Sequins & Sofas: Rag and Roll

I follow a few blogs that are fun. One such blog is 'A Beautiful Mess'...lots of Style and Beauty tips. Love.

There was a post a few months back that really caught my eye....it wanted to teach me how to rag roll my hair. Rag Rolling? That sounds weird, whatever could it be?

I'm glad you asked. First, separate your hair in sections:

Find some fabric...any kind really...and rip it up in strips. Maybe like 2 inches wide and 8 inches long. I think I used about 12 to 14 strips of fabric total. I had just washed my hair and mostly dried it before rolling, but just make sure it is ever so slightly damp. Take a chunk of hair and hold it in your hand. Wrap the hair around your thumb/fabric:

Once you get to the end, tie it off with the ends of the fabric:

Great! Keep going til all your hair is tied up in lovely little bows:

Time for bed. I was worried that it might be hard to sleep with so many foreign objects tied to my head. But it honestly was just fine, the fabric is soft and in no way impeded my ability to catch some zzzzz's.

Ok, wake up! Get ready for the day. Contacts in, makeup on, brush those teeth. Let your hair down. That's it:

Shake it out and you are done! By the end of the day, your waves will look like you just spent a few relaxing, sun-soaked hours at the beach...my new favorite:

And just in case you want another example to follow, here is the original blog post from where I was inspired to try something new:

A Beautiful Mess

Crafty Corner: Name it!

My AWESOME 2nd grader nephew has finally graduated to having his very own room! He helped pick out the paint colors and decided on a COOL DUDE sports theme:)

He also had some big wooden letters spelling out his name from his old room that needed a little TLC. Sounded like a great opportunity for a fun auntie craft project! My goal (get it...sports...goal, ha!) was to revamp said letters to get in the game (seriously, how funny am I??) of his new theme. The old:

The pre-game strategy session (yep..I did it again):

Half Time (he he he):

Score! (sorry, last one...promise):

I can't wait to deliver the new letters to my buddy and get them up on the wall! This little project was not too time consuming, pretty inexpensive and really fun! Got a theme? An empty wall? And a kid who has a name? 1,2,3...go!

Letter update: Ok...it's now the end of the day and the letters have been delivered and hung on the wall! They look great:

Sequins & Sofas: 5 Things

More things I love:

1. Fiskars Rotary Cutter/Cutting Board- In the beginning stages of my sewing 'career', I was planning on purchasing a fancy pair of shears. Instead, I went with this! And it is great. Accurate cut, goes thru many layers of fabric!

2. In keeping with the sewing theme, this book is AMAZING! Sew U by Wendy Mullin. Descriptive yet simple explanations of techniques, how to use a variety of tools, and how to use patterns for any project! Get it, love it!

3. A healthy snack- I have been trying to cut out extra sugar from my life lately and this combo is a yummy substitute. Greek yogurt is all the rage these days so why not jump on the bandwagon! Add a bunch of sweet fresh fruit to plain Greek yogurt and enjoy...lots of berries, yum.

4. Also, sometimes I still need a few squares of this.

5. Eos Lip Balm- Smooth and silky.....Makes my lips feel lovely! Lots of 'flavors' to choose from, your lips will thank you.

Yummy in my Tummy!

Need a fancy dessert to bring to future friend gatherings? Want it to be easy to prepare but look like it took many hours? Then I have the treat for you.

I found this recipe in some little cookbook of 5 ingredients or less (or something like that...wish I could remember the title exactly...sorry):

Raspberry Cream Cheese Tarts

You will need:
-1 pack of pre-made mini graham cracker pie crusts (I found them at Cub, not so much at Target)

Topping
-1.5 cups of fresh raspberries (or whatever berry you like best I suppose)
-1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

Mix up the jam to make smooth and then add to the berries. Mix together and set aside for later.

Filling
-1/3 cup granulated sugar
-1 package of cream cheese
-2 tbsp. mascarpone cheese, softened
-1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the above 4 ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. You can spoon the mixture into the mini pie crusts...or be really fancy and pipe it with an inexpensive piping bag from the craft store. Just a couple bucks and well worth the $$).

Add a pile of berries to the top and refrigerate for a few hours. BOOM!