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lifestyle

What I bought during the Sephora Sale

Just a heads up- this post is a significant departure from my usual content, but in an effort to create more content that truly brings me joy and also answers some frequently asked questions I thought I’d give it a go!

If you didn’t know, Sephora is currently holding one of their biggest sales of the year, which is a big deal because Sephora doesn’t usually have sales or offer discounts. If you are a makeup and skincare lover like me who drops a pretty penny every year on products from Sephora, you can appreciate how important it is to plan for and take advantage of a sale like this.

To be clear, the sale officially started on Friday April 26th and ends on May 6th, but was open first to Sephora VIB Rouge members, of which I am included. VIB Rouge (use code HEYROUGE) means that you spend something like $1000 or more a year in Sephora- which I absolutely do, mostly on high end skincare which can quickly add up. So, being VIB Rouge means you shop the sale first and you get the biggest discount- 20%… I’ll take it!

For those who are the standard VIB level, meaning you spend $350 a year in the store or online, the sale starts on May 2nd and ends on the 6th and this level gets 15% off with the code HEYVIB. Finally, the standard Beauty Insider level which is everyone who signs up gets 10% with the code HEYINSIDER and their sale dates are the same as VIB level.

Now, in case you have seen many, many blog, instagram and youtube posts about the Sephora sale with influencers sharing their picks and wishlist, let me explain to you why. This sale, along with the Nordstrom anniversary sale that happens during the summer are probably the biggest and most profitable periods for influencers that use affiliate marketing. Meaning, they share their picks with affiliate links and if you click on them and make a purchase, they get a cut of the sale. Now, I’m sure some people find this highly annoying, but it’s honestly a pretty fair system. When people shop online they don’t have the benefit of speaking to salespeople in store and so the influencer then becomes the salesperson, giving you recommendations and sharing their experiences with products. For their effort, they make a commission on the sale that might normally go to a sales person had you shopped in store. And, honestly, the commission isn’t as amazing as you might expect- depending on the affiliate marketing program an influencer belongs to, the commission could be something like 3%-15%. So, most influencers aren’t bringing home a full paycheck from an event like this, but would be luck to make enough commission to cover their own purchase.

Of course, I too belong to a few affiliate networks and although I don’t normally share these sorts of lifestyle picks, I do get a lot of questions about the makeup and skincare I use, so I thought I would let you all know what I purchased during the sale (I ordered on Friday morning and have already received my order) and also provide a few suggestions for products I didn’t need to purchase but would have if I was running low! Just fair warning, I am going to supply you with affiliate links and I do appreciate if you use them since it doesn’t cost you anything and it gives me credit for suggesting a product. Thanks in advance for helping me support my skincare habit!

So before I list out my purchases and suggestions, I want to let you know a little about my skin because I absolutely believe that all products do not work for all skin types and it’s important to use suggestions from people who have a similar skin type as you if you want to see similar results. I have very dry skin, it’s not super sensitive but it can be if I use too many harsh chemicals or exfoliants. I don’t get acne per se, but I do breakout hormonally around my chin mostly. I don’t have much in the way of blackheads or enlarged pores because I have dry skin, but I would categorize my breakouts as nodular (google it if you aren’t familiar) as opposed to white heads, papules or pustules (I felt gross typing that last one lol). My main skincare goals are to prevent and reduce fine lines and wrinkles, to lighten hyperpigmentation, and to brighten and even my skin complexion overall. And I certainly have found some great products that help me achieve those goals!

First, Tatcha The Essence: http://bit.ly/2LcVuPH

Facial essence waters are kind of a new thing in beauty and skincare that was introduced with the popularity of asian skincare products. You might think something like this is unnecessary or waste of money, but it’s soo good and absolutely necessary which is why I bought a new bottle during the sale even though I still have a bit of this left in my existing bottle. You use this essence water after you wash and tone by pouring a small amount in your hand and rubbing it into your skin. Since you don’t use a lot this actually last a very long time and the affects are significant. This essence softens your skin like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Literally, my skin feels as soft as a new born baby when I use this and it helps your serums you apply after it sink in and work even better. If you are familiar with the SKII facial essence water, this product is very similar, except its less expensive and I think it works better!

