The best DIY serums and scrubs!

Welcome back! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday season and did so it with minimal stress. I know I have been busy and I can't believe how much time went by without even realizing it! I got so lazy about blogging because of how hectic the holidays have made my household. I'm so glad to be back though!!! I can't believe we are in 2016! CRAAAAZZZZZYYYYY!!!!!
Well I wanted to show you a couple of homemade serums and scrubs that I have been loving. These three things are amazing! And no, these aren't things that I tried once or twice and said "Oh, their great, I'm going to tell everyone." Absolutely not! These are my tried and true favorites that I have been doing for years now! They work and they're amazing. You see so many different varieties on pinterest but I was able to customize them to make them my favorite and my own. They are so simple and take about 10 seconds to whip up (if that) so let's get started, shall we?

Sugar lip scrub:
I love this scrub! Especially in the wintertime when it feels like i'm going through a tube of lipbalm a day. Okay, maybe that's a tad bit of an exaggeration, but seriously feel like I go through so much! I use this at night before I go to bed and it's so moisturizing. It's definantly a ride or die for me. All you need is:

• Sugar
• coconut oil
• peppermint essential oil (optional)

For this I reccommend turbinado sugar. I have used plain white sugar and it'll work just fine but turbinado just works better for me. You can usually find it at your local whole foods store or you can buy it here.
Now all you have to do is mix 1 part sugar and 1 part coconut oil and combine. If you are using essential oil I would wait until it's completely combined to add it and then you only need to add a couple of drops. I usually add 4-6 but I like mine to be super pepperminty.

The great thing about this is you just put some on your finger and rub it on your dty lips for about 30 seconds. You can then rinse it off if you want or do what I do and use a wet washcloth to wipe it off. I find using the washcloth helps remove all that dead skin. Then just slap on your favorite lipbalm and you're set. I love how smooth and tingly this makes my lips feel!

Brow and lash serum:
I have always been skeptical about brow and lash serums so when I realized that you can make one and it works just as good (if not better) than some that you buy at a department store I had to give it a go. Since using this, I have noticed more volume in my eyelashes and my eyebrows seem to be a little more filled in. It did take a couple of weeks to notice though. What you need for this is:

• castor oil
• coconut oil
• lavender essential oil (optional)

I mixed 1 tablespoon of castor oil, 1 tablespoon coconut oil, and 3 drops of lavender essential oil. Once it's all combine just store it in an airtight container. It's best to use this at night before bed because this could make your vision blury. (Don't worry, it's perfectly safe)

I just use a q-tip and dip it into the mixture and run it along my eyebrows, upper lashline, and my lower lashline. You can also use a spoolie or clean fingers as well. I also like to add 1 drop of lavender essential oil to my mascaras and my brow gel. It helps them last a little longer along with promoting lash and brow growth.

Sugar body scrub:
This is my favorite of all 3 of these. I absolutely saved the best for last. It's 100% customizable and there are so many varieties that you can make. To make my favorite version all you need is:

• coconut oil
• sugar
• lemon essential oil

In a bowl combine 1 cup of sugar (again I prefer the turbinado sugar), 1/4 cup of coconut oil, and about 20-30 drops of lemon essential oil. Once it's all combined put it in an airtight container until you're ready to use it. I like to use this before shaving my legs. The lemon oil has a brightening effect and it's also really refreshing. Your skin will be so silky smooth and the oil moisturizes as well.

There are many variations of this. I have heard of people using salt or baking soda instead of sugar and using different oils like olive, sesame, grapeseed, almond, jojoba, etc. There are literally thousands of variations. I think that's why this is my favorite.

I hope I've inspired you to try these and play around with the formulas to create your own to suit your needs!! Be creative and have fun! What are some of your favorite natural products and combinations?

DIY mirrored vanity tray

Welcome back, friends! As many of you know we are starting over on all of our belongings and furniture we had acquired. One thing I miss badly was my makeup area. My husband, being the awesome guy he is, is putting a vanity area together for me. One thing I didn't have before but I always loved the idea of one was a mirrored vanity tray. I went looking online and when I came across how much they were I was like thanks but no thanks!
I decided I could just make one so I did. Gotta tell you, it was stupid easy. it only required 3 items and I had it done in 5 minutes. plus you can customize them however you want.  The three things you need are:

• mirror (mine is a 10x13)
• decorative rocks or pebbles
• E6000 or a hot glue gun

Did I mention I got everything (except the E6000) at the dollar store? Yeah, it cost me less than $2.00 to make this. Here is what I did.

The first thing you wanna do is clean your mirror. The glue will adhere better to a clean surface. Then I got all of my little pebbles out and arranged then how I wanted them and made sure I picked ones out that would fit in the little nicks and crannies.

