this little life of mine

After what feels like years away, I've finally returned to my rubber stamping hobby, and to celebrate I did a little shopping at my new favourite rubber stamp supplier Simon Says Stamp. I just ordered a few items, and recently received a good-sized box filled with stampy wonders!

This sentiments on this sheet from My Favorite Things were quite a bit bigger than I thought they would be, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with them. 

Next I picked up some clear envelopes to store my newly purchased unmounted stamps in.

I picked up the Wink of Stella brush which has clear glitter in it. I had to really fight to get the glitter out of the pen, but I love this touch of sparkle it brings. I can see using it for snowflakes and butterflies and flowers.

I'm not sure why I decided to get a coffee stain stamp, but I did.  

I just HAD to buy this adorable stamp from Stamping Bella! Seriously, it looks just like me: from the red hair, the cropped jeans, and the martini! I like this for my New Year's cards!

I also picked up some cling sheets, so I can unmount some of my wood mounted stamps. I might of screwed up, though, because all my wood mounts already have the cushion, but maybe I'll come across some that need some new cushioning!

Finally, the item I'm most excited for: the Mini MISTI. I've seen stampers using this on YouTube videos, and it looks simply amazing! I can't wait to try it out!

It's really tiny. It's definitely just for card-sized projects, not scenes. 

I'm pretty excited to get to stamping, and see what fun cards I will create with all my new stuff. I think I'm about done with Autumn/Halloween  now, and should really get started on my Holiday/Christmas cards! Hope you're all having a great weekend! Cheers!

So, I'm finally getting around to opening the latest BeautyCon box. This is the Fall Essentials box curated by Shayla and Angel. (Sorry, but I've never heard of either of these people.) I'm curious to see what they've put in here!

As always they include a list of all the items included in the box, which is really helpful!

The website says there's about $100.00 worth of products in here, which is a pretty good deal considering the annual subscription price (which is what I signed up for) is $99.00!

This first item, however, is something I will never ever use: a brozer lotion from Mystic Tan. I don't do fake tanning lotion or bronzers. I just don't I know real tanning is bad for you, but there's nothing like a REAL sun tan. IMHO.

The next item is something I will never use, either: fake eyelashes by iSlay Lashes. They're pretty, but I just don't do fake eyelashes. I think they would look ridiculous on me! Still, since I have them, I might as well try them out, right? A small tube of lash adhesive was also included, which is helpful since I don't have any!

I do like this next item and KNOW I will use it: a lovely dark brown eyeshadow from Milani Cosmetics. I love darker browns for my crease, so this is perfect for me!

The colour is really rich!

Oohh, I also love the makeup wipes from Simple! Aside from the Noxema make up remover wipes, these are my favourites! I'm putting this small sample size right in my travel kit!

Next up is a really pretty liquid lipstick from OFRA Cosmetics. I don't usually wear lipstick, but I'm starting to like these liquid lipsticks that are popular right now.

Oohh, this one is super pretty on! I like that it's subtle, but still has some rosey colour.

I'm looking forward to trying this lip enhancer from Jouer - it says it's suppoed to plump and moisturize your lips! As you can see in the photo above, I need help in both those areas!

Next up is a duo highlighter pencil from The BrowGal which looks exactly like the highlighter pencil I currently use from Anastasia Beverly Hills. Exactly. I guess that's okay, because it'll save me some money when the old one runs out!

This is a really nice makeup brush from Luxie Beauty. It's the Large Angled 504 Brush, for you make up brush connoisseurs out there!

The final few items are not cosmetics products, but are kind of fun. The first is a set of stickers with shoes, sunglasses, purses, and other fashion items.

Next is a super cute enamel pin in the shape of a lipstick!

Okay, this final item I actually had to look up online because I've never heard of this company, and there was no information on it in the box. They're Sugar Lips from Sugarfina. When I opened the package, it smelled kind of sweet, but kind of odd, too, and I really wasn't sure if they were candies, or mini soaps that looked like candies. I tried one, and it had a gummy candy consistency, but it didn't really taste good. I don't know if I just had soap on the brain, or what, but it kind of tasted soapy! I see on their website they are sweet and sour gummie candies, and the flavours are supposed to be watermelon, strawberry, and bubble gum. If I ended up biting into a sour bubble gum one, I think I can understand my confusion!

