Thursday, October 13, 2011

Treasury Thursday


Though I don't think I'll be doing a treasury feature every Thursday, the title did fit for today!

I've been real swamped with homework so sorry for the lack of activity on my end, I've been trying to visit a couple of blogs here and there and got just a few so bare with me.

Speaking of which, I decided to can the whole idea of the "sponsor" thing and just dedicate it to blogs that I continuously follow and from bloggers who I admire and adore! I've already contacted a few of you already so please email me or contact me somehow with your button :) !

On to the treasuries! 

I've spotted a few that I loved but it also inspired me to create my own so here they are! Enjoy!




Sunday, October 9, 2011

Easy Coffee Recipies

Yum!!! If you don't already know, I am a big coffee fan!  I found a couple recipes that I plan on trying here in the new future that I wanted to share.  Don't they look delicious? Enjoy!


Abbey's White Chocolate Latte
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup brewed espresso
1/4 cup white chocolate chips, chopped

Directions
Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan, and whisk over high heat until hot and frothy. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and sugar. Whisk together hot espresso and white chocolate chips in a mug until smooth. If you are making two, pour half into another mug. Top with the frothy hot milk and stir to blend in the flavoring.


Vietnamese Iced Coffee
Ingredients
4 cups water
1/2 cup dark roast ground coffee beans
1/2 cup sweetened
condensed milk
16 ice cubes

Directions
Brew coffee with water using your preferred method to make brewed coffee. Spoon 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk into each of 4 coffee cups. Pour 1 cup of fresh hot coffee into each cup, and stir to dissolve the milk.

Serve guests cups of coffee, and give each one a tall glass with 4 ice cubes, and a long handled spoon. Guests pour hot coffee over the ice cubes and stir briskly with the long handled spoon, making an agreeable clatter with the ice cubes to chill the coffee.

Gingerbread Latte
Ingredients
2 fluid ounces espresso coffee
2 tablespoons gingerbread flavored syrup
1/2 cup milk, steamed
1/8 cup whipped cream
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

Directions
In a coffee mug, combine espresso coffee with flavored syrup. Pour in steamed milk. Top with whipped cream, and sprinkle with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla powder.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

WiseStamp: Email signatures in a snap!

When emailing customers from my Etsy shop, I like to compose emails on a personal level but still remain professional.  So I've included this email signature provided by WiseStamp that includes my name, logo and links to other social networking sites that are affiliated with my shop.  


It is fully customizable, I'm a simple-sally so mine is on the minimalist side :)


WiseStamp allows you to add social networking icons (with or without text beside them) as well as a widget that includes the latest tweet, blog, even etsy shop item along with your signature!

Another great thing about WiseStamp is that if you are a Google Chrome user like myself, you can easilly install it on to your browser with a WiseStamp Google Chrome extension.  For those without chrome need not worry, they have extensions available for Firefox and Safari as well.


If you have a gmail account, Google automatically adds it to your menu bar.

They offer tons of features and settings - you can either have your signature automatically show up when you compose and/or reply, as well as have a signature for personal emails and a different for business.  So check it out and sign up for a new email signature today!

Giveaway Alert!


So I think I'm gonna start this thing where I go hunting and advertising for giveaways.  I know it's considered an entry to blog about a giveaway but that's not the reason why I choose to do this.  I want to do it for hopefully more exposure as well as provide a place where for people to go who love entering giveaways.

I've added a link to a page up top on my navigation menu for October giveaways and since this is the first post, here are the links to a few lovely and note worthy giveaways! I'll be posting a new blog whenever I add another giveaway or two.  Good luck!!!





Friday, October 7, 2011

Day of shopping & sales!


I finally bought some Seche Vite top coat! It is amazing stuff, I've tried plenty of different top coats and I'm loving this one.  I also continued with my scotch tape trials (part 1).  I used the satin finish tape and it worked much better than the regular transparent tape.  It was just hard to see but then again that's probably because the tape was over the silver polish.  Don't mind the edges by the way, I realized later that I cleaned them after the picture. Hehe whoops!

So for those of you without some Seche Vite top coat, head on over Sally Beauty Supply for a bottle and pick up a free bottle of Stripe Rite Paint.  Sally has sooo many great offers for their October Special! So if you're like me and need to stock up on some beauty supplies, this is your month!

I was able to buy a new 1 1/2" Ion curling iron and receive a free Ion Mini Straight n' Spiral Styler Iron (valued at 29.99).  There are tons more savings and offers so be sure to check out their sale flyer!

Other than that I'm pretty excited that I was finally able to buy a replacement screen, battery and cord for my netbook. With school and me always having somewhere to be, I figure it's time I finally fix it and tote it around with me to finish up assignments on the go.


Also, I've been real swamped with work and school lately.  I finally forced myself to at least make one item for my shop so here it is!  A new Etsy banner set, background features colorful floral doodles on kraft paper.  Hopefully more designs to come soon!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Bye old layout!


I've been wanting a new look for a while now, I found this really nice theme called MoonLight earlier today and absolutely adored it!  Some of the gray borders and text were a little to light for my taste, so I'm in the middle of changing that around.  Once that's finished I'll probably do more editing, just so it looks a little different than the default.

So please bare with me, this will be looking kinda weird till I can sit and finish it all up at once.

K, so I'm pretty much done for the most part. I wasn't able to sleep at all so I just hopped back on here after several hours of tossing and turning.  I wanted to keep the colors from the last layout the same, only cause it coincides with my etsy shop.  This is still a little different, esp with the pink.  Not a drastic change.

Any suggestions?

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Esty Finds: Wrap Around Labels

I ADORE these wrap around labels!

Initially I wanted to post a few samples from different shops; but all the labels I've selected from my search were all from the same one.  So needless to say I have a new favorite etsy shop! 

Kudos to Imbue You, for the lovely designs, patterns and prints that I soooo love. Not only can you get wrap around labels, Imbue You provides Wedding invitation sets, engagement announcements, cards, tags and various printables.  Definitely a must-see shop!


Also be sure to visit my new sponsor, Simply Harmony - she's a doll!