Last Minute DIY Red Costume | Orange Is The New Black

In tue Ali fashion, I threw this costume just in the knick of time. As I keep saying, IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

For those of you who have not seen Orange Is The New Black.. Well you need to! I have yet to see a show with so many amazing female roles. And for those of you who have, then you know exactly who I am - RED!

Grey sweat pants, combat boots, a white nurses coat and a can of red hairspray pull this look together in minutes! 

My "Red" pocket was hand drawn and cut out on white paper - taped to my smock. (hey sometimes you have to improvise!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Bank Robber Costume || Last Minute DIY

So I hope I am not the only one who makes the decision to do things at the last second, and then runs around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. 

This costume took less than an hour to whip up and less than $10. Now thats my kind of costume. 

{Black Combat Boots, Tan Cross Body, Striped Shirt, Black Mask}

Now typically with a costume like this, I would have used a pillow case with a hand drawn dollar sign on it. However, since my plans are going to require me to keep my wallet and phone on me, and I don't want to risk setting down the bag, I opted for a cross body version. Basically, I improvised. I had this tan cross body already. I used the back and attached a felt dollar sign. 

First I sketched a dollar sign on a piece of black felt with chalk. I cut out the symbol and taped it to my bag. Easy as 1, 2, 3. 

{Lip Color: Maybelline Ruby Star 640}

I opted for a bright red lip to add a pop of color against all of the black. 

It's not too late to get your costume together. What are you being this halloween? Please tell me in the comments - Happy Trick-or-Treating! 

Most Importantly: BE SAFE

What's On My iPhone?

Like every other techie in the world, my heart skipped a beat when the new iPhone 6 came out. There's just something about the updated versions that get the buyers going nuts. It's kind of crazy if you think about it. Essentially a handheld computer that does everything but wipe my butt (okay maybe I am exaggerating). Nonetheless, it is super duper awesome. 

Prior to my iPhone 6 investment, I made the silly mistake of leaving team iPhone and joining team Android. Now I know this is a sensitive subject, and irrelevant to today's post, but worth mentioning in the event some may be interested to hear about my experience in a future post?! 

Anyways, back to business. 

Welcome to my home screen. This is where all the magic happens (literally), because I prefer to keep everything organized and on one page. Call me crazy but displaying everything on the home screen makes my heart happy. 

From left to right and top to bottom:

Settings, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Photo Editing, Music, Maps, Weather, App Store, Virtual Wallet, My Verizon, Notes, P Tracker (for all my ladies), iTrackBites, Restaurant Guide, Shopping, Snapchat, Youtube, LinkedIn, Blogging, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Phone, Messages, Email and Safari. 

Now that's a lot of apps! Which is why for the sake of your sanity I am only going to dive into detail about two (and probably my most used two) of the folders. 

From left to right and top to bottom:

CreamCam, Photo Editor +, Squareready, Rookie, and Pic Jointer. 

CreamCam - An awesome free app that helps give you that flawless looking skin you wish you had. 

Photo Editor+ - Also free and used to be my go to for everyday editing. That was before I got..

Rookie- My new favorite editing app for everyday photos. You can adjust lighting, color and skin perfection. It even has a ton of different font and stamp options to jazz up your photos for Instagram. 

Squareready- No more having to cut out half of your photo to be able to fit it to Instagram! This handy dandy little app sizes your picture accordingly without cropping. 

Pic Jointer- Collage central in this app. I really only use it for birthday posts, and the occasional "I took way to many awesome picture to only pick one!" 

From left to right and top to bottom:

Bloglovin, Blogger, and Hootsuite. 

Bloglovin - One of my favorite apps that allows me to follow some of my favorite bloggers like A Beautiful Mess, A Cup Of Jo, and Cupcakes and Cashmere.. just to name a few! Oh and feel free to follow me on Bloglovin as well - that'd be super awesome! 

Blogger- Now unfortunately, this app does not live up to its fullest potential. I keep it so that I can blog on the go (though I prefer to blog from home). It is very limited in features and could use a serious update. Sorry blogger! 

Hootsuite- Every bloggers dream application. Being a college student, working multiple jobs and school full time, a boyfriend and OCD - this app helps me keep up with all of my social media. I can view multiple sights in one location and even schedule tweets or posts to go off without a glitch. 

DIY Sharpie Mugs

Halloween is right around the corner, and as soon as the candy is gone and the sugar coma wares off, before you know it, the holiday season is in full swing. Now I don't know about you, but I need to get all of my holiday ducks in a row before it sneaks up on me!

Whether this is a holiday craft, a creative gift, or a DIforYOURSELF, it couldn't get any easier. 

Necessary Supplies: 

White dishes of your choice (I got mine at the dollar store for.. you guessed it.. $1)
Large letter sticker
Colored sharpie markers

Step 1: Prewash any of the dishes you are going to be working with to ensure a clean and dry surface. 

Step 2: Get creative and layout your design. I used the stickers as an outline for my name, but you can do whatever you want! You don't even have to use the letters, if your artistic (unlike me) try a freehand design. 

Step 3: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for a full 20 minutes. Let them cool completely before handling. 

There you have it! Is this not the easiest craft, gift, DIforYOURSELF you've ever seen? 

Enjoy a hot cup of coffee  or hot coco out of your new mug!

Black Leather

{CJBanks Jacket (similar here), CJBanks Sweater, American Eagle Jeans, Black Combat Boots (similar here), Jcrew Aviators}

Skeleton Mask | DIY Halloween Tutorial

DIY Design | Sweet 16 Edition

Being known in the family as gifted in the crafts department, I am often recruited for party projects. This time around I was selected to assist in planning a sweet sixteen party! I currently have a list of pending projects for this party, but recently I decided to tackle what I am calling the "Court Cards". The idea was to design a laminated lanyard (cute enough for 16 year old girls) to be given when popped the question "will you be in my court?"

Though this could probably be done much easier in a more high tech program like InDesign, I worked with what I had, and what I had was good old Microsoft Word!

After opening the program to a new document, I inserted a rectangular shape. Simply click Insert > Shape and select from the menu of shape options. I formatted the rectangle to have no fill color and a thick black boarder.

I quickly inserted a text box and went to town with different fonts, weights, bolds, italics, you name it and I tried probably tried it. This is the part where you can get creative! The theme of this party was black and purple, which I knew all along. That's is why my text is solid black. 

I took a field trip to Michaels (but any craft store will do) and picked up some super sparkly purple paper from the scrapbook section. I only needed to make a handful of tags so two sheets was plenty for me. I was also able to pick up some clear laminate lanyard holders. I trimmed the purple paper to fit the inside of the holder, inserted my Microsoft design and voila! 

There you have it! An adorable way to ask your girls to be in your sweet sixteen! You can even use this tutorial for many other events (ie. vip passes, bridesmaids, save the dates, invitations?)

Don't be afraid to play around, and remember... practice makes perfect!

Check back for more DIY Design things for this awesome sweet sixteen!