Preview: Friends Share Recipes Event!

I'm excited to say that I'm planning a five-day series in which I feature a different recipe that my friends have shared with me every day. These recipes will be simple, easy to make, and most likely snacks or desserts. The series will be posted March 21 to March 25, so be sure to watch out for it. I hope to bring you some great recipes such as mug cakes, two-ingredient pumpkin muffins, and more!

Henna Tattoos

My school does a cool thing every year called Global Village, where students display, perform, or demonstrate aspects of their culture or any culture. It is a week long event that ends in the festival on Friday, and each country sets up a booth with lots of yummy multicultural food! Today was Henna Day.

Henna is a dye that comes from henna trees, and is traditionally used in Arabic countries, India, Africa, and other regions for tattooing in both men and women. Sometimes it is used in wedding traditions or simply as part of social and holiday celebrations.

I got to try applying henna onto people's hands. It was hard at first but the results turned out well! I borrowed some henna and took it home to try on my family.

A simple design with a ring

Just applied

When it's this dry and starts you crack, you can wash it off

Final result!

If you want to try this, you can buy henna in cones from cultural stores or online.

Source: sabanaboutique.net

Search 'henna tattoo patterns' online for ideas.
Happy tattooing! :)

True/False Film Festival

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending and volunteering for the True/False Film Festival, which is becoming a bigger and bigger deal throughout the country. I got to see some amazing films and meet filmmakers, documentary subjects, and musicians. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience I'm glad I had.

Clockwise from left: Q numbers for A Moment of Innocence; Mountain Animation (loved them!) opening for Rich Hill; and the band opening for A Moment of Innocence.

And of course, I absolutely loved volunteering and being a part of the festival. I took tickets for a whole night and saw lots of people come in whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

Peanut Butter & Honey Nut Cheerio Sandwich

Recently I had the idea of putting Honey Nut Cheerios in my peanut butter sandwiches. The Cheerios add sweetness to the saltiness of the peanut butter and bread, which I love. It makes the sandwich crunchy, which complements the creaminess of the peanut butter.

All you need to do is to is toast your bread, spread peanut butter on both slices, and sprinkle some Honey Nut Cheerios on one slice.

Have this sandwich with some fruit for a delicious afternoon snack.

DIY Elastic Hair Ties

You know those hair ties that have been in style recently? The ones made of the flat elastic that cost somewhere around $12 for a package of 5? Well, I bought a few packages of those before I realized that it was so easy to make my own. I simply went to this Etsy shop and bought a bulk package of the elastic material (called fold-over elastic) and cut and tied it. There are some great deals in this shop--I got one yard of five different colors of elastic for $2.75+$2.00 shipping. I can make about three to four hair ties with each yard of elastic, which means I could potentially make 20 hair ties for less than five dollars! You can even make stretchy headbands, hair ties with beads, and other neat things with it.

When I first got my package, this is what the elastic looked like:

After cutting, tying, and using a lighter to seal the ends (bring the flame close to the elastic, but don't touch it!) this is what my elastics looked like:

These make cheap and beautiful gifts, and look great on your hair and wrist.

Have fun making, and hopefully you'll never have to spend another dime on store-bought elastics again!
P.S. If you know me, please ask about buying some hair ties from me!

Mm, I stopped by a local bakery today and picked up some gourmet cupcakes. I've always wished I could make cupcakes this beautiful and delicious. These are wedding cake flavored, and I also got a carrot cake flavored cupcake whose decoration got ruined on the way home.

More DIY From Old T-Shirts

There is an infinite number of things you can make with t-shirt strips. I recently found out that there is even such a thing as crocheting with t-shirt strips to make rugs! Although I don't think I have quite the amount of stamina or old t-shirts it takes to make a rug, I did make some smaller projects with the same material.

My sister's bowl

My coaster

In both of these projects, we braided three strips of t-shirt scraps together and then used hot glue to adhere the sides. When you begin the braid, sew or glue the ends of the three strips together. To create long lengths of strips, cut on a whole t-shirt and spiral the cut around the t-shirt. This should create a seamless length. I began by using a needle and thread on my coaster, but realized it was too tedious and didn't look as good as using hot glue. For extra help, here is a great tutorial on making coasters with t-shirt yarn.

Enjoy this DIY!