Watercolor Mirror

I wanted (for a very long time) to add some sort of mirror (or maybe a few) to the hallway upstairs, as there is no natural light directly in it, and it is incredibly dark.

No, seriously. This is with all the lights on in the surrounding rooms  also. In the afternoon, when it gets the most light coming in from the back windows. It's DAAARRRKKKK!

Just...something... to bounce some more light around and make it slightly less cave-like. But nothing I saw that i liked was under $100. I can do the same thing at lowes; show me a selection of any type of thing, and I'll immediately be drawn to the most expensive one on the board. What can I say? I have good taste. Or quirky taste. And manufacturers know it. And they play dirty.  So when i saw this pin, I knew I wanted exactly that and finally  had a way to get it on the relatively cheap.

Watercolor Knock-off mirrors

And it really is as simple as grab a mirror, some glass stain in whatever colors you want ($2.99 each at Michaels Glass Stain- plus you can nab the 50% off coupons all the time), some water and a dropper and go to town.

it also really helps to pay attention to which ones you grab- small bottles in hundreds of different colors often leads to mixed up shelves at the store. I MEANT to grab plain instead of pearlescent  in all colors and that pink was supposed to be red, but it worked out just fine.

two more in a smaller size and I think my hallway will be peachy

It helps to do one or two colors only each round and let them dry fully (about 24 hours) so you don't end up with too many areas where it all just blends together in a mush. And you end up with something along these lines-

Once it's dry, the colors will all be similarly pastel looking like the blue and purple. And I may go for some more before I decide it is complete, but you can certainly get the idea.
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aaannnndddd.....
I did opt for more color, and I had a d'oh moment (the green had decided to collect all in a thin line along the edge, which made it want to peel off easily, so I peeled and re-greened the one area, and tried to spread it out much further and more evenly. When this stuff dries, it feels vaguely rubbery... not quite sticky? not quite solid? The thinner you make it, the better, though it will take longer to dry. Not allowing it to run off the edges unchecked would have been a great idea too. Not that those areas look bad, in fact, the areas where I blew on it and drove it off the edge are some of the spots I think look best. BUT. I didn't consider it sticking to the box I left under it to catch drips. ( A razor blade took any cardboard and excess paint off easily, but still...duh.) The larger sections of color ended up looking better (in my opinion anyways) than small blotches so I enlarged each color area. And I may have wanted to check the orientation of the mounting hooks on the back before starting- I thought the blue would be the upper left... not so much.  So here it is, mounted in the hallway, looking all cute. :) I think, from the way the stain feels when dry, that cleaning these will best be done with lens wipes for glasses rather than any windex or the like, as that might take off bits I'd rather stayed on there.

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So I was googling about, and found the original company that sells these mirrors...and HOLY COW THEY'RE BLOODY EXPENSIVE! As in, made in France, for 495 Euros (aka 600 ish bucks!) The makeup compact size is about 45$. ACK! So very happy I made my own!!

Wash your hands printable

Wash Your Hands zombie sign

2 ingredient pore strips/face peel alternative

I thought I'd give this internet wonder a try today because Chris is working (yes, they're working all weekend on base, yay annual inspections! bitch bitch, grumble grumble) and he won't be here to be scared of my rather icky looking face peel. This stuff works quite well, especially if you've practiced I'd imagine - that's right, dive right into a tutorial about it with no practice runs, that's me! But hey, I'm tired of seeing pins about how great such-and-such is, when you need to be nearly an expert to get it right. If I can't manage it well enough to teach someone else the first go-round, is it really worth doing it?

There are lots of good reasons to make your own peel at home rather than buying one: cost, as this is dirt cheap, no weird chemicals on your face- I absorb science like a sponge and yet there are so many ingredients in commercial peels that leave me going wtf iz that??!... sure they're PROBABLY at least ok in small exposures, but WHY? Why subject yourself if the alternative works just as well? Also... science is now finding out that all those alpha-hydroxy acids aren't so very good for your skin because...drumroll please.... when you peel too many layers off, the sun works its harsh magic on that fresh, new, not yet protected skin much easier than on the older layers.  Duh. When you put it in plain English, it seems like common sense, right? This peel only takes the outermost layer of dead cells off- gentler than any commercial products that use (even natural) acids.

for my 1st attempt, not too shabby.  some areas are a bit thin, and some are a bit too thick, but it all worked fairly well anyway.

