DIY Envelope Pillow Cover

I'm not much of a seamstress. You got me. I don't even know how to sew by hand so you can imagine the success I'd have with an actual sewing machine. But in my binge browsing of Pinterest, I found this super simple tutorial on YouTube that showed you how to make an envelope pillow cover.

I know I'm not the only one but I change out the bed's comforter as the seasons change. It's really only twice a year. As you can imagine, we've got lighter colors for Spring and darker colors for Winter. So rather than buying more pillows, this tutorial helped me to make new covers.

I picked out plain brown, dark tan with small gold polka dots, and cream with tan hatchmark lines for the pillows in the bedroom. Then I had two other pillows in the living room I needed to recover and I chose cream & gold threads woven throughout to go with the multi-colored quilt draped over the back of the couch.

DIY Christmas tree decor

I learned about this DIY Christmas decor when my family used to live in Chattanooga--15 years or so ago--from our hairdresser. He was quite the stylish man from what I can remember and always feathered my hair just like Farrah Fawcett. I hated it, but it was all the rage. That's besides the point. He showed us a practically free way to re-use some things in our home as Christmas decor.

We've all got stacks and stacks of magazines under the coffee table or in a basket beside the recliner, right? Grab a few of those because they will be your Christmas tree. The smaller the magazine the better, so grab your National Geos or Reader's Digests. And if you're like me and like to spray paint stuff, then you might just have some extra in the garage. If not, most stores carry the smaller cans of spray paint for less than your large fast food meal.

[one] Fold your magazine like this.

Brush cleaning

This is a LONG overdue post. If you wear makeup then you know it's safe and sanitary to clean your brushes every so many months. After doing the two "Catching Fire" makeup looks yesterday, I realized that I needed to clean those brushes because they were getting naaasty.

You're probably going to be grossed out, but I can't remember the last time I cleaned my own makeup brushes. There is no telling what is built up within the bristles. So I pulled out the Dr. Brommer's peppermint soap and got to work.

It's a rather simple process to clean them and I'll show you my routine. You need a bottle of very mild soap. I'd recommend Dr. Brommer's or Dial soap if you don't possess any specific brush cleaner. Grab a bowl, squirt in a little soap, and clean each brush with water. Then lay them out to dry on a rag or towel for at least 24 hours.

I was okay with just swirling the brushes around in the water for those that just come in contact with loose powders. But those that work with liquid foundations and such, I had to get my hands in the water and rub the bristles to make sure it all came out. If you use a lot of liquid or creamy products, rinsing the bowl with fresh water every couple of brushes is a smart thing to do. You don't want to be cleaning in dirty water. I lightly squeezed all the brushes once I thought they were clean and laid them out on a rag.

So that the brushes don't dry in a funky form, you can dry them for the first 12 hours on a rag like I did, but I would suggest hanging them upside down for the remaining hours. This should allow them to fluff back up to their natural form.

And there it is! Maybe by documenting this today will keep me accountable for future brush cleanings. I need to be on a better routine!!

The easiest DIY earring holder ever

When I first starting wearing jewelry--not just the snowman earrings or gold cross necklaces--but really wearing fashionable jewelry, I wanted to display it on my walls. 1) I wanted everyone to see my goods. Too much? Well too bad. 2) I wanted it to be displayed as art. And 3) Having it hanging from something sitting on a dresser just took up way too much space. So why not hang it on the wall, right?

I haven't written about this in the past, but this was how I had things hanging previously. I bought a single window shutter from Etsy (You can find ANYTHING on Etsy. Seriously.) and hung all of the fish-hook earrings from it. BUT, over time, the weight of all the earrings pulled down the shutter and it became very easy for them to fall off. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but the kitties lunge towards the noise of it bouncing off the bathroom tiles, snatch it in their mouths, and hide under the bed until they think it's safe to come out and play with it. Annoying much?

