What have I done

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That thing I should have done two weeks ago

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Yes, I’m finally getting around to writing my post for the Liebster award that CaliforniaFlour graciously awarded me with. I’ve been putting it off and making excuses, but mostly I’ve been trying to make it perfect. As a wise person once said perfect is the enemy of good so I’m just going to go for it.

A bit about how the Liebster works first. There are variations on the rules which you can find here. But essential it is an award given to bloggers by bloggers. It’s pretty simple. You have to answer questions posed to you by the person who awarded you, you then award other bloggers of your choice (preferably people with a low subscriber count, depending on the rules you follow 200 or less) then you ask them questions in turn.

So First things first let me answer the questions posed to me by CaliforniaFlour.

  1. Do you live in your hometown/ would you ever move back?

    I’m a military brat so I’ve never really had a “home” town but I’ve been in my current city for a very long time and would consider it my home. I do love it here.

  2. What choices brought you into your current occupation (or life stand point if you don’t have an occupation)?

    I currently work in the cosmetics industry… a bit odd as I didn’t even wear much makeup five years ago but after seeing the things you could do with it I decided to try it as a hobby and then just fell into it as a career

  3. Where can you be entirely calm and at peace, away from the world? Your nook.

    My nook is curled up in bed with a book

  4. Will you share an idea that can help humanity leave a smaller footprint? (There I go again with Wall-E)

    Make old things new again. If I think I can find something at a thrift store instead of newly made then I would much rather buy it there. My desk, and my dining chairs are prime examples but I like to do that with a lot of my décor too. Also use tea towels instead of paper towels. That’s been standard practice in my parents’ home for as long as I can remember.

  5. What small thing makes you smile every time?

    My cat J

  6. What is your drink preference, be specific? Wine or Beer, if non alc. than your “go-to”.

    I’m not much of an alcohol person but in true (adoptive) southern fashion you can’t beat an ice cold, fresh made, lemonade.

  7. Do you advertise your blog through other social media sites such as Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook?

    I have a facebook for TinyBows https://www.facebook.com/Ittybittytinybows (you can totally like it if you want J ) I do have twitter and Instagram but have never gotten the hang of them and I’m on pinterest as Tiny Bows but it’s a lot of personal pins (just things I like and ideas for future projects and makeup looks) mixed in with pins from my blog

  8. How long does it typically take you to make a post, from idea-to-submit?

    It varies a great deal depending on the post. Sometimes I’ll write them a good bit ahead of time and just schedule them to post automatically but generally I’ll do my project on Monday or Tuesday write on Wednesday or Thursday then post on Friday or Saturday.

  9. What is your comfort food?

    I don’t really have a go to but I do love to make (and eat) my apparently famous chicken alfredo… and mac and cheese… and Dublin coddle(oooooh I know what’s for dinner tonight now)… and peanut butter cookies… darn, I see some food blogs coming up, of course CaliforniaFlour got me on that.

  10. Pajamas and delivery all weekend or hit all social spots?

    I’m a super home body, I basically live in my pajamas if I’m not working.

 

I’ve only been doing this blog thing for about six months so needless to say my subscriber count is low. In fact I had no idea anyone was reading my blog let alone reading it enough to award me with something. So this is pretty awesome… but the number of people I’m subscribed to is rather low as well since I’m so new, so the awarding people thing has been rather hard for me. I’ve only managed to scrounge together seven people with “low” (high by comparison to me) subscriber counts… Then I threw in a couple of others that I just adore… simply because I love their blogs and look forward to reading them every time they post anything, also because they are very active in the blogging community and very interactive with their subscribers and in their comment threads.

So here are my awardees

SweetSassyMolassie : Cross stitchery and Miscellaneous Curiosities (Cross Stitch, need I say more!)

Project Patrol: Always on the lookout (wonderful DIY home projects)

Half priced Hippie: Clean eating, Clean living (also there are random shenanigans)

DaytoDaywithM&A (Thrifty finds and yummy food and just day to day stuff)

HippiewithAHipProblem: Makeup, Motherhood and Medication (also sooo much M.A.C.)

