Easy DIY Hair Lightener For Blondes

As blondes know, blonde hair dulls and darkens with age. You can hit the salon for highlights, which can be pricey and requires maintenance. You can use drugstore haircolor, which can be hit or miss (especially the highlighting kits, trust me on this). I really just wanted to brighten up my blonde.  I don't have the patience for maintenance anymore and I've had a few mishaps with the drugstore haircolor (fyi, brush on highlights are NOT as simple as just painting them on. NOT AT ALL). My solution is a commercial spray-in lightener that brightens my hair a shade. I only use it every three or four weeks and all I do is spray it on after shampooing, then I blow dry my hair. Easy peasy. But, I have baby-fine hair. Pathetically baby-fine hair. So pathetic that every hairdresser ever has commented on it. Apparently, no one else has hair as baby-fine as mine. Not even babies. So, as you can imagine it gets easily damaged. So I deep condition with coconut oil every time I use this stuff. Plus, it smells kinda weird. But it's cheaper and easier than highlights and much less risky than drugstore haircolor. 

As I was browsing through Pinterest as I occasionally do (occasionally being every day) I noticed a pin for a DIY Hair Lightener. I pinned it and promptly forgot about it. I found it again as I was searching for something else I had pinned. As I read it, I realized I already had everything I needed. And I also realized I had run out of the commercial stuff about a month ago. And it was cheaper than the commercial stuff I use. I decided it was time to try this. It has honey and olive oil in it, so it doesn't dry out my hair. And the lemon juice and cinnamon and chamomile make it smell delicious. I was almost tempted to try it. But I'm not a hot tea person. Now if it smelled like coffee...well, let's not go there.

All you need is more than likely in your kitchen right now. And a spray bottle, but if you don't have a spare one lying around, they're a dollar at the dollar store. All you need is:

1 chamomile tea bag

1 cup hot water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup lemon juice (I used bottled lemon juice, but you could use fresh)

Put the tea bag in the hot water and let sit until it has cooled to room temperature. Using a funnel, pour into a spray bottle and add the rest of the ingredients and shake well. You will have to shake this up each time you use it, as it tends to separate.

Just spray on dry hair. You can spray it all over, just at the roots, just framing your face, however you want. Then you can either wait 60 minutes, sit in the sun for 30 minutes (but it smells so good it would probably attract bees and wasps), or if you're impatient like me and love that instant gratification, blow dry it. Then wash it. The olive oil and honey made my hair feel soft and conditioned, so I didn't need my coconut oil afterwards! I only use it every three to four weeks, whenever I need a little brightening.

This does not lighten your hair several shades, just one or two. My hair is a medium blonde and after I use this, my hair is noticeably brighter, but is nowhere close to Marilyn Monroe blond. So you're looking to go a lot lighter, you're going to be rather disappointed. I also would not recommend this for brunettes or redheads. Not being a professional hairdresser, I couldn't tell you what this would do to you. I'm afraid you'd get creepy, brassy highlights. And nobody looks good with those. NOBODY.

I guess I should add the disclaimer, "please do not try this if you are allergic to any of these ingredients." Although, seriously, I would think that's just common sense.


If you have blonde hair and it just needs a little refreshing, give this spray a try!

Until the next project, 
Chris :)

Tricked Out Book Page Decoupage Chairs

I have a set of six old dining chairs that are looking really beat. I don't really need them, but I don't want to get rid of them, because they'd be nice for extra seating (like I entertain a lot, ha ha ha!) but they're kinda bulky and I don't have anywhere to store them. So, I'm going to fix them up and use them as decorative accents around the house. That way, when (and if) I need them, they're easily accessible and they'll add a little personality. Every house needs some personality.

I loved how well my daughter's decoupage desk turned out and I love reading, so why not use book pages? They worked out pretty well on my book page lampshade, so I'm going for it! And it's way more creative and interesting than just plain, old paint.

