DIY Band- Aid heart nail stencil

I may not look like a girly girl on the outside.

I don't wear makeup.
My daily outfit usually consists of a pair of jeans and purple Converses.
My hair is usually in a ponytail or messy bun because I haven't gotten a haircut in over a year.

But here's a little secret- I'm a bonafide girly girl on the inside.

I dream of wearing sparkly shoes, bright red lipstick, and lovely polka dot vintage dresses with peter pan collars.  I'm also an unabashed fan of YouTube beauty gurus.  I could spend hours watching them talk about beauty and fashion products.

Strange right?  Hopefully one day I can figure out how to balance out my inner girly girl with my outer plain jane.

Anyway,  I just brought this up because I wanted to show you a neat trick that I learned from the mega talented Michelle Phan.   Did you know that you can use band aids as nail stencils?    (Click here to watch her tutorial.)  

Directions:
1.  Cut off the two end bits from the band aid.  Toss out the middle white pad.
2.  Fold each end bit in half and cut out a tiny heart.  Make sure the heart is smaller than your nail. (This was surprisingly hard for me to do.  I had to cut up a lot of Band-Aids to get two hearts small enough to fit my large thumbs.)
3.  Stick the Band-Aid to your nail and rub it to make sure that it's stuck on tight.
4.  Paint over the heart.
5.  Take a deep breath and quickly rip the band aid off.

Voila! Enjoy your hearts.

Make marbled paper with shaving cream

Look at what Baby Chuck and I made the other day: 

No, it's not a Rorschach test.  It's a piece of marbled paper.  And guess what?  We made the marbled effect using shaving cream and acrylic paint.  Pretty right?  I think we'll use it to make some Chinese New Year envelopes... or hubby's valentine.  I'm not sure yet  Hmm..

If you'd like to make your own marbled paper, keep reading:  (Original recipe found here)

Materials:
- baking tray
- heavier weight paper (we used watercolor paper, but I think card stock would be good too)
- craft paint (or maybe food coloring would work too?)
- shaving cream (white foam kind)
- old towel
- ruler/ unused credit card

Directions:
1.  Prep your area and child.  Decide where you want to do the activity.  Set up the materials beforehand.  Cover your work area with something to protect it.  Decide where you want to place the papers to dry.  Place a towel near you so that you can easily wipe your hands. Place your ruler / unused credit card near you for easy access.  (This is a pretty messy activity, so I recommend you plan things out first.)

2.  Make sure your piece of paper is smaller than the baking  tray.

3.  Spray your shaving cream into the baking tray.  Use your hands to smooth it around so that you have a nice even layer.

4.  Add in random lines of craft paint.  (We chose reds and yellow, but you could do all sorts of colors if you want.)

5.  Use your fingers to swirl the paint around.  (Note- You don't want a big blob of color.  It looks prettier with swirls).

6.   Place your paper into the tray so that it comes in contact with the shaving cream/ paint mixture.  Lift the paper up.  Wipe the excess shaving cream off the sheet with your ruler/ unused credit card.  Don't let the shaving cream sit too long on the paper, otherwise your paper may get soaked and rip.

(Isn't it neat?  Any parts of the paper that came in contact with the shaving cream will remain white while the parts that came in contact with the paint will get colored.)

7.  Let your beautiful sheets dry.  (Added bonus:  They'll smell shaving cream sweet.)

(Sorry I didn't take any photos of the process.  Chuck and I had fun doing the activity, but I had to keep a close eye on him so that he wouldn't eat the shaving cream.... or wipe it on himself or our couch.)


Update:   I ended up making Chinese New Year envelopes out of the paper.  They're unexpected, thrifty, and lovely.

My discarded bits

While chopping up the fruit and veg for last Sunday's salsa and guacamole, I was struck by how beautiful my discarded bits were.