Me Like Make Pretty

Lately I've been really interested in exploring beauty and makeup in particular. As a crafter, I like making things pretty, and if I can help myself then all the better. Back in high school I would rock out bright green glittered eyes to school, crimp my hair, and round in out with a sparkly pair of jeweled earrings that would hit my shoulders. Extravagant yes, but I kind of miss it. So I have been picking out fun bits and pieces here and there and this week I bought something that I've never had the gall to try. BRIGHT RED LIPSTICK!!!
I got my hands on the limited addition Moulin Rouge lipstick from Make Up Forever:

It is so beautiful, pigmented and rich. I am pairing it with a simple black lined eye and a sparkly black beret!

In contrast to bright red lips, I also played around with dramatic blue eye makeup. My pick is the new Tarina Tarantino Starchild Odyssey palette available at Sephora.com.

The colors are so unique and bright! My favorite has to be the darker purple on the right. When applied to the skin it appears almost holographic. Also the dark blue is very rich and is solid shimmer which makes it very easy to apply and it also doubles as an eyeliner. Here is the look I came up with:

I used the purples all over the lid and above the crease, the dark blue on the outer corner and as an eyeliner and the bright silver in the inner corner and along my bottom lashes. I had people checking it out all day because it was so bright and the colors are so interesting.

I always encourage people to explore with makeup because it is an inherent part  of being feminine to appreciate feeling pretty. In fact I believe that it is a trait programed straight into us for the betterment of the universe and mankind in general. Thanks God. And I hope that women can become supportive of each other in our pursuits of beauty, whether through makeup, gardening, interior design, painting, crafting, etc. and start appreciating and complimenting each other rather than writing it off as vanity or silliness. Because the world can be very ugly and a little light-heartedness never hurts!

I've been taking it easy in the crafting department this month. I've had three major family birthdays, my darling friend came to visit from Seattle, and we took a family trip to Disneyland. So I haven't had the mindset to nurture my crafting creativity. But I did get an awesome birthday card for my Grandpa who loves Mexico. What a treat to have found these awesome Dio de los Muertos skulls on the new Rock Princess Cartridge:

I cut each skull at 3 1/2" and mounted them on pop dots against plain black card stock.

I have been building up my crafting stock though. In terms of cartridges I acquired the following:

• 
  
  Rock Princess
• 
  
  Country Life
• 
  
  October 31st
• 
  
  Toy Story
• 
  
  Happy Hauntings
• 
  
  Winter Frolic
• 
  
  Straight From the Nest

Some of the newer products that have been on my radar for fall are the new Prima release including crystals, flowers, stamps and papers. I purchased the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland paper pad along with the Steampunk Debutant pad. I also landed some Tim Holtz Texture fades to use with the cuttlebug mentioned in my previous post. Now Fall is by far my favorite season and I really get amped up for drinking tea, lighting candles, and cranking out a good project. I'm thinking that making sure I'm well stocked now will help when I really get going next month.

So to round off the month of August we took our fourth and final trip to Disneyland since we purchased annual passes last September. We got some pretty sweet hotel deals and were able to stay at the Grand Californian Hotel that is centrally located in the park. In addition, my friend, her husband, and their two little boys came with us along with my wonderful Grandpa. We had so much fun! I was also able to capture some footage of the new World of color show:

It was very awe inspiring. The affects they were able to create with water, color, and light were unlike anything I've ever seen. And I also got to ride one of my favorite roller coasters ever, Screamin!


So lots of fun stuff to play around with and share coming soon! And if you're feeling fine then go slap on some red lips and blue eyes!

The New Girl

There is a new girl in the house and she is mean, nasty and CUTE!!! Behold.....Fluffers:

Basically, like all of our cats, she was a stray that I brought in and cleaned up. She was absolutely infested with ticks and fleas. So much so that you could part her fur in any part of her body and see 2 or 3 bugs and their eggs. She had two flea dips and a thorough comb through with a flea comb and tweezers and she is as good as new! Here she is checking out my cricut machine:

So this week I made a trip to Michaels and finally got something that my lazy butt should have had ages ago. A Cuttlebug! There was a good sale so I picked up some metallic acrylic paints, D'vine swirls cuttlebug folder, some paper stacks, new Recollections vines and glittered ginko leaves, K & Company alphabet stack and the 12" x 24" K & Company stack that was on clearance. Here is my awesome haul:

The stacks are K & Company Life's Journey and DCWV Travel cardstock stack. I prefer the colors in this stack for fall rather than the actual DCWV autumn stack. They are a little more natural.

This week I cranked out some projects that I am very happy with. The first was a card using the new French Manor Cricut Cartridge. At first I was wishing that there were more layers to the images on this cartridge but once I started working with it I realized that half the fun was laying glitter, jewels and color on. It allows for a lot more creative license than my lazy butt was originally planning on working with but here is what I came up with:

And the inside:

The card feature on the cartridge was perfect and the chandelier, lion, borders and frame were a blast to sparkle up. I'm loving this cartridge more and more. In fact, I also used it to make a page for my Aunt and Uncle's wedding gift album:

I used the border feature and layer from the Eiffel Tower page 68 of the booklet and cut it using the fit to page feature which calculated out to 5". I inked the edges of the piece and adhered it to the blackout piece using Elmer's Craft Bond spray glue which is my go-to for intricate large pieces. I Then matted the photo using the K & Co Ancestry mat pad and used the diamond pieces from the cut out to create a border on all four sides. The mat is also inked using chocolate brown chalk ink. The bling is from Recollections and the die cut metallic flowers are from K & Co Handmade collection. The paper is Moda for Daisy D's in Antique Parchment - Paisley and the cut outs where done using Basic Grey paper in Mandarin Slice from the Marrakesh collection. The smaller flowers are popped up on 3-d Zots as well as the little Butterfly.

Next week I will be having a furry house guest and will also be embarking on an adventure in San Francisco. Also can't wait to share more on the bigger project that I've been working on!

Later Gators!