I turned my attention first to my little nook in the foyer. I decided to put a chair in there, as well as a small folding table. I was given three of them and I like having a small, portable table that uses up very little space. Here's the chair and table in all their pre-make-over glory:

Pretty sad, right? I stripped, sanded and painted them antique white, then hit them with a coat of diluted brown glaze. I used a toothbrush and the glaze to give the chairs some faint age spots. I think age spots give furniture character, unlike my face. Those, I try to banish. Then it was on to decoupaging.

I wanted an aged look, but all my old books are my favorites and I will NOT desecrate them. I can't do that to "Anne of Green Gables", "Nancy Drew" or "Little House". Besides, I still break them out and read them. I love them that much. For some reason, I have two copies of "Little Town on the Prairie", one of which is missing the last couple of pages. So I used that.  

I decided to only decoupage the chair seat and the table top, so I took off the seat and the table top so they would be easier to work with.

After I carefully cut the pages out of the book, I arranged and rearranged them until I was pleased with the placement. Then I broke out the decoupage. I brushed a thin coat on the back of the pages, then carefully smoothed them down onto the chair seat, making sure the edges were adhered. 

 After I finished, I thought it needed something. I remembered some wall art I pinned on Pinterest. It was bird silhouettes on a book page background. But instead of black silhouettes, I did a red bird on a brown branch with green leaves. I just traced a bird onto red cardstock, cut out a branch from brown cardstock and leaves from green. And I had all that in the craft stash. I just decoupaged them on to the pages and after about an hour I brushed on a coat and then another coat an hour after that. After they dried overnight, I gave them a couple coats of sealer, put everything back together, and rejoiced. Life was good. I popped them in my awkward foyer nook and hung a photo gallery (with Command strips so I can redo it whenever I want). I spray painted all the frames in a matching antique white so they all match. Or look cohesive, whichever you prefer.

Now I decided to make a chair to complement my "Life Is Better With A Rottweiler" art. I hung the art at the top of my stairs, but there's another awkward space that was just crying out for a chair. At least that's what I heard. I stripped (I am not enjoying this), sanded and painted this chair black to complement the art frame (and the rest of the frames upstairs). I covered the seat with pages leftover from my Rottweiler art. Just add a stuffed rottie and I'm done! 

Finally, I did two more chairs and another small, portable table for the dining room. I stripped (I REALLY, REALLY HATE stripping furniture at this point), sanded and painted them antique white and aged them just like I did with the foyer chair and table. But instead of just decoupaging them with pages, I cut petal shapes from an old "Joy of Cooking" cookbook (I have two and one if falling apart). Using the same glaze I used to antique the chairs, I sponge painted about half the petals. I then traced a big circle on the seat using a pizza pan, then started decoupaging the petals around the circle. After I finished the first circle, I started the second circle with the sponged petals. After that, I just kept alternating sponged and non-sponged circles. Then I sealed it with a coat of decoupage and hit it with a couple coats of sealer. On the second chair, I alternated sponged and non-sponged petals, instead of just the circles. On the table, I alternated circles. Looking good, right? 

I still have two chairs that I have no idea what to do with or where to put them. I'm pondering a "Harry Potter" chair for one daughter and a "Game of Thrones" for the other. I am still in the pondering stage, however, if I do follow through with these ideas, I'll be sure to post them! 

Until the next project, 
Chris :)

No Sew Dropcloth Curtain Panels and Valances

The window treatments in my kitchen/living room needed updating. I made them shortly after we moved in about eight years ago, and while I loved them back then, I fell out of love with them a few years ago. I've changed the whole direction of my kitchen/living room and they just didn't fit in anymore. So I'm re-homing them to someone who will love them as much as I used to. 

Updating included re-painting not just the kitchen/living room, but also the two-story foyer and upstairs hall as well, since they all flow together. And that took a lot of paint. And while I didn't get the most expensive paint, I didn't get the cheap stuff either. So I did spend a nice chunk of change on paint. And maybe one or two really cool accessories. I'm a sucker for Ross. And Tuesday Morning. So I didn't have a lot to spend on window treatments. Plus, the rooms have high ceilings with tall windows, so longer curtains mean more money. And I like cheap. And they're easy. No sew easy. Because at this point, I was also tired and lazy. Sewing would've been a hassle. 

