ROUNDUP: Weekly Links 3/11/12

Here's what I'm rounding up this week:

DIY Clay Bead Necklace

Inspired by this necklace from Modcloth (which is AMAZING), Jen from Jen Loves Kev created a totally-from-scratch tutorial for a handmade clay bead necklace.

25 Things You Never Knew Had  Names

Do you know the actual name for the dot over an 'i'? The metal part of a pencil? The thing that measures your feet at a shoe store? Didn't think so. Impress and amaze with your knowledge of these terms and more - there's even a name for that feeling of saying a word so much that it loses all meaning...and here I thought it was just my own insanity!

World's Smallest Frog (& More)

That frog is sitting on a dime as if it were a king size bed and somehow I'm supposed to not hunt it down and hug it to death. The other tiny animals featured in this quick video include a Bee Hummingbird (!) and a tiny parrot, which I think we all needed.

Picture Day Prints

School pictures edited with animal heads: I'm in. Not sure if these are more funny or cute, but I do know that these art prints (sold as a set of 8) would look incredible on my wall. There are other sets too so you can collect them all!

Low-Commitment Projects

This blog between former art school buds who wanted to continue creative collaboration without the need for lots of time, effort or money brings us simple projects each week, like dirty car drawing (shown above), frozen ink splatters and sandwich art.

xoxo,
Michelle

BEAUTY: Diagonal Nail Tip Manicure

There are so many ways you can up your manicure game with simple items like Scotch tape that you probably have on hand. Here’s one quick and easy way to get a new look for your nails:

What You Need

> 2 Nail Polish Colors (I’m using BCC 564 by L.A. Colors and Sequin by Revlon) 
> 1 White Nail Art Polish (with the fine tip brush) 
> Clear Top Coat (I’m using Wet ‘N Wild Fastdry) 
> Scotch Tape 
> Scissors 

1. Paint 1-2 coast of your base color 

2. Use your scissors to cut 10 thin strips of the tape about 1 inch long and place them across the ends of your nails on the diagonal 

3. Fill in the triangular space with your second nail color and remove the tape strips before polish dries 

4. Trace the border of the triangular area with your nail art polish and finish with topcoat.

xoxo,

Michelle

BEAUTY: Hair Chalking

As a former hair dye junkie I’m always looking for all natural and non-damaging ways to color my hair. I’ve let my formerly dyed hair grow out for so long without coloring it that I feel like I can’t start up again now. Ok, so I obviously bleach my bangs, but whatever – a girl can have one vice, right?

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a little temporary, no chemical color. Dipping a toe back into the color pool is ok by me so when I started reading about hair chalking recently I was instantly ready to try it out. If you haven’t heard of it, hair chalking is basically like drawing on your hair with pastel crayons - pretty simple stuff. It leaves color that stays until you wash it out and you can make it pretty opaque or more of a dreamy tint. If you love color in your hair but aren’t ready for commitment or just want to switch it up, hair chalking is a great way to do so!

What You Need

> Chalk Pastels (mine are from Michael’s)

> Spray Bottle of Water

> Hair Straightener or Curling Iron

> Rubber Gloves

> Towel or Old T-Shirt

How To Do It

1. Put on your towel or t-shirt and select a section of your hair that you’d like to color. I chose 6 medium sized sections evenly distributed around my head. Spray that section with water wherever you’d like to add color. I chose to color the ends of each section.

2. With your rubber gloves on, color your hair section with a chalk pastel in a downward motion until the desired color intensity is achieved. The color may diminish somewhat in the following steps, so brighter is better.

3. Run your heat tool (I used a curling iron) over the colored area several times until the hair is dry and color seems set.

4. Repeat these steps on as many areas as you’d like to color. I used 3 colors (aqua, purple, blue) and did 2 sections of each. Style as usual.

That’s it! This is a great way to add a few pops of color to my hair in a pretty quick way. Sometime between coloring and curling a little color intensity was lost, but I attribute that mostly to my brushing my hair. I didn’t mind a more subtle color but if I wanted it stronger I’d avoid touching it too much.

This method worked well on my dark blonde/light brown hair so I imagine it would be really intense if I used it on my bleached hair. The color did make it through a night out and sleep, but washed out completely in one shampoo - perfect for a weekend alter ego look if you ask me.

Have you tried this or another temporary/gentle hair color technique? Share your tips in the comments – I’m always game for new hair ideas!

xoxo,

Michelle

ROUNDUP: Weekly Links 3/4/12

Here's what I'm rounding up this week:

Gold & Turquoise Moon Manicure from Keiko Lynn

Moon manicures are simple to execute and offer a great alternative to traditional French tips. Blogger Keiko Lynn gives a quick tutorial to pull this look off yourself.

Interview with the Ladies of Community

Anyone else ecstatic about the return of Community on March 15? This roundtable with the ladies of the show (Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown and Alison Brie) is a great way to get back into the Greendale mindset.

Tolani Tiles Scarf

This colorful tile print scarf would look good with everything!

