month and a half without doing my nails at all. When they finally got back to "normal," I began again by being very gentle with them. I'd do them one week, be gentle with removing it, and go a few days without doing anything to them again. Also, I bought practice nail rings from Sally Beauty Supply so I wasn't practicing on my own hands anymore. I could save ideas for later and remember how I did it so I didn't go ruining my nails trying to do the same thing 6 times. To this day  my nails are still very sensitive, so I'm always looking for new ways to be kind to them while still being able to paint them like I like to.

What I do:
Keep them relatively short and neat. I know some people have no problem having nice long nails, but my nails just don't do well being very long. On a "long" day, I can just barely see the tips of my nails when I look at my palm. I've tried the at home nail hardening things, and I've tried the nail hardening polishes, and nothing really seems to do much of anything. If you've got nails like me, I know you want those super long nails but sometimes its just better to face the facts of what you've got...sort of like the texture of your hair.
If it peels or cracks, cut it. I know this will break your heart. I've been there a thousand times. It takes you a few weeks to get your nails nice and long and at the length that you want them at, and then the tips begin peeling, or the peel goes all the way back to before the white and you're like "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU." I get it. And I've been the one to try "buffing out the peel" but seriously, believe me when I say it will only make it worse. Buffing makes your nails thinner. If your nails are already in bad shape, making them thinner will not help. Just start fresh.
Use a base coat. You may not think you need it, maybe your nails don't stain, and maybe you don't use super pigmented polishes, but if you do, a base coat is always a good idea. It just adds an extra layer between your nail and the color so that it doesn't stain.
Moisturize. Okay this one tends for even me to have difficulties remembering to do. I just tend to wash my hands pretty frequently and I can't always or don't always remember to re-moisturize. All I can say is keep something on you in your purse or your pocket or wherever that can easily be used when you feel like you need it. I have a travel sized Aquaphor in my purse for emergencies, and I slather my hands in Aquaphor before I go to bed, but throughout the day I just find that Aquaphor is a little oily and greasy for my convenience. About 4 months ago I've started using coconut oil quite a bit, and I've recently put a dollop in a small container and stuck it in my purse and now use it for quick moisture when I need it. I'll be doing another post sometime about my other experiences using coconut oil, but for now, let's just say it's working well for my hands!
Remove polish gently. Okay I'll be honest, up until last week I was scrubbing polish off my nails. If you think about it, even if you have half the polish off, you're still soaking and scrubbing the rest off, and through all that, you're still scrubbing the part of the nail that has nothing on it. In doing this, we're seeeriously drying out our nails. I found a new method on Pinterest that is another huge DUH moment because it will also save you money. If you're stingy like me, you'll like this one.
Did you know you can unravel a cotton ball? You never use the entire cotton ball if you just soak it with remover and use it like normal.

Unravel it and tear it up into small pieces.

Dip just a tiny portion of a piece into remover and place it onto your nail and press lightly just so that it gets traction on the nail enough to stay there, and leave it there. Don't move it, don't scrub, don't do anything with it. Let the remover do the work for you. It literally will break up the nail polish and about 2-3 minutes later, lightly press on the cotton and slide off of your nail. It is like magic.

My nails are very sensitive and after I remove normally, they look dry. After I do it this new way, they look like normal nails. I was SO impressed, and I'll be removing my nail polish like this from here on out.  Not only is it clearly being more gentle on my nails, but I'm literally using one cotton ball to remove all my polish from 10 fingers. Yes, please.

So there you go. That's the life of my nails. I work at a restaurant and I babysit two young rough boys and some days I can be a very busy girl. I don't have time to "be gentle with my hands" all the time. I need to use my hands and my fingers and my nails. So those are the things that I do to keep them looking okay and healthy.

I think I just realized I'm a real-life Bridezilla.

