Here are some tips on how to make your own headboard in 4 simple steps from squidoo.com:

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What you need:

* A 1/4 Plywood Base
* Foam
* Padding/Wadding/Fiber Fill

* Fabric

You Will Need These Tools

* Jigsaw
* Pencil/Marker
* Scissors / Stanley Knife

* Staple Gun
* Tape Measure

1) Measure your bed that you are making the headboard for
Cut out the desired shape of your headboard out of the plywood. There are many shapes you can design, it really just depends on how you want your headboard to look.

2) Cut out the foam to go on your headboard and use an adhesive to glue it in place. I usually lay the foam on top of the headboard and use a carving knife to shear the excess material away till I achieve the shape I want. This bit can be quite time consuming but well worth doing well to get that solid look and feel at the end result.

3) Cover the headboard with the padding or wadding and again glue in place. This is fairly simple, what you want to aim to do is give an EVEN covering of wadding so the headboard is proportionally stuffed.

Stretch the fabric over the headboard making sure it is tight and tac/glue/nail in to position on the back.

Depending on how much love you give it, will directly determine the end result. Spend time, have patience and measure twice cut once.

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Related Links:

How to choose wall color for the bedroom.

How to create a peaceful bedroom retreat.

1.) Apply a base coat/nail hardener to your nails.

2.) Use an orange nail color as your background to set the tone for the theme–in this case a spider web design.

3.) Use black nail to create small dots by sparingly taping it in various sections of your nails. Only apply four to five dots; you don’t want to add too many or else it will start to look cluttered.

4.) Use a thin white design brush to create the spider nail design. Begin by creating a diamond shape on the nail.  Then trace a smaller diamond inside the larger one.  Add diagonal lines from corner to corner and your web complete!

5.) Finish with a clear top coat to seal the design which will help all that hard work last longer!

Knock-Knock? Who’s there?
My Spider-web nails!

Well, if that joke didn’t make you laugh, share your Halloween inspired nails on our Facebook page or share a twitpic @HelloBeautiful!

You can follow me for more on nail care @NessaLovesMusic.

Halloween Designed Nails

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6 Beauty Tricks You Can Only Try On Halloween
Must-See Horror Films For Your Halloween Date Night
Cheap Ways To Decorate Your Home For Halloween

Find a tree branch slightly wider than your window trim. Use pruning shears to remove long twigs, but leave a few stubs for character. Spray-paint the branch (white was used in this pic to add a pop of color against the chocolate-color wall) or leave it natural. Tie-top curtain panels allow you to adjust for the curves of the branch – no clips or rings needed.

Click here to find out how to make our own soothing bath spa.

Click here for more simple weekend projects.

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Home Depot means it when they say we can do it and they can help. Do you have a current ‘Do It Yourself’ making you think “if only I could rewind…” Well now you can. Home Depot and BlackPlanet is giving you a chance to receive $1,000 to fix up your DIY disaster with the help of Home Depot’s expert suggestions on how to get the job done yourself.

Visit Home Depot’s group page on BlackPlanet and watch other DIY disaster videos, take the polls and share your own DIY disaster or success stories with us. Home Depot wants to see your DIY disasters and then tell you how they can help. Upload a video or photo of your disaster for your chance to receive $1,000 to hook your home up Home Depot style.

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Better Homes and Gardens gives us ideas on how to update our lamps:

Paper Mosaic:

Get the look of broken tile without the mess and fuss of traditional mosaic. Cut irregular squares and rectangles from patterned paper, fit the pieces together on the base, and adhere them with decoupage medium.

Sticker it:

For a quick and cheap lamp base design that really shines, apply stickers. Position a trio of flower stickers on the base and create stems with adhesive gems. Coat the base in a clear adhesive to keep the stickers in place.

DIY: Make Your Own Headboard

Flower Mask:

Use a mask to create stylish flowers on a lamp base. Made of flexible plastic, a mask is opposite of a stencil and is easily applied to the base. Attach the mask to the lamp, then spray-paint the entire base. Remove the mask, immediately after spraying, to reveal the graphic design.

Computer Printed Letters:

Make decorating a lampshade quick and easy by using a computer to print letters onto adhesive-backed paper. Cut out the letters and adhere them along the bottom of the shade. Straight-cut letters adhered to a curved lampshade create a playful design that is ideal for a child’s room.

Use Sheer Curtains To Decorate!

Colorful stitching:

Make lampshade stitching pop by choosing contrasting and complementary colors. Lightly draw the design on the shade with a pencil, then use an awl to carefully punch holes approximately 1/4 inch apart along the lines. Use embroidery floss to chain-stitch through the holes.

