Tutorial Tuesday: Clean Eating Chocolate

Today I'm going to show you a quick recipe/tutorial on how to make homemade chocolate to fit a clean-eating diet. Clean eating revolves around unprocessed food and not consuming random chemicals in food. Inspired by this site, I decided to try my hand at handmade chocolate. I'm tweaking proportions in this recipe, my chocolate pieces were a bit oily and a bit bitter, so hopefully yours will look and taste a bit better. But other than that I think this is a great way to have your chocolate - and eat it too!

 Ingredients:
Raw cocoa, coconut oil, raspberries, oats, sweetener of choice (I used vanilla extract and honey, but you can use stevia, agave, or cane sugar - your choice).

 Step 1 - Smash your raspberries. I used frozen berries, so I set the glass bowl in a few inches of warm water to thaw them out. Use the back of your spoon to mash them up.

 Step 2: Stir in 4 tablespoons of coconut oil. Note: my raspberries were still cold, so it hardened the oil a bit. Just watch out for that.

 Step 3: Add 5 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Stir until it's completely dissolved into your mixture. (This might take a minute.)

 Step 4: Add in your remaining ingredients. I used oats and the sweetener. In place of oats you can use nuts, or a little bit of flour. The cocoa is bitter, so use 2-3 tablespoons of your sweetener.

 Step 5: Spoon your mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You can use a chocolate mold or and ice cube tray if you want them to look prettier.

 

Step 6: Stick in the freezer for a few minutes until they're all set. Enjoy one a day as a treat that will help you lose weight in the process!

While you're waiting, check out the health benefits of raw cocoa powder and coconut oil!

Let me know if you all try this, and what you think!

<3 Laurynn Elise

Tutorial Tuesday: Faux Bob!

 Happy Tutorial Tuesday!!

This technically still counts as Tuesday right? ;) I'll justify by saying that I spent the majority of today filming and editing tutorials, so that makes up for my tardiness. Anyway, on to this fun tutorial! As requested by Allora over at "The Best is Yet to Come" (She's awesome, go read her stuff), today's tute is all about turning your long hair into a cute short look that makes everyone think you chopped your hair off! Okay maybe not that dramatic (wait until I show you how to fake a pixie cut!), but it's a really great summer look and a good way to change it up if you're getting in a hair-do rut. Without further ado, here it is! 

<3 Laurynn Elise

Tutorial Tuesday: Adding length with lace

Being long-legged has it's advantages, but unfortunately those advantages don't usually translate into finding clothes. Often, dresses that would come to a normal length on most women hit a bit too short for me. Especially when it comes to wearing something on stage. I found this cute dress at Khol's that was perfect for Easter Sunday, but a little too short for singing, so I decided to fix that by adding lace to it! Whether you need to add length to something or just want to give it a cute and girly edge, this tutorial works for dresses, skirts, and simple blouses. Best of all, it really requires little to no sewing skills, so no excuse! I sewed mine on my machine, but you could easily hand stitch this, it will just take a little longer. Good luck!

 Step 1: Take a piece of lace (or other trim) a few inches longer than the base of your garment. Mine was about 2 yards long. Pin to the WRONG SIDE of the bottom hem, this will allow the lace to peek out the bottom. The stretchier your fabric, the more pins you need. I pinned every 2-3 inches. I recommend staring to pin at a side or back seam. Leave an inch of lace at the start, and at least a couple inches at the end.

 Step 2: When you get all the way around, Stop pinning an inch or two away from your starting pin.

 Step 3: Select your stitch. I chose a long basting stitch, so that if I decide to take the lace off at a later time, it wont ruin the fabric as much as a short stitch. If yours is going to be permanent, go ahead and choose a short stitch or a zig-zag.

 Step 4: Using a matching or coordinating color thread, sew all the way around the hem, backstitching at the start and end. Stop just before the pieces meet. This is also a great time to break your machine. I highly recommend this if you only have 15 minutes before work to get this done.

 Step 5: Line the ends of your lace up, facing away from the garment, pin, and sew a line down the lace, joining the ends.

 Step 6: Finish your garment. Trim off the extra lace, any loose threads, and turn your garment right side out. Great job!

 <3 Laurynn Elise

Tutorial Tuesday: Quick Crimped Hair

Yes, I know it's Wednesday. But what was I supposed to do when I had a brilliant idea for alliteration and not enough time to throw it together? (I love alliteration.) So your first Tutorial Tuesday is coming on a Wednesday. Deal. :)

On to the good stuff. Ever sleep on braids all night so you could wake up with cute crimped hair? I know I have. Unfortunately, sleeping on braids is NOT comfortable, and mine usually fall out or end up looking way to messy anyway in the morning. So here's a great way to get the same look in about 15 minutes!

You will need:
Clean(ish), dry hair.
Hair elastics
A straightener
Hair spray
Teasing comb (Optional)

Step 1: Braid your hair. All over your head. You can make them as tight or loose as you'd like (tighter the braid, tighter the crimp), and as many or as few as well (thinner the braid, tighter the crimp). If you do big braids, you'll get big waves. The important thing is to make them EVEN, and not so thick that you can't get heat to the center of the braid without burning your hair. If you have bangs, I recommend braiding them in with another chunk of hair. Like I did on one side. Secure all of your braids with elastics.
  

 Step 2: Heat your braids. Using your flat-iron, heat up all of your braids! Don't use a pulling motion like you would if you were actually straightening your hair. Instead, starting at the top of the braid, clamp down and leave it there for a few seconds, then unclamp and move to the next section down. Do this to all of your braids, stopping before the elastics.

Step 3: Hairspray and Cool. Throw a bit of hairspray on your braids and then wait until they're completely cool. This is a good time to do your makeup. Or take a few pictures of your cat, whichever you prefer. My favorite hair spray is the Treseme "Tres Two". It's awesome and cheap. Two things I look for in a product.

 Step 4: Separate your braids.

 Step 5: Use your fingers to give everything a good tousle. If you'd like, use your teasing comb to tease your roots a bit near your part. Enjoy your cute hair and take a few selfies for your instagram!

 <3 Laurynn Elise