Up-Cycled Crop-Cut Knit Sweater

So yesterday I went to a thrift store and bought a bunch of used clothes for about $7-$13 a piece. I figured I would alter some of these clothes to turn them into my own custom pieces. So here is a quick  tip to create an old sweater into something that probably still looks vintage, but with much more appeal and personality!

BEFORE

AFTER

Essentially, I bought this used. loose sweater; it's a knit crop style sweater.

I also bought crochet lace trim from Fabricland.

With my handy dandy sewing machine, I used the trim to make a collar on the front neck line of the sweater. It gave it this vintage look that I personally love.

So after running it through the wash, I wore it today to work with black, high-waist leggings and black suede wedges from Nine West.

This ended up being my outfit, I love love love it! Definitely doesn't look like I only spent 15 bucks to make my top ($12 on the sweater, $3 on the trim)

So if you want to find an inexpensive way to customize your outfit, give this little number a try! ENJOY! :)

DIY Bronzer!

Good morning everyone! I'm actually up before 9am today, which is insane, but despite how much my eyes hurt I kind of enjoy it. I made this bronzer about two weeks ago and I've just been taking my time with posting the tutorial. No reason for that, just being lazy. I definitely didn't come up with this myself but I did alter it a bit to what I saw. Meaning I couldn't find what actually inspired me to make this so I just decided to go with the flow. Worked out well though.

Just gunna let you know now, I only made one variation of it (the very light one) so if you want more colour or depth etc you're gunna have to experiment with your ingredient ratios.

And so we'll begin. 

You're gunna need: 

1. Corn starch/Icing sugar 
2. Essential Oil
3. Nutmeg
4. Cinnamon
5. Cocoa
6. An empty bronzer container

Ingredients

1. Start out by cleaning out your bronzer container. You can make a loose variation of this, so if you want to do that just put it in a small jar or tupperware thing.

RIP

 2. Start by adding:

1.  1 tbsp cinnamon
2. 1 teaspoon nutmeg
3. 1 teaspoon cocoa 

This step is where you can alter it to the shade you want. Remember that cinnamon = glow, cocoa = darkness, and nutmeg = browny golden colour. Add more/less accordingly. I ended up adding another half teaspoon of cinnamon and a bit more nutmeg.

Used my fancy square bowl for aesthetic purposes.

3. Add 2 tsp corn starch or icing sugar. I had icing sugar pictured, but I changed my mind half way through because I was afraid I might break out because of it.

I hate buying no name brand stuff because I think it's hideously packaged.

 4. Mix 'er all together.

Yup.

 5. Don't keep your laptop too close by if you like to listen to music or whatever while you do this.. I still have ingredients all over it.

ps: If you like folk/acoustic music, I'm listening to this right now, check it out it's good http://8tracks.com/northernground/early-mornings-vol-3

 6. Essential Oil... Let's not talk about why I have this, but this is all I had in replacement for essential oils at home. Yeah it's massage oil, what can I say. It smelled like cinnamon so I rolled with it. I was nervous that it wouldn't harden the way it would if I used essential oils but it did the trick. However, when I make this again (which I will) I'll make sure to get some of the real stuff.

Add 10-15 drops of whatever 'oil' you have. Just get it wet, but not too wet. No pun intended. Moisten it. Goddamn it.

If you want the loose variation, skip this step. Obviously. 

Yeah... just.. yeah.

 7. Pack it all into your container and flatten it out with a spoon or your fingers. Try to make sure it's flush with the edges of the container or once it dries you'll have a hard time closing it.

You're gunna have to let it sit for a couple hours to dry, I put mine on the window sill so the sun would help.

That's it.

Voila!

 So that's all it takes to make bronzer at home. It's cheap, easy, and I'd say it works pretty well. Mine is really subtle but it's nice for days when I don't really want to wear makeup. And it smells unreal.

I wear it every day, haven't noticed any substantial breakouts or anything. It's holding up well for the most part. I feel like if I used essential oil instead my brush would be able to pick it up better. Next time I might try it as a loose powder.

Here are some obligatory selfies over time to show you how it looks. I'm not really sure how to take pictures that emphasize bronzer so.. yeah. This is what you get.

Just bronzer.

Wolf shirt.