Decorative Paper Overlay:

Use a large sheet of decorative paper to make a pretty overlay for a plain lampshade. Roll the shade on the back of the paper sheet and trace along the edges. Cut out the pattern 1 inch outside the traced lines. Apply spray adhesive to secure the paper to the shade, wrapping the extra paper over the top and bottom edges. After adhering patterned paper to a lampshade, add grosgrain ribbon to the top and bottom edges. Keep the ribbon in place with small stitches or clear double-sided tape.

Add Ribbon:

They can be laid in different patterns and colors to create a unique lampshade to brighten up any room. Cut the ribbon lengths for each design and wrap the ends around the shade edges, hot-glue them in place.

Decorate Your Living Room With No Money!

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Halloween is rapidly approaching and many of you are scrambling to choose from the left- over costumes that the more timely parents were kind enough to leave behind. Worry you not! HelloBeautiful has surveyed the net for some great alternatives to store-bought costumes that will leave your pockets less strained this Halloween season.  Check out these cool costumes that you and your child can make at home:

1.) A Bunch of Grapes

All this costume requires is about 2 dozen purple balloons, a simple purple outfit and a green hat.  Have your child dress in all purple, then blow up the balloons and stick them to the upper part of your child’s body.  Finish off the costume with a green hat, which you can decorate with simple art supplies to look like a grape stem.

2.) Chicken

Cut the sleeves off a white sweatshirt; fold in and glue raw edges.

Starting at bottom of sweatshirt, hot-glue a white feather boa to it, wrapping it around and up to the neck (you’ll need one boa for a baby, two for toddlers on up.)

Hat: To make chicken’s comb, stuff fingers of a pair of red rubber gloves with Poly-Fil or batting. Then use one cutoff sleeve for a hat: Fold over and glue raw top edge. Then glue the stuffed gloves, end to end, between the folded edges of the hat. Put hat on your child’s head and cut the open end to desired length, leaving an extra inch to fold in and glue down.

Add leggings or tights (striped leggings here are from hannaandersson.com), red or orange long-sleeve T-shirt, yellow gloves, and yellow rubber boots.

3.) Baby Lion

This is a great costume for babies and toddlers. And it might just be the easiest costume. Ever. Simply buy a mop (the old-school stringy kind). Remove the top, and attach it to a creme colored hat.  Dress your little one in a creme outfit and paint some whiskers on his face and voila! Baby Lion. The mop top will give the appearance of an instant lion’s mane. Use piece of rope to create a tail.

4.) Corn on the Cob

For this costume, you’ll need hot glue or fabric glue,  scissors and a tape measure.

Cut the sleeves off a green sweatshirt. Turn in the armholes and glue raw edges. Next, give 3 paper egg-carton bottoms a coat of yellow paint. When dry, glue to front of sweatshirt for kernels. Cut 1 yard of green felt in half. Pull on felt to create irregular edges. Fold and glue along each side of egg cartons, as shown. Glue green pipe cleaners to the back of felt at the top to help the “husk” tips stand up.

For the hat: Measure child’s head and cut a sleeve to fit, leaving an extra inch at the top. Cut a bunch of raffia and bundle together. Wrap a strand around base of bundle to keep it together; glue to hat for corn silk.

5.) Baby Sheep

To make this costume you will need an old sweatshirt, lots of cotton balls, a white hat, black & white felt, a black shirt and black pants. Cut the sleeves off of the old sweatshirt and paste cotton balls generously all over it.  Do the same for the white hat. Cut two ear shaped pieces of felt and add ach them to the hat.  Have your child wear the black shirt/tights under the cotton-covered sweatshirt, along with the hat.

Here is a gallery of these costumes as well as a few others that are simple enough for you to do at home.

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6 Beauty Tricks You Can Only Try On Halloween

10 “Healthiest” Halloween Candies

Love getting a manicure only to have it chip hours after its done?  With the right tools and products, your nails can look just as great as the ones you pay for on a weekly basis.

Here are some tips on how to do-it-yourself at home:

1)  Remove any old polish. After the polish is removed, clip the nails straight across, slightly above the skin.

2) Next, file nails straight across, rounding slightly on the corners. File from the outside to the center of the nail to prevent tearing and grinding away at the nail.

3) After filing, apply cuticle remover on the cuticles, and then soak fingers in warm soapy water for a few minutes. Avoid letting them soak long because if the nail is too saturated, it can make the nail soft, making it harder to apply polish. If nails are yellow or stained from constant use of polish, add a teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide or lemon juice to the water.

