This is probably one of my FAVORITE crafts that I've done recently! I was inspired to start working on Easter crafts and one of the things I wanted to do was turn regular Easter baskets into Princess inspired baskets! This is the first one that I did, and I thought it turned out adorable!
The Rapunzel inspired basket uses two of the craft techniques that I've used in the past to do DIYs, and puts them together! I previously have made the girls tulle dress up skirts and also yarn braided dress up braids - this basket puts both of those concepts together on one basket!
You can follow the quick and easy tutorial on how to make your own princess inspired basket in this video!
What type of princess basket would you want to make?
If you want to check out the other craft tutorials I've done, check out these links below!
Tulle Skirts: https://youtu.be/ZUOrbfKHARI
Elsa Dress Up Braid: https://youtu.be/e9s3Kq2B8NQ
Anna Dress Up Braid: https://youtu.be/LBNAgjyHU7c
** This is not a sponsored blog post. All opinions are my own.
As we begin to plan our next trip to Walt Disney World, I've taken time to reflect on our past trip in April 2014, to evaluate any "must do" or "must see" items based on what the girls gravitated towards previously. Our next trip will be a bit longer and also include two additional parks, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios - which will be all new for them! So I'm excited to introduce these two parks to the girls and see what new favorites we may come home with!
At Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, the girls had a few definitive favorites and I thought I would share those in one fun video! Video clips from each ride are included!
Top 5 Rides for Preschoolers at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT:
(As chosen by the "Style girls"!) Isabella was 3 years old at the time of this trip and Natalie was 2 years old.
The Influenster fun continues with this complimentary Surfs Up Vox Box right in time for the beginning of summer!
Lots of great products in this one! A coupon for a free Jamba Juice kit, Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration in coconut papaya, Not Your Mother's Shampoo and Conditioner, Sinful Colors nail polish, and a First Aid therapy shot.
Check out my YouTube video for my first impressions!
We had a wonderful time at Disney World! Here were some highlights! We took on Disney World with a 2 year old and a 3 year old!
Magic Kingdom was of course... magical, and the girls had a wonderful time exploring. They were all new to the theme park "thing", so I felt like it took us the first day to catch our stride. We spent most of our day in Fantasyland and the adults enjoyed seeing the new addition to the park as well. (Which included Beast's Castle, Gaston's Tavern, the new Ariel ride, and the Snow White mine train ride which was still under construction at the time we were there.)
EPCOT was our second full day at Florida, and admittedly - turned out to be our favorite! We found plenty to do for preschoolers there, they had art stations and a number of rides that were preschool friendly. (Living Seas & the Nemo ride was one of our favorites!) The girls also loved seeing the World Showcase. The highlight that day was the Princess Lunch at Akershus, which also could be said to be the highlight of the entire TRIP! It was wonderful, and will be a must do on our next WDW vacation as well!
Our next day was spent at the beach, and we again had a fantastic time. It was the girls' first time seeing the ocean for them both, and they were definitely awestruck by it!
On our final day, it turned out to be a bit of a rain day, so we took to Downtown Disney and tried to get some last minute shopping in!
We had a wonderful time at Walt Disney World and cannot wait to go back! In fact, we started talking about our next trip the minute we got home and decided we needed to squeeze in one more trip at the end of the year! I'm excited to begin preparations for our next WDW trip in 2014!!
I'm a bit nostalgic writing this post… over 2 years ago, I started this blog to capture our adventures at Walt Disney World when Bella (my little Cupcake, for those that only read the blog and don't follow our YouTube Channel, beingmommywithstyle) was only 9 months old! It was her first trip to WDW and I was excited to share it with her. At the time, I was not on YouTube full-time yet, and only took limited video of the trip. Oh how I wish now I had the camera out more during that time, and caught all those precious moments on film… but alas, at least I have pictures and a few videos.
