6 Ways to Say Goodbye to the Yellow Smile

Have you noticed that smiles have gotten whiter and whiter? No matter how white you want your teeth, there are plenty of natural teeth-whitening home remedies for a beautiful smile.

There are things you can do to avoid stains and embarrassing discoloration and fortunately, these natural teeth whitening home remedies solutions don’t require hundred dollar bleaching trays, dentist visits, or unknown chemical solutions. All you need is probably in your kitchen right now, it is funny how the solutions are simpler than what we imagine, try the following ideas for a perfect homemade smile:

1. Eat Strawberries

The astringent found in strawberries helps to remove surface stains, while vitamin C washes away plaque. Mashing a few strawberries and brushing with the mixture once or twice a week can have positive results, or make sure you chew really well. Strawberries can also help whiten teeth due to containing an enzyme called malic acid and vitamin C.

2. Floss Your Teeth

Flossing is more important than brushing; it can easily remove the staining between your teeth, helping them to look whiter.

3. Baking Soda and Lemon

The chemical reaction of baking soda with the citrus of lemon juice has a smile-brightening effect. Brush with this solution up to once per week.

4. Eat Crunchy Fruits and Veggies

Crunchy fruit or vegetables act like nature’s toothbrush just chewing those removes excess food and bacteria from your mouth and they also help to scrub away surface stains, and the acid in the fruits and vegetables actually keep the teeth whiter.

5. Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide prevents the growth of bacteria, can help to  prevent infections, and prevents bad breath, which often results from bacteria.

6. Use a Straw

There are many drinks that can cause serious damage to the enamel of your teeth such as coffee; tea, soda, and wine, whenever you can try to use a straw to reduce direct exposure to teeth, its not very common to drink wine or coffee through a straw, if not possible just make sure to brush after drinking these beverages

Homemade Natural Wrinkle Removers

Even though they say wrinkles make you wiser, there are many ways to look wiser without the wrinkles that are natural, there is no need to buy expensive anti-aging cream or treatments. You won’t need to expend more than a couple of bucks… here is where the real wisdom is. Bananas and their peel have been used for centuries to help with many skin conditions, including acne, wrinkles, warts, psoriasis and poison ivy.

1. Mash a banana until it has a creamy texture and apply it to your entire face for 30 minutes, bananas have so much more going for them than just a delicious and nutritious treat.

2. Coconut oil is the best option when it comes to natural wrinkle removal, since it rebuilds our skin tissue and will also leave your face skin moisturized and feeling smooth and beautiful.

3. Pineapple juice can easily rival any treatment, in fact it is much better, because they are packed with the enzyme bromelain which naturally eats away our top layer of skin when applied topically and leaves the new fresh skin underneath.

Birthday Cake Ideas for Girls

Girls can be particularly picky when it comes to the perfect birthday cake. It can be tempting to give up and make them the usual (boring) birthday cake. Instead, think of symbols that your daughter likes, such as butterflies, princesses or flowers. Then roll up your sleeves and recreate the symbol into the shape of a cake.

A Butterfly

Butterfly cakes are simple to make. Bake a large sheet cake. Cut a butterfly shape out of the cake, and set aside the extra scraps. (Your daughter will appreciate snacking on them later.) Ice the middle of the cake with brown icing, and each wing with your daughter's favorite color.

Use other colors of icing to decorate the wings with several large circles. Add two gumdrop eyes and a thin licorice mouth, and your butterfly is ready to soar right into your daughter's heart.

A Castle

If you're willing to put in the effort to make a triple-decker cake, you can create a castle for your princess's birthday. Make three layers of cake, each one progressively smaller than the last. Stack them in descending order, and ice them with white or pink frosting. Place several sugar cones upside down on the cake to act as turrets. (If you'd like, stick princess-type flags through the pointed tops of the cones.) Decorate the rest of the cake with small gummies and other candies.

A Flower Pull-Apart Cake

Cupcake cakes are easy and fun, and nowhere near as messy as regular cakes. To make a flower pull-apart cake, ice several cupcakes in pink icing and one in yellow icing. Surround the yellow cupcake with the pink ones, and put the candles into the center cupcake. When the time comes to blow out the candle, pull the cupcakes apart and hand them to each of the guests. The birthday girl may choose to eat the yellow one, because it was the center one, or she might want a pink one instead.

How to Decorate Cakes & Cupcakes With Swedish Fish

Cakes and cupcakes are sweet confections and the mere mention of their names often makes mouths water. Adding decorative details to these tasty treats turns them into a sensory experience, as their decorations add visual appeal, making them even more tempting. Whether you're hosting a birthday party for a child who is wild about fish or you are baking the treats for an ocean-themed school function, consider using Swedish Fish as decorative accents on your cake or cupcakes. These gummy fish, available in fruit punch, orange, lemon and lime flavors, will add color to your baked goods and infuse the treats with even more tasty goodness.

1- Place white icing and four to five drops of blue food coloring into a mixing bowl and use a rubber spatula to mix the icing and food coloring together. The icing will turn blue, meaning that it can used to simulate the look of water on the cake or cupcakes.

2- Place white icing and four to five drops of green food coloring into a mixing bowl. Mix the icing and food coloring with a rubber spatula. The icing will turn green and can be used to draw plants onto the cake or cupcakes.

3- Spread the blue icing over the surface of the cake or cupcakes with an icing knife, creating the look of a water backdrop.