Fall Trend: Heather Gray Nail Polish

4) When the nails are done soaking, use an orangewood stick wrapped in cotton to gently push back cuticles from the nails. With cuticle nippers, trim hangnails and avoid cutting the cuticle to prevent infection. Massage hands with a hand or body scrub, and then rinse and apply hand cream. Add cuticle oil to the cuticles and massage to allow the oil to soak in. After moisturizing, clean the nails of oil by using a cotton ball with polish remover to prepare nails for paint.

5) Painting the nails. Apply a base coat to nails, starting with the pinkie finger to prevent smudges while painting. After letting the base coat dry, apply the first coat of color polish. For an even amount of polish on each nail, use three strokes of the brush, the first one down the center and then one on each side from the bottom of the nail up to the top.

6) After the first coat is dry, the final step to the manicure is applying a second coat. By painting to the tip of the nail and slightly over, it can prolong the life of the manicure and prevent chipping. Use a small brush with remover to clean up any spots where the polish got onto the skin. Apply a clear topcoat and allow nails to dry.

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Solange was spotted awhile ago rocking some polka-dotted nails, and while this was surely the result of a 45-minute, $55 manicure Minx session, GLAMOUR has found a way to DIY at home for less than $10.

Sally Hansen’s Nail Art Pen allows you to get creative with your nails in seconds!

(Gold, Silver, Red, Blue, Hot Pink, Light Pink, Black, White)

Just press the pen point to activate nail color and start designing. Fine-tip pen makes it easy to control and draw precise lines, and the mistake-proof formula can be removed or corrected with a moist cotton swab without damaging dry nail polish.

Here is what a staff member’s hand looked like after she tried it out:

Find it at Walgreen’s.

But, if you’re still craving more than just polka dots and would like the design of tiger stripes, Barack Obama’s face, or your country’s flag on your nails, we’ve still got you covered: DIY: Get Celebrity-Style Minx Nails At Home!

And Check Out Our Interview Of The Week: VIDEO: Toni Braxton Admits To Having A “Cougar Crush” & Blaming Herself For Son’s Autism

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Stress and tiredness can lead to red, puffy eyes. If you need some help soothing your eyes, try these remedies from wholeliving.com:

Natural remedies can lessen redness or puffiness almost as quickly as it appears. Many remedies use simple ingredients that are already in your kitchen, with the help of Dr. Jeanette Jacknin, a holistic dermatologist and author of “Smart Medicine for Your Skin,” we’ve assembled five of the most effective solutions.

Chamomile, Green, or Black Tea Bags
Chamomile tea, a natural anti-inflammatory, helps ease redness and puffiness around the eyes. Green and black teas contain compounds called tannins, plus caffeine. Tannins have an astringent effect on the skin and shrink swollen tissue, while caffeine constricts blood vessels to reduce swelling.

How to Use
Steep two chamomile, green, or black tea bags in just-boiled water for three minutes. Remove them from the water and place in the refrigerator until cooled. Place one bag over each eye and relax for 15 minutes.

Click here to read more.

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How to take care of your skin this spring.

2 beauty items you should wash

Why are bridesmaid dresses often so out of fashion that they are usually found in the deep recesses of closets never to be seen again after that one day they were worn? Why are they destined to be one-wear wonders? Here’s an easy way to turn that ruffled dress into a trendy throw pillow courtesy of apartmenttherapy.com:

Spring is a great time to clean out your closet and add some bright color to your decor. You can do both with this project, which converts an unwanted bridesmaid dress into a trendy ruffled rose pillow.

This pillow:

* does not use a zipper

* and has ruffles that lay flat rather than curve back.

There are two parts to this project – making an envelope pillow cover from the front of the dress and making a ruffle from the back of the dress.

Your first step will be to dismantle the dress. The second step will be to create a long strip of fabric for the ruffle. The third will be to cut out the envelope pillow cover. The fourth step will be to attach the ruffle to the cover. And the final step is to sew up the cover.

Click here to see the slideshow and instructions

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No-money decorating for your living room

How to take pictures of your home

Here is a way to clean up your nails at home and get yourself looking like you have just left the salon:

1) Removing any old polish with acetone polish remover and a cotton ball. A cotton ball holds up much better than tissue and will not fall apart causing you to waste more remover than needed.

2) Clip and file your nails to their desired length. Choose a round or square shape and try to keep all nails around the same length.

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3) Soak your hands or feet in a bowl of warm water for about five minutes, add some liquid soap to help soften up nails and cuticles. Be sure the water is not too hot because this will actually end up drying out your hands. When you are finished soaking, apply a cuticle cream over the bottom of the nails to soften any rough spots.

