Marshmallow Flower Basket & Noisemakers

Hello, I hope everyone is well today. It's a very rainy day in Chicago today. A day to just cuddle under a warm blanket. But I guess we can for today put up our last D.I.Y. post from our nieces birthday. Today we are going to show you how we made a pretty flower basket from marshmallows! Yes marshmallows! Then we'll show you how we customized regular noisemakers.
So here is the supplies you will need for the marshmallow basket:
1.Basket (can be customized)        5.Party Bags
2.Marshmallows (Size: Large)        6.Ribbon
3.Lollipop sticks                              7.Dry Foam
4.Grass (Leftover from Easter)      8. Scissors

 So now that you have your supplies let's get started. First make sure your hands are clean and dry. We chose marshmallows that were pink and white that we bought from our local produce store. We used 2 bags that was enough to make 21 treats. We bought the lollipop sticks and party bags from Wal-Mart. We alternated colors and used 4 marshmallows on each stick. Now you can have someone help you like, like we did. Our nephew had a blast helping us even though we would have made more if he hadn't kept eating them. And come on look how cute he is!

In the next step take your scissors and cut 5-7 inch ribbons. All you have to do is wrap the ribbon around the bottom of the lowest marshmallow and tie a bow at the end. And tada! You have a "flower". Just keep doing this process until you have enough to fill the basket or however you may need for your party.

Okay, now that you have your marshmallow flowers made it's time to get your basket. Now the basket we used I bought at a garage sale for like a $1 and then just spray painted it. I've had this basket for awhile. you don't have to spend a lot to make it look nice just add a couple of bows on each side. And usually the older it looks the more vintage and cute your marshmallow basket will look. Get your dry foam and cut it to fit the bottom of your basket. We used leftover grass from our Easter baskets, so we used that to hide the dry foam but you can use whatever you have at home put your own twist on this part. Then just start adding your marshmallow flowers to your basket and watch it bloom as you add more and more. And that's it. T-A-D-A!

Now For the noise makers it was really simple. All you need is
1.Noisemakers                                                       4.Glue gun w/glue
2.A pack of tissue paper in your desired color       5.cardstock
3.Scissors                                                              6.Stickers
First start by peeling off the original wrapping of the noisemakers, but keep one so you can outline the width and length of each rectangle.
Once you have the size you need just keep cutting sheets of the same size. We used to rectangle for each noisemaker. And remember it doesn't have to look perfect.
Now that you have your rectangles cut out its time to cut again, this time cut parallel lines coming down about 3/4 of the way of the rectangle.
Once you have that all sorted. Grab your hot glue gun and 2 sheets and place glue across the top of the sheet. Then just quickly glue your sheets to the noise maker.
Now that your noisemaker is complete just add detailing to your liking. We cut out #1 from cardstock and just glued it to the noisemaker since our niece was turning 1.
Add stickers or even glitter, but be careful if you do because we used tissue paper and its delicate. You can use regular paper to make it more sturdy and is less likely to rip. Well that's it for today. As always we hope you try and enjoy trying these projects. Have fun making them. Until next time!

Birthday Crown for the Birthday Girl!

Good afternoon to all. Sorry we didn't post yesterday, but with the tragic events that happened yesterday posting was not something that was on our minds. So hope this makes you guys a little more in a cheerful mood. Our niece's Birthday was a lot of fun and today I will show you how we made her Birthday crown.

 

 

Ok to begin this is the supply list you will need for making the crown.

1. 2 Sheets of Cardstock (different colors)     5.Hot glue gun & glue

2.Ruler                                                             6.Rhinestones (we bought ours @Michaels for $.99)

3.Scissors                                                        7.Ribbon

4.Letter stencils (Can get at any craft store)   8.Crown template (we found ours online)

 

1.So first decide how big or long your crown will be. Since our niece is young we were lucky we just needed half of the cardstock. So we cut it in half.

2.Next get your template and trace over your cardstock, but on the plain side of the paper. We found our template from this cute site Icing on the paper. You guys should check them out @ http://www.icingonthepaper.com/blog/. It's another great site. So thank you icing on the paper peeps!

3.Next cut out the crown and lay it flat on a clean surface.

4.Now comes the tricky part. For the letters we used a pink  glitter cardstock. The trick is to trace on the clean surface of the paper and when you use the stencil trace the letters backwards. You can see an example of the number one. Sorry didn't have a picture of when I traced the letters. Oops! That way you'll have the letter right side on the pretty side. 

