Shelly – Page 94

by Shelly on March 28, 2014 3 Comments

This One’s for My Shorties

Short hair is the most annoying thing ~~ever~~ in my life right now. I like it every once in a while but it’s much harder to style than long hair! I cut my hair a month ago because the lil bean would pull it when it was down and I’d get headaches when it was up b/c it was too heavy. I cut my hair a few years ago and HATED every second of it, so I’m not really sure why I thought it’d work out better this time. Here’s what it looks like right now:

My hair is two different textures. I have soft waves on top and course curly hair underneath, so the only way to have consistency is by straightening it all, which takes forever and isn’t good for my hair. My newest thought is to draw attention to my accessories rather than my hair! 😉 I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite ways to accessorize for people with short hairstyles.

Short Hair by shelly-bergman featuring hair accessories

The picture of Jen is in there b/c that’s the photo I took into my hairstylist to tell her what I wanted. Jen and I have VERY different hair, so I’m not sure what I was thinking.

1. I like big bows ~~and I can not lie~~. When my hair was long I loved doing a top knot with a bow when I didn’t want to wash my hair. It’s now the tiniest bun you’ve ever seen so I’m thinking a smaller bow with a headband might be cute.

2. Super bright exercise headband. This guy is meant to stay in place while you sweat! Since I just started my couch to 5k, I figured I’d need this to help get me pumped…and you know, keep the fly-aways at bay.

3. Simple boho headband. This would be perfect for the days that I don’t want to add any extra curl to my hair but hate how flat is is on top.

4. More fashionable boho headband for when I’m going out or want to wear a simple outfit but spice up with accessories.

5. Turban headband. How do I not own this American Flag headband?! I totally need it before I go to Paris on July 4th so I can represent! I also like turban headbands because they’re a bit more relaxed than your average headband.

I REALLY want to buy every one of these but can’t justify that much money at once. Which one should I start with? Most versatile or brightest?! I bet some of you have short hair, what do you do with it?!

Edit: Since I wrote this post, less than 24 hours ago, I’ve purchased 4 headbands on Etsy! I couldn’t help myself!!!

by Shelly on March 27, 2014 8 Comments

Geometric Canvas

My sister is working with a wonderful program in Indianapolis called Art with a Heart. The program gives hands-on visual experiences that educate at-risk children who have lost art classes in their schools. Let’s let them tell you what they’re all about:

Art with a Heart is having their annual gala in April and will be having an auction of local art pieces. I wanted to try to improve upon the technique I used for my Happy Glam painting a few years back.

I started by prepping the canvas with gesso. This helps to even out the woven texture of the canvas. Looking back I should have put at least two coats. I taped the canvas off using Frog Tape that I’d cut into thin strips with scissors. This was a very frustrating task. I’d used art tape in the past but thought the Frog Tape would stick better.

It didn’t.

I still don’t know what I’m doing wrong to get a clean line but I will keep trying! I think the key is to have a smoother canvas surface and make sure to go over all of the tape once it’s laid with a credit card or something stiff to adhere the tape further.

I covered the entire canvas with two coats of Bronze acrylic paint. Here is what it looked like after only one coat.

The next step was to fill in the triangles that I didn’t want bronze. It ended up being more than I had first envisioned. In the beginning I was envisioning mostly bronze with splashes of the other colors. Once I started painting I loved the color combo so much I just kept painting!

Again, I had to do more than one coat of paint, depending on the color. The pink was very translucent and I had to do 5 coats on some triangles. I rotated between painting the different colors for a couple reasons: 1. Acrylic dries on your pallet quickly. 2. Acrylic dries on your canvas quickly. This is bad and good. I like that it dries quickly between coats but I had to hurry because I didn’t want to mix more paint to try to match the shade I started with.

Once I was satisfied with each triangle being as opaque as I’d liked, I let it dry over night. I usually peel tape off while paint is wet but since I had so many layers underneath that I’d let dry, I thought it would be safer this way. As I peeled the tape I made sure to go with the grain of the tape. This helped to not let the top layer of paint peel off with the tape.

Or so I thought. It obviously did not work well enough. There were spots where the bronze leaked under the tape from the very beginning. There were also spots where the top layer of paint had peeled off to expose the bronze underneath. All in all, the lines were not as clean as I’d hoped for by using the Frog Tape.

Sigh. My heart had deflated once all the tape was peeled off. I didn’t have the drive to try to touch up the mistakes because, in my past experience, this only makes things worse. I feel bad because this painting is going to someone who is generously donating money for a great cause. I can only hope they’re looking for an ‘antiqued modern’ piece. Maybe it’s best to just look at from an arms length (like my nails once they’re painted.)

Although I’d call this painting a failure, one thing that felt strangely rewarding was the clean up!? If you are using a plastic pallet, you can let the paint dry over a few days and peel it off easily. It’s the little things.