4) Push back cuticles off your nail bed so they are out of the way for polishing. If you are used to a self-manicure and want nails to look great you can also cut back your cuticles if you feel comfortable doing so. Afterward clean and exfoliate hands with a scrub or homemade mixture of your choice, then wash it off.

5) Dry hands and apply the best lotion you have around the house. Make sure nails are wiped clean from any lotion and you are ready to polish. Apply a base coat first then two thin coats of polish. Let it dry then finish with a topcoat to help protect nails. If you are a little messy with the color, you don’t have to start all over again, just grab a Q-Tip and use nail polish to clean up skin around the nails.

ione-gallery id=”188121″ src=”http://hellobeautiful.com”]

4 foods to eat for beautiful skin

Here’s a quick and easy DIY project you can make this weekend without spending a bundle.

Bathroom Shelf

What it is: A repurposed unused chair turned into a useful wall-mounted towel rack and shelf.

How to make it: Remove the seat and legs of an old chair and mount it to the wall. Hang towels and other bathroom essentials.

What You Need

* Ladder-back chair
* Saw
* Paint
* Paintbrush
* Screws
* Screw driver
* Faucet handles
* Bumper pads

3 ways to stay sane while DIY’ing

How to Make It

1. Cut off the legs and most of the seat.
2. Then, using screws, attach a piece of trim to what will be the top of the back of the seat. This gives you more surface area for attaching the chair to the wall. Paint as desired.
3. Attach faucet handles to the top of the shelf to use for hanging bath gear.
4. Add bumper pads to the back of the chair to keep it from scratching the wall.
5. Finally, attach the chair to the wall by sinking screws through the trim piece into the studs. If studs aren’t available, use anchors to keep the screws secure.

Cheap ways to decorate your home

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With the economy the way it is, who wants to spend money on home improvements? I’ve spent countless weekends trying to upgrade my new apartment, but I have to admit it’s starting to take up ALL of my time. Here are some tips to help you keep your cool from apartmenttherapy.com:

1) Make Your Bed: At the end of the day, it’s nice to have one area that’s clean and ready for you to resort back to. Your bed is (hopefully) the ultimate source of comfort and having it made and ready to climb into can make the giant paint explosion in your kitchen seem oh so far away!

2) Have A Towel Handy: A wet or dry towel can be your best friend during a project and can save you from running to the bathroom to clean up, or can wipe away dust at the flick of a wrist. Knowing where one is without digging through drawers (or your laundry) is a good thing!

5 ways to motivate yourself to clean

3) Take A Peek In The Fridge: There’s nothing worse than working on an empty stomach, but most of us get in the diy groove and either forget to eat, or keep saying we’ll eat in a minute. The next thing you know, the sun has gone down and you feel a little sick and not like cooking. Taking a quick peek in the fridge will let you know there’s an apple to grab or even a pickle or two that’s handy without pulling out the goods for an all out sandwich.

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7 ways to reuse household items

Don’t break the bank this Valentine’s Day when buying gifts for your man. Instead, make them yourself. Not only will you save money, but the effort made will show him how much you really love him!

Click the links to find out what materials you may need and to read step-by-step instructions!

Button-Heart Cuff Links
Let him wear your heart on his sleeve with a set of symbolic cuff links, fashioned from mother-of-pearl buttons and silk beading cord.

Felt Fortune Cookies
Here’s an easy way to share a few sweets and express your sentiments – be sure to add some romantic sayings inside!

Brown Paper Bag Photo Album
Here’s a creative (and eco-friendly) way to say, “I love you!” The scrapbook includes six pages and several tags, hidden in pockets, for additional photos/journaling.

Heart-Shaped Soap And Bath Fizzies
These gifts are both sweet and sexy! Once he opens these gifts, make your way over to the bathtub or shower together!

Necktie Envelope
A tie is a classic gift for him. Make it even more enticing by presenting it in a handmade fabric envelope that he can use for travel. Basic sewing skills are all you need to stitch one up from traditional shirting fabric. And don’t forget to seal it with a heart tag.

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With common household ingredients you can pamper yourself spa-style. Invite your girls around, chill some bubbly, serve some strawberries and get ready to de-stress:
Face fantastic
Your first step will be to cleanse your face – after the cocktails and late nights your skin will love you for it.

Start by first removing all your makeup, and depending on how sorry your skin is looking you can opt for a mask or a steam followed by an exfoliating cleanse.

If your skin is looking dull or dry a mask made of fresh fruit may help, fruit contains alpha-hydroxy acids which work to remove the surface layer of dead skin revealing fresher skin beneath.

