Freebies!

Who doesn't love getting mail? I know I do, and sometimes it doesn't even matter what it is! However I have found 2 great freebies that I thought I would share with my readers!

First -  

Zoya Nail Polish & Treatments is offering:

3 FREE bottles of nail polish when you use promo code FB2011 at checkout thru 01/07/2011. Shipping still applies. (Shipping costs are only $6.95
Restrictions apply. See Facebook page for complete details. Online offer only. Valid Credit Card or Debit Card w/ sufficient funds needed to process orders. Offer valid in continental US only. Offer not valid in conjunction with other offers.

I ordered these three colors: 

 From top - Robyn, Cheryl, & Jancyn

I can't wait to see these colors in person!

And Second Freebie?

"Like"Go Red For Women on Facebook, click on "Free Dress Pin" and fill in  your information to get a sweet free red dress pin to sport!

Crafty Goodness

I wish I had this many days off in a row more often! I'm actually getting around to all the projects I've been wanting to work on, and it feels GREAT. Too bad the next few weeks will be all work and no play!

Tonight I decided to make some wall decor for my friends nursery.

I started off with two unfinished wood craft squares from Hobby Lobby.

Gave them two coats of white acrylic paint:

I measured the small square on the top to be 4x4, so I cut out two pieces of scrapbooking paper that size. Then I whipped out the good old Cricut, and cut out two images from the Cindy Loo cartridge 3 inches tall.

Then it was time for Mod Podge to secure the paper and cutouts to the wooden squares.

The end-product?

Cute wall decor for under $5!

After those were done, and the glue was drying, I decided to tackle a mini-project!

I love my camera. It's my baby, I treat it as such. However, I was getting very bored with the Canon camera strap. The back, while strong, hurts when it rubs up against your neck for too long, say when you're photographing a wedding. I decided to sew a sleeve to cover the strap, and add a little more excitement to it! It took about 5 minutes to do, which was nice, and it was a perfect fit to the width of the strap.

I'm obsessed with polka dots, so this fabric from my stash seemed fitting! I want to make a few more camera straps so I can switch them out as I please, though next time, I think I will try to put some quilting batting in there too for some extra cushion! All in all, I'm a happy camper, and this will do just fine for now!

What projects are you working on? Care to share? :)
Linking Up To:

Gettin' Crafty!

For Christmas, my mother got me what I've now determined is one of the greatest toys ever...

The GREEN Cricut Expression! I've been wanting one of these babies for a while now, and I had never seen the color machines! It apparently comes in purple, yellow, and turquoise as well! Today I finally installed the blade kit, and just had a ball cutting random things out to figure out how everything works. There are a LOT of features on these machines though, so I have a feeling it will be a while before I feel like I know what I'm doing with it. 

I was feeling crafty today, so I decided to make the burp cloths I have been planning on making for my friends upcoming baby shower on February 5th. I used THIS Tutorial to do this project, and it was super easy and didn't take a lot of time, OR cost a lot of money.

Here is the end product!

Sewing in a straight line wasn't my strong suit tonight, but you can barely tell that they are a little crooked unless you're inspecting them!

Then I brought out the Cricut, and made a little tag to put on the front of them and tied it all together with a green ribbon!

I probably could have been a bit fancier with the writing on the tag, but I got lazy! I still think the bundle looks adorable, and I know she will appreciate it. 

I know it's a day early, but I'm linking up to :

May the Odds be EVER in your favor- My Hunger Games thoughts and Dream Cast

Lately I've fallen back into reading. A LOT. I think in the last 3 weeks I've read 4 or 5 books entirely. Amongst these books that I have read was the Hunger Games Trilogy.

"The Hunger Games (2008) is a young-adult science fiction novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was originally published on September 14, 2008. It is the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy^. It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where North America once stood. This is where a powerful government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl (between the ages of 12 and 18) from each district to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's power." (This description was borrowed from Wikipedia)

I had heard from many friends and family members that these books were fantastic. So on a whim, I bought the Hunger Games 1st book about 2 months ago. Since then it had been collecting dust on my nightstand, and one day I kind of glanced over at it, and decided to give it a go.

HOLY CRAP. I read the entire first book in 2 nights. I could not put it down, especially once I hit the middle of the book where everything picks up lightning fast. This book was intense! After finishing the first one, I had to wait a few days for Christmas, since my mom flat out told me she had bought me the other two books in the trilogy so I wouldn't be tempted to go out and buy them myself once I read the first one (as I did with Twilight)

Once I got my hands on Catching Fire and Mockingjay it only took me 3 evenings to get through both of the books in their entirety. The suspense DEFINITELY did not stop in the first book, I found myself reading faster at certain points in both novels because I NEEDED to know what happened next, and I needed to know it fast. 

I definitely think these books are more for an older YA audience. They are extremely violent, and disturbing even in some spots. I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out, which according to random sites on the internet should be sometime in 2012. Gary Ross will be directing it. 

While reading these books, images of the characters were running through my head based off of the descriptions given, so I created my own dream cast!

Katniss Everdeen-narrator of the story, 16 years old

Camilla Belle (Ellen Page was my runner up, although she's a bit more pale than I was picturing!)