5.Carefully cut out the letters and put them on the side.

6.Now that you have your crown and letters all cut open your pack of rhinestones. We bought the ones we used at Michaels and found them in a clearance bin. So we got them for $.99 cents.

7.First do a mock of how you want the crown to look. Take a picture if need be. Just in case. Then with the hot glue gun start sticking them on. PLEASE BE CAREFUL! I still have burned fingers from making the crown.

8.Now that your crown is all looking pretty and almost finished, use the ribbon and secure the end of the crown where you pulled it together. Just so it won't come undone when your in the moment.

9.finally enjoy your work and give yourself a pat on the back. Great job.

I hope this was easy for you as it was for us. We hope you guys have fun doing it. And my sister-in-law might kill me for posting this pic, but it's ok. I just want you guys to get to see how it looked on my niece. But if you don't hear from me you know why! J.K.! We were all surprised she kept it on most of the night. I guess A princess knows when she deserves to wear her crown. Stay safe, God Bless, Until next time!



 

 

D.I.Y. Birthday Banner

Hello again! To continue our D.I.Y. projects, today we will show you how to make your own Birthday banner. As we wrote in our last post our niece is turning 1 this weekend and we are very excited and happy for this special occasion that we decided to help out my brother and make a couple of the decorations. We already showed you how to make Birthday crowns since our niece is having a princess pink theme. It's Banner Time!!!So for this project you will need the following:

1. Cardstock paper (in 2 colors)          5.Rubber cement glue
2.1 sheet of white poster board           6.Glue gun & glue
3. Ribbon (in desired color)                 7.Scissors
4. Glitter                                               8.Tweezers

So in order to begin this project start with the color scheme that your going for. Ours was centered around the color pink. The second thing is decide how big you want your letters to appear on the banner. Our letters were 3 1/2 inches. Now if you don't have the money to buy letter stencils you can do what we did which was make our own. First we went to our handy dandy computer and used the PowerPoint program to make letters to the desired size we wanted. It'll take you a couple of letters at a time to print based on how big you decide to make your letters and we used a light shade so we didn't end up using a lot of ink to print our letters.

 

 

The next step we did before putting glitter on the letters was to first cut them out after printing them. Then pasted them on the white poster board to make the letters more sturdy since regular paper is lightweight.

 

 

 After we let the letters dry for a bit (about 20min.) we cut out the letters once more. Once you have all the letters cut out the fun and messy part begins. The Glitter!($2.99 @Michaels) We once again used the rubber cement on the letters and covered each letter completely in glitter. We grabbed our tweezers and shook out the access glitter then put the letters on a sheet of paper.(*The tweezers are easier to move the letters since you might have glue on your hands!)  Do all the letters and leave them on the sheet of paper overnight, just to make sure the rubber cement sticks with the glitter on the letter.

 

 



 

Now to make the background for your letter. We decided to make a simple flower. We used to different shades of pink of cardstock paper (8for $1 @Michaels) to go with our nieces pink theme. Make sure you count exactly how many you will need or use before you begin. Also its always a good idea to make an extra 2 of each. Just in case you make a mistake you have a back-up. Remember we are new to this too! So it's okay if you make a mistake. For the bud of the flower we used the lid of a condiment from our house which was a 1/2 an inch larger then our letters. We outlined on the opposite side of the paper since no one person can cut a traced line perfectly. You won't be able to see the traced line in the front. I found a pretty simply design of a flower which was about an inch larger than our bud. Trace the same way on the opposite side of the paper, and we were lucky to get 2 flowers from 1 sheet of cardstock paper. So in the end you will have three parts of your banner before you put the flower together. 1.the letter, 2.the bud, and 3.the flower.

 

 

So now comes more FUN! Putting it together!

 

Think of it as a puzzle. First using your rubber cement glue the bud to each of the flowers. Let them dry for at least 20 mins. Yes that long just to make sure it does fall off when you add the letters. Remember the glitter adds weight to the letters. Then using your handy dandy tweezers grab a letter and this time using your glue gun (Cause you really want these suckers to stick!) put some glue to the back and quickly place the letter on your flower. Carefully with the tweezers put some pressure to the letter onto the flower to make sure they stick. Then leave the flowers on a clean surface. We put ours on the floor and left them overnight. I say wait about an hour before you hang them. You don't have to leave them overnight as we did. It's just we did ours in the evening and honestly, we were tired.

