Spring Cleaning

Alright, so this blog has been kind of a failure so far.  Truth is, between school, family, and much-needed me time, there's just not a lot of room to squeeze in a blog.  Of course I've been doing tons of DIYs, but I'm just so used to them-DIY is part of my everyday life-that I always forget to photograph them or save the recipe.  Sorry!

But I'm not giving up on this thing.  Oh, no.

My hope is that this summer, I can get this blog up and running and hopefully fall into a routine that I can continue year round.  Now summer break is in 29 days (not that I'm counting), so bear with me!  Unfortunately, while May brings dreams of sleeping in and swimming, it also brings last-minute school projects and final exams.  That means that I probably won't be on here much until summer.

It'll be worth the wait, though!  I've tried out so many cool ideas and recipes recently that I hope to share with you!  (Including homemade modge podge and healthy cookie dough meant for eating--not baking!)  So be sure to check back here!  If you'd like to be notified when I start posting again, simply type your email in that handy dandy box in the right side-bar.

Hope to see you back here soon!  And may your dreams of summer overpower the stress of May!

Happy crafting!
~Hanna

DIYs are in the Making, Promise :)

Ahhh! Guys I'm so sorry! This whole SunDIY thing doesn't seem to be working out :(  School has just been so busy I hardly ever have time to myself!  Also, today is my little sister's birthday and I couldn't miss that, could I?  Anyway, I'll try really hard to get a post up ASAP, but please understand if my posting isn't regular :,(  My life just doesn't allow that! haha.  But I do have a banana mug cake I'm dying to try....

I also have a hair tutorial I'm working on, so look for that soon :)

Love you guys and talk to you later.  Happy crafting!

~Hanna

Floral Nails

Wow.  Announcing you're going to be posting every week, then not posting for 2 weeks in a row.  Way to go, Hanna.

I'm so sorry, guys!  I really was planning posts, but then school, family, and life got in the way.  I'll try harder, I promise.  But hey, better late than never, right?

So I guess this week I have a MonDIY for you all.  Floral nails!

Aren't they adorable?!  These are perfect for springtime and are fairly simple to recreate.  So without further ado, let's get started!

Start off by making sure your nails are polish-free.  If you file and shape your nails, do that now.  Make sure they are ready to hold your little masterpieces!

Once your nails are prepped, paint them with a clear base coat (optional).  Once that is dry, paint your nails in your preferred base color.  I chose mint green.  Depending on the opacity of your nail polish, you may need a couple coats.

When that's dry, we're going to start forming our flowers.  Do this by painting pink polka-dots on your nails.  You don't want the dots to be too small, but don't just make a giant circle on your nail.  Don't worry about making the dots perfect circles.  They'll actually look more realistic if they're a little splotchy.

Then add one or two leaves to each flower.  Let dry.

Now we're going to define the petals.  You may use a lighter shade of pink for this step, but mine wasn't showing up very well, so I used white.  This step is hard to explain because there's no set way to do it.  I started out with a small curved line in the middle of my flower.

Then I added more curved lines to either side of the flower.

Just experiment with it.  Every flower comes out different. (and that's what we want!)  Don't give up if your flower doesn't look the way you want it to.  Move on to the next flower and try again.  You'll get the hang of it!  (Hint: don't think-just paint!  I promise it'll turn out great!)

Continue to add petals to all your little flowers.  Let dry.

When you've added petals to all your flowers, you're ready for a topcoat!  Congratulations!  We're finished.  Now you have a wonderful little flower garden on your nails :)  Enjoy showing off your little masterpieces!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I'll see you next week!

~Hanna

Dry-Erase Calendar

As (I hope) we're all aware, we've begun a new year recently, and we all know what that means...  breaking out the new calendars.  But this year, instead of going out to buy one with kittens or One Direction plastered on every page (although don't get me wrong, I love kittens), why not make your own?  Today's SunDIY is a calendar made out of a picture frame and paint swatches.  Literally.  That's it.  Plus, it's dry-eraseable, so you can use it month after month after month!

Ready to learn how?  Here we go!

DIY Paint Swatch Calendar

Materials needed:

• Empty picture frame (11x14 works best, but you can adjust the project to any size)
• White paper
• 7 paint swatches in your choice of color
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Dry erase marker
• Decorations (optional)

Let's get crafting!