A good one to try is the peach mask. Cook a peach till it’s soft, mash it up with a fork add a tablespoon of honey and oatmeal until it is thick. Apply to clean skin and let sit for ten minutes before rinsing off with warm water.

Smooth skin
Smooth skin is easy to achieve, use an exfoliant such as a body brush or loofah sponge. Work from the feet upwards in circular motions to improve your circulation whilst revealing supple skin.

Alternatively you can use a sugar scrub which is easily made at home. Combine brown sugar, aloe vera and jojoba oil (if available) in a bowl. Mix until you form a smooth paste, rub this into the skin in circular motion. The sugar crystals will scrub away dead skin cells and the jojoba oil and aloe will moisturise your skin. Rinse clean

Honey Hair Shine

Revive tired tresses and give them a shine boost with this easy-to-make, leave-in honey hair treatment.

Here’s what you need:

* 1 teaspoon honey
* 4 cups warm water

Stir honey into warm water. After shampooing pour mixture through hair. Do not rinse out. Dry as normal.

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Take a look at the hottest celeb pics on the net

]]> http://hellobeautiful.com/546367/3-diy-spa-treaments-we-love/feed/ 0 3 DIY Spa Treaments We Love (thumbnail) deborahbennett home-spa-lg http://hellobeautiful.com/444527/4-easy-weekend-projects-to-improve-your-home/ http://hellobeautiful.com/444527/4-easy-weekend-projects-to-improve-your-home/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:00:15 +0000 Deborah Bennett, Senior Editor http://hellobeautiful.com/?p=444527 ]]>

If you don’t have the time or money for a major home improvement project, take a look at five easy projects that can each be completed in one weekend.

1) Your bedroom is the place where you rest, and it deserves a little attention. Give it a thorough deep clean, then enjoy a good night’s sleep.

2) A clutter-busting method that really works is to wipe down every horizontal surface. It forces you to clean and organize all those spots where junk collects, and it makes your home shine.

Bring home some flowers this weekend

3) You know those spots that you rarely think about that never seem to get cleaned? (Windowsills, ceiling fans, the tops of frames and doors.) They’re small details, but it’s amazing how much better your home feels once they’ve been given some attention.

4) Painting. This is one of the most cost effective home improvement projects you can do, especially if you do the painting. If the prep work is minimal, you can paint one or two average size rooms in one weekend.

Spa treatments you can do at home

Whether you are a freshman feeling anxious and excited about college or a seasoned senior who can’t wait to graduate, your dorm or apartment room will be a home away from home for a good two thirds of your year. It should be a place where you can study effectively and provide safe sanctuary from outside stress. Your room should be a place where you can host movie nights or curl up with a good book.

Here are some tips from apartmenttherapy.com:

1. Live Without: It can be difficult when moving away from home, usually for the first time, to think about all the things you’ll be living without. In this parting of ways, it can be easy to horde things and spend all your time thinking about all the “stuff and things” you want to bring with you to help ease the pains of separation. In the process of all this, small dorm spaces can get bogged down with things you don’t really need. Try downsizing, if not doing completely without many of the things you think you might need or have to have.

How to be a great host in a tiny apartment

2. Focus On Your Work Areas: It doesn’t matter if you have an awesome couch, fine linens or a microwave, what matters most is making sure you can accomplish what you need to in the space. Sleeping comfortably, working comfortably and a space for study are all at the top of the list. Even if it means doing without something you’d like to bring into the space, you pay for college and should be able to make the most of it without fighting a desk that’s too small or a bed you can’t get into.

3. Lighting! Lighting! Lighting!: Dorm lighting is always horrible. Overhead florescents aren’t good for anything and a single desk or task lamp just doesn’t get the job done. Plan on having three light sources if at all possible. This is the only time in your life (most likely) you won’t have to pay for utilities, so make the most of it! Rope lights, floor lamps, desk lamps and pendant lamps are all a good idea, check out up lighting as a great option as is altering the basic overhead rectangular fixture or making your own lighting creation! Just please be cautious to not burn the place down.

4. DIY With Restrain & Purpose: DIY ideas for temporary spaces is a great way to jazz the place up. But a little goes a long way to make your room stand out from others. A room with clever DIY improvements makes for a great punch and a way to personalize your space, but a room with DIY overload can feel chaotic. Make your DIY projects count and use them to reflect bits of your personality and taste.

