My New Erin Condren Obsession!

Hey there friends!

So.....

I have a new addiction.

How I prevented myself before from falling into the never ending shopping spree that comes with owning an Erin Condren planner is beyond me....

But I've caught the bug! 

A couple weeks ago my water spilled all over my bag.  It ruined my old planner.  This was a travesty.  But! I thought that this had to be a sign from God herself [All Hail Martha!] to break down and finally buy a real Erin Condren planner.  

I chose to buy the classic sea life planner in navy. & I LOVE IT.  I had it personalized to have my name written on it!  I cannot wait for it to get here! But it takes sooo long.  I also ordered a carry all clutch in scales.  Because these two items cost so much, I was able to get the Sun kind of wonderful tank for free!  I ordered them the 13th and they still haven't shipped but I think they will ship later this week!

Anyways, my friend is getting married in November and she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids! I decided to get her a wedding planner from Erin Condren, since we both are obsessed.  Neither of us have ever had a planner so fancy & I cannot wait to give her hers! She doesn't know that I bought it for her & it's going to be such a surprise.

I'll post pictures of my planner and case as soon as I receive them in the mail! 

I made an unboxing video for when I received the wedding planner :]  It's the first one I've ever made, so I hope it isn't too bad :)

I go into detail about opening the items I received that would just take too long to type!  

I'll post another video like this when I get my own planner!

I have also started collecting loads of items from Michael's, Joann's & Walmart, and am hoping to do a haul for it soon!

♥Riley

P.S.  If you're interested in getting your own Erin Condren planner, click the link! :]

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/rileyliebel1014

Marimo Love: Adoption

Hello All! 

Welcome to the first post of the New Year! ♥

I played hooky today and stayed home to hang out with my cousin!  We went to a bookstore and drank tea and had a great time! While we were there she told me she had been considering getting a Marimo.

What is a Marimo, you ask? 

It's a little ball of algae typically found in lakes in Japan and Iceland.  It is spherical in shape thanks to the water flow of the river.  Putting the marimos in aquariums has become quite popular.  They are very low maintenance "pets" that require water, a little indirect sunlight, and some cleaning. & they look like this! 

Also, in Japan they're thought to bring good luck!

I was instantly hooked.

It wasn't until I got home, however, that I realized the extent of my obsession.  I bought 10.  I bought the "nano" size, which are less than a centimeter in diameter!  I figured I would give a couple to my cousin, keep the majority, and give one to my friend as a desk pet.  My cousin ended up buying one when I was with her, as well.  She bought a pre-made aquarium kit with one little Marimo in it, and it's absolutely adorable.  I have opted to buy the marimo on their own and make them a little aquarium, because of my indecisive nature. 

I'm putting in some links to some marimo shops I've found, below:

• My cousin bought her adorable kit from here.
• I bought my 10 marimo from here.
• Here is a youtuber and Etsy seller who knows a TON about marimos!

I'm really excited for them to get here! I have a really bad track record when it comes to small pets, but I know I can help to make my marimo flourish! 

I'll add another post when I've received them and what kind of home I've put them in!

♥Riley

P.S. Do you or anyone you know have marimos? I'd love to hear your experiences!

Beauty Bash Decor! {Benefit x Birchbox}

Hello all!

As I said in my last post, I won a Beauty Bash sponsored by Benefit and Birchbox! :] Here's a little post to show you all the decorations I made for the party! ♥

Here I took 7 black hearts from Michael's.  They came with rope to hang from, and luckily I already had some of this stuff at home, so I hung it from it! I took white paint pens that I also got from Michael's and drew letters onto them.  I thought that this would look cute and break up the mountains of pink decor I had planned! All of the little hearts were less than a dollar and the pens were a little more than a dollar a piece after the coupon.

Here I took washi tape and glitter paper and folded it across some baker's twine.  Then I cut the pieces into little pennant flags and glued them down.  Tiny decorations are the cutest! This craft literally cost nothing to make!

