Learn How to Make Cake Pops in The Wilton Method: Creative Cake Pops

This looked too cool and it's FREE so I had to share!



Learn How to Make Cake Pops in The Wilton Method: Creative Cake Pops

DIY Make-up - How to Cover Dark Circles

I haven't tried this yet, but in theory this could work. The before and after looks pretty amazing. Let me know if you're brave enough to try it!



Makeup Trick to Hide Dark Circles - How to Cover Dark Circles - Good Housekeeping

Burdastyle: Create Your Own 7 Piece Workout Collection

Workout clothing can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. BurdaStyle's Meg Healey can show you how to make your very own 7-piece workout collection! That means you can choose your own fabrics and colors so you can throw your own little flair into it… sounds good to me!

Join Meg Healy on February 27th for this new course>>

For People Who Sew

February 25, 2015

Don't forget to register for this popular course with Meg Healy! Date: Friday, Feb. 27 | Duration: 6 Weeks | Instructor: Meg Healy | Price: $90.00 $49.99 Create Your Own 7 Piece Workout Wear Collection We all know there is a shortage of athletic and workout wear sewing patterns out there, and they require specific pattern making and sewing techniques. But now with this brand new course developed my Meg Healy you'll be guided through the process of drafting and sewing your own personal collection of workout wear garments. By the end of this 6 week long course you will have a great understanding of athletic fabrics an how to sew with them. Better yet, you will have made a running tank, yoga tank, t-shirt, leggings, shorts, and yoga pants complete with matching headband! REGISTER NOW

REGISTER NOW

41 Amazing Free People-Inspired DIYs

If you love Free People, but don't love the prices here is the ultimate list of Free People inspired DIYs. Have Fun!

41 Amazing Free People-Inspired DIYs

National Wedding Month: Craft Your Wedding in 28 Days

In the wake of Valentine' Day and Christmas I am sure there are plenty of lucky brides to be out there in the beginning stages of wedding planning. If the plain jane, cookie cutter wedding isn't your thing, and you have more of a DIY style check out this series: Craft Your Wedding in 28 Days. Each day covers a new wedding related craft from DIY invitations, response cards and thank notes to centerpieces and customized wedding clothing.



National Wedding Month: Craft Your Wedding in 28 Days

Oh so pretty, pretty clothing

I love looking at the pretty clothing on Pinterest. It's like window shopping without even leaving your computer or cell phone. I rarely ever pin any outfits, but I like to look at them. I like to see how creative others are with their choices and it does spark inspiration for my outfit choices as well…. so let's all look at pretty pictures!

DIY Kid's Dress-Up Rack

I wish I had room to put this in the girls room. I don't know about you, but the dress up clothes can get a little out of hand sometimes. Here is a simple tutorial for a DIY clothing rack perfect for the dress-up area in a play room.

Little Green Notebook: DIY Kid's Dress-Up Rack

Valentine's Date Night Outfits

Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you have your gift, and most likely you have plans, but do you have your outfit picked out? Yeah… me neither! Hopefully these picks will spark a little inspiration!!!

DIY Closet Organization

I don't care how much I clean out or organize I never seem to have enough room for everything I own. I have a weakness for clearance sales, thrift shops, clothes, shoes, craft supplies… and well that's enough. In the past few years I've also lost some weight, so needless to say my closet was over flowing. I had old clothes that were too large that I simply couldn't part with and things that I just flat out didn't wear. Recently I made it my mission to clean out my clothes and shoes. Luckily, I had a couple of friends in need of clothing, so I was able to give many of my things a new home. I did a rough reorganization when I cleaned out, but I still need to do a full overhaul to make everything much more organized and accessible. Here are some ideas that I like, and I thought you might find helpful as well.

DIY Your Valentine's Day Party

As we are all well aware Valentine's Day is this Saturday…eek! Are you having a party and still have a few last minute details to nail down. Here are some cute and simple DIY ideas that make help make your shindig extra special.