I have seen dropcloth curtains on Pinterest, so I went to Lowe's to check out some dropcloths. Instead of buying all I needed at once, I picked up a 5' x4' to try out as valances for my two narrower windows. If I didn't like it, I was only out a couple bucks.

All you need to make these is dropcloths (thanks, Captain Obvious!), pinking shears (if you don't have pinking shears, you could use regular fabric shears, if you use Fray-Chek to keep them from fraying) and curtain rings with clips. I just reused my curtain rings from my previous curtains (free!) but you can get them pretty much anywhere that sells curtain rods. And you can get them fairly inexpensively too! 

I had read reviews that said dropcloths smell musty. Mine, fortunately, did not. I still washed and dried them. I pulled my out of the dryer as soon as it finished and hung it up, so I did not have to iron them. You could iron them, but I like the less formal, rustic feel. And I didn't feel like ironing at the time. To make my valances, I used the hems as my hem, and the selvage edges as my sides. I cut the dropcloth in half width-wise with my pinking shears, folded each almost in half, I just made the front side about a 1/4" longer to hide the pinked edge. Then I  attached my curtain rings and hung them up! One thing I like about curtain rings is that I can form pleats to make my valances hang better.

Since I loved the way my two smaller valances turned out, I traipsed back to Lowe's and got another 4'x5'  to make two valances for my sliding glass door and two 4'x12' for either side of my big picture window. I did the same thing for the longer sliding glass door valances as I did for the smaller window valances, since they are pretty much the same thing. 

As for the curtain panels, after I washed and dried them, I folded the curtain over to the length I wanted, keeping the shorter side to the back. I clipped on the curtain rings and hung them up. I noticed the shorter part in the back peeked out along the edges, so I tucked them in and secured them with a safety pin. Now these particular dropcloths have a seam across the middle. It actually doesn't look bad at all. I guess because it's all one color, it's not quite as noticeable. Harbor Freight has 4'x12' dropcloths without the seam, but they're a lighter weight and the color is lighter too. I prefer the heaver weight of the ones I got from Lowe's, seam and all. Hey, you can see my Dry Erase Paint Chip Board!

Looks pretty good, right? I've been thinking about jazzing them up with a stencil (red, of course). But I can't decide on a stencil. Do I want a small, all-over pattern, or a large scale pattern along the top or bottom, or trim along the center seam. Since a stencil (or trim) hasn't jumped out and declared to be the stencil of my dreams, I'm gonna keep them the way they are for now. Why go through all that work for something I just don't love? Just like waiting for Mr. Right. 

Until the next project, 
Chris

Recycled Front Door Letter!

This spring I finally got plants to put in my planters on my front porch. Problem is, my dollar store wreath that I made last year when I did my $8.00 front porch makeover doesn't match. I looked around for a wreath idea, but I just wasn't feeling it. As I was rooting around in my craft stash, I found the back to an old poster frame and a light bulb went on.. I've seen tons of twine wrapped letters people put on their front doors, so why can't I cut one out and paint it to match my plants?

I am a genius.

Maybe.

After all, all I gotta do is draw out a letter "A", cut it out, paint it, seal it and hang it up, right? 

Too easy. I'll have this done by lunch!

Or not.

Luckily, our last name starts with an A. If it started with a G or an B, I might not have finished this. If my last name started with a T, I or L, I might've finished this *&$! thing a lot sooner. I took a yardstick and started drawing my A. It took a couple tries and researching some fonts, but I finally did it. Then I used tape to mark off my best A, since there were so many lines from previous tries. 

Now to cut this bad boy out. I used a Dremel tool first to score my lines, thinking I could then use a cutting wheel to cut it out. The scoring worked fine, the cutting wheel not so much. Even though it's a fairly thin piece of wood, it's still too much for the cutting wheel. I decided to try the jigsaw next, even though I was worried it would chew up the edges. I did a practice cut and decided I could sand the edges.

