Link party... DIY Show Off

  I linked my spray painted yellow lamp over at the DIY Showoff blog.  Go check it out!

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

~  Kim :)

Link Party... cute little table

 

  I haven't shown off my little in-the-trash-on-the-side-of-the-road find yet.  I am linking over at Miss Mustard Seed blog to show it off.  I thought about distressing it but I just did the top and then we had a party and I haven't gotten around to do the rest.  But it's a cute little table and the best thing... it was FREE (except for the cost of primer and Rust-oleums Heirloom White spray paint)!!!  Love it.

I didn't even bother filling in the holes from the drawer pull, I just turned it around!!

~  Kim :)

Inspiration Friday No.9 ~ Makeup

  

Makeup.  

Besides pillows and painted furniture it is up there on the top of my list of favorite things... bring to me a Sephora and the angels start to sing.  My work in makeup began 10 years ago for Merle Norman Cosmetics and I have been a freelance makeup artist for 8 years.  It's a huge part of my life, so I thought that I would show you some of my work, the products that I love to use, and the looks that I love to do.

Delirious Photography

Most of my business is working with brides and their bridal parties.  It is such a reward to get to work with these women on one of the most important days of their lives.

Del Haven Studio

My makeup kit is never finished.  There is always another product that I need or want to try.

Sam Hughes Photography

Sam Hughes Photography

I am always looking for new makeup looks and keeping up with the trends to stay current.  There is nothing worse than a dated makeup look.  It instantly ages a woman.... high up on my list on what not to do is the wrong foundation color and harshly penciled in eyebrows.

 Pinterest

Fresh and Springy

 Pinterest

Classic makeup look... never goes out of style when done correctly

And some of my favorites... I am not a one product line junkie, I like to spread the love around.

  Grassroots Research Labs available at Kohl's.... saw this in a magazine as the Beauty Editor's Favorite and I have to say I have been using it for years and I LOVE this stuff.  

 Always good to use when you need your makeup to last all day.

The best.  

There really is no reason to spend a ton of money on mascaras.  You only use it for a short amount of time and the drugstore brands are without a doubt comparable to department store brands.

Okay, so here is what I have learned about lipsticks.  No product line is the same and the $25 lipsticks are not any better than the cheaper brand.  Sometimes.  In my mind, Revlon has been around long enough to perfect the lipstick, and I believe they are as good IF NOT BETTER than the more expensive lipsticks.  I love them, seriously.  Now that being said, I am kind of a lipstick drugstore snob, I refuse to buy any other brand.  When you find something that works, why switch?

Mauve It Over 

... the best natural looking lipstick.  This is the perfect lipstick if you are doing a glossy lip but need a little more color.  It is matte perfection.

Temptress

...a nice pinky color that is perfect for the fresh faced, Springy look that is so popular right now.

Wine With Everything

...I just had a makeup trial with a bride that wanted a red lip.  This is a great red if you have trouble with reds turning pinky.  A really pretty look with a nude eye and black liner.

Nars Orgasm stick (great name, huh?! lol)

...I have used this until there is almost nothing left.  I use it when I don't have a lot of time to apply makeup, it's great to throw into your bag and put on in the car!

 A comparable knock-off to the Nars Orgasm blush is Pink Tutu by Flirt!, available at Kohl's.

And my next makeup purchase will be this palette by Urban Decay, the colors are amazing and there is a nice mix of matte and shimmer shades.

So I would love to hear, 

what's your favorite makeup product?

You can visit www.makeupbykimporter.com to see the rest of my portfolio!

~  Kim :)

cheap and effective... I like it!

  So you know when something works so well that you just have to tell somebody about it?  Well I have this chair...

older picture of dirty chair

I bought it off of Craigslist for $150.  It's a Pottery Barn Comfort Square with down cushions and the price tag that was left on the leg said $899.00.  I felt like I had gotten a really good deal EXCEPT that the previous owner had let her large Husky dog hang out on it, and the arms were discolored compared to the rest of the chair.  It's a very comfortable chair and I love it, but I have no intention of paying the $449 to replace the current slipcover for a new one.

So the other day I doused the dark spots with Shout and stuck the slipcover in the wash with some bleach, and then I added some more bleach, just in case.  When I took the slipcover out of the wash to hang dry it.... it was YELLOW!!!

I was beside myself worried that we were getting ready for my son's 4th birthday party and I would be stuck with a yucky, yellow chair.  So I went into the garage to look for something to fix the problem and I discovered this...

A super duper cheap laundry detergent that I had picked up a while ago because it was 2/$5.00 and I felt like being cheap.  I read the instructions and it said I could use the liquid detergent straight from the bottle onto the fabric, so that's what I did. Praying the whole time that I wasn't ruining a perfectly good slipcovered chair.

