Classy Cosmetics

Haunted Picture Frame Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 19:42:00 +0000

PARTY PHOTO BACKDROP
I always make sure to have a photo booth, or a photo station for my guests to take pictures in front of during a party. I try to have it in a room where there is enough light and room for small and big group pictures. For me, my makeup studio has always been the ideal choice. It is a blocked off room right when you come into the house off the the left. When the party starts, it looks like a haunted elevator and during and toward the end it's opened up so people can put their phones on a tripod, set the timer and take as many photos as they would like.

I've done a few backdrops that I've liked but NOTHING compares to the wall of haunted pictures with their bulky frames and 3-D effect. I have been gathering vintage type frames for years and it really came in handy when I saw this photo on Pinterest. I fell in love with the gothic feel and the layering of frame on frame on frame. Today I'm going to share with you exactly how I make my haunted frame backdrop. Enjoy!

MEASURING:

First I measured the wall and taped that exact measurement down on the living room floor. I then began stacking pictures, frames and photo backdrops (I found some at a party store to make up for not having enough to fill the whole wall just yet). Then I started stacking frames all over based on size, color and bulk. I LOVED having some odd shaped smaller frames toward the front to stack at the very end (on top of everyone else). Most of the frames did not have Halloween images in them so then I had to decide the type of feel I wanted to put up there. I think at this point I want to be sensitive that not all my guests would be okay with gore and gross Halloween so I tried to stay pretty safe. I myself don't love too much gore during Halloween and no, I repeat, NO clowns EVER!!!! We all have our limits LOL.

PICTURES TO USE/PAINTING FRAMES

I wanted to get old photos and vintage Halloween pictures. I found a few houses that looked haunted, black cats, vintage Halloween costumed children, old folks (that may or may not look spooky), haunted looking trees, dollar store images that change when you walk around them, potion bottles, books etc. Anything that speaks to your Halloween heart works. I was able to print out a ton at Costco relatively cheap and some were even HUGE! I made sure to only choose black and white photos to make big because it was cheaper.

I also busted out the gold, silver and black spray paint to give more interest and dimension to the wall. I didn't want all the gold to be too close to each other so when I was deciding which frames would be sprayed I first initialed them all while they were still on the floor. G for gold and so on.

PREPPING THE WALL:

While the frames were drying I took out the four or five plastic black tablecloths that I bought at the dollar store and began to staple them to the wall. The black covering would help make the whole wall look covered and fill in any space between the frames. It was super cheap and very easy to take down as well so I can keep using them every year.

HANGING THE PICTURES & FRAMES:

I'm not above putting holes in the wall so I busted out the hammer and nails for a lot of this. I suppose you could also use command hooks and booooooooy will you need a ton! I didn't attach the pictures to all of their frames but instead stapled the picture to the wall where it would go and placed the frame on top using a hammer and a nail. Measuring the picture and it's corresponding frame really paid off at this time. That way you didn't place the pictures too close together.

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out and can't wait to keep adding more and more frames. This was last years wall and I'll be sharing the NEW one with even more frames soon on IG. Happy Haunting!!!

Mandrake Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 15:24:00 +0000

What is more magical than Harry Potter? I decided to add a few elements to my usual Disney's Haunted Mansion to include this mystical world. I had gotten quite a few dead trees for the front yard cemetery and in the pile I was searching through, I saw a few stumps. The stumps had the coolest, gnarled roots I had ever seen. I wasn't sure what I would use them for but I knew they had to be mine LOL.

I took them home and started on the dead tree project and then inspiration HIT! I would make a mandrake garden near my front entrance. Right on top of the wooly thyme and rocks I had leading to the front door. Because mandrakes are super hard to make, I figured I would do it a touch differently. I would make the tops visible with the branches and leaves, but have the underground plant/baby lie solely in the imagination of the passerby. How genius is that???

I took each twisted root cluster and began cutting them up and sectioning them off. I then used hot glue and fake leaves from an ivy strand I had and started gluing a few leaves here and there. I placed the roots where I wanted them and used painted dowels to hold them up. I painted them brown so you wouldn't see them and used fishing line to attach them together.

I then took some of our extra foam and a paint stirring stick and made a sign to warn guests of the potential danger of touching the plants. The sign was made by my friend Libby using her Criket machine.

This craft is soooooo easy to do and can be used year after year! The way that I found dead trees and stumps was by going to various neighborhoods that were landscaped by the city or private developers. If they had dead trees that I knew they'd be replacing, I just called the city or company and asked for them. They are in a big pile in my backyard currently till we find a better way to store them LOL! Will you be making a Mandrake Garden this year???

Making Tombstones With Foam

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:41:00 +0000

This year we are focusing a lot more energy on the outside of the house than we ever have. Before, you would go past our house and you wouldn't even know that it was Halloween. I mean, walk IN and it was a different story but not on the outside. Last year we dipped our toes in by making our boarded up windows, dead trees and Mandrake garden.

The way we set up the trees last year was alright. We had set them up all along the hedge that made its way to the front entry. We basically held them up, used a piece of rebar to zip tie them to and voila! Well, you would think voila. The heavy winds we get and the weight of the trees proved too much for the rebar we bought. They leaned quite a bit and were very ready to be done after the season. This year we will 100% use super thick stakes so they will stand straight.

This time around we've decided to set the trees up all around and across the yard so as to make an amazing cemetery. The Springer Cemetery if you will LOL. Now, to have a cemetery the very FIRST thing you need are headstones. Today we'll be chatting about how we make them with insulation foam. Below is a step by step for how to make these awesome tombstones that will last AND stay put even with gusts of wind!

We started with 3" insulation foam. We cut smaller blocks to make a bunch of tombstones. For this tutorial we will be going over the most basic of shapes. Kevin (the hubs) used some string that he anchored at the center point with his thumb. At the other end he had a pen and made the arch for the top of the tombstone.

He used a bandsaw to smoothly cut out the shape.

We then placed it on top of the piece that would be it's base and marked the spot with our pen so that we would know exactly where to spray our glue. After watching many tutorials and reading, we learned from our good friend Maureen that the 3M brand of glue was the best to use for keeping the foam pieces together.

You spray BOTH sides. The bottom of the tombstone itself and the part it would adhere to. We waited 30 seconds to a minute before it was a little tacky and then stuck the two pieces together.

