Getting Wax Out of a Candle

I love candles so I have a few around the house. Most of them are currently packed up except for the Rio Grande candle from bath and body works because it smells fresh and pretty but also because it's almost done and I want the glass container. Candles smell nice but also they usually come in a pretty glass votives or containers that could serve a purpose after it's candle life. Oh candles I feel you, switching careers can be tough but sometimes necessary.

Anyways I did some experimenting with how to get the little bit of useless wax out of the glass container. First I tried adding boiling water. 

And it did work.. Kinda. You could see the wax was lifting and moving to the top of the water. It just wasn't enough, it didn't free all of the wax before the water started to return to room temperature. 

So I tried another method. I put the candle in the freezer for an hour and a half or two hours I can't really remember and this worked much better. When I removed the candle from the freezer the wax had shrunk in size. Just enough so it wasn't touching the sides of the glass any more. 

So I took a knife and ran it around the outside of the wax to make sure the sides were free and the started to chop the wax into pieces so it would detach from the glass completely.

Once I got all the wax free from the glass I threw the wax away and cleaned the glass.

Yay!

Now I have the perfect glass container to put my makeup brushes in! 

I'm excited that I figured this out, I have a bunch of things I could use this for. And it gives me yet another excuse to burn more candles!

Edit: I wrote this awhile ago and I finished the Rio Grande candle. It was a little more difficult to get the wax out but when I did the end of the wicks were glued onto the bottom. I just wanted to show you in chase you stumbled on this because I was able to get them out just a little more work. 

DIY Flower Headbands

 I made a flower head band a year ago and luckily I took pictures and documented it just in case it would be a blog post someday. I love the flower head bands I think they are very cute, but I could never find the exact arrangement of flowers or type of head band I liked, so I made my own. I've seen a few tutorials on flower head bands that include more supplies like wire and a little more skill. I wanted to make one that would sit comfortably on my head for a long period of time (and one I wouldn't screw up).  This tutorial is pretty simple and I love how it turned out. For those of you asking about the flower headband in the picture below I made it the same way.

What you will need:

Fake flowers of your choice
    -I used 5-6 flowers on each of mine so get as many as you'll think you'll need.
A head band
    - I like the stretchy head bands for this purpose because they stay on my head better and they are more comfortable for me. The one I used I bought as a two pack from old navy. Any head band would work as long as it has a thick glue-able surface. 
Strong glue
    - I think hot glue would have been and better choice but I used what I had. I used E-600 that I found at Michaels. I use it for everything. Its a tough glue that does take too long to dry and a little goes a long way.
A marker or sharpie
     - I just found whatever sharpie was laying around. Anything that will make a mark on your headband will work. 
A bowl and tape
     - I needed these items to hold the head band in a stretched position while I glued and let the glue dry. 

First you'll want to take the flowers off the plastic stems (or cut the flowers off) to create a flat surface for gluing. As I learned when I did the black roses, be careful about how much of the plastic you remove. If you take all of it off there's a chance your petals will become detached from each other. If the happens you'll just need to do an extra step and glue them back together. 

Now you'll need to get your head band ready to glue. You'll need to compensate for the amount of stretching you'll do when you're putting the headband on and off your head. Pull your head band around a medium size bowl. You'll need the bowl to be the size of your head or a little larger. To make the head band stay in place I tapped it with scotch tape. Just don't tape it anywhere you plan on gluing flowers. If you do need to tape more just remove/move the tap as you go. 

Next I played around with flower placement. I just experimented on where I thought I would want the flowers and how far apart I wanted them. When I figured out where I wanted them I marked it with a sharpie. I didn't mark every place for each flower in the beginning because I wanted to see how each one looked once as it was glued. So I marked the first place glued a flower then marked the second and so on. This worked best for me but if its easier for you to mark them all out first that's ok too.

Once you've finished let the head band sit for awhile and let the glue completely dry. I think I left it for and hour or two before I messed with it.

I pulled and moved the flowers a little to make sure they were staying in place and to see if the glue was completely dry. If it is ready, take it off the bowl and wear your beautiful creation.

    

 ^um can we notice the difference in a year^

  I only went about half way around with the flowers because I felt it was a little more wearable, if you want to go all the way around use a stretchy head band like I did. In the picture above I'm actually wearing it more like a crown so the stretchy head band will totally work. Also I recommend trying the head band and how it sits on your head. You'll just have to be a little more patient with gluing. I think I may try to do a flower crown with flowers all around. If I do I'll keep you updated! 

I hope you loved this tutorial and it was helpful. If you make some flower head bands or flower crowns for yourself let me know how they turned out! 

DIY Lip Exfoliating Scrub

Cold weather = chapped lips and chapped lips = pain in the butt! I found a lot of DIY lip scrubs but I think this worked best for me. I like simple, there were a lot author food coloring and oils and a whole bunch of stuff that seems a little uncessicary to me. This simple DIY worked beautifully for me. It's perfect if you want to wear a matte lip without all the dryed chapped lips or if your lips simply need some. My boyfriend even used this to rid some if the dry skin on his lips! 

