Intimate DIY Valentines Day Gift Basket feat. K-Y® Love and Target!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveOurVDay #CollectiveBias

Hey everyone! Today I'm partnering with K-Y® Love and Target to give you some DIY inspiration for Valentine's Day! My boyfriend Skylar and I have been together for almost 5 years, but I still struggle with picking out the perfect V-Day gift. I'm a practical gift giver- I like giving gifts that the recipient will not only like, but actually use! So, I thought it would be fun to throw together a little gift basket for a 'DIY Date Night,' if you will. Fun, right? Plus, I know it's something Skylar will love, if ya know what I mean ;) 

Supplies:

-K-Y® Love Pleasure Gel

- Candy of your choice

- Fun boxers

- A $5 movie

-Popcorn

-Candles

-A handwritten note

First, decide what items to put in your 'Date Night' basket. I decided on a 'movie night' type theme, with some popcorn and a $5 movie from Target. This is great because it's so easy to personalize! I also included some cute boxers for him and candles with scents he likes.

Some other ideas of things to include may be: a bottle of wine with two wine glasses, 

Next, if you want to make your gift more intimate and romantic, you can include something fun for the bedroom. Skylar and I are pretty open about this kind of thing, so when I was given the chance include these K-Y® Love pleasure gels in my gift, I was pretty excited about it!  I was sent two K-Y® Love products to try out and include in my basket- the Passion and Sensuality pleasure gels, which are being sold exclusively at Target for Valentine's Day, found in the feminine care aisle. (They are also offering 10% off these K-Y® Love products via Cartwheel until Valentine's Day!)




Finally, construct your basket! The Target dollar section is the best place to pick up some finishing touches like baskets, ribbons, and tissue paper. I'd love to get a piece of red ribbon and thread it around the basket with a bow in the front. What do you think?

And viola, the basket is done-I can't wait to give it to him! I have a few other ideas of things to include before the night comes, like some wine and maybe some pretty undergarments for myself :) 

Do you have anything fun planned for Valentine's Day?

2015 Savings Jar

This year, I decided that one of my big resolutions was going to be saving money. I have always been a huge shopper- whenever I get money, I'm instantly thinking of things I want to buy with it. Anyone else? Anyway, I decided that I want to start saving my money for bigger investments- road trips, concert tickets (anyone else dying to see FOB and Wiz this summer???), and things of that sort. 

I saw this post on tumblr and it inspired me to make a 'savings jar' for 2015! I discovered something called the '52 Week Money Challenge,' which you can see below. For my purposes, I adapted the challenge and I designed a cute little checklist for the year! 

Feel free to use if you'd like!

Essentially, you 'deposit' $1 the first week, and each week the deposit amount grows by $1 until you deposit $52 on the last week of the year. There was also a tip on the original 52 Week Money Challenge post that said you could also do it backwards, and deposit $52 the first week, and take $1 off the deposit amount. Pretty cool, right? I've also decided to take it a little further by also putting any loose change I get into the jar as well. 

Have you ever saved money this way? Do you have any tips for me? I'd love to hear them!

DIY: Mini College Care Packages with Bigelow and Target

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #TrendTea

Hey guys! Today I'm partnering with Bigelow Tea and Target to share an awesome DIY! Being a college senior, I know how awesome getting care packages can be. I wanted to get a little gift for each of my roommates after moving in, and I decided to make them both a mini college care package! Lord knows us college kids love caffeine, so tea is a great addition to any college care package!

Target was the best place to shop for something like this! Not only do they have a great selection of Bigelow tea (they had tons of different flavors!), but their $1 section is a great place for fun little things to throw into a care package! For my roommates, I chose Bigelow's 'Constant Comment' tea, which includes flavors like orange rinds and sweet spice. It's the perfect mix of delicious, relaxing taste, with a hint of caffeine to keep you going through those study sessions!

What To Include:

The best thing about this DIY is that it's so open ended; you can essentially add anything you want! For my roommates, I grabbed a few useful things, like pens, washi tape, and hand sanitizer, and a few fun things like the mini gel pens, nail polish and the bubbles! And of course, I threw in some tea for those times you need to relax & focus. Plus, these cute little polka-dot metal pails were perfect containers (and they were only $1 each!)

