Oh my DIY! Comic Coasters!

Hello everyone! FINALLY. I have a DIY crafting project for y'all! I'm really stoked on this one, not only because it's such a simple project but because I got help from Sean! He helped me so much with supplies and picture taking! Overall, I feel this project was an uber success! I'm super pleased with the outcome, being this was my first attempt! I seriously thought I was going to fuck it up somehow but luckily everything worked out! It's a super simple coaster idea...now, you don't HAVE to use comics, you can actually use printed photos or magazines. Just be aware of the material you choose because some papers are more fragile and more likely to tear. You definitely want to choose durable paper, something that will last. I saw this idea on Pinterest and immediately needed to try it out! So please, sit back, relax and enjoy! And don't forget to try it out! Duh.

Products needed:

Acrylic Spray (Gloss, not matte!)

Tacky Glue

Wood/Tile (We got free samples from Home Depot)

Mod Podge (Matte)

X-Acto knife

Comics/Pictures/Magazines (I just got Spawn comics, two bucks each at Frank and Son)

Using your X-Acto knife, cut out the desired image. Be careful! That dang knife is so sharp, I suck at it so obviously, Sean did it for me.

We did two coasters, using two types of wood. One was way thicker than the other but thickness does not matter. It's all preference. I preferred using the thinner piece of wood, only because it was easier to work with and less bulky.

Next, apply a good amount of your tacky glue to the backside of the image. Try not to apply too much glue during this step because it could get a little messy when pressing it down.

After pushing down your image, use a piece of cardboard, a credit card, anything to scrape the bubbles out. This part can get a little tricky because if you're not careful, the image can tear.

For the other image, I applied the tacky glue to the wood instead of the image. I wanted to see if it made a difference.

It didn't.

Next cut the excess paper, so your image is perfectly aligned with your wood or tile.

 

This is how your coasters should look.

Next, spray a layer of your acrylic spray over your image. By the end, your coaster should look a bit wet, but no fear, leave it be for 15-20 minutes to fully dry.

Next, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge. The Mod Podge will leave a white residue, kind of like glue but no worries, it dries clear.

Here's what the coasters should look like after the Mod Podge.

Take your acrylic spray and give it a good shake. This was my sad attempt.

Let this layer dry fully. I waited overnight for it to dry completely.

And this should be your final product. An awesome coaster for your cold beverage!

The final step to this project was applying felt or cork to the bottom of your coasters with tacky glue. I skipped this step completely because the wood we chose had a rough bottom surface so we didn't need the extra coverage or hold.

Anywho, I hope you guys have enjoyed this DIY project! It only took about two hours to complete! Super cheap and easy to do and it makes awesome gifts for anyone! 

Ciao Bella!

Shoptimist: June 2013

Hello everyone! Long time, no posts! Sadly I've been really caught up in work and other things. It's already July! Where did the time go??? As one month ends and another one approaches, that means two things; new beginnings and SHOPTIMIST REVIEWS! Yay! I seriously had to think long and hard on what I bought this past month that is Shoptimist worthy. I gathered a few things (mostly make up related). I'm really glad that I didn't spend THAT much on make up and didn't end up accumulating more junk than I need. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

Products mentioned:

Elf Studio Complexion Brush

Elf Studio Blush Brush

Sonia Kashuk Contouring brush

Maybelline's Vivid in Shocking Coral

One n' Only Argan Oil

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous Foundation

Color Tattoo by Eyestudio in Bad to the Bronze

Morse Code bracelet

Deena & Ozzy Backpack

Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder

Garnier Fructis Style Sleek and Shine Cream

Horror Movies

Sooooo, these past years I really needed to update my make up brush collection but brushes nowadays are way too expensive, the good ones at least...or so I thought. I took a trip to Target, finally, and decided to check out their brush collection and I stumbled upon the Elf Studio collection. I love using the Elf Studio make up, not only because it's ridiculously cheap but super long lasting. I came across the big complexion brush and the blush brush. Both are super soft and super easy to apply. I use the complexion brush for my setting powder and to blend everything together. Both were 3 bucks each and such a great purchase so I highly recommend! I couldn't find an Elf Studio contour brush so I went to the Sonia Kashuk collection and this brush was about 7 bucks or so. I use it for my bronzer and I find it so easy to apply rather than applying it with a foundation brush or blush brush. I really love this brush. It's soft and really easily blends with the rest of my make up. I love it!

I am absolutely in love with Revlon's Lip Butters. I think they are the greatest lip invention ever and I am so obsessed with the colors, it's ridiculous. I wanted to check out the lip butter's competition and I've heard of the Vivid's by Maybelline and I've always wanted to give it a try. All the colors are shockingly bright and...dare I say vivid? Very pigmented which I love. The only question that I had was if they moisturized or not. I bought this in 'Shocking Coral'. I opened it and it was a bright pink fuchsia, which I was super mad about because I felt like I just wasted 6 bucks on a lip product, but I put it on my lips and surprisingly it was an awesome color. It was a mix between coral and bright pink. It was really moisturizing and I only needed to touch up once throughout the day. It's not AS great as the lip butters but it's a step up in pigmentation.  