Next, Caudalie’s Vinoperfect Serum: http://bit.ly/2LbuiR8

Since I am something of a higher end skincare lover, I tend to cycle through a number of different serums, but this serum is one I often come back to. I haven’t used this in maybe a year since my last bottle ran out, but I’ve gone through several bottles over the last few years and love it. Remember I said my skincare goals were to get rid of hyperpigmentation and brighten my complexion- this does it! It also helps me clear up breakouts as well and is not filled with harsh chemicals so I can use it night over night without having to take a break from it because it doesn’t irritate my skin. I tend to use this serum only at night, although, it can be used during the day as well. I just have other serums I prefer to use during the day!

Next, Farsali Liquid Glass Serum/Primer: http://bit.ly/2VCgzXD

So this happens to be one of the new items I picked up during the sale that I really wanted to try out. I’ve never used it before but I’ve tried other things from this line and it comes highly recommended. Again, this is a radiance serum, but Farsali serums double as makeup primers and that is how I intend to use this product, as a serum/primer before makeup because I have dry skin. Now, Farsali is a brand I don’t think gets enough hype overall- they have a product called Skintune Blur which I kid you not, makes your skin look like an instagram filter in real life. Now, although that is always a great look, I don’t feel like I need that product because I don’t have enlarged pores. But, if you do, you might want to try Skintune Blur instead of this Liquid Glass. For me, I am beginning to understand more and more than I actually have pretty good skin overall and that although the matte makeup look is very in right now, I actually prefer a dewier makeup look, especially for spring and summer- and that is the concept of the Liquid Glass look!

Finally, Jouer Essential Lip Enhancer: http://bit.ly/2LdGMYv

As part of my nightly skincare regime, I like to use a very moisturizing lip balm and after searching through reviews on Sephora I have decided to try this one. Again, never used it before, but the reviews are great and it’s pretty affordable. In the past I have used the Dior Creme de Rose balm which I believe is now discontinued, and I’ve also gone through a few tubes of the YSL Volupte Liquid Color Balm in the Night Rehab Mask which is okay but pricey. Now, it might seem like an extra step to put on lip balm before bed, but I assure you, if you are someone who enjoys a full lip look, this is important. I don’t have the biggest or fullest lips naturally, but I’m also not at all interested in lip fillers. Instead, I use a natural lip care process including regular exfoliation and lots of thick lip balm at night to keep my lips as plump as possible. I find that this process actually helps to make lips look bigger and more even, and in turn makes it easier for me to enhance my lips with lip liners and lipsticks. In fact, my own mother accused me of getting lip fillers recently while we were face timing, and I had to give her a side view of my mouth to show her that they weren’t filled (you can always tell from the side view), they just appeared fuller from the front because I keep them plump with moisturizers. So, I recommend a night balm and I look forward to using this new one as part of my lip routine.

As I mentioned earlier, I also want to include a few items I would have purchased if I was running low but didn’t need right now. These are more favorites that I highly recommend!

Natasha Denona Camel Eyeshadow Palette: http://bit.ly/2LbXbgc

I am not the biggest collector of eyeshadow palettes, mostly because I have naturally gorgeous olive green eyes that I don’t want to overshadow (pun intended) with colorful eye makeup. So, I tend to keep my eye makeup simple and natural, and this little palette from Natasha Denona is absolutely one of the best things I have ever bought from Sephora. It is pricey for the amount of shadows you get, but the quality of the shadows and the pigmentation and blend-ability are so good, it’s worth it for me. I can do a stunning shadow look that compliments my eyes in what feels like seconds with this palette and I love that the colors are so straight forward that I don’t need to sit and think about what eye look I am going to do because the colors are just exactly what I need. The only eye shadow palettes I like even more than this are from Chanel and they are even more expensive, of course! Now that I think about it, this is the only eyeshadow palette from Sephora that I currently own. Everything else is Chanel or drugstore brands- I think that’s signifiant!

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream: http://bit.ly/2L9IBWx

So this cream is very necessary if you are someone with very dry skin. It’s a complete skin rescue and protectant. Sometimes I use this as my daily moisturizer, especially during winter, but usually I use it as necessary to fight off dry patches on my skin or deal with a chemical burn or irritation that can occur when I use too many hard products.

Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base: http://bit.ly/2L7zLIK

This product is another of my favorite primers. I am really into primers if you couldn’t tell! I think some people overlook primers because they think they don’t do much for your skin but in my opinion, as someone with dry skin, they really go a long way to provide extra moisture and a layer of protection between your skin and the chemicals in makeup that I really would prefer not to absorb. And again, I like to try out a lot of primers, but there are only a few I come back to. For example, earlier this year I bought the Tatcha Silk Canvas primer because I love my Tatcha products, and although it is a great primer, I didn’t like how it mattified my skin. It’s a great option for those with oily skin who want that Facetune blur affect, but for someone like me with dry skin, this vitamin face base is much more moisturizing and keeps my skin dewey.

Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum: http://bit.ly/2VxzZNw

Like I mentioned, hyperpigmentation is one of my skin issues and so I have tried a number of didn’t chemical resurfacing serums and creams to even my skin tone, but this one is probably the best, especially for long term use. I firmly believe I see a difference using this serum overnight, that’s how good it is, and although I know I could use it every night, I don’t find that I truly need to. Usually, I will just use it for a few days if I have a break out and my skin tone evens out. Now, they don’t claim that this serum works for fine lines, but I think it does- I mean, it is a chemical resurfacing serum so it exfoliates the skin which means hyperpigmentation and fine lines should both be reduced and I think it does both for me. Again, this is another one of the more pricy skin care favorites of mine, but I will say a bottle lasts me at least a year so it is a good investment for my skin in my opinion.

Well, that is everything I wanted to share with you in case you are interested in shopping the Sephora sale. I realize this was mostly skincare, but that is usually what I buy from Sephora. Although I certainly love high end makeup, I actually find that when I have my skin in order, great products from the drugstore look just as good as the best makeup money can buy.

I hope you found this post helpful and again, if you are interested in shopping the sale online and learned about a new product you might want to try, I’d appreciate if you use my links to give me credit! Also- I’d love to hear about what products from Sephora you may be picking up during the sale or recommendations for other products you love that I might need to check out, so leave me a comment below!

xoxo,

lifestyle

Setting Up My New Home Office

Setting Up My New Home Office

Lately, I’ve been getting many questions from my community about sharing an updated home office tour. Although I do have this video on my “to film” list, to be completely transparent, the reason I have NOT filmed that video yet is because I’m not happy with my set up right now. Since my move last summer, I’ve been managing in my new larger home office with the furniture I had previously used, but I really want to upgrade a few things to make up for the increase in space. The image above is essentially my office- or at least half of it. The other half is pretty much empty except for a vintage storage unit that I refinished a few weeks back.

Remember, my home office went from about 70 square feet to 200 square feet, and the orientation of the room has also changed, but for now I am making due with what I have. I know I need a larger desk, for example because my current desk, while very pretty, is just too small for the room and for my needs. I have my feelers out for a larger, more antique or vintage style piece that would be more of a focal point in the room. I would love to buy something second hand and refinish it as I did the hutch unit, but, as with vintage pieces, nothing happens overnight.

Now, I do still get quite a few questions about my existing furniture, so I am going to link down below my last home office tour. Pretty much everything I use is the same from this last video so if you are looking for my desk or my credenza- this video will show you a closer look and give you some details where you can find them!

I hope that this helps those of you looking for answers, for now! I do intend to one day film a full office tour, but not until I feel pleased with the room, which I am sure you can all understand!

xoxo,

lifestyle

2016 Holiday Gift Guide for the Homebody!

Hello My Charmed Ones! Welcome to The Strange & Charmed 2016 Holiday Gift Guide!

The Most Wonderful Time of Year is Almost Upon Us! So, I thought this would be the perfect time to do a short series of gift guides before Black Friday and the holiday rush begins. Of course, since this is a Strange & Charmed Gift Guide, my choices for 2016 will be themed into categories that pertain to my readers. The first Gift Guide is themed for the Planner Addict in your life. Whether that be you or a friend! The second Gift Guide is themed for your Business Bestie. This may be a fellow #LadyBoss or co-worker that you want to spoil this year! The third and final Gift Guide is themed for the Homebody. This could be someone who loves home decor and entertaining, or a book lover who prefers to stay in on a cold winter’s night to relax and enjoy the comforts of home. Of course, with all three of these gift guides for 2016, I will include links at the bottom of the post where you can check out these items, start making your 2016 holiday gift list and get to shopping. So, I hope you’re excited for this series!

Today’s Gift Guide is for the HOMEBODY!

Let’s see what gifts we have in store for her!

WHAT’S ON THE LIST!