So, anyway, there's the box for fall. I actually liked a lot more of the products than I initially thought I would, and I'm excited to try a few of them! Overall, if you are someone who is really into makeup (and know who some of these "gurus" are!), you might enjoy getting these seasonal boxes. I linked the website above, so you can check them out for yourself. For me, I believe I have the Winter box left, and then my subscription runs out. I don't think I'll be renewing it. There are a few things in each box I've used and/or liked, and a lot of things I would never use, so I don't think this is really worth it for me. It's been fun to try, though! I hope you're having a great week, and I'll see you next time! Cheers!

So I finally got around to opening up the Fall Soap Box from Fortune Cooke Soap. It's called "As You Wish", and appears to be Princess Bride themed. 

There are nine items total in this box, all of which are described on the enclised card.

The first item is always a welcome and useful item: hand sanitize! This one is called Prepare to Die! and is supposed to smell like cookie dough with clove and saffron. I kind of wish the hand sanitize wasn't scented, because it always conflicts with my perfume, but it's still nice to have around!

Next up is a small sample of shampoo called Buttercup. The scent notes are: "...candied rum wrapped with ripe fig, bergamot, sweet vanilla musk". It sounds delightful, and I'm looking forward to using it!

This teeny tiny sample is their unscented facial moisturizer. I'm a little bummed it's so small  - really only one use - because you can't really tell if you like it or not after only one use. 

The whipped cream body butter is a really good-sized sample, and is described as smelling like "golden honey drizzled over toasted almonds and pumpkin puree warmed with amber". The scent is not overpowering once it's on, and it really made my super dry hands feel much softer!

The perfume oil sample is called Inconceivable! It's a really sweet-smelling fragrance, probably because of the whipped vanilla cream and poached pears. I kinda wish I could smell the fall woods and black amber more, but it's nice.

Next up is something I'm looking forward to: the Pit of Despair - Steam Me Up, Scotty! shower cube. It's scented with fresh-cut lemongrass, tropical plumeria, and one of my all-time favourte scents: patchouli! I can't wait to try this!

I wasn't sure what this next item was until I read the description, and now I'm curious to try it: The True Love facial cleansing oil. I've tried a cleansing oil from Neutrogena, I believe it was, and really liked it. This one smells amazing (fresh citrus, creamy jasmine petals and sea salt). 

I'm honestly not sure what the point of a scented cotton ball is. Is is supposed to be like potpourri? Do you put it in your lingerie drawer? I don't know. The scent is described as "rich pound cake, scented with cardamom, pistachio, and rosewater topped with creamy buttercream". Umm, okay.

The final item is the famous fortune cookie-shaped soap bar. It's an "aromatic blend of medieval honey apple mead" which made me really crave a good mead! I've used a couple of these soaps, and they've been hit and miss. One lathered up really well, anther one not so much. We'll see how this one does! Oh, and yeah, it comes with a fortune, this one a quote from the movie, I'm assuming.

That's it for this Fortune Cookie Soap box. I'm honestly on the fence over whether or not to continue getting these boxes. Past boxes have had items I've been allergic to, and sometimes overpowering scents bug me. I'll give these a try, though, and we'll see how I do. 

 Hope you're having a great weekend! Go Packers! Cheers! 

So, I'm finally getting around to opening my September Sephora Play! box. This box is called The Unbasic Basics, so I'm thinking it's going to have all the basic items we need to look gorgeous!

The bag the products come in is super cute, and really convenient to reuse to store miscellaneous items like jewelry, smaller cosmetics, charger cords, flash drives, marbles ... whatever you like! (and for the record, the bottle opener does not come with the box, it's just what I used to open the box!)

 So there are six items total, all in convenient trial/travel sizes, and a large foldout poster with information about  the products.

 The first item I picked up was the perfume sample, called Sud Magnolia from Atelier Cologne. It's a floral fragrance with magnolia, as well as wood and citrus. It's quite nice and I really like it! It also comes with a really pretty post card.

 Next is a pretty pink lipstick from the Sephora collection: Rouge Shine Lipstick in Love Spell. I really like the pink colour (see the swatch below), and I think it will look good on me.

