Christmas Costume 2014

One of my friends always complains about how she has way too much blank wall space in her bedroom and no idea how to fill it.  I happen to have the opposite problem, but more on that later.  I thought a good Christmas present for her would be a monogrammed 16x20 in canvas that matches the colors of her bedspread.  I do everything freehand, but I was definitely inspired by some art on Pinterest for the flower wreath.  For that and the pink background, I used acryllic paint.  I was going to paint the monogram, but I knew I wouldn't be able to be as precise as I would be able to with a Sharpie.  Whenever I draw someone's monogram, I usually just google "monogram fonts" and go from there.  Again, I prefer to freehand.  

For our final chapter meeting of the year for our sorority, this same friend and I went out of our way to make the theme "Christmas" and encourage other people to dress up.  I don't like to miss opportunities to be festive.  3 layers of green tulle sewn to ribbon (to tie), about 12 small ornaments, and a $1 tree topper from Target attached to a headband, we were decked out as Christmas trees!  It was a pretty cheap outfit overall, I think it costed us $10 each.  And it led to a pretty entertaining/over-the-top outcome ;)

Olivia & Ruby's Winter Photoshoot

Wasn't a very white Christmas in Wisconsin!  The other day, my dog and I decided to hold a photoshoot since the weather was pretty nice.  The end result was...that we are not as photogenic as we thought we were.  But I did try a new lipstick which I LOVE.  I bought the double-ended one in Violet/Palomino because 1) it was cheaper ($12, a full size is around $24-28) and 2) I wanted to try more than one color.  It was a little smaller than I had anticipated, but that's okay. I love the color, but also the fact that it's a matte lipstick that isn't drying.  I feel like that's hard to come by!  Also, I only had to apply it twice during the day.  And the second time was just to freshen it up! I'll eventually end up buying a full size one, but for now the mini works just fine.  Next will be the High Pigment Pencil!

Bite Luminous Crème Lipstick Duo

DIY Wine Bottle Decor Project!

As seen on Pinterest, I decided to do wine bottle crafts for my wine-loving godparents for Christmas!  Yet another finished product that I wanted to keep for myself.  I wish I would have taken pictures during the process to provide better explanation of how I went about making these...but I was not thinking "blog" when I started on them.  Sorry.      To start, I drank (then used) some kind of Barefoot bottle of wine (x2).  The corks had to be whittled down to get back in there, then hot glued.  The necks of the bottles are wrapped in twine (I did that first from top to bottom of the neck) just so I could kind of decide where to start hot gluing the glass stones (from Jo-Ann Fabrics).  Then I started haphazardly gluing the stones onto the bottle, hoping that in some way/shape/form it looked like a clump of grapes.  Luckily, it sort of did.  The leaves are clipped from a branch of fake holly (from my fave place in the world, Hob Lob), then dusted with "gold bronze pulver," which was found in the depths of my craft drawers.  A bow of twine tied on the wine charms, which were found on THE strangest ornament I have ever seen at Farm & Fleet.  There was one of these bad boys left, and the charms were dangling from a weird looking hat.  You were then supposed to hang the monstrosity on your Christmas tree.  Regardless, they worked excellently for what I was doing and it turned out to be an awesome craft that will fit right in with the the decor at my godparents' houses!

I promise next time I'll have a better photographic explanation of the process!

First post + Favorite Christmas gift I gave!

So, I honestly don't know where to begin!  Since most of my posts are going to be things I made or put together, the first thing that came to mind was the gift I gave to my cousin in our gift exchange yesterday.  I've always loved picking out gifts for people, wrapping them, etc., but I've realized that the most fun way to do it is to gift things that are very personalized to whoever you are giving them to.  Or even just things that fit well together rather than a bunch of random items thrown together.  I decided that I would put together a beer gift set, complete with the beer, the glasses, and the coasters.  The limit was $15, so luckily I found things that were relatively cheap.  Crate & Barrel had these "American Brew" glasses on sale for $1.47 each, so I bought 4!  They also had these punny beer coasters that were so adorable I had to buy them for myself as well ;)  I wanted to add in a local beer, so top it off, I got some of the Lakefront Brewery's Cream City Pale Ale (which I have never tried, so hopefully it's good!).  Overall, I think it turned out pretty awesome, and I think she loved it!

American Brew Glasses // Set of 12 Beer Coasters // Cream City Pale Ale (sold at a variety of liquor stores)

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