Teeth Whitening DIY

Did I mention I am in a journey towards all natural?

I think what you eat and what you put on you have both a lot of importance in your overall health. 

So I am determined! I am taking baby steps. It takes a lot of effort, and in my case looking for the different ingredients can be a real problem. 

Last week I started experimenting with natural whitening techniques.

After doing some research I decided to go for a very simple recipe:

1 part toothpaste

1 part baking soda

2 parts water

Mix it up and get a paste. 

Brush your teeth for about 2 minutes with the paste just like if it was toothpaste. 

Use once a week for as long as you need. After you achieve the whitening you want stop and do it every once in a while.  

This is a picture of my teeth before and after the brushing. 

Same light and same place... (To be fair, there seems to be a different skin tone and different color of the lips, I do not know why... but still there is a BIG difference in the teeth)

AMAZING!!!!

And the teeth feel like you just went to get a professional cleaning at the dentist. 

I will post the end results in about 3-6 weeks.

What do you think? amazing right?

No grain – Low Carb Waffles

I love food that is good for me. I try my hardest to eat right and understand not what makes me fat and what does not but what is good for me and what is not. This is harder to do in this day and age than one would think. 

In my search for good things I came across the wellnessmama blog. I am a big fan of this blog. She has so much useful stuff! Natural everything! I am not using a lot of her recipes for natural makeup and natural beauty products. (More on that soon)

This morning I woke up with a craving for waffles but I know normal waffles are terrible for the body. I decided to go look for healthy waffles. Once again Wellness Mama had the answer. 

Looks delicious right! :D 

This recipe is super simple

You need: 

• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter or coconut oil
• 1/2 cup coconut flour (plus a little more)
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix the eggs first, then the butter, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Mix in last the flour doing it slowly to avoid clumps. The batter is VERY thick. 

I tried it with butter on top but did not like it, too buttery for my taste. I made some homemade jam and it worked perfectly. It feels a little grainy when eating but the jam makes it sooooo much better! 

Next I plan on mixing in some bananas in the batter. I hope you give it a try! YUM

DIY Messenger Bag - Recycle Cargo Pants

I love sewing but I am still very much new at it. I am constantly looking for projects that will challenge me but not frustrate me. Tote bags are a good way to practice and still keep it simple. I keep looking for friends and family who would want a bag and make it with them in mind. This time I decided to make a messenger bag for my little brother. He is a college student so I thought a messenger bag would be a good fit. 

I had a pair of army pants that a friend from Israel gave me. I could not throw them out because it reminded me of my days in Israel but they were too big to wear. I thought this would be a good way of giving them a new life and keeping them in the family.

Thankfully I found this great tutorial. You need to sign up to download the free PDF. I think this is a great project for someone who has done at least a couple of totes and I am sure it would be a breeze for an expert. The measurements are in centimeters, I want to mention that because it can be confusing. 

This is my final product:

(Sorry for the lack of contrast in my pictures)

The trickiest part for me was cutting the pieces. I understand not that that is really the key to great bags. If you cut right and the fabrics align then you will get better results.  

I also broke not one but TWO machine needles in the making of this bag. I had to run to get needles number 18 which are the ones used for denim. When the fabric is stronger you better get a stronger needle. Now I know.

I loved making this bag. Yesterday we tested it and it holds even the big Mac Book Pro which is pretty big so it should hold any laptop and notebooks. 

Let me know if you make it too. I would love to hear about your adventures! 

Cushion Pin - Organization

A couple of months ago I had to join Pinterest in order to vote for a bridesmaid dress for my friend´s wedding. I had no idea what it was or how to use it, like most people at first. I started some boards and instantly became obsessed with it.

Sometimes I just want to quit my job in order to make and do and try and cook everything that is out there but also I just loving being inspired. I do not care anymore if I actually cook all those recipes or make all those crafts; the inspiration I get from it and knowing that I can make my own stuff is truly rewarding.

I am finally a part of what they are calling “the DIY generation”.

All of this inspiration has got me to want to share. However, I have found blogging is really not that easy. It takes compromise and TIME! I still love it and plan on doing it as much as possible. Little by little I plan on sharing my experiences and my wrongdoings. It is truly exciting for me to think that one day someone out there will use an idea of mine or get inspired like I am inspired today. 

