DIY Magnetic Makeup Board

Or, in which I attempt to imitate Pinterest and succeed!

I have loved the idea of a magnetic makeup board since I first read about it a few years ago. Since then, the idea has spread like wildfire across the Internet. The Huffington Post touted these boards as THE way to reduce stress in the morning, Pinterest has dozens of different takes on the concept, and a Kickstarter campaign to make them for retail was successfully funded. Basically, magnetic makeup boards are the new Hansel. So hot right now.

And I still wanted one! Especially since I've started using a wider variety of makeup, and doing so more frequently. BareMinerals has some really pretty stuff, ok? And don't tell me that you could resist 20 eyeshadows for 30 dollars, because I know you couldn't! Anyhow. Lots of makeup, not so great storage (unless you think a dusty vinyl makeup bag is super awesome, in which case I have something you might be interested in...), and a bathroom counter that was getting too crowded. It was time!

But... I'm also kinda lazy and slow to get motivated. So it took some self-convincing before I actually got started. Especially since I got a sewing machine for Christmas and was sure that I needed to use that first... anyhow! Last Sunday I actually went out and bought the first few necessary items for my project. Namely, a picture frame and some fabric. Now, most bloggers would tell you to just skip on down to the thrift store where you'll find a lovely frame for just $3 that somehow no one else has noticed and doesn't have suspicious stains on it. That was overly cynical, I apologize. I love thrift stores. I just haven't had ANY luck finding quality picture frames in them. They've all been hideous. Like, really hideous. Anyhow! I decided that, rather than try my luck at a thrift store and get frustrated, I'd simply go to a store and buy a frame I liked. Which I did. It is lovely. Then I headed on over to the craft store to hunt for the right fabric - which was actually much harder than I'd anticipated. I wanted something that matched the greyish wood of the frame and also went with our bathroom's colors. It took some hunting but I finally found a pretty sea green fabric with a light grey pattern. Perfect!

Yesterday we went to get the other supplies I'd need. Namely, the sheet metal, magnets, and a hot glue gun. Home Depot was clearly the answer! Except, apparently, I'd been misled. Many (seriously, all) articles I'd read said that Home Depot could cut metal sheets to size upon request. Well, that may be true at some locations, but not the one I went to! Only wood cutting saws at that location! Fortunately, they sold these fun little things called "snips" that are designed for cutting sheet metal. So though I didn't mean to leave with a brand new tool, I did. Hooray!

When we got home, I assembled all necessary equipment. Mostly so I could take a picture of it ahead of time. Anyhow! As you see here, I have the picture frame, fabric, spray adhesive, work gloves, glue gun and glue sticks, magnets, snips, and sheet metal. The very first step was to cut the sheet metal down to size. I was a bit nervous, because hello sharp edges, but with the work gloves and some careful handling I was able to get it done.

Oooooh!

The key was to bend the metal I wasn't going to use away from the metal I wanted. Hence the metal on the right is a bit warped looking while the metal on the left is still flat. My frame measurements were 11.5 by 13.5, and the metal was 12x24. The easiest part was actually cutting off that teeny half-inch. As you can see, the metal twisted on its own as I cut it, conveniently moving out of the way of my snips and my hands. Good job, metal!

I'm turning that twisty bit into a Christmas ornament.

The next step was to attach the fabric to the metal. Luckily I still had some spray adhesive from another craft project a year or so ago, and knew that it would work for this as well. Unluckily, I'd left the fabric folded up for the past week, so it was full of wrinkles when I pulled it out. Iron to the rescue! Once all the wrinkles (almost typed wronkles) were out, I was able to quickly and easily attach it to the metal. I let it dry for about half an hour, then moved it inside to let it dry more. Once it had, I popped it in the frame.

Wronkles ahoy!

So I had my completed frame (which looked awesome, but the picture not so much) and now I needed to get the makeup on there. Time to break out the hot glue gun! I bought literally the smallest cheapest one they had at Home Depot, but it worked out well. I hadn't used a hot glue gun in years, but it turns out it's just like riding a bicycle: terrifying at first but once you move past the fear of terrible injury it's really fun!

Check out the reflections in the lids. Artsy, kinda!

I had a tough choice to make regarding the placement of magnets. Obviously on eye makeup that had a little window on the lid, I could place the magnet on the back. But BareMinerals apparently likes solid lids, which is less than convenient for seeing the color you want. So I put the magnets on the shiny, shiny lids and tried not to fret too much.