I hope this Holiday Gift Guide gives you some great inspiration for the Homebody in your life! Feel free to leave your gift suggestions for decorista’s down below to add to the holiday gift giving goodness!

xoxo,

lifestyle

Recharge this Weekend with these Tips

Since we have a holiday weekend coming up this week, many of us are likely enjoying some extra time off. So, I wanted to share with you some tips for recharging over the weekend because as an adult, it’s so easy to run yourself ragged during the week and then repeat the process over the weekend, when you should really be focusing on rest. Hope these tips help you as much as they help me!

1. Go to Bed Early: I know it’s the weekend and you are probably thinking you can stay up later and then sleep in, but often this plan makes you less productive and gives you a less rested feeling, especially if you sleep in a room with a window where your body can tell when it is day time! Try getting to sleep a few hours early and see how it makes you feel in the morning. You will most likely find that you will wake up earlier and feel the need to be more productive the next day!

2. Avoid Salty or Fatty Foods: Again, the weekend is notorious for being the time of the week when we like to “cheat” by eating take out or fried foods, but that extra salt and fat can make you feel dehydrated and worn out. It’s almost like giving your body a hangover once Monday comes! I’m not saying that you have to eat super healthy, but just eat normal foods that have been prepared in a healthful way!

3. Drink Lots of Water: During the week we are often too busy to drink all the water our bodies need to remain properly balanced and hydrated, so make a conscious effort over the weekend to drink more than enough water. Start your day with a big glass of water or two and replace soda’s or other drinks with water during meals and throughout the day! Your body will thank you!

4. Get in some Meditation: Meditation is a great way to relax and recharge your mind and body! It doesn’t have to be too intense, but just take some time in the morning when you wake up or before you go to bed at night and just sit or lay down on your bed and breathe consciously. Listen to your breath and even throw in some positive thoughts while you are at it and in about 10-20 minutes you will feel a real difference!

5. Turn Off things that Beep: Sometimes I think that our notifications are slowly driving us insane and making us all way to tense. Think about it, your body knows there is going to be some notification or call that comes in from your phone at least once or twice an hour so it’s secretly bracing itself! Let your body and mind fully relax for a while by spending the weekend with your notifications off. I think you will reach a new level of peace you never even knew existed!

xoxo,

This post first appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 23rd, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Winter Skin Hydration

I don’t know about you, but I suffer from terrible dry skin in the winter! I have naturally dry skin, so it gets worse when the weather is cold and dry and the wind is brutally whipping around on my face! Ugh! So, naturally, I have an arsenal of products that I use to help combat that extra dry winter skin and so I thought I would share those products with you! Oh and lucky for you, all these items can be found at Sephora!

1. Caudalie Grape Water: This is basically an aerosol can that sends a mist of hydrating grape water onto your skin. In the summer, I use a variation of this available from Evian, but for the winter, nothing is better than this extra hydrating grape water. It refreshes your skin and coats it with nutrient rich grape water that locks in hydration. Apparently, it makes your skin 127% more hydrated, but stats aside, it’s a great product for daily use!

2. Korres Greek Yoghurt Sleeping Facial: This Greek Yoghurt line from Korres is relatively new and immensely hydrating. If you are not familiar with the idea of a sleeping facial, this is basically a very rich night cream that you put on before bed and it super hydrates your skin while you sleep! An excellent overnight remedy for dry winter skin!

3. Dior Creme de Rose Lipbalm: I am a major fan of the Creme de Rose and I wear it day and night! It’s a thick and luxurious balm that has a nice rose scent, but it’s not overly sticky and it lasts all night long! And I mean all night long! You go to bed in this, and you still wake up with a nice layer of it on your lips! Very hydrating and nourishing!

4. L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream: L’Occitane probably makes some of the worlds best hand creams, and their Shea Butter formula is probably the best all around. The shea butter is a nice scent without being overpowering and the quality of the hand cream is lasting and healing to dry skin! An overall great product!

What are some of your winter must haves or dry skin cures? Have you tried any of these products and perhaps had a different reaction? Let us know in the comments!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on January 27th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Building Self Confidence | 3 Steps to Self Love

Self love is something that many people struggle with throughout their lives. Women especially, find self acceptance to be a challenge in a world that is constantly sending them the message that they are too fat or not pretty enough or not smart enough or spend too much money on shoes! Through all the noise the world throws at us, we must learn to listen to our inner voice and drown out the external crap! One excellent way to understand your positive qualities or learn to accept your not no positive qualities is through affirmations. Telling yourself everyday that you are a beautiful and unique person, or that you have an opinion that matters in this world is a very powerful tool to increase your self love and self awareness.

