Saturday, September 14, 2013

Chocolate surprise cupcakes

Okay so I know, I know it's been a while and I promised to get better at this. I apologize, and unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances (and the fact that I suck) I haven't been able to keep up with the daily challenge. I didn't realize how much time baking/selling would take out of my day and with that and school and trying to actually get my friend to come out of his cave to do something other than watch Adventure Time and Austin and Ally I've been kind of swamped.

And here soon I'll be working on SAT, skateboarding, and a college application. But! I'm going to start reminding myself to try to actually blog. I know it's pretty bad and if I ever actually had an audience (however small) I probably lost it by my sucky posting. So it goes. 

But back to the point of this post! I've been doing a whole lot of baking lately and before this, I never really realized just how exhausting baking can be. I don't know what it is about it, but it can really wear you out. But it is fun and business is going well, so I can't really complain. Yeahhh... So again, back to the point! My mom and I decided that we wanted to do some baking just for ourselves because I have eaten a grand total of one of my own muffins and we bought a giant muffin tin that we've been dying to use. 

So we had some Snickers around that had been bought on impulse a few weeks ago, and I thought why not? We looked up a super delicious chocolate cupcake recipe on allshecooks.com and decided to trade the Hershey's kisses for chunks of Snickers. Now, with them being jumbo and chocolate the baking time was a little harder to guess and they did turn out a little dry. But they are still certainly worth it and I have to say its definitely a keeper! The way we did it, it made 8 cupcakes (6 jumbo and 2 regular), but if you're making just normal cupcakes I think it would make about 15-16 cupcakes more or less. Or 7 jumbo. And as not to steal her thunder because she did such a lovely job, I'm just putting up the ingredients so you can waltz over to her lovely site and check out how to make these scrumptious cupcakes. Enjoy!



Ingredients:


  • 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa (we used just a tad bit less and it still turned out wonderfully chocolatey)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 snickers bar, cut in slices. (if you are making the full recipe but in small cupcakes then you will need at least 2 Snickers or smaller slices)
As you are pouring them into the cupcake tin only fill about half then drop in the Snickers slice and then fill the rest of the way. 

Friday, September 6, 2013

Day 2

And the next drawing!

This is of my favorite animal: a zebra! Unfortunately I couldn't get it to stay flipped for some reason, so this is how it's going until I can fix that.


Day 1

So here's day 1's picture!
It's a little bit dark, but I am trying to get decent pictures of drawings with an iPod, so not going to be terrific. I am going to try to upload each from the scanner sometime soon.




30 Day Challenge

So wow, I keep saying I'm going to try to keep up with this blog, but things keep getting in the way (darn you, life!). We have had a lot happen in the last few months, but things are finally calming down enough that I think I can try to do a weekly post of whatever happens to come to mind when it happens, and a few random posts on other days of the week. And I might even have some new recipes to throw out there.

I'm starting a business (hopefully) of selling muffins and cookies to the students, teachers and other employees on the campus that we are living on so I'll be doing a whole lot of baking and experimenting with recipes! Tomorrow we are going to buy the supplies for selling them so we will see how well this goes. I sold nine today in less than fifteen minutes so that's a good sign, right?

Anyways, on to the point. I've started doing a 30 day drawing challenge that I saw on Pinterest a while back and had been promising myself that I'd do it. Well, I'm finally doing it! I started a couple of days ago, but after all of the baking I did yesterday I messed up and missed a day, so today I am posting 4 of them and then the rest of the days will  be done daily to keep myself disciplined.



So woohoo! We'll see how well this goes.

Monday, August 5, 2013

My newest obsession

So in my last post I said I was going to try and figure out what this blog is for and to get into a better routine. The routine might take time since I am still transitioning from my home to my old country/new apartment, but I'm trying my best. 

But today is going to be one of those random pats that the fashion freaks like me will enjoy if you haven't already had the pleasure (and time loss) of discovering this wonderful thing. A couple of days ago I was browsing Appsfire (also fantastic) which is an app that shows you what apps are on sale/free (temporarily and permanently) and I happened to see an app I wasn't familiar with. It was called Polyvore. I thought the name was kind of odd so I decided to check the description. A fashion app? Eh, I figured why not! The second I opened the app I realized I would not be disappointed. I had been trying to figure out how people were posting those outfits to Pinterest like the modern princesses and things like that. And I got my answer: Polyvore! For this unfamiliar with it, the nifty app lets you browse through outfits and fashion collages people have made and make your own using their stock from different websites and I believe you can upload your own content. 