Worked like a charm! (UPDATE!!! Worked like a charm...until later. The 90 eats through the foam a bit so after a LOT of trial and error we recommend wither the 3M Super 77 or great stuff. You can get either the red can of great stuff or the blue, which is mostly used for doors and window casings. The blue won't expand as much but you need a way to clamp everything together or use wooden sticks to pin everything. We are using great stuff this year!)

Now THIS is the part that you want to pay attention to if you don't want to find your tombstones in the neighbor's yard.

Kevin cut pvc pipe that was a bit longer than the length of his longest bit. He cut the ends at an angle using his bandsaw so that they would dig into the foam easier. (UPDATE: that didn't help as much as we thought, so no need to angle them.)

He marked where they would go in the foam.

Then he used his drill bit and going slowly he drilled the two holes. (UPDATE: after this season I realized that we didn't cut the pvc pipe long enough nor did we drill the holes long enough. Some ended up detaching from their foam base and fell over. Not all of them, but some. SO, I used my hot knife and went much deeper up into the tombstone, kept the same size pvc pipe but did loner rebar. Then I attached them back to their bases using great stuff. Let's cross our fingers for this season!!!)

Next we took the pvc pipe and tried using a mallet to get them flush with the bottom of the tomb base. It didn't quite work as well as we would have liked. It got it in there but stopped at a certain point.

We then took a normal hammer and it worked perfectly!!!

It helped to add the piece of foam that we had originally cut off at the bottom. That way we had a straight surface to hammer into.

Next we went to the computer to pick out our tombstone person's name and any other details. I wanted BERRY M. DEEP with a fun little detail underneath it.

We then taped the lettering on where we wanted it to be and used a pen to outline the letters. We did this quite hard to make sure it left an impression on the foam.

Kevin then outlined the letters again just so it would be easier to see when he took the dremel to it.

We bought a When Dremel off Amazon years ago and just last week got a guard for it from Home Depot. We LOVE this guard because it makes every cut and every letter the same depth AND you can see exactly where you are cutting.

Once we finished the lettering we took one of the most amazing products I've been introduced to this last year.....DRYLOK. Oh can I just tell you how beautiful this stuff is? It completely seals and weatherproofs ALL your projects. We used this for our boarded up windows last year.

Here is another tombstone we did for dear old Ichabod Crane.

Hope you enjoyed that!!! Be sure to send us pics if you do it too! =)

Halloween Wall Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:10:00 +0000

This wall was SO much fun to put together....even though the hands took us a while to figure out LOL.

If you want to know how to actually MAKE this wall, head over to Libby's tutorial over at the Cozy Coffin. She also has a tutorial on how to make these skulls that we put all over the wall. We first took the wall we made and laid it out on the floor the way it would be hung on the wall.

Then we placed all the Dollar Store skulls (after they had been cut, again see the tutorial here on Libby's site). Took a few trips to get them to the wall lol.

It looks really good when you do a few singles and then some in clusters.

Here's a video on how to attach them to the foam wall.

Lanterns and creepy hands went next JUST to see if I needed to move any of the skulls. We would be attaching only the skulls, then hanging the wall onto the wall (you following?) using 3M command strips. THEN adding all the other details.

We got our moss at a local craft store and only got one bushel per color. We just separated them and draped them over the skulls, added to the birdcages and stuffed into cracks.

I had random lanterns and birdcages around the house so I sprayed them the colors I wanted and strung them to the creepy hands that I purchased at At Home. I will say though, I was hoping that I could turn these hands upside down, or that they would be stronger to hold more (we had to jimmy rig the lanterns to stay on). Here are some other ones that are more "grabby" hands. I bought the light up lanterns from Walmart last season at the end of the year so this was the first time I was able to use them. I LOVE doing that!!!! Going to all the after Halloween sales and then feeling like it's Christmas opening up my bins each year....NEW STUFF!!!!! =)

I also had some moss that I had purchased to make my own fairy garden houses. I glued those on to random spots and cracks and corners and I love the texture they gave! I grabbed some creepy cloth I had laying around and stretched it out till it was perfect to fit around some of the skulls. Throughout the years I will add more and more but I am pretty happy with how it's turned out for this year. What would YOU put on your wall?

Ye Old Crow's Sweet Shoppe

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:10:00 +0000

This is a new addition to the haunted house family =). I decided to make the area behind our kitchen sink into a sweet shop. An Old Crow's Sweet Shoppe, that is. It was super simple because I had many apothecary jars that were just sitting around beeeeegging to be used. I also had this cute sign of a crow but needed to make it more into an official sign for the shop. My friend Libby cut out these amazing gothic letters using her Cricut machine. Then I glued them onto black foam paper. Cut those out, glued it onto the sign and VOILA! Below you'll see fun canisters filled with ghoulish delights and tasty treats. I decided not to make labels for them this year (because it's so much more fun to have people ask), but maybe next year I will. Here's what we came up with:

Moss and Dollar Store eyeballs = "Eyes Cream"

Craisins = Blood Clot Berries

Candy Corn = Witch's teeth

Black Licorice = Spider legs

Black and Navy beans = Bat droppings

Skulls & moss = Skull Candy

I loved using every available space in my home for decor and this spot just never felt right to me each year. I'm SO excited to add more each year and get more creative. Have you made a Halloween sweet shop? Tell me about it!

Coffee Filter Wreaths With the Cozy Coffin

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:23:00 +0000

Hi friends! My name is Libby over at The Cozy Coffin and I'm so happy to be taking over today at Classy! Today we are talking about cute wreaths!

I see these Coffee filter wreaths everywhere but in white. For Halloween I thought it would be a great change to have one in black. But how would be the best way to get the deep dark black I was looking for? Pre-dyeing all the filters with craft paint was one suggestion I came across, but the time for them to dry and the mess just wasn’t something I was up for. So I decided to experiment and see if making them first with just the coffee filter and then spraying it with black spray paint would work. It did! It’s an easy, inexpensive craft that just takes about 3-4 hours to make. That’s two Halloween movies! Here’s what you will need:

Dollar store foam wreath
1 pkg coffee filters ( dollar store)
Glue gun
Glue sticks
Chopstick ( or something to hold coffee filter onto foam)
Scissors
Black spray paint
Black, orange, white ribbon

Get comfortable! I just sat in my comfy chair and had a side table with a place to put my glue gun and hold the coffee filters and glue sticks.

