magical, never ending food

okay, you have to admit, I totally reeled you in with that title, huh?  sounds a little like something out of Willy Wonka...the never ending gobstopper right?!  :)

well I have been using many many many scallions (green onions) in my cooking lately, and not that they are really that expensive, but I read somewhere (and...I honestly don't remember where...) that if you put the ends of a scallion in water, that they will regenerate, over and over again!

so of course, I had to try...and wouldn't you know...

Day 1

Day 6 (and I added two more!)

so it definitely works!  if you find yourself using lots of scallions...this trick is worth a try!

DIY Wednesday: sparkly manicure!

okay, I know this is a bit of a reach...it's not really a DIY project...but after 5 consecutive weekends of traveling, I haven't had much time to be creative...

so I thought I'd share the manicure I got for the wedding we attended in North Carolina two weeks ago- I was really inspired by all the fun manicures I've been seeing on Pinterest, and I wanted to try something a little different...so I got a fun teal/green color, and just glitterized the ring fingers...and voila!

what do you think?

DIY Wednesday - spray painted votives

I love candles...and when I saw this tutorial on how to create striped pillar candles, I had to try it for myself...and when I was home in NJ with the family I had the most room to attempt this project...

I added my own little spin on it...instead of the frosted glass spray paint- which I do want to try next- I used a glitter spray paint!  yup, they make glitter spray paint! 

the tutorial from Polish the Stars is here...but here are a few of my notes :)

make sure you work outside, and I put the candles in a cardboard box so the spray paint didn't get everywhere...I got it all over my hands, but I think wearing gloves, or using something else to prop up the candles would eliminate that...and I had a hard time spraying too thick of a coat in some spots, and not enough on others..I'm not so skilled with the spray paint can...but I think I'd get better with practice.

here are some photos of the steps and the results:

DIY Wednesday - at home gel manicure!

so I am definitely a fan of nail polish...I think the obsession has grown significantly...I have a whole shelf in my bathroom that is bursting at the seams currently. 

for a while I wasn't using my own polish as much because I got a gel manicure, and it was amazing...six weeks without so much as a chip in my jewelry-making, art-teaching nails...I was sold!  except for the $30-50 price tag, depending on where I went.

fast forward to my new obsession...Pinterest..and I found this pin via The Small Things Blog that tells you how you can get the quality of a gel manicure at home...of course I was skeptical, but I had to try...if it could save me money and my nails could still look nice, I was willing to give it a try.

 photo from The Small Things Blog

I couldn't find the Nutra Nail 5 Minute Gel Polish, but I did find the Essie...so I just used that for the top and bottom coats- and it worked great!  you can link back to the original post here, but the steps are so simple!

2 coats of the Nutra Nail 5 Minute Gel Polish **this is where I substituted the Essie
2 coats of your favorite polish- any shade, any brand!
1 final coat of the Essie 3 Way Glaze


the best part is that you can use any polish you already own- it doesn't have to be anything special!  so all those nail polishes I had at home had new life breathed into them! 

DIY Wednesday - Glitter Keys

One of my (many) goals for the summer, along with taking time to do art of my own, getting my house in some kind of order, trying out new recipes, and above all relaxing...I wanted to try out some fun and easy DIY projects that I've seen on Pinterest and other blogs I frequent.

So the first project I decided to tackle was glitter-fying my keys...since we all know what a huge fan of glitter I am, so I thought it would be a great place to start!

I had seen this pin on Pinterest a few months back, which lead me to an adorable blog My oh My written by a fellow Art Teacher, CMae.  You can see her original post here, and I suggest you poke around on her blog if you like art, books, crafts, or just a good read!


First I chose a color from my extensive glitter collection, found some glue in my basket of adhesives, and I put down some wax paper, to contain the mess.

One layer of glue and glitter, left to dry for an hour, and then repeat on the next side.

Then to keep all that glitter from flaking off into my purse, car and everywhere else...of course let's face it...it's everywhere in my house anyway...a layer of clear nail polish on each side.

And voila!  Glitter keys...DIY project #1 of the summer complete :)