This post if for woman who willing to change her habits and trust the nature , as I did.
I did , a year ago I choose to bin it all the factory made face skincare products .
The best move ever!
I had a face skin problems for ages...well that's what I thought :)
For the past eight years I hated my sensitive and dry face .
Always reddish , with a spots , some days even itchy and painful.
Only I know how many different creams , make up removals , tonics I tried...
I am now confident to say " It's all rubbish! "
Please have a look at this infographic of toxic ingredients in skin care products < http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5971/12-Toxic-Ingredients-to-AVOID-in-Cosmetics-Skin-Care-Products-Infographic.html >
That rubbish was the reason of my skin trouble ... But hey ,  it's gone :)
It's gone for good .
Now making my own mixtures of natural ingredients and my face never been better!

I am happy to share some of them with you to try, if they work a miracle for me they might work for you too :)

The first and essential would be my ultimate Camomile tea face toner .
With a bought ingredients it's taking about 10 minutes to make , with no fuss :)


To make one you will need :
Camomile tea
Frankincense pure essential oil
Rose Geranium essential oil
Lavender essential oil
250 ml plastic bottle



Yes, I use ordinary Tesco Camomile tea bags :)



The essential oils are from FRESHSKIN.
10 ml bottles , after a year I used not even 1/4 of the amount :)







Step 1.

Make a camomile tea :)
Cover and leave to infuse for 5-7 minutes...Or even leave it till cold if not in rush , I did forget my tea many times . Stronger is better ;)




Step 2.

Add essential oils.
For my 250 ml bottle I use 3 drops of each oil.
Shake it ;)





That's it!
If you did follow this recipe then you just created the absolutely amazing , natural and inexpensive homemade product with anti ageing properties and lovely smell :)




Without fancy packaging and labels nature works best!

I use my toner whenever I feel of need to refresh my face, that would be morning , midday and evening.

To remove my eye make up I use mixture of three oils -virgin olive oil, sweet almond oil and castor oil.
So much better than ready removals, trust me.

To moisture my face I use pure coconut oil and argan oil - great for the wrinkles ;)


To finish this post with the complete honesty I give you my face , photographed this morning with absolute no make up , without any digital retouches . Happy 34 years old face :)


Remember " If you can't eat it , don't put it on your skin"
Go green , it's easier then you think!
I told you we love making greeting cards , did I :)

We are travelling to Poland this week so I thought it would be nice to make some cards for the family members who support us in many ways.
As a mother I love when Ela is involved as much as possible in any crafts , therefore the idea for the cards was very simple and easy yet stylish at the same time.
Again , reusing what we have was important.
This time the main item was a paper scraps .
It's one of those things I always keep ;)
Coloured card stock , wrapping paper, printed craft paper etc.




Lets have a look at what we used for our little project :
- paper scraps
- A4 thick white photo paper
- black Sharpie marker pen
- double sided padded tape

Step 1.
Get you child to draw the flowers on a paper scraps .
Many flowers, all kinds of flowers!They don't need to be perfect, a childish look is what make them cute I think ;)






Step 2.

Cut all the flowers out, yourself.
Perfectly at the same time as drawing , flower by flower , so non of you get bored ;)
Flower is still a tricky shape to cut out for five years old , you will do it quicker.
Not too neatly , remember childish is what we want!




Step 3.
Cut the tape and get your kid to stick the flowers on a folded in half white thick A4 paper.

 







No Ela, that is not enough :)

Sure mama, sure...

Factory mode on ...

but with a joy :)




Ela needed some brake from sitting.
Well, that's almost done...


Step 4.
Draw a stems.
I decided to add some simple stems myself so they straight and neat ;)







There you have it ,
our paper scrap greeting cards !




I think they really cute , what do you think?




Very easy and enjoyable :)

Happy crafting!









At the beginning of this month we were celebrating Ela's 5th Birthday.