Take 1 coffee filter and twist it onto the chopstick

Squeeze some hot glue on end

Then place on foam wreath, if it doesn’t stay, try putting a a little in the foam wreath where you are placing it.

Make sure to hold it there for a minute, until glue is mostly cooled

Get your next filter and repeat the steps, place filter next to first one

Keep adding filters around the front and side of wreath, don’t do the back

After it all filled in, you will notice some unevenness, just give it a haircut

Next you will spray it black. I just put mine on my grass. You will be using quite a bit to get in all the nooks and cranny’s Make sure you don’t overspray, just keep going back and forth and look at it at all angles. Don’t worry about getting it to deep, just what you can see.

I then grabbed some ribbon and attached it. I love the old time feel of it!

I put it with some old lace curtains and some black drapery material, perfect for my haunted mansion!

Happy Crafting everyone! Be sure to come and see me over at the Cozy Coffin for more fun!

Flamingos Turned Vultures

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 15:02:00 +0000

Have I got a WAY fun, transformative Halloween craft for you today!!!!! I saw an image on Pinterest that just about knocked me down on my backside. I was maniacally laughing and so giddy to tackle the project myself =D. The image I pinned didn't have a tutorial but it's pretty straight forward. What you need are some lawn flamingos of any color (can you believe the ones I found were yellow?). We found them on a yard sale site making them WAY cheaper than Amazon but if you're in a pinch, Amazon will do. Libby even found mini ones on Amazon and we split them between us. Imagine, BABY vultures!!!! If you are determined to get a good price, I may suggest you wait till the beginning of the spring and or summer season next year and get them at the Dollar Store.

First things first, you must decide the color of your bird. I referenced the Jungle Book vultures for color ideas. We headed to Walmart and bought primer, Clarinet Wine (a nice deep maroon), a matte or satin black, and a semi-gloss clear to coat the finished bird and to help protect against UV rays.

Now, let's talk about primer...THIS IS IMPORTANT...we used two and they had VERY different outcomes when used on the plastic. I was on the spray paint aisle for forever reading the backs of all the cans. So many of them said that it would work on most plastics. I know that primer is very important and being a makeup artist and seeing the effects, I don't skip that step. Read here to chat makeup primer. I know that we needed to coat our birds with something that would adhere to the plastic and then allow any other paint we used on top, to adhere to IT. I know that if I were to have just gone in with the Clarinet Wine, it would have cracked and not covered well. We used a semi-gloss white primer + paint and then a matte grey primer. Who won?

The matte grey primer hands DOWN!!!!! I think the sheen was a mistake on the other one AND the fact that it was primer + paint. the semi gloss white was extremely patchy and when it finally dried and we began to spray other colors on top....it crackled. We were SO disappointed and were left wondering if we had ruined a few of the birds. TRUST us, go with this matte grey primer for ALL your priming needs!!!!

We proceeded to wiped down our bird decor very well so that we wouldn't be priming and painting over dirt and grime. We also taped the beak since that would be a different color. We just stuck them in the grass and started spraying. Please be sure to do this on a NON windy day for yours and others safety!

Isn't that grey primer amazing? Look at that smooth finish!!! Now it was time to tape the neck since we will be painting the head and the body two different colors.

After the primer is dry, then it's time to grab either your deep red or your black. I decided to start with the head. I really loved the sheen satin when doing the heads. It gave it just enough luster without going too far into the glossy family and having them look too plasticy.

Are you already DYING at how amazing these are looking????? Well, we were LOL! =D Then we just needed to spray the bodies black.

At this point I was giggling like a silly school girl at how this craft was turning out LOL! We let them dry in the sun and then brought them down to the basement where we had glue guns, mini feather boas and black acrylic paint waiting.

We bought all these mini boas from Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts and they were the PERFECT size! A normal sized boa would have been WAY to over powering. We first measured length, then cut and used hot glue to attach them, making sure the seam would be at the underneath of the neck (just in case you could see it). We used white and brown and I can't tell you which one I liked more. They BOTH looked amazing!!! If I make any more, I will be using a brown speckled feather for sure to add some interest to this group.

Now, notice on this last picture how the paint is missing where the head and beak meet? Easy fixes, but it basically happened when taking the tape off. The tape would adhere to the paint and take some of it away BUT NOT TO WORRY!!!! I held up a cloth around the beak and just sprayed a touch of the Clarinet Wine and it covered it perfectly. You can do that with any color you are needing to correct. One of the gals even used a touch more of the black to blend her neck and head together just in case it showed under the boa.

We used black acrylic paint to paint the eyes and beak after gluing on the boas. Then we stuck them in the grass again to dry in the sun. After all was said and done we sprayed them with a few coats of the clear coat (same thing I used on my fairy village). This will give them luster and protection from the sun.

It's up to you how these new characters of yours will congregate on your lawn. Will it be over a grave with bones? Maybe a severed hand and or foot? Maybe attached to a branch of your tree? You can even perch one in your window box! SERIOUSLY I want to see if you do this and HOW you do it!!! Be sure to comment here or tag me on IG (Classy By Jen) or FB (Classy By Jen).

Over the Top Halloween Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 15:52:00 +0000

I have this friend, let’s call her Libby...because most people do...because it’s her name lol. Every year she throws an amazing Halloween party where we come dressed up, we have amazing food, then cackle and craft with our fellow witches. I look forward to it every year and love seeing what she does with decor in her home. One year it was a haunted circus theme, one year it was Disney’s Haunted Mansion. One year we came in to see that her entire living room had been transformed with netting and strips of fabric hanging down from her ceiling. So many different textures and accessories. She used burlap, lace, hanging bats, bed sheets etc. I couldn’t stop staring at it. It was amazing!!! I asked her if she could teach me how to do it and being the gracious person that she is, she emphatically said YES and we planned a work day. Before she came over, there was a list of supplies I was to go and get. Here’s what I bought and what you’ll need to get the same look:

Poultry netting (this is the one I got)
Fabric cut into strips (be creative here)
String or yarn to tie netting to chairs
Open hooks to hang netting (this is what we bought)
Zip ties (if needed)

The netting:

We bought this poultry netting from Home Depot and I was amazed at how cheap it was going to be to get enough for my living room, indoor AND outdoor entry ways! I took all four corners and used the string to tie them to chairs. You’ll need a lot of room to be able to pull the chairs far away enough from each other to loop your strips of fabric over and under.