 







 
So next we used regular wrapping ribbon I had in my collection of ribbons. (f.y.i. I like wrapping gifts in ribbon instead of putting an already made bow. I have a lot of ribbon!) First decide how you want each letter position before gluing each one on your ribbon. Use your hot glue gun and add dots to the back of each flower then quickly add to the ribbon. (Sorry this part might hurt!) Using your fingers press the flower with the ribbon so the glue spreads a bit and sticks. This might burn a little so sorry. I have burnt tips if that makes y'all feel a littler better. Have fun with this though and let your imagination run wild on how you want your banner to look like. And this is a preview on how it looks.

 

Remember, make sure you give yourself time to do these projects. They are suppose to be fun and bring out the creativity in you. If it becomes stressful or feels like a job or chore, Mmmm.... Maybe this is not for you. Good look and we always love hearing from you. Until next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







D.I.Y. Birthday Crowns

So this Saturday is our nieces' first birthday. Yay! And as every little girl in the world her theme is princesses. Specifically Cinderella. So Erika and I decided to volunteer to decorate for her party. I have to admit that at first we were so excited and had so many ideas going through our heads. Then the next day reality hit. Holy crap it's a lot of work! So I want to begin by writing that yes you can save a lot of  $$$  But it is a lot of work and takes patience especially for first timers  as ourselves. So think about that before you begin. I do love the people that do it though because you put your heart into making it one of a kind. So today in a series of D.I.Y. posts we will be posting, to follow the theme of princesses we are making paper crown party hats.
 

To begin we bought 4 sheets of large poster paper. 2 in blue and 2 in gold. We bought them at .99 cents each at Micheals craft store. The template for the crown we borrowed (*wink *wink) from our local Burger King. Thank you. It was the easiest design and we chose this because it also has slits on one side so any child can adjust the size of the crown. We bough these cute sparkling foam stickers at .79 cents each to add a little sparkle to the girls crowns and a silver marker to write and outline for the boys crowns.

 

Step 1: Trace the outline of the crowns on the poster . We managed to make four crowns out of one poster each. So we had sixteen crowns in total. Two extra from what we were told are expected at the party. Always make sure how many you need before you begin your projects or at least an estimate.







Step 2: Cut out the crowns and this is where you are going to need a little patience and a steady hand. Also a good pair of sharp scissors come in handy too. Remember we were able to get 4 crowns out of each poster board.

Step 3: This is the tricky part. Cut slits into the newly cut crown so the crown can be adjusted based on who wears it. Be careful. There is a tool to make this easier, but we used a regular box cutter we had and overlapped the crown we used to trace. The slits were already cut so we just used those slits as a guide. Also put something underneath so you won't damage any furnishings.

Step 4:This is where it gets fun start outlining the blue crown. You can make any designs you like. Just make sure you have a clean space and an open area to draw and move your hand swiftly and with ease. Remember once you made a mistake on this silver on blue crown its going to be hard to fix or erase.

And that's it! These are our finished outlined crowns. I Just wrote My 1st Birthday on each. I'm sorry I didn't photograph my nephews crown. His crown says "Big Brother" It's great because you can customize each one or have with the name of each child on each one . The possibilities are endless!










   

Now for the girls crowns we wanted to keep it simple since the paper was already a pretty gold color. We just added the sparkling foam stickers to accent each crown. We used the same marker to write the same as we did for the boys crowns and easy to do. At the bottom are to pics of me and how they would look like on. Sorry didn't have any make-up and my hair. (Never mind) Back to the crowns. So here are our ideas on how to make easy crowns and use them for party hats. More importantly we hope they help you save some money. In total for this project we spent about  $6.00 dollars! Now I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty great! Until next time!

              

 

 

 

Books, Books, and More Books!!!

Happy Sunday Everyone! I hope everyone is doing well today. As you all know my cousin and I live in Chicago and we would like to show you another great place that we love! Now personally I would like to say that I Veronica am a book NERD! I love me some books. What's great about this place is that it appeals to all. They sell cd's, dvd's, magazines, gift items, cards, and even vinyl! And all for about half the price you would pay in regular retail store. I would like to thank my friend Alex for introducing me to this hidden gem. Now to end the suspense. I am talking about....(drum-roll please!)  Half Priced Books!

The company has a couple of locations. This store is hidden in a little corner of the shopping mall at the Village Crossing shopping center in Skokie. But that doesn't stop people from finding and shopping in this little corner store. For more information check out their website at http://www.hpb.com/.

