I’m serious! 30 seconds!

I wanted to share with you my new favorite “beauty” product. Now, I have to admit, I’m a little terrified here because I am about to bare myself to you. Not my soul, mind you.

My legs.

Ugh. There they are, not Photoshopped or anything and you can see they have quite a few… blemishes.

I am not a spring chicken anymore, people, and my legs have seen some serious mileage. Two kids and a lifetime of clumsiness has left my legs rather scarred and uneven. That’s why, as I’ve told my husband before, I don’t wear shorts. It’s a pretty hard and fast rule.

I will, however, sometimes wear skorts, if they are long enough and I feel relatively comfortable in them. But I still have the problem of not being able to Photoshop my legs in real life. Can someone get on that, please? I guess it’s called “cosmetic procedure” IRL. Whatevs.

You didn’t believe me with the wide shot, did you? Here’s a close up. Try to keep your lunch down while you peruse the myriad veins, moles, and random residual bruises.

When I came across this “leg makeup” nonsense from Sally Hansen, I was at least intrigued. But I figured it would kind of suck.

It totally does not suck. It’s AMAZING. And it changed my legs’ life. They get out so much more often now!

It’s super easy to put on; it comes in a spray so you spray it on, but you also have to rub it in. It’s kind of like a spray lotion, I’d say. And it takes about 30 seconds per leg to cover everything and give yourself an even “glow.”

Witness: here’s after I’d done one leg, but not the other. Can you tell which is which?

Like, DUH. The one on the left is sprayed. Check it from further away:

The thing I like about it is that it doesn’t make your legs look fake. You can still see the natural, ahem, personality in your legs, but it’s toned down, muted just a tad. And everything is smoothed out. And, as you see here, tanned up a little (you can choose whatever shade you want, so you don’t have to have a tan effect, though). The color is just temporary, so you don’t have to worry about messing it up and having streaky legs for a week.

Here they are both sprayed up:

Don’t they look better? I’m feeling a little weird showing so many pictures of my legs here but I felt compelled to share my good fortune with you.

I have to give you a few tips, though.

• To apply, spray a little on and immediately, and I mean immediately, rub it in. I almost start rubbing before I’ve sprayed. It comes out darker and a little splattery, so you want to rub it in like a lotion. Spray different sections, a little at a time, and smooth it in. Don’t try to do your whole leg at once.
• Since it is a spray, I usually put it on in the shower. Not while I’m showering, mind you, but after I’ve dried off, I’ll step back in to spray my legs so the shower stall contains any misfires.
• Make sure you wash your hands afterwards, or you will have seriously tan and shimmery palms.
• You’ll notice the packaging says “water resistant.” They are not kidding! When I get in the shower, the color stays on my legs until I actually wash them with soap. Only then do I see the tan running down the drain. So you don’t have to worry if you are headed to the beach that you’ll have dark drips down your legs. You’re good to go, even if you swim.
• The color has a slight shimmer to it, too, so your legs will get a nice glimmer to them. It’s extremely subtle, but I like it.

Have you tried this product? I am so impressed with how well it performs. If you’ve used it, tell us how it went in the comments!

Share!

• 

As my boys get older, we’ve been considering redoing their bathroom. They currently shower regularly in our master bath, and you will see why:

See that cool, funky, yet kind of totally nonfunctional tub? It’s a square tub, which was kind of lovely when they were little and were bathing; the extra large ledges provided play space and it was easy to bathe them.

But you’ll notice that there’s no shower curtain. Or doors. Nothing to enclose the tub for a shower. And no easy way to accomplish this feat.

The other problem with this tub is that it’s peeling. Badly. See?

When we moved in 8 years ago, we had that tub refinished since it was peeling at that time, too. Holy hell, I’ve never smelled anything that pungent or powerful before or since. Even after three days of open windows, fans, and wishful thinking, that smell was nearly unbearable. So I’m not sure that we want to go through that again.

However, I do kind of like this tub, its uniqueness, and it fits perfectly in there. Now I’m discovering that it’s a period thing, that, depending on the source, anywhere from the 1930s to the postwar period saw a flourishing business in these “Cinderella tubs.”

How can you get rid of a Cinderella tub? Even if you do have boys?

Do you all have any ideas? We could probably solve the shower curtain issue, if only with a rather labor-intensive solution. But the deglazing. Should we suck it up and hope that the second reglazing will last until they leave the house? I’m stumped.

But in the meantime, I’m putting together an inspiration board for things I’d like to change up in there. If we’re doing something with the bathtub, might as well fix it up so it better suits what will eventually be teenage boys, right?

1. Washroom Typography, Etsy: I find this sentiment both hilarious and useful. I’d maybe want it without the “love, Mom.”
2. The Bowie Wall Sconce, BarnLight Electric. I just discovered this company and I am in love.
3. Marimekko Rasymatto Towels, Finn Style. Marimekko, ’nuff said.
4. Peyton Shower Curtain, PBTeen. Love this pattern.
5. V & B Central Line Double Vanity Unit, Villeroy & Boch. Two sinks would be awesome if we have the space. And I like how it attaches to the wall and leaves space beneath, so that right now we can put stools there since the 6 year old still needs one to reach, and later we could use it to store extra toilet paper or whatever.
6. Alphabet Hook, Anthropologie. Hooks seem so much more appropriate than towel bars. Space saving, they each get their own, they don’t have to fold a towel.
7. Cirrus Grey Bath Rug, CB2. This rug looks so plush and squishy.
8. License Plate Surfboard Custom Art, Etsy. I absolutely love this piece.

