My granny square bag.

Happy Summer internet!

I know, I'm terrible, TERRIBLE for posting in the warmer months. I'm even worse because I don't even have a new pattern for you. (Bad blogger! Bad!) I hope you'll still stick it out with me. I've been gardening and cleaning up the yard for  the summer season.

I have been working on a few things though, not much. But a few things. I decided a needed a new bag and after much searching I decided to make this granny square bag. I figured it would be a good way to use up some yarns that have been kicking around my stash so away I went.

The pattern is charted out with minimal instruction but it's just a really big granny square that's lined and gathered at the sides. It does get a tad confusing when you get to the instructions for the sides and the pattern also suggests lining the bag after it's finished. But that didn't make sense. So I didn't do that. I lined mine first, then continued on with the sides and mouth. yarn over, pull through has a really awesome post that outlines this process. Including some great clarification on the sides/mouth charts

I also stuck a divider in the middle. I just cut a rectangle about half the side of the liner and sewed the bottom edge down the middle of the liner. Then since the divider is the same width as the liner I just pinned and sewed the whole mess to my granny square.

 For the straps I used 3 strands of the grey and one of the multicolored yarns I used for the bag and made a really long chain (I wanted it to be able to be a cross body bag) then I double crocheted back down the length of my chain with a 7.5mm hook. I think the straps are a bit thick though and would use 1 less strand of yarn next time.

I also added buttons to the end of each strap to make it adjustable. Boom.

Another quick word on Burt's bees sensitive skin cleanser

I was gushing about bzzagent and my bzzkit for the Burt's bee's campaign a few days ago. The moisturiser, specifically.
It's been a few days of using the cleanser and moisturiser morning and night and I just wanted to say a big WOW. My winter skin is actually happy. I'm not red or flaky/bumpy on my cheeks, nose and forehead and even my breakouts are calming down a lot faster than normal.

However, even after just a few days it already feels like a little TOO much. A bit too much moisture, if I use both the moisturiser and cleanser continually I end up feeling almost waxy and greasy, which is a common problem for me when it comes to skin care.

Usually I'm a spectrojel kind of girl. I use their moisturiser and cleanser every day but in the winter we all need just a little extra. I think I will start using Burt's cleanser with the spectro moisturiser in the morning it just feels lighter on my face in the day and will use my specrtojel cleanser and the Burt's moisturiser at night. It's supposed to be a "daily" moisturiser as this line has a night cream as well (don't tell the moisturiser police) but I just find it a little too heavy.
Yay bzzagent!

I dyed my hair blue!

No, you can't see a picture.
I found manic panic at walmart for $6.00 in blue and purple.
I'm a sucker for manic panic. So I bought some, with the intent of waiting and lightening my hair up a bit before putting fun colors in it. I just dyed my hair "dark blonde" (brown), so I knew blue wouldn't be the most awesome choice...
Cue lack of impulse control and absolute excitement. and you get a weird brown/green/blue color that only took in some places. There are still brown bits poking through and I look ridiculous. This is coming from a chick who's rocking a dread locked,tangled mess of mo-hawk with bangs to begin with. At 25.
I'm kind of in love with it though. I'm debating at putting some of that purple in there for the parts that didn't take or maybe just more blue and hoping for the best.
Or maybe I'll just wait for it to wash out and lighten it like I was planning.
Maybe.

I'm a Bzzagent! And adventures in Sensitive skin pt 1

K, just a little bit of promotion here.
If you've never heard of it bzzagent.com is a social marketing company. "What's that?" you ask, well, basically it's a website where you signup for free, fill out some surveys and get free, full sized products that are specific for you in return for some honest feedback and spreading the word.

I just joined up earlier in the month and within a day was invited to my first campaign. Fantastic, huh?! My first campaign is for "Burt's bee's Sensitive" skincare line. Which, for me is like a dream. It's February in Calgary. My skin is red, blotchy, dry and all around angry. Nothing is working to calm it down. I usually use Spectrojel cleansers and moisturizers but they don't seem to be packing enough moisture. Reader's digest tells me Castor oil and witch hazel will help. That's on my 'to try' list.

Anyhoo, today my Burt's bees came in the mail! My bzzkit contained one full size face cleanser one full sized daily moisturizer and a pile of sample moisturizers to pass along to friends and family. Along with an info booklet. The line also boasts a night cream and an eye cream (I could use the eye cream!). I couldn't resist, after taking a picture of my kit, I popped open that moisturizer.

First impressions of the moisturizer is really positive, it smells sweet and fresh but still very light. The lotion itself feels really smooth and creamy maybe a little bit greasy and heavy though, I can still feel a "residue" on my hands and face 20 minutes later. That being said my skin feels soft, smooth and pretty happy. I just checked in the mirror and a lot of the redness and splotchiness is much less noticeable. This could be promising.

So, thanks, bzzagent! Go check 'em out at their website and sign up, you might just get some awesome free product out of it.You can also check out Burt's bees on facebook