Art Break! - Schnicks Embroidery

Last year, Schnicks (our lovely cat) passed away. 
As a little memorial piece, I decided to make an embroidery of her for Parental Unit 1.

I used light blue fabric with white dots for this piece and sketched out my design. It is Schnicks showing us her lovely striped fur on her back with white carnations (hence the blue fabric background, white fabric would not look as good here) and a purple native flower of Australia (which I cannot find the name of, sorry). These two flowers are some favourites of PU1.

I started with the carnations just because they are fun to do.

I used dark brown for Schnicks' stripes. I changed where I wanted the tail to go.

A dusty pink for the nose and ears.

Cream for the ears, chest, and mouth.

Taupe for the tail and some fur.

And various browns and oranges for the fur.

I originally did the eyes with green, but decided against it so they were redone closed.

A dusty green was used for the stalks.

And little, native, purple flowers added.

Done!

Verdict: PU1 and PU2 loved it!

Dr. Junghans - Medical Cherry Stone Pillow

This is a heat pack that contains cherry stones.
I've used (and made) barley heat packs before, but cherry stones are new to me.

On the first few uses, it does have a smell (earthy) but this fades over time.

Our microwave is dead and while you can heat it in the oven, it is a pain in the butt to do so.
It takes a long time to heat up and when heated, doesn't stay hot for long.

Honestly I don't think cherry stones work so well for retaining heat.
when you have bad cramps, you don't want to be getting up to re-heat your heat pack every 15 minutes.

Price: 4/5 ($12.63 for a 20cm x 30cm pack)
Scent: 2/5
Effectiveness: 1.5/5

Art Break! - Sleigh Gift Box and Present Gift Box

This is a two part post!

Part 1: Sleigh Gift Box

This is a simple idea for when you have a gift already purchased for someone but want to add a little extra effort/ personal touch to it.
Great for a hamper and/or you have many boxes in your house (certainly saves on wrapping paper).

To start, get a box big enough to hold your gift/s.

Standard box.

Then use a marker to draw where you need to cut to make the box into the right shape. Don't worry about the marker being all over the box, this puppy is getting painted.

Cut off the excess box and cut out the runners and other decorative bits you want from the scrap cardboard.

I cut out one side and used it as a stencil for the other to get close to symmetry.

I'm going with a gold and red sleigh, but you can pick any colours you like.
I painted the outside of the sleigh red, the inside gold, and the accessories gold.

Then we glue our accessories on and Voilà!

Runners are up on the side because I don't need it to be like a real Sleigh.

Then you just load up your goodies, add a little tissue paper, and you have a festively prepared gift!

Part 2: Present Gift Box

This is for when you have a box that fits the item perfectly and don't want to use wrapping paper.
A more structured twist on the classic look.

I painted the box itself blue (because the recipient's favourite colour is blue).

I cut up an empty toilet roll (it was just going to be recycled anyway) into the loops and curls of a ribbon and painted them gold.

I also cut out some stars from some thin cardboard and painted them gold too.

Finally, we glue the 'ribbon' and stars on and done!

I love the way it looks!

Verdict: They loved them!

Nexcare - Acne Absorbing Covers

I'm great at getting pimples every month, so when I heard Eshani of TotalMakeupJunkie101 rave about these, I knew I had to try them!

They are meant to be applied on a pimple at night and by morning all the oil and puss is drawn out (so sexy).

Let's take this sexy little number as our test. It is in a delicate spot.

After a night.

It's been two nights, its going wrong! :O

Why you do this?

And again.

I'm growing a new head out of my old head... I'ma call her Athena.

Time for the old fashioned toothpaste method!

Getting better.

This isn't taking so long because of the cover, but you are staying on this journey with me!

It has no joke been a month and this is still on my face :/


These are nice. The bring things to a head but aren't as miraculous as they might seem.


Price: 3.5/5 (~$9.10 for 36 covers)
Scent: 2.5/5 (no real scent)
Effectiveness: 3/5

Tetesept - Vitamin D3 1700

These tablets are very small (but not the smallest vitamin D tablets I have seen), so they are very easy to take.
They have no taste or detectable scent.

Each tablet is 1700 I.E. (42.5 mcg), so I take three a day.

Price: ($4.73 for 50 mini-tablets)
Scent: 2.5/5 (no scent)

Tee Gschwendner - Kapha

This tea has ginger, blackberry leaves, lemon balm, parsley, fennel, coriander, chili and cardamom.

It is a little spicy (but not strong at all) and has a pleasant, mild herbal taste.

Price: 2/5 ($11.22 for 100g)
Scent: 3/5 (weak green scent)
Rating: 4/5

Alterra Naturkosmetik - Glanzshampoo (Shine Shampoo)

This shampoo has organic apricot, wheat and grape extract. 
It is vegan and is free from free from synthetic colors, fragrances, preservatives, silicones, paraffins, and other mineral oil products.

It smells like gummy bears! 

It lathers well, cleans well, and leaves no residue.

Price: 4/5 ($3.11 for 200mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5

Shiseido - IBUKI - Protective Moisturizer - SPF 15

This is a daytime moisturiser with SPF (always good).
It is really thin and lightweight.

The scent is a faint mix of floral and sunscreen.

After using it for a week and a half, I have to say, I LOVE IT!

My skin loves it, my skin looks so bright, and I am seriously considering repurchasing it!

Price: 2/5 (~$57 for 75mL)
Scent: 5/5
Effectiveness: 5/5


***** This product could be reviewed thanks to the raunchy, informative and gorgeous Miss Smut Buttons! *****

Tee Gschwendner - Tea - Hans Hemp

This tea has hemp, lime-tree blossom, mallow blossoms, and marigold blossoms. 
It is mostly THC free.

The scent is very much of hemp and it has a earthy, hemp flavour.

It is very relaxing.

Price: 3.5/5 ($8.00 for 40g)
Rating: 5/5

Podcast Review - Bigfoot Collectors Club

This is a podcast about cryptids, the supernatural, and the paranormal.
So usual topic for me.
However unlike my usual listening these guys are believers, not skeptics.

I did laugh a little when the spoke about the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot footage as if it were irrefutably true.

A lot of their point for why it is real are my points for why it's fake.

I also liked that they kept accidentally saying 'Robert Patterson'.

I didn't appreciate the short musical breaks that were 3x louder than the speaking on either side.

I also didn't like the discussion that no one could have made a convincing Bigfoot suit in the 60's.
What is it with people and thinking that humans of the past (even recent past) lacked any skill or drive?!

Lemme guess, aliens.

Catagory: Supernatural/Paranormal
Rating: 3/5