Dying with natural colors is nothing new to me. Every year our Easter eggs are done with onion skins in a deep warm reddish brown color. I love them. I also remember my mother dying clothes with black tea back in the day. Coming across a lovely pinkish shade on Pinterest I was hooked. When I discovered that my white dress shirts had some rose colored stains matching the natural dye color of avocado I had a reason to try. Here is my take on easy avocado dying at home.
First of I ate quite a few avocados. I read in one tutorial that skins and pits can be frozen until needed. That is how I did it. Another lady suggested keeping them in a jar covered with water.
I have not taken any progress photos as I was too lazy and I did it at night. But Louise has done a great job so check out her tutorial as I followed it rather closely.
I think the idea to make a DIY jewelry display is in my mind since I signed up for Pinterest in 20xx. Ok, maybe that was a bit overly dramatic but it is close. I always new I wanted to make some sort of hanging display for my earrings but didn’t quite know what I wanted or needed. I had a many ideas I walked through in my head but I never took steps to actually make them. As Mr. ♡ decided to throw out this newly bought IKEA Stockholm Tray because it didn’t quite fit in his office I snatched it up. After a few more months cluttering the apartment I finally went to work.
Last summer I spent a day in the wood workshop with my dad. I had a couple projects I wanted to work on. It was good to have some guidance. Here is how I went about it:
Materials you need für your DIY jewelry display
wooden tray
wooden round stick in similar wood
drill with matching heads
sanding paper
paint if needed
carpenters rule, pencil
Unfortunately for you I was so caught up in the moment I didn’t really take step by step photos. I tried to explain what I did though.
I had a huge mind block when it cam to measuring where to but my rods. Still have. Can’t grab the concept here even though my dad tried to explain multiple times (he graduated with a maths and physics diploma back in the day). I don’t understand how it works apparently my mind isn’t capable. Basically I did not measure. Here is what you need to do: figure out where to put the first rod. It should be one in the middle section. Drill a hole but make sure not to go all the way through. Repeat on the other side. Now measure the distance. This is the length of your first stick. Due to some mathematical theory/law/whatever it will always be level.
Now you only need to use a distance meter to measure where to drill the next hole. Repeat until you are done.
As for the studs I simply drilled some wholes in a slat. I didn’t do a very precise job but I am ok with that. It was a bit more effort to make them fit into the ledge as I could simply drill some holes.
Once done sand down a bit and simply click the rods and slats into place.
I decided to paint it all white as the jewelry pops more with a clean background.
You are done. Now the fun part – hanging, sorting and displaying jewelry.
I am really surprised how many I accumulated over time as I didn’t expect to own that many studs. So I already ran out of space even though I got rid o f a few.
On another note I realized I used to wear a lot of purple as I own so many in that color but hardly wear them anymore. Over all I have 81 earrings – 27 handmade by me and 7 more handmade ones from markets or by friends.
I love that I can see them all on display now and can choose in the morning which ones to wear. It’s much easier to reach for some forgotten gems.
Inspiration can hit you anywhere and at anytime. This years natural advent wreath is inspired by one of my autumn walks across the cemetery. It was a beautiful day, I needed to clear my head, the air was already crisp and the smell of rotten leaves drifted by. While I was listen to one of the many podcasts on my phone I was hit with this view.
I tried to remember if that tree was really a cottonwood. I remembered someone once told me that the cottonwoods are not native to Germany and Germany. And that during/after WWII US pilots dropped many seeds over Berlin to re-grow vegetation that was cut down by the population during the years of war for firewood. I was also wondering why it shed its bark. And if it is a re-grown material… how much supplies will you get. Only an idea…
Well and here we go. The squirrel in me started picking up scraps of bark and putting them in my shopping bag. I had just decided no groceries today. On top I added some hazelnuts and walked home. There I let the bag sit near a heater until advent season was just around the corner..
My initial idea was to wrap a wreath form in bark by bending it. This didn’t really work as the bark was too porous. It kept on breaking and splitting. I briefly considered wetting it as wood usually is more agreeable to be worked with but decided against it. I actually quite liked the scale-kinda-look.
Ok, let’s get started by gathering materials:
dried bark of a cottonwood tree
wreath form
glue gun and enough glue
candles
decoration
The tutorial is rather easy.
Break bake in smaller pieces.
Make sure there are not dirty or wet areas.
Glue on wreath form, The outer bark will be put on form so you will see the inside of the bark.
Once done place the candles. I decided to go with all candles close together.
Add decoration to your liking. I went with a brown golden color theme and really liked it.
That’s all you actually have to do. The most intriguing part of this natural advent wrath is the material. Most people I asked would not figure out what it was.
What is your favorite material to make an advent wreath? As you probably know I always try to figure out some new ways and rarely use fir-branches. Leave a comment and tell me about yours. It’s never to early to plan for next year.
Do you like coffee in the morning? I certainly do. If you are a coffee lover you will love this homemade coffee cinnamon scrub. It’s like having coffee under the shower. And lets be honest that’s one invention we could use…
Besides tasting amazing coffee is also said to have a few benefits when it comes to beauty and skin care. Studies by a new Danish biorefinary have shown, that only 1% of coffees bioactive compounds of coffee have been taking advantage of when brewing it. Meaning the caffein is diluted but the rest is just going to waste. Seriously what a waste? They re-purpose the left over coffee grounds so they can be used in cosmetic products and the food industry. So interesting.
It’s not new that coffee is used in anti-cellulites products. The coffeid acid may boost collagen which is helping the skin to look fresh and healthy and stores water. So it comes as no surprise that coffee asl exfoliate scrub is pretty awesome.
But let’s get to making some homemade coffee cinnamon scrub so you can experience all this yourself. Here is what you need:
1/2 ground coffee – you can recycle your used coffee
1 cup sugar
5 tbs olive oil
3 tbs jojoba oil
4 tbs almond oil
Let coffee dry a bit when using recycled coffee.
Mix oils.
In separate bowl mix sugar and coffee grinds.
Mix together and put into jar.
Enjoy scrub.
So simple isn’t it? I really don’t know why I ever bothered to by scrubs and peelings. And since I am mixing it myself I actually use it more often too. Have you ever done any skin care products at home? I am always pondering going more in depth here but you need so many ingredients. Well not for all as you can see at the vegan bath bombs I did. But facial cream…
Not much of a coffee lover you might find the Avocado Sugar Scrub more to your liking.
Who else is busy thinking about this years advent wreath? I usually ponder I ideas already when most people enjoy their summer vacay at the pool. I have to be honest, this year my picture is not that clear. When I don’t know what direction to go I usually just look at my Pinterest board. Usually the first thing that I know is the color scheme of the new wreath. This might happen when I see certain candles or just some decoration that speaks to me. My moms wreath this year will be gold/brown/nude.
Following I want to share some advent wreath inspiration.
This pine needle advent wreath (tutorial) probably took the longest from all the ones I did. I love the look of it.