Here is what you'll need:

A spoon full of sugar 

A spoon full of coconut oil 

A few drops of honey 

A container to keep it in 

You can more or less of this just make sure there are equal parts sugar and coconut oil. The container is a container for a moisturizer I didn't really like so I emptied it and washed it out. 

First pour in your spoon full if sugar to help the medicine to go down. Nope. Pour your spoon full of sugar in your container. The sugar will help exfoliate your lips. 

And then your spoon full of coconut oil. This coconut oil from Trader Joes. Coconut oil has so many uses, I love using it in my hair. It feels really moisturizing on your lips too!

Then you'll want to mix then together with whatever you have that will fix in your container to mix around. I just used a plastic knife. 

When it looks it doesn't look that gritty when you mix it together but it trust me. Next you'll add your honey. 

And mix again until everything is thourghly combined. It will look a little something like this. 

Ok to show you here is my lips before

Gross I know. This picture doesn't do it justice to how dry my lips were.

So to apply I just used my finger and rubbed it in. I keeped adding more as I rubbed it in because my lips were extremely dry. 

Here are my smooth and moisturized lips after.

So much better! I use this every night and it took two exfoliating sessions for my lips to feel like they were back to normal.

One last but important last step. After you exfoliate apply some kind if chapstick. Since I I used this at night I used one of my two night night lip products. 

The CO Bogelow is my favorite. Your lips still feel moisturized in the morning. I got it from bath and body works a while long time ago. I'm not sure where else you can purchase this of anything from that company really.

So there you have it such a simple DIY and works wonders! 

DIY Turban Headband and Beanie

Need a fashionable way to stay warm while it's freezing out? How about turban headbands and beanies. I love these I've watched a few tutorials and different ways to make them. This is how I did it!

For the no sew headband turban you'll need:

First you'll take your t-shirt and spread it out to cut. I used an old plain white t-shirt I had laying around that I used the corner of for another project. Try to use old shirts that are kind if large and stretchy fabric is better too. If the shirt is too small it won't fit over your head very well. 

Next, you'll cut a strip through both sides of shirt. This thicker the strip you cut the thicker the turban headband will be I made mine about 5-6 inches. Try to cut clean striaght lines, it's easier if you put the tshirt on a flat surface to do this.

You'll open it up the t-shirt to make a circle. 

Then twist in the middle twice like this to make what looks like and infinity symbol. 

Then take one side and place it on top of the other like this. 

Stretch it out and you have a turban head band!

I made two of these, the second one I used an old tube top that was kinda of bigger at the bottom and made of stretchy fabric. I made my cut a little smaller than the white one. 

I love how my both turned out! You can wear these a couple different ways and can double as an ear warmer. I think it would also be fun to make these out of an old sweater.

Next is the (some) sew but no machine necessary beanie turban. Here is what you'll need:

The shirt I used was kind of like a thin sweater almost, with a large band at the bottom which I thought was perfect for a beanie. To start, I put my shirt inside out. The I took my shirt and measured it around my head keeping the side seam on the side of my head. I pulled it a little tight because I wanted it to have a snug fit. Then I marked where I wanted it but be sure to make it just a tad bigger than you want you'll need to have room to sew.

Then I made a mark about 6-7 inches up. This will be the top of the beanie of your beanie. If you want the to top to be looser add a couple more inches. I wanted mine to be tighter to my head. Make a mark centered between the side seam and the mark you already made and however high you want.

My marks are kind of hard to see. Using both marks you made draw a beanie shape and cut it out of both side of the shirt. If I makes it easier you pin both sides of the shirt together to make and even cut on both sides. 

Now just take your needle and thread and sew along the line you cut out! I hand sewed this but if you wanted to you could use a machine. When you are done sewing flip it inside out and it should look like a beanie. 

Next is the front detail. First, you pinch the very front bottom middle of the beanie using you pointer finger and your thumb, as shown below. 

Now take that pinched section and fold it back on the beanie like so.

Then pinch again like how you did it the first time but this time also have what you folded in your hand still and then fold back on the beanie like so.

You create the front peak by folding it. Try to make sure all the folds are the same length. Then pinch all of the fols together.

You are going to sew this front section of folds you've created. Try to sew this right in the front middle of the beanie. And try to make it so all the folds are flat.

You are going to put your button on this folded piece, so this stitch doesn't have to be pretty it just has to be a nice flat surface for you button. It should end up looking something like this.

Next you will sew your button into place right of the very middle of where you made these folds. Unfortunalty the loop where the button should be sewed on broke off so I just glued mine in place. It ended up looking like this.

And now your done and you have a cool new turban beanie! 

I hope this was useful and you enjoyed this tutorial! Now to make you some turbans and stay warm!