Luck of the Irish (redhead)

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Although I am not Irish (I'm mostly Scandinavian, ya sure ya betcha) my red hair is one of the few things that I share with the Irish people. 

So rather than celebrate green, or beer, I've decided that today should be a day to celebrate redheads, the small, shrinking population of people who are blessed with pale skin, freckles and fiery locks. (And usually a fiery personality to match.)

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See? Now don't you wish you were an awkward gorgeous redhead?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

confession

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There's something about the Internet that calls for confessions.

Deep dark secrets. Anonymoity. You can post online what you would never ever say in person.

And so I am going to confess...

I don't wash my hair every day.

[gasp!]

In America, that's unheard of. In Europe and nearly every other country, that's the norm.

And I know that a lot of you are saying, "But I have to wash my hair everyday!"

No, that's just what you think. It's common knowledge that hair is better when you let natural oils, uh, moisturize it. You just gotta train it a bit.

My beauty secret?

Baby powder.

And I don't even use the Johnson & Johnson brand.

It's generic all the way baby.

Yeah, I know it's white, and it smells like it belongs in a nursery but honestly it's the cheapest best thing that works.

Just dab some in your hair at night, concentrating on your roots and where your greasies show up, and I promise tomorrow morning your hair will be baby fresh and any evidence of white powder will be gone.

What is your beauty confession secret?

what I wore

For this "what I wore" post, I'm not showing off my cute outfit, but a cute hairstyle I stole from Elsie of A Beautiful Mess and Red Velvet Shop.

I'm desperately trying to grow out my hair.

It used to look like this:

Chicago, August 2010

And now it's in that awkward in-between length and every day I'm tempted to just hack it all off again or find someway to make it cute.

Which is why I was so excited to find this tutorial on maiden braids from A Beautiful Mess:

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I don't look quite as polished, but it was a nice change:

yes I'm in my kitchen... I know, not so glam

blame the blurryness on the husband...

surprisingly not too long to do either...

Perhaps with this tutorial I can stand the grow-out process a little longer.

home sick... again

I was sick maybe three weeks ago so it doesn't seem fair to be stuck on the couch again fighting a nasty bug. (I'll spare you the details.)

Here's a little Etsy collection in honor of being home sick. (Anyone else out there?)

Vintage sheet blanket	Organic Cold and Flu Comfort Tea
Tea love mug cozy	Orange Tissue Monster

easy baby blanket [tutorial]

I've wanted to make something with minky fabric forever.  For one thing it's so soft-- something like  bunny fur crossed with the lining of a new sweatshirt, and I love those little bumpies on the fabric.
But it seems a little more suited for a baby blanket than for an adult throw.

Lucky me, one of my cousins is having a baby boy this spring. I know that she loves minky fabric, so when Joann's was having a sale (50% off? Yes please) I ran down and got a few yards to make her baby blanket.

This project only takes a few hours and even with basic sewing skills, (ahem, me), it turns out pretty well.

 I bought 1 yard and 1/2 of flannel and 1 and 1/2 yard of minky fabric.

I prewashed and ironed the flannel (not the minky!!) before I laid it out, flannel to minky, undersides up and pinned all the way around the edges.

 

someone always gets in the way. good thing he's cute

I then sewed all the way around, leaving a few inches open so I could turn the blanket inside out. (What was great was that the flannel had a grid pattern-- it's always easier to stitch following a straight line.)

I turned the blanket inside out and reironed it, paying close attention to the edges.

Rather than just stitch the few inches left open, I chose to stitch all the way around the edges, about 1/2 an inch in to give it a finished look. If I had time, I would have done a double stitch, or perhaps a binding. (But I'm flying to California tomorrow-- so no time for that.)

like my sewing machine? $40 on Craigslist! I'll tell you that story another time

 It turned out pretty well and I'm thinking about making another blanket this way. There's always adorable vintage flat sheets at Goodwill-- I think it would be great sewn with a fleece underside.