Valentine's Day Gift Guide {or What She REALLY Wants...}

I know it's only mid-January, but let's face it - Valentine's Day is right around the corner. It's not too early to get a head start on hinting thinking about what you want or what you want to give {in case any men are lurking around this blog}. It's no secret that most women wear makeup. And if I had to guess, I'd say most of us won't leave home without it. That said, I've made a great list for you of some of the best, most affordable skin care and makeup products available today. I admit, I'm a little biased, but seriously these are the kind of things practical women would love to try because they might not splurge on themselves very often. Valentine's Day is a great time to pamper yourself or that special someone in your life. Let's get started!

1. I'm starting with my very FAVORITE PRODUCT I've ever tried. MOODSTRUCK 3D FIBER LASH MASCARA.
I know, you may think "All mascara is the same." Let me assure you, it is NOT equal. Do you have what my cousin, LJ, calls "Ho-Hum Lashes"? Not quite as full as they used to be. Even the curler doesn't help those lashes stand up all day. Short lashes? Light lashes?
Well, this is your lucky day! Check out these before & afters of me and my personal friends.... The results speak for themselves.

 Yours Truly - 3D Fiber Lash on the LEFT, Maybelline The Falsies mascara on the RIGHT.Notice how it opens the eye and really makes the eye pop!

 3D Fiber Lash on the LEFT, store bought mascara on the RIGHT

 This speaks for itself! 3D Fiber Lash adds 3X the length and fullness!

Even awesome for women over 50. Believe me, my mom has told all of her friends about this magical mascara.

2. Moodstruck Minerals Pigment Powders
At $12.50 per container, these pigment powders really pack a punch when it comes to color. How many times have you bought eye shadow from any store and got home to realize it doesn't show up as bold or bright as it promised? It's a bummer.

Victoria says, It is "highly pigmented with a great formula that is easy to apply. Great sleek packaging! Provoked really does make green eyes pop!" She is also wearing "Ladylike" Lucractive Lip Gloss.
I've never been very daring in the eye shadow department, but this inspires me to try! I'll probably need to watch these tutorials first, though.

3. Skin care is the cosmetic industry's leading product. It rakes in more money than any of the other cosmetic products available to us women. That tells me that skin care is a very important matter to most women. I mean, all of us want to age well, and skin care is a major component of that.
Let me tell you about Illuminate Clean.
Illuminate Clean, made in the USA, is brand new and formulated for normal to dry skin, or for people with very sensitive skin. Containing superleaf extracts, Ginkgo biloba, and horse chestnut, Clean's more mild formula is still powerful enough to gently cleanse your sensitive skin.
and Illuminate Clear Illuminate Clear started out as our popular first cleanser, Awake. It contains the same key ingredients, but we've refined the formula and brought the manufacturing to the US so we can produce it on a larger scale, and more easily maintain complete control over our proprietary formula. This is for oily skin.

4. Lucrative Lip Gloss
My favorite color is "Luxe" because it's a great natural color, but there are some great colors available...See for yourself!

At just $15/each, this is a steal for gaining these lucrative, smooth and colorful lips. I love that the tube has a mirror on the side of each tube to help you apply it neatly on the go! What's your favorite color?

5. And don't forget to check out the awesome Moodstruck Precision Pencil Eye Liner - my must-have every day along with my mascara. Can't leave home without it! Eye liner defines your eye shape and is a great filler for gaps in your lashes. Eyeliner hides a multitude of issues! $15/each and these pencils can be sharpened and are CRY-PROOF, SMUDGE-PROOF AND GOES ON SMOOTH!

Younique Sassy Lashes by Amy {yours truly} is sponsoring this blog this month - and hopefully the next several months{!!} so please stop by and see what other awesome products we have available!

Will you please like my Facebook Page Younique Sassy Lashes by Amy? Pretty please? I will keep you up to date on the latest and greatest in this awesome line of cosmetics!

Would you like to earn some of these products for free? You can host a party online. Everything is done online - no house cleaning or food to bake - just online. You can stay in you jammies if you wish! Ask me how.

You can also earn extra cash by selling this yourself! Ask me how! Sign up is easy and it's only $99 for your kit full of over $200 worth of products you'll use, a personal website with no fees and no automatic shipments or contracts involved!

Thank you kindly!

My New Toy and What I've Been Making With It

I have been having so much fun with the Christmas gift my Hubs gave me! He's really something when it comes to buying gifts. I never know what I want for Christmas or my birthday so he's pretty much always on his own trying to come up with something for me. He, on the other hand, is very precise about what he wants and reads every.single.review. known to man before making his final decision on any purchase. But that's a good trait to have. I do not have that trait. He learned that lesson several years ago when he asked for a good leather toolbelt for Christmas. {Carpentry is one of his hobbies.} We had looked at many from local places, etc. but being the cheap frugal person I am, I found him a leather toolbelt online - and it came with lots of 'tools'. Needless to say, it wasn't anything like he had dreamed of, or shown me or hinted about. The tools {which he is also very picky about} were junk and the toolbelt, albeit not very pretty, is still working out very well. Now every Christmas, he sends me an email with links to the EXACT items he wants and we always get a good laugh out of the Toolbelt Christmas.

All that to say, I didn't know what I wanted for Christmas. I had no idea what to ask for. So, on his own, he decided to surprise me with a Silhouette Portrait. I'm sure by now you've heard all about them, but I am still learning about all the awesome features this incredible machine has! I'm giddy to try them all out and can't wait to show you some of the projects I've done.

