Get MAC make-up for Free!

My pin comes from My Style Pinboard, MAC make-up has to be my favorite brand of cosmetics.  I love the use of make-up as art and no other company has so many fun colors with such staying power!  If I decide to grace the world with my face in color, I want the effort to be worthwhile and to last!

MAC has a program called "Back to MAC", which is a recycling program.  Save any 6 plastic, glass, or metal containers from MAC and return them to a MAC counter in your mall or MAC store and you receive a lipstick of your choice as a thank you!  That's a $15 lipstick!  So each container is worth $2.50!

Capricious a 'Lustre' lipstick

Today was my first time using this rumored program, and I'm pretty excited because I use MAC for undercover concealer and powder - I didn't know before that they accepted the little plastic tubes from the undercover!  I've tossed like 8!  Agh!  Now I will be a free lipstick queen in a short time.  I have found that I like lipstick better than lipgloss because of lipstick's staying power, hair doesn't get stuck in it, and the tube of lipstick lasts longer.

18 Liquid Castile Soap Uses #9 - Foot Soak

From my Homemade or Natural Remedies pinboard, I'm continuing my 18 Liquid Castile Soap Uses with Foot Soak.  Just fill a bucket or bathtub with water as hot as you can handle and add a dash of liquid castile soap.  Soak feet to refresh, or to soften heels before pumicing and giving yourself a pedicure.  There are pros and cons to using liquid castile soap vs. epsom salts for feet soaking, but for me, in the future I will probably just use whatever's on hand since price and prep time are about the same.

Baked Potatoes and a Lemonade Bar

I rarely make baked potatoes, we are mashed people in our home, but for church I was asked to bake a dozen potatoes for a dinner party. "Sure", I respond while thinking, 'How do I do it again?'.  3 Ways to a Baked Potato was a nice refresher:

1. Bake a naked potato at 425 for 40-60 minutes for crispy skin.
2. Wrap potato in foil, then bake at 425 for 40-60 minutes.  Will have a soft skin and stay warm.
3. Rub oil on potato and nuke in microwave on high for 5 minutes, flip and nuke another 3-5 minutes.  If it's still hard, continue for another minute or until it splits.  Super soft skin.

For my Lemonade bar, I made cutesy labels using a new font from my Fonts and Printables pinboard.  From 15 Free Fonts I used "Strawberry Limeade" and loved it!  Very fun font!

For my lemonade, I used just plain ol' CountryTime powdered lemonade and let it sit in the refrigerator for 4 hours to dissolve and get rid of any icky taste.  My New Recipes to Try pinboard has many fruity lemonade recipes.  What I did was use frozen fruit (it's not yet Spring) and simple syrup (water and sugar boiled) pulverized in a Ninja blender - which was AWESOME!  Guests layered their own beverages with ice, fruit syrup, then lemonade and used paper straws to stir!

Cleaning a Glass Cooktop

My pin tonight comes from my For the Home pinboard, it's How to Clean a Glass Cooktop.  My photos didn't turn out as nicely as the articles, so to see the pics, please follow the link.  The articles instructions were a bit wordy and way too detailed, but don't worry, I got your back.

How to clean a glass cooktop, Kristin-style:

1. Wash off your cooktop with hot soapy water and a dishcloth.
2. Sprinkle wet cooktop with baking soda, no such thing as "too much".
3. Let it sit a bit, like 5-10 minutes, or until the next commercial break.  Sometimes, I just leave the washcloth on top of the soda to save myself 5 seconds.
4. Using a wet/damp washcloth gently rub cooktop with the baking soda paste in circles.
5. You should be able to see the baking soda turn an icky color, the color depends on what mess you made.  Mine ranges from brown, to black, and every now and then, green.  That's how you know it's working.
6. Wash off icky baking soda paste.
7. Done!  Repeat if necessary.

I did this tonight, but I was lazy.  While spraying down my countertops with my Orange Vinegar Cleaner I sprayed my cooktop, and then sprinkled my baking soda.  After it was done fizzing, I used my countertop cleaning rag to scrub it up.  It works for me!

DIY: Wedding Day White Teeth

I tried Dr. Oz teeth whitening to no avail, and while my teeth look nice, I want them whiter!  So I'm trying another pin from my Homemade or Natural Remedies pinboard - Wedding Day White Teeth.  It had a ton of re-pins and the ingredients and procedure looked user-friendly.

Use:
1 tsp. hydrogen peroxide
1 tsp. baking soda
Mix into:
a normal dab of toothpaste
and combine with:
1/2 tsp. water

Brush teeth for 2 minutes, once a week until desired color is achieved.  After desired color is achieved limit whitening to 1-2 times monthly.

It was runny at first, but then got foamy and a tad messy.  The taste was a little bit better than Dr. Oz's recipe, but was way salty and it did burn a smidge, especially on my chin!  I'll keep doing this and hopefully will have a positive result in time for my birthday!

Photo on left is my teeth after Dr. Oz, photo on right is after today's recipe.

**I have to figure out a better way to take pictures of my teeth, these look weird - sorry!

Liquid Castile Laundry Soap Recipe

I already have tried using Liquid Castile Soap for Laundry and thought that while it worked, it didn't seem cost effective to continue using 1/4 Cup of soap each load.  So, thank you Pinterest, I found this new liquid castile laundry soap recipe that had been uploaded by a user, and whipped some up in about 5 minutes of work!  It was very cost effective and I had every ingredient already on hand for when I want to make powdered laundry soap.  Liquid Castile Laundry Soap Recipe seemed, at first, to have too much water in the water to soap ingredients ratio.  After reading through other soap recipes though, it seemed okay.  Here's my batch:
You do have to give the milk jug a shake before using it as the water separates from the washing ingredients.  I've used it for 3 loads and was not too impressed with it's cleaning power, I could still smell deodorant on the Mister's clothes.  I tried it on more delicates and that went well, and I ran a load of baby clothes and they came out fine.  So I'll keep using it and keep track of how many loads and how effective it is before I make this a long term cleaner in my home.

Picking Clothes for Family Photos

This year Easter is a sneaky bugger and is coming up March 31st, way too early.  So family photos came up earlier - I get two guaranteed family photos with my Mister in them and I try to make them count.  While I love having my children in matching clothes, sometimes it's not possible, or I want to switch it up, and I don't think adults should match ever - it can be difficult to find a nice balance of coordinating colors and prints.  My pin is actually in two pinboards because I don't have a "photo" board, yet.  Color scheme choosing for Photoshoots is a great way to help achieve that perfect look for your tastes. Here are some examples of mine:

The three ways to choose clothes for family photos, as found in the pin link, are:
1. Color theme for the season: fall colors, spring pastels, loud and hot summer, and winter cool.
2. Pick 2 or 3 colors and have all items be in those color choices.
3. Choose a favorite item that has a pattern or a multi-color theme and match to it colorwise.

I switch between these 3 depending on the occasion, I don't like always having predictable family holiday cards, so #1 is less often used (last Christmas card the girlies had leopard print dresses with baby pink and fur boots!).  #3 was used in the top photo.  This was my professional shoot: not too "matchy-matchy" navy, coral, white, green (it's in the dress and shoes), and brown.  #2 was used in my casual family photo: pink/reds (orange) and blues with denim.