It cut through everything, but some lines are not smooth and straight and I messed up in a few spots, but I got it cut out and it still looks like an A and I still have all my fingers. Quite proud of myself.

I sanded the edges as smooth as I could, but some lines were still wobbly, especially where I had to cut inside the A. And there was a big chunk along the top right side that I couldn't get with out the jigsaw tearing the letter. So I sucked that up and decided to figure out a way to camouflage it later. 

Before I could paint it, I needed to fix the spots where I went a little too far with the jigsaw. I filled the cut marks and chunks with wood filler, let it dry and sanded it.

Finally, onto painting. I planted coleus (coleuses?) in my planters, so I pulled the colors out of that. I used a bright, citron green for the letter and used burgundy and magenta for the designs. Not only does that match my coleus, but I also have bright green and burgundy shrubs. That was a happy accident. Sometimes it just all comes together...

I painted the whole A with the green...

Then I stenciled stripes in the burgundy and magenta...

Then I sealed it with 3 coats (front and back) of clearcoat, glued on a ribbon and hung that bad boy up!

You can see the big chunk in the upper right hand corner of the A, but you can't see it from the street, so I'm just gonna suck it up and live with it. 

I do like my A. It's different from all the countless wreaths everywhere and it's colorful. I like colorful! Maybe it wasn't quite as easy as I first envisioned, but I am happy. Plus you can't see the problem areas from the street. 

Until the next project, 

Chris :)

DIY Weed Killer That Really Works!

This summer has been hell on my garden and yard. Between lots of rain and hot sunny days, weeds are springing up everywhere! Big, angry weeds that are overtaking everything, like a power-mad dictator. And lots of weeds mean lots of bugs. I am not overly fond of bugs, especially Japanese beetles and the biting, stinging things that live in all my weeds. So the weeds gotta go, pronto!

Now, I am not the Food Babe, hell bent on removing all chemicals from our lives (you gotta check out SciBabe's takedown of the Food Babe here, she is awesome!), nor do I have anything against Monsanto, the makers of RoundUp (apparently, they're the most hated company in America and we all need to stick it to them). For the most part, I like chemicals. What I am, is cheap. Plus, I have a dog who does not have the sense to stay away from weeds that have been sprayed. So I looked for an alternative that was both cheap and relatively dog-friendly. 

I did a lot of searching and decided to try the vinegar-salt-blue Dawn combo. I must say, it worked great! All you need is one gallon of white vinegar, 1 cup of salt, a tablespoon of blue Dawn dish detergent (just plain blue Dawn, not the stuff with all the extras in it), and a spray bottle. You can heat the vinegar so the salt dissolves quicker, but I just mixed the salt and vinegar and let it sit overnight, shaking occasionally. I added the Dawn the next morning, poured it in the sprayer and went to town. 

These are my before pics:

Pretty scary, huh? This is our firepit/picnic area. You couldn't pay me to sit and eat here. This is my weapon of choice:

Just thoroughly douse those bad boys with this stuff. You may feel like you're in a pickle barrel once you get a whiff of all that vinegar. 

Here's the results just 3 hours later!

 

What a difference! If the weeds aren't dead, they are dying! Some of the bigger ones and the really thick ones needed an extra dousing. But I am so pleased with the results! And the fact that it's way cheaper than RoundUp. And Tazer can sniff and wallow through the weeds to his furry little heart's content. Which isn't too much, actually. He's not thrilled with the vinegar smell. 

Just to recap, here's before:

And here's the after:

Great stuff, right? If you're cheap like me, you gotta try this! And if you're looking for "chemical free" living, you gotta try this! Although, for all the posts touting this as a chemical free alternative to harsh chemical herbicides, salt is a chemical compound, so I guess it's not chemical free! 

