Mindful in May

Welcome to May! 

Interested in transforming your mind and spirit this May? Mindful May is a one-month, online meditation program for people who are interested in finding new

experiences and less stress throughout their daily lives.

Learn more at:

http://www.mindfulinmay.org/

Easter Inspiration

Shaving Cream Dyed Eggs

Most of us know how to dye eggs, but why not something a little different for the easter celebrations. How about creating some amazing looking marbleized eggs for the easter celebrations? 

You will need:

• Food dyes of your choice
• Hard Boiled eggs
• Shaving Cream
• Baking Paper 
• A plate (preferably paper)

1. Get some cheap white shaving cream, and spread out on some baking paper. Dribble food colouring across the surface. Neon food colouring makes the best-looking eggs.
2. Use a toothpick to swirl the colours around in the shaving cream.
3. Take your dried, and cooled hard boiled egg, and roll it around in the cream.
4. Sit coloured eggs to the side on a paper plate and allow them to dry for five minutes.
5. After allowing the eggs to sit, wipe off the shaving cream and rinse with water

Now you have created unique Easter Eggs quickly and easily, without a lot of mess or having to spend a lot of money!

Edible Easter Nests

Celebrate easter with these adorable treats that are perfect for easter lunches and snacks. This fun and tasty easter inspired recipe is so simple that you won't even need to use an oven!

You will need:

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 1 10 oz bag of marshmallows
• 6 cups of rice Krispies
• A cupcake tray

1. Place a cup of rice Krispies into the cupcake tray.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the marshmallows. Continue stirring until completely melted. Pour the mixture over the crisp rice cereal and stir until well combined.
3. form into nests
4. Once formed, allow to cool the in the pan. 
5. Once cooled, take them out and decorate as you wish, maybe use mini chocolate eggs or dyed coconut.

Beauty D.I.Ys

Face Scrubs 

Banana Scrub

You will need:

• 2 tsp mashed banana
• 2 tsp rolled oats
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 tsp honey

Blend ingredients together in a bowl and apply to face and body. This divine smelling facial scrub can also be used as a face mask.

Rose and Almond Face Scrub

You will need:

• 1 tsp rose water
• 1/2 tsp almond flour or finely ground almonds

Mix the ingredients together to form a paste. This recipe should give you soft skin and a bright complexion! 

Pumpkin Spice and Sugar Scrub

You will need:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil of choice (olive oil or coconut oil are the best choices)
• 2 tablespoons of raw honey
• 8-10 drops each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger essential oils

Combine all ingredients in a glass container. Use this as a full body scrub for the best results.

To have the best results with your face scrub, follow these steps before applying:

• Remove makeup if necessary and rinse face with some warm water
• To open pores, steam face over hot water or press warm cloth to skin for a few minutes before applying.
• After preparing scrub, apply it to face (and neck if desired). Avoid eye area. Use a facial loofah, sponge, or brush for better results.

DIY Bath Bombs

You will need:

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup citric acid
• 1/2 cup Epsom salts
• 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. essential oil
• 3 tsp. oil (olive oil)
• Food colouring of your choice
• Bath bomb mould

1. To start off, place the baking soda, citric acid and Epsom salts in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Make sure that the ingredients are mixed evenly.
2. Then in another bowl mix the oils, water and food colouring together. You can find a range of different essential oils in places like ‘Perfect Potion’ or ‘In Essence’ to create the perfect smelling bath bomb.
3. Slowly, spoon the wet ingredients into the dry bowl and combine them to form a powder. Use your hand to remove of any clumps in the mixture if necessary.
4. Once all the ingredients are well mixed, spoon the powder into the bath bomb mould until it is packed tightly and wait for it to dry. Once the bath bomb is dry and has been removed from the mould it is a good idea to wait for a day or so for it to harden properly, to make sure you have the perfect fizzy bath bomb for your next bath. 

If you want more information on making baths bombs, I suggest that you watch this video By Carina Steward on making your own bath bombs at home: 

DIY Products for Teens

You will LOVE this Website!

If you love creative art and trying new experiments like these, I suggest you check out the blog: DIY Projects for Teens. From amazing new crafts to make with friends, to delicious recipes you must try, this blog is perfect to add creativity and style into your life.

Experiments!

Simple Experiments:

These experiments are classified as simple and easy to make, as they are created using day to day objects you can find at home and do not include dangerous or difficult procedures.

Instant Freeze Water Trick

Whether it was in a video on YouTube or on a Pinterest blog, you have probably seen this experiment before. This is how to make an instant water slushy using only products you have at home!