I snuck this monogrammed shirt into this post the other day. I used my Portrait to do all the tedious cutting for me. Piece.of.cake, I tell you!

Hubs knows WAY more about this machine than I do already. He watched many YouTube video tutorials on it and read pretty much every review on this machine before purchasing it. He cracks me up, but no one can ever accuse him of not being thorough! When he bought my machine, it was during a promotion so I got a lot of extras with it, like this gorgeous red cover {my favorite color!}. There are so many tools you can use with this machine. I love that it hooks right up to my computer and I can use any image for downloading and I don't need to buy a million cartridges for it. It takes up very little space, but you better make room for all the fun projects you're going to be making with this thing!

Really, the whole creative world is at my fingertips and I can't wait to explore it!

Do you have one of these? What awesome projects have you made with it? What YouTube video tutorials would you recommend?

How to Arm Knit a Scarf

{Pic in cover photo from Lion Brand Free Wallpaper Backgrounds - check out their great free desktop wallpaper selection here.}

If you read my sister's blog, this might sound familiar. I recently learned how to arm knit and if you like quick and easy results, you will want to do this, too!

At Thanksgiving, my mom and I learned how to arm knit and we had a ball. Once you start, it's hard to stop making them....until you realize you have nowhere else to store all of these scarves. Then, you'll want to give them to all your friends.

{I used size 6 Super Bulky for this scarf}

So, at my sister's house for Christmas, I taught her and my niece how to arm knit a scarf. By the time we were done, my niece had gotten an order to make one for a friend! The first time will take you some extra time just to understand how to do it, but after that it's only about 30 minutes of your time.

{My sister, on the left, used size 5 for her scarf. Abby, on the right, used size 6 super bulky.}

Don't plan on doing anything else after you start a scarf, though. You have to finish it before you can take it off your arms or it will unravel. So, go get yourself some yarn. Put your feet up and watch this tutorial. You'll be done in no time!

You will need to use 2 skeins of yarn for each scarf. Size 5 or 6 works best.

Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait for you to try this!!

Easy Chalkboard Necklace {Gift Idea}

Looking for a last minute gift for the teacher on your list?? This has always been a big hit with my kids' teachers. Give your teacher an A+ this Christmas with this easy chalkboard necklace! Here's how you do it.

What you need:
Any size pendant with a flat surface.
Chain of your choice.
Chalkboard paint
Painter's tape
Chalk

Start by taping off the pendant of your choice. Straight edges are the easiest but I have done an oval shape before. Make sure the tape is secure enough so that the paint will not get on the edges.

In a well-vented space {preferably outside}, lay your pendant with taped edges onto a scrap piece of newspaper or cardboard. Spray the pendant with a coat of chalkboard paint. Let dry. Spray again two or three times to get a good coating on the surface.

Let it dry at least a few hours before writing on it with chalk. I like to use chalk markers so they won't scrape the surface, but regular chalk will work. If using regular chalk, wear down the edge of the chalk before writing on the pendant.

It wipes clean with a soft cloth.
Embellish your necklace with a charm or ribbon to give it some extra bling and make it more personal. You can write their monogram or anything you want on the pendant. Be creative!
Then, package it up nice and neat and you're ready to give your gift to the lucky teacher.

What are your go-to gifts for teachers? This works great at Christmas, birthdays, beginning of the year or end of the year gifts. And these are popular for non-teachers, too!

Thanks for stopping by! Sharing this with a few of these friends.

Team Spirit Pom Pom Gloves {Tutorial}

We've got spirit, yes, we do! We've got spirit, how 'bout you?? Show your team spirit with these adorable DIY pom pom gloves! Perfect for all those cold weather games. Keep your hands warm and cheer for your team at the same time. I love these and they are super easy and cheap to make! You can pick up a pair of solid color gloves for $1 at several places. Yarn is also cheap and it doesn't take much of it to make these cute gloves. Here's how!

You're ready to cheer on the team! These would make a great gift or stocking stuffer for the cheerleader or spectator on your list! So easy to make, inexpensive and very cute! Make them in a variety of colors for your favorite sports teams.

What are your favorite team colors?

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I'm sharing this with some of these friends. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Mr. & Mrs. Pillow {Tutorial}

Today was my cousin's bridal shower! It was fun coming up with a gift for this girl because she's got some fun themes for her new apartment with the soon-to-be-Mr. When I was trying to decide on a what gift to give her, I thought I'd like to make one thing for her. I like handmade gifts for special occasions and bridal showers are great for that! So, as I was debating on what to give her, I checked out her bridal registries and her Pinterest boards {GREAT way to find out what people like!} and then did a little searching of my own and decided to make this pillow for her. It was fun and very easy to make. I thought maybe you'd like to make one for yourself or as a gift for a friend!

I'm linking with some of these parties!

Monogram Picks {Tutorial}

Last week I bought some cute tin buckets at Old Time Pottery and had planned to make mini Easter baskets for my girls' teachers. I didn't want to load them up with candy and we have already given them handmade necklaces for Christmas and I am pretty sure we gave them silk flower pins earlier this year, so I decided to use the buckets for flowers. While I was at Hobby Lobby this morning, I saw that the chipboard letters were 50% off, making the small ones, only .50 cents each. That's when it hit me that I could make monogram picks to put in the flowers. They can always use the picks some other way when the plant dies, but with all the cheery, bright-colored scrapbook paper options, I couldn't pass this up. I hope they like them!

Linking to some of these parties!