New York City!!

October 28, 2015

I had SO much fun in New York City last weekend. I was recently working a fun content creation project for Skype, where I shared my Halloween Party Tips and DIY Ideas! This was my first time to New York City (we did visit years ago for like 2 hours, but this was completely different...)

So, the images I created for Skype can be found HERE. I had SO much fun creating some holiday content, as this was one of the first projects I have done of this nature. Halloween Tips and Tricks are some of my absolute FAVORITES, so I had a really great time! I also helped with a Pinterest Board (here), and I helped lead a fun, Skype Group Chat (search SkypeHalloween to find us!!).

One of the best parts of this project came at pretty short notice. Skype personally invited me out to New York City, to help coordinate a Halloween party for The Lower East Side Girls' Club of NYC! Pretty incredible and practically unbelievable. What an amazing opportunity! I am still so fortunate I was the one chosen for this whole thing. I had an absolute blast, my hotel was amazing, I ate some of the best food in my life (and I've eaten food all over the country!!), met some wonderful people, and helped some really amazing kids have the Best Halloween Party Ever!

I also learned on this trip, that the earlier you get to the airport, the less stressful your whole trip will be! This really worked out so well, without really any problems!

DAY ONE - Sticky Rice Thai Food + Top Hops

View more photos from Day One, below! I ate at StickyRice, drank craft beer at Top Hops, and stayed at The Holiday Inn - Lower East Side (it was super nice and newly renovated).

DAY TWO - LOWER EAST SIDE MURALS + ARIEL'S LATIN BISTRO + PARDON MY FRENCH

Check out the slideshow, below, to see my mural sightings and awesome NYC food! If you're in the area, I would definitely recommend Ariel's Bistro for lunch and a $5 strawberry margarita, and Pardon My French for a super fancy date night. The whole Skype team was so wonderful to take me out for dinner and cocktails after the Halloween party.

THE SKYPE HALLOWEEN PARTY

So, the main reason I was there was, of course, The Skype Halloween Party at The Lower East Side Girls' Club! The girls absolutely LOVED the party, there was a DJ that played spooky beats, I hosted a craft table featuring Tissue Paper Pumpkins filled with CANDY. Once the candy ran out, the girls practically disowned me :) The whole party will be made into a couple of short movies that will feature yours truly for a short bit, helping the girls make pumpkins, and also myself chatting with influencers from YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram! It all went super well, and I had a blast! It was incredible giving back to the community in this way, and hopefully inspiring the kids!

Until next time! NYC, I really had fun, and hope to be back soon! A very special thanks to HelloSociety and Skype for helping make this project an absolute success!!!

A Halloween Party With Skype!

October 24, 2015

My friends at Skype asked me to share some amazing Halloween Party DIY Ideas! I have a few amazing ideas for a party that would appeal to kids and adults! Below you will find Chic and Cute Halloween Decor, Ping Ping Ghost Lights, and also a Tasty Candy Halloween Centerpiece.

GHOST LIGHTS - I absolutely love these cute little ghosts! I created them with a few simple materials. The other fun part of this project, was that I was able to use Skype to help share this project with my friend, who absolutely LOVED them :) It's great being able to connect with people who live far away, and Skype made it easy.

MATERIALS

- 1 Strand of white lights (with white wires). I used a strand of 50, but 25 would be great also.

- 10 Ping Ping Balls

- Modge Podge (any type will do)

- Foam Brush for Modge Podge

- Cheesecloth (found in the fabric/notions section at Hobby Lobby)

- Permanent Marker

- Egg Cartons and Painters Tape

- Drill and Drill Bit - 5/16" - Or a large nail will be good - to poke holes in ping pong balls

- 4" x 4" squares of cheesecloth (x10)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.) Drill holes in all ping ping balls. You can also use a large nail to poke the holes in them. Make sure you poke the hole where the logo is.

2.) Draw spooky ghost faces on all ping pong balls. I searched for "Ghost Faces" online, and all sorts of ideas came up.

