Big Big Day!

 

Guys… today is a big day. If I was going to rate this day on a scale of 1-10 it would be a 12. Why you ask? Well, My papa has officially completed his radiation treatment.

Good freakin’ cookie.

I wont go into too much detail because anything regarding my papa not doing well makes me sad. But he has finished his treatment and doctors say he is doing amazing. It will take a few weeks to run tests to see if it has treated it completely but last time they ran him numbers they were extremely impressed with them… Woot!

I am still waiting for my mother to send me the awesome picture of him ringing the big “I’m finished” bell but I will share it when I get it. (it’s kind of like an in your face cancer bell)

Anyways. In honor of this glorious day, I have decided to have a sale. I have been doing a lot of work on my shop and I think it’s beginning to show.

I have created a logo which I am pretty proud of. I also purchased a light box and let me tell you, it makes a huge difference in photographing jewelry.

Plus, I pretty much spent all Saturday redoing my storefront. Not an easy task. You see I’m cheap so I opted to do it myself. Then I realized I have no idea what HTML or CSS even stand for. I think I did pretty good though. Here are some of the various stages it went through.

I’m pretty proud of it! I know it’s not super fancy pants but whatevs… I did it myself.

I am still trying to get rid of my stock even though we are still not sure when/where we are going to move… I want to be prepared for anything. So, if things aren’t in stock it doesn’t mean they are gone forever. Just for a bit.

Wow… you all are probably ready to get on with the sale business, right?

Well, for today only (the 31st) all items in stock are 31% off. Just use code “gopapa” at checkout!

Also, please spread the word via any social network you have! Help a sista out! and even if you don’t buy anything, check out the new design and tell me what you think. Not bad for my first web design, right? Right?

Plus… don’t forget, today is the last day to get $5 off you Awesomely-Awkward Sponsor spot for June… Use code “motherlover”

one last thing… one of my sponsors is having an awesome giveaway now through the 13th so go check it out!!! Lots of info, I know. It’s a good day!

Beauty Basics: Waterfall Braid

Guys, I love braids. I could wear them everyday. Waterfall braids are pretty much my fav. When I taught myself to waterfall braid I watched like a bazillion Youtube videos (technical term, I’m sure) and trust me… there are many different ways to do this. This is just the way I do it so it must be the right way. Kidding.

So first let’s just start by saying that taking picture of yourself braiding your hair is hard… hence the video. I suck at videos. I can’t talk and braid at the same time apparently. Plus, I put the dropped piece of hair in my mouth to keep it out of the way (you’ll see in the video) and I was taught never to talk with your mouth full… which is a rule I almost always follow.

Secondly, I know I make a weird scrunchy face when I am concentrating. Sorry. I did my best to keep it to a minimum. Seriously though, I can’t help but crack up at my faces after watching this… nerd.

So you have been warned. Watch at your own risk as I explain (in text) what I am doing. Hopefully you can follow. Please hold all questions to the end.

Behold my video making skills…

Here is my lame attempt of picture taking… bet you’re liking the video right about now, huh?

step one: grab a section of hair and separate it into three. Begin braiding as normal to get started.

Step two: the piece of hair that is on the bottom needs to be dropped (this is the waterfall part).

Step three: I like to hold the dropped piece in my mouth to keep it out of the way. Optional but it does help. So you should have the dropped piece out of the way and have two pieces of hair in your hand. You will need a third piece to continue to braid. Grab a piece of hair from just behind the piece of hair you just dropped and add it into the braid.

Step four: braid the top like a regular french braid and add a piece in from the top of your hair.

Step five: Continue to do this. Drop the bottom piece, grab a piece from the bottom, braid, then add a piece from the top.

Step six: You can do this all the way around your head… You can do this just on one side… or you can do one on each side like I did in this video. And yes, before you ask, I was completely unprepared. When I finished the braid on the right side I realized I didn’t have a bobby pin. I slickly grabbed one out of the braid on the left side whoopsi doodle.

Here is the finished product!

