perfect balm

I just got this lip balm and it's totally amazing. I always fall in love with new lip balms, I admit it. For example, recently I fell in love with this one because it has the added bonus of some SPF. However, the skinny skinny bare & naked 100% organic balm is phenomenal. It feels creamy and wholesome and good for your lips. In fact, as I type, I can't seem to stop rubbing my lips together. Anyways... here are the ingredients (as in ALL of the ingredients): cocoa butter, beeswax, virgin coconut oil, calendula-infused extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil and honey. Yum! I also love the philosophy of skinny skinny, which I first discovered at Chapters, actually. They make amazing handmade, organic soaps that they wrap in pages of vintage books. They use wind energy to power their factory, and use soy inks on their packaging. All in all, a very forward thinking company. Props to skinny skinny!

before & after: compact mirror

Just a quick little project I did today. I always use this compact to check the back of my hair in the mirror in the morning. I admit, I occasionally have bed head that's only in the back! Today I finally got sick of looking at the Clinique logo. A quick search of my stash of cut out images from books/magazines and some modge podge later... voila! Something much cuter to look at every morning!

yummy things

Just a few things I'm totally loving right now...

Barefoot Contessa's chocolate chunk blondie mix. Oh. My. God. I found it at Sobey's Urban Fresh a few months ago and took the finished yummies to a bbq. Everyone was devouring them and I didn't have it in me to say it was a boxed mix! No one asked, honestly, or I would have divulged my secret. Here's why they're so good-- all of the ingredients in the mix are real things you can actually pronounce and basically have in your pantry:

malted wheat flour

sugar

molasses

vital wheat gluten

salt

natural flavour

baking soda

semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Then, you just add 1 stick of unsalted butter and an egg. I'm telling you, this is such a good treat. I won't tell you how many calories though! This is obviously not as good as baking from scratch. But if you're in a pinch, I think this is a great thing to have on hand.

.....

I'm also somewhat addicted to smoothies right now. In particular, a variation of one from the November/December issue of Clean Eating.

Here's what's in it:

3/4 cup almond milk (I just discovered this but skim milk works too)

1/4 cup coconut milk

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I'm sure it would be ok without, maybe with a splash of vanilla extract instead)

1/4 cup frozen strawberries (about 3 medium or 2 large)

1/4 cup frozen pineapple (about 5 large chunks)

I've been buying canned pineapple and freezing it and also freezing 1/4 cup portions of the coconut milk to make it easy. I've also tried adding a tablespoon of ground flax which doesn't change the flavour too much and gives that added boost of Omega-3. You just blend it all in the blender and voila! Delicious! It's sort of like a pina colada actually, but the strawberry and pineapple flavours aren't too strong, which makes it refreshing without being over the top fruity.

stunning sand art

Can't even begin to describe this. You just have to watch it for yourself. Simply mesmerizing.

reusable plaid

So, I'm all about upcycling. You may have noticed this recent (mild) obsession. I love to go to the thrift shop near my place, find some clothes I can repurpose, and go to town. Awhile ago I bought two men's plaid shirts. First, I made a little tote bag. This is a basic bag pattern that I've made several times now. I put some cute details on one side-- a cluster of buttons from my jar of buttons. Yes, of course I have a jar of buttons! What else do you do with those extra buttons that come with nearly every garment? The red button was from one of the shirts, actually.

I also put a fun little heart applique on the back. Cute, right?

So, the latest projects I made with these same two shirts are these little Christmas gift bags. I'm hoping to make a bunch more before the gift-giving begins, but these have used up the majority of these shirts. My goal is to use as much of the shirts as possible so that the shirts, in their entireties, have taken on completely new lives. I've also used the cuffs to make those little reusable coffee cup sleeves. The collars were made into the handles on the tote bag. Seams (with double stitching) have become little "ribbons" for small gifts. You get the idea.

Actually, here's what remains of both shirts at this point. Not bad! But still tons of fabric left to make stuff with. Kind of amazing to think of all the possibilities with just two shirts!

just for me

{via frolic}

I just thought it was so neat that Chelsea from frolic made this sample wedding place card just for me! How funny is that?!? Have a peek at the full post here.