Sneak peek

I’m getting close to finishing my Bohemian Swank Bedroom Makeover Project! This last weekend I *finally* received the wallpaper I ordered from UrbanOutfitters.com* after waiting weeks for it to arrive. I couldn’t be happier with it! I was super nervous about how the wallpaper was going to turn out because it’s “removable,” which in my mind had potential to look cheap. However, I really centered my entire vision for the room around this wallpaper and a painting I bought in Bali, so I was counting on this vibrant teal and gold accent wall being an integral part of my bedroom design.

This removable wallpaper, or renter’s wallpaper, is made by Tempaper who calls their product “self-adhesive, repositionable, temporary wallpaper.” It’s basically similar to a vinyl wall decal, if you’ve ever purchased one of those. It took me about three hours to focus on not rushing, lining up the pattern and cutting each piece correctly, and shaping it around the window and wall edges, but it turned out like a dream! Renter’s wallpaper is an easy way to add a pop of color without the mess of paint or committing to something you’re not sure is going to look okay (like a bright-colored wall). If you’re thinking of using temporary wallpaper in your home, here are a few links for you:

• Tempaper’s entire line of removable wallpaper (I’d recommend buying directly from them instead of UO). The pattern in my room is Honey Jade Marrakesh
• Sherwin Williams’ “Easy Change” wallpaper line
• Removable wall paper on Oh Happy Day (another San Francisco blog)

So that’s a sneak peek into my new Bohemian Swank bedroom. I’m still awaiting a few pieces, and need to install my chandelier, so I’ll share pics of the entire room when it’s all done!

*I had the worst experience ever ordering from UO and dealing with their customer service. While they have some of the best decorating items, I totally wouldn’t recommend them. 

Currently Feeling: Ready for all the exciting impending changes on my horizon – possibly a new job change coming my way… I’ve been frantically interviewing, (hence the silence on the blog last week) and am really excited. Hopefully I’ll have some good news to share with you soon.
Currently Anticipating: Leaving bright and early Thursday morning to meet my mom, dad and sis in Maui to celebrate my 30th and my dad’s 55th birthday!
Currently Loving: 600 thread count sheets – such a dream! I haven’t wanted to leave my bed lately.

Homemade Au Naturel Sugar Scrubs for DIY Gifts

I’ve started a Christmas tradition of my own – making crafty, homemade gifts for my friends each year! It’s quickly becoming my favorite part of the Christmas season. I love the process of trying something new, listening to music or watching Christmas movies while relaxing and creating, and the best of all – giving my homemade gifts to my friends! It’s my way little way of letting my BFFs know how much they mean to me and that they are a special part of my year.

Last year I made homemade soaps with funky images personalized for each friend (a great unisex gift), and this year I made sugar scrubs for my girls. With the soaps coming out less than $3 each and the sugar scrubs less than $5 each, these are inexpensive gifts that are way better than something picked up at the store for three times the price!

I found “A Year of Sugar Scrubs” recipes on a blog post from Pinterest, natch. Erin offers her e-book with 24 original sugar scrub recipes for only $3.99! I highly recommend buying it – the recipes were super easy, all-natural and smelled fabulous. I plan on trying them all out eventually.

This year, I made 12 sugar scrubs total and tried five of Erin’s 24 recipes – S’mores, Snickerdoodle, Pink Sugar Cookie, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Caramel Frappe – and made up two of my own recipes – Rainbow Chip Birthday Cake and Bali Vanilla Bean.

I was really proud of the two recipes I made up. I thought of Rainbow Chip Birthday Cake thanks to a canister of rainbow chocolate chips my mom had from William Sonoma. This ended up being the most popular flavor – who doesn’t love the rainbow chip birthday cake we all had as a little kid?!

I actually have to give credit to my sister for the Bali Vanilla Bean idea. We had a bag of fresh vanilla beans we brought back from Bali and gave to my mom. We scraped two vanilla beans from Bali into the “Vanilla Bean” scrub recipe from Erin’s e-book of sugar scrub recipes. I’ve never used real vanilla bean in a recipe before. It was crazy to peel open the bean and scrape out all the little tiny flea-looking dots inside the bean. This was probably the second most popular flavor to choose with my friends because it felt a little more “special” with the vanilla beans all the way from Bali!