1. First things first, we want to cover up that ugly cardboard background of our frame.  To do this, we simply remove the back and trace it onto a piece of white paper (or color or your choice).  Cut it out.  Your piece of paper should fit perfectly into your frame.
2. Next, we're going to take that piece of paper and position our paint swatches on it in the pattern we want.  Hint:  If you're using an 11x14in frame, you should be able to lay your swatches perfectly along the long side of your paper.
   
3. Once we've decided our calendar's layout, go ahead and glue those puppies down.
   
4. Now's the time to decorate your calendar.  This is completely optional.  You can leave it as-is and decorate it with the dry-erase marker later if you'd like.  I decided my calendar needed a little...pizzaz, so I glitter-glued that plain white line in between the shades of color.  A little sparkle never hurt anyone.

   

   you can't see my sparkles :,(

5. If you did decide to decorate, make sure whatever you used is *completely dry* before the next step.
6. Once we're satisfied with our little piece of artwork, it's time to frame it!

   

   aww, how purdy

7. Now for the finishing touches!  With your dry-erase marker, add the name of the month, the days of the week, and numbers for your days.  Then you can add any extra doodles and such to spice up your calendar :)
   
8. Once you're satisfied (and have doodled to your hearts desire), it's time to display your masterpiece!!!
   

Beautiful, isn't it?

The wonderful thing about this calendar is that at the end of each month, you can simply grab a tissue, wipe your calendar off, and draw on the next month!  Easy-peasy!  Or, if you'd like, you can redo the background for each month.  I usually change the background for each season.  For example, a red, brown, and orange one for fall.  A silver and blue one for winter.  You get the idea.  But it's up to you.  You could just pick colors that match the room you plan to display your calendar in and leave the background in permanently.  (I just get bored with things too quickly to take this route. haha)

Well I hope you enjoyed this easy and practical project.  Make sure to check in next week for another DIY! :)

See you then and happy crafting!

~Hanna

Tomorrow...Dry-Erase Calendar

Wanna know how to make your own dry-erase calendar out of a picture frame and paint swatches?  Check back in tomorrow for my first SunDIY!  See you then! :)

SunDIY?

ok so im thinking about picking a certain day of the week to post.  i could post several times a week if i wanted to, of course, but with winter break coming to a close, posting will be hard.  im thinking maybe Sundays?  I could call it SunDIY.  wow that's cheesy lol.  i think ill give it a try, though.  If you have something, anything really, that you'd like to see a tutorial for, please leave it in the comments below!  Talk to you guys soon!

~Hanna

Healthy Double Chocolate Muffins!

Happy New Year, everybody!

In celebration of the new year, today I have another yummy treat for you!  Double chocolate muffins.  Not just any ordinary double chocolate muffins, either.  Some consider this recipe healthy.  *gasp*  Healthy chocolate muffins??  But Hanna!  There's no such thing!  Well, think again.  Using ingredients such as oats, applesauce, and fat-free yogurt, these muffins can put a guilt-free smile on anyone's face.

Mmmm yummy!

Double Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 & 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt (regular fat-free yogurt works, too)
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup hot water
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• about 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate is the healthiest way to go) *optional*
• cupcake liners

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two (12 cup) muffin pans with cupcake liners and set aside.  You can also line two (24 cup) mini cupcake tins.
2. In a blender, mix all of the ingredients together, except the chocolate chips.  Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth.
3. Evenly distribute the batter into the lined pans. (I usually fill my cups about 3/4 of the way full.)
4. If desired, sprinkle a few chocolate chips on the top of each muffin.  This is completely optional.  If you're going for healthy, you may want to leave this step out.  But if you're just making them for a treat, let me tell you from personal experience that the chocolate chips add the perfect amount of gooey chocolatey goodness to this recipe! :P
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  (My mini muffins took 13 minutes and my big muffins took 15.)
6. Let the muffins cool before removing them from the pan
7. Enjoy your little bites of heaven!!

These muffins are delicious!  I definitely recommend giving them a go.  Plus, it doesn't get much easier than piling a bunch of stuff in a blender, does it?  These would make a yummy breakfast or a great on-the-go snack.  Feel free to experiment.  Can you make this recipe even healthier?  If you do, please let me know!

If you enjoy my blog, you can enter your email in the right column bar to be notified when I upload a new post.  I hope you try the muffins and let me know how they turn out! ;)

Until next time!

~Hanna