What did you think about the painting? Nice colors at least? Have any of you done acrylic painting? I’d love to know how to get clean lines! I’ll keep you updated if I ever figure it out. 😉 OH! Also, I named this piece ‘Yacht Dreams’ because the colors seemed like preppy colors I’d wear if I were to go sailing on a yacht. A girl can dream!

by Shelly on March 26, 2014 Leave a Comment

Morning Routine

I would love to wake up every morning with the first thought being ‘Let’s Do This!’ Sometimes it is, but other times I think, ‘Please, just 5 more minutes.’ All year (only a few months, but that’s ok) I’ve been working on how to have a more positive day from the start. I’ve learned what routines work for me to ensure a more productive day throughout. These may not work for you but perhaps a couple of them could be worked into your schedule to make for a better morning…which always leads to a better day!

1. Shower. This seems like a silly thing to put up here. For some people it’s an obvious, ‘Must shower before I do anything’ and others it’s, ‘Why shower? I’m just going to get spit up on in 10 minutes’. The latter was my outlook for a while after I had our baby! Now, I look at it as ‘I deserve this time!’ Here are the things I use. Obviously I don’t use all of this every day, but I like the variety to take the kind of shower that I’m looking for (relaxing/pampering or exfoliating/rejuvenating.)

Shower by shelly-bergman featuring Margarita body cleansers

2. Accessorize. I got in the routine of wearing yoga pants, stretchy shirt and ponytails. I realized it was making me less productive during the day and I never felt pretty. I now put on at least ONE accessory. It’s usually in the form of studs and mascara but I’ve been getting better at wearing jeans for most of the week and throwing on a scarf. My baby loves the different textures of the scarfs and it gives her something, other than my hair, to hold on to! BTW, do you see that unicorn ring?! It’s over $300 (!!!) but freaking awesome! 😉 Those red glasses down there are what I wear to feel bloggy, as mentioned here.

Accessorize by shelly-bergman featuring gold jewelry

3. Food. Any kind of food if it’s a struggle for you. I am on the 4 Hour Body right now and my breakfasts consist of scrambled egg whites mixed with black beans and salsa. Every. Day. BUT it stays with me for longer so I’m not hungry or snacky before lunch. It’s crucial for me to have my breakfast within 1 hour of waking up so I’m not hangry. I love our breakfast because we make a bunch on Sunday, which lasts us every morning, so we don’t have the excuse to not have breakfast. You don’t have to eat what we do but if you’re the type to skip breakfast because of time, find some fast and healthy breakfasts you can make ahead of time! There are TONS on Pinterest. Oatmeal or hard boiled eggs are always a great make-ahead meals.

4. Plan. I use this planner every day. I plan meals on the weekends so I know what foods to get out to thaw or put in the crock pot. I use it to remember to send Birthday cards. I use it to keep a cleaning schedule. I even use it to remember to do my #100happydays, workout and meditate (things that most people don’t need a reminder to get done.) My mind gets extremely anxious if I don’t have lists and plans. I get too many things to remember pushing and shoving around in my head which lends to being forgetful. I can’t imagine not having a planner if I had an older child or more than one!! There’s a LOT to keep track of once they’re going to school and in extra curricular activities! I look at my planner the night before to write down anything I want to get done the next day and I look at it every morning to remind myself of my goals. I always have 3 things I plan to accomplish and I love crossing them off. If there’s something that doesn’t get done I move it to the following day- no big deal. I also have a blog planner but that’s a whole separate topic. 😉

5. Do something for you. Before everything gets crazy and you spend your day taking care of everyone else. I’ve mentioned this before but I completely agree with it! I look at one chapter (2 pages) of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. Each chapter has a positive stress-relieving attribute that I focus on throughout the day. Some people like listening to pod casts on religious, political or scientific topics to have something to think about throughout the day. Some people meditate to clear their head of the non-sense to have an opened mind through out the day. Having that routine THING that helps you focus on yourself will help you better help you at your job and helping others.

You already do at least one of these in your morning routine, don’t you? Perhaps you do completely different things and they work awesome for your lifestyle! These are the steps that I take in order for me to have a productive day. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of blogs regarding morning routines when I was in a funk about getting motivated and staying motivated throughout the day. For me, since I don’t have to rush to work or get my kids off to school, this works for me. I also wake up at 5a M,W,F and 8a on T,TH to make sure I’m getting enough rest but also having enough time to do everything I want in my day. The days I wake up at 5a I go with friends to the gym to do a ‘couch to 5k’ workout so I’m back to the house and ready to be on baby duty by 6:30a. This just started, which is why I didn’t add it to my 5 main steps that I do to get motivated for the day, but it always seems to jump start me for the day! What steps do you already do? What have you added to your routine that totally rocks for you?! I wanna hear them!

by Shelly on March 25, 2014 1 Comment

Forgiveness

I am weak. Forgiveness has never been an easy attribute of mine. I’d like to say I’ve improved as I’ve gotten older but sometimes the silliest little things are the hardest to forgive. This week I’m going to work on being more forgiving to the people I care most about. Try it with me. You don’t have to forget, just forgive, one person.

Quote by Ghandi. Photo by Oliver Pacas.

This One’s for My Shorties

Geometric Canvas

Morning Routine

Forgiveness

Life Planner

Preschool Montessori Bedroom

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