Tutorials galore! You know, I'm kinda sick of doing these titles as they all start to sound the same after a while.

Oh hot damn! I'm on this HUGE tutorial crafting kick. Well, this is more of a half tutorial since I forgot to take pictures and well, I'm using the rest of the material to do some other stuff. Sorry, but there is no way I will post this much later this week considering I'm back in school this week. But, do expect a new swap haul and maybe a new COFD (craft of the day XP) over the weekend? Maybe maybemaybe. okayokay. First up, I made a small cosmetic case for myself. It's by using .25 of a square scarf, light purple cloth lining, button and string that wraps around it as the clasp. It holds actually a ton of stuff including that new magnetic palette, brushes etcetcetc.

I should get around to making something that can hold just a day's worth of brushes. not a brush roll, I already made that for myself.

Next, a vintagey hair clip. I actually made this for my sister. It's super easy and quick for a present and it kinda reminds me of queens in England in like.... 1700s or something LOL

Instructions:

1. Using a lace-y cloth, cut out a piece that is approximately the length and width of the clip. You can fold it to the correct width if you'd like. Flat clips are better. Or flattish ones.

2. Now, just glue on your decorations! Super simple right? I used jewels that I ripped off an old shoe and some beads that I got off an broken bracelet. Always salvage what you can! You really never know when it would come in handy. Or, just go to the craft store. haha

Toodles<3

Happy Thanksgiving and New Tutorial for you guys!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will be eating turkey legs and mashed potatoes. You guys?

Anyway, I was just thinking about making a small makeup case for myself (I will do a tutorial on that as well, like months later) so if I ever do a sleepover or a small weekend trip with my friends, I'll have a nice carrying case for myself instead of doing the ziplock baggie method. But, I have depotted all of my shadows, becuase I don't have that much space in my room or my mini traincase. Most shadow packaging is like GINORMOUS. It's like yes, thanks company for using 2x as much plastic that is actually necessary. So, I depot. Same with lipsticks. I like to put darker lipsticks in small pots. It reduces the space necessary to store them by like literally, 300%. Yeah yeah, you need a lip brush but you know what? Give some take some.

Like I was saying. I use a discarded CD case as my palettes and they're kinda heavy and large. Too large to just shove in a small bag right? So I decided to make a tutorial on how to make a travel-size one. Pictures then tutorial:

It's meant to hold 4 DS sized eyeshadows comfortably. Approximately. So, 4 Revlon Matte shadows, 3 covergirl + 1 almay etcetcetc. But, if you NEED more, then (i've tried) you can fit up to 3 Revlon matte eyeshadows (side by side no space in between) and 2 HIP duos. So you always have enough!

Instructions:

1. See the template and cut out pieces accordingly. I used thick cardboard so it's sturdy.

2. Now, I will be dealing with all the pieces except the TOP okay? Okay! Cut out all the pieces, and really make sure that they fit well together. This is especially important because then they'll have a seamless fit. Wrap them in nicer paper so it's not ugly.

3. Take the base and cover it with sheets of magnets. You can use those cheap magnets that they give away at libraries, etcetcetc. Or you can go to a craft store and buy a magnetic sheet. It's important that it's a SHEET not those little circle-y things so that it lays as flat as possible.

4. Now, use a hotglue gun and glue all the sides (except the top!) together.

5. Now, measure again to make sure that the top fits perfectly. Wallpaper. Glue a button for the handle on the top. Also, take a small mirror that is sorta flattish and glue it on the other side. I used a mirror that I ripped off the HIP duo packaging.

6. Put it lightly on top of the actual box thing. Leave a little gap. Take a piece of duct tape and tape the top to the box. Open the box and repeat so that the gap is all covered by tape.

7. Okay! Almost done. Take another piece of tape and tape a piece of string to the lid as so:

8. Voila! Done! It fits in the palm of my hand at least.

Toodles<3

New Necklace + Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Recently, I swapped a BNIP eyeliner pencil for this necklace:

And happy thanksgiving to all! My school is out until next monday! I will be posting a new tutorial soon if i can even find the scotch tape. It has been lost in my house.

Toodles<3

Polka- Dotted Apple Giveaway!

http://makeuploveforever.blogspot.com/2009/10/polka-dotted-apples-first-giveaway.html Click there to enter! You can even win an Urban Decay Vol II shadow book! yay! You also need to answer these questions:

What is your most prized possession?
I'm assuming material things right? Well, it would be my laptop and my camera even though both need to be replaced! The laptop is so. Freaking. Slow. Like. It. Freezes. Up. all. the. time

What is your definition of beauty?
Self confidence, and a sunny smile =]

What makeup item (Brand and name of product) would you recommend to me?
Hm, I think that it would be...... Estee Lauder's Projectionist Mascara. Omfg. amazing love.