5. Add A Rug or Carpet: A real rug. Save up the extra cash and buy one you’ll really love instead of the $30 big box special or check with carpet stores instead of the major hardware stores for in stock remnants for less than the price of a smaller area rug (plus you can pick up a piece of padding at a steal!). When seating is limited, the floor is an excellent option next time you’re hosting Wii night in your room without the aid of having chairs. Plus it will help soften the visual weight of the usually heavy and oppressive furniture you’ll be stuck with for at least the next semester.

Want more ideas? Click here

Video: How to accessorize a living room

Here’s what you’ll need:

. Long tape measure
. Plywood for the fabric-covered backing
. Plywood pieces to assemble the legs
. Sandpaper

. One roll of cotton batting

. Fabric of your choice, which will make the actual exterior covering
. Jig saw to cut your wood
. Screwdriver and a few screws
. A staple gun
. Anything else you wish to adorn your headboard with such as beads, lace trim or buttons
Step One:

Measure the width of your bed and decide how high you want your headboard to be. It is best to make the fabric covered portion of your headboard *begin* at the top of the box spring, so allow a bit of extra height to compensate for this. Decide on a top shape you desire for your headboard. Ideas include straight across, an arch shape, or a wave-like design.

4 ways to decorate your bedroom for summer

Step Two:

Ask the sales person at your local lumber supplies store to cut you a piece of wood in the exact dimension you wish your headboard to be. This saves you the additional step of having to cut at home to suit your needs. Have them cut two pieces approximately 2 ½ feet long by a few inches wide, which will act as the legs of the headboard. If you are looking to cut the top of your headboard into a certain pattern, you can do this at home with your jig saw. When you have the desired shape, sand around any rough edges of your headboard first to smooth out any flaws in the wood. Proceed to cover your headboard with a layer of upholstery foam by stapling. Next cover the headboard with a few layers of cotton batting, cut to the desired size.

Step three:

If desired, cover your headboard with a plain white layer of fabric, and then cover with your desired decorative fabric, securing with staples. Be sure to wrap the material around the headboard, stapling to the back. As you are stapling, gently pull the fabric regularly to smooth out any buckles. Trim your headboard with a decorating roping or beadwork, if desired. This is especially useful in hiding rough edges. You can use a strong adhesive glue gun to attach your trim.

Step four:

Attach the legs by screwing securely the two planks of wood into the base of the headboard. Attach the headboard directly to the wall, if desired, or push it up against the wall and push the bed tightly against it to hold it in place.

3 easy steps on how to make a bed

Remove old nail polish.  Strip old color with acetone polish remover on a cotton ball. (Note: Don’t use a tissue, it will fall apart and doesn’t absorb the remover well.)

Slough It Off.  The first order of business is to get a pumice stone. A must-have for any DIY pedicure, a pumice stone will quickly and gently remove rough or callused skin on your feet.

What’s your summer sandal?

Soak.   Soak your feet in the bath or a pan of warm water. Lather your feet with your favorite shower gel. Gently rub pumice stone over rough areas. Use a washcloth to wash away the dead skin cells.

Shape. Start off by trimming your nails with a large, straight nail clipper. File your nails and push back your cuticles with an orangewood stick.

Smooth. After rinsing, use a rich lotion to lock in the moisture. Avoid dry, cracked cuticles by using cuticle oil regularly.

Polish.  Use a basecoat to help prevent discoloring and then apply your nail polish followed by the topcoat. Wait at least half an hour to an hour before putting your shoes on.

Summer sandals under $40!!!

There’s no need to travel hundreds of miles to a high-dollar spa to rejuvenate your body and spirit. Try it in your own home or backyard this weekend. Raid your cabinets and your refrigerator for an all out party girl pamper session.

Face Forward
Your first step will be to cleanse your face – after the summer sun, cocktails and late nights your skin will thank you.

Facial Steam

Get a big bowl or a bucket, boil water on your stove and fill your container. You can add herbs or oils depending on the effect you want. For a deep clean you might want to try sage or thyme, relaxation lavender or vanilla, you can add just about any scented oil that you like. Once you’ve added your oil, sit in a chair or on a pillow and place your face over your container, drape a towel over your head so that it covers you and your container. The steam will open your pores providing you with a deep clean. You can enjoy the facial until the steam has dissipated.

Deep Hair Conditioning

If you want to have a deep hair conditioning then here is a recipe that will revitalize your hair.

cup of mayonnaise 
1 egg 
4 drops of rosemary

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, warm a towel in the dryer or microwave, apply ingredients to damp hair and wrap in the warm towel. Leave on for 15-30 minutes. Shampoo and rinse with cool water.

