cheap and chic: DIY Scarf Vest (1 minute or less!)

You're one rummage through your own closet and 60-seconds away from a cheap and chic fashion hack that will double your investment on a staple accessory.  YOU HAVE TO TRY IT!


Little rant before I get down to the quick and dirty on this fun and flirty little DIY: I hate Facebook "click-bait."  "Wait until you see what he does with this hammer!" "She takes a paper plate, a garbage bag, and a piece of gum...watch what happens next!!!"  "This guy can make shelves...out of roadkill...you have to see to believe!!!"  UGH!  STAHHHHPPPPPPP. I don't get how to monetize (or whatever is achieved through likes and shares) on social media.  Are people getting rich?!  Are people getting actualized?!  I don't get it.


That being said, I did totally come across this fashion hack on such an FB click-bait.  Guilty.  A fashion-forward and totes fun gal from my graduating high school class posted a video on her wall and I felt as though if she endorsed it, I endorsed it without even seeing it.  But I DID watch it and I learned to use a common closet staple in a completely new way.  And now I'm more than slightly obsessed with blowing peoples' minds when they compliment my "super cute vest" and I tell them, "I made it!"  Stop it.

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Watch the below video from momtrends for the tutorial. Once you get the hang of it, you can go from scarf to vest in under a minute. No sewing involved.  If you can tie a knot, you can make a vest. So many practical and fun ways to integrate this cheap and chic trick into your wardrobe!

In my experience, thinner materials work best.  I tried this with a blanket scarf and it did not go well.  I'm personally sticking to knits, jerseys, and voile fabric which most scarves are made of anyway.

If you don't have a scarf large enough to achieve a vest, you can buy like 1.5-2 yards of fabric of your choosing and  just use that!  If the edges fray, who cares?!  Even more "on-trend."



DIY All-Purpose Cleaner

Raise your hand if you haven't gotten the stomach flu this winter.

Bet most of your paws are comfy and cozy in your hoodie pockets, yeah?  Everybody and their dog either had or has the stomach flu around these parts.  

My household got sick December 26th which was actually pretty great timing.  I mean, there's no great time to get the stomach flu, but December 26th is pretty clutch. We didn't miss any Christmas celebrations and got rid of holiday bloat. We started 2016 fresh, leaving behind a lot of literal crap.

I also started 2016 fresh because I had to disinfect and clean three bathrooms, three bedrooms, and oh, EVERYTHING else.  Fortunately, two weeks earlier I came across a DIY All-Purpose (and anti-bacterial) cleaner that is just as useful as it is cheap.  

This DIY AP cleaner takes only 3 ingredients:

*Castile soap

*Rubbing alcohol

*Water (distilled is recommended, but I just use tap)

If you don't have castile soap on hand, consider researching and purchasing it.  Since buying some a year ago, I've stopped having to buy pricey makeup remover and face wash because it's just so ridiculously easy and affordable to make it using castile.  I love castile so much that I gifted it this Christmas.  Look into it.  I like Dr. Bronners. You can get it cheaper on Walgreens.com, especially when the site is running a promotion.  I also see they have 32 oz of Peppermint Dr. Bronners at Costco for $9.99 (which is a ridiculous deal)!

To make your very own AP cleaner, gather your supplies and an empty spray bottle.  You can buy a standard "cleaning" spray bottle at the Dollar Tree if you don't have an empty Windex (or the like) bottle at home.

Take 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol and mix in 1-2 TBSP of castile soap in a scent of your choosing. I personally like Tea Tree Oil and Citrus.  Citrus AP smells like you're cleaning with vodka-tonics which is a little bit of sassy fun, IMO.  Dump the rubbing alcohol and castile mixture into your empty cleaning bottle and add either tap or distilled water until full.

*Note: if you don't have rubbing alcohol, you can use vodka.  We don't use drinkable alcohol in this house to clean but you can if you want!  I'll cheers to that...with my vodka.

This AP cleaner doesn't leave a weird residue or even a lingering scent of alcohol.  It's also clean in the sense that it doesn't have harsh chemicals.  I love using this for my toilets, counter tops, even my kids' toys.  I keep a bottle of it on our treadmill also because second only to toilets, that is consistently the grossest thing in our house. 

Isn't it great that you're only ever like 10 seconds away from cleaning with this recipe?!  I knew you'd be thrilled :)