Taylor Swift, Trademark, Etsy and the Little Guy

I'm sure by now you've heard that Taylor Swift has taken it upon herself to trademark various phrases from her lyrics. You can read more about it here. Some of these are simple phrases or words that you hear people say everyday. She has now decided that she and only she can put out products with these phrases on them. Some of which are phrases that she ripped off… or excuse me were "inspired by other artists" such as Prince's "Party like it's 1999". Of course she changed hers to "Party like it's 1989", but still… we aren't stupid. While I get protecting your brand, it would be awesome if she was actually protecting her own original ideas, not common phrases and lyrics "inspired" by others. So in honor of Taylor here's a free printable just for you!

Download the full size 8.5x11 printable here.

DIY Valentine's Day Gifts

When I was researching my post on DIY Valentines Day Gifts for Him yesterday I came across these awesome pins for candy gifts with cute sayings. While some of these are only appropriate for your hubby or boyfriend others can be used for kiddos or friends. Enjoy!

DIY Valentine's Gifts for Him

So yeah….Valentine's is this weekend, and if you're like me you haven't bought or done anything yet. {Going for the girlfriend of the year award…yep…sure am! lol} What's a girl to do…. turn to pinterest of course. Here are some awesome DIY Valentine's Gifts for him that he's sure to love.

BurdaStyle Videos Are On Sale!

Coupon code inside>>

I got this in my email and thought this would be great for someone who is just getting into making their own clothing. Sometimes just having a pattern simply is not enough, and that is where videos come in. They truly are the next best thing to having someone actually teach you in person. Having the ability to watch someone do it the right way (and make sense of some of the pattern pieces) is invaluable. Happy Sewing!

For People Who Sew

Expand your sewing skills with a new technique video! Save 50% when you enter coupon code VIDEOS2015 at checkout. Start sewing something new today! Shop all BurdaStyle videos now>>

What On-Grain Means with Denise Wild Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew the BurdaStyle Sheer Placket Dress with Slip with Becky MacKinnon Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew the BurdaStyle Short Sleeve Blouse with Neck Ruffle Top with Denise Wild Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Match and Cut Plaid Fabrics with Meg Healy Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew the BurdaStyle Cocoon Coat with Meg Healy Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew a Walking Vent with Meg Healy Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew on Hook and Loop Tape (Velcro) with Denise Wild Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW How to Sew the BurdaStyle Kasia Skirt with Denise Wild Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW Sewing an Original Hem (Often Called a Euro Hem) with Denise Wild Retail: $16.99 With Coupon: $8.50 BUY NOW

Coupon code VIDEOS2015 expires Saturday, January 31st at 11:59pm MST. Some exclusions apply. Only valid on videos on http://videos.burdastyle.com. Prices are as marked.

DIY Retro Last Minute Halloween Costume

The newest retro collection of 1960's inspired looks from BurdaStyle can provide some great last minute costume inspiration. If your sewing inclined some of these patterns may be easy enough to whip up on your own in time for Halloween. For those, that are not so inclined, the images can provide great inspiration for you to go on a hunt in your own closet or your favorite thrift store. 

For even more inspiration I've rounded up some images of classic 60's icons to spark your creative spirit.

1. Cher

2. Edie Sedgwick

3. Jackie O

4. Mia Farrow

5. Twiggy

6. Janis Joplin

Hope this helps some of you last minute costume people out. What are some other style icons throughout history that are providing your costume inspiration this year?

TV Inspired Halloween Costumes

Halloween will be here before you know it, and I know some of you may be not as on top of the costume situation as others, so thanks to an article on Refinery 29 here are some awesome TV inspired ideas that you can easily recreate. Over at Refinery 29 you can see their ideas for Blossom, Brenda from 90210, Hillary from the Fresh Prince of Belair and more! If those don't work for you here are some other TV inspired costumes that I found.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

2. Clarissa from Clarissa Explains it All

3. Angela Chase from My So Called Life

4. Kelly Kapowski from Saved By the Bell

5. Mental Mellie from Scandal

These are just a few ideas. There are so many more options out there, just use your imagination. What TV show/character might inspire you this Halloween?

