Birchbox Beauty Bash {3}

It's that time of the month! Birchbox Beauty Bash time!!

I've been enjoying playing with all my samples, how about you?  And I had fun expeirmenting with red lipstick for Valentine's day!!  A bold lip look is now in my makeup look rotation!

Let's party!!

What to link up?
Birchbox Posts

Beauty Advice
Tips
Reviews
Tricks
Secrets
DIY/Handmade Products
Tutorials

Anything makeup, skin care, hair, fragrance, bath and body or beauty tools related!!

Rules:

*Link up anything in the list above.

*Link to a specific post, not your homepage.

*Follow myself and Allison and post the party button somewhere on your blog.

*Visit others and have fun!

<center><a href="http://vintagegwen.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n589/djwheeler11/beautybash.jpg"/></a></center> 

As usual the party will be open for a week so you have plenty of time!

Have fun and Happy Friday!

{Guest Series} The Best of Me-Southern Lovely

Welcome to the final Best of Me series guest!

Hello lovely friends of Vintage Gwen. I am excited to be here today!
Since I consider Jennifer a dear friend of mine, it is wonderful to be in her space today!

I'm Lindsay, from Southern Lovely. Over at my place you will find all sorts of DIY's, sewing, painting & lots of hot glue projects. It's kind of a little of this & that. :) I have a great time creating it all though.


When Jennifer explained her 'Best of Me' series, I had to think what I wanted to talk about. Then it hit me, as far as projects go, my favorite is our loft area. It's a place in our home where I go to breath & relax. I love this space, it definitely makes me happy.


It wasn't always like this though. We gave it a big makeover several months ago.

Started with this space..

Added the board & batten



Used this art piece as the inspiration for the color scheme.
The blues & yellows were the perfect combination for this space.

And this is it!
The space I love.
The best of me. :)


Board & Batten tutorial


Painted Rug


Curtains


Desk makeover

So I'd love to know what space makes you happy?

Thanks so much for having me, Jennifer!

Wasn't that great inspiration? I tell ya, Lindsay has such a sense of effortless to her projects that I love!

As you already know she is behind our awesome Wednesday link party, Show & Share.  I'm so honored to be one of her partners, it's been amazing! Thanks my friend!!

And thanks to all of my guests, I so appreciate you lovelies helping me out during our move!

Happy Thursday!

Moving Update...

Happy Tuesday all!  No Soiree Day today.  Just wanted to give a quick update on our move.  We haven't yet!  I'm afraid things are being drug out a little, hoping to get some good news, i.e. a soon closing date, today.  I'm missing you all!!  If you pray, I would appreciate one!

If you're a new follower...thank you so much!!  I'm trying my best to keep up and check everyone out!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far!!
☺

February Birchbox

Happy Friday lovelies!

I was sweating over my February Birchbox!  I changed my address to our new house and come to find out the address was wrong! Even though we haven't moved yet I've been checking the mailbox and it finally came yesterday!  A few days after normal time...whew! Thanks post person!!

From Twitter I had an idea what would be in the box and I'm excited to try out the goodies!

This month's goodies...Beautyblender sponge, Eye Rock Designer liner, Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint, Mineralogie Ultimate Cream Concealer.  Lifestyle Extras are Chuao Chocolatier Spicy Maya ChocoPod and a music download.  How fun!

I've never mastered fancy eyeliner techniques so these stickers look fun!

 Thinking I'll have to pair this with a red lip!

I did eat the chocolate {of course!} and oh my! The package states "Unusual, Unexpected & Delicious"...all very true!! It's just the right amount of spiciness!

Next Friday will be our 3rd Birchbox Beauty Bash so get those posts ready!!

{Guest Series} The Best of Me-Romance On A Dime

Welcome to my next Best of Me guest!
I'm in desperate need of today's post! So it's perfect timing!

Hello! My name is Betsy from Romance on a Dime. I'm SO excited to be guest posting for Vintage Gwen! The "Best of Me" series has definitely been so inspiring to read and I'm really glad to be a part of it. Thanks for having me Jennifer!!

I blog about all sorts of stuff, such as thrifty living, menu planning, budget/DIY decorating, and organizing and simplifying life. I still consider myself a newlywed (1 1/2 years into marriage). A couple of my most popular series are 31 Days of New Uses for Old Things, Take it on Tuesday blog hop, and Cutting your Grocery Bill 101.

Awhile ago, I shared my best projects of 2011, but what I'm going to share today is a more recent post that quickly climbed the ladder of most page views. It's currently the fourth most viewed post on Romance on Dime!