And I'm back now, after a short blog hiatus - to share a Disney trip once again. This time with BOTH girls (Natalie, "aka Peanut" was "on" the last trip… but no one knew it yet, ha!), Natalie's first visit to Walt Disney World and the first vacation there that Bella would remember. I knew this would be an exciting time, and I was so thankful that I would now have more extensive videos to look back on in years to come.
We ventured to Disney World in Orlando the first week in April 2014, and the trip went marvelous… I will be sharing a separate blog recap post for each of the "Day in the Life" YouTube videos. These will be videos that I will look back and treasure for some time, and I'm excited to be able to share them with you. I will also be doing a blog recap of my YouTube Travel Prep series and traveling with toddlers. It was an adventure, but an extremely fun one at that!
I challenged myself to try some new meals this past week, and came across some great crock pot meal options on the blog Mommy's Fabulous Finds! I was trepidatious at first, to try something new. We started out with Pork Carnitas, which went great - then onto Teriyaki Porkchops which were also really good, and finally ended the week up with Honey Bourbon Chicken - which also turned out… you guessed it, great!
Watch on YouTube to see how quick and easy these meals were - as well as the final outcome!
Pork Carnitas:
Teriyaki Porkchops:
Honey Bourbon Chicken:
All in all, it was a great experiment - and I'm looking forward to trying some new meals next week as well!
One of the perks of moving to our new house was the agreement that because my husband got his mondo sized garage, I could use a bedroom in the house for my "lady's nice things" room! I was very excited how this worked out, because having a room like this was something that I had only dreamt about in the past.
After we moved into the house in late October, it was a whirlwind of activity with the holidays and projects around the house. I didn't feel like I could truly focus on the purse room/dressing room until I had things take care of for the holidays. During December, I did get a good amount of momentum done on the room and I'm happy to finally be able to share the beginnings of my purse room!
Check out my video reveal on YouTube here:
I ordered a display cabinet from Home Decorators, the Essex Glass Door book case - and I'm using this to display a number of my handbags. Not all of them fit in the cabinet unfortunately - so I am looking for a secondary, likely smaller, cabinet to house extra purses and books…. However I love the styling of the Essex cabinet and the aesthetic it brings to the room.
The chair was a particular sticking point for the room. (And being able to finally share the room!) I wanted a chair that would pull out into a twin sleeping space, so that the room could function as additional guest sleeping space when we were hosting a number of people at our home. I originally was looking at a twin sleeper chair from Ballard Designs, the Tate Twin Sleeper Chair, and had settled on a fabric and design.
However at the last minute, I came across a chair at JCPenny, called the Twin Sleeper Chair, that was on *mega* sale - and it was a deal too good to pass up!! (Practically half of the price the Tate Chair was going to be.) In my hast in ordering from the few day sale going on, I missed that the fabric on the gray (my color of choice) chair was a microfiber… which because of fingerprint imprints would not be my first choice - overall I'm excited about the value and I think it will work great.
On the walls, I added a few prints by Lauren Maurer (check out her Etsy store!) - her gorgeous dress form watercolors have been some of my favorites to pin on Pinterest.
I also included a "charms wall" where I can add various wall pieces of interest as I find ones that speak to me.
All in all, I'm excited about the room and where it seems its headed. I think there is still a lot of work to be done, items to be ordered, and some more moving of things around… but I'm quite enjoying having my own space in our new home for my own passions and pursuits.
I'm looking forward to adding some finishing touches - changing out things like the chair at my vanity, adding a script print ottoman, and possibly a full size dress forum mannequin. It has been a lot of fun to be a bit "girlie" with a room in the house!
Do you have your own "lady's nice things" room? How have you chosen the decor for that room?
Well, life does get in the way from living sometimes - doesn't it?
We moved, craziness ensued... and I haven't managed to update Mom's Got a Brand New Bag in quite some time. Here are some highlights...
Big girl beds...
Birthdays...
Christmas trees...
Also, we had a lot of New Year's fun!
I'm debating where 2014 is going to take my blogging... should I jump to Word Press and try to take it up a notch? Or keep it the same with occasional updates here. I'm still in the decision stage but will be sure to post an announcement if I make the switch to Word Press under a new blog name!
