Thanksgiving Care Package

Items needed:

Feathers

construction paper

googley eyes and pipe cleaners

elmers glue

hot glue gun and glue sticks

postal box

Scissors

I decided to post this care package a little early because I know there are some friends and family who are trying to figure out how to include their service men and women for the holidays.

My personal favorite part of care packages is the decorating of the box. 

I found some feathers from Michael's art supplies store that reminded me of a turkey and decided I would turn the box into a turkey!

I covered the flaps of the box in construction paper with elmer's glue and then I hot glued the feathers on the two longer flaps of the box and the top of the box. 

Once the glue dried I doubled up with the left over feathers to make the turkey look much fuller and fluffier. 

For the bottom flap of the box I added some green construction paper (grass) and just a little bit of feathers (cut to fit) and glued down some turkey legs and toes made with black construction paper.

With the eyes and beak I used some googley eyes and pipe cleaners, I had to shape the pipe cleaner into a triangular shape and then glued them down with my hot glue gun. 

The items I bought to put in the care package:

Hormel compleats meals, these are awesome! They have over a year of shelf life and when I saw a turkey and dressing (stuffing) meal I was way too excited! I also picked up a breakfast one these run for about 2$ each and I purchased them both at Walmart. 

The second thing I was most excited in sending was some sparkling apple cider in a singles serving size, these little bottles are too cute!

Since our care package is for my Fiance's best friend he had a lot of fun helping me pick out the rest of the items. 

We bought dried cranberries (the kind you'd add to a salad) in place of cranberry slices

Banana cream pie snack pack puddings 

Microwaveable velveeta mac n cheese and Idahoan mashed potatoes

Microwaveable turkey gravy 

Turkey Jerky just to add a little more turkey on top of the hormel meal. To top it all off we did add some little Debbies apple and cherry pies before shipping the package. Not in the picture but very easy to find in a grocery store.

As I Am Cowash

So I have started co-washing with the No Poo method (no shampoo)

My friend recommended the As I Am brand to me and I wasn't really sure if it would work for me but I tried it out and I am hooked! My hair was so dry and had to more volume or life left in it and I seen an immediate difference after the first Cowash. 

I also purchased a Turbie twist from the As seen on TV section for 5$ and I love this towel. It is perfect for drying my thick hair and it doesn't do any damage or cause breakage. 

I had to search on youtube how to co-wash and I found some pretty helpful videos. 

This video is a little wacky but it was very thorough on the how to steps and it also shows how to properly use the Turbie Twist towel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSJkTOjGad4

Last Minute easy Halloween Costume on a Budget

This year we were too busy to plan out any halloween costumes or ideas so the day before I hopped on pinterest to scope out a quick "couples costume on a budget and at last minute"
Scarecrows! I found the straw hats at Michael's art supply store, One of them was about 10 inches wide and the other was 18 inches wide. I paid under 8$ for both!
Right next to the Michael's was a goodwill thrift store and I was still on the hunt for a plaid shirt. Just as we were about to leave I spotted one, it was a men's Abercrombie and Fitch but it fit perfectly and I paid 3.50 for it! Score!! Since we already had boots and hay we didn't need to worry about that :)

On Halloween night I started my Makeup by applying my moisturizers, primer and foundation.

Next I applied mascara to my eyelashes and even added some fake lashes for a more dramatic effect and lined my eyes with a thin liner on the bottom and top of my eye.

Then I started with the scarecrow "look". I started by using my E.L.F Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in the Pink Umbrellas color, this was used on the patch for my nose and the circular cheeks. I use the gloss stick regularly on my lips and I purchased it from target for 1$ (link below)
http://www.eyeslipsface.com/elf/lips/gloss/jumbo_lip_gloss_stick

Once the Lip Gloss Stick was applied I added a generous amount of pink eyeshadow on top of the gloss to make it more vibrant.

I then lined the patch on my nose with a black pencil eye liner and added the stitched lines to give it the "patched look". I also went over the pencil liner with a liquid liner to help prevent smearing and to make it last  longer.

I used the same pencil liner to make the stitched smile from my lips to my scarecrow cheeks and went over it again with the liquid liner.

I had a lot of fun giving him big triangle eyebrows using my black eye liner and filling it in with black eye shadow.

I did the same steps for the nose on my fiance except in dark browns and then added his stitched smile and placed hashtag like stitches throughout his face for fun.

To top off the look we put our flannels, straw hats and boots on and stuffed hay in our boots. It's okay if it messes up or doesn't look perfect because scarecrows after all are not perfect!

My inspiration for his makeup was found in this helpful youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=KwOfQqjfVBI

And for my own makeup I was inspired by this video but added my own twists and different choices in makeup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVoN5USVapQ

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Ingredients for Homestyle Pumpkin Pie Ice cream Shake:
Ice Cubes
4-5 scoops of Sunnyside Farms Pumpkin pie Ice cream
Silk's original soy milk or Milk
pumpkin pie spice
Reddi whip
Serving Size: 2 large cups/ 4 Small cups
Tips:
You will need a blender for this shake
Savemart Supermarket had all the ingredients we needed and I believe they are the only chain that sells Sunnyside farms limited edition premium ice creams, such as the homestyle pumpkin pie flavor

Add 4-5 scoops of ice cream in the blender and blend it until all scoops are blended

Add as much soymilk/milk as you prefer.....
I like my shakes thick so I only add about 1/4 a cup