This is the fun/gross part: peeling! If an area was too thin, & just wants to crumble rather than peel away, just wet a washcloth with warm water and wash away.

Ingredients: 

 1 packet of UNFLAVORED gelatine (equal to 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons milk of any variety.

 I used powdered milk since we don't keep fresh in the house & it worked just fine.

A small easy to clean dish and some sort of applicator. You can use a spatula, popsicle stick, back of a small spoon, old makeup brush - though I wonder how easy the clean-up on the makeup brush would be- anything that will get the goop smeared onto your face.  I suppose you could even just use your fingers, but you'll need something to stir with anyhow, so why?

A microwave.

A Mirror. I did not think ahead- my microwave is in the kitchen. My mirror of choice? Bathroom. I nearly ran out of time to get this on my face because of walking from the kitchen to the bathroom. You really don't have much time before the gelatine sets- actually you have only about 15 seconds. That isn't much. So my suggestion that I'll try myself next time is to just heat your milk in the microwave, and add the gelatine once you are standing in front of the mirror. Or just bring a mirror into the kitchen.

1. Mix your gelatine powder with 2 TBSPs of milk. Don't take too long here, it will start setting up. Just get the job done, and don't worry about being perfect.

2. Pop it in the microwave for 10 - 15 seconds. It just needs to be warm so it doesn't send your pores shrieking... wait, your pores don't scream at the touch of something cold?! 

3. Smear as evenly as you can on your face. Start at the top and work down, while standing over a sink. 

You only have a few seconds to coat your entire face, so just throw it on, and let the sink catch any drips. Evening it out can be done as long as it isn't getting too firm- But even the areas where I had it on too thick worked fairly well, so don't drive yourself crazy. It just won't dry as hard/stick as much in the thicker areas. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. If you have sensitive skin, the sticking and peeling can make you tender, so less stick may work better for you.

4. Wait 15 minutes or so for it to dry. You'll know you've waited enough when your face feels more like a sculpture than a face. 

5. Peel, peel, peel! If an area was a bit too thin, and just wants to crumble, just wet a washrag and wipe off.It's pretty easy. I just did this right before I showered, so I just let the water wash the remaining bits away. 

6. Use witch hazel as a toner afterwards and then moisturize. Moisturized skin is happy skin!

Some things to consider:

Have everything ready- I really mean everything. Be standing where you want to stand to apply, as once you start mixing there is no going back, no pause, nada. Start mixing to you'd best have that where you want it time is about 20 seconds.

Moisturize your eyebrows before you start. Yeah, I didn't do that. OW! 

Speaking of-

Take care of any stray facial hairs FIRST. This is not the fun way to pull those.

Unflavored gelatine is stinky. Like fart in a public restroom stinky. The smell goes away fast as it cools down again, but man! Those 20 seconds can make your eyes cross.

Stand over the sink to apply.  1, you're gonna drip this everywhere as you race to get it on, and 2, the faster you get hot water running on your small container you mixed it in when you've finished applying, the easier it will be to clean up.

Keep a straw handy. You will not experience a thirst like the one you get when you can't move your mouth unless you stay out in the sun for hours and hours on end without any water. Nature is mean like that. And no, you really can't move your face when this is on, and you'll just feel silly if you try anyway and dribble (a lot) all down your shirt.

DON'T do this if you plan to go outside again. This is one of those things best done in the evening. You don't want to expose your freshly revealed skin to anything harsh like the sun or chemical SPF. Now you have the excuse you needed to take a long bath and read that book- you can't go outside and expose your baby soft skin to harshness... the internets told you so!