Christmas Crafts 2013
For some reason this year I decided that I wanted to make a lot of my Christmas gifts to people this year instead of purchasing something. It wasn’t a financial reason… I think mostly I was just feeling crafty and had a lot of good ideas for people and thought “Hey I can make that”. Eventually, this is the final list of ALL the things I made! Unless you know me well, you probably won’t follow the list of names, but good luck trying 🙂
- A personalized cross stitched bookmark for my sister-in-law Bridget
- A personalized cross stitched bookmark for my sister-in-law Beatrice
- A personalized cross stitched bookmark for my sister-in-law Mary Clare
- A personalized cross stitched bookmark for my sister-in-law Genevieve
- A personalized ‘Baby’s First Christmas’ ornament for our newest nephew Charlie
- A personalized ‘Baby’s First Christmas’ ornament for our newest niece Brandy
- A personalized ‘First Fawver Family Christmas’ ornament for Charlie’s parents, my brother-in-law Michael & his wife Bridget
- A US Army ornament for my brother-in-law Michael (he’s a vet)
- A US Air Force ornament for my brother-in-law Zachary (he’s currently enlisted)
- A fleece baby blanket for Charlie
- A fleece baby blanket for Brandy
- A fleece baby blanket for our nephew Russy
- A fleece baby blanket for our niece Isabel
- A cross stitched giraffe ornament for Russy (I made him a personalized ‘Baby’s First Christmas’ ornament last year & want to make him one every year)
- A cross stitched ladybug ornament for my friend Veronica
- A cross stitched apple bushel & pie ornament for my friend Jennie
- “Wish” wine charms for my co-worker Judi (which doesn’t include the two book club custom sets she was nice enough to buy from me!)
- Doggy wine charms for my co-worker Ginette
- “Luck” wine charms for my co-worker Tanya
- Sports ball beer glass charms for my co-worker Randy
- Saints medal wine charms for my sister-in-law Celeste
- Sewing themed wine charms for my sister-in-law Monica
- Wine Lover wine charms for Dominic’s new boss
- A red & green tutu for Jennie’s daughter Joy
- A pink & white tutu for Joy
- Red & white polka dot hair ties for Joy
- A tulle decorated metal basket for Joy (it counts!)
- A tulle decorated hair band for Joy (I had extra tulle but not enough for another tutu!)
- A charm bracelet for my stepsister April (Russy’s mom)
- Designed a photo book of Russy’s baptism using photos I took & had Shutterfly print 2, one for April and one for her mom Joanna
- Designed a photo plaque for Dominic’s office at his new job, again using Shutterfly for the heavy lifting but it took some time to pick out the right photos!
- Personalized a stocking ornament for Charlie to add to the large family set I gave my mother-in-law last year.
That wasn’t even all the crafting I’ve done since October! I also…
- Used my Cricut to make decorations and vinyl cut outs for my Halloween pumpkins
- Constructed the accessories for my epic Stay-Puft Marshmallow (wo)Man costume
- Made a felt bag, just because I had extra felt (still do)
- Used the Cricut again to make table settings and such for Thanksgiving
- Cross-stitched a stuffed giraffe for Russy’s first birthday
- Put together a “My First Year” picture frame collage for April
- Made a paint bucket donation can for the San Leandro Historical Railway Society depot repainting fundraiser
- Made two sets of wine charms commissioned by my co-worker Judi for her book club’s annual gift exchange.
- Made some other wine charms to sell in my Etsy Shop (eh, I had the supplies out and needed to keep my hands occupied while catching up on the DVR)
- 4 ornaments from our high school and college tassels
- My yearly home made ornament for our tree (most are cross stitched but some are other mediums)
For ease, a photo album just for the crafts mentioned! I don’t have pictures of quite everything, but you’ll get the idea 🙂
Manicure Round-Up: November Edition
I admit, I got lazy! I went to get a professional manicure. Let me tell you, for as much as I tend to mess up my own manicures and get polish on my fingers sometimes, this lady was no better! I even had to ask her to get some remover to take it off – she was just going to leave it! UGH. So, back to doing my own.
I’ve been spending a lot of time crafting lately (more on that after Christmas once all gifts have been opened) so I haven’t done a ton of stuff with my nails. I even let them ride without polish for a few weeks because I read an article saying it was healthy for them to be polish-free sometimes. After a ton of breaking and chipping and peeling (yes, it’s as uncomfortable as it sounds) I quickly went back to putting on at least a clear coat and they’ve started to shape up & fly right.
Read MoreIt pays to have Klout!
Seriously, it pays to blog! Well, mostly in freebies so far! Last month I told you all about the Poshly Custom-Tailored Freebies I received. I’m still giving those products a good testing, so I’ll have reviews for them soon I hope! Since then (okay, and a bit before that) I’ve been paying more attention to Klout, more specifically the Perks section.
Klout has come through with a variety of perks that suit the variety of things I blog about perfectly! First, it was Blowfish for Hangovers. I intended to give it a good try after my planned Halloween shenanigans, but I ended up with a cold so I didn’t drink. I think I’ll be really tying one on at Thanksgiving, so let’s hope I’ll be able to test on good old Black Friday! Check out Blowfish for Hangovers on Twitter!