Now, I'm kind of a fashion freak. I love coming up with new outfits and have a blast matching things with accessories. So for me, Polyvore is now my favorite app and I am only upset that it requires Internet so I can't design in the car. But really if you like that sort of thing and haven't already checked it out, do! It's free and loads of fun! 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

This is pointless rambling

So it's been a while I guess. I know from the start it hasn't been exactly consistent but even I have to admit this is bad. I honestly have meant to post but things have been a little tough around here. It's been nonstop packing since we got back from the States and I honestly haven't found any time to do much of anything. Last week I got my wisdom teeth pulled so that's also had me pretty much incapacitated for the last week and even now I've managed to find myself feeling under the weather and awake at 2 AM. Not a huge surprise honestly. Though I have been wondering what the point of this post is. I never started this blot with the intention of writing personal stuff on it. I never really thought anyone would read any of the posts. But it has been read. And I am awake at this hour writing personal stuff. It's my blog right? I can do that. I can write about how I just found myself wandering around downstairs in the kitchen at 1:45 AM for cornstarch to try a dry shampoo remedy because I am incapable of actually getting any sleep for the second night in a row. This is my blog. I can ramble on about utter nonsense if I like. I can rant about how my kindle fire won't let me type this post in the actual compose section so I have to type in the HTML and hope it works. This is my blog after all. I apologise (sorry if I spelled that wrong but it won't even acknowledge that as a word in general.) if I offend anyone. But honestly I am still working out what I want to do with this blog. I might actually use it just to blog sometimes. You know, like most people. I might use it to test out popular pins (myths) on Pinterest and test the accuracy of them. I might use it to put recipes I've found that I enjoyed and thought others might like to try too. I might put up some of my own things I've done. I might put up artwork. I might rant. I might post photos. I might post vlogs from future trips. I might do journals from future trips. I might just talk. I might talk about stuff that matters. I might talk about pointless things. I don't really know. But one thing I do know is that I can't control whether or not you read any of it. That's your choice. You don't have to. This blog is my blog. But if you like it you can read it and contribute your own thoughts and opinions and ideas. That's your choice and your right. I cant stop you from it. So here's to spreading our wings and figuring stuff out along the way.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Sponge nail design

Wow, so it's been a while! I had to take a mini hiatus while I was in the states because I honestly had no time to even begin thinking of trying any posts. But I'm back home again and I've got some time to kill before we move to Honduras in about a month or two. So here goes! 

I know it's a day later than I planned to have this post, but yesterday was kind of a stressful day with a goodbye party for my dad at the clinic where he was formerly director but has since left because of our move. So anyways here's my post. Monday was a boring day and since I had time to kill I decided to try out a new nail design. I've noticed that sponge designs are pretty popular on Pinterest and decided to experiment with one of my own. After I put down a clear coat I got an old kitchen sponge and painted it with a pearl white and pressed it onto the edge of my nail and then repeated it with the black, leaving just a bit of the white to be seen. I finished off with a clear coat. For best results  suggest using the other side of the sponge and dabbing it at the the nail polish while it's still wet to get it more splattered looking. 






Monday, June 10, 2013

Shameless self-promotion

So since this is my blog, this was bound to happen. I'm here to shamelessly self-promote my shop on society6.com which is a really cool website that lets artists, like myself, to put up our work and for people to buy this as a t-shirt, sweatshirt, print, laptop cover, and a lot of other really cool mediums. The site has a lot of really cool artists that do some really cool things and the prices are pretty good for things that someone poured their soul into. To any artists out there that are looking for a place to sell their work, you should seriously check it out. The way it is set up, you just have to put your work up and Society6 does the actual work of printing and shipping your pieces, which in the end, even with the percentage they take of the profit, it is a really great way to get your things out there and gives you a chance to concentrate on your work rather than worrying about how to get it printed and shipped. 

Anyways, I'm just now getting into actually putting my stuff up on there. Right now the piece I'm working on is still a little rough, so it will be up in a couple days hopefully at the most. But I have several ideas that I'm working on and as soon as I can get them drawn up on my computer I will put them up for sale. Right now they are having an artist promotion sale, which means that you can get free shipping, but only until the 16th of June! And only if you use THIS LINK to my store! Though this offer does not include Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert. Sorry to anyone who was wanting to buy it that way. 

Update: I just put up the design and I am working on getting it up in as many mediums as I can right now. 