Now that you have an idea of what you're going to do, you can start the gluing process. You can glue them one at a time like I started to do or you can do what I ended up doing which is applying a thick line of glue down the edge and placing the pebbles on it. I found this way worked a little better because not only is it easier, but it gives the glue a chance to get a little tacky and hold the pebbles better during the drying process.

That's all there is to it. Now just give it some dry time (about 24 hours to be on the safe side) and you have a gorgeous (and cheap!) mirrored vanity tray!

I'm probably going to make another one to store other stuff on because I thought this turned out so cute and it was literally one of the easiest DIY's ever. What's your favorite way to organize your products?

Homemade baby food round 1!

Hello friends! Another week has passed by and it has been crazy hectic here. We've had parent/teacher conferences (ugh), doctor appointments, and my husband has been going through a lot of changes at his job (FYI Brad HATES change) so as you can guess, it was hard to keep track of what day it was. 

One fun thing that did happen was after Donavan's 4 month check up (already??!! *whimper*) was that he got to try purees for the first time! That part has always been fun for me only this time was a tad different because it's all my cooking! OK, some of it doesn't need to be cooked but it's all my preparation! 

There are so many advantages to homemade baby food!. First off you KNOW what you are feeding your baby. Not only that but you can make more of a variety of foods. Second, commercial baby food only has 20% of your baby's daily vitamins, minerals and nutrients. How crazy is that??? Third, commercial baby foods are filled with fillers like sugars, starches, preservatives, and additives. All of those have been linked to childhood allergies which means your baby most likely isn't allergic to the fruit or vegetable, they're allergic to the filler. All of these were enough to convince me that homemade was the way to go.

Brad and I made a special grocery shopping trip just for this and this is what we picked up:

• 5 organic bananas
• 1 lb organic carrots
• 3 avocados
• organic green beans
• 1 organic sweet potato
• 4 organic gala apples
• brown rice
• organic package of super heathy greens (kale, spinach, and chard)

My dad got me a Ninja Ultima Blender and I LLLOOOOVVVEEEE it! I used this to puree everything. It leaves any puree smooth and perfectly blended. Even those fruits and veggies that are a little tough to get perfectly smooth. (you'll see what I'm talking about soon)

Next I made sure I had plenty of breast milk on hand so I took everything I saved from my milksaver the day before and any milk I had pumped. You can also use formula or water if you choose. This is great because then your baby will have a familiar taste in their new food and it will be easier to transition to purees. Also you might want to use fresh breast milk (if you're using it) because the baby food will be frozen you don't want to refreeze breast milk.

First I pureed my avocados and bananas because they are my no cook ingredients. Here you can see the avocados. I added about 4 ounces of breast milk in them to make them thin (this is first foods after all) and easier to blend.

Once it's pureed to the consistency you want just put them in some ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap or freezer paper and pop them in the freezer. Each compartment of ice cube trays holds about 2 tablespoons which equals 1 ounce. This makes measuring baby food so easy! I bought these silicone trays here.

Now onto the cooking part. I steamed everything but you can cook them however you want. You can bake them, steam them, saute them...boil them, broil them. fry them......OK I'm done being Bubba. But you get what I'm saying. I chose to steam everything because I thought it was the best way to retain all the color and nutrients I possible could.

This silicone steaming basket is amazing! It's flexible and has these handles on the side. I got this at walmart.

See the beautiful color of the greens? The greens did wilt quite a bit and didn't take long to do so. I did actually have to make a special trip to get more of these. I just ended up buying an additional bag of spinach, a bag of kale, and two bunches of chard and it turned out to be the perfect amount. With this along with the breast milk I also added the cooking liquid under the steamer basket. Again, the goal is to retain as many nutrients as possible.

The apples, sweet potato, carrots, and green beans I did the exact same thing as the power greens only I steamed these for about 7 minutes. Yes, I set my timer because I'm easily distracted and forgetful! 

Now for the brown rice. I did rinse the rice to make sure it was clean and to get the extra starch out. It took about 3 times before the water came out clear.

To cook it I just added 1/4 cup of brown rice and about 3/4 cup filtered water and cooked it according to the directions on the package.

After the rice was cooked I just dumped it into the blender with about 8 ounces of breast milk and pureed until it was smooth. It seems like I added a lot of milk but I did that because I wanted it to be thin because again, this is Donavan's first foods.

Each food takes about 24 hours to freeze (which is why it's good to have about 6 of these trays). Some might not take as long. The sweet potatoes are what took the longest. After they're all frozen just place the baby food cubes in a labled and dated freezer bag. They stack beautifully and don't take up much space at all!

That's it! You can do this over a weekend and you'll have enough baby food to last you a couple of months! I sent this picture right above to my Aunt out in Washington and she also had an idea about using a vacuum sealer! This would defiantly help them keep even longer! She's always been so smart! You're awesome Aunt Monica!!!!