Ready for free printables and a tutorial on How-to put together your own Home Management Binder?

DIY Home Management Binder/Planner

I spent a lot of time looking through all the ideas for printable planners, home binders, lists, and daily to do sheets I could find. I did go back and forth about whether I wanted a planner that fit into my purse or not (last year my planner did). I finally decided to make my own planner using a 3-ring binder and several printables I found. Here are some of my favorite printables:

Week at a Glance from Mommy Tracked (I LOVE the color and the scalloped edges!!):

Daily Planner Printables from Desiring Virtue - I LOVE these daily pages! Each day of the week has a different main task: Mon. - Laundry, Tues. - Kitchen, Wed. - Office, Thurs. - Town, Fri. - Cleaning, Sat. - Outdoors, Sun. - Lord's Day/day of rest. What is great is now they have blank daily sheets!!

Daily Docket from Simple Mom - this one I actually scanned in and spent HOURS editing and changing sections to be able to print it on a smaller sheet. Then, I decided to save it for another year and use the above daily planner.

Perpetual Birthday Calendar from The Project Girl

Money Saving Mom also has lots more printables to choose from! The one I'm definitely adding to my home management binder is her 2-hour House Cleaning Checklist.

I'm also a big fan of FlyLady and her beginner baby steps towards keeping an orderly, clean home. In the process of going through her fly lessons, I put together my own control journal resource sheet, which lists my morning routine, bedtime routine, and the cleaning zones I've mapped out in my home:

At first I had the idea to laminate the daily planner sheets and write on them with dry erase markers (so I wouldn't have to print a million pages). Since I don't have a laminator, I checked into the cost of a local copy place - $2/page - NO WAY!! I decided to instead put my daily planner sheets inside a sleeve and write on it with dry erase markers. It works really well!!

I put my Home Management Binder together, with these sheets:

Year at a Glance

B-day Calendar

Yearly Goals (still working through this)

Monthly Goals (still working through this)

Blogging Goals/resources

Monthly page

Week at a Glance

Fly Lady Reference Sheet

Daily Planner Printables

Contacts

Have you put a Home Management Binder together this year? What pages do you think are important to have?

I would love to invite you to stop by Romance on a Dime each Tuesday for the Take it on Tuesday Blog Hop!!

Thanks for reading.
♦

Awesome!! I've been thinking about making a cleaning schedule and now I have the tools! Thanks Betsy!!  Be sure and check out all of Betsy's fun on her blog!

Happy Thursday!

Happy Valentine's Day and....

{2011 Valentine Sugar Cookies}

Happy Valentine’s Day lovelies!

And guess what else is today?

It’s my 1 year blog anniversary!!

What a great day to have your blog anniversary on huh?

{I didn’t plan it that way! But at least I won’t forget the day!}

Boy I can’t believe it’s been a year! A fun one too!

I’ve been so blessed to meet some very lovely people and can’t wait to meet more!

Looking back I really had no clue about blogging but just knew it looked fun and appealed to my creative side and I wanted in on the fun.

At times it’s challenging but I’m learning and that makes it worth it.

Thank you to each and every one of you!

This wouldn’t be as fun without you!

I of course want to celebrate this moment with a giveaway!!

But alas! We are still trying to get moved!

So when things are settled we will celebrate! So stay tuned!

Have a sweet day today!!

Vintage Gwen Chapel-A New Image of Jesus

I recently heard a Christian comedian talk about this scene in the Bible…

“And they were bringing unto him little children, that he should touch them: and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not; for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.” Mark 10:13, 14 ASV

via

He said that due to most artists this scene is depicted as Jesus sitting with children around him, maybe one in His lap…the children behaving, nice and clean. But according to the comedian this isn’t so. It is his opinion that the children were dirty and climbing all over Jesus.

I think I agree!

I thought about Lil’ Hunkie and our normal day to day routine. When he’s in play mode, we usually have several moments of wrestling and tickling and him climbing all over me or his daddy. The image of Jesus playing with children like we play with Lil’ Hunkie makes me smile, does my heart good. I know Jesus to be relatable. And this new image of Jesus and the little children makes Him even more so.

Thank you Mr. Comedian!

And thank you Lord for loving your children and enjoying them, rather they are clean, prim and proper or dirty, and wanting to play!

Happy Weekend!

{Guest Series} The Best of Me-A Little Slice of Special

Welcome to today's Best of Me guest!

