A Foot Stool: in honor of a belated father days

Wow packing for a move really does consume your life! I know it was over a week ago but on Fathers Day I obviously got to thinking about my Pop. Naturally thinking about my Pop leads to thinking about wood working projects (its the if you give a mouse a cookie affect LOL). So in honor of my Pop and our mutual love of wood working projects, I have decided this weeks post would be on how to build a foot stool.

Supplies: (All of these I found at Lowes the total cost was about $25 bucks)
4 wooden legs
4 let mounts with hardware
1 round pre-cut piece of pine wood

Tools:
Power drill or hand screw driver
Ruler
Pencil
Dermal, metal file or drill bit (may or may not need)
Staple Gun (if upholstering)

Upholstery Supplies:
1 1/2 Yards Trim (I had extra but I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up.)
1 18" Square of foam
1 Box Nail Heads (I bought trim,foam and nails at Hancock Fabrics )
1 Yard 54" Fabric (Bought on Etsy Avisa Organics)

Homemade Salt Scrub (helps me with acne)

Recently my good friend Willa and I were discussing how in the last 3 years our skin has gotten worse. I have always struggled with light acne but suddenly when I turned 22 it took a seriously bad turn, especially on my back. After trying all the chemical options I decided to go a whole new direction.

When it comes to using chemicals in my house I am a bit of "hippie" (for lack of a better word). So as my acne got worse I thought "why not be diligent about not using chemicals on my face and back too?" You see I was a believer and constant user of benzyl peroxide but recently it just hasn't been making any difference. So I began to try different things. The first thing that really helped was switching to an all natural lavender body wash (Lavender helps with inflammation). I since have also switched to a natural SPF and only use it when I know I'll be outside. The rest of the time I use Trader Joe's Nourish Oil-Free Antioxidant Facial Moisturizer mixed with a few drops of rose-hip oil. My skin so far has responded pretty well!

One thing I really like to do for my back and for my face is exfoliate 1-2 times a week and to do so I combining three different ideas/theories into my homemade salt scrub... the Oil Cleansing Method, sea salt and essential oils. I wanted to share it with you all especially because so many others are struggling with the same issue of adult acne.

Besides even if you don't have acne its refreshing and gives your skin a nice glow. I will give you two variations one for body scrub and one for a face scrub.

I just use the ingredients I can find from the grocery store here. But when we move I hope to transition to all organic ingredients.

A House Dreams Are Made Of

This past weekend one of my dearest and best friends, Meg, bought a house! So today I'm doing a post to honor the dream of home ownership. I went through the Internet and found houses that if I were house hunting right now I would want to look at...or at least drool over LOL.


This is one in Virginia that we actually looked at before we found out that we were not moving yet. Its amazing. Needs just enough work where I could put a personal touch on it but not so much that we couldn't move in right away.

Fence Post Patio Table

Last year the Hubby and I bought some really cute Adirondack chairs for our small slab patio. But as we enjoyed them for the first time after painfully putting them together I realized, we had no place to kick up our feet or place a cool beverage. I didn't want to spend more money and our patio was really small. No way an outdoor side table would fit. So the next day I poked around in the garage and found some old boards and an idea sprang to my mind. I would whip together a little and cheap! coffee table for outside.

I made a quick run to the hardware store for some new screws and a fence post. I took the fence post and cut it four times. Each cut was about a foot and a half long. I then laid the four boards out and put two braces on with smaller screws to the underside. This ensured that all four boards stayed snugly together. I then marked the legs and screwed two screws into each one from the top of the table...I gave everything a quick sanding and Boom!

See the braces underneath to hold the boards together

Long time no blog...Sorry!

Wow its been a long time since I have posted! I apologize but being head of decorating committee for our battalions semi-formal, preparing for a deployment and traveling twice to celebrate with family for a wedding and a baby all in the last two months will keep you very busy. Time has been escaping me left and right. But you see it all started when I originally stopped posting, for what was supposed to be a week, because the Hubby and I had finally finished the new desk! (photos to come I promise). I unplugged the whole office in hopes of getting it all set up before I left for Boston... but like all good intentions it went haywire! Needless to say with the office torn to pieces I left for Boston. It was a surprise trip to see my sister for her birthday, well that was the small reason. The big reason was to celebrate and  congratulate her on expecting her first baby this fall!!!! I am through the roof excited for her and her Husband! I'm also selfishly excited that I get to help her decorate and design the nursery!


Sisters! (My sister on left and Me on right)



But the day after I got back the Boston Marathon bombing happened and of course that was no time to be setting up the computer and blogging about nurseries and cute babies on the way. I couldn't help but be glued to the TV for the first 24 hours. Boston is New Englands city and it hit pretty close to home. I had a few family members and friends that I was concerned for but thankfully everyone I knew was fine.



This amazing photo ran in Boston Magazine . The shoes used to create the image were all worn by runners that day.
Click on the link to read the full story.

Soon after I became head of decorating and layout for our Battalions Semi-formal,which ate up a good 3 full days of my time but was worth it in the end we had a wonderful time. 48 hours after that We were on the road to NJ for some much needed vacation/family time before my Hubby's upcoming deployment. Not to mention that his older sister was getting married! Which I will soon blog about because the venue was amazing and very inspiring!

So as you can see I have been truly busy but I have loads to share now that I'm back! Including a post about my hunt for a headboard that has been going on for 8 months! But I'm happy to report that while in NJ it was finally caught! I promise to post lots more on all these topics soon so check back in. As always thanks for stopping by!

Creatively Yours,

Christina Marie

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