DIY Gold Travel Bottles

THE COUNTDOWN! With less than one week left until I fly off on my first trip to Hawaii, it's needless to say that I am getting RIDICULOUSLY ANTSY! So, it is craft time! I bought my travel sized bottles from Target but all they had was lime green or turquoise bottles. They were cute, but not me. I searched up and down the isle and finally found a single pack of clear bottles with black caps. I have no idea where they kept the stock but I put them in the cart and thought, "I could work with this." Once home, I decided I'd spray the butts...because it would be adorable. AND IT IS!

On that note: This will also be a rant about how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE FROG TAPE! It goes on so easily, it peels off just as easily AND WITH CLEAN LINES. Go ahead and use the brand of your choice but I swear by a roll of Frog Tape.

And on THAT note: I also bought a Spray Nozzle for even spraying and it is probably one of the best thing an avid sprayer could invest in! You're not even really investing because the thing only costs like less than 5 bucks (at least mine did). It snaps on and off to any spray nozzle and you get amazing beautiful coats! Basically, you need to just go buy one... right now. Go, like now.

What you'll need:

• Bottles 
• Frog Tape 
• A piece of paper
• Scissors
• Spray Color of YOUR choice. I just used the always beautiful GOLD! (Krylon Color Master in Metallic Gold.)
• **A Sharpie is in the picture but I didn't end up using it. I was going to use it to mark where i wanted the tape to be... not necessary.

1. Fold your paper length wise (AKA HOTDOG STYLE) and cut along the line. I ended up cutting those halves in half again, but this time width wise (AKA HAMBURGER STYLE)
2. Lay half of your tape on top of the pieces of paper, like so.
3. Line the frog tape up to the part you want to spray. In case you were wondering, the reason I did this was to protect the rest of the bottle from getting sprayed. You could just tape the whole thing up, but frog tape is kind of pricey to waste that on. 
   
4. Lay them out, put something in between each bottle to space them out. I used wood chips because thats what was right next to me. Find something to your use.
   
   
   
   
5. Spray back and forth onto each bottle and let dry completely before turning and doing a second coat. (The spray I used said, "dries in 15 minutes or less" but I waited about half hour before turn"
   
6. Once you've got your coats all done, let dry COMPLETELY THIS TIME (2-3 HOURS) then peel off the frog tape and reveal your clean sprayed lines; I MEAN LOOK AT THOSE! ALMOST AS CUTE AS A NEW BABY...almost. These beautifully chic travel bottles... I don't even know what to say. They speak for themselves. Travel in style as much as possible, Ladies and Gents. 

Keep that Glitter IN CHECK!

As much as I love shining bright like a diamond, I want the things I glitter to stay on the things I glitter. Here is a tutorial on how to lock in the glitter and well,... keep it in check.

Items you will need:

• A workspace that is safe to spray on 
• The object you will be spraying
• Frog Tape or any kind of easy-peel paint tape
• Clear spray (I used, Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating in Glossy)

1. Frog Tape up the area that you dont need sprayed.
   
2. Spray the item with the clear spray. (I did two coats with 1 hour of drying in between coats)
   
   
   
3. Let item dry completley then gently peel off tape!
   
4. There you have it. No more glitter all over the place. NICE AND SEALED... and in check. Just the way your man should be.<3
   

Mason Jar Coin Bank

I've recently made my first big purchase! A NEW CAR!!!! Her name is

Chanel (after the one, the only, Coco!) She is fabulous and I love her. However, I did NOT love the fact that she didn't have any coin compartment. I had change scattered all around that pretty white vehicle! I looked at auto stores and Target but they only had those ones that went in the cup holder and held all coins but pennies (uhhh, hello, PENNIES ARE MONEY, TOO!!!) I then began thinking of ways I could make one. It had to be something small but sturdy. At first I thought that I would use the tin from that ol' band aid bubble gum. Yeah, well it turns out, I CAN'T FIND THAT STUFF ANYWHERE!! The realization of my young yet old age, ugh! Then I thought of a mini mason jar! I figured if I found a small enough one I could put it in my arm rest compartment; PERF! I also knew I didn't have the tools to cleanly create a coin slot so I set out to Michaels and got all I needed for my solution to that. And heeerrrreee we GO! 

Items you will need: 

• Mason jar, you can use any size you want; I believe mine was a 4 oz.

• Choice of a thick cardstock type paper, aka scrapbook paper; I couldn't find one that I loved (ridiculous considering the amount of choices) so I got a light minty teal and an accent rice paper to overlay. 

• Scissors. 

• A precision knife, xactor knife, or razor. 

• Pencil or a pen. 

• ***Adhesive spray(unphotographed) ; if you used 2 different papers like me.

Step 1:

Using the canning lid of your jar, trace the circle size on the paper(s). I do this on the backside of the paper so when I cut the circles the outline won't show. 

Step 2:

Cut out both circles!

 Step 3:

In the center of the paper, I hand drew a coin slot (fancy lingo for draw a baby rectangle). I held a quarter over it to see that I would fit. 

Step 4:

Cut out that rectangle using your sharp utencil.

***Step 4a:

If you used two types of papers, trace the same rectangle using the first as a stencil and cut that little guy out.