I'm excited that today's post is about makeup!  I love makeup and thought this would be perfect since Valentine's Day is around the corner...so take a tip or two and spice it up this year!

Well hey there- my name is Lori and I blog over at A Little Slice of Special.  

Jennifer asked me to write up a guest post and I right away suggested I write up a best of post on beauty... I was so happy to hear that was what Jennifer was hoping I would do!  

Now, you might be wondering, why should I be writing anything about beauty?  Well, I am by no means a professional, I haven't had any training, and I've never even read a book about makeup techniques (when it comes to makeup I'm a magazine, blog, and pinterest kinda gal!).   All I do know is I love playing with makeup.  I have since I was about 13.  I've always had a daily makeup routine and been willing to try new products and trends.  

Ok, back to the best of.  Since before I committed my blog to being a structured beauty and style blog about 8 months ago I would often write up posts and share pictures about fun new products I got or a look I tried to copy or create.  About 10 months ago my best friend asked me for a makeup tutorial from the most basic steps, everyday methods, and then super funtastic out there eye makeup.

Eventually this turned into a 10 part tutorial series and since then I've been doing lots of eye tutorials...but first...the basics.

Lesson 1:  Getting your face ready for makeup application.

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-up-lesson-1-starting-from-base-and.html

Lesson 2:  Primer, Concealer, Foundation Variation, etc.

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/02/makeup-lesson-2-foundations-concealers.html

Lesson 3:  Mascara

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/02/mas-scary-nodont-be-afraid-its-your.html

Lesson 4: Liners

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/02/not-all-liners-are-created-equal.html

Lesson 5: Understanding different kinds of liner

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/03/liner-swatches.html

Lesson 6:  Cream and Gel Blushes

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/03/trickycream-and-gel-blushes.html

Lesson 7:  The basic Cat Eye

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/03/cat-eyemeow.html

Lesson 8: Brows

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/03/brows-and-easy-purple-eye.html

Lesson 9:  Contouring, highlighter and bronzer

Coming Soon...because apparently Blogger ate it?!

Lesson 10:  Working with eyes of different shapes and sizes

http://lorilynn-alittlesliceofspecial.blogspot.com/2011/03/help-i-cant-find-my-eye-lids-eye-shadow.html

I'd love to do more specific tutorials about makeup tips and tricks in general but I need some requests to inspire me (hint hint wink wink!)  Just a few weeks ago, I committed to Makeup Monday, and I'd love to feature some general tutorials amongst my unending need to play with eye makeup and lipstick!  So leave a comment here, on my blog, on facebook, e-mail me or tweet me with your requests and/or questions!

***

Because I wanted to create something new and special to be posted on Vintage Gwen I decided to tackle two of the trickiest eye makeup looks.  The smokey eye and the cat eye...both of which are perfect for that Valentines Day Date (and in my case-whenever the heck I feel like it!)

The first step is to prep your lids, this holds true for both options, I like to add concealer or a really creamy foundation to my entire lid, another option is primer, feel free to use both!  Then I like to dust a thick layer of translucent loose powder below my eye (this will catch any dark debris while doing your eye makeup and can easily be brushed away when you're done!  When doing a cat eye it's best to stick to a neutral shadow palate.  Sometimes I wear a single neutral color but for a little extra drama I chose to do a very light 3 color neutral eye.  To take some of the matching guess work out I'm a big fan of the maybelline 3 color shadow sets.  I apply the lightest shade from lashes to brow, the second darkest color to just my lid, and the darkest in the crease.

When you're happy with your line just add several coats of black mascara.  I love the drama of black but it's absolutely legit to use a brown shades of liner and mascara!  Now all you have to do is finish your look with a lip product of choice...

And now for the smokey eye...

And there you have it...two awesome kinda fancy Valentines Day options!  Thanks so much for letting me guest post on Vintage Gwen, I hope I've done you proud!  XoXo Lori Lynn

Ah! I'm prouder than proud! I really need to try the cat eye and setting spray!  Wasn't this so fun?

Be sure and check out Lori for more beauty fun!

Happy Thursday!

Soiree Day-Valentine Printables {3}

It's been fun rounding up such great stuff! Lots and lots of talented ladies out there!

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

  I believe you don't have to go 'all out' all the time...just fun little treats and traditions make lasting memories.  

♥

{Please click on blog name to print/download.}

Live. Laugh. Rowe.

52 Mantels

Vixen Made

Makoodle 

Makoodle

Makoodle

Here's to a sweet Valentine's Day!

Happy Soiree Day!