Hot Paraffin Dip

Do you enjoy those paraffin dips that you receive at the spa for your hands and feet? Well, you can enjoy it at home as well and have incredibly soft hands and feet. 
Take 1-2 bricks of paraffin wax, if you want flavor or aroma, add a half dozen drops of your favorite flavor of oil. Put the wax in your crock pot on low heat and melt. You don’t want to use a higher setting because you don’t want to get burned. When the wax is melted add your aroma oil, pour the wax in to a pan or bucket, check to make sure that it’s not too hot. 
Dip a hand or foot in until it is completely covered, take it out and let it the wax set usually 5-10 minutes. Peel the wax once it’s set, but don’t toss it, you can reuse it! Ain’t life grand?

Want to learn how to weave your own hair? Dade County Florida’s Geisha shows us how to weave our own hair and maybe one or two of our girls heads before we hit the club.

Check out the video below:

Do you have a safe hairstyle?

Tyra Banks investigates “Good Hair”

Now that spring is here, we want to get rid of those heavy winter curtains and lighten up our windows with light airy curtains. We recently saw this on casasugar and thought it would be a fun project to try. The best part about this project, it can be done in 3 hrs. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 to 4 panels of fabric (cotton is easy to work with, and seasonally appropriate), cut to the correct window length, plus about 1/3 of a yard extra to allow for shrinkage and seams
Sewing machine
Matching thread
Iron and ironing board
Pins
Scissors
Curtain rods

How to Do It
1) The first time-saving technique begins before you even step into the fabric store. Measure the length of the window/wall you want your panel to cover. Add 1/3 of a yard to this number. (For instance, if your window/wall is six feet, you want seven feet of fabric cut, and would ask for 2 and 1/3 yards cut.) Now, decide how many panels you need. Two? Four?

Switch your living room to summer decor.

2) At the fabric store, ask (nicely!) the fabric store employee to cut your fabric out in panels, instead of in one long piece. This will save you a lot of time measuring and cutting at home. Just remember to measure very carefully before jotting down your needed lengths.

3) At home, toss the fabric in the laundry, as it will definitely shrink.
Iron your fabric panels. Look at the long sides of the fabric. The edges are already semi-finished (no raw edges), but the name of the fabric designer, as well as the color stamp, are visible. Iron this edge over, and then sew the sides first with a straight stitch. You won’t have to double the edges over, since the edge is semi-finished to start with.

Click here for more instructions.

Here are some trendy panels that we love:

Start Gallery

Cosmetics company Sara Happ has The Lip Scrub, a mini-exfoliator designed to rid your lips of flakes and dryness caused by the harsh winter months. The scrubs come in 6 different flavors, and you can follow your lip sloughing with The Lip Slip, a tasty balm that apparently leaves your lips feeling silky, moisturized, and pouty.

Or you can save the $48 bucks you’d be spending on this trio by doing the age-old, tried-and-true method of brushing your lips with a soft-bristled toothbrush, then slapping on some moisturizing lip balm. I promise, you’ll be just as kissable. Though the flavors of Sara Happ’s products make lip scrubbing sound much more appealing and a bit more fun. But at least now you have two options, just in case you’re broke.

the lip slip and the lip scrub, $24 each, sarahapp.com.

Even Mary J is exfoliating!

Now that your lips are moisturized, take care of your manicure – wear this polish!

Don’t feel like getting the kids together to color eggs for Easter? Maybe it’s because you’re tired of the same old egg-dye routine that you’ve done since you were a kid. Try something new! Chinese Tea Eggs are normal snacks in China when stewed with a black tea, soy sauce, and spice blend.

If you want to skip the traditional route, you can make them at home for Easter by following these steps:

1.    Hard boil eggs and let it cool. Then roll on a hard surface enough to get an overall cracked look, but don’t roll them too hard.
2.    Boil more water (add salt or whatever seasoning you prefer to flavor the eggs) and the gel food dye to it. Let the eggs boil for one to three hours. Longer boil time makes for a more intense color.

Interested in Gardening? Click here for more.

3.    When the eggs are ready, peel them. Be careful peeling them because the egg will split through to the yolk. It ruins the appeal of the eggs.

You’ll have jewel looking eggs to eat on Easter Sunday! Click here for what the eggs look like during the process and the end result.

Update your kitchen with color.

(From The Barefoot Kitchen Witch)

(From wholeliving.com)

Massaging Your Face

This is a great way to loosen muscles scrunched into habitual expressions. “This brings blood to the surface, clears out puffiness, and reduces fatigue in the skin,” says Chris Haas, owner of Ra Organic Spa in Burbank, California.