The fabric:

You can get super creative here. I went looking for sheets at second hand stores and yard sales. I didn’t limit myself to color though. I was either looking for black, the perfect shade of purple or super light sheets so that I could dye them any color I wanted. I used RIT dye from Walmart to do that and just followed the instructions on the box. Burlap, lace, ribbon, rope, hanging candles, bats or mini skeletons would also be super cool. If you use rope you can take either hot glue or spray insulation foam. You can then paint it black or green or red. The sky really is the limit here and I can’t wait to see what YOU do (be sure to tag me so I can see).

Here's a video showing what you do after you cut your strips of fabric (or enlist your family to help cut them LOL)

To attach these to our wall, because they can get a little heavy with all the fabric, we used these hooks from Home Depot. We leave the hooks in year round and with our 18' ceilings, you can't see them at all throughout the year. You can always paint them the color of your walls as well to make them disappear.

Kevin got up on our super long ladder and attached one side, then took it to the other side. It's a little bit tricky getting under all the netting and fabric to do this so BE CAREFUL and go slowly. In the picture below you can see another blue ladder just out of the frame. I got up on that and would hold the other end of the netting while Kev was hooking them up so it took some weight off him. Hope that made sense =).

Here are the two shorter ones I cut for the front entry way. It's seriously SO cool to walk under!

Now if you have a light fixture in the middle of your ceiling....things can get interesting =). We

hung one side and then pulled it taught, measuring where we would need to cut the netting. We made sure to cut only as far as we needed to, put it around the chain of our chandelier then re attached it with zip ties.

The finishing detail would be to add string lights to each swoop to add some ambiance to the room. I typically don't like having too many house lights on during the party and these cover up those lights a lot anyway. The ball string lights are PeRfEcT!!! Here's a pic one of my guests took last year. It's dark but you can still kind of see the cool effect.

Here's the front porch last year. I'll be doing a second one this year to give it a more full effect. To attach these Libby used office brads and clipped them to the soffit of the ceiling. GENIUS I TELL YOU!!!!!!

Hope you guys enjoy this and for SURE do it at your home too! be sure to send me pics and tag me on my channels.

Decorating With Fall Plants

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 20:54:00 +0000

Oh the love I have for plants. Being in my garden brings me complete joy! I love looking through Pinterest for ideas almost as much =). The image above is what I found whilst looking for Fall window box ideas. Isn't it heavenly? I love the berries and cabbages most! I went to my local nursery to look for goodies. Below are a few things I found. As soon as I saw those taller purple plants and read their NAME, I knew I needed them. They're called Black Pearl......HOW PERFECT IS THAT?????? They are a type of pepper plant so the black peppers (pearls) look great for Halloween time. I also knew I wanted cabbages so I picked all the other plants to go with those two.

Pansies were fiiiiinally making themselves known at a few nurseries and I hit the jackpot at one of them! I grabbed orange, mauve and (my favorite) the deepest of dark purples called HalloweenII. I also grabbed peppers, potato vines in various colors, a maroon grassy plant called Alternanthera (purple prince) and some silver Helichrysum Icicles.

Here they are all planted and put into the window box. I added a few white pumpkins for good measure as well. Soon there will be a boarded up feature across the window and a certain menacing creature in there with the plants. I can't WAIT to share that one with you!!!

I bought three pumpkin plants this year and planted them on the side of the house. They didn't yield a huge crop this year but BOY were the ones big that decided to grow. I can't wait to use them all around the house. Something I like to do with pumpkins is buy a few from a pumpkin patch that are DARLING (i.e blue, white, silver etc) and save the seeds for next year. That way I have them for next year.

This is one of my favorite things that I've started doing this year. I take pig fencing, clip the desired length and width to make an awesome arch. I use four pieces of rebar on each side of the fencing so that it stays strong. I plan to do this to a few window boxes as well. Here I used a climbing Black Eyed Susan (an annual here in Utah). Watering everyday but SOAKING them once a week has really made them take off and meet in the middle. A lot of my inspo comes from Pinterest. Here's my "Go Play Outside" board where I post wonderfully scrumptious ideas for planting. Here are a few that I've drooled over (including the very first pic).

Harry Potter Candles How To

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 19:58:00 +0000

I remember very vividly the first time I read my first Harry Potter book. I was blown away at the amount of detail with which JK wrote. I could imagine every single building that she described. I could SEE in my head the characters she was describing, the classrooms of the castle, the corridors, the paintings, the grounds, EVERYthing!!!! The first and second movie for me did NOT disappoint as everything I saw in my head came to life. It was pure magic! I knew right then and there that these stories would be around for a VERY long time and that many a party would be had using decor from them.

Today we are going to talk about making the PERFECT floating candles that magically hovered over students and teachers a like in the great hall. I've seen tons of tutorials for this and my won't be super dissimilar but there are a few tips and tricks that I have learned along the way as an artist that can take this craft to the next level.

I have been saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls for about a year in preparation for this craft. I didn't just want to have a few...I wanted an abundance!!!!!

As soon as I had all the rolls I wanted and had taken every ounce of leftover TP off, I called in the troops to help me. I asked friends to borrow their hot glue guns (I liked the bigger guns but smaller work too), and asked my family to help with the gluing process. Watch this video below to see how to get those amazing globs of glue all around the edges of the rolls to mimic wax.

After you are happy with your globs of glue/wax line your rolls up to be spray painted. If you are not doing a ton, then some chalk paint or regular acrylic can be used but if you have a ton, spraying is the way to go! I had so many TP rolls that i grabbed every weeding bucket we had and attached clothespins all the way around. I then put the TP roll over the clothespin. That way I could get every angle of the candle coated AND I could be spraying multiple rolls at a time. Not too shabby eh? =)

I use a cream or ivory for my first coat so they aren't a brilliant white. That doesn't look as realistic to me. As soon as they are completely coated so that you don't see the clear hot glue or the original color of the roll, then you are ready for your second coat.

The second coat WILL be done with white but only slightly to give some highlight.

