What I Love Wednesday 9.25.13

Sorry I'm so late here! Today was one of my very best friend's birthday's and I nearly never get to see him anymore so we met up for pizza and ice cream. And that's not a very good excuse seeing as today was my first actual vacation day off of work and I just spent the whole day cleaning. Enough boring chatter- here are the favorites along with a bonus jonas playlist at the end.

Ouija Board Jewelry Box

I saw this beautiful box on Etsy and I am in love. I'm just not $300 in love. This is beautiful though and I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a similar box/tray that maybe I can transform myself because I would love to own a piece like this.

Paper Magazine

I'm willing to go out on a ledge here and say that I like Paper Magazine far much more than I like Nylon. It might be because it's still kind of undergound. But the fashion is totally me and the articles are interesting and well written. The left cover with Ciara is the current issue and the one of the right is MIA who I adore. This is also an awesome interactive magazine if you have a tablet. Just throwing that out there.

Cactus and Succulents

As a kid living in the country I remember HATING cactus because of the damage they could do to a bike tire and a small body, but now I am loving the look and atmosphere that these things give off. I may try to acquire some soon even if they are fake and make some kind of fabulous 'arrangement' with them.

Taylor Swift

I have absolutely NO idea where this new found love for Taylor Swift came from. One day I was browsing YouTube and I randomly come to her page and wonder 'I wonder how many of her songs I actually have heard'. Turns out I knew more than I had anticipated and before I knew it they were stuck in my head on the daily and I was humming them at work. I blame media brainwashing for my being a 'Swiftie' now.

Strappy Hour Flat (pewter) from ModCloth

This is only my second posting for a WILW on a ModCloth item, but my restraint is strong if you have ever seen my wish list or favorites. I love the look of this flat. They scream modern Steampunk to me and I know I would use them as part of a cosplay costume if I had them. Scratch that. I would wear these all the damn time.

Like I said, bonus jonas playlist. I don't know how often I will be doing a playlist for you all considering that when I like a song I will just listen to it on repeat forever, but here are a few of the songs (that are NOT Taylor Swift, I promise) that I have been loving lately.

PLAYLIST:

1. Phoenix - Trying To Be Cool

2. Lorde - Tennis Court
3. Smallpools - Dreaming
4. Grouplove - Ways to Go
5. New Politics - Yeah Yeah Yeah
6. Bastille - Pompeii

(SSS) Stylish Smithereens Shop Update #2

Hello friends. I thought it was time for another shop update since I've listed more things in my shop and I figured that I would show off some of the stuff I've made.

Halloween Black Cat Dangle Earrings with Swarovski Crystals

Hello Kitty Bow Ribbon Statement Necklaces

Multi-Colored Owl Mug Cozys

Faux Druzy Bobby Pins

And back by popular demand are my Skeleton Hand Hair Clips. I swear that between work and Etsy, I have sold around 40 pairs of these.

I have really been hitting the knitting needles hard since autumn and winter are just around the corner. I will soon have Hello Kitty beanie hats and boot cuff/ leg warmers available so that's exciting.

That's all I have to announce. I hope you all had a great weekend! I'm ready for a productive then relaxing birthday week and vacation ahead of us!

The Perfect Pear-ing Smoothie

Get out your pears and yogurt because it's time for another smoothie recipe. This time it's going to be a step up from what we were doing because I normally don't add yogurt, but this came out deliciously!

1 cup orange juice

       1 full, sliced pear

                 1 full banana

                        15 purple grapes

                                   3 tablespoons of yogurt

As you can see I am using this Simple Truth Organic Plain Lofat Yogurt. It is delicious and healthy... What?

Blend and enjoy! This smoothie is sweet and heavy and the texture is smooth because of the yogurt. This is so far my favorite smoothie that I have made so far and I hope you guys give it a try!

A New Look Already and an Update

I believe I warned you all that I would be changing the layout of the blog quite often. I will probably do that until I find something that fits. I had done the same thing with the logo I had created for the shop and it lasted me quite a while. Far over a year. So here's a cute owl background that somewhat reminds me of fall as well. Anyway here is a small update for you all.

I have another smoothie recipe coming for you all. This time I used my good camera to capture the process, so the quality will be much better.

I am going to do a product review on Sally Hansen's Waxing kit. If you use Sally Hansen products, the review might be a bit shocking.

I might be doing a fall makeup look for those who are interested.

I am trying to knit more things to prepare for winter in my shop. Aside from that I'm going to be making my own lip scrubs and possibly other beauty products.

Somehow I LOST ALL OF MY UPLOADED CRAFT TUTORIAL VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE. Oh my gosh. This is so discouraging. I don't know how it happened. It makes me not want to make videos now. I will be filming my vacation and such next week but UGH. That is all on that matter for now.