Don’t have time for an appointment? At home, all you need is the following ingredients for a facial serum. Barbara Close, founder of Naturopathica, recommends a base of evening primrose and avocado oils with rose geranium, lavender, and German chamomile essential oils for dry skin, or apricot kernel oil with juniper, lemon, and rosemary oils for oily skin.

How? Starting at the chin, move your hands in small circles and continue to the cheeks, around the eyes, and to the forehead. By doing this, you’re stimulating circulation and bringing more nutrients to the skin. Follow with a warm compress to increase the absorption of the serum. Here are some DIY recipes for facial serum, based on your type of skin:

For Dry Skin
Ingredients
1-ounce bottle
1/2 ounce avocado oil
1/2 ounce evening primrose oil
6 drops rose geranium essential oil
3 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops German chamomile

Directions
Fill bottle halfway with avocado oil. Add essential oils, cap bottle, and shake well. Top off with half ounce of evening primrose oil and shake again.

For Oily Skin
Ingredients
1-ounce bottle
1/2 ounce apricot oil
1/2 ounce hazelnut or jojoba oil
6 drops rosemary essential oil
3 drops juniper essential oil
4 drops neroli essential oil

Directions
Fill bottle halfway with apricot oil. Add essential oils, cap bottle, and shake well. Top off with half ounce of hazelnut or jojoba oil and shake again.

For Sensitive Skin
Ingredients
1-ounce bottle
1/2 ounce jojoba oil
1/2 ounce rosehip seed oil
3 drops everlasting essential oil
2 drops German chamomile
6 drops rose geranium essential oil

Directions
Fill bottle halfway with jojoba oil. Add essential oils, cap bottle, and shake well. Top off with half ounce of rosehip seed oil and shake again.

Click here to find out how to organize your makeup.

Find out how long your make-up should last here.

(From apartmenttherapy.com)

Project: Fold, Stitch & Stuff Floor Cushions
Time: 1.5 hours
Cost: $22.00

Big pillows may be readily available, but what if you long for custom accessories that won’t break your bank? My mock boxed cushions stuffed with standard bed pillows are so inexpensive and easy to make, you’ll never want mass produced again. Once you make one, it only takes about 30 minutes to put the next one together. This project goes so fast, you can knock out 3 or 4 before noon, clean up your apartment and be ready for guests by 7:00. This is a clever way to bring unexpected color and pattern into your room.

Tools and Resources:

* 1 yard of fabric
* 2 inexpensive, standard sized bed pillows
* scissors
* ruler or measuring tape
* pencil
* pins
* 20 inches of Velcro for each pillow
* thread
* sewing machine

Step by Step:

1. Fold 1 yard of 54″ fabric in half, lengthwise
2. Measure and cut the folded fabric so you have a doubled piece measuring 41″ x 28 1/2″. A standard bed pillow measures 20 x 26 inches and they will be placed side by side inside the cushion cover.
3. With the edges that measure 41″ long, fold each one over 1″ and then another 1″. Pin, press and stitch in place. This forms finished back edges where the Velcro will be centered, pinned and stitched later.
4. Pin and stitch the remaining sides together, leaving a 20″ opening in the center of the ‘hemmed’ side (the side you just folded and stitched). Be sure to reinforce the stitching (backtack) on both sides of the opening so the stitches don’t rip out when you stuff the cushion cover.
5. Now, adjust each corner so that you have a triangular point with the stitched seam right on top and in the center of the point. Pin and stitch across the point two inches from the end of the point. This line of stitching is what forms the mock boxing.
6. Snip off the extra fabric at the corners and turn the cushion right side out.
7. Pin and stitch the top and bottom pieces of the Velcro on the finished edges you prepared in Step 3. Make sure they are placed on inside of the opening.
8. To connect the two bed pillows for your cushion filling, cut along one long seam of each pillow, opeining the side of the pillow form.
9. Next, measure and cut an equal number of 1″ x 4″ fringe on the cut edges of each pillow.
10. Tie the fringe pieces from both pillow tops together and repeat for the pillow bottoms.
11. Now you’re ready to place your new, floor sized pillow insert into the cover.
12. It is perfectly acceptable to fill out each corner with extra stuffing, upholsterers do this all the time.
13. Close the Velcro, get situated, and turn on the tube.
-The pillows don’t necessarily have to be tied together but it will help keep the stuffing even.

I’ve also used this project to make my dog a nice, inexpensive bed. The pillow inserts are easy to clean or replace. Also, to keep the pillows fresh and relaxing, add a little sachet of flax seed mixed with lavender.

Here’s a simple technique to get rid of clutter-enabling tendencies. Click here.