Cute and Easy Tiger Striped Mani

I have been a little lazy lately and haven't felt like doing the gel nails. I love that they last longer but on the same aspect they take a little more work getting off. So I have been exploring with the many bottles of regular polish I have.

I wanted to do something cute but easy and came up with this.

What you will need:
- Base and top coats
- White polish
- Pink polish
- Black polish
- Small piece of foil
- Thin nail art brush

Start by prepping your nails and painting with a base coat. Then follow by painting all your nails except thing ring finger pink. Then paint your ring finger white and repeat as many coats as you desire. Let completely dry.

Then place a small amount of pink and black polish onto your foil. Starting at the edges of your nail, create a small stripe. Practice on the foil first if you need to. Ensure you don't have too much polish on your brush. Repeat with the black polish.

Let dry then finish with a top coat. Enjoy! Oh and don't forget to follow me on Instagram - @fabnfrugalnails

Pink Ombre Mani

This is a fairly easy mani to do. I did this one with regular polish - I didn't try it with the gel polish. I have seen these all over and decided to try and it. To my surprise it was very easy to do!

Oh and for those of you who don't know - I now have a nail instagram account. Follow me @fabnfrugalnails

What you will need:
- Base and top coats
- A few different colors. I used 3 pinks and a white as a base.
- A triangle make up sponge

Start by painting your nails with the base color. In my case it was white. Once completely dry, use your make up sponge to layer the different colors onto starting with the darkest and going to the lightest colors.

You will likely need to do multiple coats so repeat the step on each nail until you get the desired color effect.

Finish off with a top coat!

Window Bench Seat Tutorial

I moved into my house over 2 years ago and since the day we moved in I vowed to make some benches for our bedroom window seats. We had these cutouts in each of the 3 spare bedrooms that would make a perfect seat or reading nook but they have no other purpose except for a spot for my cats to peer out the window and cackle to birds.

While on sabbatical I finally had time to create the bench seats and lucky for you, I documented it for a tutorial.

I am extremely surprised at how easy this was. It didn't take me very long and to top it off I did not need any help from my husband! (except the initial step where he cut out the boards but I could have done that on my own! haha).

Supplies and tool that you will need:
- A board cutout the size of your window area or bench (I used a pressed wood compound that you can get at any hardware store. It doesn't need to be thick)
- Foam cut out the same size of the board (you can order on-line or you can find places that will sell these and cut them for you. Its just a seat foam, I used the cheapest grade knowing it won't be used a lot)
- Some kind of batting the size of the foam and board. I got mine at Jo-Ann and used a basic cotton batting like used in quilts.
- Fabric large enough to cover the foam and board with extra to allow for stapling. I used an upholstery fabric from Jo-Ann.
- Scissors
- Hot Glue gun
- Staple Gun

Start by placing the board on a flat surface. I used some stand my husband has.. I don't know what he uses it for but it was useful in this project. You can also use a table or other sturdy surface.

Place the foam on the board to ensure sizing is correct. Then glue the corners of the foam to the board. This is more just to keep it from shifting while you are covering the foam. It doesn't need to be really sturdy or perfect.

Next place the batting over the foam. Make sure you have enough room to fold over the corners and cover the foam.

Now, using the hot glue gun, glue the edges from the batting down onto the foam. I used quite a few glue sticks for this. Fold the corners and glue in place.

Now place your fabric over the foam and flip the board over trying not to shift the fabric too much. You want to keep the fabric nice and tight. In the next step we will be stapling down the fabric.

Once you've flipped the board over and have it on a nice flat surface, pull each side of the fabric tight and staple the fabric to the back of the board.

When you reach the corners, tuck in the fabric and fold around. Make sure you get the corners nice and smooth.

Finish all sides and staple well ensuring to pull the fabric tight and making sure there are no wrinkles.

That is it! You are done. Place the bench in the window and enjoy. I did two of the three bedrooms in about an hour and I love the way they turned out. My cats love the new perch! The other one is for the nursery for my daughter who is expected to come in about 2 months!

Cilantro Lime Salsa Recipe

My sabbatical challenge was a bit of a failure. Not because I didn't do anything on my sabbatical. I had so much fun on my sabbatical and got so many things accomplished. It was because I didn't track like I wanted to on my blog. I tried all kinds of new recipes and did all kinds of crafty things but I was too lazy to take pics and post.

I will be updating in the next few weeks the things I did capture but today is a special treat. I am going to post my famous salsa recipe. It's self proclaimed famous but I assure you it is very good. Everyone that tries it loves it. I adapted this from many trials and errors on different salsa recipes I found on-line and about 6 years ago came up with this. 

I have been debating if I wanted to post it so I decided to go ahead and do it. It really is special to me and my family loves this recipe. The recipe I have posted as below has a little kick but not too spicy. You can always make it more or less spicy by adding more peppers. I hope you enjoy!

Makes one large batch

What you will need:

- 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes w/ jalapeno peppers (if you do not want the salsa at all spicy get the cans of diced tomatoes without jalapenos)

- 1 small can of green pickled jalapeno peppers (I like the La Costena brand)

- 1/2 of a large white or yellow onion (about 3/4 c chopped)

- Large handful of fresh cilantro

- 2 cloves of garlic crushed

- 1 lime

- 1 tbs of ground cumin

- 2 tsp of salt 

- Dash of pepper

Start by cutting the onion and putting the chopped onion in the bottom of the food processor. I have a large food processor so I can do the whole recipe at once. If you have a smaller food processor you will need to half the recipe and make it in batches.

Next, take the handful of cilantro and place it over the onion in the food processor. I use mostly just the leaves of the cilantro but you can use a little of the stem like I did below (cutting the stems about 1/2 way off). The stems just take longer to chop up and can change the texture of the salsa.

Now, open the cans of tomatoes and drain the juice. Add the tomatoes to the food processor.

 

No cut off the stems from a few of the pickled jalapenos and add it to the food processor. Since I am using the canned tomatoes with the jalapenos already in it, I add about 4 small peppers. If you want it more spicy add more jalapenos. 

Cut the lime in half and use a citrus press to squeeze the entire lime into the food processor. If you do not have a citrus press just hand squeeze making sure to get all the juice. Add the garlic, salt, cumin and pepper to the top of the food processor.

Blend the salsa until all ingredients (especially the onion and cilantro) are blended. Should be a nice consistency but not too chunky. 

Chill for about an hour or longer before serving. The longer you let the salsa sit the more flavor will infuse. It sometimes gets a little spicier after a few days in the fridge. Enjoy!