Décor inspiration: Tray Chic

How do you display your lovely things -- jewelry, perfume, books, makeup?

The picture above is my own room. I found the vintage mirror tray at Salvation Army for $5.00 and I made my own jewelry hanger out of a converted candle holder that I found at Urban Outfitters. I like looking at my little display...it makes me feel like a fancy lady. Ha-ha.

DIY: Beautiful Little Packages (Free Printables)

I found cute packaging ideas from Oh The Lovely Things. This will come in handy when you need smallish pillow-boxes to put your little gifts in. Here are some free printables!

{MEDIUM SIZE - 1 per page}

Download at Oh The Lovely Things

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{TINY SIZE - 4 per page}

Download at Oh The Lovely Things

Churros con Chocolate

One of my dreams is to temporarily house swap and live in Spain with Danny! Oh how great would that be? Dan was a lucky duck; he grew up in a bilingual family and can switch from English to Spanish like it ain't no thing. Spain could be my chance to finally learn Spanish fluently! Until then, I will continue to practice my Rosetta Stone and make Churros con Chocolate -- a popular breakfast treat among Spaniards. Believe it or not, this recipe is really easy to make. And...it's AMAZING!

Churros are usually served plain with a hot chocolate dipping sauce in various European countries. And check this out...when we were in Costa Rica, they made their version with dulce de leche in the middle! Awww so good! But my all time favorite would be rolled in cinnamon-sugar and dipped in chocolate!

Makes approximately 20 churros (depending on size)
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter (I used salted butter, if you use unsalted add a pinch of salt to the batter)
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup flour
3 eggs
oil for frying

Cinnamon sugar
2 cups sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Chocolate sauce
100g (3.53 ounces) dark chocolate
50ml (1.69 fluid ounces) cream

• Start by making the chocolate sauce and the cinnamon sugar. Melt the chocolate and cream together and set aside. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine the water, butter, sugar and salt. Allow the butter to melt and stir everything together.
• Combine the saucepan mixture with sifted flour and stir until a ball starts to form.
• Transfer the mixture to your stand-alone mixer or to a separate bowl if you are using a hand-held blender.
• Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.*You don't want the hot dough to currdle the eggs
• Place enough oil into a pot to fry the churros and allow to heat.
• Start beating the dough and add the eggs one at a time. Beat well after each addition. The mixture will become slightly sticky and more like a batter, but still thick.
• Place the batter into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
• When the oil is hot, pipe long shapes into the oil and allow to fry until golden brown, flip them over and fry on the other side.
• Continue until all the batter has been used.
• Coat the churros in the cinnamon sugar.
• Serve warm with chocolate sauce.

Adapted from Simply Delicious

Professional Beauty & Makeup Tips

1. "Take a shimmery gloss to the center of your lips, top and bottom - this will attract light to your lips, making them look pouty."-Katrina Barrion, makeup artist for Giella Custom Blend Cosmetics

2. Breakout before a big event? "Take oral cortisone a few days before the event to clear your skin"- Ava Shamban, dermatologist and author of Heal Your Skin.

3. For fuller lips, extend the lip line using a flesh tone lip liner. Be careful not to go overboard!

4. Always use an oil free moisturizer with SPF in the morning.

5. Winter can be especially harsh on your hair leaving it extra dry. Eugene Davis, celebrity hair stylist suggests using an Avocado Hair Mask.

6. "Use your concealer as a base on your eyelids" it will help even out your skin color and keep your liner set for longer.-Melissa Silver, Maybelline makeup artist.

7. When choosing the correct shade of red lipstick keep in mind your skin color. If you have dark to olive skin pick a shade with orange, yellow or golden hues. If you have fair to light skin, pick a shade with a blue base.

8. Drawing thick dark lines all around your eyes will make your eyes look smaller. To avoid this, don't close the lines---line only the outside half of your bottom lid or don't line the bottom lid at all.

9. When using lipstick always be sure to put a tad more product on the middle of your lips. This is the first place where lipstick tends to fade.

10. Brighten eyes with a dot of pale gold cream shadow at the inner corners. “It makes the eyes look wide open and beautiful in the light,” says makeup artist Tom Pecheux.

DIY: Avocado, Olive Oil and Honey Hair Mask

A week or so ago, Danny bought a bunch of avocados from a man with a veggie cart on the beach. The avocados were tasty, but unfortunately we didn't get to finish them before they went mushy. I looked in the refrigerator today -- darn, a few of them had turned brown. Hmmm what to do? Throw them away? Noooo!

Make your own hair mask!

3 mushy avocados

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

Mix in a blender until creamy

Massage into dry hair and twist into a bun

Leave mask on for 1hour (or more...even over night if you're hair is feeling extra frizzy)

Shampoo hair 2X to rinse out.

****Hair will be SHINY and SOFT when it dries!****

DIY: Wooden Wax Seal

I love snail mail! These days people e-mail, text, call etc.  Snail mail is becoming a thing of the past. I don't know about you, but I love sending and receiving had written letters. Click HERE to learn how to dress up your personal notes with a wooden wax sealer.

*If you're sending this through the mail, make sure to place your sealed letter inside an additional envelope, so that the wax won't get ruined in the mailing process.

Have fun!

Mmm...Reese's Stuffed Chocolate Covered Oreos

Ooooh my. These are a must! Click here for this awesome "how to" recipe by Cookies and Cups.