Creating Jack O'Lanterns out of Oranges

Even though Halloween is literally around the corner, I figured why not share a cute little craft that anyone can do.

These are easy to make and perfect for kids to do.

Everything that you will need is shown here aside from water if you want to rinse them off and a paper towel to dry them off.

First, cut your orange in half or wherever you would like if you want the top (eyes & nose) and bottom (mouth) to be different sizes. 

Next, use your spoon to scoop out all of the orange meat and juice and place in your bowl and be careful because they can tear like one of mine did. A great snack to while doing these :)

Using either a pair of scissors or a knife (very carefully) make a hole in the top for the candle flame to go somewhere so it does not burn the orange. If you are using a no flame light then you can leave this step out. 

Again, using either scissors or a knife (very carefully) make the faces, add a candle or non-flame light and you are ready to go.

A very simple craft that doubles as a healthy snack. Perfect for teachers of smaller children during this time of year and for parents that have kids that like doing crafts or for anyone in general. 

I hope you enjoyed this craft tutorial and if you give it a try, please post photos to my Facebook page as I would love to see them. 

Have a safe and fun filled Halloween.

My Must Haves During University Final Projects

Being a fulltime online University student can get pretty chaotic for me during final projects especially with a two and half year old running around all crazy like.

But I find that things go a lot smoother when I have a set area equipped with most of the items that I might need. Having everything together all at once cuts down on my time from searching through the house for things when the time can be spent doing research. 

Here is what my normal setup looked like this past week.

~I use my Toshiba laptop since my desktop is dead.

~Earplugs so I don`t disturb anyone if they are out there because I always listen to music when I do my homework. 

~I prefer to use a mouse with my laptop. Really need to get a cordless one but the mouse seems to make things easier and quicker rather than using my finger on the little pad. 

~Snacks and a drink of course and I normally go for munchable snacks. 

~Now, these may seem ancient to some but I still use paper and pen or pencil. It just works great to jot down some quick notes. 

When it comes to my son at the time of doing my homework I use a few really great things to keep him occupied. One is his grandmother who is also his babysitter and will watch him when she is home and I need to do my homework. Two others that go together are his favorite movies and his massive quantity of toys. In case you happen to be thinking it, no I do not use tv as a babysitter as I am still there with him and watching him. His shows just keep him calmer and less likely to go running around the house chasing the cats and stripping all of his clothes off. 

Breaks are so imperative to me when it comes to anything that I am doing especially when I am concentrating on something for a long period of time. It gives my mind a break and when I go back to my work I am fresher and sometimes see something that I might have been stuck on. I use my breaks to spend time with my kiddo, play a game, read a book, or make something actual to eat. 

Finals are such an imperative thing in some classes (oddly not all of my class grades are determined by finals) so I have found it best to either have a routine for doing them or to just have whatever I might need at the time of doing them. 

 What is or was your routine for doing your homework/finals?

Review ~ boscia - Purifying Cleansing Gel

I received this sample in my September box from Birchbox and was intrigued in trying it because it is preservative-free, dermatologist tested, non-comedogenic and is supposed to work as a cleanser and a makeup remover. Since it offers so much I thought it might be good for my sensitive/eczema skin. 

Well......

boscia Purifying Cleansing Gel retails at $26 for 5 fl oz

Being a gel it lathers when you use it which I am not a big fan of because it always makes me think that I am washing my face with dish soap. lol. 

The aftereffects of the cleanser was a drying feeling and itchiness. 

The dryness was easily remedied with some moisturizer but not something that you want in a cleanser since it is stripping away the natural moisture in your skin. 

The itchiness was super irritating but I just had to wait until it went away since nothing would calm it . 

Since it says that it also works as a makeup remover I decided to give it a full face test.

With a full face of makeup it took about a layer off so I had to wash it a second time. When it came to my mascara and eyeliner it completely failed the test. Definitely use your regular makeup remover if you use this cleanser so you do not end up with raccoon eyes like I did.

This cleanser might be good for someone with oily skin and not so sensitive skin, but for someone like me with super dry and sensitive skin it does not work well with. 

Birchbox October 2012

After getting Birchbox for close to a year, I am finally happy with everything that I got in the box.

This month I actually received 5 beauty product samples and the lifestyle extra which contained 3 samples. Score. 

I never mind receiving samples of perfume because I would rather try out a sample and see if I like it rather than spend a lot of money on something that I may not like a few weeks later. I received one from Harvey Prince - Eau Flirt which I enjoy the smell of but after researching it I found out that it contains Lavender which I am suspected to be allergic to :( 

All scents that it contains are:Lavender, Pumpkin Pie, Citrus, Jasmine, Freesia, Ylang Ylang, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ambers

50 ml retails at $55

Mox Botanicals Lip Butter in pomegranate and fig came from the lovely state of Oregon. I received a 0.1 oz sample whereas the full-size is 0.2 ozs and at $16.00.

ttheBalm cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer is a super beautiful cream/champagne color and looks perfect on the inside corner of the eye. My sample is 1.0g and the full-size which retails at $24 is 8.4g.

The last two beauty samples are both hair care and from the company Liqwd. The first one is a Silk-Professional Deep Conditioning Treatment that retails at $24 for 120 ml and the other is The Perfect Wave-Beach Hair Without the Crunch and retails at $22 for 150ml. This one I will have to wait until my hair is much longer to try out. 

