Mary's Makeover from Fire Truck Red/ Ronald McDonald Red to Fab Color!

Mary was watching her niece, when her 15 year old niece decided it would be fun to dye their hair fire engine red. These pictures do not depict her crazy red color, when the light hit it, it was very bright!

To do a corrective color, I dyed it all over in Wellas Cinnamon Brown (can't remember the exact color this very moment), then I foiled blonde through out. Some spots the red was very concentrated and NOTHING was pulling it off of her scalp. Her hair turned out awesome!! Some of the color didn't lift well but faded enough to be pinkish, but it was breast cancer awareness month, so it just looked like she put pink in her hair for that.

Thrifty Living: Dollar Tree Headbands, Dyed:

I wanted my 10 month old girls to get dressed up for the holiday so I bought some bright white headbands from the Dollar Tree. Well, the outfits they are going to wear when we do our Christmas, do not have bright white in them. One girl has a cream colored sweater dress, the other has a pink, black and gray sweater dress.

I steeped some green tea and put a headband in the hot tea for a few minutes. Rinsed it in cold water and even hot water a few times. Then I added a tea bag to the already steeped tea and heated in the microwave for another 90 seconds. The results are exactly what I was looking for!

Then I realized the pink dress didn't have white, so I decided to dye that headband pink. I tried with pink food coloring in hot water, but it wasn't working. Funny enough, my boyfriend's generic Crystal Lite from WalMart did the trick! The bow to this one fell off instantly when submerged into the hot liquid. I wanted the bow to be a shade or two darker, so I put it in a more concentrated batch. In the midst of it, the "rose" unraveled so I just wrapped it and tacked the bow onto the headband with a diamond earring (not pictured). I am very happy with the results, especially the cream colored one!!

Afterwards I rinsed it really well in vinegar, water and salt. I read it will help keep the dye in. Even if they only get one use out of them, it was worth it! I am very happy with the results!

Pinned Craft: Playdough:

Our family has been quite strapped this year. So, in an effort to make the most of "gift giving" and thrills, I made homemade Playdough. I created a storage box out of a Cheerios cereal box, wrapped it in gift wrap, used a toilet paper roll to boost 2 small jars, and this is the end result. I am very pleased with the results. I did a batch of 5 in the afternoon, then a batch of 5 the next morning. I used a box of regular food coloring, and a box of neon food coloring. I got this recipe off of Pinterest, to where I was directed to Adelyn Stone's page. Her depiction of the steps is spot on. The only thing I did differently was make the batch WITHOUT adding the coloring. Then I made 5 even sized balls and added the color in there, un-gloved. It's okay, it's only food coloring, it'll wash off your hands. It does not seem as if it transfers onto the skin when playing with it.

Our THIRD Christmas Together, 2012:

Happy Holidays everyone! Our tree is truly beautiful and my pictures don't do it justice. 

Jason said last year that a Christmas Tree isn't Christmasy without red. So this year I incorporated the red, basically eliminated a lot of gold, and got rid of the Mariah Carey-esque bling. I really wish I could capture how truly beautiful it is. This is another Woodland tree from our yard.