Must Have Beauty Tool: A Foundation Brush

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Are you using a little foam wedge to apply your foundation? Or worse, your fingers? For years I used those little wedge sponges to apply my foundation, because I didn't know any better! But several years ago, a make-up artist with Prescriptives showed me the magic that is a Foundation Brush.

How To Make Simple DIY Flower Arrangements for Your Home

There's just something about a fresh flower arrangement that makes my heart sing. Beautiful, live flowers make any room brighter and more inviting. But the price tag on fresh flowers can be a real problem. With so many options these days, it's never been easier to create simple, DIY flower arrangements, without breaking the budget.

The cheapest and easiest way to make simple DIY flower arrangements, is to look in your own back yard. Do you have some flowers out there, or even some herbs? Both can be cut to make great arrangements. I am no gardener, by any means and much of what we have, came with our house. Right now, in my herb garden, the sage is flowering, so I cut a stem and stuck it in a mason jar with some oregano that's taking over one area of my messy flower bed.

Chalkboard Holiday Wrap

It's that time of year when we spend almost as much time wrapping gifts as we do buying them. But I have to confess, I love selecting a wrapping "theme" and making pretty packages to give to people. When I first started doing this, back in the early 90s, I had rolls of foil paper with penguins and flamingos on them.

Since chalkboard is all the rage this year, I wondered if it would transfer to gift wrapping. A few minutes on Pinterest and I had my answer. It certainly does - perfect for the Holidays or any other occasion.

What You Need (Affiliate Links):

Black Kraft Paper


 Chalk or Chalk Markers



I also bought a roll of red bakers twine because you can NEVER have enough of that!



I plan to add some grosgrain ribbon, maybe a sprig of rosemary and/or boxwood to make things even more festive.

Draw pictures, write messages, whatever your imagination can come up with - the possibilities are ENDLESS!

Be warned, the paper is thicker than regular wrapping paper, so use care when wrapping. Also, the roll is larger than I thought, so I have plenty of black kraft paper for future projects.

Do you have a wrapping theme for holiday gifts?

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Frozen Chocolate-Covered Bananas

This summer, I have vowed to try and make fun and different snacks for my kids. Getting creative in the kitchen and bringing back some classics. I got an email the other night, and it had chocolate covered bananas pictured in it . . .I thought - YUM!

So I set out to make a batch.

What You Need
3 Bananas (more or less depending on your crowd)
Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Popcicle or craft sticks
Coconut, Nuts or Sprinkles (optional)
Knife, Baking Sheet, Parchment Paper

What You Do

• Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Peel your bananas and slice them in half.
• Gently insert the craft sticks into the round end, pushing about half way in.

• Melt some chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (I do mine on 30 second intervals).
• Stir up the melted chocolate to get it nice and smooth.
• Holding the banana by the stick, drop chocolate over it, covering about 2/3s of the banana.

• Lie the chocolate covered banana on your baking sheet.
• Repeat, melting more chocolate if you run out.
• If you want, you can sprinkle the covered bananas with shredded coconut, chopped nuts and/or sprinkles. I bet chopped pretzel or peanut butter chips would be yummy too.

• Slide the tray into your freezer to let the chocolate set - about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

What snacks are you enjoying this summer?

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How to Make an Easy DIY Chalkboard Tray

Who doesn't love something with chalkboard? It's all the rage in decor and crafting right now, and I admit to falling victim. A while ago, I came across the most adorable silver tray, painted with chalkboard paint on Pinterest, and I thought "how can I make a chalkboard tray?" Well, that pin sat in my mind for a long time, poking at me to try and re-create it myself.

I scoured local thrift stores for silver trays, never willing to commit, afraid of messing it up. The biggest hindrance to my crafting is my fear of messing it up. Does that ever happen to you?

In a stroke of brilliance - ok totally random and accidentally, I found out the DOLLAR STORE has silver-looking plastic trays. These would be perfect! Here's how you can make one of these darling trays for yourself (for under $3) - perfect for a Menu Planner, Party, or gift.

Things You Need:

Silver Trays - got these at the Dollar Store
Chalkboard Paint - I used Martha Stewart
Painters Tape
Painting Sponges
Ribbon (optional)

What To Do:

Tape off the edges of your tray - the corners were tricky, so take your time.

Paint the flat part of your tray with the chalkboard paint. Pay attention to your strokes and thickness of the paint.

Let it dry the recommended amount of time.

Add a second coat, paying attention to stroke lines and paint thickness again.

Let it dry overnight - or as directions advise.

After it dries, carefully remove the painter's tape.

Cure the chalkboard by lightly rubbing chalk over it and erasing. Go lightly to avoid scratches.