3.) Grab your egg cartons and use the painters tape to create little cones, so your ping pong balls can sit up in the egg cartons. Use the sticky side of the tape on the outside.

4.) Drape the cheesecloth squares over the ping pong balls, and use your foam brush to paint the Modge Podge over the cloth, to adhere to the ping pong balls. They will definitely begin to look like ghosts now!

5.) Let them dry for 4-5 hours, and place a ping pong ball ghost to every third or fourth Christmas light! That's it! Please comment below if you make these!

HALLOWEEN CENTERPIECE

I used a big assortment of Halloween candy for this one! It turned out SO cute and I think kids would just love it. This would make the ultimate conversation piece at a Halloween party, too!

MATERIALS

- Large Glass Vase with straight sides

- 1 large bag of mini marshmallows and 3-4 other types of Halloween candy and Halloween Peeps

INSTRUCTIONS -

1.) Pour 2 inches of marshmallows into vase

2.) Layer Halloween Peeps around edge of vase, and fill center with more marshmallows

3.) Layer alternating colored candies all the way up, and top off with more marshmallows and Halloween suckers of your choice!

THE ULTIMATE CHIC HALLOWEEN PARTY DECOR

I am in love with the look of a Monochromatic Halloween Party! Here, I used mostly black dishes, tablecloth, and Creepy Cloth to drape over the setting to really add a spooky element. Just let your food add some pops of color, and your guests will be so happy they came to party!

I was able to use Skype to let my friend know the party was all set up and ready!

Happy Halloween! And a special spooky thanks to Skype for hosting the best Halloween party ever in NEW YORK CITY! I will blog about that soon!!!

Skype With Me! Let's Chat About Halloween!

October 23, 2015

Halloween is almost here! Did you know you can use Skype to text photos and messages to one person or a group of people? I will be Skype chatting this morning, beginning at 10:30EST, join me and others as we discuss Halloween ideas today. Add SkypeHalloween in Skype to join in on the conversation! http://bit.ly/3242231

And 5 people participating in these chats will win a $1,000 Microsoft package including a Surface!!!

Ooey Gooey Marshmallow Cones

October 19, 2015

Bonfire season is in full swing! I have a yummy treat that just about anyone will enjoy! You can either make these over a campfire, or even in your oven at home, suer easily. This recipe was featured on the Missouri Department of Tourism Blog! So honored to collaborate with them!

INGREDIENTS:

Hershey's Candy Bars (roughly 1 candy bar per cone or a bit less)

Mini Marshmallows

Waffle Cones (store bought works perfectly)

Foil

CHECK OUT MY MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM PORTFOLIO HERE.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) Break the Hershey's Bar into pieces, and set aside.

2.) Take one cone in your hand, and fill the bottom 1/3 with mini marshmallows. Add a couple of pieces of chocolate, then more marshmallows. Once you get towards the top, fill the rest of the way with marshmallows, then put a few more pieces of chocolate on top.

3.) TO HEAT: Wrap the whole cone (and luscious filling) in a couple of layers of foil. Place near campfire (not directly on the flame - you're just trying to melt the filling.), for about 8-10 minutes, being extremely careful to remove from the embers/coals. Once cooled a bit, unwrap the foil and behold the most wonderful thing you can eat while you're camping!

- If you want to easily make these in the oven, fill the cones with marshmallows and chocolate as described above, and wrap in foil. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, place each foil-wrapped cone in a heat-safe coffee mug (ceramic go glass only). Make sure the pointy end of the cone is facing downward into the mug. Bake for about 7 minutes, carefully remove from the oven, and once cooled, unwrap foil to see if everything has melted enough. Enjoy!!!

Halloween Party Invites + A Free Printable

October 14, 2015

I really love how these adorable invites turned out! I love the fact that you can fill these gift boxes with spooky treats, and include the invite in a really unique way! I included two printables,

MATERIALS NEEDED

5" x 6" Black Jewelry Boxes - I used the type you would put jewelry into, with the cotton inside.