Next, I was invited to host a #RTGirlsNightIn and provided with a fantastic set of makeup brushes from Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman. My small Girl’s Night was a success and the brushes are fabulous! I haven’t worked with makeup brushes this nice since I was doing stage makeup in college, and let me tell you, it makes a difference! I’m stoked to have these brushes and I think I converted a few of my friends! Check out Real Techniques on Twitter or Real Techniques on Facebook!
Changing gears from beauty products, the next Klout Perk I received was 50 custom business cards from MOO Cards. Again, I’m totally a believer in MOO now! Coming from a background working for a professional printing company for 5 years, I’m very picky about the quality of my business cards and where I get them from. I remember getting a set of cards from MOO when they first came out, back when you could only get the very small cards (I think they’re still in a drawer somewhere in the recesses of my desk!). I’m super happy that the printing looks good, the stock is nice and thick, and even the obligatory Klout logo looks good! More on these in a later post, but in the meantime, check out MOO Cards on Twitter or MOO Cards on Facebook!
Back to beauty, just today I received TWO packages – a Klout Perk from Freeman and my very first Vox Box from Influenster!
The Freeman Perk contained three lovely masks with a great card full of suggestions for creating a Multi-Mask routine for folks like me with combination skin (i.e. oily in some places, dry in others). There’s a Freeman Feeling Beautiful Cucumber Facial Peel-Off Mask, an Avocado & Oatmeal Facial Clay Mask, and a Charcoal & Black Sugar Facial Polishing Mask! The first two I’ve seen on shelves before but haven’t tried yet and the third I’ve plain never seen! I can’t wait to try them out! Check out Freeman Beauty on Twitter, Freeman Beauty on Facebook, or Freeman Beauty on Instagram!
I have more Klout Perks coming to tell you about soon! Check out the brands who were kind enough to send me some stuff to try! You can also give me more Klout by giving me a +K on these topics and check out my Influenster profile too!
Disclosure: I was given complimentary products or samples because I’m a Klout influencer. I am under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about these companies. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or companies. Affiliate links for the products are contained in this post.
Read MoreJulep $1 Nail Color on Black Friday!!
WOW… I’ve been wanting to try Julep for a LONG time and now is my chance and yours! Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Shop $1 Nail Polish at Julep.com (Limit one $1 polish per customer – but everything else is on sale too!)
Read MoreMeaningful Beauty Crème de Serum Review
You’ve seen the infomercials on at 3:00 am. Valerie Bertinelli starts telling you all about this skincare line from Cindy Crawford. They show you pictures of Cindy at 20 and pictures at 45 and point out how remarkably similar they look. The woman seriously doesn’t age… and Val tells you it’s because of Meaningful Beauty products. Cote de Pablo chimes in and also goes on and on about how great it is. She’s only a couple of years older than me, which makes me think I need to step up my anti-aging product game plan here!
I’m sure most of you are somewhat skeptical of most products hawked in late night commercials. I’ve been wowed by some As Seen On TV type products in the past and most fall pretty short of the amazing ways they’ll allegedly change your life. I can only really point to one product I’ve bought from an infomercial that was actually worth the two easy payments of $29.95 I spent. Until this one. So thanks to Influenster, I can share this Meaningful Beauty Crème de Serum Review with you!
I received Meaningful Beauty Crème de Serum complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes. I am under no obligation to write a favorable review, but I will, because I actually really do like this product.
I have combination skin, which means I get oily patches not far from dry patches. My main concern is the dryness, however, and not turning the dry patches into oily patches. A lot of facial moisturizers I’ve tried either feel heavy on my face or oily, or just don’t moisturize like I need.
Meaningful Beauty Crème de Serum actually feels wonderful. It’s a very luxurious feel that is moisturizing and not heavy at all. It almost has a gel like texture when it comes out of the bottle. As the name implies, it’s not thick like a cream and not too slick or thin like some serums. The scent is light and clean, which I like because I usually can’t stand the perfume-like “old lady” smell of a lot of anti-aging products. The ribbons inside the bottle combine flawlessly. I’ve been using this for about a week and I really like it. It somehow takes a little bit of grease away from the oily parts of my face, in addition to really making the rest feel softer and smoother than before. I’m definitely a fan!
Resources:
Read MoreManicure Round-Up: September & October Edition
I’m sure you have figured out by now that “next week” can sometimes mean “next month” when it comes to my updating here 🙂 I’m sorry! I read somewhere that it’s bad to keep polish on your nails, so I actually took a lot of time off from doing manicures to give my nails a break. They broke, alright – which extended my break because they ended up in a bunch of different lengths, chipped constantly, broke, etc. It was a crap shoot from day to day. Of course, I added a quick top coat of glow in the dark polish without any base coat or top coat for Halloween and they started to turn around. So I think this “let your nails breathe” thing might be overrated for a person who keeps polish on most of the time.
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