Mother's Day Wreath

This is my mom's wreath. G is for their last name and I think it needs one more bunch of flowers. It will look great on their door! Also needs a new hanger, the plastic one broke. :/ Oh well, it's cute! I got all of the items at Hobby Lobby. The G is made out of a thin wood which was painted, there are three bunches of flowers (soon to be four). I hot glued the G on, though I may put some string around it just to keep it from falling off in windy conditions. The flowers had bendable stems so I just wrapped them around. Pretty simple! And cheap, I think I spent just $20 on the wreath, "G", flowers, and door hanger. I'm going to try to take off the G and see if it's good or not, maybe I can raise it up a bit. Thanks for checking it out! Happy crafting!

Vegan Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I absolutely love mashed potatoes! And this one is easy to convert to a regular dish too, for those who aren't vegan. 

What you'll need:

1 whole head garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 potatoes, cooked

1/4 cup vegan margarine

1/2 cup soy creamer or soy milk

Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Remove outer layer of skin from garlic head. Drizzle generously with olive oil, wrap in aluminum foil, and place on baking sheet. Roast in oven for 30 minutes.

3. Gently press cloves out of the skins, and mash smooth with a fork.

4. Using a mixer or a potato masher, combine roasted garlic with potatoes, margarine, and creamer or milk until smooth or desired consistency.

5. Season generously with salt and pepper.

I used a masher for my potatoes and I sprinkled a little nutmeg on top too. I also peeled the potatoes while the oven was preheating and started boiling them around the same time that I put in the garlic. They both finished around the same time (the potatoes took just a bit longer to cook). I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Cheap DIY Halloween Wreath

I know it's only the middle of September, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. And it's not because of the candy. Decorating for Halloween was something that was instilled in me since I was a young girl...aka, my mom decorates a lot too. Here's a tutorial on how to make a super cheap, kind of creepy, mostly pretty wreath. :)

What you'll need:

A wire hanger

A pool floatie (I call it a noodle)-$.97 from Wal-Mart

Black yarn-$2.00 from Wal-Mart

Black bird with wire in the feet-$1.00 from Dollar Tree

2 pairs of black flowers with spiders-$1.00 from Dollar Tree

Gray creepy wrap-$1.00 from Dollar Tree

Step 1: Unfold wire hanger and untwist the top so it's open. Make it's as straight as possible. Grab your noodle from the past summer. Hold the hanger next to the noodle to get a measurement. Cut a little longer, just in case (I used a ceramic knife to slice mine). Push the hanger inside the noodle and adjust the noodle, if needed. Twist the top of the hanger back together.

Step 2: Wrap your noodle with the yarn. To keep it stuck to the noodle, I used double sided tape. I'm not sure how long the yarn needs to be, I cut all the pieces a little short so it was easier to wrap around. 

Step 3: Put the creepy wrap around the top to cover the ends of the noodle. Add the bird to the inside.

Step 4: Cut up the flowers and stick them into the side with the wrap. I used all six flowers that came on the stems but you can use less, or more if you got more than two pairs. Cut two spiders off (or more) and stick them in in random spots. When you hang it on your wreath holder, bend the top of the hanger over so it doesn't fly away so easily in a gust of wind.

Ta-da! You're all finished, it's looking great! And you don't feel like you broke the bank. ;) Thanks for checking out my first tutorial! Please come back for more! ^_^

Short hair styles

I did my roommates hair the other night. She has short, fine hair so it was a bit of a challenge but I like how it all turned out. 

To create this look: tease hair at the crown, twist hair back on both sides, and flip the excess up. Pin with bobby pins. To give it a more messy look, let a couple of strands stay loose. Very simple, very romantic.

To create this look: tease hair from the crown to the front and pin back, pull hair from the sides and pin so they cross each other, twist excess up to the side and pin with bobby pins. Also simple and elegant. Just make sure you have bobby pins that match your hair color as much as possible. :D