Some other things that could go in a care package like this: snacks, gum, tampons, ibuprofen, cough drops, note cards, shampoo & conditioner, candles, coffee mugs, magazines...the list goes on!

All in all, my roommates loved their packages! Even though they were small, they were so excited about them! They loved the tea so much, they even said they would buy it in the future for themselves!
If you're interested in Bigelow tea, you can find them on Facebook and Twitter! Thanks for reading :)

If you're in college, what would you love to see in a care package? Or if you're not, what would you put in one? I'd love to hear!

Photo Tips: Better Portraits with a DIY Reflector!

One of the biggest suggestions I got from my reader survey (which you can still take here and enter for a chance to win free money and suggest tutorials like these!) was more photo tutorials. Well, today I've got a super easy tutorial that you can use to make your portraits (or selfies!) look brighter and more professional. 

A reflector is used in portrait photography to spread more light across your subject's face. As you can see in the above before & after photo, without a reflector, I have some harsh, awkward shadows across my face, and it makes my eyes look dark. But with a reflector, the light on my face is more even and soft, which looks way more flattering!

So today, I'm going to show you how to DIY your own reflector for super cheap in under 5 minutes!

What You'll Need:

-A canvas (a piece of cardboard or other flat surface could work too!)

-Aluminum foil

- Tape

• First, spread your aluminum foil over your canvas with the matte (less shiny) side facing outward. (I find that if you use the shiner side, it makes it too harsh)

• Next, fold the edges down so the aluminum foil covers the entire canvas, as well as the sides.

• Finally, tape down all edges.

How easy is that? To use the reflector, have your model (or someone else) hold the reflector under their face, but out of view of the camera, like so:

And there you have it! This is a super easy and cheap way to improve your photos, without any fancy equipment. Please let me know if you try this out, or if you have any other photography tutorials you'd like to see!

Happy Wednesday!

DIY Collar Clips

I don't know about any of you, but I'm in love with the fact that collar clips are kind of "in" right now! I figured it would be a super simple DIY, and it was! Seriously, I used things I already had around my house, and it takes 5 minutes, tops!

Supplies Needed:

Pair of stud earrings (any kind!)

Necklace chain 

Note: you'll need a chain with holes in it, as seen in the photo. The holes will need to be big enough to fit the earring back through

 Step one:

First, take one of the earrings and put the back through the clasp of the necklace. I always put the clasp on one of the earrings because that way, it's hidden and people won't be able to tell that it's actually a necklace! Finish by putting the earring back on to hold the necklace in place.

Then, repeat on the other end of the necklace, simply putting the earring back through one of the holes at the opposite end of the length of the necklace.

This is what you're finished product looks like! (Don't mind my nails, I painted them just before taking these photos and I did them a bit sloppy :p)

Attatching them to the collar:

Super simple, right?

And there you have it! I'm so excited I figured this out, because you can change out the earrings to match with your outfit. So many possibilities!

I hope you all have a lovely Monday!

Guest Post: Cookies with Lauren of In Between Idols!

Today I've got the lovely Lauren from In Between Idols here to share a recipe for some delicious sweet and salty cookies! They look delicious, and you better believe I'll be trying out the recipe myself as well! Make sure to run over and check out her blog too, it's fabulous!

Hello, humans! I am Lauren and I blog over at In Between Idols. I like to talk (write) about my half-assed DIYs, my uneventful life, and, what I’ll be sharing today, my kitchen adventures! Today, I decided I needed to have some cookies. Lately, I’ve been obsessing over sweet and salty foods, so I knew pretzels needed to be involved. And chocolate. And whatever else I had in my kitchen. This was the result.

Ingredients (Because I am a grocery hoarder, I had all of these in my pantry, but your case may differ!)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup softened vegetable spread (or butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup crushed pretzels
sea salt

Prepare

1// Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl of some sort. Set aside for later.

2// Beat butter and sugars until light ‘n’ fluffy! Add in egg and vanilla and mix well.