Bear and I got engaged one year and two months ago. Having just turned 20, I was excited to know "okay, this is going to happen." But we didn't start planning, because it was still pretty early and we didn't (and still don't) have "those jobs" yet, and as we all know, money for a wedding is sort of top priority. Duh. So every time anybody brings up weddings and "when" and "where," I generally try brushing it off and try not to publicly fall apart, I just freak out thinking about it later, away from everyone. Even thinking about it up to this point gives me horrible anxiety and I start almost feeling depressed, which is weird because you're supposed to be excited and happy about your wedding, right? ....right?
It's just so overwhelming to even begin the process, and even worse now that I can't even get married in the month that I wanted to, because my brother and his fiance already started planning having gotten engaged a few months ago and she chose the beginning of September...which is when I wanted. And since it isn't really fair to guests and family who will be attending both weddings, as far as gifting and money is concerned, I basically have to pick a completely different time of year, or wait another year. Or have a friggin fly-by wedding THIS fall...and I can barely handle thinking about this happening in a year and a half, never mind a half a year. Trying to just go with it. But when I'm already anxious to my limit, it's impossible for me to just go with anything.
So since June is basically out of the question because it's like the most popular wedding month, I'm stuck with rainy May or unbearably hot July. My parents got married in July and my mom says it was horribly hot that day. I want late August/early September, but if I got married before my brother, I would have to be sure to be back from the honeymoon in time for their wedding, and if I got married after theirs, they would have to get back in time for mine. It just causes a whole bunch of messiness that only adds to the stress I feel embarking on all of this crap. Next to having kids, this is supposed to be the happiest and most memorable day of my whole life, and looking at it from where I'm sitting right now, I am sorry to say that so far, I am not excited and I am not happy about where I have to start in planning this.
Also, it doesn't help at all that up until the point when Bear proposed, I literally never thought about my wedding day or what I wanted it to look like. I just wasn't that girl who dreamed about it. Either I was busy thinking about stuff I considered more important at 8 years old, or I just assumed that day was so far off in the future that I didn't need to think about it yet. A word of advise to any female who is either young or just not engaged yet...start thinking about it. Now. Just saying. Because starting wedding planning from LITERALLY square 1 is terrible. Someone asks you "well what colors do you want? Do you have a theme? What kind of dresses do you like? Flowers? Hair? DECORATIONS? CAKE? HOW MANY BRIDESMAIDS? FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE! FOOD? LETS FIND A HALL! AND A DJ! PICK A DAY! WHAT DAY ARE YOU GONNA GET MARRIED ON? WHAT TIME! CHURCH OR NO CHURCH?!
Such loaded questions. Seriously....get out of my face. You don't need to know the answer to any of this stuff until you get an invitation in the mail so just calm your shit.
I think I've sort of decided a direction to go in for this wedding though...I guess I'm just not a traditional wedding kind of girl for whatever reason, maybe because the rigidness of the planning involved is just way too much for me to handle. I just want to get married, and have fun after. Why is that so difficult. I don't want to be in a stuffy hall with people who were told where to sit and eating food that we would probably never eat on our own. That's so not who we are. We're very young 20's. It isn't like we're getting married at 35 for the first time...this is doomed to be a nontraditional wedding. What I'm envisioning is family being with family and comfortable food and good fun...like a backyard cookout, wedding-style. I want to drink out of a mason jar for everything except maybe the toast...whenever that's supposed to happen. I want things to be light-hearted and easygoing and fun. I don't want to be stressed out if things don't go perfectly according to The Plan. I want any children who will be in attendance to feel like they belong there and have fun and not like they're in a room full of old people they don't know and don't want to be around. My immediate family doesn't do stuff that requires us to get all dressed up fancy-like to eat fancy food, and Bear's family does the big old wedding shebang but I know they're more fun sitting in the backyard with Portuguese music and food and booze. I already know I don't want my reception to be a big drunk dance club, because that's dumb and also because Bear and I don't have enough friends anymore (hahaha...no but really).
So there's my Bride-To-Be rant. These are a few things that are in my head.

