Blessed Samhain

Tonight as the barrier between the two worlds grows thin, Spirits walk amongst us once again. They be family, friends and foes, pets and wildlife, fishes and crows. This feast I shall leave on my doorstep all night, in my window, one candle shall burn bright to help my loved ones find their way as they travel this eve, and this night until dawn. Bless my offering, both Lady and Lord of breads and fruits, greens and gourd. Dark Mother, your cauldron is a well of death and rebirth, Dark Father, your sword both protects and annihilates. Hear me now as the past year slowly dies, only to be reborn again. May the good come to pass and the bad be cast aside. With divine guidance and protection, I step in to the New Year. In life is death and in death is life, tonight we are joined again.

<3
WW 

Fun with Salt Dough! XD

There have been tons of things bumbling around the interwebz about air-dry salt dough and it looked so fun I couldn't resist giving it a shot...Then, it turns out, it was so much fun that I ended up doing 2 batches!

Here's the recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water

...and here's what I made:

I wanted some cute decorations to sit in some retro silver-plated candy dishes for Samhain, so I made some!

I used silicon molds I found at the dollar store for the shapes.

I painted them with nail polish!  You have to wait until they are COMPLETELY dry before you do this, so these dried for about a week and a half because they are so thick.

Dunked a few in glitter, and there we go!  Those were from the second batch I did as all the pictures are sort of mixed up.

SUSHI!  This was from the first batch.  These I just made by hand, then painted with nail polish as well.

They were surprisingly easy to do seeing as how I've never molded anything in my life unless you count prodding around in Play-dough when I was little.

I made two different dessert platters, but only thought to take pictures of one.  All the pieces move, but I'm considering gluing them to the plate and turning them into fridge magnets!

These were also from the second batch.  We have one of those tiny, cute trees we put up on Yule and its quite hard to find cute ornaments for them without giving up an arm and a leg, so I decided to make some.  Then, I could make us custom, geeky ones, which was even better!

Seen above is the back of the Star Trek badge ornament, my WoW Hearthstone ornament, and my Mario star.

Here is the front of the Star Trek ornament, a Global Dynamics one (any Eureka fans out there?), and two other round ones.

A close-up of the star trek and the Mario 'shroom.  There are eyes painted on the other side of the star beads around it, but I couldn't get them to sit still for the picture.

A shot of things drying...I needed to get them out of the molds so they could air-dry, so I froze them for a few hours, then popped them out of the molds and since I didn't have any wax paper, I put them on a label sheet that didn't have any labels left in it and it worked just fine.

 And a shot of the ornaments.  I put earring wires through the ornaments while they were still wet and let them dry in there.  The heart ones came out super cute, but I forgot to take pictures of those as well...So we'll just save them for another post then!

Have you tried salt dough?  What were your results?

<3WW

Nail Pledge Mani #7 - Spiderwebs!

Want some quick and simple spiderweb nails for Samhain?  This is it.  Super simple and quick!

I started off with two coats of KleanColor Jazz Olive, which I just love.

Then, draw 4 thin, straight, black lines in sort of a sunburst pattern from wherever you want your webs to start.

And add some slightly curving lines between them at different intervals and that's all there is to it!  I love doing spiderwebs for Halloween because they always look like you put a ton of work into your nails, but they are actually easy as hell.

 This is the first time I've done these in green and black and I love it.

 <3 WookieWifey

Birthday Haul Part 2!

I thought I'd posted this, but apparently I'm insane.

First off, my in-laws gifted me a shit-ton of gorgeous eye shadows for my birthday!  There are the above 3 palettes, which are good for blending and basic, everyday stuff and I love the light, shimmery pinks in them as I tend to wear pink and red eye shadows quite a lot...

...and these two individual colors, which are by far my favorite as they are just so pigmented and sparkly!  The flash made them look a bit lighter than they are, but the sparkle just didn't pick up the same without the flash and I've still been to lazy to make a light box.  The colors are actually about 3 or 4 shades darker than what you see, the blue is a dark sapphire and the purple is sort of a deep plum.  LOVE them.  I only wish the pictures did them any sort of justice whatsoever.

Now for the smelly-goods!  There's a Bath and Body Works outlet about an hour (maybe a little less) from our house and I love that place, but since there aren't any other stores in the outlet mall that I care for, most times a drive that far for one store isn't very justifiable...But, of course, on my birthday he always makes exceptions for my eccentricities, so he drove all the way out there and then just basically turned me loose.