I hope you enjoyed this… or could even follow what I was doing. Did I do ok? If you have any questions feel free to ask me. I will do my best to answer everything. This is truly simple. If you can french braid you can do this. It just takes a little practice.

I’m thinking next time doing a foolproof 5 stranded braid. So cute and way easier than it sounds. 

Sponsor Love!!

 

Guys I love loving my sponsors. They are so good to me! I honestly have some of the coolest ladies on the web choose to put their button on my page… that sounds weird. Seriously though. Pretty cool. The time has come again to spotlight some of the ladies sponsoring me this month. This month I asked them to write up a little paragraph about why they started blogging in the first place. Everyone does it for a different reason and it’s fun to know why people wanted to start sharing so much of their life with the world. So here goes. Meet my homies.

 

Only Impossible Until Done

I started blogging in January this year when I was temporarily living in a very small town my boyfriend moved to while he was doing compulsory work experience for university. I didn't know anyone and there wasn't much to do in the town so I turned to blogging. I was already an avid blog reader before I started and blogging turned out to be a great hobby to pass the time.

Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest

 

Simply Valorie

I've been blogging on and off for years since back when Xanga was popular, but I started Simply, Valorie after my freshman year of college. At the time, I was excited about documenting the rest of college and having a space to talk about my hopes and dreams as a future law student. What happened instead is that Simply, Valorie ended up documenting my sojourn in China, my move to DC, and the beginning of my career as a wedding photographer. And I couldn't be happier.

Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest

 

P.S. If you want to sponsor for June you can still get $5 off with code “motherlover” until Friday… get your spot now, they are filling up!

Happy Memorial Day!

 

For most of you, this is the kickoff to summer. For those living in Montana, it means at least 3 more weeks of winter. It snowed pretty much all weekend. It’s been cloudy and cold. Welcome to summer in Montana!

I spent most of my 3 day weekend cuddled in bed with a hot cup of coffee watching movies. Pretty sweet deal. I spent pretty much all of Saturday redoing my shop. Coding is not really my thing but I think it turned out pretty well for a noob.

Thursday I am having a sale to celebrate so be sure to stop by for details.

So what did you all do for the long weekend?

Weekly Wrap Up…

 

Hiya guys! It’s Friday and I’m excited. Why? Well, it’s Friday. That’s pretty much the only reason. Not much exciting happened this week. I guess I had enough excitement last week to carry my through this one. It’s kind of nice to have a boring relaxing week every once in a while.

Through the eyes of my phone…

I’ve been seriously lacking on the pictures lately… oops. These three things I did capture though, and they have been making me uber happy.

This song… in the first picture… has basically been on constant repeat in my head/iphone/car all week. It’s originally from Pretty Women (best movie ever) but remade by New Found Glory… probably forever ago but it’s new to me.

I am in love with braids and the waterfall braid is pretty much my fav. I think this is going to be my beauty basic for next week.

Happiness overload alert! I busted out my donut machine… it’s like a waffle maker but for donuts. Pretty much the best invention on the planet. Homemade chocolate donuts and glaze with sprinkles? Yep, it’s love.

On the blog front…

• I showed how to maintain unruly brows here
• I also shared some graduation pictures here
• Plus, I recapped my super awesome vacation here

In other news…

This weekend I and finally getting all my stuff done to show you how to refashion an old button up.

I got some new stuff that is going to help me photograph my jewelry better. Hopefully it will better showcase my work. This probably means a sale is in order.

Oh and before I forget, Sponsor spots are open for the month of June. If you get your spot now, you can still take $5 off any spot with code “motherlover” code only good till June 1 so act fast.

Graduation Baby!

Ummm yeah, I’m a slacker (already known by most of you). Probably one of the biggest moments of my life happened and I didn’t even tell you guys about it. I apologize for my bad slacker ways.

The hubs and I are officially college graduates. Yeah baby! I went to school online so I didn’t get a fancy graduation but the hubs sure did and I was there snapping pictures like a madman… and screaming like an idiot. Spenser drew the line when I tried to make some signage though. No fun that boy.

Spens’ parents came down for the occasion which was super nice. They moved to Canada so it may be a while before we get to see them again… I think I’m the only person on the planet who lacks a passport.