I guess that's all. Next week Wednesday my vacation begins so I will be able to post a lot of touristy pictures from Denver. We seriously have the biggest list of things to do while we're there and I'm going to attempt to clean the whole house Wednesday and Thursday before we leave. I will be taking before and after pictures so it should be interesting.

That's all for now. I will probably be posting my smoothie recipe tomorrow so get out your pears, grapes and yogurt!

What I Love Wednesday 9.18.13

Here we are again on WILW! At first this used to be hard, but now it's easy and fun. I wonder why I couldn't figure out five items I loved each week. I'm silly. Here we go!

First of all I started watching Once Upon A Time again. I had tried to watch it when I lived with my mom, but I couldn't get into it for reasons unknown. I am really enjoying it now. I am very much in love with how they executed it and the 'flashbacks' and whatnot. I won't spoil it for you, but you should go watch it on Netflix.

Here comes the weird. Tattooed Kewpie doll necklaces. I just think these are the cutest. They're on Etsy through a shop that sells a lot of Rockabilly (can we start calling it Rockabetty for us girls please?) inspired jewelry. The shop is called HouseofWonderland if you are interested.

Speaking of tattoos. How about these Beetlejuice inspired tattoos? How cool would a sandworm tattoo be?

I love these new matte Orly nail lacquers. I think they are beautiful and would be lovely for autumn. I cannot wait to hoard all of these.

Lastly- How cute is Zoella? I've been watching and re-watching all of her videos. She's so beautiful and witty and super cute.

Not Another Berry Smoothie

Here is another quick and easy smoothie recipe. It comes out kind of tart, but feel free to add sugar, yogurt or a second banana to your liking to sweeten it up a bit. It is a really rich purple color and like I said, very tart due to some of the berries.

1 cup orange juice

1 full banana

6 strawberries

15 raspberries

15 blackberries

BLEND!

As easy as always. I'm thinking that I'm going to start exclusively taking pictures with my camera as the quality is far better (you can see that in the previous post). I want this blog to be top notch as it's not only for the readers, but it's kind of like a creative memory and reference blog for me. The only reason I was using my phone is because there is an app on there and I can just put the pictures through it that way and come back to the edited post later to complete. Oh well. It will be well worth the work. 

Fall Lip Colors and Products and Product Reviews

This is going to be one of those sort of 'beauty' posts. I will never go as far as saying that I am a 'beauty guru' or expert but I do like to talk about the products that I purchase, use and products that work for me. This post is about a few of the products I have purchased for fall and my two cents on them.

C.O. Bigelow Rose Salve (Bath and Body Works)

Based on what the tin recommends that this Rose Salve can be used on, I have been using for sort of a balm. It can be used on lips, elbows, knees, cuticles and chapped skin. It's got a very sweet scent to it and appears clear on the lips. Because it is rose extract, it works to soothe and condition skin.

C.O. Bigelow Lemon Pomegranate Lip Gloss (Bath and Body Works)

This is the second product I have by C.O. Bigelow and I am really pleased with it. It has a very distinctive scent of sweet lemon and tastes somewhat like lemonade. It is also clear in color which means that you can wear it alone or over a lip color. I also love that these products are not tested on animals. Upon visiting their website, I have learned so much about their products, history and process that I am now in love. I may have to come back for Christmas presents.

C.O. Bigelow

Dazzlelicious High Sparkle Lip Gloss in Golden Caramel (Bath and Body Works)

I'd go on a limb and say that this is one of my most daring purchases ever. It's got a beautiful pink/ orange tint to it and I wasn't sure how that would match with my skin tone. Luckily, upon application, you do not get a big mess of it and it's easy to put on. At first I thought I would hate it because of it's scent because it does smell like caramel, but it smells a little burnt or something, but the scent actually grew on me because it reminds me so much of autumn. It has a light taste to it as well. It is one of those glosses that feels heavy and sticky, however, but that's my least favorite thing about it.

B&BW Dazzlelicious

Plum Dazzle Shine Attract Shimmers Lipstick and Gloss (AVON)

 These lipstick/ gloss combos are one of the most beautiful and beautifully packaged AVON purchases I have ever made. I first got this darker one hoping it would do something for my skin tone and it does. It's not overly colorful and has just enough silver sparkle to it. It's lightweight and non-clumpy. They are also manufactured in four other colors. I also purchased the Sparkling Orchid.

Sparkling Orchid Shine Attract Shimmers Lipstick and Gloss (AVON)

This was the second lipstick gloss that I got from AVON and as you can see it is a brighter pink color and has golden sparkle to it. I almost feel like it is too pink for my complexion but I think it's a good night time product.

AVON Shine Attract Shimmer

And that's all I have for you in this post. I hope you liked this review and will give the websites listed a click so that maybe you can find some fall and maybe winter products for yourself.

Making Halloween Invitations & The Rule of Embellishment

Here is a sampling of the Halloween invitations I made for my co-workers. By using scrapbook paper, assorted brads and stickers (along with the invitation stamp I used to stamp the information onto the back) you too can make simple invitations.