Now it's ready to use - I turned it vertically and placed it on a small easel I have. You could add a bow to the top with a hot glue gun, or even a small hook on the back to hang it up. The more I thought about it, the more uses I came up - it would make an adorable cheese tray - you could write the names of the cheese right on it!

How would you use one of these chalkboard trays?

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How To Make a Mojito

The key to making a great Mojito is the simple syrup. There are a ton of recipes on the internet for Mojitos, and I took time to sample a LOT of them - just to find the perfect combination for the most delicious Mojitos.

Tutorial: Stacking Bracelets

In case you haven't noticed, there is a serious arm candy fashion trend going around - stacking bracelets. What is stacking bracelets? It's simply wearing several bangles and bracelets (even a watch) all together, mixing and matching with color and texture.

It's a great way to incorporate old and new, modern and vintage into your everyday looks and style.  You can purchase a pre-stacked set of bracelets to match your favorite outfit, but I like creating new looks by pairing things I've had for years with a newer purchase. Just like my 8-minute face, I never leave home without a bit of jewelry.

Let me share with you some of my tips and tricks for pulling together your own stacked bracelet looks. I put together a little video tutorial to help you build your stack. Not sure where to keep your bracelets that you aren't wearing? No worries, I threw in my favorite organizational tip too - enjoy!



So tell me - will you be stacking your bracelets this summer?

catch you soon -
This post contains affiliate links.

Practical Tips for Finding the Right Hair Stylist

Hair. Many of us have it in one form or another - straight, curly, thick or thin, and dealing with it is part of our daily beauty routine. We can make our hair easier to manage by finding the right hair stylist, but how do we do that?

Honestly, one of the easiest ways I've found to find a new hair stylist is to ask women with hair you love. Even if it's a stranger - ask that lady in line ahead of you in Starbucks, "Excuse me, I love your hair - do you mind if I ask who your stylist is??" Most likely, she will be flattered and happy to share.

Another great way to find the right stylist is to visit area salons and talk to stylists. This may be a bit of challenge, but many salons have consultation appointments available for a minimal fee (if any). If they don't have consultations, book a blow-out rather than a cut. A good stylist will ask about your time commitments for your hair as well as your level of comfort with products and tools.

When you've found a stylist you want to try, book an appointment and bring some pictures. Pinterest can be a great place to find hair styles and ideas that you like. But be sure to talk about what your hair is REALLY like and will realistically do. A good stylist will not tell you that you can have long full curls if you can't. 

A hair stylist/client bond, can be a long-term commitment and a real win for both the stylist and the client. Like any great relationship, you need good communication. But finding a new stylist can be scary. I recently had the opportunity to visit Salon L, a local salon and talk with their stylists. I even had the opportunity to speak with the owner and get a feel for his philosophy. I happened to introduce myself and speak with one of the stylists, Michele, and we hit it off. She seemed to understand me and my hair, so I jumped in and scheduled an appointment.

It had been almost a year since my last haircut, and the change in how healthy my hair looked, was amazing. Before taking out her scissors, Michelle asked me a lot of questions about what I wanted my hair to do, what it's done in the past and how it behaves. I didn't get a radical style change, my previous stylist did a great job, just shortening the length, thinning out my thick hair and some other style tweaks.

Finding a new hair stylist can be a daunting and sometimes scary thing. But put a little time and thought into it, and you'll end up with results you love! What are some of your tips for finding the right hair stylist?

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How-To Make Your Own Terrarium

If you've been paying attention lately, you've probably noticed an increase of succulents, air plants and terrarium ideas in advertisements, store displays and magazines. Gardening, both indoors and out is becoming a popular pastime and hobby. After seeing several terrariums, and thinking how cute they were, I got a few friends together to make some of our own and share our results. The February issue of Family Circle Magazine had some really simple instructions to get us started.

Winter Driving Safety Tips

With two big winter storms in the last three days, staying safe on wintery roads has been on my mind.  While I think I'm doing "everything right",  I thought a little research to improve our skills couldn't hurt - right?

Here's what I learned:

Triple-A offers these winter driving tips:

• Accelerate and decelerate slowly to avoid skids. 
• Drive slowly, everything takes longer on snow-covered roads.
• Increase the normal following distance (3-4 seconds) to 8 or more seconds to provide a longer distance in case of a sudden stop.
• Know your brakes. Keep your heel on the floor and apply steady pressure with the ball of your foot.
• Don't stop if you can avoid it (obviously stop at all Stop signs)
• Don't power up hills or stop going up.

Best tip: Stay home.

If you have to venture out, be as prepared as possible with a winter weather emergency car kit. The Weather Channel suggests keeping these 10 things in your vehicle for winter emergencies.