I like looking for dvds here not only because they are at a great price, but also you find your favorite and might I add popular movies and shows. They are also start to carry more Blu-rays. They have a variety of categories which include musicals, documentaries, and westerns to name a few. All the staff at this store is friendly and more importantly knowledgeable of what they have in stock and what is popular and give great recommendations on books! It does get busy so I usually go early in the morning on weekends or midday on weekdays.  

Find your favorite and current bestsellers. Especially teen books! We all know how some of our favorite series can put a hole in our wallet, but can't get enough. This store is for you. If your a first-timer make sure you give yourself enough time to look around because a girl can literally get lost in the rows and rows of books. Read a little, shop a little, buy a book tonight!!! Until next time. Happy shopping!

Hair 411!

Last Week we posted some skin care tips that we found on the Lauren Conrad "Beauty". This week we are going to provide you with some hair care tips that we have found from the same book. When it comes to hair girls will be one of the first ones in line to know the secrets, and new tips that are coming out in order to enhance their skin or hair. Can't blame them I would do the same thing. Away to describe our hair would be dead. Yea it is sad to hear but its true our hair is dead and the more we do to it like dying it, blow drying it, or using any hair tool that uses heat it damages and kills it more. 

How frequently do you think you should wash your hair?

a. Everyday
b. Once a week
c. Every other day

Well their is NO right answer!

a. Everyday

Some people like washing their hair everyday but it doesn't make it right or wrong.If you wash your hair everyday you strip the oil from the scalp, causing your follicles to produce sebum at  ahig rate. Since sebum is the oil that make sour hair greasy and helps it stay healthy.

b.Once a week

Some people say that washing your hair once a week is good but imagine having your hair dirty for a whole week. I think I wouldnt be able to do it. If you wash it once a week you allow your hair to produce more oil and your hair stays healthy.

c.Every other day

Im the type of person that washes her hair every other day becausse before i would wash it everyday and I've noticed that my scalp was getting to dry and thats because i kept on washing away the oil that helped my hair stay alive. Another advantage of washing your hair every other day means that you wont be blow drying it everyday. A way to keep your hair from looking messy every morning is by sleeping in a loose braid the night before or two braids.

Ingredients to Avoid!!

• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate & Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS & SLES)

This is mostly found in shampoo. They are skin irritant, their also studies on how it can damage the immune system, and if it's combined with other ingredients it becomes carcinogenic.

FYI: Carcinogenic means it is potential to cause cancer.

• Triethanolamine

It's NOT carcinogenic on it's own, but if it interacts with other chemicals it will become carcinogenic.

• Propylene Glycol

This is a humectant. It can also cause dermatitis, eczema, hives, and it can get worst to kidney, liver, and brain problems.

We also have 3 hair masks that Lauren recommended!

1. Coconut Oil: cover the ends of your hair with a tablespoon of coconut oil and then twist it into a low bun. Cover it with a plastic wrap and leave it for a minium of 30 minutes. Then shampoo and confition your hair as usual in the morning.
2. Avocado: Mash up an entire avocado and mix it with 4 tablespoons of yogurt and one egg white. Apply to two-thirds of your hair. Leave it on for at least 30 minutes. The egg and yogurt porivde protein for weakened hair while the avocado softens the strands. Then remove with lukewarm water make sure the water isn't that hot because the egg will cook on your head. I dont think you want to experience that.
3. Olive Oil & Mayonnaise: Mix an equal amount of olive oil and mayonnaise in a container. Apply it by beginning at the ends and work your way up but dont apply to you scalp. After 30 minutes was it with lukewarm water. This helps dry brittle hair a shot of moisture and antioxidants.

Personally I'm going to try the olive oil & mayonnaise it sounds nasty but I want to give it a try. I'm going to apply it 3 times a week for a month! Beginning today April 5, 2013 - May 5, 2013. I will be posting the end results in a month.!!

This is how my hair looks now! Will see in a month if my hair looks more shinny.

Tips:

• When taking a shower apply conditioner with a comb it helps your hair not to get tangle when you get out of the shower.
• Dont use heat when your hair is wet.
• Dont pull your hair into overly tight ponytails. It can pull your hair out and give you headaches within the day.
• Avoid sleeping with ponytails secured in elastic.
• When your shampooing or rinsing your hair with water massage your scalp with your fingertips. it increases blood circulation in that area and promotes growth.
• Dont forget to take vitamins, eat enough iron, which can be found in beans, lentils, and spinach. This can help your hair grow.