My favorite recipe from Erin’s e-book on sugar scrubs was the S’mores recipe. The chocolate layer is a rich chocolatey smell (thanks to cocoa powder) and the marshmallow layer is actually made with my favorite marshmallow fluff (an excuse to buy it and lick the spoon)!

Another one of my favorite recipes from Erin was “Pink Sugar Cookie,” which takes a heart-shaped cookie cutter to create a heart in the middle of the sugar cookie scrub! A little surprise for my friend who went home and first took the lid of this scrub.

The absolute best thing about these sugar scrubs is that they are 100% natural (and even edible) – gluten free! low fat! no preservatives! no trans fat! no high fructose corn syrup! They’re largely made with olive oil and cane sugar. Some other ingredients I used are cocoa powder, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, marshmallow fluff, caramel sauce, Starbucks VIA, and vanilla extract – all ingredients found at your local grocery store. My sister and I even licked the spoons!

I put each of the sugar scrubs in a container I bought from Cost Plus World Market for only $2.99, tied them with ribbon, and created a cute little tag for each one. These sugar scrubs took about three hours total to make, were au naturel, inexpensive and a HUGE hit with my girl friends. It was so fun to see what each of my friends chose as their flavor (no girls were injured in the choosing of the scrub flavors).

My sister and I kept a recipe for a Snickerdoodle recipe that didn’t turn out and tried it in the shower – it’s an amazing exfoliate and the olive oil makes your skin so soft (and your skin even smells like the flavor afterward)! I think I’ll whip up a canister for myself to keep in in my shower and try different flavors throughout the year.

If you try these out yourself, let me know! I’d love to see what you create – this is my most favorite crafty project I’ve tried so far.

Currently Feeling: So glad to be “home” – it’s starting to feel more so every week, day and month!
Currently Anticipating: My first ever dim sum this week with some girl friends in SF (well, I take that back – been once, but it doesn’t count cause it was late at night and not really the full carted dim sum experience).
Currently Reading: Best Kept Secret by Amy Hatvany.

How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

Thanks to the all-knowing, addictive, most amazing website to come out of 2011 – Pinterest – I came across a few blogs that shared the idea of throwing a Favorite Things Party. So, I decided to host one for my San Francisco girls. Here’s the gist of throwing a Favorite Things Party: everyone brings five (or whichever number you choose) of their “favorite things” under a price limit. We did five things for $30. Favorite things can be your favorite condiment, nail polish color, book, amazing product you can’t live without, etc., but it should be five different things, not five of the same thing. Each person “presents” their favorite things one by one, and after each, pulls a name (from a box/hat) for the person who will receive the favorite thing. At the end, everyone goes home with five different “favorite things” from everyone at the party, learns a little bit about each attendee, and learns a lot about great products! It’s super fun, and a great change-up to the usual white elephant party.

Here are a few details I added to my party to give you some ideas if you want to throw your own Favorite Things Party! (P.S. I did it as a holiday party, but it can be thrown year-round without a Christmas theme!)

I bought brown bags, printed out labels that said, “A Few of Our Favorite Things” (you can download the labels here) and tied the bags with string. This was to play off “brown paper packages tied up with strings” from the song, and each person had a bag to put their “favorite things” they received at the party.

I made this fabulous Cranberry Mojito cocktail, also found on a blog courtesy of Pinterest. This might have been one of the biggest hits of the party. Because of it’s festive red and green appearance, everyone took pics and shared it on the social interwebs.

In keeping with the theme, I asked guests to bring their favorite appetizer. One of my girls brought pigs in blanket (or as she said, “Pigs in Down Comforters”) – everyone’s childhood fav!

I was really grateful to my friends who put a lot of thought and energy into their appetizers and presents – it was so fun to just chat, nibble on good homemade food and sip festive cocktails. The holidays are for celebrating with those you love most!

One of the best parts about the party is how fun it is to learn about each other through your favorite things. Like your friends love to travel… or love Owls… or appreciate fine wine… sometimes if they’re new friends, like most of girls in San Francisco, it’s a great way to get to know each other even more.