So, today’s post is going to walk you through identifying the areas in your life that need highlighting, creating your own self love speak, and keeping up with the self love talk as a daily reminder of your awesomeness!

Step 1: Identifying the Opportunity for Self Love

Do you find yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself often? Do you get embarrassed to do things or wear things or say things because you think others will put you down for it? Well, the first step to giving yourself the love you deserve is to identify those things you are afraid to do and understand what the issue is behind it. Do you perhaps not like to wear short sleeves in public because you don’t like the way your arms look? Well, thats a body image issue, particularly pinpointed at your arms. Are you afraid to give your opinion on an issue at school or at work or with your friends, afraid that you will say something that sounds dumb? That’s a confidence issue aimed right at your intellect. Spend some time thinking about what you are afraid or hesitant to say or do and identify the root of the issue. Once you have the root or roots (because most people have more than one issue) you can move on to step two.

Step 2: Sweet Talking Yourself

Once you have identified the sensitive issues in your life that you want to work on, write them down in a notebook or on a piece of paper and sit or stand in front of a mirror. Imagine that you didn’t have the issue and you were the positive mirror image of it. If your issue is that you have a problem with your body weight, imagine yourself at your goal weight and with the body of your dreams. Imagine that version of yourself looking back at you in the mirror. What would you say to that person? Give that person every compliment you can think of, every positive thought you wish you could give yourself if only your flaws were wiped away. Write down all those compliments in your notebook.

Step 3: Read the Writing on the Wall

At this point, you should have a page or pages of compliments that you gave your positive mirror image self. Reread through these compliments and find two or three that really stand out and strike a chord with you. Then, take out a bright shade of lipstick or a dry erase marker and write those compliments on your mirror. Condense the wording if you need to, combine them to get them to fit, but pen those words directly in front of you on that mirror and leave them there. Everyday when you go to that mirror to put on your makeup or evaluate yourself, you will be face to face with that positive mirror image of yourself in words. Read your compliments everyday as often as you can. Read them when you wake up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Eventually, you will start to believe what you are reading!

xoxo,

This post originally appeared on Strange & Charmed on August 18th, 2014 and is being reposted for your enjoyment!

lifestyle

Let’s Make Hot Cocoa!

Well friends! Christmas is just a few short days away, isn’t that exciting?? I’m super excited about finally reaching the end of Vlogmas! In case you haven’t been following along, Vlogmas is a December video challenge where you put a video up everyday from December 1st- Christmas! Now, I just have two videos left, and I have to say, it’s been fun, but very exhausting. I have to hand it to daily vloggers, because I don’t know how they do it! Any who, since we are getting so close to Christmas and the end of Vlogmas, I thought it would be fun and festive if we made some hot cocoa together! I love hot cocoa in the winter, especially around Christmas because I love making decorated marshmallow pops to put in my drink (and really, that’s half the fun of making a nice hot cocoa)!

This year, I got super clever and I made my marshmallow pops with a candy striped paper straw instead of a normal stick. This means that once I dunk my pop into my hot cocoa, I also have a nice straw to use in my drink. Fancy, ain’t it?!? The paper straws are great as well because I was able to use those super extra large marshmallows instead of normal sized ones, and who doesn’t love a giant, chocolate and candy covered marshmallow?

Of course, I made a nice little video so you can play along with me and make your own hot cocoa after watching me assemble mine! I’m all about the garnish when it comes to cocoa, and I have to say, my festive cocoa garnish game is strong! I hope you enjoy the video as well as all of my Vlogmas videos! If you missed them, just click here for a playlist of all my Vlogmas videos so far so you can catch up! Have fun and be sure to send me a picture of your hot cocoa too!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on December 23rd, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!

lifestyle

The Winter Edit

At the end of August I inadvertently kicked off a series of seasonal lifestyle picks with my Fall Edit post! I received such positive feedback from that post that I decided that I wanted to try it again, this time for winter! As we are now in December and the months are growing colder (at least for me in the Northeast of the U.S.) I have a collection of 10 must haves from Style to Home Goods that will keep you looking chic and warm!