Double Wear Elastics and Headbands from Goody

File this in the 'so smart and simple I can't believe it didn't already exist' department. Goody's elastics and headbands double as sleek minimalist bracelets and necklaces. For someone who always has a dingy mismatched elastic on her wrist, these are a blessing!

CatAtelier Shop on Etsy

For the cat-shionistas out there, CatAtelier offers hats, bow ties, collars, scarves and more for felines. This cat can really model - look at that smize!

xoxo,

Michelle

DIY: Glitter Shoes

I’m a firm believer that there is literally nothing than cannot be improved by the addition of glitter. Eye shadow, hair spray, pencils, nails, valentines, glue: all things bettered by the use of glitter. I think shoes are definitely on that list too, so when I started seeing a lot of glitter shoe tutorials around lately I recalled my foray into the DIY glitter shoe world in high school, which ended…badly. I needed to redeem myself!

Combining a few techniques I found online I made up a little tutorial so you too can improve your life by adding a pair of glitter shoes!

What You Need

A Pair of Shoes (I used ones that were worn and I was going to get rid of)

Mod Podge

Glitter (I ended up using one whole tube)

Paintbrush

Masking or Painter’s Tape

Disposable Cup or Container

How to Make It

1. Tape off all of the areas that you don’t want to cover in glitter. This includes the inside of the shoe too. It will take a while, but it’s really important because once you start you’ll see how messy this gets.

2. Mix the Mod Podge and glitter in your cup. I had a ratio of about 1.5 parts glitter to 1 part Mod Podge.

3. Start painting! Use your brush to evenly cover all the areas where you want to add glitter on each shoe. Let the coat dry fully (took me about 30-40 minutes).

4. Repeat…and repeat and repeat. Oh, and then repeat. Keep painting coats of the glitter glue mixture until you get a desired level of coverage, always letting it dry in between coats. This is a good craft to do during a movie marathon so the time (sort of) flies by. It’s also good to wash your brush in between coats so it doesn’t harden up. I ended up needing 7 coats.

5. When the last coat is dry, cover both shoes in a layer of just Mod Podge to seal everything in.

Let them dry (again!) and remove all of the tape to reveal a dazzling pair of glitter shoes! Oooh! Ahhh! What shiny feet you have! This final coat of glue should seal in the glitter so you can avoid leaving a trail of glitter behind you everywhere you go (unless, of course, you’re into that sort of thing).

xoxo,

Michelle

ROUNDUP: Weekly Links 2/26/12

Here's what I'm rounding up this week:

48 Pictures That Perfectly Capture The '90s

If you lived through the 90s this collection of photos, ranging from a Rock 'N Jock basketball game to a press photo signed "You're Too Cool" by Bob Saget to a candid of Ginger Spice typing away at a clunky desktop computer, will bring back warm and fuzzy memories or just make you glad we have 95% less daytime talk shows these days.

ABCs of Vintage

The lovely ladies over at Oh So Lovely Vintage are doing a weekly feature on the ABCs of Vintage, showcasing all kinds of fun retro goodies with a 60s vibe. You can read part one, two or three and check in next Sunday for part four.

Magical Instruments Made from Ice

Most people can't even play an instrument, let alone make one, let alone make one OUT OF ICE. This dude has a whole band setup and the ice percussion sounds amazing!

Handmade Bamboo Sunglasses

I'm a sucker for anything made with bamboo or natural wood, so these chic, eco-friendly sunglasses available on Etsy are right up my alley.

Wikipedia's Most Unflattering Celebrity Photos

Have you ever noticed that some Wikipedia pages have the worst profile photos? A group photo for no reason, washed out with too much flash or an awkward underneath angle seem to be popular ways to make celebs look their worst. Whoever decides on the final photo must have some kind of vendetta, but Oh No They Didn't makes a positive spin on it, compiling a collection of the worst for our viewing pleasure.

xoxo,
Michelle

STYLE: OOTD

I've had the good fortune to be able to wear tights and skirts with minimal chill factor all winter - it was literally sunny and 45 degrees F this weekend! Maybe you're one of those lucky types who thinks that temperature sounds scary, foreign and chilling but for February in New England 45 degrees in basically a tropical paradise. I am taking FULL advantage of the relative warmth and rocking skirts and dresses with abandon!

Shirt: Target

Vest: Marshall's

Skirt: Target

Tights: Target

Knee Socks: Marshall's

Moccasins: Target

Earrings: DIY by me

Secret details - this vest has a lacy back! 

I love layering knee socks over tights!

These are SO comfy!

I made these red feather earrings by hand and they were really simple to do. 

I might do a tutorial on them if anyone wants to see one. Let me know!

I'm used to sweaters/layers/long sleeves being my go-to winter pieces but I'm getting a chance to incorporate all kinds of year round items this season - what are your go-to winter pieces? Are you having a warmer (or colder) winter than usual? It's almost spring!

xoxo,
Michelle