Then if you want your craft to be taken to NEXT level then you can use a glaze to deepen all the crevices around the roll. I like to take a deep brown acrylic paint and add enough water to make it a runny glaze. It's up to you in regard to the consistency so play around with it. You can put it on and immediately wipe it off with a rag or take a small brush and paint it on. Let them dry completely and then they are ready for the next step.

I decided how long I want my candles to hang and then cut ONE strand of fishing line accordingly. I use a sewing needle or a dremel to attach them THROUGH the flame (if they have that rubber top) or AROUND the flame so they will hang straight.

See how straight that hangs??? Love it!!!

Because these will be high up in the air and attached to something not easily gotten to I decided to buy these tea lights that were on a timer. 6 hours on and 18 hours off for these particular ones. Ladies and gentlemen these are not CHEAP if you are getting a ton LOL!!! I decided how many I would need and then bought a certain amount every paycheck to be able to get them by Halloween. These particular candles fit perfectly into the rolls I had and looked SO amazing that I got giddy just turning them on =D.

I attached mine to some Halloween swags that were hung in the living room (tutorial coming soon for those) at varying lengths and looked SO magical as they hung above my guests! You can also attach the fishing line to flat white thumbtacks and stick them right into the ceiling. Just make sure to get the tacks that are long enough to stay secure. I hope you try this magical craft and add it to your next Halloween party. Be sure to tag me on IG (classycozmetics) or FB (classycosmetics) so I can see. drop a comment if you love Halloween as much as I do and if you've done this craft. Happy haunting!!!

DIY Haunted Halloween Spell Books

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 17:18:00 +0000

Is Halloween really even a THING without potion bottles and spell books? The answer is no...and if you've been lacking in this department with your Halloween decor, I'm here to help! ; )

My good friend Libby from the Cozy Coffin came to teach me and some other girls in my neighborhood the art of DIY spell books. We grabbed some cheapy hard bound books from the dollar store (I also had quite a few we never read at home as well) and got to work! We first decided what our books would look like. Did we want to re create one from a movie? Would it have animals on it? What would the theme be? This is the longest and hardest part for me. As soon as I know what theme...I'm OFF like a flash!

My first one would be Harry Potter themed. I thought it would be fun to make "Potions For Parseltongues". We are hoping to recreate Diagon Alley in our basement this year and this book would look AWESOME in the bookshop!

I first needed to grab some snakes (duh) and lettering that was a bit 3-D so that after it was covered, you'd still be able to see it.

After that we took paper towels, pealed them apart to make them 1-ply and got them just a liiiitle bit wet and laid them on top of the book. We then took Mod Podge and tapped, crinkled and smeared it with a small foam brush on top. We used disposable chop sticks to tap the paper towel around the lettering and decals we put on to make sure they wouldn't get lost under there. Here's Libby's dragon book during the paper towel process.

After that they sat to dry for quite a long while. At this time I decided to make more books cuz why NOT???

This mummy book was even simpler! I glued the eyes down first, then grabbed the first aid kit. I used the Mod Podge to glue down gauze and wrap. Then that one was ready to dry! So easy!!!

Here was another book. Very straightforward and done just like the first book. Figured out the idea, glued some letters on, then did the wet paper towel cover adding Mod podge. THIS time however I added the skull and the metal bat after the paper towels. I learned that the hard way though. I put the metal bat on and the detail got COMPLETELY lost under the paper towel. Luckily Libby saw my mistake before I got too far and helped me LOL. So word to the wise, any metal details you want to add, do it AFTER the paper towels and glue!

As soon as the books were dry it was time to paint with black acrylic paint over the entire book. I painted my curses book all black too before attaching the bat, ribbon and skull. Then we let them dry again.

Last step was to use Rub n Buff in either gold or silver. Just put it on a rag you don't care about or a paper towel and lightly dust over your book to bring out the raised sections. It's like magic!!!

I highly recommend doing this with your friends. We had such a good time just being together, sharing ideas, eating snacks and watching Hocus Pocus. There were four of us total and Libby brought supplies enough for 50!!! LOL

The girls made some amazing dragon books but I hadn't started mine yet. After they left I finished my other books and started on my own dragon book. I saw a really cool picture on Pinterest and tried my best to recreate it. I started with a black book since I knew the dragon would be black. Libby brought each of us an amazing dragon eye to use. Isn't it fabulous?

This modeling clay can be purchased from Walmart and has been used for so many transformations I've done. I love that it is easily manipulated and dries without cracking or coming apart. Even now, a week after using it the dragon scales are doing great!

I want to do more scales (even though I've already painted it black). It was my first time attempting this and even though I'm super proud of myself, I know I can do better. I'm even thinking of taking some of the alcohol colors you can buy that are transparent and adding the teal for a bit of dimension. I also want to add some grey or white to highlight a bit more. Basically it's a work in progress and I'm loving it! =)

The monster book pictured at the very top of the post and here was made by Maureen of Mo_Creations and you can see a video of her making it by clicking on that link ; ).

Here's how Libby takes her books to the next level by adding inside pages. Click here to go to her tutorial for that and for how to stain the sides of your new spell book! So cool right??? Now, what book are YOU dying to make???

A Halloween Apothecary

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 16:40:00 +0000

I get SO giddy when it's time to put together my Halloween Apothecary. It's been a tradition of mine for many years but it hasn't always been in the same place. When we were first married, I made a tiny apothecary with just a few jars and a skeleton and made a table centerpiece with it. Then it went on a shelf, then a few more shelves of a bookshelf we’re taken over. For the last few years I have decorated my entire china hutch.

This is what it normally looks like. Kev and I found a few strip lights at Costco that rocked my world. One is white and can be used year round. The other? TONS of colors and can switch eerily from one to the other. They are both permanently attached and I adore them. I got mine from Ikea.

Link for the white one:

Link for the colored lights:

Here's a time lapse of me putting the whole thing together. Enjoy!!!

