No Bake Oatmeal Bites

I made these bite-sized snacks a few months ago when my business was booming and I didn't have much time to cook or much less sit down and enjoy a good meal. Crazy, I know because I love to eat.

It takes a total of 10 minutes to whip up these bad boys and they are delicious and very minimal ingredients are required.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/3 cup of honey

1 cup of oats

1 tsp of Vanilla

mini chocolate chips(your own desired amount)

Not many ingredients, eh?

Okay, so to begin mix the peanut butter, honey, vanilla, and oats into a medium sized bowl. Stir until all the oats are completely and evenly covered in the mixture; it will be thick. I like to add my chocolate chips last, if you're not sure how much to put start small and gradually add chocolate chips as you go. The first time I made these I put too much and it was extremely difficult to roll the mixture into ball form. The last and final step, other than to eat them, is to roll them into ball form and place them on either a baking tray (or I put mine into a tupperware) without touching each other and allow them to cool in the fridge for about an hour. And then..... ENJOY

My Hair Transformation (without damage)

I've always been picky about my hair, makeup, clothes, and well everything.....

But since junior high I've also been coloring my hair myself, and when I was that young it involved those scary box colors!! EEEEEEKKK.... Then when I moved onto high school I started experimenting with the real deal type stuff, lighteners, developers, toners, purple shampoo, blah blah blah.

I've had red hair, brown, blonde, orange(my cosmetology teacher used the wrong toner on me right before homecoming...that was a nightmare) black, purple-ish, you name it I've tried it.

I managed to get my hair from this ombre to blonde with NO immediate damage(constant use of straighteners and curling irons WILL give you some damage) <<if you want to go blonde, be prepared to use less heat as possible if you want healthy beautiful hair!

For this process I used the Wella color charm lightening powder, it has great reviews, and it did not dry my hair out, it didn't have that strong ammonia smell. AND it lifts soooooooo good!!! You can get it at Sallys for between $3-4, I would recommend you get at least 3 or 4. I used two for my hair which colored the entire top of my head and I did highlights on the lower layers, so if you need to do your entire head just get more to be safe (: plus at Sally's you can get a rewards card and you save money on every product, I highly recommend to get a card if you shop there often or plan to.

For the developer I just bought the Salon Care brand because it does the same thing as any other brand but it's the cheaper product, Wella does have a developer you can use as well though. Make sure that when you are buying the developer that you get the creme based and not the clear!

Another important thing to remember is the volume, you can get 10, 20, 30 and 40. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend NOT to get 30 or 40 volume, it will greatly damage your hair and you don't want fried straw like hair, I promise. I used the 20 developer and if lifted my dark brown roots to an almost white blonde, so if it can do that for me then it can definitely do you some justice.

I mixed it all together as instructed and after I had my hair covered and done I let it sit for about another hour, washed it out with shampoo and NO conditioner. Skip that part for now because then you'll need a toner!

I also used Wella's toner for this, the color I used was lightest ash blonde. Also make sure that you're picking out a toner and not a hair color for this, there is a huge difference.

after I had this throughout my brassy/yellow spots I let it sit for about 30 minutes and then washed it out, this time with conditioner and I also used my purple shampoo this time to cancel out any extra bassy/yellow tones that may have been in my hair even after the toner. If you have brown hair naturally then 9/10 you'll end up with some brass so purple shampoo will become your best friend for a while, I swear by it and I find that the Generic Value Product one works amazing if you're looking for a cheaper deal. 

Don't freak out when you step out the shower and your hair looks orange-like my hair is blonde and still looks dark whenever it's wet. I will say that I used my purple shampoo for the next 3 washes and it has lightened it up sooo much more than when it was freshly done.

All of these supplies and product can all be found at your nearest Sallys (:
If you have any questions post them in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe to my blog!!!

acrylic hand painted coffee mug

So, I was drinking coffee yesterday afternoon and was thinking about how much I enjoyed making this coffee mug and how simple it was. It's definitely something that anyone can make, and all it takes at most is acrylic paint and my favorite crafting glue; mod podge! ...oooh and some creativity.

I'm obsessed with everything blue so I chose to mix two shades of blue together to kind of make the  mug look dimensional instead of flat. The colors I chose were Parrot Blue and Bimini Blue by Apple Barrel and if I can recall correctly each bottle was only like $1.00, remember I love a good deal ;)

Okay, so let's get to the basics. For this project it won't involve any sanding or roughing up the surface. I know acrylic can tend to not stick to glass but I've had this mug painted since Christmas of last year, and here it is September so that just goes to prove that this baby has held up!

So, pick out your design, get your paint ready and apply a coat of paint where ever you want on the mug, if you want to paint a heart then go ahead but remember not to paint the inside of the mug of anywhere your mouth will touch because it's totally not safe to consume.

I'd give it about 2 hours to dry fully, if you're doing a second coat, I didn't need to for this one because I applied the paint thick and I wanted it to look barely there in some spots. The choice is totally up to you. If you are going for a second coat be sure to apply light pressure because you ca scratch off or peel off the first layer, remember how I said that acrylic doesn't stick well to glass? So what I would do is make sure you have a generous amount of paint on the brush and then apply it in short strokes.

After all that is said and done, and its dry it's then time to apply the mod podge, this is a very very important step because its what keeps the paint on your mug and prevents it from coming off in future use or washes. 

Apply the mod podge ONLY over the layers of paint you have on the mug already and slightly over the edge to form like a protective coating, using the same light pressure. If you do get a little of it on the mug itself it can cause a brown/yellow discoloration but not anything totally horrible so just be sure not to get crazy and try to mod podge the whole entire mug if you only have half of it painted. 

Let the entire mug dry for 24 hours because next its going to go into the oven! :D

Take a pan or something flat to put the mug in in the oven and place it on the middle rack, while the mug is in the oven turn it on to 350 degrees and let it bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn the oven off, leave the door closed, and let the mug stay inside the oven until it is completely cooled and when I say cooled like it needs to return to normal temperature, I just let mine sit in the oven for a few hours(with it off) and went run some errands so when I got back it would be all done! I'm a very impatient person.

It's important to let the temperature of the mug to rise with the oven and cool with it so that its gradual and it will prevent any breaking.

AND YOU'RE DONE!

p.s DO NOT stick your mug into the dishwasher, make sure to hand wash it only!

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comment your experiences below and let me know how yours turned out!