So, what do you think? Any suggestions? And what to do with that crazy Cinderella tub. (I almost called it a Princess tub.)

Share!

• 

I love making these cord bracelets. There are so many ways to knot, macrame, or twist them up. And I’m definitely hooked on it now!

Today I’ve got this infinity knot bracelet to show you. It’s really quite easy to do, although it does require some concentration while you are making the knot. But you can easily bang it out in about an hour’s worth of active time, with time in between for drying and such.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.  3/8″ wide white ribbon, 16″
2. binder clips
3. fabric stiffener
4. fabric glue
5. Korean knotting cord, in 1.5mm or 2mm, or a combination, 1 yard of each color
6. fusible velcro

For this bracelet, I used a combination of 1.5mm and 2mm cord. As you may be able to tell from the photo above, the center green cord is 2mm and the light and dark blue ones are 1.5mm, slightly thinner. It worked out well, even though I was kind of skeptical at first.

Decide what you want your pattern to be. I chose a green center with light blue and dark blue on the outsides. I thought it looked suitably preppy for what is sort of a preppy-type knot.

You want to choose your pattern first, but you won’t worry about keeping it in this order until you’ve got your knot completed.

Find the center of your cords, making sure that they are all stacked evenly (that is, you don’t have one cord that’s shorter than the others on one end and longer on the other).

Step 1: Time to start knotting! Keeping the center of your cords at the top, take the left-hand cords and bring the ends up and over, laying them on top of themselves higher up. You are essentially making a loop with the left cords.

Step 2: Now, bring the right hand cords behind that loop.

Step 3: Bring the ends of the right hand cords up and over the ends of the left hand cords, laying them on top.

Step 4: You’ll notice you have a loop at the top, the center of which should be the center of your cords (it’s not that important at this point that it be perfectly centered, but I wanted you to know how to identify this loop). You will now bring the ends of the right-hand cords (that you just bent up over the left cords) under the first side (left) of this loop. Don’t worry, you’re almost there!

Step 5: Here’s the trickiest part, but you are almost done. Looking at the photo above, you’ll see there’s another loop right below the cords you are working with. This is the initial loop that you made on the left side. Feed the ends of the right cords over the top of that loop. (See below.) After you feed it over the top of that loop, go back under the right side of the top loop, the “center of the cords loop,” if you will.

Step 6: Last knotting step! Bring the cords you have been working with up and through the loop you originally created with the left-hand cords. You are essentially bringing it up and over the right side of this loop. You’ll see that your knot is complete with this last step.

If this seems a tad confusing, check this diagram for steps 5 and 6:

Bring the working cords (in right hand) along the path of the red arrows.

Phew! Done knotting. You’ll want to tighten the knot up a bit, but not too much.

This looks a mess. It’s time to fix up your cords so they follow your original pattern idea. It’s easiest to do this step by step, following the line of the knot. So pick a part of the knot to start on, and begin forming the strings into the pattern.

You’ll see I started with the cords that come out of the right side of the knot. Continue to straighten them, following the cords along through the knot. Here, I’ve straightened them past the first left-hand loop.

A little more straightening…

And a bit more, and we’re done! Time to tighten up the knot properly.

Tighten up the knot by pulling gently from the inside of the knot out. Don’t simply pull on the ends, or you’ll undo all your good work. Start with a section towards the middle and tighten that area, and move outward pulling up slack until you get to the outside of the knot. You’ll have to fiddle with it a bit, because you don’t want to pull it so tightly that the pattern gets distorted.

Lovely! Next, we need to stiffen up the knot so that it keeps this great knot and pattern. For that, we use fabric stiffener and a brush. Simply brush a generous amount of fabric stiffener onto the knot, coating both sides and letting the stiffener soak in.

Following the directions on your fabric stiffener, let this knot dry. You’re going to need the knot to conform to your wrist, though, so you’ll want to dry it in a curved position. I used the binder clips to set my knot up with a slight curve to it. Clip the edges of the knot so that the cords don’t get kinked.

Then bend the knot into a curve that will conform to your wrist (it doesn’t have to be exact).

Once it’s dry, you’ll add the backing to the free-hanging cords to create the band of your bracelet. Cut two pieces of 3/8″ ribbon to about 8″ each. Using your fabric glue, glue the cords in their pattern to the ribbon, extending the ribbon a little bit into the knot, but not so much that the ribbon shows through the holes in the knot. The idea here is to hide completely the ribbon that is holding the cords in place.

Let the fabric glue dry with the bracelet shaped into a curved position as it will be on your arm.

Once everything is dry, you can cut your bracelet to the proper length, making sure to leave about 2″ for the overlapping clasp. You can add a little fabric glue to the ends to prevent fraying. To create a clasp, add some fusible velcro to the band.

Make sure you actually put it on to measure where you want the ends to overlap, and make sure you are putting the velcro on the proper sides of the band.

 All done! Wear it with pride. And jeans.

Share!

•