L to R:

• Pink Grapefruit body creme...My favorite, been using it off and on since Jr. High.
• Country Chic body spray - this has become a room spray as, sadly, it smells AMAZING...until it hits my skin then it smells awful.
• Japanese Cherry Blossom body spray - adore this stuff
• Pink Chiffon perfume - this also came with a purse-size lotion and this smell is just too dreamy to be true.  This has earned a spot on my top 5 favorite perfumes list
• Peach Citrus body spray - I almost didn't even try this as I'm not usually a big fan of peach, but the citrus balances it out beautifully and it smells divine.
• I <3 Watermelon Cherry bath gel - Smells soooo good and if you use this in the shower then the Peach Citrus spray afterward, you smell like a walking bowl of fruit in a totally good way.

Better shot of the Pink Chiffon bottle because its so pretty and it came in an adorable little black and white polka dot plastic canister that I now use to hold cotton balls in the bathroom!

Wonderful birthday hauls, so thanks to everyone who thought of me and was so amazing to me on/around my birthday!

<3 WW

Nail Pledge Manicure #6 - Cauldron Nails

These came out light years more cute than I expected them to.

I forgot to take a picture of just the base color.  This was two coats of KleanColor Sweet Orange, which is just adorable.   I started off with drawing a small line of black about halfway up the nail I wanted the art on.

Then, I drew two convex (or concave depending on the angle you're looking, I suppose) arcs from that line to the tip of my nail.

Then color in between those lines, and there's your cauldron!

Next, I added the moon and stars with a stamp plate.  Do try not to get part of the moon on your cuticle, but really that's up to you.

Then I added some wisps of steam rising out of the cauldron with some silver.

There we go!

Witchy nails!

<3
The Wookie Wifey

All About Influenster, Random Photos, and Why I Hate Paid Subscription Box Companies

As many of you know by now, I'm sure, I'm a member of influenster, which is where I get some of the awesome products I review on here.  Actually, its the only place that sends me stuff, everything else I've reviewed I bought on my own or were gifts!

For those of you who don't know, influenster is a site you can join for free that will send you products to test out (also for free YAY) and spread the word.  Sweet, right?

I find it funny that people still pay certain services a stupid amount of money to send them a box of sample-size crap they don't even get to choose when influenster is around.  I mean, seriously, PAYING for SAMPLES?  Wake up, ladies!  Any company worth their mettle will gladly send you a sample for free if you shoot them a polite email or snail mail requesting one, and sometimes you'll even get some coupons, too.  Don't feel like doing that?  Most department store makeup counters will also give you samples or let you try out a tester if you ask, too.

Influenster recently redesigned their site, and while it is a bit more fun and user-friendly, I'm worried that one point of it may not be the best system.

The way the old influenster worked was you sign up, fill out a short survey to qualify for a badge, then when a box is shipped out for a certain demographic, you get it if you have the appropriate badge and get chosen.  I received two boxes from them before the site change and since I joined, so it was about 5 months time in there, which, hey, free stuff - SO not bitching, especially since they send full size products.

My complaint about the new site design is the influenster score.  You can up your score by reviewing products, and I've seen TONS of "reviews" on there by people who haven't tried the product.  A review should be telling someone about your experience with a product you've tried, not "OMG I want to try this sooo bad".  I've contacted influenster to see if these reviews will be filtered out because I don't think it would be fair if, say, x amount of people got a box because they had a higher score due to submitting a shit ton of bogus reviews when another x amount of people didn't get one due to a lower score, yet they were honest in their reviews and only reviewed products they'd tried.  We'll see if I get a response and if those fake reviews will be dealt with...However, I'm still concerned and honestly believe that reviews shouldn't count for points unless you blog them with your own pictures, because anyone can fill out a form, pull something out of their ass, and say they tried stuff.

I can't get behind that.  I may not have much, but I do have my integrity.  Maybe I hold myself to a higher code than some people, but I do not, and will never review anything that I haven't tried and given an honest go.  Scout's honor.  (Yes, I really was a girl scout, so it counts!)

Since this looks naked without anything else, we'll also count this as this month's random photo post (I think I missed last months, OOPS!) here's some pictures I had lying around!

Old mani I did several months back.

Another old mani...Purple leopard print!

Beautiful morning glories blooming outside our window - they are confused and think its spring with all the hot/cold/hot/cold weather here!

New zombie plushie I made as a special order for a friend.  BRAAAAINS!

Some ugly magnets I painted into awesomeness.

This is now one of my very favorite pictures and I was so busy gawking at this gorgeous antique door on the other side of the alleyway that I might have missed it were it not for my amazing, wonderful Wookie.

Hope you enjoyed!

Any influensters reading?  How do you feel about the new system?


<3 WW

Shit That Does Not Work

We interrupt this blog to bring you a special announcement of:

SHIT THAT DOES NOT WORK!

I saw a pin saying that if you placed a wooden spoon across the top of a boiling pot of pasta it won't boil over.  Unfortunately, I remembered this while I was making spaghetti for dinner the other night night...

Water went everywhere.  Only difference is it went around the spoon.