Step 6:

Place paper right side up into the twisty lid portion and secure it onto your jar 

***I ended up using spray adhesive to adhere the rice paper and scrapbook paper together  just because when you screw the paper on the lid the coin slots would  move in different directions and it got annoying to make sure they slots were aligned. 

AND VOILA! 

You can place this in your cupholder or in 

your arm rest compartment or this would be cute on a dresser, desk or bookshelf! Use it how you may! 

Off the wagon, AGAIN!

HA HA. Not funny. It's been 4-5 months and I haven't posted anything. Alongside to not posting anything, I haven't really been keeping up with my "diet". But with consideration of how close summer is, I'm baaaaaacccck (and better than ever, I would say). So, first things first. I bought a bunch of healthy things to munch on at work because, honestly, working at a bakery is the hardest part of being on a diet (#chefproblems.) I got a bunch of fruits, including a bag of grapes that I ate in one day, by my [typical] self. During the summer, I can literally eat fruits for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also bought a giant box of strawberries in which I continued to make a delicious Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette. The recipe will be available soon. 

A contributing factor to my, getting back on a diet is The Great Gatsby. About 3 months ago, my co-worker and I were raving on about me having a flapper birthday party. Last week, we went out to lunch, where we decided to go on a diet where we'll put $20 in a "pot" until January 1st, 2014 (time to buy and decorate a mason jar to keep my mulah in!). Thats our goal date. Now, my friend doesn't like to weigh herself so we're gonna go by pant size number. I never really thought of what number size I wanted to be. I only thought of numbers by pound. So far, I'm liking the idea because this will rule out my depression and binge eating when the number isn't to my liking. My current pant size is 12. My goal size is a 6. I have 6+ months to get to that size. Here's the catch... If we reach our goal, the money in the pot will go towards an outfit for The Great Gatsby New Years party (decided the party should be for New Years instead of my birthday.) But if the goal is NOT reached. Than the money will go to a Charity of choice. It's pretty awesome actually. It seems as if either way, it's going to be a win. 

Quotivate ME!

A few days ago, I was bored so I went to the gym to tire me up a bit before bed. For the life of me, I felt like it was a never ending elliptical trail. At 15 minutes I was DYING and I pushed myself to keep going because I knew I COULD if I really pushed myself AND I DID! Mind you, I was dead by the end of it and I had only just hit 3 miles by the last 30 seconds on the 30 minute mark. The next day, I was energetic to get to the gym. I was fully aware of the fact the I had to be up at 4 AM to open up the shop but all I could think about was how I tired I was after 30 minutes and how I almost had stopped at 15, the day before. I knew I was proud of myself for finishing, but I felt that drive to prove to myself that I could do the workout without effort. With that eagerness, I burned more calories and went farther in distance, but what I had done during the workout was essential to motivating me. I pulled out my iPhone, started the music, tapped that Pinterest app and searched the words, "Workout Quotes." After reading these quotes, I felt like I could have conquered the world and will share with you the quotes that were most eye-catching and mind-boggling to me:

" You have a choice. You can throw in the towel or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face"  --  Gatorade

"Be strong when you are weak, Brave when you are scared and Humble when you are Victorious"  -- Unknown

"A Lady in the street, but a freak in the gym"  --Unknown

"TOO EARLY. TOO COLD. MY LEGS HURT. I WAS UP LATE."   <---all reasons are invalid!

"Don't be upset by the results you didn't get with the workout you didn't do" --Unknown

"If you aren't working towards it, maybe you don't deserve it" --Unknown

What are some of your favorites? 

New Years resolution. UP YOUR GAME!

I've been steadily going to the gym since the first week of the new year and my eating has not been too horrible, considering that I work at a cupcake shop. At the gym, I've been doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and setting my goal by increments of 10. Definition: when you're at 10 minutes you should be at 1 mile, 100 calories burned AT THE MINIMUM. At the end of 30, you should have 300 calories burned at 3 miles. I do the 5 minute cool down the elliptical automatically puts on after 30, so in reality I do 35 minutes. This is what my goal is for the whole month of January and I will up my time 5 minutes every month. Mind you I'll cut it shorter every now and then to workout abs, arms and such. Another goal set; to be able to do the splits by the end of the year. I'm a horrible stretcher and I'm not as flexible as I probably should be so setting this goal will remind me to stretch! Try to, whatever your goal is, to up it up!!!! Push yourself to reach your minimum, at the very least!

Slow Start

It is already January 3 and I haven't been to the gym yet. I have the typical excuse that I was incredibly sleep deprived from work, the drive and New Years, WHICH IS TRUUUE, but all my excuses are invalid because the number on the scale would say so. Not that I know what number he'd show me (yes, our scale is a boy). I try to avoid the number and go off of how I feel, but the number is important to know how much progress is made. Coincidentally, my mother just text me, asking to go and buy a battery for the scale. She's starting Weight Watchers so, clearly she wants to mark the start. I'll convince her to head to the gym since she still has a membership and my gym is south-west, 2 hours away. on the plus side, I had a healthy breakfast. I had a all-fruit smoothie with protein powder and 2 whole-wheat dry toast, which to my surprise inst as bad of a breakfast as one would think...