Isn't it delightfully creepy how lighting can change everything??? Here are some up close pics as I was putting everything together. Most of the larger bottles with no labels came from my friend’s restaurant. She was kind enough to save them for me for a book club event I was doing. I CLEARED out my pantry and used all of the bottles to make a wine cellar. After it was all over I had HUNDREDS of them. I gave them to quite a few neighbors and kept the rest for potion bottles. Many of the bottles I also made (sharing more on the how to for that later) using labels I found on Pinterest and Etsy. Some I purchased at Michaels (one of my FAVE go to stores for Halloween) and others from various little boutiques. My amazing friend Maureen over at Mo Creations made me my poisoned apple and the cute Mandrake = ). My oldest son drew the llama for my extract of llama potion bottle and my friend Libby over at the Cozy Coffin made the Frog’s Breath.

My last creepy enhancing act was to grab some creeping thyme clippings from the yard and the cheapy dollar store cobwebs. Willow tree clippings would be cool too! I can’t wait to add more things next year!!! Do YOU do an apothecary for Halloween? Where is yours? What do you put in it? I’m “dying” for more ideas LOL!!!

CCPC DAY 31- Twinning

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 20:35:00 +0000

CCPC Day 31 - TWINNING

“How do you do and shake hands, shake hands”.....oh no you DINT!!!!!! I loooove to Disneybound and felt what a better bound for twinning day than the Tweedles???

What a crazy time we live in right now eh? I feel like all of us are in Wonderland trying to find our way out...but all ways are Corona’s ways. I hope that each of us are journaling at least a bit to share with future generations what this felt like. What hardships, miracles, frustrations and triumphs we felt as a world, country, nation, and family.

Social distancing is both easy and hard for me. I love being home, organizing, gardening, watching movies, eating, playing board games etc. another part of me wants to go hug my family and friends, go out to dinner with the girls, go to the Thanksgiving Point gardens (one of my fave places).

One day things will return to normal. One day we won’t remember exactly how this felt. One day, we’ll think about it and either laugh, cry, or buy another pack of TP juuuuust in case 😂🙈🙅🏻‍♀️.

I have loved doing this photo challenge but I’m very ready for it to be over as well. I can say that right? It’s inspired a lot of creativity and it’s let me get to know so many of you on a deeper level (my biggest hope), but I may have made it for too long. And it maaay not have happened at the best time 😅.

I want you to know I love my interactions with you. I get giddy about having things in common with you (it helps me feel like I’m not alone and that you have good taste 😂). I love hearing your stories and learning about your families. You have become apart of mine. The more you comment and DM me, the more I feel like we are friends and I couldn’t be happier about that.

I hope you are safe, happy and healthy. But I also hope you are going through enough hard times, like we are, to grow and to appreciate the miracles and good times. What is a phrase or a word that will help you remember this time? Mine is CONNECTION. What’s yours? 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

CCPC DAY 30- Makeup Trends

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:13:00 +0000

CCPC Day 30 - MAKEUP TRENDS

Whether or not you’re on board, the makeup train is ALWAYS moving. From the wildest and crazy to the most beautiful. In stories I’m asking you to weigh in on some of the trends through out the years. Yay or nay, love it or leave it?

Post a picture however you'd like of a trend that you’ve tried and tell me how it went! Was it a hit or miss??????? Be sure to share with me classycozmetics and use the classyphotochallenge hashtag.

I’ll start. I tried the fake freckles (as shown) and I actually LOVED it!!!!!!!! One time I may have gone overboard though and Kev was like.....too much babe, too much 😂😂😂. Weigh in on these trends throughout the years. I can’t wait to hear your stories!!!!

CCPC DAY 29- What In Your Bag?

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 00:51:00 +0000

CCPC Day 29 - WHAT’S IN YOUR BAG?

I got REALLY emotional today & decided that’s not what I was going to talk about. I was hoping to be in Mexico today 😢. This beautiful woman turned 100 today & is my great grandma Evelyn. Oh how I love her!!! Her laugh, her hugs, her optimism & humor!

Evelyn was born in 1920, can you believe it? When we called her to sing happy birthday today she told me she woke up feeling so chipper. She is so present & so loving & still remembers everything!

I remember going to see my great great grandma every year on her birthday (Oct. 2nd) down in Fairfield, Ca. One of these trips had me and my great grandma taking off in the car for something or other. We were approaching a yellow light & she wasn’t slowing down. I kept looking at her, then the light, then her & the light again. My heart started to race & she sped right through a red light. “Grandma!!!” I exclaimed half terrified but mostly laughing. She looked around & behind her. “What? Was it red?” 😂 I don’t know why that stands out so much to me but it does & it still makes me laugh 😂 .

She lived in Hawaii for as long as I can remember & made the most beautiful quilts! She was a champion golfer winning multiple tournaments all over California. My mom said my brothers always loved taking her out to golf because she would give them really good tips.

Most recently a memory that brings me to tears is when my mom told her that she & I would be going to Ireland next year in May (& that’s all my mom mentioned). I had only recently begged my mom to take a slight detour from our guided tour so I could see the cottage from the film the Quiet Man (the reason I fell in love with the country). She was hesitant & wasn’t yet committed. My great grandmother called & left my mom a message just DAYS later. She said she had a very vivid dream of me & my mother in Ireland & we were in the Quiet Man cottage. She said she wasn’t with us but she could see us there together 😭😭😭😭. Needless to say, after that, my mom said we would be 100% visiting that house. Either we will call her from the cottage or she’ll be smiling down on us reunited with her sweet mother.

I love you Big Grandma. Happy 100th!!! 🥰🥳❤️

CCPC DAY 28 - YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 00:10:00 +0000

CCPC Day 28 - FOLLOW A YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

This next transformation that I did 3 years ago fell perfectly into following a tutorial on YouTube. Mirjana is an incredible illusion makeup artist and when I saw what she could do by blacking our parts of her body...I knew I had to try!!!! It took FOREVER but I was so happy with how it turned out.

I’ve always been inspired by other artists and I get SO excited when I learn something new. It happens often on YouTube 🥰.

Go there now and see what you want to follow. Is it painting? Fixing a leaky faucet? Makeup? Hair? Decorating ideas? Hope you guys enjoy! I’ll link the whole tutorial in my stories on classycozmetics so you can watch in fast motion how I achieved this look. I didn’t save the footage for some reason so it will forever live on YouTube. What do you think??? I used almost all maskcarabeauty for the shading!

