I SHOULD be cleaning my room right now, since you can hardly even walk in it properly without tripping over a folded pile of clean clothes. Am I cleaning? No. What am I doing instead? Sitting here, mesmerized by this amazing party blog =) It is...

The Party Dress

*Features real parties with invitations and stationary from her adorable stationary and party accessory company, Well-Heeled Hostess


*Tons of DIY items and tips to help you create the perfect party

*Easy to navigate- always a plus with me, everything is clearly categorized

*Her background in the fashion industry shows through, everything is very tasteful and not tacky at all

*Love that she also includes Home Decor

It's essential that you visit this blog if you love entertaining, are looking for inspiration or in search of a DIY idea!

Make Up by Maleeva

Time to showcase a friend! You may remember the model from the photo shoot I posted, Maleeva. Well shes a good friend o f mine and she does professional makeup! She's done photo shoots, fashion shows AND films! On her blog you can see a lot of what she's done, including alot more shots that I did her hair for. You know what the best part is? The professional amazing makeup (that she's used on me and I loved) that she uses is available for purchase! That's right, I know as soon as I get a little extra cash I'm going to buy some makeup. The line is Motives and it's by professional make up artist, Loren Ridinger. I'll also be honest in saying it is NOT that expensive and lasts forever! You can check out the Motives line and contact Maleeva to purchase items at this site....

Motives Makeup

We are starting a children's themed beauty party business together! So, you'll most likely hear a lot about Maleeva in the future!

Blog hopping today and came across this little jem! It's a baking and photography blog =)



Honey & Jam

*It's as simple and sweet as it's name

*Her photography is beautiful and timeless in a way. You want to eat everything she snaps a pic of! You can almost smell the cake and feel the southern sun on your skin! Dramatic I know, but I love her photography style!

*Her recipes look to die for

*She proved Photography and Baking is a marriage made in Heaven

Eat Drink Pretty

This next blog....TO DIE FOR! If you ever even THOUGHT about MAYBE SOMEDAY planning ANYTHING you need to see this. It's nothing short of divine...saying it's adorable is not doing it justice. This is a lifestyle blog for entertaining, baking, cooking, party planning, etc. Amazing!

*The overall pretty feel of the blog makes you just want to sit there and read every single post, it's addicting

*Not only does the create use real weddings/parties (which i love) she is a part of many of them herself

*Shows you how to do many things yourself to achieve what she does

*Her taste. Just by itself is beautiful

*Simple, easy to use and find categories, if you're looking for something specific

*Includes a recipe index that lists all the dishes- so convenient

Maybe I'm biased because I love event/party planning and all things pretty but this is like a blog come true for me. Visit it!

From time to time, I'll do a little blog about myself and what's going on in my life (since you all care so so much.) So heres a little tidbit about...me! Although I am planning on finishing my bachelors in Business Admin, then hopefully moving onto Event Planning on some level, I didn't always have that career goal. In 2008 I dropped out of college and attended Metro Beauty Academy for Cosmetology. I got my license in the fall of 2009 and started on the journey of becoming an amazing hair stylist. Well after much thought I don't see myself working in a salon...ever. I'm not saying they are all like this but all the salons I came in contact with were petty and too cool for school. I couldn't stand being there! So, this is when I decided to finish my bachelors. HOWEVER, I still have a major love for hair and makeup and anything beauty related. I freelance for now, going to people's homes (mostly friends and family) and I do special events and photoshoots. Well I just received some photos from the very first photoshoot I ever did!!! The model is my very good friend, Maleeva who is a makeup artist that does photoshoots, fashion shows and film. She did a test boudoir shot for a photographer that she's worked with before and I did her hair for it! I think the pictures turned out GORGE!
I did the color and cut two days prior to the shoot, but styled it the day of! A little of what I did... Her hair was a darker brunette with some previous low lights and color already on it. What I did to achieve this golden blonde was a slow process- always important if you don't want to cause alot of damage to the hair! I highlighted it once partially (throughout the top) then waited one week and highlighted it again really concentrating on picking up pieces I hadn't picked up before. Then about a month later I heavily highlighted it once again and toned it with a Well /73 which is a brunette gold. Toning is like a polish it tones the hair to the color you want it to be canceling out any unwanted pigments (orange, yellow.) I think it turned out beautiful! So if you are a darker brunette or you have previous colored darker hair and want to be blonde by summer- start early! Gradually highlighting and giving your hair time to breathe in between is the healthiest way to go about it!