I wanted really fancy straws for my party, so I knew I'd have to make some! I bought a box of the most adorable pink straws imaginable, then took gold paper and folded it across the straws, cutting it into triangle pieces.  Then I glued it down. Super easy, super adorable, super cheap.  The straws were actually kind of expensive at around $10 a box.  The paper cost less than a dollar.

These are the supplies I used to make the invitations to the party! 

I used gold metallic paper, pink paper, patterned paper, and raised glitter paper.  All in all that cost less than a dollar since Michael's was having a HUGE sale.

I also added bows and little pink heart stickers.  These were both from Michael's as well.

I used clothespins to hold the pages together while gluing.... 

Putting on the mirror part....

I made six, five for my guests and one to scrapbook! :]

Here is the snapchat I sent out to my guests to keep them excited.  My grandma helped me to cut out eyeliner and lipstick shapes from foam posterboard.  Then I took my paint pens and wrote the label on them.  The netting design on top and bottom was done with a ruler and a dull pencil.  A sharp one would have cut into the board.

Here is a picture of the Benefit black heart decoration all put together!

Here is a picture of a finished invitation.  I glued black bows onto the tops of all of the "compact" invitations and added their first initials!

Up close and personal!

I even went out and found beauty puffs to put inside the invitations, just like real compacts!

I had my mom write inside all of the invitations, because I like her hand writing so much! :]

Now on to pictures of the actual event!

My house isn't really "party ready" with our animals and limited space, so I rented out a conference room at a local hotel!

The room was pretty big for a party for 6 people, so I had tons of room to decorate!

Here is a view of the conference room!  It shows the goody bags, heart wall, and dining table!

Here is the other side of the room, showing the craft table and craft supply table!

I wanted to make a wall just for photo opportunities, and used my benefit chain in it!  The other two chains were made with tissue paper and cord, and my boyfriend actually helped me make them!

I bought little milk jugs for my guests, put the cute pennant straws inside, and set them on a serving tray with doilies!  I added cute little name tags for functionality as well as the whole adorable effect!

The heart wall was all my mom and sister's doing!  They blew up 27 balloons {maybe 26, I'm not doing a great job of counting right now} and stuck them to the wall in a beautiful heart shape! Super cute and suuuuuppperrr inexpensive decoration!

I made six little terracotta pots for dirt cups! I taped them off in a straight line {a lot harder than it sounds, they don't tape straight} and mod podge'd glitter all over them, then wrote "Benefit Beauty Bash" on them!

Full table with terracotta pots and milk jugs!

Dining table, with doilies, coasters, and a little pink tree I made out of foam and tissue!

Goody bag table with our hand made Benefit decor!

Craft table with six unpainted frames and another little pink tree!

Craft supply table!

Food table with two little flower-tissue wreaths I made the night before! They were even on the wall but for some reason the picture does not show it that way! Here's where we chose to hang the little washi pennant banner!

A view of a bigger part of the whole room! We also hung streamers and lanterns from the ceiling for optimal cuteness!  The cream and green colored walls really complemented the color scheme of my party!

The opposite view of the party room, with my little sister {who was both a guest and a tremendous help} in view!

Close up of a paper tissue tree!  I'm obsessed with the polka dot fabric!

A view of a lantern from below, because I was obsessed!

Aerial view of the food table! {More to come, look for future blog posts!}

Thank you so much for reading! I will be posting more about the party in the next couple of days!

♥Riley

P.S. I would love some feedback! ;]

Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure!!!

I was lucky enough to be chosen by Influenster for their UniVoxBox, directed to college students.  The box had a lot of REALLY cool items that I was legitimately excited to try, one of them being Impress Broadway Press-On Nails!

Okay, so I only have one picture of my nails when I had them on, but I LOVED them!!!

So cute right??? I'm so happy I received this design.  They have a ton of cool ones but this one is more me.  It's really mod looking and you'd be surprised by how many compliments I got.  Friends kept asking me where I had gotten them done and strangers took time out of their day to compliment me.  I am used to having some attention brought on by my nails, but never over press on ones.

I am an acrylic addict.  I love fake nails sooooo much.  But they are time consuming, expensive, and PAINFUL.  I'm sure I will go back to them soon, but I really really like these press-on nails for my time in between.  I'm trying to grow my natural ones out and make them healthier, so these are perfect! 