My lifestyle extra this month was a sample pack of 3 different teas from Mighty Leaf Tea Company. Oh so happy to see these and not a granola bar or a stupid wannabe hair tie. For $9.95 you get 15 pouches. 

I received: Green Tea Tropical, Organic Earl Grey and Organic African Nectar. 

I hope next month's will be as good or even better than this months. 

Saturday`s are Toddler Time

I love spending Saturday`s doing all sorts of things with my son. 

Today's main adventure was story time at our local library and the theme was underpants lol

A funny and interesting theme I thought but the books were super cute.

She read Underpants, Thunderpants!, The Underpants Zoo, Charlie's Superhero Underpants, and Aliens in Underpants Save the World, but she also had Aliens Love Underpants and Dinosaurs Love Underpants out and available to check out of the library. My little guy ended up taking The Underpants Zoo and Dinosaurs Love Underpants  home with us. 

The activity for the day was creating little aliens wearing underpants of the kids choice.

This is my little guy with the alien that he created and it is proudly magneted to the refrigerator.

The library was having one of my favorite things, their monthly giant book sale. For $3.50 I came home with a few books for him and myself and a celtic CD. I love it when they have these sales and buying books secondhand because they are so much cheaper than. 

I got a bit of a workout from pushing him in his stroller that was packed down with the books that we bought and had checked out from the library, plus what his grandpa had asked me to pick him up from the grocery store. So my little dude got to ride on the bus, which he loves oddly enough. There was no way I was going to walk home with all of that stuff hanging off and stuck underneath the stroller. 

Once we got home we went through all of our goodies, grabbed his new Lightning McQueen kite that I bought from The Big Dollar Store and went and played outside. Somehow I ended up doing all of the work while he ran around the yard. After I got tired of flying his kite I grabbed his tricycle and we went up and down the block. He has so much energy that not even that amount of exercise wore him out but at least did him some good. 

Since it is crunch time to do/finish my final projects for my two college classes, it is great to just take a day and spend it with him. It`s not only bonding time for us but it`s a great reprieve for my brain to stop looking and thinking about everything that I have to finish. 

Did you have fun today?

Review ~ Vivace Press & Go Nails

Yesterday I went to this new store called Big Dollar Store where I found this pre-glued nails by Vivace. You can also find them on Amazon here. 

Per the name of the store, these nails only costed a dollar for each set and are at least worth that.

Each pack comes with 12 nails that are pre-glued. 

The "glue" is this sticky stuff that is on the inside of the nails that is supposed to hold for at least three days. I wore the pink set (on the right) for maybe twenty-four hours and they were already starting to pop off. The sticky "glue" does not stick to the entire nail so there is no complete hold. 

If you had a party to go to or just felt like wearing nails for a day for whatever reason, then these would be perfect. The brand carries some really girly ones that would be perfect for little girls that like to play dress up and be like mommy. 

Unlike acrylics, which people like myself are allergic to, these do not mess up or destroy your nail bed. You just end up with a bit of sticky stuff stuck to your nails if you pull them off like I did. You're supposed to take them off with warm water but I had no issues. The leftover sticky glue just came off with some warm water and my nail scrub brush. Personally, I want to try scraping the sticky stuff off and try actually gluing them on and see how well they work then. If they work just as well that way then they might be better than buying the glueable ones that are six times the price that you find at Wal-Mart. 

I can`t wait to use these on Halloween :)

DIY ~ Recycling Cans into Fabric Covered Holders

I was going through my makeup the other day and got super frustrated by the fact that I could hardly find or see certain things. So this made me want to reorganize all of it which meant that I needed some new containers like the ones that were already being used. That of course meant spending money that I at the time did not have. At this point the arts & crafts as well as thrifty person inside of me came out and I made my own containers for my eyeliners and other products.

For this project you will need:

Fabric of your choice

Scissors

Hot glue gun

2 sticks of hot glue

A cleaned tin can (I used ones from corn and green beans)

And something flat to put under the hot glue gun. 

Everything that you will need.

Roll your can over with the fabric to measure how much you1ll need.

With the can still in place, cut up along the can and about half the length more above it.

You should have a piece of fabric that looks like this.

Start gluing the frayed ends that will be seen when finished.

You should glue at least 2 sides like here.

Start by gluing the corner of the fabric bottom you want to have seen to the bottom of the can.

Glue the flap to the side up to the top of the can.

After glueing the side pull the fabric down over the can

It always helps to have a handy little helper :)

Grab the inner flap and start gluing around the inner rim

Glue these sides together that go inside

Place inside and glue any other fabric puffing out

They are now completely full & I can see everything

I hope you enjoyed this project and give it a try. It is a great way to recycle what could have ended up in the trash bin into something cute and functional.

Introducing........

Please meet......................Salem

He is my new, soon to be two months old kitten. 

He is all black except for a little white patch in the middle of his chest and a few white hairs spread out through his ears and face. 

I named him after the cat in Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

A friend of mine`s cat had kittens and I was lucky enough to get him.

He is such a love and cuddle bug when he is sleepy but when he is awake he is such a little terror lol

He has joined 3 other cats and only one of them is ok with him. 

The other two do nothing but hiss and growl at him, but I am hoping that as time passes and he grows they will become accustomed to him. 

My son (he is 2 and a half) is slowly learning how to treat a kitten after being so used to the larger cats.

I think it is a great learning experience for him in how to treat those that are smaller and a great learning experience for me as a parent in teaching him and having patience. 

Do you have any pets?