I got the police called on me yesterday.
Bear was over yesterday because we were going to look for places to hold a reception...but nobody answered their phones. The mother of the woman I babysit for told me months ago that I could hold my reception in her backyard at her house...so he and I decided to go check it out. I didn't have their number so I called the woman I babysit for and asked where their house was, and then I remembered that they won't even be there, because they're in Florida for the season. Oh well, she told us it would be fine to just go by and check it out. So we found the house, it was off on a pretty secluded dead-end road in the woods. We get out, take a quick look around the back of the house at the yard, and decide that it just isn't right for a wedding reception. As we get back in the car, Bear notices the guy living across the street was watching us from the top of his driveway. I didn't think much of it, just a neighbor looking out for the house of neighbors who aren't home. About 2 hours later, we are home & walking the dog when a state trooper's cruiser is slowly coming up my road, obviously looking for something. I honestly didn't think anything of it, I just figured he would ask me where someone's house is on his way by since he looked a little lost. He did pull up, and asked what Bear's name was and then mine, then for my last name and asked where "insert house number here" was. I told him that was mine. So then he starts asking what we were doing on that road earlier at that house and I'm thinking OH MY GOD THEY CALLED THE POLICE ON US LOLOL. I must look like such a shifty person....not. I explained to him what we were doing there and how I knew those people and how I'd called their daughter and she knew I was there, and how I was aware that they are in Florida. My story must have checked out because he left by saying he got a call and there were a few break-ins in the area. Nbd.

Merry Belated Christmas!!

I've been busy. Months ago I decided that I would embark on a mostly DIY Christmas this year, and it would have been easier had I not had GOBS OF HOMEWORK TO DO. But now that my semester ended just over a week ago, things have slowed down quite a bit and I have had time to do things I want to do- craft.
Pinterest has been an amazing resource for finding gifts to make for my family at low costs, which is what I was looking to do. I got lost in much of the shuffle and hubub of being here and there, I completely forgot to save receipts and actually do what I wanted to do originally, which was record exactly how much (or little!) I managed to spend. Oh well. It ended up being more than I figured anyway, because we ended up getting my parents tablets and accessories.
ANYWAY! I even made homemade gifts for the children that I babysit and they LOVE THEM. I was not expecting the response from them that I got from them- they're only 3 and the other JUST turned 6, and they got SO excited over stuff I literally estimate I spent $7.00 TOTAL on, including wrapping, for them.
Look what I made!!

For the kids:
Multi-melted crayons

I love these, and I actually made myself one while I was making the rest of them. We moved YEARS ago, and by the time we got into the house from staying where we were, we (sibling and I) were a few years older and had next to no use for the things we had in storage. Two months ago (about 10 years after we moved) we unboxed some things and I found a next-to-brand-new box of Crayola crayons. So basically, these crayons were free for me. I peeled them, broke them into pieces, and put them into a cupcake pan mostly according to color family, and a few I put together that included all colors just to make super multi-colored ones. And I baked them at about 250 degrees for maybe a half an hour, or until I could see the very center of the piles of crayons totally melted. Then I took them out, let them cool just a bit and then I threw them into the freezer until they hardened. Pop them out & BAM! Pretty!

Animal Masks

I found these being sold on Etsy, for more than I would have paid for them and they were sold out anyway. So I figured I would make some of my own! Basically all it took was some notebook paper that I made my own template out of (fold in half and draw half the "pattern" so each side is the same size). Double the sheet of felt (I got mine at Michael's), pin the template & cut. Any additions to the front of each mask, I only sewed onto the TOP of the two layers. Sew stretchy strap in between the 2 layers.

Hot rice bag
This is mine.

 I forgot to take a picture of the ones I made for them, but I actually ended up making 6 of these, two of which went to THEIR parents and two of which went to Bear's parents. I basically just made a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inch square rice bag out of my fabric that lined with flannel so the hot rice wont burn hands. Sew all the way around, leaving about 1.5-2 inches to flip inside out and fill with rice. Clip corners, flip inside out, use scissors to push out corners, blah blah blah. I filled mine around 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full with rice using a funnel, use a ladder stitch to close the hole. Microwave for about 30 seconds to 45 seconds depending on how warm you want it, and enjoy :)

For THEIR parents, and for the future in-laws
Baked design mugs

I LOVE these mugs. I did print out silhouette pictures of what I put on the mugs, but honestly I ended up free-handing a lot of it. I used a black Sharpie at first, and then decided I didn't want the shiny, inky, oily look of the ink so I went over it with a glass paint by Martha Stewart that I currently cannot find right now...but you put it on cups and mugs and plates and whatever and BAKE it, at 350 degrees for a half hour. And it comes out like that! So cute. Those were plain mugs from Target.