I had so much fun doing this and Anthony and Camden even had fun. They all turned out amazing and the colors!!! Oh my the colors!!! Just seeing how bright and colorful they are you can tell they are full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Don't we all want the best for out little wee ones??

What are some of your babies favorite foods and flavor combinations?

Choosing your beauty blender and keeping it clean

I don't know about you guys but when I first realized how many different kinds of Beauty Blenders there were, I was super overwhelmed! I was like, which one do I need? Is there a difference? What's the difference? Then I did some homework on it and got a TON of information from the Beauty Blender website here.

From what I was able to pick up was that there are different ones for different uses:
Original (pink) - foundation, powder, BB + CC cream, cream blush and powder blush
Pure (white) - primer, serum, moisturizer, eye cream and foaming cleanser
Pro (black) - long-wear makeup, bronzer, self-tanner and male grooming
Micro mini (green) - concealer, highlighter, contouring and acne spot coverage

I personally just have the original.

I have found that the original does everything I need. I considered the minis until I thought about it and was like, I can just squeeze the original beauty blender to the size and shape that I need! Keep in mind, cleaning these do not make them last indefinanty. You still need to replace them once every 3 months. This just keeps them hygenic during that time frame.

With that being said let's talk about the cleaning.

 Get your dirty Beauty Blender and a mild cleanser. I normally use mild baby shampoo but I bought these in a set where you get 2 blenders and a cleanser for $30.00. What a steal, right?? You can buy the same thing here.

Now you need to get it wet so that the cleanser will lather up and get this baby sparkling!

Sorry for the blurriness! My hands were too fast for my hubster to capture!

I add a pump of the cleanser directly on the beauty blender but you can presoak it if you want. I wash mine daily so I don't feel the need to soak it. 

Now let's get scrubbing. Gently massage the cleanser into the sponge. You don't want to be too rough here or you could break it or tear it. I learned that one the hard way.

Once you feel that it's clean rinse it with cold water making sure to get all that cleanser out.

I always know it's out becuse mine always bleeds pink during washing only. Once I see the water coming out of my beauty blender is clear that's when I know it's completly rinsed out. Squeeze out any acess water with a towel and set it somewhere ventilated to dry (I just prop mine up on the stand that comes in the packaging). Boom baby!

Now tomorrow when you go to apply your makeup, you have a fresh, clean beauty blender waiting for you! This is how I clean them. I'm not an expert by any means. This is just what works for me. (By the way, I'm not paid by Beauty Blender, I just LOVE their product) I hope this has been helpful to you! What are your favorite beauty blender tips and tricks?

Until next time!

RoyAna

XOXO

DIY cheap and easy toy box!

TGIF friends! Who doesn't love fridays? The weekend is so close you can taste it and you can't wait! More free time with the family, but it also means more time for the kids to make a huge mess with the toys. Am I right? If you mommies and daddies are anything like me you want a cheap and easy solution to store the toys without having to go out and purchase an expensive toy chest that will probably end up getting trashed anyway. I have the perfect solution and it takes no time at all! Not only is it easy and practically free, but it's 100% customizable. Let's get started, shall we??

First things first. You are going to need:

• a big sturdy box (I used a microwave box)
• scissors
• utility knife (optional, I just used plain 'ol scissors)
• mod podge
• foam or paint brushes

First you want to cut all the "flaps" off the tops of the box.

Now you can get your wrapping paper out and measure all the way around it leaving yourself a couple of inches to overlap.

Don't trim the top or bottom part of the wrapping paper off. You'll see why in a minute. 

Now for the fun messy part, take your mod podge and coat the side of the box doing your best to make sure you have an even yet generous coating. As you can see I got a wee bit crazy with it here!!

Flip the box around so the sticky side is face down on the wrapping paper. This also gives you a nice "base" to work with so it's not sliding around when it's time to pull the rest of it together.

Procede with spreading more mod podge on the remaining 3 sides. Once the box is nicely coated take one end of the wrapping paper and making sure it's tight and smooth, press it onto the box.

And repeat....

With what is left overlapping you can cut it off with your scissors or you can do what i did and just seal it with more mod podge.

Now take your brush and paint the mod podge on the bottom of the box and start folding the paper onto the bottom to "glue" it down. 

Now you can sit it up right and cut down on all 4 corners so the new "flaps" will fold over the inside edge with ease.

Now take your mod podge and seal around the inside edges on all 4 sides, folding the wrapping paper over to seal it.

And now you have a handy dandy toy box!

With ease you can go from this....

to this! Told you! Soooo soooo easy.

This project literally took me minutes and my boys think it's the coolest thing ever. In hind sight I wish I would have gotten some plain paper and let them decorate it but that's another project for another day. This would also work great for smaller boxes to organize drawers, closets, etc. The list is endless! Use your imaginaton and be creative! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Happy weekend!!!!

Until next time!

RoyAna

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