Style

1. Kate Spade Bow Leather Gloves: Leather gloves are such as classic style staple that I think every women should have a pair that they like. I happen to love these Kate Spade gloves because they are adorned with a simple little bow at the base of the wrist and they are tech friendly which means I can text and post to Instagram while keeping my hands warm and toasty!

2. Fuzzy slippers: I’m not usually someone who prefers to wear casual footwear around the house, however, in the winter months it is a must because my feet just get too cold and standard socks just don’t do the trick! This lovely pair is from Gilligan & O’Malley for Target.

3.Ringly: I absolutely love an oversized statement ring during the winter, but this one has a little secret! It’s actually a smart ring and can be paired with your smartphone to light up and vibrate when you receive a notification on your phone. How cool is that?!?

4. Fur Vest: Whether you prefer real or faux fur, a vest is an awesome accessory for winter, especially if you live in a colder climate. They come in all different shapes and sizes and you are certain to find something within your price range!

5. Rebecca Minkoff Love Crossbody Bag: I am obsessed with this bag for the winter and even asked Santa for one for Christmas. It reminds me a lot of the Chanel Boy Bag and is just the right amount of edgy and sophistication for it to be a regular carry for me in the winter when I prefer a smaller bag so I can keep my hands warm and toasty in my pockets!

Home Goods

6. Starbucks Black Heart Travel Mug: Again, this is another item that graced my seasonal wish list, but I am such a warm beverage person that I go through a lot of mugs throughout my week! These Starbucks travel mugs are not only adorable, but also really functional and high quality!

7. Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea: This is one of my favorite seasonal tea flavors from Celestial Seasonings (aside from Gingerbread Spice!) and is part of their holiday collection. It is a perfect dessert drink on a cold winter’s night!

Beauty

8. Wet N Wild’s Sugar Plum Fairy: The name alone should tell you why it’s perfect for winter, and I know I featured a Wet N Wild lipstick in my Fall Edit as well, but these lipsticks are great for a reason! Beautiful matte colors for under $2 a tube? Seriously, this is a no-brainer and it has been the dominant color on my lips since a chill hit the air!

9. Givenchy Ange ou Demon Le Secret Elixir Perfume: This is one of my cold weather staple perfumes and has been for years! I love the spicy sweet aroma of this classic scent, plus, it doesn’t hurt that the bottle looks really awesome. Definitely check this out the next time you are at the perfume counter.

10. Essie’s Wicked Nail Polish: Essie’s Wicked is a classic nail color and one I love to wear in the winter months. The deep dark red is perfect for the holidays because it’s a nice dark berry which is festive without being a bright holiday red, which I don’t like to wear! It also works very well with the berry lip from sugar plum fairy.

I hope you enjoyed my Winter picks! Now let me know what your must have’s are for the season!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on December 11th, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!

DIY Filofax

DIY Bow Clips for your Planner & More!

Ever since I showed you guys those cute little bow paper clips I made for my Filofaxes, you have been asking me to do a DIY tutorial on how to make them! Well, ask and you shall receive, right? I Actually put together a video with not one, not two, but three DIYs for making paper clip accessories for your planner so that everyone is able to create exactly what they want for their planner.

DIY Bow Making Pattern — This is a low res image, download the full file via the link below!

To go along with this DIY video, I created a special Bow Maker Pattern Printable to act as a template for creating your own bows. I show you how to use this template in the video, but the file itself also has directions as well. Feel free to download this file and make yourself bows to your heart’s content! But remember, this printable is free for personal use only. Commercial use of this file is prohibited, and please, if you want to share the file with friends and family, link them to this post or my YouTube video instead of directly sharing the file!

Three DIYs, you read that right! So, other than the bows, I also show you how to make page clips with chipboard elements as well as how to make clips from printables and any other images or icons you may find! If you can print it or if it’s made from paper, you can turn it into a decorative page clip for your planner!

In the video I use my new 2014 Favorite Things Sticker Set as a template for some clips I made by printing the PDF on heavy printer paper instead of on sticker paper! I love this new Sticker Set of course because it’s filled with some one my favorite images and icons from the year! Think pink peonies, coffee cups, perfume bottles and of course, stripes! You can purchase this set from my shop and use it as stickers or to make your own page clips as well!

