Open for Business: Things For People

Finally, I’ve taken the leap and opened an Etsy store!  I’ve been reading up on advertising and copy writing, drawing up designs and ordering supplies!  I’m so excited, but a little scared, to finally open my store and get my creations out there. 

A Coupon for Coconut Oil

Remember when I posted about loving coconut oil?!?! Well I ordered a 29oz tube of Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil from Vitacost.com for just under $12 including shipping.  WHAT?!?! Yup, and I want to share with you.  Through their referral program you go to THIS LINK and get $10 off your first purchase of $30 or more! When you use THIS LINK I also get $10 off my next purchase.  I scratch your back, you scratch mine! WIN WIN!

There are tons of products to choose from on that site, vitamins, essential oils, natural personal care products etc.  I'm already making a shopping list for potential holiday gifts!  Plus when your products arrive you'll get your own referral info to pass along to family and friends to share more savings.  Check it out!

*I am in no way affiliated with Vitacost, I just wanted to share the wealth.  With the holidays around the corner everyone loves to get a little more bang for their buck!

Obsessed: House Plants

With the weather getting cold we’re lighting the fireplaces and cozy-ing the bed, but I just can’t part with the impending loss of greenery that the snow will bring.  All year round we keep plants in the house, but it is especially important to me during the winter months.  We have quite a growing (see what I did there) collection of cacti, succulents, a fern and a spider plant, and tons of jade plants we’re rooting.  We actually found the jade plants on the side of the road, the owner said the limbs were cut from a plant over 20 years old! I so hope they live when we replant them!  There are many sources of inspiration and information about house plants all over the web, it got me a little obsessed with wanting a bigger collection

Natural Me: Flax Gel

So my hair is naturally wavy.  Actually that’s being kind, it’s more frizzy than wavy and after years of having perms, then straightening, and then coming to the realization that my hair hates me, I’m taking a new route.  I’ve been reading around the web about the Curly Girl Method.  Basically you stop using any hair products containing sulfates and silicones.  Big surprise, a variation of those 2 ingredients are in pretty much everything on the store shelves.  BUT why should these be avoided?

Obsessed: Layered Rugs

I have to say, in the warmer months I HATE AREA RUGS!  Everybody is shedding and dirt and dust are constantly being tracked through the house.  Area rugs just catch the furry tumble weeds around here.  Now that that’s off my chest, I can confess that in the fall and winter…I love them!  Area rugs, not furry tumble weeds.  I never love those.  I’m especially obsessed with the idea of layering rugs.  Not only is it cost effective, but it adds coziness and texture to sometimes boring, bare floors.

Happy Halloween

From the princess, the hipster, and the detective:

I wish they’d actually let me dress them up :(

Obsessed: Fireplaces

Its coming.  The cold.  And there is nothing we can do about it. This type of weather gets me thinking warm thoughts.  And if you’re in hurricane Sandy’s path, warm and cozy is exactly what you need (in addition to hurricane preparation stuff duh). Remember long ago when the cold made me think of warm, cozy beds? Now I’m pining over fireplaces:

Natural Me: Coconut Oil

The Seattle Times

*update: I ordered some extra virgin organic coconut oil with a $10 off coupon (with purchase of $30 or more) and I want to share the coupon with you! Check out this post or this link to get your coupon! 
 
I’ve had problem skin since before high school and I’ve actually been recognized in public by my course, wiry, frizzy, curly in some parts but mostly wavy hair.  True story. Maybe it was because I’ve always been cheap, or I was too young to buy a ton of expensive products, but I used to love making homemade masks and hair treatments.  Either because I didn’t see instant results, or I got my first job and could buy gimmicky drugstore brands, I veered away from those natural concoctions.  But the urges are back.  Wait, no, that didn’t sound right.  What I meant was that I want to go back to experimenting with homemade beauty recipes.

It’s about time: Veggie Garden Update

I bet you thought we had a major vegetable garden FAIL and we’re trying to brush it under the rug by never again talking about our project of the century.  Well, you’ll be happy to know the garden is actually been growing like crazy!! Take a look:

Garden Update: Week 2

Here is a little update on the progress of our seedlings:

Peas, some sad Spinach, & Cucumbers

Project of the Century

Well lets not go that far, maybe just “Project of the Summer.”  Although taking on a giant vegetable garden may be the project of my century.