 Joy.

<3
 WW

Stove Top Pork Roast with Vegetables

First off, by "stove top" I mean, you cook it on top of the stove, so no heart attacks, there won't be any stuffing mix creeping up on you.  I haven't been posting remotely as many recipes as I should lately, but either non-recipe-friendly things are what has been on sale or I've just flat forgotten to take pictures.  Like last night when I made a KILLER roasted loaded baked potato soup.   *sigh*

First stop, pork.  This is pork for carnitas and its 2.6-something pounds, but it was pretty fatty so some ended up coming out.  I don't usually buy meats marked "roast" when I make soups, stews, and roasts as generally they are just over-priced and I can make something just as good with a cheaper cut.

Plop your meat of choice into the water (about a gallon or so is in there) with a little pepper, salt, and a few bay leaves and let it boil.  And boil.  And boil.  Add more water as you need it.  And keep boiling until it falls apart.

Once its falling apart, turn the heat down to medium and remove the bay leaves and any fatty, unsavory pieces and scoop any excess grease or anything else unappetizing that floats to the top off. 

Then, add one large chopped onion.

Four or five large potatoes...I like my vegetable chops to be quite large in a roast/stew concoction. Always remember, potatoes taste way better with the skins on, just give them a good scrub first.  For every potato you skin, a baby koala goes bald.  Just think of them out there cold and defenseless and put down the vegetable peeler.  In the trash.

1/2 a bag each, so about 8 ounces each of carrots and green beans, feel free to substitute fresh.

Four or five chopped celery stalks...

...Toss it all in the pot and let it cook until the potatoes are soft, then add salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon of thyme, 2 teaspoons of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, and turn it down to a simmer for about 20 minutes.  You may notice that's not even half my usual massive lineup of spices, but with this being the first roast of the season for us, I wanted something a bit lighter that would really let the flavor of the meat and vegetables stand out.

That's all there is to it!  This made between 8 and 10 large bowls, so cooking something like this will last for days!

<3
WookieWifey

DIY SHOES! Ugly Flats to Super Cute Flats!

To be honest, it never really occured to me that I could DIY shoes, or at least re-vamp them, aside from wrapping spike belts and shit around my boots until a few years back when I found Violet's blog via stumbleupon and saw all her amazing tutorials.  Since then, I've been toying more and more with shoes, my glitter bottom heels being my first official project.

I'd say its high time for project 2, no?  This one came out so well that I'll be scouring thrift stores from now on for ugly shoes with potential instead of only looking for ones that are already cute.

I started with a pair of butt-ugly American Eagle flats I picked up at a thrift store for a dollar.

Enter, Tulip Soft Fabric Paint.  This tube was about 4 or 5 bucks at Wal-mart and we've done two pairs of shoes with it and still have more left over...One of those pair of shoes was a huge pair belonging to the Wookie and he needed two coats on his, so this stuff goes quite a way.

I wiped down the shoes to knock any excess dirt or anything off of them so the paint would stay nicely and put one coat on, being sure to take it on the inside piping a little so you can't see any brown when they are on.

I didn't expect the polka dots to show through, but they did, but its interesting because they aren't just all in-your-face polka-dotty now, in face, it almost looks like black sequins as they showed up shiny and the rest is matte.

Next, while the paint was drying, I grabbed a necklace to dissect.  This necklace was gorgeous, but I had to spend ten minutes (literally) untangling it every time I wanted to wear it only to have it re-tangled and pulling out the hair at the nape of my neck 5 minutes later, so I decided to re-purpose it for a project instead of staring at it in my jewelry box every few weeks thinking "oh well".

I cut off the drape-y part and laid it out and chose the sections of chain I wanted to use.  Two were a bit too delicate for shoes and the shot bead necklace was too big of a pain to work with, so I ended up with these three:

I simply cut the chains in half of the original lengths then attached them all at the ends with jump rings.

No idea why the bottom is fucked up, it wasn't like that before I uploaded.

Then, I picked out 4 pyramid studs, which is lucky because I only had 5 to my name...Otherwise, these would have been studded flats.  Seriously, who the hell has FIVE pyramid studs?!  I need a craft shopping spree so bad.

I put the pyramid studs on the sides of the curve of the shoe with one of the prongs going through the jump ring that's holding the chains.

Then I pushed the little teeth through the fabric and pushed them down with scissors.  I have an actual tool for that somewhere around here, but sadly enough, the scissors work better.

Then, I took some dark thread and stitched the top chain into place along the piping just because I could see that thing flipping, getting caught in with my foot, and me nerd-raging on it.  The bottom two don't really move enough to bug me, though.

Seems this picture fucked up,  too.  I tried.

Done!

...And from the side so you can see the studs.  And the imprint of the sofa fabric on my foot.

<3
Wookie Wifey