• A blanket
• A snow shovel (there are many collapsible models)
• Flashlight
• Hand warmers
• Matches
• Bottled water and protein/snack bars
• Syphon pump (in case you run out of gas)
• Lightsticks
• Flares
• A whistle

You can store all these items in a plastic bin, car compartment or even a zippered tote bag in your trunk or cargo space. Preparing your car for winter travel is essential, and Lisa from A Daily Pinch offers even more tips and a Winter Safety Travel Checklist.

It never hurts to brush  up on your skills, check over your car (turn signals, lights, wipers and tire pressure) and be prepared.  Drive safe out there - even that awful man in the pick-up truck that yelled at me for driving too slowly on un-treated snowy roads the other day. My dad always told me, "it's the other people you have to watch out for."

What's your best winter weather driving tip? 

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DIY Holiday Memory Album

The Holidays come and go so quickly, in a blur of wrapping paper, lights and cookies, and then it's all over but the clean up. If you're anything like me, you take a bunch of pictures that then sit on your computer, rather than taking time to capture the things you really want to remember.

To remedy that situation, a few years ago I created a simple Holiday Memories Album. It took me only a few hours to put together and covered our entire Holiday Season. There are similar ideas floating around out there if you search for "December Daily", but they can seem overwhelming and involve a lot of time.

For this album, there are only a few steps and you can do it all in one afternoon, or spread it out over the entire season.

First, pick up a festive album. It doesn't have to be fancy. The one I used is a simple 4x6 photo album from Target. I used my craft stash to add embellishments to the cover.

I pre-cut 4x6 pieces of white cardstock and holiday print paper; enough to fill all the pages of the album.

For my set up, I wanted the facing two-page spread to have holiday paper on the left and a picture on the right. Behind the picture, is a piece of white cardstock where I journaled my thoughts about the event, activity or picture. I attached a tab to keep it festive and easy to pull-out. (a ribbon pull would be adorable!)

Once your album is set up, you just take pictures (or use ones from past holidays), print them out and journal.

By the time New Year's Eve rolls around, you can have a little album to commemorate another great family holiday.

Behind on holiday memories? Cover several years in one album - the choice is up to you.

How do you record the holidays for your family?

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Spooky S'mores Halloween Treats

I am going to blame Pinterest for an over-load of ideas for a special classroom treat for Halloween this year. I let Owen look at ideas I had pinned, and then we worked our own interpretation of Spooky S'mores to share with his class.

I had a hard time finding Ghost Peeps this year - I think a lot of other moms were inspired too. But I did find these adorable Halloween colored Peeps, so I decided to use them. (You could also use the pumpkin Peeps or even just plain marshmallows)

Here's what you need:

• Sandwich Bags
• Peeps or Marshmallows
• Graham Crackers
• Chocolate Bars (we used small Hershey Bars)

I liked the idea of a decorated "bag-tag" with instructions for making the s'mores, so I used Word and created squares that we could cut out. I also dug into my papercrafting and scrapbook supplies for some material to make Halloween tags to put on each bag.

We used three paper punches I had on hand to make the tags, and Owen punched them all out and glued them together.

What types of spooky treats are you making this year?

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Turning Butternut Squash into Halloween Ghosts

Looking for an easy, inexpensive and fun Halloween craft? Then let me tell you how to turn ordinary butternut squash into adorable spooky Halloween ghosts.

I did this several years ago, and got so many complements on them. That touch of white on my front step really added some fun to the usual fall colors. All you need is white and black paint, paint brushes or sponges, and butternut squash.

This is super easy, and kids as young as 2-3 can do this with some grown up help.



What have you crafted for Halloween this year?

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This post is linked up at A Life in Balance for Motivational Monday.

How To : Starting a Green Team at Your School

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net / tungphoto

Everyone is going "green" these days, and our schools are no exception. Greening our schools can be good for the environment, good for education and good for the bottom line, as well. If you are a fan of the TV show, Parenthood, you may recall Julia's Sustainability Committee duty.  But if you don't already have a program in place, how can you suggest that your school get its own Green Team in the game?

Start by asking your Parent-Teacher organization, they may welcome the opportunity for a new committee and new volunteers. Check with your administrators and be sure to get clearance for any projects or programs you want to start. Once you get the "green" light - you're all set.

Now, the fun part begins. Your team can develop a mission or vision statement to set the tone and consider inviting teachers, staff and parents to participate on your team, as well. Decide if your team wants to set a few goals to get you started. For instance, you could start a recycle program, such as Terracycle in your lunchroom. Terracycle can be a great place for ideas and inspiration.