The cut is just a basic long layered cut, nothing fancy!

Here are the steps I took to style it...

1) The morning of the shoot, she washed it so it was clean and wet to work with. Not all stylists have access to water on a shoot lol, so alot of them start from dry. However, since I knew it was available I started from clean wet hair. With an updo its best to style it not freshly washed so it stays, but in this case it was okay for it to be wet! She washed it with Sebastian Drench Shampoo and Conditioner (which I swear by)

2) I used Sebastians Thickify Foam, which is a thickener similar to what a root lift does only it thickens the entire hair strand from root to tip. I applied it wet and equally roots to ends.

3) Using pretty small sections I round brushed her hair damp, rolling the brush onto her head like a hot roller. I started in the back and worked my way front. I kept the brush in place, just shooting hot air at it and then "set" each section by leaving the round brush there a few seconds. This acts almost like a curling iron because it hearts up the metal. I then clipped each section to hold it as if there was a roller in it. This allows the hair to cool in that position. It also creates volume where you need it most. Each section was pinned back away from her face.

4) She applied her makeup for the shoot while the rolls cooled. After I felt them gently and felt they weren't hot anymore, I took each one out. Now, most hair lengths look amazing even just after this step! Its like Hollywood hair, I'm not kidding, it has volume with just a tiny bit of curl to it- amazing! However, I wasn't going for that look exactly. So, to fine tune I took my straightening iron and at each section I put the hair in it, roll the straightener and pulled down. This creates a curl. It's hard to describe but there are tons of youtube videos that are great at showing what exactly a straightening iron can do!

5) I finished the look by spraying it with Sebastian's Fierce Hairspray. This hairspray is amazing in that it holds so well but lets you play and place the hair where you want it to go- its no sticky. This works perfect for a photoshoot because the hair gets tussled between wardrobe changes and in between shots!

Overall I am so happy with it- I think she looks amazing! The photographer is Jim Yost, he works out of New Jersey. Hes so fun to work with and really great at what he does, here is his website...
http://jamesandrewphoto.com/

While searching for party ideas, I came across this blog...

Tastefully Entertaining

*Clean, easy to navigate, with every party you could imagine neatly listed in categories

*Beautiful use of inspiration boards with details on where each item on it comes from (website, recipe, etc)

*Practical, posting parties that are doable, yet will still "wow" your friends

*Thinks of every detail you would have to to throw an entertaining event

So if you are looking to plan a baby/bridal shower or just looking for an excuse to get together with friends this blog is well worth it =)

The very first blog I'm gonna blog about is something I stumbled upon

while I was trying to get some graphic fonts. It ended up being one of the cutest
blogs I've ever seen...

It's Kevin and Amanda

*I love the overall look, it flows and its super cute without being tacky and overdone. To me it's really important that a blog be easy to navigate and to the point, however when it looks like an adorable virtual scrap book, that doesn't hurt either.

*I'm more a fan of personal blogs and not so much big companies/magazines, although I will have a few on here. You can tell right off the bat that Amanda is very creative!

*There are a few different areas of their interest that are covered here. She has a collection of the cutest fonts in the world that she makes for scrap booking. ALSO you can send her your handwriting and she'll make it into a font! How amazing is that? I use some of them for my headings in this very blog ;)

*There is a recipes section where she shares everything from desserts to apps to soups.

*Her scrap booking section is to die for, for anyone who loves scrap booking or just art in general. Super easy to navigate around which is always something I appreciate in a blog. Its quick, to the point!



So, if you're looking for ideas for scrap booking, cooking or just needs some adorable fonts do NOT overlook this blog =)