Until the next project, 

Chris :)

Thrifted Decoupage Desk: A Comedy of Errors

My daughter needed a real desk; before this she was using our old bakers rack crammed into a corner of the overcrowded, disorganized mess that is my office/craft studio. She was looking at Walmart and Target for something inexpensive, but those desks did not offer much in the way of storage or desktop space. And they were kinda...meh. No personality. I like personality.

One day, as I was digging around the office/craft studio, I found the desktop from our old desk. The desk was shot, but the desktop was still in good shape so I saved it, hoping to find a good use for it someday. I figured that today was someday and I could make a desk for a lot cheaper than store bought. And with a lot more personality.

I searched craigslist and hit a nearby thrift store and found a filing cabinet for $10.00. Aw yeah! It was a little rusty in the the back, but the rest was in good shape and the back will be against the wall, right? I also found a 2 shelf bookcase I scored for $8.00! $18.00 for desk? I can get behind that! Now I had to decide what color to paint it. As I was checking my Facebook feed, I noticed a post about decoupage. Now that would be different. And fun! Hahahahahahaha! Fun, my butt. However, it turned out beautifully with loads of personality!

Isn't it cool! Brooke and I hit the craft stores looking for awesome scrapbook paper (which was on sale - boom shaka laka!) and we spent $8.00 on paper and decoupage glue, bringing the grand total to $26.00! Not too shabby, if you ask me...

Brooke fell in love with the flower paper and we got some purple and teal paper to complement the flowers. Now to start decoupaging! Easier said than done....

Now I've got everything but an idea. And that was a hurdle. I pondered and searched Pinterest and the internet. And finally found my inspiration on a quilters page! I've always wanted to quilt my own gorgeous, intricate, colorful quilt. But I am seriously lacking in patience and sewing skills. I figure recreating a quilt pattern with paper is as close as I'm gonna get. It took me several tries and reconfigurations until I got the look I wanted. I ended up doing 1 inch strips and 6 inch squares. I started with the bookcase. I sanded it down; just enough to rough up the surface. Then I sanded down the inside very well and spray painted the inside white, then got to decoupaging. I brushed glue on a small section of the bookcase and then on the back of the paper and smoothed the paper onto the bookcase, then brushed another layer of glue over the paper to seal it. About halfway down the first side, I realized that it was bubbling up. 

If you look closely at the bottom half of this pic, you'll see where it's bubbling. I vented my frustrations, ripped the paper off, sanded it smooth, then went to the internet to see where I went wrong. 

On my second try, I brushed a thin coat directly on the bookshelf, then smoothed the paper down, making sure the edges were glued down. I did this the whole way down the side, then waited for it to dry for an hour or two, then covered it with a thin coat of decoupage, waited another hour or two, then covered it with another thin coat, waited for another hour or two and then did the third and final thin coat. I wrapped the decoupage around the front edge which didn't work out so well. Maybe it was because the paper was thicker, but I had to press hard for thirty seconds and, in some cases, I had to go back with more glue. 

I only did the sides because the back will be against the wall and the desktop will cover the top. I realized that I may someday want to move the desk elsewhere and the back may show. I have enough paper to finish the back when and if that day ever comes. I was a little too frustrated with the damn thing to do the back at this time. Plus, I still had the filing cabinet to do. 

The paper that I wrapped around the front edge was NOT sticking down very well. So I cut the edges off and added glitter tape. I also added it around the front shelf and  the bottom. After I stuck it down, I added two coats of decoupage glue. I am not thrilled with the glitter tape, but Brooke is and it's her desk, so, there you have it.

So now that's done, I can move on to the filing cabinet! The filing cabinet had rusty spots on it and the bottom back corner had a rusted out spot. I used a Dremel to smooth out the sharp edges on the rusted out spot and really sanded the bottom front, top and back. I sanded the sides and drawer fronts just enough to smooth out the bad paint job. Then I spray painted the bottom, front, top and back. Even though the top, bottom and back won't be seen, I wanted to cover the rusty spots and keep them from getting nasty.