New to Me Backyard Fire Pit

I was right.  Not a huge surprise, but the most important thing to remember is my bf was WRONG! Ha.  We have a lot of sticks in our backyard.  Not a couple here or there, it’s extreme, the entire yard is covered in sticks. Entirely.  Of course the dog loves it, but my paranoia only sees all the ways she can hurt her clumsy self.  So, I had the brilliant idea of buying or making a fire pit.  And I love having fires in the summer.  So, I started doing some cheapest options research.  Eventually we got our hands on a cast iron chiminea that someone was getting rid of.  They only wanted $30.  Nice!  Pitched the idea to the bf, he thought it looked like a piece of junk and no amount of DIY would make it look good. 

Loving: Old Windows

When we looked at the house for the first time,  I noticed big old windows in the back yard leaning against the garage.  After we left, instead of thinking about important questions to ask the landlord like the condition of the appliances or the insulation...I was trying to figure out a casual way to inquire about the windows. Here's the gem I came up with:

Cork Wall Art

I've had a vague idea of some sort of spherical cork wall art floating around in my brain for some time, so I asked family and friends to become alcoholics drink more wine and start collecting corks.  Luckily I also have connections to a wine maker, my grandpa. After a few months of collecting, I rolled up my sleeves, did some good ol' fashion paper mache and hot glued some corks.  Sounds simple, it was, and kind of fun.

Knit Knit Pouf

I’m a multi-tasker.  If I’m only doing 1 thing at a time I get antsy.  I’ve been known to watch a couple of shows at once during commercials, while also scouring pinterest, checking out the weather on my phone, reading the weekly flyers, cuddling a cat, and eating a sandwich.  That’s my normal down time.  For a change of pace, I wanted to take up knitting again as a new project to do while watching a movie or arguing debating with my BF, entertaining the dog, you get the idea. 

Chalkboard Kitchen Jars

I've been collecting random glass jars for a while.  Anything from jam to salsa,  tomato sauce to pickle.  I have a special place in my heart for glass. It is too useful to just get rid of and I’ve always rationalized that I’ll keep them for storage some day. Then, gasp, I actually did use them and gasp again, I combined my love of glass jars with my lust for chalkboard paint.  (Remember the chalkboard fridge)

Twine Jar Cover

I hated looking at our stupid change jar/piggy bank that used to sit on our coffee table, so I made a cover for it.  It is super easy and a quick project that can easily be re-sized to make larger storage baskets and they can even be used without an inner vessel because they support themselves.  So many possibilities to add a little natural texture to your decor.  Here's how to make one for yourself...

*P.S. I have never made, let alone shared, a crochet pattern in my life so your comments would be appreciated!! My grandmas would be so proud :)

Finally The Orange is GONE

I’ve left you hanging for weeks, but no more! The orange and grey Harley Davidson bathroom is gone.  It has become bright, modern, colourful…fresh.  For the last few months I’ve been working as a house painter and have learned a few things along the way.  This bathroom was my chance to finally use those new skills in our place.  We are only renting our place, so the possibilities of what we could do to the bathroom were quite limited, but the couple little changes we did make definitely had a dramatic effect.

Go Ahead, Write on the Fridge

When we signed the lease on our place the landlord graciously told us he'd be removing the nasty fridge the previous tenants left.  This was GOOD because I wasn't about to stick even a gloved hand in that fridge to clean up the mysterious green gelatinous puddle living in the bottom, BAD because that left us fridge-less.  Luckily, my parents were looking to get rid of their extra fridge in the basement. Turns out it was a hand-me-down they'd acquired when my grandparents got their new fridge years and years ago.  I'm sure this fridge was a beauty in its youth, but by the time it was passed on to us, it was quite rusty on the front.  Good news though, the inside is nearly perfect, except for the interior light that doesn't turn on.  Needless to say we took the fridge with open arms.

P.S. having to look for food in a dark fridge is a surprisingly good dieting trick.  If you are anything like us and have containers and produce stacked in a delicate Jenga-like balance, you really don’t want to put your hand into the darkness and risk falling food just for a snack.

Here are some before shots:

Meet Oscar

Since we’ve had to move so many times in the last year, we have an abundance of cardboard boxes.  And since I’m thrifty cheap I like to use what we already have on hand to make many of my projects.  And so Oscar was born.  Well cut out and assembled.