Tutorial 4: DIY Washer Bracelet

Would you say your sense of fashion style is all it's own?

Do you enjoy having unique accessories that grab attention?

This tutorial will show you how to make a one of a kind bracelet using odds and ends hidden in your basement, garage, or available at your local hardware store. It is great DIY to do while you're waiting to go out or if you're having a bad come of mid afternoon boredom. It is easy, simple, and takes practically no time at all!

I love being crafty and learning cool new ways to spice up my outfit. This bracelet is perfect for a casual outing while adding a bit of edge to your ensemble. Using a coloured ribbon will make for a softer touch. 

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

Duration: 20 mins

Materials:

• 1/4 flat washers 
• 90 cm of ribbon

Instructions:

1. Slip ribbon through centre of flat washer.  

2. Slip working end of ribbon over and under the middle of your next

 washer.

3. Pull the working end of you ribbon through the top to the underside of your first washer.

4. Thread the ribbon through your second washer from the bottom so the working end of your ribbon is over the right side of your second washer.

5. Repeat this "over and under" sequence as many times as desired.

Final Result

Lessons Learned/Tips:

• You CAN go "under and over" instead of "over and under" and still create your link. However you washer will flip to show the back if you do UNDER first!
• You don't need 2 ribbons I just thought it would add a little extra colour. It would have looked phenomenal to have 2 ribbons with one slightly thicker than the other to have both colours showing in the links between washers. 
• Give yourself more "working ribbon" than you think you will need, loosening and tightening your ribbon through a set of washers takes up more time (I'm speaking from experience!)

There you have it! A fun and creative way to put a little bit more of your own personality into your outfits! In my experience every piece of jewelery I've ever made always gets noticed and it feels great knowing I made something no one has an exact replica of!

This bracelet is is funky, with a certain edge that would work well with an outfit that incorporates my T-shirt Tutorial. 

Tutorial 3: DIY - Build your Own Thick Crust Pizza

Put your hands up if you like delicious mouth-watering, Pizza.

Explore the craftiness and adventures every female twenty-something year old should know! This weeks tutorial takes a turn as I explain the "How-to" cooking a pizza made from scratch.

It wouldn't be every girls right hand blog without the best pizza recipe I've ever made. At this age everyone should have that 1 delicious meal they know how to prepare, and who doesn't like pizza. This recipe is sure to impress even the pickiest of critics!

Am I right when I say theres nothing better than home made pizza?

I'm going to go step by step into making the perfect pizza. Everything from making the dough to the dinner table.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Duration: 1 hour 20 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tsp (1 pkg) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 1 tsp 
• Pizza sauce
• Shredded cheese
• toppings of choice

Step 1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water and let stand until creamy (about 10-15 minutes)

Step 2. In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients

Step 3. Add the yeast mixture.

Step 4. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed

Step 5. Cover and let rise until doubled (usually around half an hour)

Step 6. Pre-heat oven to 350

Here is where you can prepare all your toppings. This is the best part because you can put on whatever like.

Step 7. Clean your counter or flat surface and sprinkle flour generously onto your working space.

Step 8. Work/Turn out your dough onto you well floured surface

Step 9. Form dough into ball

Step 10. Roll out into pizza crust shape (I used a rectangular cooking sheet)  and place on your cooking sheet lined with wax paper or sprayed with PAM.

Step 11. Cover with sauce, leaving a 1" border without sauce to allow for crust

Step 12. Sprinkle as much cheese as desired over the sauce

Step 13. Add toppings of choice (in this case I used chicken, broccoli, bacon, and hemp hearts)

Step 14. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 20 mins

Final Result

Lessons Learned/Tips:

• Warm water shouldn't bee too hot or cold otherwise the yeast won't activate
• Extra cheese never hurts
• If you add bacon make sure you get ride of as much fat as possible otherwise you will have a super greasy pizza

Enjoy your delicious dinner and share with friends! 

Tutorial 2: DIY Organic Peppermint Lip Balm/Gloss

Hey Guys welcome back!

This week I decided to try and learn how to make chap stick. A  friend and I set forth on a mission to make an all natural or organic lip balm out of products that can be found at your local health store.

This one was a bit more involved in the last. This one involves a lot more “materials”, time and elbow grease. However don’t be alarmed, It turns out it was A LOT more simple than expected when it came down to it.

We found a tutorial we thought looked good and decided to put it into action.

First we got all our materials together including:

Shea butter

-       Coconut oil

-       Avocado oil

-       Almond oil

-       Beeswax

-       Peppermint essential oils

Prepare to get your daily work out grating your beeswax! This is probably the only hard thing about this tutorial but it gets better from here!

Unless you’re me.

All went well until we decided to try and add some colour. We tried using food colouring. This was a terrible idea.

I repeat do not use food colouring! It did not mix!

The colour separated and sunk to the bottom of the mixture. It was off to the compost bin and time to start again.

Instead next time I suggest using eye shadow to give it a pop of colour.

We used the last of the shea butter we had in our reserves so now it was all new game. We turned to google once more on a mission to find a chap stick recipe with the ingredients we had. Hence this simple peppermint balm. We tried our luck at combining the ingredients from these 2 tutorials.