4- Use a spoon to scoop the green icing into an icing bag, then use the icing bag to draw seaweed and aquatic plants along the base of the cake. On the cake, create as many seaweed or aquatic plant images as you think looks appropriate. On each of the cupcakes, draw only one aquatic plant to avoid cluttering the small space.

5- Place the Swedish Fish onto the surface of the cake and cupcakes. To ensure proper adherence, gently press the fish into the surface of the icing. Use the appropriate amount of Fish for the size of the treat. For example, on a cake, a small bag of candies can be used to mimic a school of fish swimming through the water. For cupcakes, place only one or two of the mini variety of Swedish fish on each to avoid overwhelming them.

6- Arrange the fish to suit your theme. For example, you can place individual fish onto the cake and draw the icing plants over them to create the look of fish swimming through plants. Alternatively, insert the candy into the cupcake's icing tail-first to create the look of the fish jumping out of the water. For large cakes, you can replicate the look of several schools of fish swimming around by placing small groupings of Swedish Fish on them.

How to Treat Hiccups With Home Remedies

Hiccups are the bane of children everywhere, and even adults are not entirely immune from them. Caused by muscular contractions in the diaphragm that are often brought on by inadequate chewing or eating too fast, hiccups interfere with eating, breathing, drinking and speaking. They can also be tenacious, sometimes holding on for hours at a time if no remedies are employed at home to stop them. Fortunately, there is no need to suffer. There are several very effective home remedies you can use to treat hiccups in children and adults.

1- Swallow a spoonful of table sugar. This remedy was popular in the mid-20th century and was often used to treat hiccups in children. It is not known why the sugar works to cure hiccups, but it does.

2- Hold your breath and bear down internally on your diaphragm. The longer you can hold down your diaphragm with your muscles, the better chance you'll have of stopping the hiccups. As you bear down on the diaphragm, it relaxes and stops the contractions that cause hiccups.

3- Drink water in tiny sips while holding your nose. You should sip again and again without a break until you feel as if the water may start coming out of your nose. After about 25 sips, the hiccups will usually stop.

4- Turn yourself upside down. You can either stand on your head or lie across a foot stool with your head hanging down. Bringing your head below the level of your diaphragm like this often stops hiccups in their tracks.

5- Drink some chamomile tea that has been steeped for at least half an hour. The muscle relaxant properties of chamomile work to ease the contractions in your diaphragm that are causing the hiccups.

How to Care for Mums

1- Choose the area of your garden where you wish to plant mums. Mums are beautiful when they line a sidewalk entrance to your home. In the fall you will be able to find mum plants at many local stores, Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and other major chains sell these colorful flowers. You may also purchase mums from your local growers. Plant mums in the morning. That way the newly planted mums will have a full day of sunlight. Ensure that that there is good drainage for your plants to survive during the winter months.

2- Mums may also be used as a decorative accent to your porch. When using the plants in containers, remember that the potted mums need to be watered every other day.

3- Newly planted mums should be watered at least three times a week. If you have established mums, these do not require additional watering unless there is a drought, normal rainfall should be sufficient for the welfare of your mums.

4- Fertilizing should be accomplished every month. The soil of the plants should be fertilized with a general purpose fertilzer and top dressed with compost. Fertilizers may be purchased from local stores such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowe's, follow the directions on the back of the fertilizer bag. When planting in the fall the mums usually do not require fertilization, however it is wise to look at the plant regularly, if the new plant looks weak, add a liquid fertilizer like Miracle Gro.

5- Pinch back the mums starting in the spring and continue through the summer months. Pinching will encourage branching and the development of bushy plants. Monitor the growth of the branches, when the new growth on the branch reaches approximately six inches, pinch half off of every branch. Take the branch between your fingers and break off around half, or you can use a small shear to cut the branch. Allow the plant to grow another five to six inches before you repeat the pinching.

6- Cease pinching as the summer ends because the plant will slow it's growth. The mums will start to develop flower heads near the end of the summer. The mums should start to show new blooms starting near the end of August and flowers should last until late November.

7- In late November or early December, before the first frost approaches make sure that the soil is very moist. Use mulch or straw around the plant roots to protect the plant bulb through the winter months. In the spring remove the dead mum material and mulch that you put down in November. Replace the old mulch with a hardwood or cypress mulch when the mum begins to show new growth .

How to Make Homemade Beauty Treatments With Bananas

In addition to being one of nature's perfect foods, bananas are also an excellent beauty treatment. They're full of tryptophan, an amino acid that is very nourishing to hair and skin, potassium, which is an excellent natural moisturizer and have plenty of skin-enhancing vitamins A,B,C and E

1- Have a banana beauty treatment. Mash a ripe banana with a fork and apply it to your face, and even your hair. Leave it a few minutes and rinse it out.

2- Create a simple exfoliant by mashing a ripe banana with a small amount of oatmeal. Apply it gently to your face and rinse it with warm water.

3- Make a banana avocado face mask. Mash a small, ripe banana with a ripe avocado, 3 tbsp. of plain yogurt and 3 drops of vitamin E oil. Mash the banana and avocado until they form a paste, and then mash in the yogurt. Leave the mask on for 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse with warm water.

4- Mix up a banana anti-aging mask. Mash a small banana, add 2 tbsp. heavy cream, 1 tbsp. oat flour and 1 tbsp. honey. Apply the anti-aging mask to the face and leave it for 30 minutes. For best results, apply the mask 3 times a week.

5- Deep-condition your hair with banana. Puree a ripe banana in a blender or food processor and add a few drops of wheatgerm oil. Spread the mixture through the hair and leave it for a few minutes. Wash your hair as usual, and apply conditioner.