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! ;]

NYC New York Color Expert Last Lipstick!

Here's yet another product from Influenster that I absolutely adore! 

NYC New York Color Expert Last Lipstick, in 447 Forever Fuchsia. ♥

It's such an amazingly bright color.  It really is forever fuchsia too. I tried it one night and woke up with it still on.  Which is actually pretty great!! I like to pair it with a lipgloss because I'm not a super big fan of the matte look.  It goes on like butter and feels amazing. 

 Ignore my bathroom here.....LOL but here is the lipstick with my favorite charm off my bracelet from my grandma. :]

 NYC Expert Last Lip Color in 447, Forever Fuchsia. 

Sooooo pinky! :] Beautiful color. 

I also really like that it has blue undertones.  Blue undertones help to make your teeth look whiter, which I'm all for.  This lipstick can be found online for just over $2. & it's actually really high quality.  I still kinda can't believe it.  But if you're looking for a new lipstick, you should really check theirs out! ♥

♥Riley

P.S. Have you ever used NYC? Which is your favorite product? :]

Valentine's Day!: Puffy Hearts ♥

Here is a very simple Valentine's Day craft!

You could make one as a Valentine for someone, or you could even make a bunch of them and hang them from a tree or around your house!

The best thing about them is that you can personalize the colors and styles.

You will need: 

• Two colors of felt, 25-33 cents each
• Embroidery floss
• Needle
• Stuffing

All together this craft should cost you less than $1!

 First thing's first! Make a stencil.  Now, we all know how to make a perfectly symmetrical heart! Think back to elementary school and fold a paper in half.  Cut a half heart out of it and unfold it. Voila! A perfectly symmetrical heart.

 Cut two larger hearts out of red if you're copying mine, or whichever other colors if you are making it different from mine!

 Sew a smaller heart onto the front of one of the larger hearts.

 Here is a zoomed up picture of the top heart.  It isn't perfect, but that's why I like it!

 Sew the two larger hearts together! I pinned them together to try and keep them straight for this step.

 Before you have finished sewing it all together, stuff it to optimal stuffiness.

Sew it shut and you're done! This is a really easy craft to do if you know how to sew or are learning how to sew.  It is very inexpensive to make and I think they are very cute!

Pusheen Inspired Kitty Plushies

For my next batch of plushies I was inspired by the cutest cartoon cat, Pusheen, seen below.  

First thing I did was make a pattern and trace it onto felt.  I always clean it up a bit while I'm cutting it out as well.  I made a few in pink as a birthday present for one of my close friends.  

After I cut them out I put stripes on their back in a different color.  I pinned them so that it would be easy to sew them on.  Be careful to not sew straight through the cat but instead just one side at a time.

This is what it looked like while I was sewing them on.  I removed the pins as I went along.

Then I started a blanket stitch around the outside in a white embroidery floss. I bought pink embroidery floss to match but of course couldn't find it when I needed it!  

Then I had these three faceless pusheens.  I haven't stuffed them or given them faces yet. 

I did try out some potential faces though.  This was my first attempt. Kind of frightening.

I didn't want to do anything permanent so I cut out two pieces of felt for eyes and puff painted a mouth on an extra piece of felt.  

And another. 

These are the faces I ended up doing.  Decided to do them entirely just puff paint.  

I used a verrrry small paint brush to get the little details done and to round out the eyes a bit.

I'm going to add some magenta stripes to the lighter Pusheen once I get my magenta puff paint, but this is what it looks like stuffed.

 This kitty is fully done the way it is!

Thanks for reading! :]

Update: I have added the magenta stripes to the lighter Pusheen.  It now lives with my friend Loren! She said she wanted a pink plush cat for her birthday, but I couldn't help but make a matching one for myself!