We are getting started with this in our school district, and the team is focusing on three primary areas: Reducing Waste, Education and Grounds and Greening. Something to keep in mind, is that when you are just getting started, it takes time to learn how things are currently being done. Once you figure that out, your team can come up with a strategy to improve and green your processes. I keep my ideas on a Green Team Pinterest Board if you'd like to check them out.

The possibilities are endless, from hosting a swap meet for clothes or toys to a clean up the grounds day, to planting a school garden to share with the community or lunchroom. All it takes is a little time and some volunteers to get started. And look around, there are grants and other programs available to help you out as well.

Does your school have a Green Team? What are your initiatives for this school year?

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How-To: Make a Bowling Ball & Pin Birthday Cake

For his 7th Birthday this year, Owen wanted to have a bowling party. The lanes where we chose to have the party supplied everything but the cake. So I set off to figure out how to make a bowling ball and bowling pin birthday cake, and now I am sharing that with you.

Let me start by telling you I am not a talented baker. I can follow a recipe, I can operate a pastry bag. . .but the Cake Boss has nothing to fear from me. But this is relatively easy, so take a deep breath, and let's get started!

5 Tips to the Perfect Pitch

Do you have an elevator pitch? Do you need one? Everyone needs a "pitch" - a way to introduce yourself at a party, or look for a new opportunity, or encourage someone to support your latest cause. But talking about ourselves is not always easy, so how do you make sure your pitch is the best it can be? Here are 5 tips to get you started:

• What do you want people to know about you? What are you hoping to get from them? A job? A connection - that can determine what content you put into your pitch.

• Write it down. This isn't an "off the cuff"situation. Write down everything you want someone to know and then edit it. Whittle it down to the 3-4 key points you can deliver in 30-60 seconds.

• Answer these three questions: Who are you? What do you do? What are you looking for?

• Be authentic. A pitch is typically about them, not you and the focus is on what you can do for them. 

• Consider preparing some variations, depending on the situation. For instance, if you are introducing yourself, you would have a slightly different approach than if you were looking for a job or opportunity.

• You should be comfortable enough to give your elevator pitch in an interview or at a cocktail party, whenever the occasion calls. So practice, practice, practice.

So there you have it. . .seems pretty simple, right? Maybe not. . .but you can do it!

Let me share mine with you:



Leave me a comment with a link to your own elevator pitch, or if you don't have one yet - what you want it to say about you.

catch you soon -

Recipe: Foil Fish Packets

I have always been hesitant to cook fish, but grilling fish in foil packets, seemed pretty easy, so I figured I would give it a try.

This recipe will work with a variety of combinations of white fish, herbs and moisture depending on your preferences.

Ingredients

• White Fish filets - I used  Dover Sole
• Herbs - I used a combination of rosemary and sage from my garden
• Moisture - You  can use lemon, wine, butter, olive oil or any combination
• Salt and Pepper

Assembly

• Divide your fish into serving sizes.
• Tear off aluminum sheets (large enough to fully seal around your fish) for each portion.
• Lay your filets on the foil.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Top with a pat of butter.
• Lay a sprig of herbs on top and stick in a lemon slice.
• Now fold up the foil so that it forms a sealed envelope around the fish.

Cooking
Fire up your grill - this will work on gas or charcoal. (If it rains, you can also put these in the oven) and cook until your fish is done. Depending on your choice of fish and size of your filet, you may want to search cooking times.

For an easy side dish, I sliced up some zucchini, tossed it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and sealed that up in a packet as well.

That's all there is too it - be careful opening your packets, as they let off steam. Have you tried cooking in foil or parchment packets?

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7 Tips for Back-to-School Shopping

Yes, I realize that it's still summer, however if you have been in a store recently, you have seen that it is also time to get ready for Back-to-School. Yes. . .they are going back. I must confess, that I LOVE Back-to-School shopping. . .clothes, supplies, shoes. . .love it.

Today, to help you get prepared and hopefully save a little money, I am sharing my Top 7 Tips to get you ready for Back-to-School shopping for your kids.

How-To: Make Your Own Play Dough

Looking for a fun, easy activity to entertain your kids? Why not make your own play dough? With a few simple ingredients and a pot, you can make a ball of dough to entertain your kids.

Here's what you need:

1 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 cup table salt
2 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
1 cup of water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Here's what you do:

In a medium saucepan, mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar.

Turn the stove to medium-high and add the water and vegetable oil to the mixture.

Stir constantly for about 5 minutes. . .the dough will start to form a ball in the pot.

Once the dough forms a ball, dump it onto a lightly floured surface - be careful it's HOT.

If you want to, you can divide the dough and color it with food coloring.

After playing, put the dough in an airtight container or plastic bag to store.  This is a great activity to teach kids to safely use the stove too.

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