Good Kids Gift Strategy

I love this idea on Emily's blog

http://jonesdesigncompany.com/holiday/giving-gifts-to-our-kids/

Teacher Gift Idea

I was looking on pinterest for ideas on centerpieces for our company Christmas party when I came across a filled ornament that was used at a wedding.  I changed it up a little bit and made them for each of my boys teachers for Christmas.  You can purchase all of the supplies at Hobby Lobby, except for the tag which I got from office depot and found the pic on pinterest.  Avery has some really cute printable tags that are easy to use.

You will need:

Fillable ornaments (I used the iridescent ones)
Sand (you could steal some from your kids sandbox too)
Tiny shells
Ribbon
Iridescent shreds to pad the box
Burlap string or twine would be really cute too
Gift Box

I also spray painted a shell with glitter spray, also from Hobby Lobby, and hot glued it to the top of the box.

My Glam Bag (now called IPSY) Review

In addition to my monthly Birchbox subscription I also get My Glam Bag, now called IPSY, both run $10 a month.  With My Glam every month you get a new makeup bag with the samples.  A lot of the times they're cheaply made, no surpise there but this months was very nice, love the chevron pattern and was better made than the previous months. 

Samples: 

Be a Bombshell black eyeliner, looks exactly like a marker.  I prefer a thinner brush like the Mirabella.  But otherwise it's good.  Stays on all day, easy to remove. 

Coastal Scents eyeshadow quad:  Not sure why they call it coastal scents, the scent is kinda weird to me.  The brown and amber colors are nice, very shimmery but I probably won't use the pink or white.

Couture Colour Pequi hair oil:  This stuff is amazing, I wish I could afford the full size ($50), nice scent, makes my hair shiny and soft.  I've tried quite a few hair oils and this is the best so far.

Mirenesse lip gloss:  Did not like the color, pasty pink, not good for fair skin.  Also had a weird scent and felt like I was putting a thick paint on my lips.

TheBlam mascara:  Great mascara, but at $19 I prefer to stick with my loreal voluminous, same results for me.

Worth the $10 this month just for the bag and hair oil.  I am loving anything with a chevron print right now.

 

Fall Wreath

I love putting together my door wreaths for each season.  Here is  my fall/Thanksgiving:

Goop Birchbox Review

I have subscribed to birchbox for about a year now and am mostly happy with what I get.  But lately it seems I am getting more cleansers/moisturizers rather than makeup/tools/accessories.  I would love to try a BB cream and beauty blender.  I've seen a lot of subscribers getting those via instagram.  I would also like to see them offer an option in the beauty profile where we could opt out of perfume/cleanser/moisturizer.  This month was the Goop box.  Although I never received the email from Birchbox to opt in/out for the Goop box, according to my beauty profile this was selected for me.  

First the EVE LOM cleanser/muslin cloth-I kind of liked the cleanser since it has quite a few essentials oils in it but when I rinsed using the muslin cloth and water it still felt like a film was left on my face.  Not sure if that's intentional.  The muslin cloths were just ok, I think they cost way too much for a piece of cloth, you could use a fine mesh cheese cloth and get the same results.  Or even a baby washcloth works too.  I generally use a Clarisonic brush with my Philosophy Purity cleanser (which I did purchase after receiving a sample in an earlier birchbox). 

Next the DDF pore minimizer/serum, I just thought it was ok, didn't help all that much with pore minimizing. 

The LUNA bar in lemon zest I liked, but if you are not used to a health bar it might taste a little like cardboard to you. 

Next AMIKA hair mask, I loved the colors on the sample package, smelled nice and did moisturize my hair, not sure I would pay $40 for a full size though, I normally use coconut oil as a hair mask monthly.  

The Chantecaille mascara I was not impressed with, my Loreal Voluminous works better at giving me length and definition.  Also had a weird scent. 

So there you have it, next up I'll have my other monthly beauty subscription review-Glam Bag.

Fall is here!

I subscribe to the Jones Design Company blog.  Emily has great ideas and today's post was about calligraphy.  I tried to teach myself to write calligraphy in high school, I'm sure you can imagine how well that worked out.  Since I type so much these days, I'm doing well just to handwrite legibly.  Anyway, totally unrelated but I am so loving Emily's desk, especially that silver little pumpkin.  I just ran down to target after she told me she got it from there.  I looked all over that store and sadly only found a large one :-(.  May have to find another store...I will try again this weekend to get all of my fall decorations up at my house. 

 

http://jonesdesigncompany.com/

Farmgirl Gourmet: Delicious Recipes for the Home Cook.: Easy Pumpkin Spice Latte

I am loving the cooler mornings that arrived this weekend, haven't had a chance to make it to Starbucks yet for their Pumpkin Latte, but I found this today:

Farmgirl Gourmet: Delicious Recipes for the Home Cook.: Easy Pumpkin Spice Latte: If you are anything like me, you find it almost impossible to pass Starbucks at this time of year.  You know what I mean, right?  It'...