I wanted to destroy something beautiful.

As you can see, some of the bigger items required two magnets to stay up. Unfortunately, I'd only bought 20 magnets, so I wasn't able to get everything taken care of today. But! Those 20 magnets let me make a good start - check it out!

Ta-Da!

There you have it! My completed magnetic makeup board! I'm still debating whether to get a little jar or cup for eyeliners, brushes, etc - it looks cute, but I don't want to put too much weight on the board. I might just buy a jar to set on the counter. Still neater than my dusty old vinyl makeup bag! (Seriously, does anyone want it?) I'm going to call this effort a rousing success! Next up: sewing!

On New Year's Resolutions

Hey, I wrote a guest post! Go check me out over on SisterEden.com, and be sure to read some of the other posts as well. It's a fun group of bloggers over there!

Are you back? Did you read the post? Awesome, now we can talk about it! So how are my goals going? Well...

Even the most valiant efforts to go to the gym can be foiled by a burst water pipe in said gym. Do you know what is super fun? Waking up early to go to the gym, walking outside (in the polar vortex!) to get to the gym, and arriving only to find the doors locked, condensation all over the windows, and a team of maintenance workers wielding wet vacs like they were Proton Packs and the floor was an especially recalcitrant ghost. Thrilling! Regardless, I soldiered on. I decided that instead of the gym, I would work out at home, doing a bodyweight routine. Sometimes I make stupid decisions. My muscles still hurt. But hey, at least I have muscles!

How about cooking? Actually, I've done ok. The holidays aren't the best time to start trying to cook regularly, what with all the gatherings and the friends in town and the whatnot. But I've done alright. Make a few awesome slow cooker dishes, got to use my shiny new stand mixer, actually had leftovers for lunch this week... Success! Now I just need to maintain that for the rest of my life. Not daunting at all!

As for the reusable bags, I have also been doing well. A bunch now live in my car, so I have no excuses when I drive to the grocery store. I still need to locate the packable bag that is supposed to live in my purse. And I need to remember to take the reusable bags back to the car... Still. So far, so good.

One goal that I didn't mention over at Sister Eden was my desire to write more. I neglect this blog terribly, and so I'd like to change that. We'll see how that goes.

DIY Holiday Cards

I have a bit of an obsession with holiday cards. I love getting them, I love sending them, after the holidays I keep them in a wooden box for way too long... I love the everything about them! Over the past few years, I've sent out fairly basic cards - the kind with a cute pattern on the front, but blank on the inside. It worked well. I mean, who doesn't like penguins and candycanes (not on the same card)? But this year I got all inspired and shit. Buzzfeed had a post of DIY Holiday Cards, so obviously I couldn't help but look through. And fine, plenty of them have way too much Do, but some looked cute! So I thought, "What the hell, why not?"

One trip to the paper store and several glasses of wine later, success! So I decided to do fingerprint holiday lights - fairly simple, fairly inexpensive supplies, fairly little effort. Seemed like a good option to start this whole thing off. Of course, the very first thing I did (after asking my Charming Assistant to pour me some wine) was to create a template. Can't have my cards looking all willy-nilly, I needed something to go off of!

As you can see, I struggled a little deciding how to write the actual greeting. Never mind, we'll address that later. But so - a basic template for my string of holiday lights. The weird swirly things are where the "lights" will go - gotta have an idea so your card won't get too crowded! Next came doing that for all the cards!

There you go - strands of soon-to-be lights and the ink I'll be using. As a side note, the Color Box was fun, but the pink, green, and dark blue/purple all left something to be desired. You'll see.

All right, they're starting to look as though they might be actual Christmas lights, not just poorly made barbed wire. Go me!

Hey, those look like something you might actually put up on your front porch! Rock on! But something is missing...

Oh, there we go! Now these are things that I could send out without being embarrassed! (Side note - always have to use spell check to get that right. One of those things, you know?) Each card also had a short little note on the back to personalize it. Cause I'm personable like that!

After some trial and error, I've figured out that about eight lights is optimum - more than that and the card looks a little sloppy. Also, you need to have a good balance of red, yellow, and blue - then you can throw in a green and a purple for some interest. Finally, if you can't find the black Sharpie that you're sure you had somewhere in your home, the deep blue felt tip pen will work nicely.

So there you go! Some DIY holiday cards, poorly photographed! Rock on!

