Coffee and Honey Face Mask

My face has been acting up again.  If you've been following this blog for any length of time you might already know I am not the biggest fan of my skin.  I'm constantly battling acne.  Sometimes it seems like nothing I do helps.  I wash at least once daily, but I aim for twice a day.  I have several hand towels that I use only on my face.  I use a toner after I wash.  I try not to pick at my acne, or touch my face through out the day.  I rarely wear make-up.  Yet my acne persists.  I'm sure it's hormonal and stress related, because it's always the worst the week before my period.  My acne outbreaks make me feel like trash, and disgusting.  I'd give anything for a miracle cure, so lately I've been experimenting with face masks made with simple kitchen ingredients, hoping for magic.  

Today I mixed up a tablespoon of used coffee grounds, a tablespoon of baking soda, two tablespoons of honey, and the juice of half a lemon.  

I rubbed it on, and felt the magic happen. I kept in on for a few minutes, and then rinsed with warm water.  

My acne didn't magically disappear, but after rinsing my skin feels tighter, and sparkling clean.  I think I will be trying this one again.  So much cheaper than Proactive's face mask, which is what I usually use, and my face feels similar after using this homemade concoction.  

Hope ya'll had a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

DIY Facial Mask

I've been in a constant battle with my facial skin since I hit puberty.  It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I incessantly have acne.  I can't remember a time when I wasn't self conscious about my face.  When someone says I look younger than I am, which I get a lot, I usually think it's because all my pimples make them believe I must be in my late teens.  To say the least I'm always on a hunt for new cleaners, which can get pricey.  I've been noticing a lot of au naturale recipes for facial masks, that use basic kitchen ingredients.  I was hesitant to give it a try for fear of bringing on a breakout.  But seriously how much damage could stuff I eat do?  

I cruised the internet for some recipes, and I found a lot of ideas.  I decided I wanted to use these three ingredients.  A few drops of lemon juice, a teaspoon of sugar, and three aspirin.  The aspirin needs to be uncoated, ya know the white chalky kind.

I ground up the aspirin with the bottom of my glass bowl.  I scraped the aspirin dust into the bowl, and spooned the sugar in, then dribbled a little lemon juice on top.  Mixed together into a paste, and spread on my face.  

I let it sit for a couple minutes, and then washed off with warm water.  While it was on it felt a bit tingly, which makes me think it must have been working.  I also happened to get a taste of it off my lips, and it's yummy too!  While washing off the mask the sugar felt nice exfoliating my skin.  I shall see how my skin looks in the morning.  I hope this helps my skin, it will certainly be cheaper than Proactive.  

Have a great night, and happy DIYing, chris!

Fun Friday Fascinations #9

Yay, for Fridays!  Hope you're having a good one.  Here are my Fun Friday Fascinations for this week, they are mostly DIY oriented.  I realize there has been a serious lack of DIYing on here lately.  I have a ton of things going on right now, and sometimes it's more fun to photograph my everyday life things, rather than some DIY I've been slowly piecing together.  Maybe these lovely DIY inspired finds will get me in the DIY tutorial making mind frame.  Enjoy!

Since I did away with Saturday Blogger Love, I'll start off this week's finds with some great ideas from a few of the blogs I check out on a regular basis.  My first find is a Honey Nutmeg Cinnamon Facial Mask from my absolute favorite blog Delightfully Tacky.  Elizabeth has an amazing blog, the design is simple and beautiful, and she seems like a beautiful person inside and out.  Her posts are well written, and chocked full of beautiful photographs.  This particular DIY mask I'm crazy about.  We all have physical features we are insecure about, and my biggest problem area is my skin.  I'm 27, and they keep telling me I'll grow out of this acne thing, but I'm pretty sure this is a life long battle.  I can't wait to try this tasty sounding facial mask.  I know honey is good for your skin, and surely cinnamon and nutmeg will at least leave my skin feeling tingly fresh.  

Another pair of bloggers I'm a huge fan of Kaylah over on The Dainty Squid posted a group of super lovely photos of her and Elycia together from Love Elycia.  I love everything these ladies wear, but in this particular post Kaylah opened up my world to something I've been missing out on.  Awesome animal brooches meant for holding glasses!  What!  I totally need one of these.  I hate sticking my sunglasses between my boobs, and when I put them on top of my head they fall off.  So, I hit google up, and found a bunch of awesome ones, but I think I like this unicorn the most.  I don't have enough unicorns in my life.  

I'm new to the popular blog bleubird.  I kept finding myself back on James' blog through other blogs or pinterest, and so I finally decided to commit and make it a regular pit stop, and boy am I glad I did.  She has a lovely blog, and I love her photographs and way of life.  She recently posted about this book The Home Creamery, and tried making her own butter with her family.  One of Aaron and my dream goals is to own enough land to have some goats, maybe a cow, and to make cheese, and fancy butters.  This book looks like an awesome resource, or at the very least creamy inspiration.  :)  

Now on with my regular finds about the internets.  I love tutorials for making simple things we use around the house.  I bet this homemade brown sugar would be so tasty and fresh, rather than the bag of brown sugar I buy that lasts for months and months.  

Shrinky Dink is back!  In a major way, I'm seeing it everywhere.  This shrinky dink necklace tutorial is way classer than the shrinky dink from my youth.  I love the seahorse and color, definitely want to give this a try ASAP!  

No this fancy folding chair is not from Anthropology.  Prudent Baby made this love painted cushion for her outdoor chairs.  I love the pattern, and use of colors.   Perfect for summer.  

Speaking of the outdoors, let's have a backyard party, and play twister!  Fantastic idea from You + Me.  

So glad summer is here.  I need a healthy dosage of sunshine.    Enjoy your weekend, and happy DIYing, chris.