Before (top) and After--all weighed down (bottom)

I didn't have any ideas of what I was going to replace it with until this past weekend. I just happened to stop by Home Depot to buy some chicken wire for our fence out back. What did I need it for, you might ask? There is a rogue neighborhood cat that's been coming in through the spaces between the boards in the fence. And it just loooooves to torment Asher and Sophie through the windows in the middle of the night. I'm not kidding. Jerry and I could be in the deepest sleep and wake up while almost pissing ourselves because there's loud banging coming from the windows in the kitchen. It's happened often enough that we know it's not a burglar but this retarded cat. So chicken wire, snips, and a stapler in hand, and holes no more!

And then a light went off in my head. I have leftover chicken wire, so why not staple it to an empty frame to hang my earrings? Genius, right?! I grabbed a frame we had in a closet upstairs and tried to use it, but it was too big. The next night, I stopped by TJ's to browse the clothes but stumbled upon their clearance section in Houseware and found these colorful chalkboards in frames for like $10! When I got home, I took out the chalkboard--still not sure how I'm going to use it--and decided to use the frame to hold my earrings.

So I grabbed my snips and cut the chicken wire to the shape of the frame with a little excess so that I could staple it to the front. Why would I staple it to the front and not the back? I knew I needed some room for the hooks of the earrings to sit so I kinda had to bond emotionally with the industrial look. Ha.

I'll show you the finished picture in a second, but if this is something you would want to do or if you want to change up how you hang or display your earrings, this is what you would need.

1) Chicken Wire, 2) Snips, and 3) Stapler

It's a pretty simple process and I think you can figure out how to work this in. The one thing I want to ask you to remember is to hold down your stapler with your other hand. Otherwise, the staples won't be flush with the frame and it will cause the wire to be loose and wiggly. And that will make your earrings fall out, bringing you back to square one.

What do you think? Have you done any crafty projects with chicken wire? Tell me in the comments below. I want to hear about them and maybe we can inspire each other!

DIY matte lip

I've seen it. You've seen it. We've all seen it. Matte lips are very trendy this year and you can find them on the runways or at the workplace. Have you wanted to try the matte finish but not have to buy duplicates of your favorite colors? Thaaat would be me. Unless there is a deal like some BOGO action, I'm not going to be buying the same of one product just because one is shiny and one is matte. So what can you do?

I've been doing a little bit of research and found some pretty cool tricks to DIY your lips and to achieve a beautiful matte lip.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Covergirl Outlast All-Day Lipcolor (only the moisturizing half--but any chapstick-like stick will work) | Maybelline Line Stylist Lipliner in Red no.510 | Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Red Revolution no.630 | Covergirl Loose Translucent Powder

STEP 1: Moisturize.

STEP 2: Line lips.

STEP 3: Apply lipstick.

STEP 4: Blot with a tissue and dust powder through the tissue.

STEP 5: You now have a matte lip!!

If you don't have any translucent powder in your makeup bag, you can substitute it for blush. What?! Yep. Just remove the tissue from the equation and swop out the powder for the blush. Pat it on your lips and you're done.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Covergirl Outlast All-Day Lipcolor (only the moisturizing half--but any chapstick-like stick will work) | POP Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon in Fuchsia Flirt | MAC Mineralized Blush in Dainty

STEP 1: Moisturize.

STEP 2: Apply lipstick.

STEP 3: Smear blush over lips.

STEP 4: You now have a matte lip using blush!

Which do you like better? Personally, the blush is quicker for me and less fuss but I like the look of the loose powder brushed through the tissue. It doesn't change the color of my favorite lipsticks--because if I wanted a different color, I would have bought a different color. But it's still fun to mix with colors and find something new. It's like buying a new lipstick from the store!! 

Both of these options give you a long-lasting color on your lips. It won't smudge on drinking glasses nor will it smudge on someone's cheek when you kiss them goodbye. It truly lasts all day. And if you do need to touch up, you can reapply like normal. Most stains/24-hour lip colors make my lips dry when it's been on for that many hours. And it's hell to rub those off if you do need to reapply.

