Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Valentine's Day Burlap Wreath Tutorial

Hello Foxy Friends! Today I'm back with another wreath tutorial. This actually takes us full circle. This is the last wreath I'm making with the same exact wreath. That's right, I've made 7 Wreaths using the same exact base and I just changed out the decorations. Click here to see all of them.

Here's what I started with:


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What You'll Need:

Burlap Wreath (I've been using the same wreath over and over again, but click here for my full tutorial, click here for the video)
Sign to put in the Middle (I found mine at Hobby Lobby for $6.99 on sale for $4, this, this or this would work too)
Twigs of Hearts (Hobby Lobby for $3.99 each on sale for $2.79 each, I bought 3)
Small Valentine's Sign (Hobby Lobby for $3.99 on sale for $2.79, I bought 3)
Small Happy Valentine's Sign (Hobby Lobby for $2.99 on sale for $2.09)
Red Deco Mesh (I didn't have to buy because it was in my previous wreath, that I reused)



Let's assume we've taken off all of the previous decorations, except for the red Deco Mesh.



Directions:

Step 1:
 
I tried to use the sprigs as they were, but I didn't have enough to cover the whole wreath and there were a lot in each bunch. I realized that they were individual wrapped with some tape, so I tore them apart to make separate strings of hearts, so I could spread them out a bit.

 
 
I spread them out to make it more even. I left space for things that I knew I wanted to add.



Step 2:

I then stuck the "Kiss" "Hugs" and "Love" signs into the wreath. I did not glue or tie these down.




Step 3:

I added a piece of floral wire with a glue gun to the back of the Happy Valentine's Day sign so I could secure it to the wreath without having to glue it down.


I then attached it to the wreath

Step 4:

I then cut the LOVE garland in half so I could put them on top of each other like this.


The LOVE signed turned out slightly larger than I wanted, but I still think it's pretty cute. There were so many different choices at Hobby Lobby. And the finished product.


Here is how it looks on my front door. Full confession, I didn't make a January wreath, just went straight to a Valentine's one, so this has been on my door since the first weekend of January.



 
Linking up here
 
 

Monday, January 30, 2017

5 Make Up Tips For Beginners, From A Beginner

Hello Foxy Friends! Happy Monday, I just got back from a girls weekend in Palm Springs...okay when I say girls I mean just me and my bestie. We had a blast! It's been WAY too long since the last time we did that. Glad that it actually happened, although it almost got cancelled, so glad that it didn't.

A couple of weeks ago I told you about my year long hair challenge, which I told you guys about and then documented it throughout the year. I feel like I really challenged myself and I think I almost got the hang of this hair thing! Don't worry I'm going to be sharing all of the hair 101 styling tips I picked up. I don't have many, but I think some of them will help. Anyway, back to this post. What I never told you that the year prior I did a make up challenge. I talked a little bit about that here.

Anyway, now it's almost 2 years after the start of that challenge, and I'm ready to talk about it...haha. I figured I'm an engineer, I like lists, you've been getting a lot of list from me lately...that's the reason why. Let's get started:

| One |

Practice, practice, practice. I cannot stress this enough. If you never do your make up and then suddenly you're trying to do your make up before a night out on the town, that is just not going to work. I know I fell victim to this. I would try and go out for a night and want some make up, but would have no clue what I was doing and it would take me 2 hours to get ready and it would look mediocre, or like I had no make up on at all. So I changed that and started to practice when my kids were in the bath playing.

This is back in Spring of 2014, this is how I typically did my make up. This to me was DONE up...like I felt like I had a ton of make up on here.



After a lot of trial and error this is my last week to a Mom's Night Out. Cause who doesn't want to dress up, put on make up and hang out with friends.



| Two |

YouTube is your best friend. Seriously, you have no idea how many hours of YouTube I watched. I tried to find people with my same eye shape and skin tone and tried to follow their tutorials. I really love Jen from Head to Toe, she has some awesome tutorials. Other Youtubers that have good tutorials are here, here and here (Judy has an amazing family, three girls and has a daily vlog channel as well. I love how real and authentic she is, and does a ton of reviews).

Bottom line figure out what you want to learn, then YouTube it, most likely it's there. I searched Monolids and that's how I found Jen, and then watch every video several times to try and get some sort of technique down. Still working on technique, and I am no where near as accurate/precise as all of the make up people out there, but I'm getting there, sort of. Bottom line what I figured out works for me and my make up looks, you just need to find what works for you.