Home Composting (or how I became involved in an EPIC BATTLE against a fruit fly invasion)

Earlier this year I was determined to become a homesteading, crafty, DIY bundle of awesome wrapped up in snark and skinny jeans. It has... not quite gone according to plan. Life catches up, you know? And all of a sudden that craft that seemed so important keeps on getting pushed to the side. And your cat eats all your pepper seedlings and instead of starting again you say "fuck it" and decide to try again next year. And cooking, while enjoyable, takes time - time that could be used binge-watching Orange is the New Black and then debating it endlessly with your Charming Assistant.

But there was one thing that I was determined to do, and that was reduce our share of food waste going into landfills. We've had some mixed success with this. We're better about eating all leftovers and not letting them go bad. Then again, just two days ago I pulled out our bell peppers to make a delicious Italian-inspired dinner and found mold all over them. Boo! But one step that we did take was to begin composting at home. I had initially been curious about home composting companies like The Compost Crew or Compost Cab - they give you a compost bin to put your food waste in, and come to collect the scraps once a week. You pay for the service, but at the end of the year you get a portion of your compost back to use however you see fit. Charming Assistant, however, was not sold on the idea of paying someone to take out our trash for us. Clearly, further research was required!

After browsing around the Internet and reading You Grow, Girl cover to cover, I decided that worm composting was the way to go. I convinced Charming Assistant that this was something we could do, and he convinced me that we should start small - he didn't want to be responsible for too many worms - what if we didn't create enough scraps to feed them? Their wormy deaths would be on us. So we started out with a Rubbermaid bin that I'd drilled holes into, damp newspaper forming a layer on the bottom, 250 worms, and a week's worth of food scraps. See?

And it went well! The worms seemed happy, we were taking our trash out less, I could see the beginnings of compost forming in the bin. Then came the peaches. We bought some fresh peaches from our local farmer's market, and set them into our fruit bowl in the kitchen. Well, apparently they had fruit flies on them, which we discovered when we walked into our apartment one evening to discover a cloud of them congregating around the peaches. I flipped out. I literally hunted those buggers down by hand, smashing them gleefully in mid-air. I also set out the classic fruit fly trap of a piece of fruit at the bottom of a soda bottle. It seemed to work - their numbers were diminishing and I could cook without worrying about getting some extra unwanted protein in our food.

Then I went to go feed the worms. And another cloud of fruit flies exploded from their bin. Apparently a warm, damp compost bin is just the perfect breeding ground for them, and they'd happily moved on in. Thus began the epic battle. Weekly cleanings of the compost bin to scoop up larvae and dispose of them, constant refreshing of fruit fly traps consisting of apple cider vinegar and soap, and the occasional smashing of a fruit fly that got too close to me. For a while, we were winning.

Then something changed. This week the fruit flies mounted a massive offensive. Their numbers suddenly exploded, and I couldn't even drink a beer without flies trying to get down into the bottle. I sank into despair. Would we have to get rid of the worms? Put the cats in a kennel and spray the place down with Raid? Say fuck it and burn the apartment to the ground? Probably not that last option. Charming Assistant was the level-headed of the two of us. He quite wisely suggested we get a fly swatter, and take care of the problem on several fronts. The traps should be replenished, the compost bin wiped down every few days, and every fruit fly spotted should be killed without mercy.

I have to admit I went a little crazy with the fly swatter. It's a good thing there was no one there to observe me - I was rocking the crazy eyes as I stalked the invaders around our apartment. But oh, it was so satisfying! I felt like Gimli in the Two Towers, gleefully counting out each kill.

It's been a few days since Operation: Exterminate went into effect. I've dutifully cleaned out the bin (god those larvae appear so quickly!) and kept the traps topped off with apple cider and soap. And killed every fruit fly that my swatter could reach. So far, so good - last night, I drank a beer without sticking my thumb down the neck of the bottle. Tonight, maybe I can enjoy a glass of wine without keeping a napkin over it as it sits on the table. Next week, who knows? Maybe we'll have defeated the problem completely!

Meanwhile, I'd like to reassure you that I react very gracefully when a fruit fly collides with my face.

Channeling The Network

I know that I have a shit ton to write about (wedding, honeymoon, job) but here's the thing - the government shut down has me mad as hell. Not just because I'm an ardent Democrat (which I am), and not just because I grew up and live outside of DC (which I do). But the shutdown is actively hurting people that I care about. My sister works for the CDC, and has been deemed non-essential. Therefore, she's on furlough. My sister also has a husband, and two young children, who depend upon her income. Why do they depend on her? Because my sister and her husband made the decision, together, that she would work and he would take care of the twins. So while he does work part-time, his full-time job is taking care of my niece and nephew. Which means that they are down to a small fraction of the income they rely upon to survive. And I'm mad as hell.

