Sometimes in my free time I enjoy working on little craft project and wanted to share one with you that I did recently. My work had an old white board that they didn't want anymore because it had a big gash in the board along with a few chips and the markers were starting to stain the board, they were going to toss it out, but I remembered I had a can of chalk board paint at home. So I asked them if I could bring it home, once I had a day off and the weather was nice I set to work re-doing the board.
Before spraying it with the chalk board paint I made sure to use painters tape to cover the wood frame so that it would still look nice after I was finished. This was the first time I was able to use this can of chalk board paint, I've had it in my closet for a few months but couldn't find something I wanted to use it on until now. The paint was easy to use, it is used just like a can of spray paint you simple hold the can 4-6" away from the board and use a left to right motion to cover the board. I suggest using chalk board paint outside as it does have a similar scent to spray paint. I let it dry for 24 hours then I added a second coat to make sure everything was covered in the chalk board paint and let it sit for another 24 hours before I let the kids use it.
The chalk paint works wonderful and I think this small project turned out great, as you can see from the photo above my kids love it as well. I have a six year old in kindergarten who likes using this board for math and showing her little brother how to spell, and I have a two year old who is simply happy just being able to scribble all over and doodle as he pleases plus they get to play with chalk in the house so it makes them extra happy. So before you throw out that old white board that doesn't work properly anymore consider turning it into a chalk board and give it a second life!
I normally don't blog about the personal items I buy, but I usually really love the NYX cosmetics brand and was recently kind of bummed out when I purchased one of their products and wanted to share my experience with you here. I have really been in love with liquid lipsticks lately because I love the way they dry, the way they look and how long they last so I was excited to see that NYX has a few liquid lipstick options.
I originally found the NYX Cosmetics Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick first and wanted to try three shades but couldn't find them in the stores near me, every time I went they were sold out. However I noticed they had another liquid lipstick which is their NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream and decided to pick up a shade called Istanbul along with one called Copenhagen, I love how both shades look and they dried well. I was extra excited when I visited one of my local Ulta's on Friday because they finally had the Liquid Suede in Cookies & Cream that I had been looking for.
When I got home I went to try it out right away and found that it is the exact same color as the Sofe Matte Istanbul which was a big disappointment, not just because it was the same shade as the other one I bought but for three other reasons as well. 1.) The NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream has 0.23OZ per lip cream and the Suede only has 0.13OZ although the product packaging is much lager. 2.) The Suede comes with less product for a higher price, the Soft matte is $5.99 and the Suede us $6.99. 3.) The Soft matte smells like cupcakes and the suede has more of a waxy smell to it. As you can see in the photos above based on the packaging they look like two different colors with the cookies & cream being darker and also in a larger tube. Can you tell the different on my lips when I wear both of them at once? My bottom lip is the Cookies & Cream Liquid Suede, and the top is Istanbul sofe matte.
I would suggest checking out the matte lip cream line first because I have a feeling a few of the suede shades will be available in the soft matte and you will get more product that smells better!
There are a few makeup products that I love and thus they are part of my daily routine, When I go on long trips I like bring them with me as well to have them handy. I wanted to share some of my favorites here with you and see what you like to pack for long trips or vacations!
First up is actually a recently found favorite and that is the Tree Hut Coconut Lime shea sugar scrub, I found out about this product during a birthday shopping trip in May and fell in love with the product. I seen that they had a travel set and I knew I wanted to bring it with me on our trip to California so I stopped off at Ulta before we left and picked up this travel set.
Every makeup set needs a bag to be held in, my to go bag is this adorable Totoro zip up pencil case that fits my makeup perfectly and doesn't take up a lot of room in my purse or suit case. Inside of my makeup case you will find a NYX HD eyeshadow base, NYX White eye liner, Ulta crease brush, Star Looks mini palette, Rimmel London Stay Matte foundation, Cover Girl foundation, a Revlon shadow in brown and a Mia Mariu black eyeliner. No these products aren't super high end but they are some of my favorites, I've tried dozens of makeup brands and these products have stood out among all of those. I do wear my colorful shadows but when I am on the go I usually go with a light smokey eye so this shadow set is perfect. Most of these products can be bought from Ulta, and I love hosting giveaways so why not host a contest for an Ulta Gift card?
What is one of your favorite products you can't be without?
PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner will receive a $50 Ulta Gift Card!
Sometimes I will stumble on a Pin on Pintrest that I love and save for later so that I 'might' get around to it. We have all seen some of the pintrest fails out there mainly when it comes to cakes. However not everything comes out as a Pintrest fail some of them are quite easy even for a beginner baker & I want to share one of my favorite recipes I found on Pintrest with you.