2 Free Printables - found below this image

Red Paper Crinkles (from Hobby Lobby) - But, I found mine at the Dollar Tree

Plastic Halloween Toys / Rings (small enough to fit into the boxes) - Also found at the Dollar Tree

Halloween Candy that fits into the boxes

Halloween Confetti (found at Hobby Lobby)

Scissors

Plastic Packing Tape and a Glue Stick

Right Click and Save the two images below. You can print them off for this tutorial!

Print and then cut out the invites below, and insert them into the boxes at the end.

Let's Get Started! Lay out all of your materials for the project.

Cut out the skull design from the first printable. This will be glued to the front of the boxes. Also, cut out the address labels, which are also on that same page.

Next, glue the skull cutouts onto the boxes with a glue stick. When you mail these, you will be covering them with clear tape, so they will stay put during shipping.

Add Red Paper Crinkles to emulate "blood" that is oozing out of the invite...

Next, place as many pieces of candy and Halloween toys as will possibly fit into the boxes while allowing the lid to still close. I also added spider confetti here, too.

Cut out your Get Spooky Invites, fill out the blanks, and add them to the box, on top of the candy!

Spooky Halloween Invites - Free Printable

Add the recipient's address to the back of the invite, and wrap everything up tight with clear packing tape!

Aren't they adorable??!!

Missouri Department Of Tourism

October 12, 2015

Super excited about this recent collaboration with Missouri Department of Tourism! They even posted my recipes on their blog (here). They asked me to submit ideas and then images of activities someone would do in Missouri in the Fall. I immediately thought about all the times we have camped, fished, hiked, and road tripped to Missouri! Bobby used to go down with his family to camp in Missouri a countless number of times when he was younger, and he was the one who really showed me the beauty of the state.

CHECK OUT THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM BLOG HERE

Here are a few of my favorite images Bobby and I created for this amazingly fun and nostalgic project! View all the images in my Portfolio (here).

VIEW THE WHOLE PORTFOLIO HERE

View This On Pinterest / View This On The Missouri Department of Tourism Blog — View This On Pinterest / View This On The Missouri Department of Tourism Blog

A Cozy And Refined Outfit For Fall

October 10, 2015

It's finally here! Chilly, wonderful, Fall weather! Scroll down to shop all of these items! Enjoy :)

Adidas Campus 2 Sneakers / Shop Here — Adidas Campus 2 Sneakers / Shop Here

This exact Chloe Blazer is sold out, but you can find a similar one here.

Check out the beanie (above), or shop other similar ones (below).

Find these cute earrings for only $3.95 here.

Check out my Fall + Winter Fashions on Pinterest!

Coming Soon!! Shop the rest of the outfit below...

MK WATCH - PATCHWORK JEANS - AMAZING PURSE

Emma Stine Limited

October 8, 2015

I have loved Emma Stine Limited for a LONG time. Their clothing and jewelry is gorgeous and would make any woman feel special. They recently asked me to model and photograph some of their items! I was so excited to collaborate with them. Below, you can see what I created!

Below, I featured a few of my favorite images from the project. To view the whole photo shoot, please visit MY PORTFOLIO :) There are so many more photos to see! Enjoy!

Learn more about these earrings - click here.

To find this dress, click here. — To find this dress, c lick here.

Pinterest // Facebook // Instagram // She's So Chic Blog // Twitter // Polyvore

Portfolio Spotlight - FYI Style Unzipped - Cute Fall Ideas

October 6, 2015

FYI Style Unzipped was such a cute show, and a fun brand to collaborate with! I have always LOVED fashion, and you can see that in my pins I find daily. I also love TV shows where you learn about fashion, so when FYI approached me, I was beyond excited! I was asked to showcase my style in regards to scarves, ballet flats, and neon! These terms are pretty open-ended, so I did my best to try and figure out how these specific terms were most relevant to today's most current trends. Check out my FULL PORTFOLIO...