And when I pulled the slipcover out of the washer it was clean... I mean CLEAN.  No yellow in sight and it had removed a lot of the discoloration that had been there before.  CLEAN.

So there ya have it... a cheap and effective product that can remove stains AND yellowing from using too much bleach.  I'm sold.

~  Kim :)

** I would have taken a picture of the clean chair but after 5 days, it's lookin' kinda grungy again.
White slipcover + (2) children = grungy furniture... time to break out the Sun plus Oxi!!!

Digging in the dirt...

For the first time ever I bought annuals and planted them in the ground.  I have always appreciated the look and color that annuals add but I thought it would be way too much work to plant them into our flower bed in the front of our yard.  I am so glad that I bought a few and added them because it made such a difference!!!

This is the before and it has pretty much looked like this for the 2 years that we have lived here....

 And now....

 We also added this banana plant.

 Our Knockout Roses, the easiest, most low-maintenance plant EVER.

 This Clematis is growing up around the front door, I am hoping to drape it above the awning.

 This Clematis plant was here when we moved in, I think someone meant for it to grow up the water spout...(I instantly start singing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider").  It never would so I bought a trellis and hopefully it will do what it's suppose to do.

I now want a Clematis around our mailbox, love them!

...and another hydrangea has been planted in the front beds.  That brings the count to 10 plants. 

They are just sooo pretty! 

I don't think that I will ever be done, on my list right now is to add a Crepe Myrtle tree at the corner of our house along with a bench seat so that I'm not standing in full sun everyday when I get my daughter off the bus... and of course some more hydrangeas.  

I totally have a vision of having an entire garden full of those beautiful blooming plants.

~  Kim :)

Link Party

I linked up to Nesting Place to show off my front porch update.  I am excited about about my peony plants that I recently planted and I just purchased ANOTHER hydrangea plant.  I can.not.help.myself... the Clematis is taking off around the front door and I'm hoping I can drape it above the overhang.  It's just too cold and rainy here today to want to do anything outside.

~  Kim :)

Pirate Birthday Party

  My son's pirate birthday party was a success!!  The kids had a great time dressing up and "walking the plank".  I totally forgot to take a picture of the table decorated but it was cute.  It had a pirate map tablecloth, a treasure chest from the Parent Teacher Store filled with pirate loot, and a bunch of accessories for the kids to dress up with like bandannas, eye patches and earrings.

 my kiddos

 pirate map cake

 the captain left the birthday boy a message... it says 

"Arrr me mateys!  Happy Birthday to me hearty Dylan. Hope ye scalliwags have a swashbuckeling good time.  Yer Captain"

 walking the plank (2 x 4 and landscaping bricks)

...the kids had a great time doing this, by the end they were falling off and being eaten by sharks!

 they made hats out of newspapers and telescopes out of 

empty paper towel rolls and decorated them 

 the Birthday Boy!!!

Now I have to start working on decorating my daughter's room for her birthday present next month. 

~  Kim :) 

Inspiration Friday No.8 ~ Gardening

  

  Hi everyone!!!  Big weekend here at our house, we are hosting our son's 4th birthday party.  It's a pirate party and I am hoping the cute pirate costume I ordered for him arrives today.  Should be a fun time!

My inspiration had moved from inside the house to the outside.  As soon as the weather starts staying warm I want to get out and get my hands dirty.  The front of our house is FULL sun all day long.  I am planning to make a small bed in the middle of our front yard a colorful arrangement of perennials and annuals.  Here is some of my inspiration...

I would love to grow peonies that look like these!!!

 haute-hostess.com

 This is what our bed in the front yard looked the other day.  Kinda ...VERY... drab and the mulch was looking rough after a year in full sun.  I have asiatic lilies coming up and last year the vincas I planted did fantastic.

 I picked up a few plants the other day, including my first peony.  I actually ran in to buy just a few small flowers to put in pots and found that I had a Home Depot gift card in my wallet with $75 on it!  SCORE!!!

 I went to a garden center late last summer and found a large peony plant for $80!!! No, thanks.

 Luckily, Home Depot has them right now for $16.99.

 This is after planting a few plants and turning up the mulch a bit.  

Still pretty drab but I've got plans.

 I am hoping these hydrangea plants bloom this year, for some reason last year I didn't get a single bloom.

 This would be nice.

 www.coldclimategardening.com

gardentreeslandscape.com 

More peonies... I picked up another plant today, an all pink one.

google 

Vincas will be planted, they do awesome in the full sun and they are great for adding color!

clydelady2.hubpages.com  

...and last I planted Canna Lilies that we had pulled out of a bed last year and put in a pot.  They had literally taken over one bed.  I thought they would be nice to add the tropical feel next to the palm trees and to add some height.

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you have a fantastic weekend!!!

~ Kim :)