FRI"DIY - Illuminating Candle Holder

Good afternoon and happy Friday! I know everyone is in a great mood today because, who doesn't love Friday? The reason I do is because I get to blog about DIY projects which happen to be one of my favorite down time hobbies. Today's DIY is very quick and easy but awesome! Anyone who knows me, knows I love candles; especially fall scented ones :-). Which is why you'll probably be seeing a lot of candle-based DIYs on my blog. Anywho, this blog is really simple and fun, only took about 15-20 minutes and I can show you in three short steps!

What you'll need:

A candle holder (of your choice) I purchased this one from The Christmas Tree Shops - $4.00

A glue gun, I purchased this one from A.C Moore and it was around $3.99. I would also grab extra glue sticks, too!

Mosaic Stones, I purchased the mini bags above from The Christmas Tree Shoppes, they were $1.99 each. I didn't need as many stones as I bought, I just figured it's better to buy more and have some left over than to be short stones. You can choose whichever colors you want *HOWEVER* they must be transparent (see through) or the light will not shine through them. I chose red, orange, yellow and clear because they're fall colors and I love fall!

Time to start!

Three Awesome Videos That'll Help You Get Through Thursday

Good morning!  For today's "mini post" I was doing my daily scroll through Cosmopolitan's website, which I do every morning, and I came across a post called "Three Awesome Videos That'll Help You Get You Get Through the Rest of the Week" Those videos definitely improved my morning, which prompted me to search the web for my own awesome videos to blog about!

Check them out below!

One video I found is "16 of the Worst Feelings" and this video will definitely improve your mood since (hopefully) none of these things have happened to you so far today. Remember, things could always be worse!

This video is "9 Celebrity Facts that Might Explode Your Brain"

Inexpensive Ideas for Your Upcoming Party!

I recently read an article on Seventeen.com called "How to Throw a Kickass Party (and Pay Your Rent)" and I absolutely fell in love with the article. I felt like I HAD to share the ideas they came up with. The editors at Seventeen talked about 5 easy DIYS that will make your party stand out, all while saving money! 

Light-Bright Coasters

Apply vinyl stickers to a glass tile, then spray-paint the whole tile. Remove stickers after 30 minutes. Use a sponge to apply a thin layer of Mod Podge (prevents chipping).

What you'll need:

• Spray paint
• Painter's tape
• Vinyl stickers
• Mod Podge
• Square glass tiles

Glitter-Bomb Champagne Flutes

Using painter's tape, mark off the area you don't want to cover (start a few inches below the rim). Pour nail polish into a bowl, then blot it onto a glass with a sponge. Peel the tape once the polish has fully dried. TIP: A shimmery shade looks sleeker than chunky sequins.

What you'll need:

• Champagne flutes
• Sparkly nail polish (shown above is Essie Nail Color in Beyond Cozy)
• Painter's tape
• Small sponge

Earn-Your-Stripes Serving Tray

Stencil a design using a ruler and chalk (or eyeball it!), then cover lines with long strips of metallic tape. Using a box cutter, slice the tape so it lies flush against any edges. TIP: Rectangular trays work better than round ones.

What you'll need:

FRI"DIY" - Tassel Necklaces (On A Budget)

Hello and happy Friday! I always get really excited for Fridays, not only because it's the weekend, but because it means I get to try out a new DIY! This weeks DIY is one of my favorites. I've been dying for a tassel necklace for fall! They're adorable and match with mostly everything. They're definitely funky, new and something I'm willing to try out!

If you haven't seen tassel necklaces yet, here are some I found online at Anthropologie:

Anthropologie "Neon Plume Necklace" - $38.00

Anthropologie "Tassel Plume Necklace" - $38.00

Anthropologie's website has a bunch of tassel necklaces and they range in price from $38-500+.

I loved their tassel necklaces so much that I decided I wanted to make my own.. On a budget! I got all of my products from AC Moore and it was one of the most simple DIY's I've done! Let's get started on your trendy tassel necklace.

The cost of this DIY is completely up to you and how many necklaces you want to make. I knew I would want to make more than one so I picked up a few extra items.

Tassels - $1.99 ea.

Jars of beads - $2.99 ea.

Beading wire - $3.99 ea.

Mini Diagonal Cutter - $2.99 ea.

"WTF" Fun Facts!

Hello everyone! I apologize for writing this post so late but I've had such a busy day. I also stopped to pick up everything that is needed for tomorrow's DIY project! I'm so excited. Since I'm going to start uploading videos every Sunday, I've decided to change Thursdays to "mini post" days. Mini posts allow me to still put up a blog, just without all of the usual content; it's mainly for the shorter topics that I want to talk about. Today, I stumbled across a website that offers all of these very very interesting facts and I decided I would love to share some of my favorites with you!