What do you need? 2 Ripe bananas, 1 cup of oat meal or quick oats, 1/2 a cup of Chocolate chips, And 1 heaping spoonful of natural peanut butter along with a baking pan, spatula and large mixing bowl. If you are a parent there is a good chance you have all of these items sitting in your kitchen already. Instead of chocolate chips you can use M&M's or another type of chocolate you prefer and the oatmeal can be any flavor you want.
Easy to follow steps:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees while you prep your cookies.
1. Pour 1 cup of oat meal into a bowl. (I find that 2-3 packets of oatmeal works well.)
2. Mix in the two ripe banana's don't worry about large chunks they will work themselves out.
3. Mix in 1 heaping spoonful of Peanut butter and 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips (You can see we used M&M's)
4. Once it is all mixed place into even proportions on the baking pan, You DO NOT need to grease the pan. The peanut butter will prevent them from sticking to the pan.
5. Place in oven at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.
This recipes makes 5-8 small cookies, if you have a large family I suggest doubling the amounts. I have found you do not have to follow this to the exact instruction, you can add more oatmeal for a thicker cookie or even to make a breakfast bar, you can add less peanut butter or more chocolate.
When you are finished your cookies should look similar to those pictured above. This is a great way to use bananas that are going bad or a healthy alternative to traditional cookies since it doesn't have as much sugar. I am sorry I can't link to a source for the recipe as there isn't one attached to the photo pin on pintrest. If you end up making these leave me a comment letting me know how your family likes them, mine love them!
First I would like to say I am sorry I have been away, The last month was spent working and looking at new homes that were potentials for renting. We are now moved into our new home, have unpacked and I am ready to jump back into blogging action.
Today is my Birthday I turned twenty three years old and I wanted to celebrate it with all of you by putting together a giveaway with some of my favorite things: Makeup, Bath goods & jewelry. My daughter is five years old and she is the sweetest little thing, she was the 'Party planner' and had my mother pick up the party good for her, she made me the most adorable birthday card and even put a dollar in it which is simply adorable.
The prizes included are:
A Pearl Paradise Pearl Necklace
88 Color Eye shadow Palette
Soothing Botanicals Bath Salts
Soothing Botanicals Lotion
Soothing Botanicals Body Scrub
DKNY Purfume sample
Mia Mariu lip gloss in Romance
MLP Soap
China Glaze Ruby Slippers in Mini
Madison Street Beauty full sized eyeshadow
Mattify Cosmetics full sized eyeshadow
Various samples
As the giveaway grows I may add extra goodies to the prize pack.
You are free to enter using the rafflecopter form below, this is open World Wide. Keep your eyes open for reivews and giveaways heading your way soon, I have posts to catch up on as well as new content to offer you! Thank you for sticking with me :)
Having something special to share with your significant other or child is Important & everyone should have a special ritual or routine they do with that special person. One of my personal favorite things to keep connected is the I Like Book. What is an I Like Book? It is a journal that is full of lined pages along with some photos spaced through out the book,Depending on the book you have you would write something you Like about the person the book belongs to every day showing them everything you love about them.
I personally have tried the "I Like Couples Book" with my husband and it was quite fun,heart warming and over all a favorite part of the day I would write a little something and then he would write a little something, Examples are "I like the way you play with my hair while we watch movies","I like the way you laugh" and many more,Sadly we lost our copy during a move but I have been wanting to get a new one since,I am very happy to say The I Like Book has contacted me and I will be hosting a giveaway for one of my lucky readers. The I like book offers a book for Couples,Kids or Women each have their own set of pictures,activities and more such as Tic Tac Toe! The books retail for $19.95 and since you only write one like a day [Per person,or per parent] the book will last you for quite some time to come. This would make a great holiday present or stocking stuffer for someone you know and love. ****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.Products were Provided by The I Like Book for the Giveaway free of charge****
PRIZE ALERT:
One lucky winner will receive an I Like Book of their choice - Children,Women or Couples.
*Open for US & Canadian Residents. Shipping to US is free,Canadian winners have to pay $5 for shipping as requested by the company.
Many of you may have notice that my blog was not working properly or even appeared for the last almost week,Why? I am in the process of switching my blog to a domain after I discussed the topic with a new sponsor of mine I decided to go for it because it seems like a good step for my blog, But what I didn't know is that google/blogger is currently going through a "Glitch" phase any new domains bought during this month haven't been working properly to say the least.