I just don't get it. I honestly don't. How do politicians, who profess to work for their constituents, continue to actively work against the interests of those same constituents? I know a lot of people believe that the blame should be laid at the feet of both parties, but in this case its just not accurate. The Republicans are attempting to strong-arm the Democrats into defunding a LAW - a law that was passed by Congress, signed by the President, and deemed by the Supreme Court to be constitutional. That is not democracy. That is a child throwing a tantrum, and holding its breath until it gets its way. The ACA isn't perfect - there are modifications that could be made to improve its accessibility and affordability. But it is SO much better than what we currently have.

Before Palmer and I got married, my insurance cost over $300 each month. Every month. Until quite recently, I made $23,400 a year. Pre-tax. Insurance would have taken that down to $19,800. Rent, split with Palmer, is $800 a month. So that would take me down to $10,200. My cell phone plan, which I need for work? $1188. So now I have $9012 left over. Again, this is all pre-tax. How about parking? Oh, that's $120 a month. So that's $7572 left. Let's go back to taxes again. Assuming I qualified for the very lowest tax rate (which I don't), that'd be about 12% of my income. Now I have $4764 left to work with throughout the year. Oh, but can't forget auto insurance, which is about $1400 each year. And now I'm down to $3364. Divide that by 12. I have $280 a month to work with. That has to provide for food, clothes, gas, vet bills, contacts, and birth control. Oh! And the car loan! Which is another $45 a month. Do you see what I'm saying here? I work hard, and I make above the minimum wage, and I am STILL operating at a deficit because of the extreme costs of health insurance. And do you know what that $300/month health insurance got me? Extremely high (or non-existent, in the case of Dental and Vision) co-pays, and no coverage for birth control or depression medication. And THAT is supposed to be the ideal? Are you kidding?

Do you know what would have helped me? Having birth control covered, because that's $79 a month right there. Not having my rates raised for pre-existing conditions, like asthma and anemia. Not having my rates raised because of my recurrent major depression. Hell, having been able to be under my parents' health insurance until I was 26 would have saved $7200! Look, I know that insurance costs money. I know that insurance is, when you really look at it, a losing gamble. But here's the thing - by losing, you win. By buying insurance, you are hoping that you never have to use it. You want to not have to use it. Insurance isn't really there to make the day-to-day expenses cheaper. Yes, lower co-pays are amazing, and I missed my good insurance the entire time I was on the crappy one. But you know what I was grateful for? That when I had to go to urgent care for my broken toe, or my UTI that was transforming into a bladder infection, or my inflamed lymph node - THAT was when insurance was there. Because I paid a shit-load every month, I was covered in those instances when I would have otherwise been screwed. THAT is why we have insurance - so that when you break a leg, or get in a car accident, or have appendicitis - you've already paid in to the system, and now the system is paying you back. And you pray that you never need it. But when you do? It's a god-send.

So WHY is the Republican party so against every American having insurance? I honestly don't understand. If a person doesn't have insurance, but they have one of those pray-it-never-happens accidents, do you know what happens? They still get treated. You go to the emergency room with a broken leg and they have to treat you. And if you don't have insurance, do you know who pays? Everyone else that does.

So basically, the ACA is working to help every uninsured American get health coverage. Something that the Republicans have said they support - just not in the form of the ACA. Meanwhile, let's not forget that the ACA is law. I don't think I can repeat this enough - Congress passed it, the President signed it, and the Supreme Court declared it Constitutional. Yet the House GOP is holding the government hostage over something the American people have clearly, repeatedly, said they wanted. And their intransigence is causing my sister and her family to suffer. Instead of allowing more Americans to receive health coverage, the Republicans are actively harming those who've made their career out of public service.

And people say we should hold both parties accountable. As Jon Stewart said, this isn't a fender bender - this is the asshole causing the head-on collision.

Being Crafty!

One of my resolutions this year was to be more creative, to actively work at creating things that could be both beautiful and functional. I've been knitting (slowly) and perusing DIY blogs (daily) and decided to take inspiration from a friend and create a jewelry display stand.

Materials: bamboo silverware divider; patterned paper from Paper Source; ruled cutting mat; adhesive spray; power drill; drill bits; hook and cup screws; eyelet screws.

