I'm back!

And I've created lip scrub! What is lip scrub, you may ask, and why is it necessary for my life? Well, I'm going to tell you, so sit tight. Lips are pretty useful, right? I don't think anyone's going to argue with me there. But alas, lips have one fatal downfall: dry, flaky lipskin. But never fear, I have your katana of cosmetics!

So here goes. The super complicated instruction section.

First, track down all these ingredients. I'll wait.

Pictured here:

Sugar - this is the most important ingredient. This will serve as the scrubbies in your scrub. If you don't have any sugar...well, I guess you could use sand. I don't think I'd recommend it though. So yeah, find some sugar.

Vitamin E oil - if you don't have any of this, you can substitute with olive or even canola oil.

Honey - overall good for your skin. Also, delicious.

Vanilla - just for taste. Completely optional.

Essential oils - Also totally optional. I used sweet orange oil to energize it a bit, but you can throw in whatever you want!

Got it? Excellent! Now mix them all together in a vessel of your choosing until you have something resembling this:

And...that's it. Take a pinch between your fingers and scrub it all over your lips. Scrub it some more. When you've scrubbed all you can scrub, rinse it off. Finish off with any lip balm of your choosing. Feel the softness? Now you're ready to take on all your lip-related duties with confidence!

The most epic earrings I've ever made, and pickled hair follicles

Those right there are several hours of work. Per earring. In retrospect, now that I know how they work and don't have to keep checking back on the instructions, I could probably get them done a bit quicker. But, should you decide to attempt these earrings, be warned: they WILL be time consuming. These are also the only article of jewelry I have made directly from a pattern. I got it from this book, which the boyfriend gave me for my birthday this year:


I'd just like to say, I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in jewelry making. It's full of awesome ideas, and the instructions are super clear. They also tell you not only what to use, but where you can buy the materials you need.

I'm not sure exactly about the legality of posting the entire tutorial from the book on the internet, but the earrings are essentially a whole lot of dead soft wire wrapped around a coil of half-hard. The Swarovski beads (I love Swarovskis) sparkle in the light and just look great with the silver wire.

Over the weekend, someone found out that I make jewelry and asked me if I had beads lying around my room. I told her she had NO IDEA. I've found beads in places you wouldn't imagine...like my shoes, my trumpet case, and my underwear drawer.



Also, this is unrelated, but today I learned that rinsing your hair with vinegar is supposed to make it look healthier, shinier, and fuller. So, before I showered today I filled a bottle with half regular white vinegar, half water, and a little too much spearmint essential oil. After shampooing and conditioning, I poured some into my hair and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing it out. My hair doesn't look so much different yet, but I do smell faintly of some strange combination of vinegar, mint, and cloves (the only essential oils I had on hand...) And my scalp tingles a little, but in a good way. It feels cleaner, actually. But that might just be the mint. I'll keep you all posted on my experiment!

I have a 50% off coupon to AC Moore that I think I'm going to use on a soap making kit (one craft I've wanted to get into lately). Ohh the possibilities!