Drop your ice cubes into the blender and blend until cubes are all crushed

Pour mixture into a tall glass and top with the cool whip in a can (reddi whip) 

Sprinkle your pumpkin pie spice on the top and if you'd like add a graham cracker to top it off

Easy Vegetable Soup (vegan friendly)

Ingredients:

4 large Peeled Potatoes
1 large can Tomatoes (italian seasoned)
1 Bag Peeled baby Carrots
2 Celery hearts
1 can Peas
1 medium Cabbage
1 canLightly red Kidney Beans
2 cubes Vegetable Bullion
1 can Grean Beans
1 Box penne Pasta (whole grain)

You will need a very big pot for this recipe
Add about 6 cups of water in pot and leave to boil

While water is heating up get your cutting board and knife out and begin chopping

Celery and peeled carrots and red cabbage (purple in color) and your potatoes 

Size of chop is really up to you. 

 
Add your chopped ingredients to the boiling water and begin opening all your cans

(these ingredients can also be bought fresh if you prefer, but I was in a hurry so i grabbed cans)

the order of canned ingredients doesn't matter, 

just add everything to your pot and drop in the bullion cubes.

 Stir frequently throughout the last steps

The pasta can now be added, add as much or as little as desired.

(the whole box was a bit overwhelming but I needed to feed 10 people so I put it all in) 

You Will need to add water as needed

Cover and Leave to simmer until carrots and potatoes and pasta noodles are soft 

remove from heat and set to cool at least 15 minutes. 

Serve in a sourdough bread bowl or soup bowl. 

Perfect for cold fall/winter days and easy to feed a large amount of people. 

Turning an Ottoman into a Shoe Cabinet

I found this Idea on pinterest while browsing for a nice way to store my shoes instead of kicking em' off at the door and leaving them in a pile or having to re-organize them constantly to keep them on the rack I originally had. Plus it gave me a great reason to go out and find a cute ottoman. 

After a long search I came across this burlap style ottoman for 50$ and tagged a 10$ coupon on top of that at the Burlington Coat Factory. 

When I got home I started brainstorming on how to organize the shoes inside the ottoman and found that I could fit my original shoe rack I bought at Ross Dress For Less for 6$ a couple years ago right inside of the ottoman and shuffled my shoes around until they fit just right. 

As Always it never hurts to have your furbabies appreciate new furniture as much as you do. I later added some cute decor pillows on top I bought from goodwill thrift store and my cat truly thinks it is her bed. 

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns and thanks for reading another one of my Homemakin' Secrets

Helping out a friend with an Upcycle Dresser

So my best friends recently got their own place and they have been having a lot of fun with DIY (do it yourself) projects so whenever I go shopping for my next potential project I try to take at least one of them with me. I found a table on craigslist to go check out and picked my friend Bianca up on the way, the table didn't end up working out for me but the seller did have a lot more to look at and Bianca fell in Love with this dresser that she bought for a steal of 50$ and with a little bit of help from homemakin' secrets we transformed it together!

Once we got started we made sure to wear a face mask and gloves. Citristrip's stripping gel worked very well for removing the varnishing for the most part. It's a bit more expensive but the chemical call smell was hardly present.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Citristrip-1-Qt-Safer-Paint-and-Varnish-Stripping-Gel-QCG73801T/100208204

We used an old t-shirt to apply the gel and then let it sit for an hour (or however long it says on the bottle)

Once the gel finished drying we got our scrapper out and started scrapping off the old varnishing. Do  not worry if you scratch your dresser during this step because you can buff it out with sand paper later. 
I'm sure most scrappers will work but you don't want to buy a flimsy one. The one we used is linked below.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Allway-3-in-Bent-Extendable-Scraper-BS3HD/202251540

The gel did not remove all of the varnishing, especially on the front and sides, I will probably let the stripping gel sit longer next time. Before you begin your sanding make sure t wipe down your furniture with a damp cloth to remove any other stripping gel and to prevent build up on your sand paper whether you plan on using sand paper or an actual sander.

Our Next attempt was to try out the black and decker mouse sander, don't waste your money on this sucker. I ended up returning it and buying sand paper with my refund. If you are going to use a sander invest in a good one, but if you're like me and do not think you will be doing another project like this one anytime soon then sand paper will suffice just fine.
(drawers were the hardest part)
Once your dresser is entirely sanded down to the underlying wood you can wipe it down again to remove all the saw dust.
Saw dust + wood stain/ paint = no good
so make sure you remove as much as you can.

We ended up taking a break and picked back up on it when we both had another free day. When we returned to the project we examined it to make sure it was ready for stain and then we suited up in our gloves and face masks again and grabbed some old socks. We stirred up the stain (never shake) and dipped the socks in and started rubbing it directly onto the dresser. We waited an hour for it to dry and then added a second coat.  

My friends chose a red mahogany color stain made by minwax which came out beautifully (dark wood with red tint). Once the second coat was dry we applied the top coat with clear satin polyurethane. Like me, they did not want too much of a shine with their furniture so that is why they went with clear satin and we let the top coat dry all day outside. (can said 4 hours, but it was a bit colder than usual). Once it was dry..the fun began! I helped her carry it in and get it all pretty so she could surprise her girl friend before she got home from work.

And voila! There it is! Went from an old dresser in a backyard to a beautiful entertainment center. 

Thanks for reading guys, feel free to leave any questions in the comments.