You will need:

• A bottle of pure water
• Rock salt
• A bowl or container
• Ice
• A thermometer

1. Place the ice into the bowl and put the refrigerated bottle of water neck deep into the ice. Keep the bottle close to the centre of the bowl but make sure that it is buried in ice as much as possible.
2. Place a thermometer into the bowl and scatter the rock salt all over the surface of the ice generously.
3. Wait until the temperature of the bowl reaches -8 degrees. Do not let it get too cool as it may become too cold and freeze completely, ruining the experiment. Once the bowl reaches – 8 degrees, leave the bottle in there for 10 more minutes.
4. After the 10 minutes has passed, and the water is still is a liquid, remove the bottle gently
5. Hit the bottle sharply down against the table. Ice should form at the top of the bottle and will continue freezing down the liquid until the bottom.

Bouncy Eggs Project

Ever thought of making a simple egg bouncy and clear? Me neither. This easy and cheap project is an interesting yet simple experiment to try in your spare time. So here is how to make this eggcellent idea in 3 simple steps:

You will need:

• An egg
• Vinegar
• A cup
• a bowl

1. Simply place your egg in a glass and fill the glass with vinegar. Unfortunately, after this step, you must wait 5 days before the experiment is finished.
2. Once the long wait is over, take you egg out of the glass and place it in a bowl of water
3. Scrub and peel any leftover shell of the egg (if there is any) and you should be left with a clear, squishy egg.

This is the membrane of the egg, and if you were to compare a normal egg to this membrane, you will notice that there is a noticeable size difference. If you want a more challenging version of this experiment I suggest you check out this video of how to make glowing bouncy eggs!

Advanced experiments:

these experiments are considered difficult as they may contain difficult procedures or harsh ingredients tat could do harm if not treated correctly, or the ingredients are just hard to find.

Edible Water Bubbles

Unfortunately, for this odd experiment, you will need ingredients and tools which are hard to find. But if you just so happen to have sodium alginate and calcium lactate lying around, here is an extraordinary experiment you should try:

You will need

• 3 bowls
• At least 5 cups of water
• 1 grams of sodium alginate
• A hand mixer
• 5 grams of Calcium lactate

1. In one bowl, mix the sodium alginate and 1 cup of water with the hand mixer. Set this bowl aside for 15 minutes or until the bubbles are one.
2. Meanwhile, mix 4 cups of water and the calcium lactate together with a spoon.
3. Carefully use a measuring spoon to place a some of the sodium alginate mixtures into the bowl of the calcium lactate mixture.
4. Mix the water for 3 minutes, then carefully spoon the bubbles out of the mixture and place them into a separate bowl of water.
5. These small water bubbles are able to pop very easily and are full of a liquid. So they will not make too much mess.

For help with this experiment, check out this helpful video about making these awesome little 'water bottles':

Baking!

Brownies

You will need:

• 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄3 cup cocoa powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup flour

1. Firstly, Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix oil and sugar until well blended. Then, add eggs and vanilla; stir just until blended.
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir dry ingredients into the oil/sugar mixture. 
4. Pour into greased 9 x 9 square pan.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until sides just start to pull away from the pan.
6. Cool completely before cutting.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

You will need:

• 125g butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ⅓ cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1½ cups self-raising flour
• ¾ cup CADBURY Milk Chocolate Baking Chips

1. Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour then fold through Chocolate Chips.

2. Place teaspoonsful on greased baking trays. Bake in a moderately slow oven 160°C for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.

Pavlova

You will need:

• 6 (59g) eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 cups (270g) caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300ml thickened cream
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar mixture, sifted

1. Preheat oven to 120°C. Line an oven tray with foil. Brush with melted butter and dust with cornflour, shaking off excess. Mark a 24cm-diameter circle on foil.
2. Use an electric mixer to whisk egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until meringue is thick and glossy and sugar dissolved. Rub a little meringue between fingers. If still "gritty" with sugar, continue to whisk until sugar dissolves.
3. Add cornflour, vinegar and vanilla and whisk until just combined. Spoon meringue onto the foil, Smooth sides and top of pavlova. Use a small spatula to forms little peaks around edge of pavlova. Bake in oven for 11/2 hours or until pavlova is dry to the touch. Turn off oven. Leave pavlova in oven with the door ajar to cool completely. When completely cold, transfer to serving plate or store in an airtight container until required.

Messy Ideas!

Melted Crayon Art

Melted crayon art is an easy and fun thing to do for those artistic adventurers out there. It's so simple, yet the end result can be stunning. You can make melted crayon art using a blow dryer or hot glue gun. Both methods can be messy and create slightly different results, but both can be both fun and add a burst of colour and creativity to any room

For this, you will need:

•        Crayons (most people used 2 packs of 64!)
•        Hot Glue Gun
•        A Canvas
•       A Hairdryer or hot air gun

Sidenote; it might be a good idea to cover your floor or wall with newspaper in case the wax splatters

1. Sort the crayons out depending on what you want your art to look like. The most common designs are sorting them in rainbow order or sorting them from lightest to darkest based on colour, but it all depends on what you are interested in.
2. Hot glue each crayon in order on the top of your canvas. Some people keep the wrappers on and some take them off, but either way works.You can unwrap the crayons and cut them in half, this makes it look more natural.
3.  Put the canvas on a slant to ensure that the wax will drip. Make sure you don’t get wax a=on your carpets or walls, as it could stain!
4. Use the hair dryer or hot air gun to melt the crayons. It's best to point the blow dryer downwards so that the wax will drip. Once you are happy with the design, leave the wax to dry for 1-2 hours.
5. Remove crayons from the canvas and add final details (if necessary). Now that you are done, display your artwork! 