What is your favorite KIND of makeup item and why?
It would be mascara becuase frankly, I need it. My lashes are non exsistant.

A weird factoid about you. :B
I'm a really petite girl, but my voice really carries. Like really really carries.

What is the fondest memory of your childhood?
Eating a Turkey leg at Disney world

Describe yourself honestly.
I can be selfish and annoying and stuck up but, I still try to be charming and sunny.

Tell me something I could do to improve my blog.

Uhm..... ermm..... Maybe more swatches?

Toodles<3

New giveaway!

Just follow to enter!

http://nikisbeautypage.blogspot.com/2009/11/mac-fluidline-giveaway-2-winners.html

You can win a MAC fluid line!

new Giveaway!

http://jeweledthumb.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveaway.html
Ends tonight so if you're lucky, you can enter!!

Giveaway!

Click here to enter! You can win so much MAC stuff depending on how many people join, so join joinjoin!

http://jeanicejoi.blogspot.com/2009/11/welcome-to-blog-world-giveaway.html

New Vogue and Tutorial!

happy friday everyone! It's been a long week, but we made it! Today, I got my December issue of Vogue and I saw this ad in it. I really liked the person's hair style. I scanned it in and cropped it a bit. Sorry, but my camera is currently out of commission. It's veryyy old and tired.

This is how you do it:

1. Make two sections in the front of your head. Use the top few layers of your hair. Braid so that you have two braids awkwardly sticking out. If you want ribbons, then you should tie a ribbon to a strand of your braid and turn the knot so that it's against your scalp and not sticking out to the world. Then, treat it as connected to that strand of braid, and braid!

2. Now, take the remaining hair and tie it into a low, messy bun. It should have pieces sticking out and not neat. If it's too neat, then it's too severe looking.

3. Finally, take the two braids and wrap them towards your ear and clip! Yay! To make sure that the bobby pins stick, criss-cross them. I got this from Tyra.

Toodles<3

New Giveaway!

http://daintydollymix.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-50-follower-giveaway.html

Click there to win a pair of false lashes, a rimmel palette and a nail polish! Contest ends november 21st

Makeup Woes

I just wanted to take the time to talk at this very late hour of 10:12 PM EST about something we all experience and know about: Not enough money for everything, choosing between makeup and other non-essentials to life, and well, how much is too much?

To the first problem: Yes, before I get comments like "get a job" blahblahblah, I've applied to like 20 jobs over the summer and didn't get one. Oh well, life. And even if you do have a job, you still have obligations like food, shelter, water, NECESSARY clothing (i mean like underwear and stuff so that you don't look homeless). It's not like you can take every cent of your paycheck and just blow it on stuff. And theres ALWAYS stuff to buy. I mean, Always.

For example, you make a list for that TFSI, and the black leather jacket, some brushes. And before you know it, it's multiplied from 5 to 10 to 100 items! What?! Yes, it happens. I know. Don't you girls feel it sometimes? You keep thinking and you're like "oh hey, that would look GREAT with the dress I have, but I need some new necklaces, just in case". Just in case what? You actually will use it?

I swear, I have to like seriously berate myself and control! I've personally been on this HUGE mascara kick and well, it doesn't help that CVS is offering so many coupons and stuff. I like, need to buy something now. And well, I also want: curling iron, flat iron, clothing... how do I choose?

How do you ladies choose? I think that I'm going to do only swapping for now and save. I mean, I do this really competative rewards system with my dad(it's heavily rigged in his favor. and I really commit my ass to school) but still, I should save. A penny saved is another penny towards a MAC eyeshadow.

Swapping for me is just a good way to get more for less. Assuming that you have some stuff that you got from gifts and you swap it, you only really pay for shipping! maybe you can take some of the extras and swap those away for even more stuff! omg! It's the multiplier effect! WEll, not really but you catch the drift.

How much is too much? NEVER. It's never enough, really. When you think that you have enough, you like have reviewed this 10000 times in your head, trust me. It's really not. I find it better to admit to myself that yes, I am a flawed person and I will always need more. Let's just take it slow and enjoy what I have for as long as I can, before moving onto the next big craze.