This DIY trick makes me a happy girl. I'm saving money and keeping my lips moisturized while looking matte. Do you have any different ideas for a DIY matte lip? I'd love to hear it and try it myself!!

Gray + White Stripes

I have been obsessed with stripes lately and I think it's safe to say that I'm not the only one. They just go well with every season whether it be in fashion or home decor. I found a blog a while back that gave instructions on how to paint a striped wall in her home. The Lazy Girl's Timesaving Tips for Painting Wall Stripes tells you that she wasn't the original tutorial maker but she just gives you ways to cut time with the project. Sign me up.

Her rules were as follows:
1. Use what you have.
2. Remember the number seven.
3. Use tape pieces to mark which rows NOT to paint.
4. Measure from the top down.
5. Find good painter's tape.
6. Don't let it dry.
7. Don't make the stripes two drastic colors.
8. Don't expect perfection.

Our walls in the entire house are this grayish-purplish-taupish color and it changes depending on if the sunlight is hitting it directly or if the lights are on in that room. We decided it would be fun to paint one of the walls in the bathroom. I considered Rule no.7 and thought about painting it tan/white and then picking the contrast stripe to be the opposite color of whatever I picked. But that was going to be too much work. Hello, I'm Meghan and I'm lazy. 

I also considered Rule no.1 and thought about using the paint in the garage left from the previous owners. I looked inside the cans and it was either the gray color or red from the front door. So I headed to Wally World and bought a quart of semi-gloss paint in Stone White.

Every other rule I tried to follow and it turned out to be a pretty simple project. The only sucky part was that we did not have a level of any kind so we took the redneck way of measuring across the wall with a pencil and yard stick. I don't have but a couple of pictures because this project happened before I started using Instagram and before I started blogging again. So I apologize for that. If you need more help using pictures, please visit the blog I linked in the beginning of this post and she can help you out!

Do any of you have any painting projects for your home? I'd love to hear about them! Send leave a comment and/or send me a link!!

DIY Garland

This has got to be the easiest way to make garland and I wanted to share it in case you needed a simple party pick-me-up! My birthday was on the 7th this month so we combined that with Cinco de Mayo. And if you knew us, you better believe we get together and drink at even the silliest of holidays. Late twenties and we'll still partying hard. Classy, I tell you. 

Supplies needed:

• Twine--I bought the kind that came with the razor blade in the top part of the pastic
• Washi Tape--Target has these bad boys in their new gift section near the cards

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The only other things needed to make this garland is your time. Now, there are a few ways you could make this garland. You could make it like this, spaced close together, centering the tape with the twine.

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Or like this. Use any kind of string you like and press the tape around it, cutting the edges like so.

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I decided to press the tape around one side or the other and spaced it out about two inches instead of so close together like the others. I wrapped mine around the mirror over our mantle three times.

 I know the washi tape looks washed out from this picture but it was dark when I took the pictures. Cry me a river. Ha ha. The colors are true to the picture above in the dispenser. I was very happy with the outcome of the garland display. AND it was perfect for Cinco de Mego!! Oh yes, that was the name of our party. 

So if you need a quick party decoration without buying something expensive, try this out! What other easy tricks do you have to decorate for a party? I'm interested in them all, so shoot them my way and maybe we can try each other's?!

DIY Food Passport

What is a food passport, you might ask? If you're one of those people who like to make lists just so you can check off an item or if you like to keep note of new restaurants you've been to, then this journal is for you! It's a notebook where you can write down different places that you and your friends or you and your significant other want to try out in the area. Then you can either check it off the list or you can place a sticker like I did. Yes, I'm 27 and I still like stickers. I got the idea from another blogger who just happens to also live in the Nashville area but I made it my own. When I get on the doodling train, especially when it comes to letters, there's no stopping me. I'll show you some of the restaurants I wrote down and you could adapt yours to something similar.