LetsFaceTheMusic: Renovating an old house by a musical couple who want to spend the rest of their lives there (jealous of this house)

Aroon Melane: Fashion, Food and Beauty (and wonderful Outfit of the Days)

ByLauren Haley: Madness, Sparkle and Creative flare (The best blog about navigating the world as a young woman with an unseen illness)

FoundThisPaintedThat: Decorating solutions for the dollar challenged (one of the first blogs I subscribed to and still one of my favorites. She has actually already received a Liebster so I’ll just link you here)

Now on to my questions for my awarded bloggers, which despite having so much trouble finding blogs to award has actually been the hardest part. Do I ask the deep questions? Do I ask shallow question? So how about I just sit down and write and not worry about it… that sounds like a plan.

1 What made you decide to start a blog?

2 Who, or what is your biggest blogging influence?

3 How do you decide what to write about?

4. When did you start blogging/ how long have you been blogging?

Ok enough blogging questions

5 Where is the best place you have ever been, vacation, restaurant, museum, etc?

6. What is the best dish you have ever eaten?

7 What is your biggest fear?

8 What is your hidden talent?

9 What is your biggest accomplishment?

10 what is your favorite time waster? (be specific: mine is either cross stitching at the moment… or borderlands… borderlands is going to win at time wasting tonight)

I have to thank CaliforniaFlour for awarding me with this again. You should definitely go check out her blog, be prepared to get hungry. And please go check out all of the blogs I’ve awarded and for that matter who they award it’s a way to find new things to read and for blogs to find new subscribers. I’m hoping ill find some more blogs to follow with this post as well. I found some to follow with CaliforniaFlour’s post (unfortunately all of them had already been awarded lol). So please comment and like and maybe even subscribe if you like my content. It’s the only way I know that you are out there.

liebster5

 

 

 

 

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White Wings

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I’ve been working a lot of nights lately. Nights are a double edged sword. It means I don’t get to see my friends and family (who work days) but it does mean I have all day to do things around the house and take my time getting ready for work. It tends to lead to experimentation with my makeup. More so than the usual (and the usual can get pretty crazy on its own). So when I posted a picture of me wearing “white” eyeliner a few days ago on my social media and got some positive feedback on it I figured it was about time I do a makeup tutorial… or at least attempt to do so.

This is the original look that inspired this post. Not quite as crazy as some of the things i did for halloween but still fun.  It was done with a chromagraphic pencil, Bare Minerals BB eye shadow as base, expensive pink eye shadow on the mobile lid and sketch eye shadow (both of those from MAC) through the crease and under the lower lash line and extended liner. I defined the lash line (though didn’t do a winged liner) with a Kat Von D tattoo liner (love that liner). It was very Cleopatra-esque when it was all done. That gives me more ideas for next halloween

I decided I would go for something much more subtle and wearable for the second go around, and here is how I did it. I apologize in advanced for video quality and style… this is my very first video, completely filmed and edited on my phone… considering how much I loath the sound of my own voice it may be my last.

 

Soooooooo Yeah… If you sat through that I can’t thank you enough lol. I did once again prime my lids with Bare Minerals BB eye shadow stuff of magic (no I promise it’s magic, I have no other explanation for it) and as you could probably tell my foundation and eyebrows were already done.

Please let me know if you liked this by commenting, or for that matter ways I can improve this format if I decide to do more.

I would also like to take a moment to thank California Flour, it is thanks to her that I likely have a bit more traffic than usual. She has given me a Liebster Award so watch out for my post on that next week.

Another makeup experiment born of excess time and a new found abundance of water activated face paint… Might have to find something fun to do with those.

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(Not About The) Desk Part 3.5: Pride is One of the Seven

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Yep! I’m am pretty proud of what I have wrought.

 

So after the contact paper in the drawers I went a little contact paper crazy.

Or perhaps a lot.

I decided I needed a pad for my keyboard and mouse to sit on. That was easy enough I just stuck felt and contact paper together. Two sheets of felt, some scrap contact paper, a seam in the middle. Tah dah!

Using it right now I can say it makes a great mouse pad and I’m no longer worried about wearing a spot in my desk.

I also used every bit of scrap I had to cover my icky tape dispenser. Not exaggerating, it really was icky, covered in goo and sticky stuff and what have you. Now on to find fun washi tape for it.