Overall, I just wanted to get this off my chest, because well, this onslaught of coupons has just been driving me shopping crazy! I want this! I want that! But, I feel like blogging really just took this off my chest, and it's a great outlet for my "moments". You know, those moments when you feel like just RAMPAGING into a store and just running out with everything that you WANT. or NEED to HAVE NOW.

what do you ladies feel, think, about this? Does this feeling just RUSH over you like a wave? I don't (or hope) that it's not just me.

Toodles<3

New giveaways!

Click here to enter: http://watercoloursky.blogspot.com/2009/11/2nd-anniversary-giveaway.html you can win a china glaze nail polish, Pomegrante Lip butter and a dior lipstick.


Click here to enter: http://paintedladyfingers.blogspot.com/2009/11/contest-diana-her-hound-and-points-of.html You can win a set of nail art pens

Hello everyone I'm back

So lately, I've been MIA because I've been on 2 college visits. Let me break it down. So, on Friday morning, my family and I left at like 7 or 7:30 in the morning to go to Penn State. It was like a 5 hour drive. Yuck. The tour took like 3 hours. One for like the presentation and another 2 for the actual tour.Then, we drove 2 more hours to outside of Pittsburgh. Then, the next day, saturday, we drove another 2 hours to Carnegie Mellon. The whole debacle was maybe 2 to 3 hours. Then, we drove 5 more hours back to a hotel that was outside of NJ. THEN, we drove like 2 or 3 more hours home.

No time to blog.

I will be back with more stuff!

Toodles<3

New contest!

Enter here:http://simplethingshere.blogspot.com/2009/11/personalized-ornament-giveaway.html to win a personalized ornament!

New contests!

Click here for a chance to win a benefit powderazzi palette!
http://laurensloves.blogspot.com/2009/10/competition-time.html

Need to follow and comment

Click here for a chance to win 2 lippies and more!

http://sweetcheeks1910.blogspot.com/2009/11/100-followers-blog-giveaway.html

Need to follow and comment

Tutorial: A Lovely Lace Covered Bag

My Bestie's birthday is coming up soon, so I decided to make her something. After hemming and hawing about what to make, I came up with a small purse! For all you sewing-challenged people, this requires bascially minimal sewing. I used mostly hot glue for the whole project

What you need:

• Hot glue gun with a lot of glue pieces
• Cardboard (thick and thinner pieces if you want to make this sturdy. If you want this more as a wall or desk decoration, like what I wanted to do, then just thin cardboard will be okay.)
• Lace, or old lace tights
• Fabric, 2 kinds. One for lining the inside and one for the outside.
• Needle and thread (Just to make the lining on the inside)
• A ribbon
• Button that is not flat. It should have a loop thing.

Instructions:

• First, cut out your pieces. You need a large back, a half front (so you can look in the bag. If you want 2 large backs and fronts its okay too), 2 sides, 1 bottom and 1 lid. The reason why I'm detaching the back from the lid is so that you can open the bag easier.
  

• Now, cover each piece with a piece of fabric. Hot glue the edges of the fabric to the back of the cardboard piece. Notice that I have taped the lid and the back together. There should be a small gap between the lid and the back.
  


• Now, take the lace and cover the lid/back piece. If you want to cover more, okay.
  


• Nice! We need to make the lining now. How you do this is that you take some stuffing/ old soft fabric, and cut it to that it fits the cardboard piece. Then, you cover it with your inside lining. This you have to sew together. If you want to hot glue them, go ahead! Then I went an extra step and made a quilt pattern on it by sewing it on after I sewed the lining together. Note, you should not make a lining for the lid. That will be made by just gluing a piece of fabric on the top.
  
  
• Then to make the handles, I braided 3 pieces of fabric together and glued them to the sides, before the lining. Then I glued all the lining onto everything.
  
• This part will take some time and effort. Once you have all the pieces, just start glueing them together. I recommend glueing them together on the outside as well on the inside, meaning put glue on the outside and inside of the project. Fill in any holes with hotglue. This is what it should look like so far.

• Now, take your piece of ribbon and glue a button on it. It should not be a flat button. After, glue it onto the entire back/lid of the purse. Do not glue the very bottom edge of the ribbon. We're still inserting something there.
  


• See that little gap at the very bottom? Shove a long piece of ribbon on the bottom and glue shut. To close this, wrap it all the way around the bag and then wrap the remaning ribbon around the ribbon. It's like closing a manila envelope.
  
  

Tell me what you thinkg! Toodles<3