For ONE of my future sister-in-laws
Reversible bag

 

This was actually really interesting for me to make, because I literally don't think I have ever, ever made a bag before, let alone a reversible one. I found this post from Pinterest which provides a printable pattern, and tried it for myself. The only thing I didn't do was dart my corners but I loved it just the same. And my recipient LOVES it- the colors are just her thing. So cute! I may end up making one for myself, too. 

I also made this same person button earrings, that I also forgot to take a picture of. I just got earring things with backings from Michael's and hot glued small matching buttons to them and let them cool. Voila! I ALSO made her one of these, except in pastel blue with white polka dots, but this next one and the ones after are for my BFF:

Fleece ear warmer

 I made one of these for myself, too. So cozy! Found here, except I cut 2 instead of just 1.
  
Bracelets

Found basic instructions here and here :) ...I hope these fit. Her wrists are teeny tiny so I just hope I didn't make them TOO tiny.

DIY coasters

These are EASY and WICKED CHEAP. I literally purchased these 4 plain white tiles from Lowes for 16 cents a piece, and got scrapbook paper from Michael's. I sponged Mod Podge on the back of the paper, laid it on the glossy side of the tile, made sure it was straight and put them upside down to dry with the weight of its own tile keeping everything together. When it dries completely, Mod Podge all over the top of the paper, I usually do 2 layers of this, but wait for each application to also dry completely, or else you will pull the color on the paper and it'll bleed and possibly rip the now wet paper and it'll get ugly. When EVERYTHING dries, I went over everything with a clear gloss finish spray paint. When that dries, I Mod Podged a square of scrap felt to the bottom so they don't scratch. Done.

For Bear's Sister
Bow tie necklace

This was also wicked easy. I purchased a rose gold colored chain from Michael's as well as some hooks in the same tone. Measure around your neck a good chain length, and take off about 2-2.5 inches. This length will be added when we sew in the bow. I think I took a scrap of fabric about 4 inches wide and maybe...9 inches long? I don't remember. Fold in half lengthwise, sew at about a 1/4 in seam allowance. I literally didn't even bother pressing my seams, I'm super lazy. Flip inside out, fold ends to meet right in the middle of the back, and stitch them there. I hand stitched everything else. Scrunch the bow right in the middle, and stitch straight down to keep it scrunched. Take a tiny scrap of the same fabric, make a tube with it the same way you did for the bow itself, and use it to wrap and hand stitch right around the middle. Lastly, find the very center of where the necklace falls, and break that part of the chain so it comes off (use jewelry pliers for this.) Hand stitch the chain rings BEHIND the bow, and you're finished! I might have to make myself one of these, too.

For my mama,
Little hand bound notebooks

 Instructions found here. My mama just likes notebooks and places to write things. She's quite the DIYer also so I wanted to find something she HASN'T made yet and doesn't INTEND to make.

And LASTLY, for the Bear.
Mustache pillow cases

I used pillow cases and a yard of dark gray flannel. On the wrong side of the fleece (keep it folded, so both sides are the same) I literally just eyeballed and hand drew half a mustache, cut it out. I zigzag stitched them onto the pillow cases, with the "tips" of the mustache pointing at the opening of each pillow case. Again, I would love some of these for me. I love flannel pillow cases!



I'm so sorry this post is like 17 years long- I might break it up into separate posts...later. Between watching TV this morning, eating pie for breakfast, and writing this, I've been sitting here for like 3 hours. I'm gonna go play with the NEW SEWING MACHINE I GOT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!