But seriously even if you do not buy anything from my shop, you should definitely check out the site. It's got some really great artists on there that have some awesome stuff!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Cute framed collage





My brother just recently got married and for their wedding presents I wanted to do something that would be cute and unique. So after looking around, I decided on something I thought they would both like that would sort of match.

I unfortunately did not think of taking any pictures during the process of making either, because hers I finished making at like 1:00 AM after working on it for several hours and his I just forgot to take photos of because I was in a hurry to finish it.

His:


Hers:




But for the most part it's a pretty straightforward project just from seeing the finished project (hopefully at least). It's a pretty easy and cheap to make. I got the frames at Goodwill and the rest of the supplies can be bought from either Walmart or Hobby Lobby.

Supplies:
Black (or whatever color you're wanting to use) sheet of heavy paper ( I bought some for about 78 cents at Walmart in the craft area) or you can buy the wooden letters or pre-cut out ones if you can find them.
 poster paper (Again cheap at Walmart)
mod podge (I made my own just using water and cheap glue)
a cheap paint brush or a sponge brush (Hobby Lobby or Walmart)
The decorative paper you are using for the collage (I used newspaper but I wanted to use old books from Goodwill but I forgot to buy some before we left and for his I just copied different eras of Batman comics and cut them out).
Backs for hanging the pictures if your frame doesn't come with one (neither of mine did. I got them at Hobby Lobby in a pack in the frame section).
a hot glue gun or strong glue (I used Elmer's strong glue)
scissors

Step 1: measure out your poster paper so that it does not show behind your frame.
Step 2: If you are cutting out the letter, measure it out so it fits so it fits neatly in the middle. As you can see I did not do the greatest job of cutting out the letters but since it was sort of a last minute gift idea I had to make do. I would suggest either using a stencil or buying pre-done letters and just painting them the color you want if you get the wooden ones.
Step 3: Cut out your background pieces. I liked to get a lot of different sizes to give it variety and I would have liked to get it from different books to give it some contrast in colors and font sizes.
Step 4: Arrange your paper how you like on the and glue them down. I liked to layer them and put them at different angles, but you can do as you like.
Step 5: Cover the background with a layer of mod podge using either the cheap paint brush or the sponge brush, being careful not to get it too thick on it. Then glue the letter down and do the same to it.
Step 6: Once everything dries, put a layer of the strong glue down on the back of the frame put down your background. To dry put it right side up and leave it on a flat surface otherwise I found that the glue doesn't dry right unless it has a little pressure (then again it might be because I was trying to let it dry in the car on the way to their house)
STep 7: If you are using a frame that does not have a hook or anything to hang with I got a pack at Hobby Lobby that don't require screws and you just have to put them in with a hammer (or as we did, with a meat cleaver since my brother has yet to buy a hammer).

This would be fun to do as kid's wall decoration too or really anything. There's a lot of fun ways you could do this. I'd love to know if anyone does it and see the results!

Friday, May 31, 2013

Strawberry vanilla cupcake recipe

Hi all! Sorry that this is kind of a weird post. I'm sort of out of whack thanks to being sort of "on vacation" you could say so my schedule is kind of weird with driving up and down everywhere to visit my brothers who happen to be in different directions of the state. Fun times. But seriously I will try to at least post once a week, if not twice a week when I can. I have a few things I've been wanting to try out now that I'm here, and have access to an actual art store and places to buy different ingredients I can't get at home. 

Anyways, back to the post at hand! On the 12th we left for the states, which also happened to be one of my best friend's birthday unfortunately. So to make up for the lack of me being there on her birthday, I decided to bake some cupcakes for her and her family the day before I had to leave. Now, I've recently gotten into this thing of baking, but I don't like baking normal people things. I don't want to just make a vanilla cupcake. I want to make a vanilla cupcake with homemade blackberry jam filling and homemade blackberry frosting. I don't just make chocolate cupcakes. I make chocolate blackberry cupcakes. I don't just do a chocolate cake. It has to be a Swedish chocolate cake (which I found out is delicious when you first get it out of the oven, but if you let it cool off too long, which i waited until much later to actually serve it, the cake becomes about as hard as a rock.). So you get the general idea. I like baking things (mostly cupcakes) with a bit of a twist. 

