Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Summer in Arkansas



I know summer doesn't officially end until late in September, but I always feel like it unofficially ends when we say goodbye to August.  Here's the last few outings we had before transitioning to fall in the South.

Arkansas Travelers Baseball Game, North Little Rock
Kenda Drive-In, Marshall
Greers Ferry Lake
Birth of Loren's baby-- our new nephew!


Here are more videos from this summer in Arkansas:



Monday, August 22, 2016

Sewing & Embroidery: Car Show Tag


When you go to car shows, you sometimes see slips of paper in the front windshield to tell you the year, make, and model of the car.  Most of the time you just have to guess what year the car is.  If the owner is standing around, you can ask them.  What if the owner, which may be you, is also walking around checking out cars?  I made a little hang tag to answer that question!  I also stuck my web address on it since I blog about the car.

Here's how I did it!

I used the buggy design from Lynnie Pinnie.  On my embroidery machine, I skipped some stitches and skipped the appliqué.  I wanted it to look more like a sketch.

I used a font from within the Sew What Pro program.  I've read in Facebook groups not to use them.  Well, I wanted to try it out, and I learned my lesson.  Don't use them!  They don't stitch out very nicely.




I sewed quilting batting to the back piece of fabric.

I sewed the front and back fabric pieces right sides together.  Leave a large enough opening to turn it inside out.  I had to use a seam ripper to make a larger opening than what is shown in the picture.


Turn inside out and topstitch.  I secured a ribbon to hang it by as I topstitched.  I should have sewn the ribbon in when I originally sewed the fabric right sides together.  Note for next time.

I used a Sharpie to write my website.  We'll call this mixed media ;).  This project is far from perfect, but I wanted this to be fun, and I didn't make any patterns or plans before I started making it.  Sometimes it's nice to just create as you go.


It's ready to hang from the rearview mirror for the next car show!




Thursday, August 18, 2016

Photo Album with 4x4 Square Prints


In between the time Colin and I got married and when my daughter was born, I didn't print very many photos.  I took lots of pictures, but didn't really print a lot after our wedding album.  When I was pregnant, I vowed to myself that I was going to start printing photos and be consistent with it so Harlow would have photo albums to look back at.  So far I've been sticking with it!

My pregnancy and Harlow's first year of life filled two photo albums.  I printed 4x6 photos and used traditional photo albums.  I quickly realized that I was going to have loads of photo albums with nowhere to put them if I followed this pattern for the next 18 years!

Starting in January of this year I began printing photos on 4x4 squares.  Since they are smaller, you can fit more in an album, meaning more photos and less albums!



I printed all of these photos you see (and many more) for FREE!  Yep!  I had to pay shipping but didn't pay for the photos themselves.  Using the Shutterfly app (you can also use their website), I selected photos from my phone, instagram, and Facebook.  Every so often they run a promotion where you can get unlimited photos for free.  I take advantage of it!  The photos are 4x4 glossy squares.

I ordered the photo album sleeves from Amazon  You can put photos back to back just like a regular photo album sleeve.  That means 18 photos per sleeve!   I'll choose an album to put them in once I wrap up the year.  There are several album choices on Amazon and at Hobby Lobby.

I hope this week of photo projects gave you some ideas and inspiration!







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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Square Photos from Parabo


Yesterday I showed you the engineer print I ordered from Parabo Press and shared a code to get 25 square prints for free.  Today I'm going to show you what the square prints look like!

Recap: Use code  NYZGCG for free prints!






The prints came shrink wrapped inside a plastic zippered bag inside a cardboard package.  A lot of packing, yes.  Impressive, yes.

These prints are large (5.5 inches by 5.5 inches to be exact), so they would be great to hang on the wall as a collage.  You can also get them in 4 inches.  The white frame around them makes them seem more polished than a traditional 4x6 photo.  They are printed on thick, matte paper, so they feel anything but flimsy.  They're great to give to people to hang on their fridge or bulletin board or to hang on the wall with washi tape.

In the past I've used them as gift tags for presents.  See that here: Gift Tag Ideas

What are some ways you like to display and use square photos?  Later this week I'll share what I do with smaller square photos from another photo company!




Monday, August 15, 2016

Decorating with an Engineer Print


Looking to make a statement or want a large print of a photo you took?  Engineer prints are a great way to fill a space for an affordable price and with a modern twist.

When I had my boutique, I ordered engineer prints from Office Depot and Staples.  I could print my store logo to hang indoors for cheaper than any other option.  Getting them from one of those office supply stores is the cheapest way to go.

If you want a smidge better quality, I would go with Parabo Press (I have a coupon code below).

The engineer print in these pictures is one I ordered from Parabo, and I used their wash tape that comes with the order to hang it.

So much of our house is now decorated with pictures of Harlow, so I wanted something of me and my husband.  We took this picture on my iPhone this past winter.



If you want to check out Parabo, use code NYZGCG to get 25 square prints for FREE!



Thursday, August 04, 2016

54 Lip Color Swatches & Video of 6 of My Favorite Shades

I have amassed a little collection of lip products.  Over the past few years I have purchased some from drugstores, Target, Walmart, Sephora, etc.  Some of the lip products were gifted from my mom and mother-in-law.

When I go to buy lipsticks/balms/gloss I always want to know how they swatch, but often you can't do that in stores.  I try to look up swatches on my phone to see how they look before I buy.

I hope these 54 swatches help you decide on a new lip shade!  At the bottom of the post is a two minute video featuring six of my favorite lip shades!

Oranges & Nudes



(Above from Left to Right)


(Above from Left to Right)


(Above from Left to Right)

Corals & Reds

(Above from Left to Right)
Boutique Long-Wear Automatic Lip Liner in Rose (available at Sally Beauty Supply)


(Above from Left to Right)
Avon Glazewear Liquid Lip Color in Real Red
Clinique in Black Lily


(Above from Left to Right)



(Above from Left to Right)
Boutique Lipliner in Real Red (available at Sally Beauty Supply)


Pinks


(Above from Left to Right)
Maybelline in One Day Shine


(Above from Left to Right)


(Above from Left to Right)
Avon Glazewear Liquid Lip Color in Ruby Slippers
Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Cabana Crush
BeautiControl Hydrating Lip Color in Pout


(Above from Left to Right)
Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Stain in Hope


*Keep in mind that colors may appear differently on other skin tones and lips.  These photos were taken outside in natural light, and each photo was white-balanced to try to show true color.  Each lip shade may appear differently in artificial light or photos. :)

Now, here are six of my favorite lip products at the moment!

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cannes
NYX Butter Lipstick in Sweet Tart
Wet n Wild in Fuchsia with Blue Pearl
Tarte LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Stain in Fiery
Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in 09
Wet n Wild in Black Orchid


8-23-16 Edit: I forgot I had this video from 2015 where you can see me applying several of the shades swatched in this blog post!  Check it out below.





11-22-16 Update: 13 new lip swatches HERE!



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