Free E-Book - Spray Paint for Home Decor

Head on over to Fave Crafts and download your free copy of Make it Yours: How To Spray Paint Furniture, Home Decor Projects, Holiday Crafts and More with Krylon Spray Paint. 

These simple home decor projects transform the boring and old to bright and new!

Product Photography - DIY Style

In the last Product Photography installment we went through my tips and tricks covering tripods, lighting, backdrop and props. I thought it might be fin to see what DIY options we might find for each of these on pinterest.

Tripod










Lighting










Backdrop








Props

When it comes to props I could put pins here for jewelry displays, or how to make your own dress form, but props are really a personal choice and really depend on what you sell. They can be items from all around your house including glasses, fabric and even yourself. To figure out what kinds of props you might need search around online and see what others are using to display similar products. This will help point you in the right direction and then you can put your won creative twist on it.

Pinterest Round Up - Halloween Decor

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love getting to dress up in a costume for no reason. I also love decorating. There are tons of great store bought options out there for the less craftily inclined, but for those of us that love a good DIY project here are some awesome DIY Halloween decor options fresh from Pinterest.

What are some of your favorite DIY Halloween Decor Projects? Be sure to check back throughout the rest of the month for more Halloween DIY projects.

Product Photography - My Tips and Tricks

I did it! I finally got my Etsy shop back up and going....see...






Of course, one of the first tasks I had to tackle was product photography. With the rebranding came new products, and therefor new pictures. I am by no means an expert in product photography, I'm sure you can look at my images and tell that, but I have picked up some tips and tricks along the way that you may find useful.

Now.. I may get stoned for admitting this, but I don't use a fancy pants camera for my product photos. I have one, but today's cell phones are so fancy schmancy that the images from my phone are just as good as the ones from my camera, and it makes social media so much easier. I have the images right there at my fingertips and can easily post to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter whenever I wish.

While I may not use a fancy pants camera I do still set-up my photography "studio" area in the same manner that I normally would. Here are my basic supplies.

• Tripod
• lighting
• backdrop
• props

Tripod

I purchased this tripod off of Amazon 

This height is perfect for jewelry and smaller items, but for clothing I needed a taller free standing tripod, so I improvised.

Now the mount part of this tripod should have screwed off and screwed onto my existing tripod. Notice I said should. It screwed off just fine, but the screwy part on my big tripod was mysteriously missing, so    zip ties to rescue... I zip tied that sucker onto my big tripod and voila... instant tripod!

Lighting

One simple word is all you need to remember for lighting...MORE. You may think you have enough light, but chances are you don't.

I have two of these.

They each have 150 watt natural light bulbs. The natural light is important, ordinary light bulbs give a yellow tint to everything, but with a natural light bulb you get white light, which is what you need for good photos. I really need two more of these, but I just haven't bought them yet.

In addition I have approximately four other lamps and lights that use that each have 60 watt natural light bulbs in them.... and I could still use more!

Backdrop

Your photo backdrop can be as simple, or as complex as you would like it to be. I typically try to keep one wall in my house free of any furniture or wall hangings so I can have a designated photo area. For the time being I am using my awesome silver polka dot dining room wall.

You may choose to just use a wall, or you can easily hang a sheet, paper or cloth wherever you please to create an instant backdrop.

Props

Depending on what kind of products you sell will depend on what kind of props you need. Since I sell clothing, jewelry and accessories I need obviously needed some sort of mannequin/dress form and a jewelry display.

For jewelry displays you can often whip something up using items from the around the house. 

Just drape some cloth, lace, etc, over a wine glass, or any glass and you have an instant earring display. 

Hope your still with me, because this is just the beginning. Check back for my next installment in the product photography series. but until then here are some more tips and tricks for product photography.