Me at this very moment. So happy to be awake, you can see. 

There you have it, kids. Make your own bronzer, save yourself 14 bucks.
Happy Friday :)

ChelC-3P0

DIY: Facial & Body Scrub

Good morning (not really). I'm at work right now, but I don't have anything else to do right now so I'll share this recipe for a facial/body scrub with you guys. I'm a huge fan of exfoliants and scrubs in general, but they can get pretty expensive if you're buying them in-store. So what I started doing was making my own. I can almost guaruntee you'll have all the ingredients in your kitchen, and it'll deliver the same results. This one you can use for face or body, I used it for both. Just keep quantity in mind when measuring ingredients because it sucks when you run out mid-shower. 

You'll need: 

• Honey
• Olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
• Cinnamon
• Grapefruit (or a citrus of your choice)
• Sugar (you can use brown or white, whatever you've got)                   

Like I said.. there's a bit of freedom with this recipe.



Honey, EVOO, Cinnamon, Grapefruit, Sugar

1. Artfully line up all your ingredients and take a moment to remember your life (and skin) before you made this scrub.

 

The cinnamon has several awesome skin benfits. I forget where I first learned that, but it's a favourite trick of mine. It's good for acne, eczima, and it just generally smells good. I have a million uses for cinnamon so I'm sure you'll see those soon.

 2. Start with dry ingredients. I never measure anything.. (it all comes from the heart) so just add ingredients accordingly. A bowl this size had just enough for my face and body. Anyways, add the cinnamon into the bowl. Pretty complicated stuff.

The sugar is good for a few reasons. Obviously it works as the main exfoliant, but it also doesn't clog pores, it fights blemishes and it doesn't fuck around with your skins oil balance.

3. Add a fairly large amount of sugar... this should be proportional to how much scrub you want to have, cause this is the scrubby bit of it. Less sugar, less scrub, oui?

Citrus time. Obviously has a great amount of vitamin C. Also helps to unblock pores, prevent blemishes, etc. Grapefruit in particular is good for anti-aging and sunspots. So if you're gross and peeling like me, it's a good choice.

4. Squeeze about half a grapefruit into the mixture. Or a whole lemon. Or two limes. Or whatever you want really, this is a blog it's not the law.

Honey is relatively good for acne treatment, but it's also an awesome moisturizer.

5. Add quite a bit of honey into the bowl, the honey makes it easier to apply, and if you use it as a mask on your face after exfoliating it'll be less drippy.

Olive oil is an amazing moisturizer. This and the honey combined are what will make your skin feel so awesome and smooth after. It lasts too, which is the best part.

                          
6. Throw some EVOO up in there. You don't need too much, just a teaspoon or so. 
                   

Don't forget to tell your friend to take creepy pictures of you through the mirror!

                        
7. Apply all over your face, and with any exfoliant don't scrub so hard that you rip your skin off. If you have any specifically peely areas like I did, you can focus on them but still only scrub gently so you don't damage anything.

Yeah... yeah.  

                         
8. Leave it on your face for your desired amount of time. If you have to do laundry, keep it on and go throw a load in. If you feel disgusting, wash it off. Again, you've got some freedom here.

Once you wash it off I guaruntee your face will feel brand new. The olive oil makes it feel suuuuper nice after, and it'll smell great too.


Legs:
When you're in the shower, give your pores some time to open up. Use the scrub on your legs until you feel sufficiently scrubbed, and then shave them. Rinse, scrub and shave one more time and after you will have the softest legs on the planet. If you have a hair respawn rate of 4mm per second, then it'll be short lived, but if you're lucky enough to have good genes then you'll be a happy camper for at least 24 hours.

Body:
Just go to town with the leftover scrub and enjoy the results.

* If you have any essential oils at home (if you're one of those people who has stuff like that lying around) then feel free to throw a couple drops of that in there too. If you own them I'll assume you already understand their benefits so I won't rant about that.

There'll be some more DIY spa treatments up eventually so keep checking up! Until then, happy scrubbing. Now go make people touch your legs.

ChelC-3P0

Double Braid Side-Bun

After doing the waterfall braid with ChelC-3p0's hair, I decided to try something else to turn the down-do into a more elegant up-do for the lavishly classy folk.
Or simply for those who are equally as entertained by hair as we are!