I wrote down the restaurant names, the date we dined with them, hours of operation, phone numbers, and if reservations were needed or not. But you can write down whatever you feel like writing. That's for you to decide. All you need is a small notebook so that it can fit in your purse and some doodling magic in those fingertips!

Step 1: Buy a cute notebook.

Step 2: Buy some stickers. I thought about getting other stickers but these were in the dollar bin at Target and I couldn't say no to these guys.

Step 3: Write in your Food Passport title page.

Final Step: Decide what restaurants you would like to dine in and write them down!

Several others with this same idea made their passport with a different notebook. Here is what some of theirs look like.

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Making a food passport was a DUH moment for me. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before now. We like trying out new restaurants all the time. And this will be such an awesome memory when we look back 40 years from now and think of all the good times we had.

If you're unsure about trying new restaurants, take that leap of faith and just do it!! You'll be pleasantly surprised at all the exciting and delicious foods out there. It's always an adventure when you open your appetites to world in front of you.

Have you made a food passport before? What did it look like? Have you made a similar notebook? What new things were you trying out?

Updates on the house

I wanted have this amazing mash-up blog of different topics like fashion, relationships, DIY, and my attempt at being fit but blogs are hard to keep up with! I don't know how some people do it. I'm going to make it my goal to have at least one really really good post about something that pertains to people my age. I thought about doing that in this post but I wanted to give an update on some of my home revisions.

We moved in our house in November last year and I picked out navy to be our master bath color. The tiles were a speckled navy and light blue color so I thought navy would look really good! A few weekends ago, the sun was shining in the window above the shower and I noticed that these tiles were actually gray. I must need my eyes checked because the gray was very apparent. My mind began to spin in ways to fix this. I made a post with pictures of ideas that I liked and I finally gotten it all fixed. Our walls in the entire house are gray. In some lights they look purple and in other lights they look taupe. Compared to the gray speckled tiles in the bathroom, they looked more taupe. I bought a white shower curtain with these cute ruffles at the top and bottom, a black and white flower bath rug, white frames, and I painted thick white stripes on one wall.

We also just got new counter tops in the kitchen and both bathrooms and new sinks. Our bathroom counters were called "White Star" and has more of a mosaic look with glass specks in it. The sink is a basic, clear vessel bowl and I am in love with it all! Isn't it adorable?

I wanted to keep things mainly black/gray and white with just a little bit of coral. You can see the coral flowers in the picture but I still have on my project list to paint the inside of the drawers of the cabinet. I bought those acrylic bottles like from Hobby Lobby in three different coral/orange colors. As soon as I get around to it, I'll have a blast doing it.

I wasn't going to mention this but those mason jars on the counter? I made those!! I bought the jars at Hobby Lobby and small plastic pump bottles because I couldn't find the pumps separate. I wasn't quite sure how to make a hole in the top of the jar's lid but I soon realized it was super easy to hammer a screwdriver to start the hole. I had some all-purpose glue in one of my junk drawers so I was able to glue the soap pump to the hole in the jar lid. And after an hour or so of drying (just to make sure it wouldn't drip in the soap), they were good to fill up with soap and use! I thought about just using too but I tend to keep my face wash out on the counter so I have one for hand soap, one for Germ-X, and the other for face wash.

And if you want to make a cute make up brush holder like the one I have on the right of the counter, I just filled up an open vase with clear stones and placed them accordingly. Some people have used coffee beans or colored sand. That is up to you. Luckily I had that vase left over from the candy bar at our wedding so I was happy to be able to reuse it.

The kitchen was re-done too with new counters, backsplash, and sink.

We have gotten a new 2 cu ft Samsung Microwave put up since this picture too but I haven't taken a new picture yet. Gorgeous, right?!

I think you can tell from this picture but the kitchen used to be painted green. There is still green in this picture around the inside frame of that window cut-out over the sink. Now that the back splash covers up most of it, there is still green to the right of the sink on the wall of the pantry and to the left of the fridge around the actual window and below that where we keep the trash can. I love the brightness of the green but I feel as though it's really random now.