 The next item is an overnight hair treatment from Living Proof. I've received this particular item either as a bonus item when purchasing cosmetics as Ulta, or in a Beauty Con box, I can remember which now. Since I shower at night, this is not really a product I would ever use as you're supposed to use it as an overnight hair mask that you wash out the next morning. I have tried other Living Proof items, however, I really liked them, so I imagine this would work just as well.

 Next up is a lightweight moisturizer from Ole Henriksen. I don't think I've ever used anything from this company, so I'm excited to try this! It feels really light and creamy, and I think it'll soak into my skin very quickly. 

 This Anastasia Beverly Hills clear brow gel is definitely something I can use to tame my wild eyebrows! I've been using items from the new Benefit brow collection, and really like them, but I can always use clear brow gel!

 This Kat Von D tattoo liner is probably something I will never use since I never use eye liner. It is, however, a really nice formula with a sharp, pointed applicator that applies a really thin line (or slightly thicker if you press down harder).

That's pretty much it for this month's box. You also get this Sephora Play! card that you can take into any Sephora and get extra Beauty points (with purchase, of course!) and makeup tutorial. Overall I think this is a really good box with several things I will definitely use, and just a couple I probably won't. If you're interested in singing up for this monthly subscription box (which is $10.00 a month, btw), you can go to www.sephora.com/play and enter your email address. It's pretty limited, and I'm not sure if there are any places open right now (I was on the wait list for about three months before finally getting on the list!), but it can't hurt to try, right?

Hope you all have a great day, and I'll see you next time! Cheers!

Well, I was pretty excited to receive my Legacybox Saturday, and planned to do a quick video showing you all what comes in the box and how Legacybox works (with plans for a follow up unboxing once I received my stuff back!). BUT, as has been the case lately, my computer's web camera, which was suddenly there yesterday afternoon after being MIA for a week or so, decided to vanish again today, so you're all stuck with a blog post with photos instead.

le sigh!

Anyway, in a nutshell, Legacybox is an awesome service where you send them some of your old-school stuff like photos, negatives, filmstrips, audio and/or video cassettes, and they will convert them into a digital format. I have recently been trying to reduce the clutter in my house, and one way was to convert my hundreds of film negatives to digital using the VuPoint converter. It's pretty cool, but for me at least, it was a frustrating and time consuming process. I had a lot of trouble getting negative images to save to the mini SD card, and sometimes I ended up with three or four copies of one image, and zero copies of others. I'm sure it was just operator error, but it was still more than I felt like dealing with on my weekends, so I did some more web searching, and found Legacybox. Problem solved!

They have four different box sizes depending on how much stuff you have to convert. I chose the Collection box, which is $375.00, and will cover 375 negatives (or a combination of other things; right now I'm only concerned with the negatives!). I'm hoping that will just about cover all the negatives I've held on to over the years! I have always been a prolific photographer, and before the digital cameras came about, all I had was film. I started taking pictures in the mid- to late-70s with my Kodak 110, later moving to a Konica 35mm and a Ricoh automatic 35mm in the 80s, before discovering (and being able to afford) digital cameras in the late 90s. So, I have a LOT of negatives!

The box itself measures 17" x 12" x 6 1/2", and contains two interior boxes which measure about 8" x 11" x 5 3/4", and comes with a pre-paid return shipping label for FEDEX. You also get a Welcome Card, Reference Card, and an Order Card which I will return with my negatives.

So, now all I need to do is grab 375 negatives, put them in the interior boxes, tape it up, slap the label on, and drop it off at my local FEDEX place, or I can even drop it at the Post Office, which is probably what I will end up doing.

 Despite knowing I had a lot of negatives, I was surprised at the actual amount. After loading up with 375 negatives (and I'm hoping I did it correctly!), I found I still have 126 negatives left! These are mostly shots for the photography classes I took in college, and therefore only have one or two pictures worth saving per strip, unlike my vacation and holiday ones where I want everything! So, I will deal with the remaining negatives myself.

 I love that Legacybox includes a checklist so I could make sure I had everything I needed, and will keep this card on my bulletin board until I receive my digital copies and original negatives back. Once I see that the images are okay, I plan to shred the negatives and be done with them forever!

So, there you have it! I'm dropping my Legacybox off to the post office tonight after my workout, and in about four weeks or so I should have my smaller, more convenient digital copies! I'm very excited about it, and I look forward to showing you all exactly how it all works out! For now, have a great Monday and a wonderful week! Cheers!