I started this project shortly after New Years. Technically, I had begun it before by purchasing the silverware divider, but had done absolutely nothing with it. So we're going to mark that as "prep time" and not count it.

I started out by selecting the paper, what turned out to be the hardest part. You see, my original idea had been to use vintage porcelain furniture knobs to hang the necklaces off of, but I realized that not only were they super bulky, but it would be near impossible to find a pattern that didn't clash horribly with at least one of them. So while I still have those things, I'll use them for something else. Possibly furniture? Anyhow, paper selected!

I wanted something pretty and feminine, but not so loud that the jewelry would clash against it. This seemed to fit the bill! Next came the measuring and cutting, a rather nerve-wracking process. The paper wasn't hugely expensive, but it wasn't cheap, and it was important to me that the pattern of the pieces retain the pattern of the paper. Ergo, no screw-ups allowed! To aid with the process, I did the first cuts on cheap white paper, adjusted the measurements accordingly (its really hard to accurately measure the INSIDE of a box), then traced those pieces onto the nice paper, and cut from there.

I finally had the pieces, and was ready to attach them. Some sites I'd read discussing similar projects suggested using glue sticks. I HATE glue sticks. I really do. I'll admit they're useful for some things, but to me they're annoying, create bubbles, stick weirdly, and are always dried out when you need them most. So I used adhesive spray that I'd bought for another project, but seemed appropriate for this one. As directed, I applied it outside, and let it dry for several hours before bringing it inside. I didn't do a perfect job, but good enough for government work!

Then came another long break. I was in the middle of finals, I was super stressed out, and I just did not have time to sit down and power drill the hell out of this thing. And so the project languished. Until today! Well, I tried to start it back up on Thursday, but then realized I'd neglected to charge the power drill, and so had to wait. Anyhow! Got out my brand-new power drill, a Christmas gift from Mom&Dad, as well as my lovely drill bit set.

I'd already marked where I was supposed to drill, so it was just a matter of creating the holes for the hook & cup and eyelet screws to fit into.

Despite some interruptions from nosy felines-

I eventually managed to get the holes drilled and the screws screwed. Heh.

After that, it was just a matter of selecting the jewelry to be displayed, and placing the container appropriately! Ta Da!!!

Now my necklaces are no longer hidden within a box, I know what earrings I own, and my dresser has become a bastion of delicate femininity. Well. Delicate femininity created with the use of a cordless power drill. The best kind!

Next project: earring display made out of a picture frame. Get excited!

Infusions of Failure

After the delicious success of blackberry-infused vodka, my Charming Assistant and I became ambitious. Fruit was no longer enough, no. We had to be bold, and daring, recklessly adventurous! And so we decided upon Garlic Habanero Vodka. Spicy, savory, perfect for Bloody Marys, we began this infusion full of confidence.

The recipe we found called for a full bulb of garlic and between four and six Habanero peppers. We decided to go on the light side, figuring we could later add more as needed. Chopping and de-seeding was a delicate business, and I definitely didn't want Habanero oil getting into my eyes or any cuts that I may have. Personal Protective Equipment to the rescue!

Once the ingredients were carefully placed into our handy-dandy Sun Tea jar, it was time for the vodka!

We shook that jar up but good, and placed it into our closet to steep. 8 days later, we were ready to experiment. We put one shot each into two glasses, added tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and ice, and sat down to enjoy some Bloody Marys with breakfast.

Oh boy. That was a mistake. The drinks were so spicy that they burned going down. I powered through about one-fourth of the drink, and became overwhelmed. Charming Assistant and I decided that dilution was required. We poured half of our drinks into new glasses, and added more tomato juice and ice to each. At that point, the drinks were barely consumable. I managed to finish one of my two glasses, but forfeited when confronted with drink number 2.

In retrospect, the disturbing color (kinda like pee, if we're being honest- and I would never lie to you) and the blast of spice and garlic odor should have clued us in to the fact that we'd made the vodka too strong. Alas. But! Charming Assistant and I are nothing if not determined, so we've not discarded the overly-strong alcohol. We're are going to attempt to dilute it with regular vodka, and make more drinks with a 1/4 spicy to 3/4 regular ratio of vodka. I don't know if it'll work, but its worth a shot.

But as a reminder- if you see an article telling you to use FOUR Habanero peppers in a vodka infusion, don't do it. ITS A TRAP!