Some of the “favorites” that made their way to my party were: popcorn box for watching movies filled with candy, chalkboard wine glasses, Mac lipstick in Ruby Woo (I scored this one!), funny suitcase tag, non-slip headbands, Trident layers, Great Lash mascara, e.l.f. lipgloss, Almond Champagne (!!!), Bath & Bodyworks True Plue Paraffin lotion (supposed to be the best for dry hands), Gap thong (supposed to be super comfy), plastic flask for outdoor concerts, massage oil, eos lip balm and a Christmas amerilious plant.

My five favorites were: Forever 31 earrings, The Carrie Diaries(to represent my love for SATC, Carrie and blogging), Space Noodles (to represent my love for Seattle), a lululemon headband (to represent my love for yoga) and Tapatio! I put that stuff on everything.

What “favorite things” would you bring?!

One of my girl friends went home with Mac lip liner in “Cherry” and a lesson from a make-up artist friend on how to apply it – doesn’t she look fab?!

Again keeping with the theme (*cough* theme party whore *cough*), I made “warm apple strudel” (part of the Favorite Things song lyrics) for my dish and topped it with homemade eggnog ice cream! It was my first time making either, and they were quite the hit. Apple strudel is a crowd pleaser with all that butter and brown sugar, and eggnog is pretty much ready made ice cream mix in a carton! And of course, I had my “whiskers on kittens“ tied up in a pretty red party bow.

It was truly a night filled with our favorite things – each other, great food, drinks, conversation and the little things in life that make us smile. All recipes for an awesome holiday party with close girl friends!

Happy holidays, blog lovelies!

Currently Feeling: Like the holidays are even MORE crazy when you have to squeeze in meeting up with everyone you don’t see all the time. Whew – I’m tired! But it’s so much fun too.
Currently Anticipating: A girls night tomorrow night – dinner at Pearl and a tour of Snowflake Lane.
Currently Loving: Spending so much one-on-one time with my high school girl friends – it’s been awhile since so many of them have lived back at home, and it feels so special to catch up and stay good friends after all these years.

A pretty peacock hair clip and the winner of my contest

A girl friend of mine gave me this pretty peacock hair clip for Christmas. The best part about it – she made it! There’s a serious resurgence of DIY Christmas gifts this year, and I love it! I didn’t think the hair clip was really my style, but I wore it to dress up a black skirt and grey sparkle cardigan for two Christmas parties I had last Thursday, and I received no less than 10 compliments on it from friends and strangers. Best part about the compliments is I got to respond with, “Thanks! My friend made it!”

Second best part? It matches my blog. I love peacock feathers!

P.S. I finally used Random.org to pull a winner of my 12 Goodnesses Wrapped in a Party giveaway for a lifetime supply of Lean Pockets, and the winner was Kelly Clay! Kelly is a cute, bubbly, smart cookie I know through the social media scene in Seattle. Congrats Kelly! Thanks to all of you who played along.

Currently Feeling: Slow pokey today. It’s amazing how much food affects your mood – I ate a HUGE sandwich on French bread for lunch from my favorite East Coast deli, and I’ve been tired ever since. Ewww white carbs.
Currently Anticipating: Seeing one of my best guy friends who’s in town this week from L.A. I love Christmastime when all my friends come home from out of state!
Currently Reading: The Missing by Tim Gautreaux.

Tis the Season to be Crafty McCrafterson

I have been ridiculously crafty this holiday season – I’m not quite sure what’s gotten into me. I guess I’ve been bitten by some sort of Christmas spirit that made me decide to make gifts for every single friend, and all my coworkers too.

It started when I ran into this DIY blog post on making handmade soaps, posted on A Beautiful Mess, but originally written by Sarah from Team Rhodes Weddings. They looked so pretty and fun, and I said to myself, “Hey! That’s easy enough to do,” which then led me to pretty much the most amazing store I’ve been to in Seattle – Zenith Supplies. I had no idea it existed before this, but I’m so glad I found it! It’s a huge building full of everything you could possibly need to make handmade soaps, body butter, lotion, candles, lip glosses, lip balm, massage oils – you name it. They have everything from containers for your homemade treasures, a library full of books on aromatherapy and recipes, and at least 100 scents to choose from for making your treats smell like a million bucks.