And line a pen holder. Obviously the paper in the pen holder isn’t stuck to it. Its just two scrap sheets of contact paper still on their backing, with backs facing each other, cut to size, rolled up, and stuck inside it.

Oh yeah and a composition notebook just for the hell of it.

Did I go overboard? I feel like I might have gone overboard

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On the Horizon

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I MUTILATED A CLOCK

I know… it was a crime of passion and I feel no remorse. Mainly because I have diabolical plans for its remains. You are probably thinking “What steam-punk rococo funk monstrosity is this woman attempting?” But I can see it, and it’s going to be marvelous…. Or it’s going to be a disaster, either way the clock ran painfully slow so no harm, no foul. I’m actually going to use its hollow remains as a shadow box/display case. I can’t really take credit for the idea as it is something I saw in the Tim Holtz idea-ology section at Michael’s today. Michael’s actually sells brass alarm clock shells, but… screw that I have one at home that would be so much more fun to tear apart. With bonus steam punk gears inside! Side note: if anyone knows how to remove pins from sprockets that would be helpful information. This is just a “side” project with no deadline or motivation other than “oh my god I’m going to tear apart a clock older than I am”. Not that everything else I do is a primary imperative in any way. I’ll get there eventually or I’ll just have a torn apart clock laying in a box for a long time and I hate useless things laying around; I guess that’s the motivation.

So what else will be coming up in the next few weeks, possibly months, maybe by the end of the year? I’m not good at deadlines when it comes to personal projects.

As previously stated in Old Junk New Funk (one day it will have a better title) I do really have an overabundance of jewelry boxes so another makeover is coming along with one of them. This time it will be my first foray into Milk Paint. If you have any tips or tricks you would like to share with me regarding that please let me know. I figured I better start small when it comes to that because I have a couple of future projects that I know I want to use either Milk or Chalk paint on.

Speaking of those (far off) future projects one is a new (and by new I mean antique or thrift store) desk, seeing as though my marvelous computer that has allowed me to start this blog is currently sitting on a fold up table. That will have to wait until funds allow, which shouldn’t be too long off. Another major project to be tackled is liable to be my boyfriend’s new (and by new I mean thanks to our dear friend who moved to the sunshine state) table. We will be reupholstering the seats at the very least and likely painting the chairs and table base, though maybe not all of those things all at once. We have yet to decide if we will paint or just refinish the top. It’s something that I would like to do in chalk or milk paint so I’m doing this dry run on the jewelry box to see how things go. And once again any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. This is another something that is going to have to wait until funds allow (upholstery fabric is surprisingly expensive) but the greater obstacle is waiting until the weather cools down a good bit. 95 degrees plus 95% humidity is not ideal for painting.

It is never a good idea for me to go into a craft store or any HBA section as I spend too much money and time there. Clearance at Michael’s was amazing. I have a $10 gallery wall in the making. This is a project that will take longer to arrange than it will to actually make. Just slap some paint on it, find a good wall space, and figure out how to arrange them. And I have exactly the wall. Because they are so light weight I’m guessing if you placed strip magnets on the back of the smaller ones they would make wonderful refrigerator frames for kid’s artwork. Something I don’t have to deal with, but it’s a quickie tutorial I might do for those who do have little ones around. I can also probably attach them to the wall without putting holes in the wall thanks to their weight, so they would be great for apartment use as well. My mind is just going crazy with the possibilities of these cheap and wonderful little do-dads.

I don’t have any health and beauty blogs lined up. Mainly because I don’t feel confident in myself (despite it being my job?) but also I think beauty tutorials come across much better in video form and I don’t have the equipment for that. But I will continue doing write-ups on anything that I find particularly interesting. If I happen to try out any new products I’ll do reviews (Clinique smart serum review may be incoming). I have just started using prescription retinol (tretinoin) and will be chronicling my experiences with it but I would like to give it at least four weeks (more likely 6 or 8) to see how it does.

Anyway these are the things I have lined up. There are lots of little crafty things I have done over the years that (unfortunately?) haven’t been documented. I’ll put a couple pictures of finished projects below. I’m also working on a follow up blog post that is nothing but projects I’ve completed in the last year. Let me know if there is a project you would like to see me do a tutorial on, whether it’s a project I’ve finished once already or a new endeavor entirely.