So here is the video linked above! This is definitely one of those tutorials that is better explained visually, so if you would like to see the three methods I used to make some lovely embellished paper clips for my planner, check it out! Of course, if this video helped you in any way or gave you some new planner inspiration, please make sure to share it in your social media and tag me @MissTrenchcoat! It would mean the world to me!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on December 18th, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!

lifestyle

My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes!

Thanksgiving Turkey Tim Sackton — Image Via Tim Sackton

With Thanksgiving a few days away, I thought it would be nice if I shared with you all my favorite holiday recipes for dishes I will be serving at my Thanksgiving dinner this year! If you are looking for a new recipe or some inspiration for meal planning, hopefully this will help you discover a new dish!

Appetizers

Since I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year for my family, I like to have snacks and appetizers out before dinner for people to munch on while they watch tv and chat! My husband has requested shrimp cocktail this year as well as a plate of his favorite cured meats to go along with the baked brie I will be making as a hot appetizer. Baked brie is one of our favorites and I love it because its super easy to make, but it presents very, very well. This is the sort of appetizer that’s great to bring along to parties because you can prepare it ahead of time and once you arrive at the party you can heat it up in the oven for a few minutes!

Baked Brie

Ingredients

1 piece of frozen puff pasty (thawed)
1 package of brie cheese, round
1/4 cup of preserves (apricot or raspberry work very nicely, but use whatever preserves you prefer, you can also omit this if you don’t like preserves!)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425. Lightly grease a baking sheet and place your thawed puff pastry upon it. In the center, place your brie (removed from packaging) and top with preserves (optional). Wrap the pastry up around your brie working in a single direction until the brie is covered completely by the pastry, ensuring there are no holes or cracks for cheese to spill out of. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is fluffy and browned. Make sure to keep an eye on the cheese to make sure it’s not melting out of the pastry excessively (a little spillage is okay, but if rivers are flowing out, remove it immediately!) Let cheese stand 5 minutes once removed from the oven and then serve with your choice of crackers!

Side Dishes

For me, a great Thanksgiving meal is made by the side dishes! Although I am hosting a small gathering of family, I still like to have lots of options! We will have the traditional mashed potatoes, a salad, rolls of course, but two of our favorite sides are always Corn Bread Pudding and Sausage Stuffing!

Corn Bread Pudding

Ingredients

2 sticks of melted butter
2 eggs beaten
1 16oz can of corn (do not drain)
1 16oz can of creamed corn
8oz sour cream
1 box of Jiffy corn bread mix
2 Tbsp sugar

Directions

Combine all ingredients adding the bread mix last, into a large mixing bowl. Bake in greased bowl or pan at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Should be a light golden brown on top. Let the pudding rest for 5-10 minutes after removing from the oven!

Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients

1 16oz package of Jimmy Dean sausage (in the log style or use equivalent in Italian sausage style of your choice. I prefer the Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage, but that is just personal preference!)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Box of Stovetop Stuffing (or whichever stuffing recipe you prefer)
Additional Ingredients on stuffing mix box or your preferred style of stuffing!

Directions

In a large pan on the stove, heat oil and distribute on the pan on medium. Place sausage in the pan of heated oil and begin to break it up with a wooden spoon or similar utensil until the sausage is in crumbled, bite size pieces. Cook sausage until browned, drain excess oil and move sausage to the side while preparing your stuffing mix. Prepare stuffing as directed. Once stuffing is cooled, incorporate the cooked sausage and transfer to the serving dish of your choice.

Roast Turkey Recipe — My Turkey via Thanksgiving 2012

The Turkey

If I had to venture a guess, I would say that Turkey is probably the most popular type of meat served on Thanksgiving, however, I have been to several Thanksgiving dinners where it was served alongside a ham or even lamb. I will only be serving one meat option on Thanksgiving, because, let’s be honest, its hard enough to get one meat right on Thanksgiving and turkey is a difficult bird to master! I, however, believe I make one of the best turkeys… ever! I’m just gonna say it, my turkeys are good! They are super moist, filled with flavor and golden browned by the time they exit the oven! I think this has to do with the awesome recipe I developed based off this Alton Brown recipe!