If you want to learn more of this experiment, here is a helpful video on Crayon Melting Art 

Slime

Fluffy slime isn't your usual slime - it's soft, squishy, and fun to play with, while maintaining a solid form. You can stretch it out, squeeze it, and bend it, and still put it back together again. It's a soft slime that isn't nearly as sticky as other slimes, too! Why not take a bit of time and craft this fun slime?

You will need:

• Craft/School glue
• Shaving cream - This also makes your slime smell refreshing and clean!
• Eye drops
• Food colouring (optional)
• Sidenote; the measurements don’t matter

1. Start off by placing your glue in a bowl, the more glue you use will determine how big the slime will be. Add in food colouring of your choice and mix thoroughly.
2. Add in shaving cream and eye drops to the glue and combine until it becomes thicker and begins to form a ball.
3. Once the slime has clumped into a ball and is easy to remove from the bowl, place it on a flat surface and begin kneading it with your hands to thoroughly mix it. If it is still to sticky, continue to add in eye drops until you are satisfied with the texture.
4. Play with your slime! It's great for keeping your hands busy! To keep your slime squishy and moist for longer, place it under a glass cup when you are not using it to make sure that the slime stays fresh and clean.

If you want to see more on this experiment of making slime using this formula, I suggest you watch this video Karina Garcia making a giant slime ball here;

Creative Ideas to do with Wool!

Pom-Poms

In this tutorial, we will be learning how to make Pom-Poms, fluffy balls made only using 3 items! Pom-poms are easy, fun and safe to make for all ages! Whether it’s a way to kill time or for knitting a scarf, here is how to make the perfect Pom-Pom;

You will need:

•    Your favourite colour/colours of wool

•    Cardboard

•    Fabric Scissors

1.    Firstly, you must choose your wool, you can use as many different colours as you want for your Pom-pom.

2.    Cut out two identical circles from you cardboard and cut two smaller circles in the middle, make sure that they are the same size. It may be easier to use CDs as stencils to make sure that the cardboard disks are the same size.

 3.    Cut a long piece of wool (around 4 meters long) and begin to wrap the string around both of the circles. If you run out of the string, you can just add more on by wrapping it around the disks. The number of layers on the disks makes the pom-pom thicker and fluffier. Thicker wools and yarns are better to use as it is faster and more effective to make your pom-pom look perfect.

4.    Continue to wrap the wool around the disks until the cardboard is completely covered in multiple layers of wool, to ensure you will have a thick and soft pom-pom.

5.    Once you are happy with the amount of wool on the disks, grab your fabric scissors (you may use normal scissors but it will be easier and quicker if you use fabric scissors) and begin to cut into the wool circle and cut in between the cardboard around the edges. Cut the whole way around the circle until you are left with something like this.

6.    Grab a small piece of string and tie it in between the two cardboard pieces make sure to tie it tight to ensure that your pom-pom doesn’t fall apart.

7.    Pull the cardboard off of the pom-pom and trim if necessary.

My results and thoughts of this experiment:

 When I was young, I would make pom-poms and give them to my family for fun. To this day, this method is by far the easiest and fastest way to make pom-poms with easy to find materials.

Glue and Wool Balls 

For this woollen experiment, we will be making wool or yarn decorative balls. These are great to bring colour and creativity to your house without spending heaps of money or time! Here is what you will need;

 You will need

•    Wool

•    Round balloons

•    Craft glue and water

1.    Make a mixture of glue and water, make sure that it isn’t too watery so that it won’t drip off the balloon.

2.    Now, blow up your balloon the size of the yarn ball you want. Make sure you have enough wool to cover the balloon!

3.    Pull out a bunch of wool and gently dip it into the glue mixture and wipe off the excess glue. Make sure that you don’t let the string get tangled or that knots form, as it could ruin your design! It might be a good idea to have newspaper covering your workstation as this experiment could get quite messy.

4.    Begin to wrap the wool around the balloon. There is no method here, just wrap to whichever way you think will look good.

5.    Once you have covered the majority of the balloon, tuck the yarn end under. Roll the yarn wrapped balloon in the glue mixture, and then gently squeeze out any excess.

6.    Once all your yarn balls are completely squeezed out, let them dry with the balloons inflated inside overnight.

7.    The next day, the wool should be stiff and hard. If it is still damp, give it a second day to dry off, or your wool ball could cave in or fall apart! If it’s dry, you can pop the balloon! You should be left with a firm and colourful wool ball! That’s it!

Welcome to my blog!