 

Sooooo I barely joined the hair oil bandwagon. I know a lot of bloggers and vloggers that use hair oil and express their love and obsession with the stuff. I really wanted to try it out. Now, this isn't the Moroccan Oil brand cause that stuff is about 37 bucks a bottle. I wanted to try a small bottle but I couldn't find it anywhere and I don't really want to spend that much on something like that. Sooooo I made my way to Sally's Beauty Supply and bought a tiny bottle of the cheapest oil. This was 7 bucks and let me say, this stuff lasts! I've had it for a long time and I feel like it's going to last a few more months. I don't need to use a lot of product because I don't want to make my hair THAT oily. I apply it to damp hair and let air dry and it makes a huge difference. My hair tends to dry out in this type of weather so the oil really helps hydrate everything and make it touchable soft!

So I really wanted to try out a new foundation this month because I'm getting kind of bored with my Revlon Colorstay and I realized that it tends to dry out my skin. So I did my research and found a lot of bloggers and vloggers raving about this product. It's the 'new' Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous foundation 3 in 1. This claims to be a foundation, primer and concealer. So I'm always super nervous when it comes to picking a new shade. I usually go too light or too dark. Always. I went to Target one random night with Sean and I was standing in front of the foundation section for a while till Sean came over and just said "get this one" and I picked it up and it looked way darker than my actual skin but the lighter color was definitely too light for my skin tone. I took a risk and just bought it, saving my receipt just in case. I went home and applied it right away. The color, surprisingly fit perfectly. It's medium to full coverage which I really like. It doesn't cake on and it doesn't dry out my skin. It has SPF 20 and I feel like it moisturizes my skin way better than the Revlon Colorstay. Lately I've been mixing the two. The combination of both foundations seem to fit my skin tone perfectly because the colorstay is a very light foundation while the outlast by Covergirl provides a little bit more coverage. Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase and I'll probably repurchase once I run out!

I'm not an eyeshadow girl only because I don't really have an expertise in eyeshadow/shading and all that fancy talk. I'm also a really lazy girl so I'm always too tired in the morning to care. I love neutral colors, nothing too pigmented or too bright, just a nice subtle shine to make my eyes pop. I heard really good things about the color tattoo by Eyestudio by Maybelline. It advertises as lasting 24 hours, which I'm not too sure if that's true or not. Overall it's a thick product and it's really pretty. The only thing I could recommend is not using a ton of product at once, a little goes a loooooong way and you have to remember to blend!

So I went on a little shopping spree a few weeks ago...and I picked this cute bracelet up on Etsy. This cute store does custom bracelets! They're morse code bracelets which is super cute, super creative and lovely! Check it out!!! P.S. guess what my secret code is!

So, I've been obsessed with my new backpack from Urban Outfitters! It's by Deena & Ozzy. It's a very interesting material, it feels like nylon. I got it off the sale section of Urban's website. It was originally 40 bucks but I got it for 10. I love it! Super convenient and I've been looking everywhere for a durable black backpack like this and I'm so glad I found it!

Holy crap. This is the one product I'm super stoked about. I've been drooling over Soap & Glory products for a while but they're a bit expensive and a lot of the places that sell the products aren't close by. One of my favorite vloggers raves about this particular product, The Soap & Glory One Heck of a Blot which is a mattifying powder. First of all, this product isn't available in the US and only in the UK sooooo I had to buy this gem online. It actually came faster than I thought it would. Second, the packaging to this product is absolutely cute and I love it! Overall, the Soap & Glory packaging is always cute and vintage which I really appreciate. Lastly, this is probably one of the greatest powders I've ever used. It's way better than the Rimmel London Matte Powder, and it's lighter than the Bare Minerals powder. Doesn't give you a cake-y mess or make you look like super ghost face. I love this powder, the only downside, I have to order it online.

This is a moisturizing cream you apply to your hair when it's ridiculously humid outside. I've been using this stuff since high school. It always does the job of leaving my hair super silky soft and I go through this stuff like crazy. They just changed the formula recently and added Argan oil which should be even better and it claims to have a 24 hour resistance to humidity which is awesome for me!

Sean and I have been obsessed with having horror movie marathons every weekend, it seems like. We also discovered that Sean lives right next to a Blockbuster. Super convenient and super AWESOME. We rent at least 3 scary movies and watch em in a day. These are just a few from a random weekend in June. I was always the biggest scared-y cat when it came to horror movies but I definitely grew to love them. I'm a little weird when it comes to scary movies, I love really gruesome scenes with as much blood and torture as possible. So we've been watching a lot of those. We've also watched 'The Conjuring' one of the scariest movies I've seen in a while!

Here's another random picture. We went to the 626 market at the Santa Anita race track the first week of June. They had food trucks, boba, clothes and music. It was a lot of fun to check out all the new food trucks and I also got Tastea! Super delicious peach tea with bits of peaches and strawberries. So good and so refreshing. I'm kind of obsessed.

Hope you enjoyed!
Ciao Bella!