Hope your 2014 is starting out great and I wish you all the best this upcoming year!
So, erhm - long time, no write? Long story short - we've been moving over the past few months and most everything else has gotten sidelined while we focused on packing, moving, and unpacking. We are currently still in the midst of getting settled in to our new house (same general location, just new house) - and I felt like it was time to revive my blog with an update.
Okay, I lied - I needed to pin a picture to my Pinterest page of a custom outfit that Natalie will probably wear for her upcoming 2nd birthday - and as it turns out, you can't pin from Facebook. I *have* been thinking I needed to do a blog check-in though!
So in my absence, I was able to continue sporadically posting on YouTube... here are the highlights of what you missed while I was "away":
I shopped at Sephora.
I'm putting together a purse display room.
I still had to get groceries.
So really... not too much. LOL! And I'm hoping to be back to a more regular posting schedule - both blog AND YouTube - in the coming weeks. Full details of Natalie's birthday party in blog & video form of course, and a blog check-in on our move is probably due as well!
With that mini update... I leave you with - the photo of the outfit Natalie will more than likely wear to her 2nd birthday party next weekend. ;)
National Handbag Day is tomorrow, October 10th! It is the first ever 'National Handbag Day' and was recently enacted by the Purse Blog as an official holiday! (They applied for it to be a holiday just for purse enthusiasts!)
I thought this was neat and wanted to spread the word, check out my video below to see what handbag I will be using for the inaugural Handbag Day and go to Purse Blog for more information on the new holiday!
* I am in no way affiliated with Purse Blog, I just thought this was a neat holiday and wanted to share! This is not a paid review. All opinions are my own.
For the first 26 weeks of Preschool at Home, we completed an alphabet letter craft for each letter of the alphabet! I came across the idea of these adorable things on Pinterest one night before starting our preschool at home endeavor, and decided we would do the coordinating craft letter to match the 'letter of the week' each week!
I thought it worked perfectly and it was a great way to reinforce the letter of the week, as well as an additional way to talk about things that started that letter. Some of Cupcake's favorites were the 'I is for Ice Cream' craft, 'L is for Lion', 'T is for Tree', and 'X is for Xylophone'! I helped with the cutting and some marker work for details, Cupcake was in charge of glueing the letters down to the page, picking out background paper colors, and arranging everything together. By the end of the first 26 weeks, she had become a pro at putting the letters together!
26 Letters in detail:
A is for Alligator
B is for Bear
C is for Cat
D is for Dog
E is for Elephant
F is for Fox
G is for Giraffe
H is for Horse
I is for Ice Cream
J is for Jaguar
K is for Kangaroo
L is for Lion
M is for Mouse
N is for Nest
O is Owl
P is for Parrot
Q is for Quail
R is for Rabbit
S is for Snail
T is for Tree
U is for Umbrella
V is for Vase
W is for Watermelon
X is for Xylophone
Y is for Yak
Z is for Zebra!
Check out our Preschool at Home project on YouTube, where we work on preschool projects at home to increase readiness for going to school!
I have been trying it out the past few weeks and have absolutely been loving it! I was sent the Pond's Luminous Finish BB+ Cream by Influenster to do a product test of it before it released in the United States and also post a product review of it, if I felt the product was worthy.
I've enjoyed using the BB+ Cream, and I have to say the timing was absolutely perfect - as I had been leaning towards wearing BB creams for the majority of the summer. I was happy to try another option, and the Luminous Finish BB+ Cream didn't disappoint!
It claims to improve your skin texture over a period of two weeks and also decrease dark spots on your skin as well, I do believe I've seen an improvement in my skin and I know my skin feels better... so that is an important part as well.
Also, it gives great coverage and I can "build" it in areas where I would like a little bit more coverage - but it doesn't cake up or look like I'm wearing a ton of makeup. BB creams are great to let your natural skin shine through, and this BB+ cream is no exception, in that it gives my skin a nice healthy glow when I'm wearing it.
