Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas Card

Confession: Today is December 23 and our Christmas cards went out yesterday. 

Thankfully I just happened to choose a card that tacks on "and Happy New Year", so I'm in the clear right?!  This year's Christmas card may have went out way (way, way) later than I typically prefer sending, but they did get mailed.  And they're probably one of my favorite cards to date! 

The fact that our outfits are totally. on. point. may have something to do with that...


And that I was having a good hair day thanks to my Beauty Swap goodies doesn't hurt either!

Again this year, I created our Christmas card using Shutterfly.  They have SO MANY templates that I spent hours (not kidding) designing options for this year's card.  I got to the point where I was saving them things like "Christmas Card # no idea" and "Christmas Card what number am I on".  Matt and I had to narrow down our options twenty-freakin'-six to one!  The barnwood and coordinating red design sorted itself quickly to the top of our list of options.

I hope you all get to spend this holiday season with the ones you love the most! 

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 10, 2015

It's Like Christmas! Beauty Swap Reveal.



I genuinely love participating in Crystal Cattle's Beauty Swap! My favorite part is connecting with and staying in touch with past partners.  I've had some great ones!  Thanks to Crystal for creating such a fun event and allowing me to co-host with her for the 2nd anniversary of the Beauty Swap!

This Swap I was paired with Sara Hewitt of Faith, Farming & Cowboy Boots.  Sara is a farmer's daughter, who is working on getting a Master's degree in Agricultural Education.  She's also a cowboy boot wearing garage sale lover with a passion for horses.

Sound familiar?!!?  Two peas in a pod we are!  Sara and her hubby do have an adorable little girl, Harper; while Matt and I are only parents to two fur babies!

The package of goodies Sara sent arrived while I was in Chicago for our Illinois Farm Bureau annual meeting (Another commonality between the two of us!  Sara and Mark are active in the Minnesota Farm Bureau), but I literally ripped open the box when I got home Monday night!  Inside were some great items:

Beauty Swap

Throughout the string of emails getting to know each other, we talked a lot of about likes/dislikes and products that we'd be wanting to try.  First on my list was The Detangler hairbrush, which is as fantastic as every says!  I've used it on dry hair and again this morning after my shower.  Love!  I'm typically a comb user out of the shower, but this has be seriously reconsidering.
The two lip crayons were included by Sara because they're some of her favorite steals from Ulta.  I received Love Spell and Hazy Pink, which is a matte finish.  I've got on Love Story right now and it's definitely got me under some sort of spell!

See the Brow Power up there??  It's epic.  I've struggled with whether my current brow pencil is too dark for my brow color and this little ditty rectifies that problem.  It's UNIVERSAL!  The darker you press the dark it appears and the brush that's included helps to feather for a natural look.

The It Cosmetics Hello Lashes mascara has taken some getting used to.  The applicator end is different configured differently than what I've used in the past, but I'm getting the hang of it after a few days.  

I've yet to try the Powder Play, but I do love me some big Texas hair and can't wait to 'tease it to Jesus'!  Our Christmas pictures are scheduled for Friday and plan to jack my hair!

Sara also included several sample products and I'm loving the CC+ cream by It Cosmetics.  I've used it the last two mornings and really like to look and feel.  And now a shameless bathroom selfie featuring several of my Beauty Swap items...

Beauty Swap

I can't wait to see what everyone else received in their Swap boxes and hopefully connect with some more amazing women!  Don't forget to link upyour blog posts on Crystal's page!