Anywho… here are some pictures documenting the monumentious occasion.

It took me and his dad forever to find where he was in the huge line. Then we did (duh).

Here are just some of the family pics I took. I might have went a little overboard but hey, I’m proud of my man. It took us forever to get here so I’m gunna document it damn it.

Anyways, he’s now on the hunt for a job. Hopefully one comes sooner rather than later but we’ll see.

Yay babe! We did it (I’m secretly doing the snoopy dance right now in my living room).

You… have nice eyebrows

 

No joke, this is an actual comment I’ve received from a guy. Back in high school. Don’t ask me why. That is when I plucked my eyebrows within an inch of their life. Seriously, it’s a miracle I still have hair growing out of my forehead.

Hi, my name is Jamie and I use to be an over plucker. I’m here today to show you how to have nice eyebrows… and it’s very simple.

You can go from Burt and Ernie (I always forget which one has the crazy brows)to looking like you don’t have a hibernating bear on your face in no time.

Here is what you need:

Simple enough, right? Tweezers, an eyebrow brush, scissors (probably a smaller pair… these are my hair shears) and optional, an eyebrow pencil. This is my fav because it’s a pencil on one side then it has brown gel on the other (it’s Revlon).

Here is how you do it:

Step one:

I like to comb all my eyebrows up and trim them. I have long eyebrows so if I leave this step out they get kind of curly and wont lay down right. I do all of the first section straight up and clip the ends. Don’t do them too short though, or else they will look too thin when combed back into place. Once I get to the arch, I comb out to the side and clip again. If you comb the tail portion straight up you will almost always clip to much and take the whole tail right off… not a good look. Trust me, I’ve done it… multiple times.

Step two:

Figure out if those babies are in the right shape. Guys, this isn’t hard. Your face already knows what shape they should be. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE YOUR SHAPE SOMETHING IT’S NOT! I cannot stress that enough. They will just end up looking wrong. Go from the end of your nostril straight up. Anything over from that line needs to go. Then go from the edge over the iris up. This is where your arch should start. Lastly, go again from the edge of your nostril past the corner of your eye. This is where they should end. TIP: to make this easier, mark these points with a pencil then go in and connect the lines forming your shape. Anything above, below, or to the sides of these lines can be plucked. Do this and you will get a good shape… pinky promise.

Step three:

Yank those bad boys out. The key is to get your tweezers kind of flat and slide one side under the hair. Then pull down in the direction the hair is growing. Does that make sense? If you just grab it and yank up, the hair could just break off and not grab the root. If you get the hair out by the root, the hair will stay gone longer… this is good.

Step four: Optional… and trust, I do not do this everyday but it does look extra nice when you do.

Since I was a member of over pluckers anonymous, I have a few spots that don’t want to grow all the way in. This is easily fixed with a eyebrow pencil. Many people get intimidated by this step and think it’s too complicated. It’s not. If you can color at least semi in the lines, you can do this. Grab a pencil that is a couple shades LIGHTER than your eyebrow color. Please resist the urge to match it perfectly. It will be too dark… you will look like Groucho Marks. Ok? Ok. So all you have to do is lightly trace the border of your eyebrows all around. Then go in and with light almost brush strokes, fill the inside in. Do not take it like a crayon and try to fill the inside in with one big line. Short little lines make it look natural. Then take your brush and lightly brush through it. This will blend everything together. I always finish my eyebrows with some sort of gel, even if I don’t fill them in that day. This will just keep them in place and trust me, I get some wonky eyebrows if I don’t.

So that’s it… you should end up with something like this

Excuse the lack of makeup on the rest of my face. It was Sunday and I couldn’t be bothered. Moral of the story? If you get a good shape going, maintenance is super easy. I let mine grow out a bit butt ton for this tutorial most usually I just pluck the strays as they grow in and trim them about once every couple weeks. This keeps them in tip top shape.

So what’s up for next week ladies? What would you like me to show you how to beautify? Braid tutorial? Basic styling tutorial? Skincare? You name it I will make it pretty for you.