After much deliberation, I came home with a bottle of Sweetgrass and Cabernet Sauvignon scents, and two blocks of glycerin. Besides images for your soaps and milk cartons – that’s all you need to make these beauties! I decided to use magazine cutouts instead of drawing images like Sarah suggested. I also came across a bunch of oops and uh ohs that I’m going to share with you, so if you ever decide to take this project on too, you’ll learn from my mistakes.

Here’s my picture guide to making homemade soaps for Christmas gifts:

Rinse out your milk cartons, and start cutting out pictures from magazines that are slightly smaller than the bottom of the milk carton. (If you cut it the exact same size, the soap won’t seal around the image, and will break apart between the two halves. This was one of my many lessons).

This was my favorite part of the project – it was fun to hand select the images I thought fit my friends the most. High heels and Lois Vuitton bags for my fashionista girlfriends; music, mountains, roast beef and beer for my guy friends; glasses and bottles for my wino friends, etc. I tried to select images that fit each of my friends, to make the gift as personal as possible!

When you have all your images, cut your glycerin in manageable chunks and melt them over low-medium heat in a soup pot. Once they’re melted, add your oils.

I love this oil I picked up at a boutique in Seattle – it was way more expensive than the natural essential oils at Zenith, but how cute is the name, “Wiggle Remedy.” I love it! Maybe my guy friends will find themselves a bit more grounded this coming year. (Not that they aren’t already).

Pour the liquid soap in the milk carton, and add your image to the top. Here’s the tricky part – if the soap’s too hot, the image will curl up. Sarah mentioned using a spoon to push your image down, and to not let it float to the top. I actually had better luck with the image being just below the surface. Too low, and the image curled from the heat of the soap, but too high and the glycerin won’t cover the image. This is the most difficult part! I also didn’t make my soaps thick enough at first, so ended up having to add more glycerin to them after they froze. Make sure you’re pouring at least a good inch and a half to make nice-sized soaps.

Stick the milk carton in the freezer for quick setting, then here’s the coolest part – just repeat pouring the liquid soap right on top of the frozen ones. Stack them up to the top of the milk carton, then when you peel off the milk carton, you can just slice through the soaps easily with a kitchen knife!

Be careful when cutting – I had a number of the soaps come apart where each one was poured, and sometimes split where the image was (back to the not sealing part if your image is too big). You can trim them up, and worse comes to worse – I just used one of those candle torch lighters to remelt the glycerin and seal some of the pieces that popped off.

When you’re done, you have a beautiful set of personalized soaps to give away to your friends! I spent a little bit of money on magazines ($10), my supplies were $75 (although the Wiggle Remedy oil was $14, much more expensive than the standard $6 bottle of oil), and I spent about $20 on freakin’ milk cartons. I ended up making approximately 30 bars of soap, so it came out to roughly $3.50 a soap, and I gave most of my friends two soaps. Not too bad for a small, thoughtful Christmas gift idea!

Here’s a couple of my favorites:

(I ended up keeping the last one to myself. I think an old lady dressed like a munchkin and carrying a lollipop was just to weird to give anyone. Ha! Merry Christmas to me!).

And Merry Christmas to YOU, blog lovelies!

P.S. When I was done with the soap project, I whipped up a batch of my favorite, favorite caramel corn recipe I’ve been making for three years now. So easy, and really great to put in decorated bags and leave on your coworkers’ desks!

Currently Feeling: Terrible that I haven’t announced the winner of my Snuggie giveaway yet. I’ll do it this week, I swear!
Currently Anticipating: Pilates tomorrow at lunch! It’s been a great mix-up to my yoga routine.
Currently Loving: Teatro Zinzanni dinner theater in Seattle. I’ve always wanted to go, and finally did it Saturday night for a girls holiday party. It was the BEST thing I’ve been to in a loooong time! Stay tuned for my post about it this week.