The BB+ cream also works great as a moisturizer, so i'm looking forward to wearing this during the winter months when my skin tends to get a bit dry - and if I can put faith in any company to know its moisturizers, it would be Pond's. A company known for its moisturizer world wide for decades.
This item is currently available on mass retailer store shelves now, and retail price is approximately $9.99.
See the full review and explanation of the Pond's contest below:
See my 2 minute entry in the Pond's Facebook competition for who best displayed and represented the product in under 2 minutes!
Vote NOW on the Pond's Facebook page for the best representatives of the BB+ Cream! Voting goes through August 12, 2013.
** Items in this review were sent complimentary for purposes of completing a review. This is not a paid review. All opinions are my own.
I was given the opportunity to review the Saha Tote by OkieDog, a company new to the US diaper bag market. I chose the Mondrian color scheme, which is a rich purple tone with a bright pink accent.
The tote is a great size for everyday use and the perfect size to carry around items for my two toddlers - one potty trained and the other still in diapers. It measures 18" by 12" by 5.5" inches, and accommodated all of my essentials nicely.
There are a number of organizational elements to keep items in place, I especially like how the front pocket has a built in key holder and cell phone pocket, perfect for use for "mommy items". On the interior, there is a changing pad included and a slip pocket with a snap closure to keep it in place. Also included for babies using bottles is an insulated drink holder.
An accessory pouch with the adorable bird print was included with the bag, and I found that it worked great as a "quick change emergency" bag for my older toddler that is potty training. To keep a change of clothes and wet bag in, and attach it to a snap closure strap on the interior that I could access quickly.
There are numerous pockets to keep diapers, wipes, sippy cups, toys, and other essentials organized:
Included were some clips to use with the "Clipix" system, to attach to your stroller or other items, and use the o-rings on the exterior of the bag to hang and easily be detachable. Okiedog also included a cup holder accessory to try out the Clipix system, which worked out great on my Britax B-Ready to have an additional cup holder to utilize! (Either on the top for the parent, or even on the bottom level for a toddler!!)
Final Verdict: My favorite part was the print and colors! Such an adorable design and I loved the subtle pink accents on the bag. The Saha tote style was comfortable to carry and use. I thought this was a well thought out diaper bag that was fun to use, wonderful to look at, and kept me well organized! The size worked out perfectly for my two toddlers' items and the bag seemed durable enough to keep up with our play date filled lives. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a tote style diaper bag to keep them organized!
Tah dah! Everyone at our house is now a princess... due to our wonderful new dress up organization for the girls' dresses and accessories! It works as great storage when the items are not in use and gives them easy access to use things during play time!
We had originally seen a dress up station on Wayfair.com, but my husband thought it was something he could tackle and do himself. We came across blogger Jess, that had that same thought on "Craftiness is not Optional", which even contained a link to another site by Ana White that had some plans for similar designs! He went to work on ours and came up with a design that would work great in our play room.
My husband put it together over a few weekends, with some additional work time being added on it by using a router on all of the edges to give them a rounded finish - so there were no sharp corners in the girls' play area. We picked out paint at Lowe's (Valspar "Plum Burst" 4002- 10B, in case you're looking for it!) - and made our own stencils on some card stock using a font in the word processing program on our computer. I think it turned out beautifully!
The top shelf has storage space for tiaras, cowboy hats, and the pirate hat... if it was ever not in use!
Lots of room to hold the ever important dresses & tutus!
The bottom has a bin that is a great little cubby for purses, shoes, and jewelry:
It has been a great addition to the play room! I will do an updated playroom organization video soon!
Here's the reveal of the dress up station to the girls for the first time - and a mini tour of their dress up items (so far, ha!) in their collection:
The girls loved it, as you can see here!
Cupcake looking all grown up in her Rapunzel costume!
Peanut enjoying the dress up selections!
Great job to Daddy and Grandad - and a very special thanks to Craftiness is Not Optional who was a great help in giving us inspiration for ours, and the plans by Ana White that she linked on her page that gave Daddy a great place to start for ours!
