DIY Detox Bath

Back in December I found myself fighting a bad bladder infection which let my immune system down a bad road again. Convinced I would not spiral downhill after having to take antibiotics, I hit it hard with all the things I knew to do- drinking Kefir Water, staying away from sugar, applying immune strengthening essential oils like Theives and Oregano Oil, etc. However, I still felt my body was on the verge of a breakdown.

For the first time ever I attempted detoxing with Essential Oils. I added them to my tea, *distilled water, and baths. I noticed after my baths, I felt amazing. I slept amazing. Frankly, all my symptoms of feeling "yucky" departed.

I thought to myself, "this might be a great new habit to get into." Taking baths is quite relaxing, and my brain is really resting. I initially took them 3 times a week, then two, now about once a week. Honestly, Ive been under a lot of stress and busier than usual so Im not eating as well or sleeping as long at night. These factors usually would lead to one thing. However, my body is doing great. So after almost three months of regular detox baths, I can offer to you it is worth a try if you are wanting to:

• detoxify your body
• rest your mind
• relieve your stress
• get better (repairing) sleep
• fight bacterial infection
• prevent illness
• sooth body & muscles

Initially I started with simple Dr. Teals Lavender Epsom Salt (available at Target, etc) but I was going through it so fast I bulked up with larger quantities I found online. Here was an easy initial recipe I created you can start with to try!

DIY DETOX BATH

Add to warm bath:

• 1/2 Cup Epsom Salt
• 2-5 Drops Lavender (Young Living Essential Oil)
• 2-5 Drops Peppermint (Young Living Essential Oil)
• 2 Drops Valor (Young Living Essential Oil)

What I made WEDNESDAY!

I am linking up today with Shirley over at the Orange Windmill...



so I had so much fun crafting my Little Hannah's Birdie Hair Pins I decided to put some in my ETSY Shop!

I have also had a lot of vintage lace and flower inspiration... so here are a couple other new creations...

shop handmade!
          And... Happy Wednesday!

-gina

A Birdie Birthday Party!

My youngest girl turned 7 a few weeks ago, and thanks to Pinterest I was able to chalk up a little inspiration! (If you want to see where the inspirations came from you can check out my Birthday Ideas Pin Board)

Again... I had to talk a child out of one party theme to another... (do you do that too??) And we settled on Yellow Birdie Birthday. So here are the cuties I DIYed.

The Banner "Hannah"

Close Ups

The Cake

The Cupcake Toppers

 conveniently, to go with the theme, the frosting turned out looking like birdie poop :)

The Centerpiece... branches with hanging felt birdies!

The Birdies were ornaments we let each party attendee take home :)

Finally... to promote my ETSY shop... the girls all got to pick a handmade set of hair pretties!

 and a little touch of birdies on the buffett...

with a cup of gummie worms! (Of course birdies like worms!!)

It was a great day! Happy Birthday Inspiration!

- gina

$11 DIY Shabby Chic Dresser

Of all my kids, my number two girl has the most clothes. I don't think its because she loves to shop or gets more clothes given to her than the other kids, I actually think its because she grows the least. Her clothes just keep accumulating and every few months we have to weed through them and re-evaluate what were keeping to pass on.

So the time came when her previous dresser finally saw its last dying breath as the clothes seeped there way out of the side of every crack breaking the cheap IKEA bottom right out of it! The old dresser wen tot the garage, and the new dresser was yet to be found, primarily because buying new furniture is not my M.O.

The girls piled in the car and we did what I call "drive-by garage sale-ing". This is where I don't really want to get out of the car, have no money, and kinda hope I don't find anything cause I really just want to be responsible by looking for something for her.

It was the first street we turned down, sitting at the end of a court, with a sign on it that said "free". I yelled "hallelujah!" and backed up the mini van!

Here is was when it arrived in my garage (minus the knobs I had already removed)

The first thing I had to decide was what color it was gonna to resemble in the end... as you can see it had been painted a few times before. My daughter wanted blue with green polkadots, so we kinda compromised... I mixed a Cobalt Blue and Bright Yellow Acrylic to get a nice Turquoise. Here's the supplies I used. (I only had to buy 3 knobs and the spray lacquer which added up to $11)

I sanded it once, then added a white base coat I had in the garage already.

Next, I sanded again to get some of those colors underneath to poke through...

Wiped down the sanding, then color stain...

Wipe off the color, and repeat several times with wet rag...

We compromised on diamonds instead of polkadots, and I mixed a nice chartreuse to match the old yellow paint that poked through...

Sanded a little more, then varnish, and add the knobs!

Finished and in the room!

Happy DIY-ing!

DIY Baby Girl Bunting

So after the idea for the bunting on the shower invite, what else but to make bunting for the shower?! There's only one place in the SF Bay I roam when I'm feeling that creative bug, yup, SCRAP! Have you ever been there? I feel warm and fuzzy there, it's my favorite, but my hubby calls it my "mother ship".

So off to SCRAP! we went-  here are the finds...

Next, I cut the various fabrics into triangles. (note: at SCRAP! you can get a paper bag of fabric remnants for $10 !) I didn't measure or anything, I just cut one and then used that one for my template.

You should I also know, I don't sew.  So, if I can do this, so can a monkey.

Next, I took this roll of cloth ribbon (also from scrap) and put 2 triangles together, and ran the brown ribbon between. I sewed a rough quick stitch across the length of the ribbon, adding a triangle every two inches or so.

After I had about 13 triangles hanging, which was almost ten feet i think, I did it again so I ended up with two long banners. Then I went back and sewed, quick and rough, the other two edges of the triangles. Finally, I trimmed the excess threads and then trimmed the fabric where is was a little too shabbily crooked :)

Next, it was ready to hang. I didn't get a good picture of it the day of the shower but snapped this one the night before when I hung it.

You may notice the tulle in the background, I got a roll of brown tulle for $2 at JoAnn's Fabrics  (speaking of which, do you have the JoAnn iphone app? They will take the coupons right off your phone, and Michael's take's JoAnn's coupons too!) and weaved it through and made a puffy gather at the end of the bunting. Everyone said it looked great!

- gina