These nails are SUPER affordable at $6 [Walmart.com].  They last about a week too! Which is incredible! They'd last longer with some super glue, which is what I would do if they popped off individually.  

I REALLY recommend giving these a try.  They feel just like real acrylics to wear.  You can put weight and pressure on them and they work great.

♥♥Riley

P.S. Have you given these babies a try? How did you like them?

Big and Little Week Crafts!

Big and Little craft time!!! :]

I've made sooo many crafts over the past couple of weeks. It's been crazy!

I was lucky enough to have gotten TWO littles this semester!! I now have triplets.  Which is intense. 

Anyways, here are some very simple ideas of crafts you can make littles or anyone else in your life!

For the first craft you will need:

• Clothespins [$1, Dollar Tree]
• Mod Podge [Michael's, Walmart, Hobby Lobby]
• Sponge brush, or another kind of cheap brush you don't care about
• All Kinds of Glitter. All kinds. 

 This is the simplest craft, I swear!! 

Take a clothespin and brush or dab on some mod podge!

Start sprinkling on the glitter!  Do this over a piece of paper or box that can collect the glitter.  This way you can pour it back into the container and save it for another time!

By now your clothespins should look like this! 

Actually, scratch that.  I did two coats of glitter and mod podge.  This is what yours will look like with two coats!

Two coats of mod podge allows more glitter to adhere to the surface of your clothespin.  It also helps to keep the glitter on.

I chose to do red and green glittered clothespins to represent my sorority, as our colors are forest green and red.

They're so cute.  They'd be perfect for holding pictures or cards!

On to the next craft!

You will need:

• Corkboard [Daiso, $1.50]
• Puff Paint [Michael's, Walmart, <$1 a piece]
• Pushpins
• Anything else you wish to use! [Glitter would have been mad cute!]

Take your corkboard and pick which colors you want to use, as well as what you want to write or draw on it.

I chose to do our sorority's name along with our motto.  I alternated our colors to make it more exciting, since it started out as the most boring brown thing.

That's literally all for the corkboard. SO. EASY.

This next one is pretty universal for any sorority, or special person in your life.

GIFT BASKETS!

Here are two baskets I made my littles. I like to go to the Dollar Tree for these because of the selection and the price is right.  I added flowers and easter grass for some flair.

Putting someone's favorite snack or candy is always a crowd favorite.  It's a perfect way to show that you care about them and what they like! Same with the flowers, I used my littles favorites!

I also made sparkly letters [as in their first intial], and made them door hangers! 

Here is a door hanger and a little flower frame I found and decorated for my little Carina!  

The door hangers I found at Michael's were uncomfortably expensive.  What I decided to do was to by foam sheets [they sell them in large packs with multiple colors for about $8], and cut them into door hangers.  I saved a bunch of money and now have a bunch of foam I can use for other crafts!

The flower frame is from Michael's as well.  I used paint, glue, and glitter to decorate it, as well as some puff paint to add her name. 

The door hanger is a great way to express your creativity while further showing your interest in this person.  You put stuff on it that represents them or their style, and it can be quite personal.

Here's the inside of another basket! [I ♥ Baskets!!]

Inside of it I put a cute pack of tissues, an adorable pocket mirror, a little teddy bear with hello kitty ribbon on it, a pen, and two easter eggs filled with loving notes.

Our big/little week is full of surprises for our littles.  They don't find out who we are until we've spoiled them!

I didn't want my littles to know for sure that they were twins, so I tried to switch it up a little bit. 

Instead of a corkboard I did a mirror!  I tried to make the colors more cohesive, and added more swirl detailing to this one.

Another picture of a basket, with a fishy plush!

This basket was filled with candy and bubbles!

Here is little Alma's door hanger, with a fish on it! :] 

In the back you can see the "A" I made for her wall.  It's so pretty in person, the glitter is amazing.

I made a lot more things, so hopefully I'll get to posting them too!

I hope this has been helpful :]

Are you in a sorority? Do you craft? Let me know! :]

♥Riley