And that is why I got so excited when I accidentally stumbled on this recipe for a cupcake base. Basically all you have to do is make this base up and then add your flare to it. And that's when I had a light bulb moment! I wanted to make strawberry vanilla cupcakes. The unfortunate thing is that this recipe is only in grams for the dry ingredients. Why? I don't really know. It probably has something to do with being more precise or something. So that's a tad bit of a pain, but with a little digging I found a site that you can figure out how many grams (or whatever) it takes for cups (or whatever you're wanting) and this website has different calculators for sugar, flour, and butter. So that's pretty nifty if you need to convert things like that.

For this batch I was only making six cupcakes so I had to mess with the recipe and decided to just borrow my dad's electric weighing thing (very technical term right there.) instead.

Ingredients (if you're doing the full batch): 

  • 125g butter, softened (a little over a stick)
  • 125g caster sugar (a little over half a cup)
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 125g self-raising flour (1 cup)
  • 2 tbsp milk
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C

Step 2: Beat your eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy





Step 3: Add the eggs, flour, and milk and beat until smooth. 




All right now for the yummy part! 
Step 4: Add in about 1/2 a cup of strawberry pureed (thrown in the blender) and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Mix in.



 Step 5: place into cupcake tins and in oven for 12-15 minutes or until risen and the center is firm to the touch. 


Step 6: Wait until cool and then ice. I used a simple vanilla icing from scratch but there are some really amazing strawberry icing recipes (I might experiment and put one up sometime). I ha planned to place  strawberry on top of them, but i used all I had in the actual batter so that didn't work. 


The birthday girl's cupcake!

And the lovely birthday girl!

Please let me know how this went if you try it! From the batter I tasted it turned out pretty well, but unfortunately I forgot to make any extra for me to actually try (yeah, I know, that's kind of bad). So hopefully this recipe is correct and turns out well for all y'all! 



Saturday, May 25, 2013

Lemon face toner

Okay so first off I would like to apologize for not posting anything in a while. Things have been super crazy around here. I had my SAT, traveling to the states, a wedding, and a new addition to our family in the last few weeks that has kept me pretty busy. My middle brother and his lovely new wife had asked me to be a bridesmaid for the wedding so that kept me pretty busy the days before the wedding on the 18th and my oldest brother's precious little Coralynn came 10 days early at 3:43 AM on the 18th as well so that kept us on our toes with a lot of reshuffling of plans. But everything has calmed down for the most part now and I finally have time to sort of catch my breath as I will be in America for the month.


So with all that said, let's move on to the actual post. As someone with severely sensitive skin (to the point that any little thing can set off an allergic reaction on my face) I am constantly looking for natural effective ways of tending to my skin. And I found a rather surprising one after doing some research. Apparently lemon/lime juice is a natural facial toner and if left on over night it can even out your skin tone and even get rid of freckles/dark spots.

At first I was a tad but skeptical as I mentioned that I have very sensitive skin. So the first time I put on just a bit and left it on for an hour. Noing bad seemed to happen so I went to sleep with it. Sure enough in the morning I had actually seen a bit of a change and no side effect. So I started trying it out at night and after a few days it really was working!

But there are some minor drawbacks. I have found that if you don't use it fairly consistently the effects go away and your face goes back to how it was. And also if you happen to leave it on when you go out in the sun (an d for me just going out in the sun is dangerous by itself as I am extremely pale and burn very easily) it causes even more damage from what I found from research appears to be a chemical reaction. But if you use it at night and wash it off in the morning before leaving the house it is fine. I do suggest if you are just going to be around the house, wash your face and put on another layer of it.

Okay so now how to use it. It's so easy it's ridiculous. All you need is a small squeeze bottle, a lemon, and water (if you have sensitive skin you will need more water). Squeeze the lemon juice into the bottle (depending on how much you want) and then dilute it a bit with water (more for sensitive skin). After washing your face, shake the bottle to stir up everything, squeeze the juice onto a cotton pad and apply to your face (I use it all over, but you can put it where you feel you need it). It's just that easy!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

How to keep jewelry from turning your skin green

Sorry about no post yesterday! I honestly meant to try to get one up, but unfortunately yesterday our volunteer Andrea left after three months of being with us, so I went to the airport with her to see her off and then I had school all afternoon once we finally got back. And since I am finishing school sometime next week (hopefully) things are going to be a little hectic around here, and therefor probably won't go too according to schedule. But I will try get up as many posts as I can. I already have a few planned out ahead of time, so hopefully that all works out.