3// Combine wet and dry ingredients. I did this savage style by dumping the flour mix into the wet bowl all at once. You might want to try a more civilized approach.

4// Here’s the fun part – add in your yummies! I used chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and pretzels but you can add or omit ingredients as you wish.

5// Cover and let mix chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

6// Preheat your oven to 350 and scoop little balls of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet while you wait for it to heat up. If you don’t have a silicone baking mat, GO BUY ONE. Like, seriously. They’re like $10 at Bed, Bath and Beyond and they are insanely amazing. Okay, got one? Good. Use it. Place your cookie balls about 1-2 inches apart and smush them with a spoon to flatten them a bit.

7// Wanna kick your cookies up a notch? Sprinkle some sea salt over each piece! Totally optional, but so worth it!

8// Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how soft you want your cookies. And you’re freaking done!

These are the perfect mix of sweet and salty and awesome, seriously. They are pretty easy to make (even for a kitchen newbie like myself!) and take very little time! Next time your sweet tooth is nagging for some lovin’, whip some of these babies up. You can thank me later. Really though, I’d love to hear all about it if you do try this recipe out! 

Thanks so so so much to Brooke for having me today! She’s definitely a rad little lady! If you enjoyed this post and want to see more crap I whip up on a whim, or some sweet DIYs, or just some non-nonsensical ramblings, hop on over to my blog and we can be pals, muchachas!

DIY Studded Shorts

Whats more summer (and more hardcore) than high-waisted studded shorts? Nothing, that's what. So, of course, I wanted a pair for myself for when the weather warms up! So, without further ado, here is the method I used to add studs to an old pair of thrift store shorts!

Supplies Needed:

Shorts, Studs, Pliers, Screwdriver (optional)

The studs I had were previously used (and very strong), so the prongs weren't already sticking straight out. I used a screwdriver to pry them open.

Once you stick them through the fabric (which may use some strength, depending on the thickness of your fabric), use the pliers to clamp the prongs down. This may not be necessary if you have a thinner stud. I do recommend a thicker stud; other studs I've used that were thinner had prongs that broke off very easily. 

After you get the hang of it, go crazy! 

There you have it! You can use this method to add studs to any kind of denim: jackets, jeans, or whatever! I hope it was helpful :)

Happy Tuesday!

DIY Coffee Scrub

If you couldn't tell, I absolutely love coffee, and that leaves me with used grounds every morning. Well, instead of just throwing them away, I decided to use the grounds to make a facial or body scrub! Plus, there are only three ingredients, so it was super easy!

What I used:

 Used coffee grounds, honey, sugar

Add your sugar and honey until you reach the desired consistency. I didn't actually do this, but it might be a good idea to warm up the scrub first, it might be a bit more relaxing! However, leaving it cold works just fine.

And, of course, apply! I only applied to my face, but I've read that coffee grounds work wonders on cellulite, so I might have to try some on my legs too! I have pretty dry skin, and the scrub did a pretty good job of exfoliating. I will definitely be trying this again!

Have you ever tried a variation on a used coffee ground scrub? I am very open to different ingredient combinations!

Happy Wednesday :)

♥Brooke

DIY 2013 Memory Jar

I've been wanting to share this project since the beginning of the year, and alas, here we are! I am so excited to share with you how I made my 2013 memory jar, and I'm even more excited to keep collecting memories that I may otherwise forget throughout the year! You can decorate yours any way you'd like, but here's how I did mine!

What You'll Need:

Mod Podge, jar, x-acto knife, scrapbook paper

1. Cut your letters (and any other designs you may want to use) out of the scrapbook paper. I found an x-acto knife to work better on smaller things, but scissors would work just fine too.

2. Spread your mod podge on the back of your design with a paintbrush, and press them on your jar. You could also spread a layer of mod podge over the top of the design as well, but I found putting it on the back only worked just fine.

3. Collect scraps of paper and start recording your memories!

And there you have it! Super simple, right? I cut out some extra scraps from construction paper so whenever I had something I wanted to write down, I didn't have to search for paper. I'm excited to start making memories :)

Have any of you made a memory jar before?

♥Brooke