CCPC DAY 27 - Bravery

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 17:39:00 +0000

CCPC Day 27 - BRAVERY

We could be heroes. I started sharing my old transformations in stories and this Wonder Woman look was the next one. How perfect was this for bravery? I used to watch the show with reallyndacarter and soooo wanted to be her! I even had Wonder Woman pjs that I loved to wear 🥰. I felt brave wearing them, invincible. Oh the fearlessness of youth. As I grew up there were so many situations that called for bravery.

Moving to a new neighborhood

Being the new girl in school

Being badly bullied in jr high

Entering high school

Saying no to peer pressure

Facing the consequences of saying yes to peer pressure

Moving out on my own

Moving out of the country

Falling in love

Having children

Starting a business

Moving & being the new girl during ADULT years 😳

Walking into influencer events (it’s actually frightening for me. Will someone save me a seat? Was I forgotten? Will the women be nice to me?)

Facing scary things that happen in the world

You may not relate to everything on my list but I’m sure there are a few that pricked your heart. For me, as I’ve gotten older it’s no longer the “fake it till you make it”. It’s being vulnerable & owning up to your feelings. Maybe even expressing them if the situation calls for it. Sure it’s harder, but it’s worth it for a few reasons. One, you’re being very genuine and two, someone else might feel the same way & your courage to speak your feelings could really help alleviate theirs. I remember walking into my first influencer event & knew NO one (in real life anyway). It’s sad to say but no one came up to me to say hi. No one really even acknowledged I was there. I went home feeling SO stupid for going. I’m sure my cheeks were still beet red as I talked to Kevin about how I felt. He so sweetly told me he didn’t think I would make anyone feel that way. I was grateful for the compliment (& truly hoped I lived up to that) then had an apostrophe (name that movie). I wouldn’t stop going to events & I would make DANG sure no one felt the way I did. The next one I went to I secretly donned my “Wonder Woman can do” attitude & introduced myself to everyone & acted like I had been going to these for years!

I had a few weird looks from those that HAD been going for years but that was OK. Someone there was new and I wanted them to feel welcome. Soon I had a group of a few people I knew, people I felt safe around and people that reached out and invited me to fun things. I remember the moment I met Kellydsharee. She invited me to her amazing book club and that was HUGE for me! We attended an thealisonshow dance party and met canary_jane, her sister, latewithkate in line and inside danced with amytwittyathome, tiacelise, ashleyrosereeves and so many other amazing women. The courage to go back lead me to some beautiful friendships. Be brave ladies. Not just in the traditional wonder woman sense. Be brave enough to be Honest, open, kind, vulnerable and YOU!

I need the words just as much as the next gal. I'd love to hear your thoughts on bravery.

CCPC DAY 26- Clean Eats

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 18:14:00 +0000

CCPC Day 26 - CLEAN EATS

Now notice that did not say LEAN eats 😁😉😏🥰. I want this to be a full on RECIPE exchange!!!! Screenshot your faves from Pinterest & I’ll share them!!!! Over at classycozmetics Be sure to use the #classyphotochallenge &

tell us your Pinterest name if applicable. These are some of my ULTIMATE favorite dishes to make. Some are mine, some are from other amazing content creators. HERE’S the thing!!!!!!!! I have been able to modify ANY recipe & make it clean thanks to my amazing friend Karalynne from just.ingredients . She has taught me SO much in the last few years about how it’s NOT that hard to switch over to better, cleaner ingredients. It’s NOT hard to modify the recipes I already love & it’s NOT hard to find all these ingredients! Most of them were right NEXT to the junk I was buying. I’m grateful to her & amazed at ALL her hard work on her page. She makes it easy to see what to stay away from, what to grab instead, how to do it & why. I’m so appreciative of people who do this for the most loving & honorable reasons!!! ❤️
Now back to these dishes 🤤. The first is, no joke, THE most restaurant quality dish I have EVER made!!!! It’s comes to us from carlsbadcravings. (Curry pictured above) Holy YUM!!!! Guys, I don’t even like curry 😂.

The next is from jessicagfisher...she’s not lying when she says best ever slow cooker pork!

Then we have the crowd pleasing shrimp scampi from melskitchencafe which only takes 20 min!!!

The next blurry picture is my jambalaya recipe and can be found here: jambalaya which is AMAZING if I do say so myself 😂 you’ll be SO happy you did!!!

Breakfast burritos are a staple in our home & again...find the recipe here: breakfast+burritos .

The tortellini soup is from one of my friends. She made it for book club & I BEGGED for the recipe...& the leftovers from the night (wish I was kidding 😂).

Last but not least, white chicken enchiladas from plainchicken. It is soooo creamy, easy & delicious!

Now it’s your turn! Share how you want your favorite recipes. What meal do you want to try?

CCPC DAY 25- 3 Products

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 00:31:00 +0000

CCPC Day 25 - THREE PRODUCTS

Here are my choices for products. In this picture I’m wearing foundation, lashes and my fave lipstick! Scroll down to see what my faves are.

Also, what is a quarantine without indulging in your fave snacks every now and then? For me I am a happy camper if I have Pringle’s, or a Cherry Garcia from benandjerrys or cheesecake.

I would prefer the cheesecake to be from cheesecakefactory because yuuuuuuum but I love ALL cheesecake!!!!!!!

I want to hear from YOU!!! What makeup products and what snacks? Tell me all the things!!! 🥰🥰🥰

CCPC DAY 24- Lashes

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 01:43:00 +0000

CCPC Day 24 - LASHES!!!!!

I. Love. LASHES!!!!!! I absolutely adore strip lashes and don’t want to live in a world without them. Extreme? You bet! This pic I took in the car, in my garage after getting home from an event. I was 6 months preggo and soooo tired but I LOVED the way my lashes looked!!!! They have changed my makeup game 100% and as a makeup artist I’ve put them in huuuuuundreds of people and am grateful for the practice. But seeing as how we are social distancing for the SOLE purpose of disneyland opening up again, I’ve cancelled all my upcoming appts for a good long while. But I was just thinking, how PERFECT is this time to be practicing something we want to learn???? We are HOME and we can practice without the fear of doing it wrong and being in public with an eyelash half off. The fear is real 😂. I’ve even worn two left eyelashes on accident and could not stop laughing at myself when I realized!!! I want you to TRY today!!!!! You can even order some of my favorites from eyelashesunlimited from the comfort of your own home. I love Ardell Demi wispies and double wispies (the latter is what I’ve been using most on the regular). Use the code CLASSY for money off and get to practicing. Have you ever worn them? Do you wear them in the regular? Want to be brave and record yourself putting them on? What celebrity lashes do you love? Share a pic of lashes you adore. Click here for a how to: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B1EXj4fBhF9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link AND I’ll be sharing a genius idea I had just while chatting with someone last night. I have soooooooo many videos in store for you right now (insert maniacal chuckle here 😂).