My blog ran smooth & perfect while still under a blogspot.com name once my payment for a custom domain was sent my blog first had issues with certain links loading which didn't seem like a huge deal at the time. While clicking on the "View my blog" from the blogspot dashboard it brought up a little notice letting you know blogger was working on transferring the blog to its custom domain & it would be visible to everyone in three days again I didn't have an issue with it. About four days after purchasing my new domain I got online to post a new blog post & go about my daily routine upon visiting my blog I found a "404 ERROR" link/website not found in our system sorry please check again I was heart broken, My blog was gone invisible to the world even to myself for almost a week. During this time I felt helpless I didn't know what to do so I tried contacting blogger about the issue which is when I found out they have no phone number they can be reached at & they do not accept direct emails from their customers they just had a forum/chat board for blog and site owners to lend a hand to each other if possible,I found not only was my blog "Missing" from the world but a few dozen other blogs/site owners were having the same issue.
As you can see I was finally able to get my blog back online it finally let me switch from the custom domain back to a regular blog,The custom domain still isn't working so until blogger can fix the issues with the domains I will be sticking with my regular blog! I am sorry to anyone who tried visiting my blog but had a issue with it loading.
I consider myself a very crafty person I love to create jewelry,mini top hats,home decor,Scrapbooking & more but one of the things I wish I had more time for is Scrapbooking I just never seem to have enough time to sit down long enough to place everything,glue,ect so I have thought about using a Digital scrapbook software program. I didn't know which of the many digital kits to try until I was introduced to a company called My Memories when offered to do a review & giveaway I couldn't refuse. I received a download of their My Memories Suite Version 3 - Full.
Buying & downloading the My Memories digital scrapbooking software is simple & easy you simply head to their website www.MyMemories.com follow the check out instructions & then hit 'Download' you will be asked a small number of questions then your download will begin. I found the software to be very easy & simple to use everything is laid out for you all you have to do is decide where to place everything. I wanted to do a simple test page to show you how everything is set up below you can see an example page I made using photos of my daughter,the page took me about two minutes to throw together. Want more backgrounds,embellishments,imprints,ect? My Memories offers FREE downloads on their website which contain more pages & items for you to play with,Their free kits are quite impressive just like their software. This can help take the time out of scrapbooking,create your page online print it out & add it to your scrapbook. But wait you don't have to make just Scrapbook pages using this software program you can use the edited photos & pages you create to make Mugs,Calenders,Greeting cards,Invited,shirts,Mouse pads & more that are uniquely your own. I think that this software kit from My Memories is worth owning it gives you a fantastic variety of items to use,it is easy to use even for scrapbook,digital software,photo editing & crafting beginners plus it is affordable.****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.Products were Provided by My Memories for the Review & Giveaway free of charge****
As an added BONUS My Memories has decided to share a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!). Use the Code "STMMMS66821" To get your Discount.
PRIZE ALERT: One lucky winner will receive their Own My Memories Suite Version 3 - Full software download [A $50 Value]
HOW TO WIN: RULES : To be eligible for this giveaway contest you MUST do the MANDATORY entry below. You only need 1 Mandatory entry to enter, but you could also have Additional entries to maximize your chances.Please remember to leave your email in your mandatory entry so that I am able to contact you if you win.You do not have to be a blog follower to enter this giveaway but I would love if you would become one it will help you keep updated on All of my giveaways.
For a while now I have been wanting to get my daughter a new chair for her room/Play area but I was unsure where to look until I found a fantastic company called HooHobbers who sells Unique specialty products for babies & toddlers. For a recent review I was sent a folding Primary Canvas kids rocker which can be seen below:
It was sent with my daughters name personalized onto the back [Name has been blocked by the cute stuffed mouse for safety]. The first thing I loved about this chair is the fact it is easy to fold,unfold & store when it is not in need it can easily be folded & stored under the bed until it is needed again.I enjoy the colors on this chair they are bright fun & aren't gender specific. I enjoy the fact that this chair rocks that way when my daughter is reading or watching a movie she can sit happily & rock during play time she likes setting her chairs in a row or circle then she places her stuffed animals in the chair & talks with them so I know she will enjoy playing with her stuffed animals in her new rocking chair. Hoohobbers offers more than just chairs other products they offer include Kids easels,Table/Floor lamps,Shower curtains,Hooded towels,Kids table sets & more. Hoohobbers had fast & friendly customer service,fast shipping & their products are top quality and well made I would put this in the top picks for my Holiday shopping list. Hoohobbers offers personalizing and customizing services in quick turn-around times.****This was not a paid post and my honest opinion was used. The opinions are solely my own and may vary from others.Products were Provided by Hoohobbers for the Review & Giveaway free of charge****
PRIZE ALERT: One lucky winner will receive their own Primary Canvas kids rocker [You can personalize with your childs name] Retail Value: $60
GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED WINNER IS - #112 Rebecca [imsosweepy]