I also took off the handles and the little knobs and hit them with white spray paint too. Two cans of spray paint set me back $8.00. 

I decoupaged the drawer fronts, then turned my attention to the sides. I did have a little problem keeping the strips straight on the bookcase sides, so this time I drew lines to help keep my strips straight.

I absolutely LOVE the filing cabinet after! I wish I could've found two of these! But the bookcase offers more storage, so I guess it works out better. 

I set the desktop on the filing cabinet and bookcase, then screwed the top down from the underside of the bookcase. I used two flat braces on either side of the back of the cabinet to hold the top. And, boom, we've got ourselves a desk! 

I painted an old chair and some baskets teal to match the desk. I also saved the shelf that used to be the top of the desk (yes, I seriously saved it too) and mounted it above the desk using some old wrought iron brackets I painted white. I've been holding on to these puppies for, oh, about ten years now. I save a lot of stuff. 

Now Brooke has an awesome, colorful desk with storage AND personality. And all it took was $34.00 and a little bit of effort. And some swearing. 

Until the next project, 

Chris :)

DIY Sunglasses to match every outfit!

I like to match. I would love to have designer sunglasses that match every outfit. I would also like to travel to all sorts of exotic places with my designer sunglasses on my own private jet. Obviously, neither one is happening. But what I do have is endless creativity, access to cheap sunglasses and an overflowing craft stash. So I will make sunglasses to match every outfit! 

I searched the Internet looking for ideas on DIY websites and designer websites. Then I searched through the craft stash and nail polish (yes, nail polish!) to see what I could come up with. Then, it was off to find some cheap sunglasses. I hit the Dollar Tree and Five Below and found some cheap glasses. I wasn't quite ready (or willing) to try my newfound ideas on nice sunglasses - yet.

First, I tried my hand at gluing stuff on my glasses. This is so easy, even the craftily challenged can handle this! I got a black pair of sunglasses at the Dollar Tree and an old pair of clip on earrings. 

Using my wire cutters, I snipped off the earring backs, then I spread some E6000 (the stuff glues ANYTHING) on both the backs of the earrings and the temples of the glasses with a toothpick, waited about two minutes then stuck them together. 

And voila! Sparkly and rizty! Tres chic, no?

I found a pair of my daughter's old sunglasses and glued on some beads from an old bracelet to create these:

I glued some hematite stars I had leftover from a bracelet I made and now I have sunglasses that match it!

I found some old stretch bracelets that lost their stretch. I just glued those babies on these pairs:

I found some seashell beads and starfish beads along with some seafoam seed beads and came up with these beach worthy beauties:

I then tried my hand at nail polish. I grabbed another pair of black sunglasses and nail polish in an awesome glittery purple. Since I sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) suck at staying in the lines when I paint, I taped off the lenses with painters tape.

I painted just the front with the nail polish. I did three coats. I still felt it needed a little extra oomph, so I added a flower button to each temple. 

I needed a red pair, so I grabbed these tortoise shell glasses, taped off some lines and polished away. The polish was a bright, screaming red, but I guess the tortoise shell was too dark and it came out more of a brick red. I still like them though.

I made a beaded pair by brushing the top half with glue, rolling them in seed beads, letting them dry then topping them off with a coat of decoupage to keep the beads in place.

Thankfully, they were only a dollar. They look like a Pinterest fail! Looks like they're topped with fish eggs. Ick.

So, I tried again with coral nail polish with a white glitter top coat. This is what I was going for!

 

I did a second pair using just a pink glitter top coat. I like bling.

I wrapped the sides and nose piece of these aviators with embroidery floss. I first did a pair in red, then mixed it up with stripes. I hate them both. I think they look stupid. I might just rip off the embroidery floss and use nail polish.

I'm ready to try my hand on some (slightly) more expensive glasses. Plus, I haven't tried washti or fabric tape and I want to decoupage some book pages on the earpieces! And my daughter has commandeered half of my new sunglasses! But I'm rocking the ones she left me!

Until the next project, 

Chris :)