CCPC DAY 23- Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 01:18:00 +0000

CCPC Day 23 - SEASONS 🎃
It’s preeeeeetty safe to say that Fall is my favorite season of the year. I had initially planned on talking about that & only that. I’ve put together a few of my favorite Halloween transformations I’ve done.
The more this whole Corona virus has affected (not infected) us all, I’m thinking differently. I’m thinking about how much I’m loving my family home right now. How I like this season of life right now. I look back at all my other seasons & I’m so grateful for them because they’ve brought me here.

I had a season of being a carefree child. I was raised on Christian, Disney & Musical values 🥰.

I had a season as a teenager (insert shudder) where I made a looooot of mistakes & burned some bridges.

A season of being on my own & furthering those bad decisions. Landed myself in AA & knew some
things had to change. So grateful to have hit my own personal “rock bottom” at that time. I grew SO much!

A season of humbling, of growth, of a broken heart, learning, & preparing (not sure for what) & hurt.

Mending things is hard but so worth it!

A season of abundance where I served others, learned about God & my Savior more than I ever have
& met some of my BEST friends to date (including my husband) in Siberia.

A season of confusion. Not knowing, after having our sweet boy, that I had depression. Not treating it & having our second only made it bigger & angrier. My poor husband.

A season of happiness. Understanding, accepting & handling my depression. LOVING being a mom, wife, makeup artist & friend.

A season of hurt. 6 years of infertility, then 4 miscarriages. It was disappointing & painful. I wasn’t bitter. Just sad.

A season of numb mixed with excitement & a pinch of creativity. That’s where I’m at now. I feel numb spiritually & have needed to do better because I know I haven’t been doing my part to really grow in that category. Excitement for all the many opportunities I’ve been blessed with to travel, to be with my family, & business successes. Creativity because I love being here & creating 🥰.

“To every thing there is a season, & a time to every purpose under the heaven...”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Tell me your favorite season of life or year.

CCPC DAY 22- Disney+

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 04:23:00 +0000

CCPC Day 22 - DISNEY+

Oh my WORD was I ever anxious to get on disneyplus!!!! To see all the movies from when I was little. To remember the magic, the memories!!! This one was a big one for me. The last time I mentioned it or put a few slides in my stories people thought it was a different movie. Do you know this movie?????

I filmed a funny sequence and will be posting it in stories here in a sec. I also FILMED this one like I use to so I’m excited to share it. Oh Angela Lansbury, how many wonderful movies you’ve given us!!!! Love her to the moon!

BIG thank you to hellowhimzy for finding this outfit and DYING it to be the perfect shade (who even IS she???) and to mocreations_ for my fantastic broom! The last two pics are just for laughs 😂😂😂.

Name this movie, if you can and tell me what YOU were most excited to see on disneyplus 🥰🥰🥰.

CCPC DAY 21- Out My Window

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 22:17:00 +0000

CCPC Day 21 - Out my window

This one I wanted to know more about YOU. So go snap a pic from your window and show me what you see. What do you love about you see? Would you change anything? I took this picture out of Sophie’s upstairs window. I see the mountains (mount Timpanogos mostly), Utah Lake and soooooo much of the sky!!! We love when lightning storms come through and light up the sky. We see it all. We lay in our living room, curtains open and our 18ft windows show us the moon rising over the mountains, the stars that shine, the beautiful clouds, airplanes and hang gliders. I love this view. I love seeing it everyday and I love sharing it, when they sit still enough, with my family 🥰. There are also the most beautiful wildflowers growing everywhere. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I wish I could have the Golden Afternoon playing on a loop outside amongst my flowers. Oooooh how I’d love it!!! K, I showed you mine, now show me yours!!! Hope you are all staying safe out there!!! Xoxo

CCPC DAY 20- Quiet Please

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:34:00 +0000

CCPC Day 20- QUIET PLEASE 🤫

Today was originally when the Quiet Place 2 was supposed to come out...maybe they’ve waited? Because now it’s illegal here for more than 10 people to be together so noooo movie theatre outings. How many can relate to this picture though that this is the only quiet place they can find? 😂😂😂

I’ve actually never had any of my kids follow me to the bathroom. They’ve never stuck their fingers or noses under wondering when I’m coming out. Now I’m having the feeling that maybe every time I go the bathroom they’re like, “Thank goodness. I thought she’d never leave.” 😅😂🤪

Where’s your quiet place? Before and after Corona?

CCPC DAY 19- Rise and Shine

noreply@blogger.com (Jen) — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 20:26:00 +0000

CCPC Day 19 - RISE AND SHINE

At first today was going to be what I did every morning. But recent world wide events have made me think differently. There are so many ways we can feel fear right now, anxiety and uncertainty. BUT there are so many ways we can see this time as an opportunity for growth (always happens during the hardest times) for togetherness with our families and a chance to assess our level of preparedness (I’m ashamed that one caught me a bit unawares). I’ve made a list of some of the things I am doing to rise and SHINE during this time. Save it if you like some of the ideas so you can find them easily. Some of these won’t apply to you but most can. I’d LOVE to hear how you are rising and shining right now.

One thing I want to be clear on, for myself especially. You don’t have to push down the sad or scared feelings and slap on a happy face. I’ve learned so much just in the last 6 months of how to address ALL emotions and to let them come. Everyone copes with trials differently and they need to be able to do that to get through. Everyone copes with grief and fear differently. What’s important to me is that I allow myself and my family the opportunity to feel all the things and keep moving forward.

These are some of the ways I move forward as someone with depression and anxiety. It’s CRAZY what just making my bed will do!!!

Swipe through to see some fun ideas for you and your family. Remember humor is my coping mechanism so some are silly. It helps me 🥰🥰🥰. I love you guys and hope you are well! Now, share with me what YOU are doing? How’s homeschooling going? Are you able to exercise? Is your family eating differently?