Hope you enjoyed & until next time. If you want to try one of the hair mask monthly challenge with me. Just let me know. I would be glad to know someone is willing to try this. =)

Everyday Gloss Reviews for Spring!

So the one thing we think every girl needs for everyday is a little gloss! Not lipstick, but gloss. It's something you put on everyday or when you only have 5 minutes and need a little *. So here are our reviews of our favorites glosses and what we like, don't like, and which we can't be without!
So read & give us your feedback and as always Happy Shopping!

So we have 4 glosses that we use everyday. Working in an environment with children my make-up has to be toned down and definitely has to be something that lasts. I can't spend my day touching up my lips. So here are my for must haves! 1.Loreal lip gloss 2.Stila Lip Wand 3.C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint & 4.Rosebud Lip Salve.


The first gloss is by L'Oreal. It is the Colour Riche lip gloss. It is #220 Rich Rose. I like this color because it is very subtle and glides on smoothly. I love the fact that it is not over shiny. It's also perfect when you want to carry  it in your pocket since the size is only 23 fl. oz. I like to put it on when I am ready to go home. Or if I'm meeting someone after work. Even thought it has all these great aspects to it, it doesn't last as long as I would like it to. =( It last the max 2-3 hrs. But at a $7.99 price I think it is still worth having.

 

 

 

 

The next lip gloss is one of our favorites! It is the Stila lip glaze. In Banana Berry. Now these are a little on the pricey side, but I think worth the money. The regular size 0.08 fl. oz. cost $22. The one I have I bought @Ulta. I got them at a deal of 3 for $15, but the sizes are smaller at 0.05 fl. oz. & with their Ulta coupons we paid less than $15. Now when you first try these you have to find out how many clicks before your gloss comes out. Too little twists & no gloss and too many and too much! Now the one thing I have to say is that the color lasts all day. And I did count the hrs. a full 8! The only pet peeve that I have and I don't know  if my environment plays a role in it is that even though my lips have this beautiful soft color, my lips are dry. Not to the point where they are chapped, but you can feel when your lips are dry. So I put a little chapstick before I apply my gloss and it works perfectly. I just can't get over the fact that the color lasts. That's why it's expensive cause it lasts and definitely worth having 1 pricey gloss in your collection.

Now every girl is going to know this gloss. We all buy it when we buy our lotions, body wash, or other relaxing luxury at Bath and Body Works. This is the C.O. Bigelow Mentha lip Tint in #1644 Pink Mint. It is 0.5 oz. Now they normally retail at a price of $7.50 but I bought mine at a deal of 3 for $15 and also had a coupon. So less than $15! They are also small and slim that they fit in your pocket so you can carry them with you anywhere. These are great but the thing that bothers me is that they don't last! You have to keep reapplying and it may be because your drinking something or plain and simple you can't stop licking your lips because it tastes so good. Admit it cause I've unconsciously have done that. Anyway they are great to use when you ate something and don't have a mint or candy. It is something I wear only when I'm running errands or even if I want a little shine when I go to the gym. It's always in my bag.Either way it's still a great product at a great price!



 

 

 Now the last product we are writing about is our all time favorite and use until it is completely gone and used up. And I mean gone! It is Smith's Rosebud Lip Salve. It comes in a little cute round tin and is 0.8 oz. I bought mine at Sephora for $6. I have also found it at Barneys, Nordstrom, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters for the same price. Now many people are going to say they don't like rose scented balm. This salve has a hint of the rose scent. And man oh man does it do wonder for your lips. The other great thing is that this not only work on your lips but it can be used to heal dry skin, yep I use it on my hands, elbows or any other dry patch I might have. It helps with diaper rash, blemishes, detergent burns, rough cuticles, and softens rough hands! Yep it does it ALL! It says it on the bottom of the tin. This is definitely in my drawer at work and always in my bag. If you don't care for gloss or lipstick this lip salve is definitely the one thing you need!

 

 

So these are our favorite glosses for Spring. Remember the color should be based on where your going to use it the most so you don't end up with a color you barely use or decide it's not right for you. That's why we always stick to neutrals, because of where we work and what we do everyday. Not that we don't have a couple of sexy or bold colors in our collection but this is where we get the most out our money from these four glosses. Remember to leave any comments or suggestions we are more than open to trying new products. Til' next time!