Will all this inspiration I have gotten messy as well. (I am sure it happens to the best of us). So here I was a couple of days ago at it again... trying to get my stuff organized. I felt tired of looking for my measuring tape, fabric crayon, or anything else I needed at the moment under the fabric I was pinning or cutting. 

I saw this tutorial for sewing kits and decided to make it for myself. Not as a sewing kit but as an organization/pin cushion combo. I do not have a lot of stuff (yet) so I keep it all in there. I know that once thread starts piling up I will have to find another organization method but for now it is great and I think I will always keep my "most used" ones there to have at hand. I have 2 jars, one for thread and one for everything else. 

Here are the pictures of how they turned out:

This is one of the easiest most helpful projects I had ever done! You just need a mason jar, a glue gun, and some scraps of fabric (an old t-shirt would work great).

If you see closer there is a tight one (left) and a fluffy one (right) it is because I used two different fabrics. The first a very nice cotton, no stretch. The other a jersey fabric, totally stretchy. The one in the right had more room for stuffing. 

I like the gray and red one the best. But they actually both work great and the red one looks better in pictures! 

When I am sewing I keep both close and usually just have the lid with the pins next to me. 

Another thing that I like about this is that you never "lose" the pins... Even when things are getting crazy in my table and fabric is covering everything the jar is uncovered unlike a normal pin cushion. Thank goodness for this :D

Ribbons

I have started an organization frenzy! 
I am tired of having all my crafty stuff being a little crazy all over my room and living room. As I felt like ribbons where taking over I decided to start there. It is amazing what can be done with a little imagination and 20 minutes. 

I started by cutting some cardboard I had laying around in squares. The small ones are for ribbon; I left some bigger ones for scraps of fabric. Any cardboard could work. I am planning on using some shoe boxes next. 

Then I grabbed a piece of ribbon and just wrapped it around the peace of cardboard. Then I attached the last part with tape.

Put them in a little box. I had these boxes lying around and they worked great! But any would do. Even just a small drawer.

I ended up just putting them in this small one. I have two so when I get more scraps of ribbon I will still have more room. 

 This is how the fabric turned out.

I still have a long way to go. My house is a bit cluttered and I feel like I do not have any room for organizing. However it is time to get creative, inspired and get this done. Thank goodness for the help from all those bloggers out there who really know what they are doing. :)

My first Sock Monkey

I have a niece (she is really my cousin’s daughter but I say she is my niece)... She is, hands down, my favorite little person in the world.

As soon as I started sewing (more on how I got into sewing later), I have been thinking on what to do for her. A sock monkey sounded simple enough and fun. I got excited.

I looked at a couple of tutorials but this one was my favorite.

It was actually harder than I was expecting. It seems I´m better at machine sewing than hand sewing. I am truly a novice in all this and sometimes I have no idea what they are talking about when they mention different stitches. I usually ask my mom but she was traveling... so I went with it.

I still have no idea how it gets to look so professional, but every time it does not come out perfect I just tell myself that I have learned from that experience and next time it will be better!

This is how it turned out...

At first sight I guess it seems like it’s made by a pro, I say this because I got great compliments, but if you look closely you can see MANY mistakes to learn from. 

First off check out the hands and feet... I have no idea how they sow it in a way that it comes out nice and round, not pointy and awkward. At the end I think I kind of figured it out but it was finished by then. 

Also the mouth is crooked! That was a ridiculous mistake but still happened! The mouth and the eyes should be closer together... and the monkey should be stuffed up more. I should have stuffed a lot more but I got scared it was too much and ended up with a skinny monkey! 

So here are my tips for a perfect or at least better sock monkey. 

1. The bigger the sock the easier it will be to make the sock monkey. 

2. Make sure you sew the parts that are sewn with the machine as straight as possible.

3. Stuff it without fear!

4. Cut the excess in the hands, feet and tail after sewing, before turning inside-out. 

However imperfect my sock monkey was it turned out to be a huge success. This is a picture of Emma, my niece, when I gave it to her. J