Anyways, the one that I'm about to show you today is probably the easiest and for a lot of you probably the most useful if you are a budget fashion-chic kind of girl like me. Now my jewelry selection is kind of a crazy mix of a lot of different styles and materials. I don't really care if it is designer or expensive (in fact I usually shy away from dropping a lot of money on a piece of jewelry seeing as how little I really wear it) so most of my stuff is that cheap stuff that the top layer wears off after a while and starts leaving a lovely green mark on your skin that takes forever to get off or ruins a pair of really cute earrings. This has been driving me crazy for a while, because a lot of my favorite stuff is cheap that is now ugly looking because it all wore off. Well no more!

A lot of you might already know this really nifty trick, but for anyone who doesn't, here's the secret to keeping your cheap jewelry looking nice: clear nail polish. Seriously, that's it. You just put that dollar store clear nail polish on your jewelry and bam! No more worrying about those ugly green marks or your jewelry ruining! I paint it on both the inside and outside of my hoops and bracelets because a lot of the time my bracelets tend to turn copper all over. But seriously, for a fashion-savvy girl on a budget this is a huge saver.



Friday, April 26, 2013

Clothespin photo line

While I was staying with my future sister-in-law and my cousin in their dorm room this last October, I saw something really cool in the hall of their dorm. To display some of the art done by the girls that were in that hall, they had hot glued clothespins up on the wall and used twine to make it look connected. Then they hung the pictures on the wall with the clothespins. This is a cute and easy way to change out your decorations if you get bored with it. So a few months ago before I even began thinking of doing a blog, I had decided to try this out as the hot glue does not peel the paint if you are careful about taking it down (not pulling at an angle or sharply, otherwise I accidentally found out that it will rip it.). Well, my first try at it went somewhat successfully until two of the three clothespins I had put up fell off while I was away for a bit. After several months of trying to convince myself to stop being lazy and get out the ladder to put them back up, I finally decided that this would be a good tutorial and got about putting it back up. Unfortunately due to my poor coordination and lack of assistance in this, I could not take step by step pictures, so hopefully this makes enough sense that the end result pictures should be enough.

Before you begin, I do need to warn you to be extremely careful with the hot glue gun. I had an unfortunate incident with the hot glue gun when a huge glob of it dripped off the string onto my finger. Which you can see the lovely results here. This caused a bad blister and a lot of pain, so please use extreme caution when you use the gun!
Note: When gluing the string for the middle clothespins, do not place the glue directly onto it as the glue does not stay on! Place it directly onto the clothespin.


Okay so onto business!

Step 1: Measure out the length of twine or string (ribbon would work as well I believe) that you are wanting to use. I used about 2 feet of string to hang up three pictures, but it's up to you on that one.

Step 2: Once you have your string measured and cut and your hot glue gun is ready, carefully glue the back of the clothespin. I have found that it is best to liberally glue the back of it for added strength. Put it up quickly, and press very hard to ensure your clothespin will hold tight.

Step 3: After your clothespin is dry, open your clothespin and place a spot of glue just below where it opens then put your string in.



Step 4: Continue this with the rest of your clothespins.

Step 5: Once all of your clothespins are up and the glue has dried, place your pictures inside of the clothespins. This can be used for several different styles of pictures and papers, so be creative! I used this to place pictures I bought on the street in NYC and even in the plastic baggies, they still stay up quite nicely.


If anyone does this, or any of my other tutorials, I would love to hear suggestions or see what you've done!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Four strand braid

Well, this post was going to be put up a lot earlier today, but my internet has been down most of the day and then went down yet again just as I was about to start focusing on this.

Anyways, for today's post I decided to do another braid I figured out how to do last night and dragged my poor guinea pig into it. This is another one of those braids that looks harder to do than it is, which is coming from someone who can barely do a normal braid without disastrous results. Today's braid is a four-strand or a four-piece braid, whatever you know it as. I, yet again, learned from a video which I'll put at the bottom in case anyone wants to see that way as well.

Step 1: Brush out your hair and separate into four equal(-ish) sections.


To make things easier, I'm going to number the sections 


Step 2: Take strand 1 and place it over strand 2



Step 3: Take this strand under strand 3



Step 4: Now take strand 4 and go under strand 3 and just repeat what you did the first time: Go over strand 2, bring strand 1 under 2, over 3. Bring strand 4 under 3, over 2. Repeat this until it is at the desired length.




Step 5: Tie off with a clear elastic or hair tie.


Step 6: (optional) For a looser, somewhat messy look tug on the strands gently. 

And now for the video I watched. For this I did the first version, but sometime I might try out the second one as well. 