I decided to throw a little party in the garden this year , the weather was perfect that time in London ;)
Temperature has risen to 30'C week before so I started to worry about amount of shade for the kids.

I had a tent on mind for some time now , searching internet for ideas...
Finely I choose to check my flat and garden sheds for potential materials and stuff I can use to make one :)

What did I found to make a tent :
2 metal stand plant holders
2 bamboo sticks
strong viscose string
old duvet cover
6 tent pegs
Sharpie markers (optional)


Bare in mind, if you are willing to build a quick tent yourself  I am not expecting from you to use the same stuff obviously , it's just an inspiration :)
I am trying to encourage you to look around and get an idea of what can be useful for this project.
The purpose is to reuse items we already have , without buying anything !

This is how was done...

Step 1.
Making a tent construction .



I make the construction by pushing down two planter holders deep into a ground.
Then I connected two bamboo stick together with a string and tied it to the holders too leaving a string ends longer to attached the cover later on.

Not everyone have stand metal holders right? :)
If you can't find anything suitable then two long branches with an Y end are perfect too!




This photo showing my flower garden rather then construction , camera focus did not listen to me this time but you get the idea of how big it is ;P



Step 2.
Making a tent cover.
I remembered to have some old cheap duvet cover which we stopped use it ages ago, plain white.
My plan was to provide as much shade as possible so decided to ripped my duvet cover on the edges to get a bigger and longer piece of fabric.
The plain white seemed to be boring , drawing on it was the next idea ;)
I used Sharpie markers for this step.
Ela like hunting for insects especially ants so I drew them along with ladybirds , worms , flowers , fruits and ice cream , anything Summer and garden related.



My husband had a laugh I get carried away with the amount of ant's legs...
Yep, 12 legs all together :D

Step 3.
Combine the cover with construction.

To do that I simply tied the middle edges of the cover to a bamboo stick ends with existing strings...



Then I tied corners of the cover with another strings, added tent pins and pushed into the ground.
I did the same with the middle so it looked like this on both sides of a tent.



That's it!
It was quick, easy and can be reuse every Summer :)











We added picnic blanket and few cushions, the perfect chill zone...not only for children :)


A tent also proofs to be a great fun at the evening , kids loved to pretend late night camping with a torch and scary stories :)







Make one yourself!

This is our big project from the past but I thought it's worth to share it again to give some inspiration for the old furniture renovating .
We have moved into our new flat and having own garden for the first time in UK.
We wanted to eat outside as much as possible , hearing the birds and watching the sky when enjoying a cup of coffee and weekend breakfast together :)
Most of the ready made stuff from B&Q and alike is just boring and a nice-factor table we could not afford , so the story begins from buying the old , solid wood one of Ebay.
At that point we had no clue how much work and money this was going to cost us but being enthusiastic about it helped through the transformation process.

We are now hugely enjoying our old/new table for the last two years , during Spring , Summer and some part of Autumn , covering for Winter season.


Please have a look at the process and get inspired ;)



Here's the table , with legs already off for the transportation.

The top is partially covered with the old , flaking varnish that needs removing for a start.



Spatula in use and proofs to work.


Sanding begins with some Argos cheap machinery and 80g sandpaper , followed by finer 120g.



While sanding we discovered the table top and legs are significantly damaged by a big woodworm family so had to rush to the shops to get the killer and a wood filler.


Woodworm destroyed , holes filled-up and table re-sanded.
It was time to 
paint :)


Putting on the first coat of primer , followed by the second one and then two more layers of the exterior gloss paint.

Meanwhile we decided to make something else matching the table from the spare pieces of wood we already had... ;)

Old can of the primer found at our new flat saves the whole £10 of the project :)




...

The final result!
Nearly two weeks of work.


Table and bench combo - done :)












And the drawer!














Before & After





And this is how much we enjoying it...kids loves the drawer most, is always full of treasures ;)





















Thanks for watching :)