I didn't really take pictures of my process, but here is essentially what I did. I got this paper stack from JoAnn Fabrics and cut about a third of the paper off. I then took a corner rounding stamp and stamped all of the edges.

The rest is really up to you, but here is the rule of embellishment. It is that you usually want to have no more than 3 types of embellishments on your card. Sometimes it's only two if you are using patterned paper. As you can see from the center card above, I used the skull print paper, two black stickers from the same pack (to give it unity) and I used a needle and thread to stitch some stitches along the top. As you can see from the card to the left, I didn't add much because the paper pattern was so cute all I added were some studded brads and the one on the right had a beautiful printed pattern so I only added a lace trim and a small bat button.

The cards above were a few that I used leftover paper on and completely ignored the patterning rule on, but they still came out looking cute as they are all uniform. This was also a double sided stack of paper, so the piece of paper that I glued to the front of these invitations have the same print on the opposite side so that they aren't really mismatched.

On average, one of these cards took just around 5-7 minutes for me to make. Just have fun with it and make them fun for you and your guests!

What I Love Wednesday 9.11.12

I am sooo sorry that I haven't posted anything else this week. I have been making Halloween party invitations and will make it a point to do a post about them even if it is just to talk about them and the process, maybe even the rule of embellishing. Anyway, here's my five for the week.

These super cute measuring cup kitties from ModCloth. This is one of these items that I assuredly do not need as I have about 4 sets of measuring cups, but how can you not fall in love with these cute little things. I bet all of my food would taste just magical with these.

Apparently this is a thing and unicorn farts smell of bubblegum and spearmint. I found this gem on Etsy and I would just love to whip this out of my pocket and mortify people. I feel like I need this in my life. Anyone else?

Another Etsy find. This pretty much sums up my life and day to day activity. Also, I have been really into rings lately and feel like this would be an awesome addition to my collection.

This is a cute nautical kitty notebook I found on Etsy as well. It is handmade (I'm just saying that because not everything on Etsy seems to be handmade anymore. I see more and more wholesale Chinese shops that the Mods want to do nothing about... Alas- that I a rant for another time.) and lined. I seem to hoard notebooks and stationary as well but I would probably use this notebook for sale documentation or something boring like that.

Lastly are these Devil Suckers from Oriental Trading. I really want to go that extra mile and have one of a kind candy at my party (maybe not to hand out to the kids 5 days later, because I fear that would get expensive, but at the party, yes.) I was thinking of doing prize packs with these in them also. I haven't decided. I am hoping enough people are going to come dressed up (so far, of the 40-ish people I have invited, nearly everyone will be dressing up) so I can give awards for Best Costume, Funniest Costume, Crowd Favorite, etc. I may just do a whole post on my party since a LOT of what I will doing will be DIY or handmade.

If you guys haven't noticed, I am super stoked for Halloween and my party, so I am really just wanting to talk about it. I hope that I will be able to blog/vlog about it and post everything I make for it here and that way you all will get to be part of the fun.

What I Love Wednesday 9.4.13

Another week gone by. This is my birthday month so it's no surprise that my list of desires has grown and grown. Here are the 5 things I love this week.

Acai, Pomegranate & Blueberry Green Tea

In our house it's very well known that I love my tea. I found this gem while it was on sale at King Soopers and it has been my tea of choice for well over 2 months. I like to drink it as an iced tea, but suspect it would make a wonderful hot beverage in the winter. It's good enough to drink without sweetener but makes a delicious concoction with sugar or Truvia. I highly recommend it.

Polyvore.com

I'm sure you all don't recall a time when I was obsessed with making outfits and collections on polyvore.com to submit to character Tumblr pages, but I do. Recently I went on there again to look around at the clothing they carried, and here I go again putting together outfits! It is really a fun thing to do if you're bored, but you should totally check out the clothing as well... on it's own.

Rag Rugs

I really want to make one of these for my next project, I just have one little set back. I don't know how to crochet!  I would love to make one to go in our kitchen in front of the sink, and have looked at many different ways to go about making one. I usually like to do things the easy way, but I'm not sure that an easy way exists for one of these. I either need to learn how to crochet or sew through a ton of layers. I guess I'll have to get creative and keep thinking of how I can do this... or give in and pick up a crochet hook.

Frilly Backpack

A long time ago I might have loved this backpack, and now I love it because of it's monochromatic color scheme. I think it would be perfect to take traveling and has many pockets and even a hidden pocket for secret treasures and snacks. I am seriously thinking about getting this baby for our birthday trip this month to Denver so I don't have to lug around a purse.

 Sick Sad World T-Shirt

Please tell me you remember Sick Sad World from Daria on MTV or Daria at all for that matter. I'll be blunt here: I want this t-shirt! Nostalgia to the max!

That's all for WILW, I'm either going to be posting a birthday wish list or a special edition of WILW for my birthday within the next 2 weeks.