Crafts - grace grits and gardening

How to Make Faux-Mercury Glass

October 17, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Have you tried Krylon’s Looking-Glass spray paint? It’s an easy way to make faux-mercury glass decorations for the holidays using inexpensive pressed glass.

Although I had lofty ideas of painting plastic pumpkins, for successful results the paint should only be used on clear glass objects like bowls, vases, picture frames and candlesticks. When sprayed on the reverse side of an object, the paint dries to a dull finish then reflects a mirrored-like shine on the opposite side. (This product is for decorative use only and should not come into contact with food.)

I love the way my project turned out. To see the entire article featured today on Inspiration Cafe today, including before and after pictures with step-by-step instructions, click HERE.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Homemade Face Mask

October 11, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Got eggs?

Eggs aren’t just for eating.

Egg whites help balance oily-to-normal skin while the creamy yolk adds moisture to dry skin.

As a teenager and even into my twenties and thirties, I had oily oily OILY skin. Now as the magical forces of aging control my life, my skin has turned bone dry and dehydrated. While salon facials are amazing, they don’t quite fit my struggling-writer-plus-two-kids-in-college budget…

So I make my own for pennies.

My favorite at-home facial is made from common pantry items, yet the result is more spa-like than common.

And spa-like is good.

Basic Ingredients. Not pictured: Olive Oil…

Ingredients

Honey-Banana Dry Skin Facial

1 egg yolk

1 teaspooon honey

1 tablespoon banana

1 strawberry, mashed

1 teaspoon olive oil

This makes more than one application, but working with smaller amounts of each ingredient is difficult. It will save in the refrigerator for a week or so, but I wouldn’t apply to your face more frequently than twice a week. Better yet, call your girlfriends over and have a spa day.

Method
Mash banana and strawberry into other ingredients.

smells good enough to eat because it is!

Whisk until fairly smooth. There will be bits of strawberry in the mask—that’s okay.

honey-strawberry scrambled eggs?

Steam open pores with warm hand towel. Spread mask on your face and neck. This is a bit messy so I do this in the bathroom with a towel spread over the sink.

a) thank goodness this is blurry;
b) yes, my fingers look strangely ET-like in this pic; and,
c) please no one pin this to their Halloween board…

Once the mask is on your face, it dries quickly, and you can go about your morning business… Have a cup of coffee. Eat the rest of your banana.

After 20 – 30 minutes, rinse with cool water.

Ahhhh…..

Note about the ingredients: Strawberries help exfoliate and dissolve dead skin. Honey has an antibacterial quality. The egg yolk, olive oil and banana provide moisture. I’m no esthetician—I’m not even sure how to spell the word, but this is a combination that works for me. Before you try this for the first time, test an area of skin behind the ear and wait 24 hours before applying to the face. Some people have an allergic reaction to the ingredients, especially the fruit…

talya

P.S. If you have oily skin, omit the olive oil and substitute an egg white for the yolk.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

David Bowie, Changes

DIY Halloween Decor – Realistically Creepy Ideas!

October 1, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

This time of year I look at the world through orange-tinted glasses. While I may only appear to be walking the dogs, deadheading flowers, or grocery shopping, I’m planning my Halloween decor. I’m studying broken tree limbs and produce aisle bins filled with root vegetables wondering—can I turn this into a Halloween decoration?

Rather than buy expensive and/or cheesy decorations, I prefer to utilize things around my house, reclaim objects and display vintage finds from my two favorite neighborhood haunts (pun intended)—Curiosities and Dolly Python.

Here are a few of my favorite tips for creating a realistically eerie haunted house.

1. Think old. Old is naturally creepy when displayed correctly. Old dusty jars, old books, old black-and-white photos in cracked picture frames set a spooky tone.

2. Let your silver tarnish. This is the easiest tip of all. Serve food on tarnished trays. Make sinister arrangements in your silver teapot using twigs, dead plants and inexpensive plastic flowers spray-painted flat black or gunmetal gray.

tarnished silver makes for creepy halloween decor

3. Stack your scariest books on the mantle and in bookcases. Leaving a stack of gardening magazines or the new Jodi Picoult book on the coffee table won’t frighten anyone. When I searched through my entire library, I discovered I had quite the collection of classic horror to display.

Old books, cobwebs, candelabra - Halloween decor

4. Paint-by-art and other still-life works have a gothic feel.

paint by number flowers have a gothic feel - perfect for Halloween

5. From your computer, print basic pictures of ravens, bats, skeletons, and tape them over your regularly displayed family photos (onto the glass). Leaving your child’s soccer picture on the mantle won’t set a Halloween mood.

6. Dumpster dive for treasures. I found this mannequin on my neighbor’s curb. Painted black, she greets our guests.

7. Buy a $0.99 bag of cobwebs at Party City. Stretched thinly over candles, books, pictures, everywhere, these look like the real thing.

8. Hang shredded cheesecloth (found at Target and fabric/craft stores) in doorways, windows, and over tables. Cover furniture with cheesecloth or white sheets like an abandoned house.

9. Old doll heads are creepy without doing anything.

10. Buy a bag of plastic bones – scatter them in your fireplace (unlit of course!), float them in your pool and/or display them in a large jar.

11. Display doll parts.

12. At flea markets, look for inexpensive vintage pictures of people, strange plants, science class human body posters, etc.

13. Hide glow sticks behind books and inside vases to create an eerie purple or green glow.

14. Cut bats from felt and duct tape to your porch around your front door. Free-hand the bat design or download a template. (Use stiff felt and be careful when removing…the tape can pull off paint.)

15. Download and play scary music. REALLY scary music. Like the selection at the end of this post…

Do you decorate for Halloween? What are your favorite Halloween decorating tips?

Happy Halloween!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Tubular Bells

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