Ingredients

1 frozen Turkey (size doesn’t matter folks, but a rule of thumb is 2 lbs per person you’re feeding. I have made this recipe with a 16 lb turkey to a 23 lb turkey and they have all turned out great!)
1-2 Apples
1-2 Onions
Cinnamon (I prefer ground)
A few cups of water
1-2 Cups of Apple Cider or Apple Juice
Sage (packaged seasoning is fine!)
Rosemary (again, stick to the stuff you have in your cupboard unless you really want fresh!)
A bulb of garlic
1 stick of butter

Directions

Now, I just want to warn you, that for me, this is one of those recipes that is all about judgement calls. I don’t believe you can go wrong with anything except the cooking time, but just do what feels right!

2-4 Days before cooking, take your turkey out of the freezer and let it defrost in your fridge (the larger the turkey, the more time it needs, 4 days would play it safe, 3 is probably average, 2 days and I would worry about having some frozen innards still!

Day of cooking: Preheat your oven to 500 and make sure the racks of your oven are properly positioned to fit your turkey (there is nothing worse than having to mess with those once they are hot!) Remove the thawed turkey and place it in a completely clean sink (very important that your sink be as clean as possible and I would work with the turkey inside a large container of some sort as well)! Remove the turkey from the packaging and remove the neck and other misc innards from the cavity (if you have plans for those innards, put them aside, if not, toss them)! Rinse out the cavity with cool water to make sure there is no bits of ice or slush in there!

Place the turkey on a roasting rack that’s sitting inside a roasting pan. In a microwavable bowl, place an apple or two (chopped up), an onion (also chopped) mixed with a good amount of cinnamon and some apple juice/cider. This part is all eyeballing it! I like to make more than I think I need, because, trust me, this mixture will not go to waste, so maybe a good estimate is to make about 3-5 cups of this mixture! Cook it in the microwave for 5 minutes and you will start to smell all those lovely aromatics brewing together (that smell is what your turkey is going to taste like once this is all done)! Once that mixture is out of the microwave, spoon out the chunks of apple and onion into the cavity of the bird. Add additional apple and onion slices to fill the cavity if necessary!

Coat the skin of the turkey well with the canola oil. Take apart your bulb of garlic and skin each clove of garlic. Take your butter and cut it into multiple pieces. Then take a small knife and begin to cut deep slits strategically all over the bird. This part requires some thinking on your behalf as to where best to place these slits, because inside each slit you are going to place a pad of butter and a piece of garlic, which will then melt and soak into the meat of the bird. I probably make 1-2 slits on the legs, 1-2 on the wings, and 4-6 around the breast.

The last thing I do before I put the turkey into the oven is I like to put some water and a little bit of the aromatics liquid in the bottom of the pan (about an inch of liquid) along with any excess apples and onions I have chopped up already, and then I cover the turkey and the pan completely with aluminum foil!

Put this into the oven at 500 for 30 minutes.

When the 30 minutes is up, remove the turkey and the aluminum foil (gently, because you are going to put it back on loosely after this) and using the liquid from the aromatics mixture, baste the turkey! I also like to use a flavor injector to actually inject this juice mixture into the meat of the turkey as well, all over!

Lower the temperature on the oven to 350, recover the bird with foil, loosely, and put it back into the oven for the remainder of the cooking time! According to Alton Brown a 14-16 lb turkey needs 2- 2.5 hours of cooking time additional, but double-check that with the size of your turkey against this turkey cooking time-table (you can never be too careful)!

For the remainder of the time the turkey cooks, I like to remove it from the oven every 45 minutes to baste it and flavor inject it with the aromatics liquid! I do not count the time out of the oven as cooking time, I set my timer after the turkey is back in the oven! Also, as a note, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, I remove the foil from the bird completely, so that it can get that nice brown color and a crispy skin. You may notice that the skin of your bird may have lighter patches around areas that were sliced for the butter and garlic, and this is normal. You may also get streaking from the aromatics mixture because the skin of the turkey really only browns in areas that lack moisture, and you have been basting yours to keep the meat juicy.

Once the turkey is completely cooked and either the thermometer in the turkey has popped or your own food thermometer (always preferable) indicates an internal temperature of 161 for the turkey, you can remove it from the oven and let is rest for 15 minutes before carving.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my favorite Thanksgiving recipes! Like I said, I will be making all these items and more this year! I would love to know what your favorite family recipes are and what you will be cooking up this Thanksgiving, so feel free to leave me a comment below! Also, if you use any of these recipes, I would love it if you took a picture and sent it to me on Instagram or Twitter! Happy cooking!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on November 10th, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!