30 Days Makeup Free.

Monday, July 8th, 2013.

That's my 30 day NO MAKEUP anniversary.

No face powder. No mascara. No blush (not that I ever wore it). No. Makeup.

I guess it was an unconscious decision to try this out. I have nothing against makeup. It's fun, it makes me feel pretty, it's quite often sparkly.

It's also a way for me to think bad thoughts about myself. Those sneaky, pesky "I can't leave the house because I haven't got makeup on!" thoughts. The kind of thoughts that make me think I'm ugly when I look in the mirror because my makeup is messed up or because I haven't put it on for the day. That's just not mmmkay with me. I didn't want to feel like I HAD to wear it anymore. When you HAVE to do something, it's no longer fun. It's something you're required to do. It's a pressure on your chest that makes your heart beat a little faster. It's an excess that we've come to believe is a necessity.

Over the past year, I've worn less makeup. That's a pretty dramatic shift for me. I used to wear tons of eyeliner. I used to wear foundation AND powder AND bronzer. I used to put on eye shadow in three different shades and then put glitter on top of that. I did do exactly that the last time I wore makeup. I had on more makeup than ever. I was in a wedding line and had my makeup professionally done.... it was fun... but I felt like I was wearing 10 pounds of crud (beautiful crud!!) on my face. I didn't like it.

The day after the wedding, I couldn't bear to put on makeup again.

The week after, I still couldn't do it.

Two weeks later, I stopped carrying my makeup bag with me everywhere I went.

Three weeks passed, I didn't even think about putting on makeup as part of "getting ready."

Now a month later, and I'm pretty much okay with idea of saving makeup for special occasions. For the days when I want to play with makeup. Night out on the town or feeling sassy? Add a little mascara, sure. Going to the grocery store? Fuhgetaboutit.

I have no idea if this is something I should be proud about. I'm always fighting a war against negative thoughts. They tend to creep in on me if I don't actively work on stopping them. Body image is something we all struggle with, so you can easily guess that's a sore spot for me. Letting go of the mascara is an experiment I'm trying out to see if I can be happy with the naked face I see in the mirror.

It seems to be working.

Anyone else ditching the face powder? Loving it or hating it? I'm thinking the best part is that it's been so damn hot and if I was wearing it, I'd be sweating it off anyway. ;)

It's nerdy blogger dance time!

My watermelon cake was featured in a linky party! Woot!




To see my post about my watermelon all fruit "cake" go here.

Totally made my day. Head over to Homestead Simple and check it out! And a big thanks go out to them, for hosting and featuring!

With that said, I'm thinking...

...that I want to start a weekly linky party here at Jubilant Jessi.

Anyone interested or know what that is?

A linky party is a great way to connect bloggers. You link up a post of what you have been up to and can look at all all the other posts left by lovely bloggers such as yourself. If you have noticed when I do something remotely creative, I put several buttons of places I have linked that post to.. that's a linky party. I'm probably not explaining this the best way I could, but hey, that's what google is for. If you're confused, chances are you can find someone out there who explains it better. Haha.

Anyway, I always love surfing link parties. All of my favorite blogs have been found through them. It's where I get my major dose of inspiration (next to pinterest) each week. I think it would be fun, but I am worried about the time constraints with school coming up in a month (gag, snort, die. Not ready for school yet).

Anyway, something to ponder and stew on for a bit. Let me know if you're interested and/or would like to join in.

Also, show Homestead Simple some love for featuring me and hosting a great party! :) :) :)

Inspiration Station

So after a wonderful weekend with the mother-in-law (who was kind enough to buy us a shiny, new air conditioner!!!!) and my sister, and my other sister's baby shower (new baby!!!!!) .... I am exhausted.

At least my sunburn is from actual sunshine this time.

I haven't had much crafty creative time, but I sure found some great ideas to try! So I am going to annoy you with commentary on each idea. :)

I have been working on this post for two days and I keep getting sidetracked. The internet had too many arty crafty fun blogs and ideas! My brain wants to implode!

So welcome to Inspiration Station... I'll be your tour guide through some happy fun today!

First up, we have a fun kiddo craft that is happening at my house as soon as the Idaho weather decides to cooperate. Key words there are "Idaho weather" so it could be August. It's Bubble Prints!

Side note: this is hands down one of the best kid art blogs I have ever seen. The blog is run by a K-6 art teacher and there are HUNDREDS of ideas. If you need something to do with your kiddo, go here. I spent an hour looking around and still didn't get bored. I want to try about 15 other things with Lily including a summer memory quilt idea that was inspired by this blog.

Next up, we have pure genius. If you are on pinterest, chances are you've seen this, but it is so amazing that I have to share it. Addicted 2 Decorating has made this amazing mirror out of.... SPOONS!

I love everything about this. It's from spoons. It has a gorgeous color fade. It's pretty. I have seen other spoon mirrors out there, but this one takes the cake. It is full of win and I can only hope some nice family member will take my children for a day sometime in the future so I can make this. It would look awesome in yellow or maybe purple.

Moving on... is an adorable headband from Love Stitched. I actually made a bracelet using this knot the other day, but I want to do a headband for each of us three girls in the house. It took five minutes to learn the knot. Plus, t-shirt recycling, always a favorite of mine. 

If you're more attached to your glue gun than your sewing machine, this is a crafty must do for you! I think I personally would sew the ends together, but that's just cause I want to use my sewing machine as often as I can get my sticky, grubby mom hands on it. I love the two-tone bands she has done as well.

And finally, for the knock-off win of the century, Besserina takes home the gold. I fell in LOVE with the Georgina duvet cover from Anthropologie.  I tried for several months to figure out how to afford a duvet that was worth as much as several months rent. I still have the picture of it. This is the original:

Isn't it stunning? Gah! Love love love it. Well, Besserina has a wonderful tutorial on how to make my own. It might take me a few years to get all the flowers done, but I am DOING this some day. She does her's for a toddler bed size...so very adorable.

It may say something about me, but I think a good knock off is even better than the original. It takes some pretty fine talent to create something from a picture and make it as good (or better) than the original. I love this in white, but it would last about 2.5 seconds at my house before getting stained, so I would have to make it colorful. 

Well, this was super fun, so I'll have to do it again. Hope you find some time to get lost in Blog land and find some lovely adventures to undertake!

Jubilant, Joyful, Jaunty Jess

Hello and Welcome!

Do you know how hard it is to come up with a blog name? Jeez, this Jessi is just jumbled. :) Ok, enough alliteration!

I have a creative nature, and a curious one. I'm pretty much one of those hippie types...free spirit and all that. So as I was googling how to blog (yes, I know how that sounds) it spoke of "blog niches" and how that's important for a blog to be successful. I would have been better off just signing up and starting to type. Alas, I didn't, and now I've been sitting here for the past day or two hesitating to begin because I don't know my what my niche is! Although, I must say, I do so love that niche is a word being used so widely. It's such a pretty word.

So I've been a'pondering this whole niche business. I want to talk about the crafts and upcycling that I do. I want to talk about how we're revamping our house to make it more a home. That means clutter, decorating, and finding fun things to put on the walls. I want to talk about my interests: books, minimalism, being ecologically responsible, my thoughts on non-traditional parenting, my experiences as a somewhat older college student, my family, my dogs, and perhaps any other random thing that jumps into my head. So I came up with my niche. *beams*
My niche is a simple one, yet it can be engagingly complicated. What's my niche?

Life.

I do so hope you'll enjoy reading.