Waterfall Braid

So we decided to experiment with the waterfall braid; managed to do a couple need things with it, but for the basic gist of it, we ended up working with the straight and the curly! Just for the record, I used chelC-3P0's hair this time to try it out.







Clearly, they both look really well. I personally think that the curls would be better for a more formal occasion, regardless, it's really simple to do so you could definitely put it together in under 10 minutes. We hope you like it!

DIY: 3-step Button Earrings

Okay, so I thought it would be really fun to make new button earrings because after I moved to my new house, I threw out the ones I made before.
Anyway, I'll have another button earring tutorial up sometime this summer because I usually cover them in fabric like canvas and burlap, but I wanted something quick and easy with the matching buttons I had at home.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED


-A glue gun, obviously with glue gun sticks
-Earring backs, I personally used rubber ones because you're almost guaranteed they wont fall out.

-Flat-ended earring posts (you can get them in either silver or gold for sensitive ears, I used gold-colored steel)

-Buttons, whether they are the same or assorted, just buy a bunch, you're likely to get more than a handful of matching pairs.


INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put a small drop of hot glue on the flat side of the earring post
2. While the glue is still hot, press the backside of the button to the glue on the earring post


3. Once the glue has dried, attach the rubber earring backs.

ET VOILA! Button earrings!

DIY: TIE BLEACH DENIM

Upcycling denim because we needed to get back into the retro feel with our ugly old jeans!  So let's get started, shall we! 

 Step 1 Collect your old denim; anything you aren't planning to keep in it's current state, get ready to rip it up and bleach it.  

Step 2 Cut it! Technically, the cutting is optional. If you want tie-Bleach denim PANTS, you obviously don't have to cut it up, so just skip this step. However, if you do want to make shorts like we did, it would be a good idea to get a pair of shorts you already own and use it as a template to make your cuts. Cutting shorts so that the legs are the right length can be very tricky. Sometimes you may end up showing too much butt-cheek and then your shorts are useless.  
 

Step 3 TIE IT! You can tie it with whatever durable material you have, remember, it's tie bleach so you'll be dipping this in bleach, a significantly harsher chemical than fabric dye. We used twine and rubber bands, as shown above, both are durable and won't snap in the bleaching process. feel free to twist, curl, fold and tie the fabric in any way you want. The best part about this project is that no matter how much you try to customize the design, you'll be surprised with the turn out.

Step 4 BLEAAACH IT! With a bucket, rubber gloves and bleach (we used Clorox), pour an adequate amount of bleach in the bucket. The amount of bleach will vary, but start with a small, dip-able amount and if need be, add more accordingly. Don't forget to put on rubber gloves because bleach is a skin irritant and corrosive. Dip or even soak your tied up denim in the bleach. Depending on where you do this, it may take a while for the bleach to set in. Based on trial and error, we found that doing this outside on a hot and sunny day will produce optimal results, the bleaching process will take only minutes before you see your denim changing. If done inside, it may take longer because the heat from the sun, when done outside, acts as a catalyst, thus speeding up the reaction process as the bleach takes effect. 

Step 5 UNTIE IT! Be careful, you can use scissors or simply use your hands WITH GLOVES and cut or remove the ties from the denim. Leave it out in the sun and watch the bleach take effect.  

Step 6 When it looks bleached to your liking, remove it from the sun and wash out the bleach with a hose (if you're outside) or rinse it under a faucet with running water until most of the bleach is washed out.  

Step 7 Run it through the washing machine, use the standard amount of detergent and softener for the denim as you would for any load and set it to a denim cycle if your washer has the option.  
Step 8 Dry it in the dryer. 

Step 9 When the denim is dry and you're satisfied with the look you'll have a retro NEW pair of denim shorts. HOWEVER, it is optional to stud them as we did with ours. There are several ways to embellish your new upcycled shorts, but we used studs with grip teeth as opposed to using hot-iron studs. Either should work. Design the pattern any way you want, the entire project is custom designed to your liking!  

    *Just a side note, the image quality obviously isn't the best; but we did take them from our iPhones and ran them through instagram filters. Don't worry, our next DIY projects will have better quality images, I promise!