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-peppermint-lip-balm-recipes-from-the-kitchn-214016

http://wellnessmama.com/7055/homemade-lip-chap-recipe/

Ingredients:

-       coconut oil

-       avocado oil

-       almond oil

-       beeswax

-       peppermint essential oil

 
 

Making Chapstick is super easy! it can basically be boiled down to these easy steps:

1. Collect ingredients and portion them out

2. Put all ingredients in a glass jar (in no particular order)

3. Place jar in boiling pot of water and stir until melted. 

4. Place in canisters, let cool and done!

We went through the same process all over again, this time doubling the recipe, and finally this batch made it to the final step. Pouring into the canisters! 

Being Canadian has its benefits.  Instead of waiting around for the mix to harden we just placed it in the snow and made a cup of David’s Tea.

By the time our teas were made the chap sticks were ready to be decorated.

Here is the end result!
 

Lessons Learned/ Tips:

1. don’t add food colouring instead use a powder or a chunk of lipstick you already have

*The consistencies don’t blend

2. don’t bother doubling the recipe
*it will give you more than you’ll know what to do with

3. Add more Beeswax
* makes it more solid

4. spring more the chap stick containers (you can find them on amazon)
*easier to apply
5. Add more peppermint
*It may smell strong at first but the final product ended up being very mind

6. Take precaution for extra time and extra ingredients

Instead of a lib balm it turned out more as a lip shine/gloss.
I found it doesn’t have the immediate effects of chap stick but it seems to smooth the lips out nicely once absorbed. 

It isn’t sticky and is very light so it doesn’t feel uncomfortable.
You can wear it by itself for a natural shine or on top of lipstick.

I also tried it on my skin and found it really made my skin a lot softer. It absorbed really quick and didn’t leave a greasy residue.

The good thing with this recipe is all the ingredients are pretty versatile for all skin types, and because of their natural ingredients are gentle use basically anywhere.

REMEMBER: If you’re not happy with the end result you can always melt it back down and add more beeswax or coconut oil as needed.

Some say the “it’s not the destination, It’s journey” and I can agree. Although it didn’t turned out as planned it was blast to make and that’s what it’s all about.

Tutorial 1: DIY Cut Up A T-Shirt

Hey Guys!

Welcome back to Learn & Discover :)

This week I have decided to do a tutorial on how to cut up a shirt.

Difficulty: 1 out of 5
Time/Duration: 10 minutes


There are many different ways to do this but I decided to pick a simple design that still looks great. This is a rest way to up cycle or recycle those old band tee's. I've see this on brand new shirts in stores but now you can have the freedom to do it with any shirt you wish.

This is a great way to recycle those old t-shirts and revamping them for the summer!

Lets get started!

Here is the pictorial I used to help me learn the steps:

You will need:

- a t-shirt
- fabric scissors or sharp scissors
- flat surface

First you're going to want to pick out  a t-shirt. this can work with essentially any fabric. The one I used was a cotton/spandex blend.

Now time to use those scissors. I used a pair of fabric scissors but a sharp pair of everyday scissors should do the trick with most materials.

Fold the shirt vertically in half, seam to seam, with the front of the shirt inside the fold. Grab the centre of the top and bottom of the back/outside layer of your shirt and drop the front layer. Then place the shirt on a flat surface

Then you will want to start making your slits. You can start anywhere but I decided to start from the top of the garment and work my way down.

(The first slit is the longest so keep that in mind!)

Next cut a new slit 3/4"-1" below your first and repeat. Each time you cut it a new slit it should be shorter than previous. This will create an ideal V-shape.

Stretch out the strips of fabric so they can be easily manipulated for the next step.

Now you will want to do (what I call) a "Loop, pull, and twist" action.

Grab your first piece of fabric and create a loop in the centre by grabbing the strip with your index finger and turning it 180 degrees.

Pull the next strip through the bottom of the loop and twist.

Repeat.

When you get to the bottom pull your last strip through and simply double knot like you would your shoe.

Voila! You now have a rad new shirt!

Here were my results!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! Stay tuned for next tutorial :)

New Beginnings

Hi All!
Welcome to my page! This is the cited ramblings from the mind of Alana :)

I am a HUGE believer in the idea that happiness and sense of fulfillment can be achieved by consistently working on yourself and constantly having a new goals to achieve and strive for. And this ideology is the inspiration behind my blog.

Every week I will make a commitment to learn/try something new no matter what it may be. I will find a tutorials and execute it with hopeful success then share the potentially hilarious outcomes. The best way to learn is through experience of trial and error and I will use what I learn, even if I may not compete the tasks with perfection, to give you guys tips and tricks along the way!

Topics will revolve around an "artsy" theme and can include anything around DIY, crafts, baking, and fitness! The main idea is to learn something new that may mean something to you. #LearnSomething365

We live in a time where we practically have the whole universe at our fingertips, with availability to information that can make anything possible. It is a new year and a new semester and there is no time like the present to make a commitment to learning and discovering something new. It is never too late to start something and never too early to think ahead. There are endless possibilities.

This is my journey to self-discovery and happiness through my new experiences and I invite you all to stay tuned

Namaste!