I also decided to change up the pictures along the wall of the stairs. I had put up several wedding pictures but I wanted to change that. I have no clue when you're supposed to take down wedding pictures, but I figured a year and a half was long enough. One of my bestie's Lauren, had this massive L that someone gave her and she said I could have it so I was glad to take it off her hands. I ordered several other L's and put them up beside it. There were a few wedding frames that I didn't reuse the frames so I put them in one of the bedrooms upstairs.

This was what it originally looked like.

And this is what it looks like now.

I am absolutely in love!! I had to rearrange it a couple of times, but needless to say, I am happy with this arrangement so it'll stay :)

Home improvement projects are one of my favorite things to do so if any of my friends want/need me to come over and help with any of that, or decorating for that matter too, I'm your girl!!

Room make-overs

Jerry and I bought a house this past November and it is the perfect starter home. We don't have a dining room, which I don't mind, but there are three bedrooms AND a separate loft area for Jerry's office. It also has a garage and a fenced in backyard. My favorite is probably having a garage. No more running through the rain to the front door! It has an "open" concept, in that the living room's ceiling goes all the way to the top where the ceiling would be for the second floor. The kitchen is open as well but there are beams to make up the four corners.

This is one of the beams in the kitchen.

The mirror above the mantle kind of shoes the openness of the room.

I tend to think that I have pretty good decorating skills but Pinterest is the devil. If you don't have a Pinterest, get one. It's a place to keep boards of inspirational, motivational, decorating ideas. I stay on there ALL day long. No joke. Recently I found this picture. And I loved the grays with the pop of coral. I also love the idea of putting soap in a mason jar.

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And then I saw this picture.

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I loved that this person mixed prints. Actually, I love everything. The striped wall, floral shower curtain, damask-like bath rug in front of the sink. Everything. Our bathroom right now are all blues. It came with blue speckled tiles so we have a solid navy shower curtain and rug. I bought some $1 signs from Target recently that had teal mixed in with the navy so I bought teal towels to have an equal amount of teal and navy. Last weekend, the shower curtain was pulled open and the sun was shining through the window and I noticed that the floors were gray and black speckled. We've been in this house for over six months and I just now noticed that. I felt like a dummy. After seeing the pictures above, and especially after the realization of color, I told myself that I needed to re-do my bathroom. I also decided on a few other things thanks to Pinterest. 

I'll be framing my mirror.

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I'll also be painting the inside of my drawers coral, probably.

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How much more exciting could it get for me knowing that I get to re-do some rooms in our home? I'm pumped!! I almost forgot to mention that we hired Granite Transformations to re-do our kitchen and bathrooms. They specialize in granite overlays, not full granite. So there is no demolition. We're replacing our kitchen counters, sink, faucet, and getting a fabulous subway style backsplash. The bathrooms are getting new counters and just the master bath is getting a new vessel sink and faucet. They will be doing their install this coming Monday and Tuesday. But I wanted to get things done before then. So here's the run-down of my current home To Do List.

1. Buy wood pieces to frame the mirror.
2. Paint bathroom cabinets black with coral on the inside like the last picture, above.
3. Paint white stripes on one wall (our walls are already gray).  DONE
4. Pour soap in mason jars and poke holes in lids and insert pumps.  DONE

I also have a project going for the wall along the stairs. I got my inspiration from...Pinterest, of course!

I don't know why this above section is highlighted with a white background and I can't get it to go away...

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Our last name is Lee so collecting these L's will be so much fun!

Other things on my To Do List:

1. Paint the back of the front door black.

2. Put together media shelf in the office upstairs.

3. Make home-made grout cleaner and use on master bathroom (I'll be sure to take pictures!).

4. Buy magnet strip and glue to the inside of bathroom drawer for bobby pins.

I know there's more whirling around in my head but I'm getting distracted so I better run and buy these things before my head explodes from so much planning. Tutorials are in the works for these future projects. Be looking for them :)