Monday, April 22, 2013

Fishtail braid

So here is my make up post for being so lame last week. Recently I've been looking at different braids for when I actually get hair (hopefully not too far in the future) and a friend of mine showed me how to do one on her daughter. Well, naturally I was intrigued, so while I was browsing Pinterest, I happened to find the same braid! Turns out it was a fishtail braid. Though hers, unlike the kind I do, was very tight and controlled.

So I managed to nab my poor hair guinea pig (Andrea) and use her in my braiding experiment tonight. As she has such nice, long, thick hair, I asked if I could try some out on her and the poor sap agreed without realizing what she was getting into. By the end of Disney's Brave and two episodes of Supernatural we were both pretty sore and tired of trying to get several different styles down. The first, and probably easiest for me, was the fishtail!

One thing that is fabulous about this braid is that it looks so much more complicated than it is, giving you the look of someone who spent a long time on it when really you could probably do it with some practice in about 5 minutes more or less (depending on your hair length and thickness). I watched a video (which I'll post) on how to do it to yourself, so that will be a nice reference if you get confused.

Step 1: Brush out your hair. It's easier to get a nice smooth finish if it's brushed out, but if you like it messy then leave it unbrushed.




Step 2: Put it up in a loose ponytail with a rubber hair band (I have heard you can buy them at a dollar store or a general store very cheaply) or a regular hair tie. 


Step 3: Separate your ponytail into 2 sections 


Step 4: Begin by taking a section from the outer part of your left side and going over the left side and under your right.




Step 5: Do the same from the right side. Take a section and go over the right, under the left. 

Step 6: Continue going back and forth like so.

Here are some photos to give you a general idea of how it should be looking:



Step 7: Once you are getting towards the end (with about less than an inch or so, depending on the style you are going for) tie it off like you would any other braid. I saw with either one of the clear rubber hair bands or with a regular ponytail. 


Step 8: Carefully remove the top ponytail or cut the rubber hair band if you used one. 



Step 9: (optional) If you would like, fluff it out and tug it some to get a loose somewhat messy look. 

And you're done! Yay! Now, seeing as this is my first successful braid ever if I can do it, I know plenty of you can out there. So give it a shot, and with some practice you'll get it down, I'm sure. 

And here's the video I watched to learn in case you would like to see a video instead or want to know how to do it on yourself easier: 







Saturday, April 20, 2013

Glow in the dark nail polish

First off I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts this week! I'm moving the posts to Tuesday instead of Monday because of issues with school, but this week I was so swamped with papers that I couldn't even get in that one and yesterday we were traveling out to El Sembrador which is near Catacamas, Honduras. This is actually the place where I grew up originally so I have been a bit busy around here reacquainting myself with it and showing around our volunteer. But I just got inspired (since the internet came back up) to write a new post to make up for yesterday and Monday I will do a  post to make up for my lack of post on Tuesday.

So I just recently got some nail polish from a volunteer team that was down here for a week working. They are these really nifty ones that are double sided (purple on one side and hot pink on the other and another that is bright blue and lime green) and I decided I was going to use them on my nails sometime this week while I was here. Well last night our lights went out for a bit and while we were talking in the dark, our volunteer Andrea, who is rooming with me while we're here, noticed that something was glowing on the counter. Upon closer inspection we realized that it was the blue and green nail polish that was glowing! We both promptly began freaking out and laughing excitedly . Once the lights came back on, we tested the nail polish out on the tips of my nails to see if they really glowed, and sure enough they did! So now our nails are all wonderfully glowy, and whenever we get in the dark we both wave them around excitedly like a bunch of five year olds.

                     
Example of one of the tutorials I saw for it
Well, this got me thinking. How can I make my own glow in the dark nail polish? So this evening when I finally got internet back, I looked around to find some good ways of doing it. Basically all the ones that I've seen say around the same thing: take a glow stick and cut it and mix with your clear nail polish. Well, all except one. The title of the blog got me curious. Liesthatpinteresttoldme.wordpress.com talks about the dangers of doing something so incredibly reckless as dumping something that is possibly toxic and not meant to touch your skin, all over your nails. Which, she really does make some good points, and coupled with the fact that most of the blogs/tutorials I saw from my search are people that have never actually tried and are just blindly recommending it for other people to try and tell their results, I kind of think that there really must be a better option. And there are! She links to a very cheap one that you can buy at partycity.com and I'm sure in stores, or at Walmart.com they also have one that's a bit pricier. Either way, it's a lot safer looking and much easier than trying to do it yourself. When I go up this summer to the states I'm so trying this! Let me know if anyone does this as well.