Gale Hawthorne- Katniss's friend and hunting partner

Ben Barnes (with Penn Badgley as a runner up)

Peeta Mellark-District 12 tribute for the games

Alex Pettyfer (with Chord Overstreet from Glee as a runner up)

Haymitch Abernathy - Former games winner, raging drunk

He may be a bit too old looking, but I think Phillip Seymour Hoffman would do a fantastic job at the role. (Robert Downey Jr. as a runner up)

Primrose Everdeen - Katniss's 12 year old sister

Bella Thorne, although her hair is darker than I was picturing. 

Rue - Tribute from District 11, 12 years old

Yara Shahidi, she may be a bit too young though..

Effie Trinkett- escorts the tributes from district 12 from the reaping all the way to the capitol, kind of an airhead

Kristen Chenoweth would be my top pick, with Amy Poehler as a runner up.

Cinna - District 12 tributes stylist, responsible for public appearances

Groany groan groan, I know he was in Twilight, but I think he would make a great Cinna! Peter Facinelli is my top pick for this one, with Jared Leto as a runner up.

Caesar Flickerman - popular Capitol reporter who is famous for conducting interviews for the Hunger Games for more than forty years

Neil Patrick Harris would be my top pick for this. I haven't even thought of a runner up!

President Snow - Ruler of Panem and the Capitol. Needs to be both terrifying but mildly likeable as well

Victor Garber is my top pick. He looks friendly enough, but can also look extremely creepy!

Glimmer - Female tribute from District 1

 Kaley Cuoco fits the description for me

Clove - female tribute from district 2

Malese Jow

Foxface - Female Tribute from District 5

Evan Rachel Wood

Cato - Male tribute from district 2(very large and strong)

Groany groan groan again, but a brunette, clean-shaven Kellan Lutz fits the description for me! (plus this picture is too droolworthy not to post on here)

Those are all the characters that stood out to me in terms of descriptions.

Anyone else read these books and come up with their own dream cast? I'd love to hear!

Twilight Saga Eclipse DVD Release Party - 12.04.2010

I decided that I wanted a night of girlish fun, and opted to host a small Twilight Eclipse DVD Release party with some of my good friends on December 4th, the day the DVD came out. Those who know me know that I LOVE planning events, small or large, so I had a field day preparing for this! Last minute 4 people got sick, or their kids got sick, or the snow kept them from being able to make it out, so the party became quite small, which was fine! We still had a fabulous time!

First came the invitations:

Pardon the sad job of blurring out addresses and phone numbers! I designed these invitations in Photoshop. The actual Twilight cast photos were found mainly on http://www.collider.com as high resolution files. The embellishments such as the chess piece and the heart were purchased from http://www.mygrafico.com as a set called "Nightfall". Once they were all set, I ordered them through http://www.vistaprint.com and they were beautifully printed, and for a great price!

For the favor bags I opted to make Twilight bookmarks for each guest, complete with pictures and quotes from the movie and books, and those same graphics from http://www.mygrafico.com. I ordered the vinyl bookmark sleeves, and the bookmark tassels from http://www.capaper.com, and proceeded to print them out on my photo printer at home.

I also made keychains to clip onto the bags for a little extra flair! The crystal heart charms and beads as well as all the jump rings and clips and chains were purchased from Hobby Lobby, and the silver wolf charms were ordered off of Ebay.

The finished Swag Bags! Red bags were purchased at the Dollar Tree (2 for $1) I printed out the image on photo paper and used glue dots to secure it to the front of the bag, and then clipped the keychain on. What were these bags filled with you ask?

Each bag contained:

1 package of Team Edward stickers & 1 package of Team Jacob stickers, the bookmarks from earlier, a package of Eclipse Gum, a few Vampire lip chocolates, a tin of Eclipse Band Aids, a couple of mini buttons, some Eclipse pens, and two Antibacterial Hand Sanitizers from Bath & Body Works in Twilight Woods and a seasonal scent called Vampire Blood.

The table centerpiece was by far one of the things I had the most fun slapping together. The vase and red and black vase filler both came from the Dollar Tree, The big chess pieces and ostrich feathers came from Hobby Lobby. I love ostrich feathers, and find that I use them every time I throw any sort of party or get together.

I printed out images to glue dot over the wine labels for a little something extra.

Eclipse, Red, & Black!

Some casual snacks and baked mostaccioli were served. Unfortunately the pasta wasn't very interesting, so I forgot to take a picture of it. Aside from that we had red and black chips and salsa, veggie tray, deviled eggs and cookies.

The apple shaped sugar cookies were a hit!

And what would a Twilight party be without some special guests?

I got all 4 cardboard cutouts from one ebay auction, and for insanely cheap prices compared to what they sell for individually.

All in all it was a great night! And I had a lot of fun putting it all together :)

Resolution

WOW! What a busy month! Work was hectic, then with the holidays and all that, I'm glad it's calm now! 

I can't believe 2011 is here already! Where did 2010 go? Seems like it flew by.

My Resolutions and/or plans for 2011?

-Update this much more frequently

-Finally make my decision on if I want to go to nursing school this year, or if me and Hubby want to try to conceive this year

-Finally start creating all these crafts and projects and ideas that I have, instead of just hoarding the supplies to do so!

-Start cranking money into savings

Let's hope I can accomplish all of those things!

Anyone have any resolutions for this year? 

Be expecting plenty of updates over the next couple of days, because I have a lot to catch up on!

I hope everybody had a fantastic holiday!