Here's a YouTube Video I did on how I do my make up.


| Three |

Fake Eyelashes will change your entire look (for the better) and are not as scary as they seem. I was super intimidated by them, you have no idea. Like I said in number 1, I practiced a lot! Like maybe for a few months before I even attempted to wear them outside. While the kids were taking a bath I would practice putting them on. Again you cannot expect to never do something and then suddenly do it perfectly and have the heavens align for you to magically know how to put on Eyelashes. Start with some cheaper ones that have a thicker band. I went to the Japanese Dollar Fifty store (called Daiso, they are all over the U.S., see if there is one by you) and bought their $1.50 eyelashes. They have thicker bands which makes it WAY easier to learn to use than the more expensive Invisible band kind. Yes those are more comfortable but for practice these are great. I would practice a couple of times a week, and mostly it went awful then suddenly it was easier and I switched to the invisible brand kind, my favorite is Ardell Lashes 120 Black (I have this on a subscribe and save).

See pictures from number 1. Huge different right?

| Four |

Start with the cheap stuff, go to Target, Walmart, CVS is where I started, and bought some of the cheaper brands. It's hard to find out what is going to work for you. Like I said I watched a lot of YouTube Videos and saw what people were constantly saying they liked and then would try that out. Once I got a little comfortable with the drug store brands I branched out and started buying some more expensive stuff. Don't get me wrong I use both, so you don't need to go all high end or all cheap. A mix of both is good.

This is how many lipsticks I went through to find what I liked and what color looked good on me. I bought so many reds to find the perfect red.

 
Don't get me wrong I still like all of these, they just aren't my go to ones. I keep all the ones I really like out on the counter so I can easily grab them.
 
 

| Five |

Last but not least. Wear it with confidence. Start small and gradually work yourself into wearing more make up. You've gone X amount of years without wearing anything, this isn't something that you can suddenly cake yourself with make up and call it a day, and not think you look like a clown. Trust me it's taken time for me to get to where I am today.


Now go out and get some practice in!

If you're interested in how I organize my make up click here for a full tour.

Linking up here

Friday, January 27, 2017

Friday Favorites #102

Happy Friday Foxy Friends! It's Friday woo hoo. Although I have a dentist appointment and a doctor appointment, when it rains it pours. That's what I get for making my dentist appointment 6 months prior, and not writing it down. Thank goodness for the reminders. Onto my favorites:




In case you missed it this week!

Monday: How To Organize Your Home from an Unorganized Person
Tuesday: Instant Pot Pot Roast
Wednesday: Leather Jacket Look + Life Lately



I'm over at The Blended Blog today, sharing some Friday Loves. What is Friday Loves? We figured that since we have 15 of us and between all of us, we probably read hundreds of blogs that we should start showcasing the posts that we love for the week. So each of us is taking a week and showcasing our favorites from the week. It's a link up so go link up your Friday Loves too! It can be blog posts, or just something you've loved that week, maybe you can be showcased the following week!




 
Last weekend was a pretty great weekend. Friday we ditched the kids and went to Korean BBQ with another couple. It was so nice to not have to chase kids around for the 1.5 hour wait, we got to chat and have real adult conversation.
 

 
When we got Mini Fox back from my parents, she had curlers in her hair. She loves when her hair is curly. This girl is all Sass.
 

 
Then Saturday was a busy day, I hit up my eyebrow lady in the morning, and then when we got back we hit up the most fantastic birthday party. Remember when I talked about the charity Thomas House? Well our good friends are on the board and decided to hold their girl's birthday parties at Thomas House so that everyone there could celebrate with them. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast! They had face painting.
 



 
They had a Puppy Farm...actually I don't know what it's called, but this lady raises puppies so and they also rent them out so that they can play and be around kids, it's the cutest thing EVER. Mini Fox was in heaven!
 



Meanwhile, Baby Fox was in a different kind of heaven, called Video Gaming Truck heaven. Baby Fox barely made it past the front gate.
 

 
It was so much fun to celebrate with friends, they are so generous.
 
 
Saturday night we headed to my aunts house for dinner. Yum, I always forget to take a picture of the most amazing spaghetti ever. We always request it when we go there, she says, you know I can make more than spaghetti...haha.  Everything always ends in their living room, with a dance party performance by this girl.
 
 

And then we started playing Monkey in the middle, Kudos to my uncle who is in his late 60's getting down to play with the kids.


 
 
Then it was time to take off the face paint and Baby Fox wanted to take off Mini Fox's and it might have been the cutest thing ever. Taking his job very seriously.
 
 

Sunday it rained ALL day, literally, it was down pouring for 8 straight hours, it was crazy, usually it is on and off pouring raining, but this was constant all day. Which gave us some time to clean the house and get stuff done without having to worry that the kids aren't outside playing. Baby Fox's Lego set got all mixed up and he couldn't finish it because the packages got mixed together, so I separated it for him. Yep I went through each direction and pulled out the pieces that he would need...and then he finished it in an hour.


The finished product:
 
 
Lately it's been super cold out, this is what the temp has been when I leave for work...brrr....Wow this picture makes my dashboard look super not dusty...but it totally is.



Can we just say #goals? She really maximizes here space...so do you think the kids would be okay with me turning their rooms into this when the move out? When can they move out?

 
Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm off to a girls weekend with the bestie, so excited to get away!
 
Linking up here