Beach Essentials! (On A Budget)

Happy Saturday! Thanks for stopping by! This morning when I woke up, I realized it's ALREADY August 10; which means summer is almost over. With summer coming to an end, most people make it a point to squeeze in as many beach days as they can. If you're thinking about hitting the beach soon, here are some essentials that you should bring along with you! 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - $17.99

Pick up a new book! Reading is one of the best forms of relaxation; combine that with the beach and it's a zen heaven! You could also bring school textbooks! Don't let your summer classes keep you inside; study on the beach!

Eos Lip Balm - $2.99

Keep your lips hydrated with some lip balm! One of the most important beach essentials. The sun can dry out your lips causing them to be serverely chapped. So, be smart and keep some lip balm on hand!

FRI"DIY" - Make Your Own Bath Bomb!

Friday is here! And not only does that mean it's time for the wonderful weekend, it means it's time for a new DIY project! The idea for this DIY came to me last night while I was taking a bath. Baths are one of the greatest forms of relaxation and I frequently engage in the activity. Anyway, last night I was taking a nice, warm, relaxing bath wishing I had some sort of amazing smelling bubble bath or bath bomb! So, I grabbed my phone and began looking online for places I could stop by in the morning to pick some bath essentials. The more I browsed, the more I realized that most of the bath accessories I wanted were a little too pricey for me; which led me to wonder how much it costs them to make the product. Then that little light bulb went off in my head and I was determined to make my own, cost friendly, bath bomb! And here we are!

What you'll need:

Sea Salt or any kind of big grain salt - $1.99

Cream of Tartar - $2.99 ea. This is what makes the bath bomb fizz!

Almond Oil - $3.99. I chose Almond Oil because it's great for enhancing the elasticity of your skin, preventing stretch marks and wrinkles. And it smells GREAT!

Cake Pop Mold - $4.99. You can buy any sort of mold you would like or use any one you have laying around your house. I decided to do mini bath bombs.

Food Coloring - $1.99. This part is optional, you only have to add color to the bath bomb if you would like too!

Baking Soda - $2.99

I got everything for this DIY at Shop Rite and in total it came out to around $23.00. This is a great deal because I made about 12 bath bombs which means each cost LESS THAN $2.00.

You'll also need:

"Remember When?" Wednesday!

There's no greater feeling than remembering something that you enjoyed when you were a kid. Whether it was clothes, accessories, a tv show, or even a toy. I decided to dedicate this blog post to items I "had to have" and shows I "had to watch" when I was a kid. Let's take a look at some 90's classics!

Polly Pocket and her rubber clothes were all I wanted to play with when I was a kid!

Apparently these accessories are called "choker tattoo necklaces." I used to love these things and my friends and I always would put them around our stomachs because they were stretchy enough. 

Happy Hump Day!

It's finally the middle of the work week! Only two more days until the weekend and I know everyone's excited for that!! One of my favorite things to do during work whenever I get a free second is look at quotes on Pinterest, We Heart It and Tumblr! Over the past week I've accumulated some quotes that I really like and would like to share with you!

FriDIY! Make Your Own Lip balm!

HAPPY FRIDAY! The weekend is finally here and I'm sure many people are very excited about that! Since summer is here, beautiful weather comes along with it; allowing you to go to the beach, lay out by the pool and relax! Another thing that tends to come along with summer is chapped lips! I have such trouble with my lips being chapped during the summer season. Along with keeping my body very hydrated by drinking lots of water, which helps with chapped lips, another thing I am very persistent with is applying lip balm/chap stick. I am a huge sucker for lipstick because I am intrigued by all the fun colors you get to choose from. Whenever I'm in line ready to purchase my lipstick I always wish I could find a chap stick in the color I want. Then, suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head.. which led me to the idea of making my own lip balm!

Ever since college I've started shopping at CVS. They have GREAT prices and you can sign up for their "Extra Care Card" which offers you coupons and "Extra Bucks." The coupons are great and the more you spend the more you get rewarded with Extra Bucks. Extra Bucks is CVS cash that you can put toward your purchase lowering the price! After every purchase at CVS, you'll get your receipt with sooooo many coupons attached to it as well as how much "Extra Bucks" you've acquired. It also informs you of the great sales that will be going on next week! I highly suggest that you get all of your DIY needs for this project from CVS and get your own "Extra Care Card!"

Here's an example of what Extra Bucks look like:

Okay moving on! The items you will need for this DIY is vaseline, your choice of lipstick, and a small container to put your new lip balm into!

Pictured above are the items I purchased from CVS and in total it came to around $10.00. The 5 piece travel kit contained perfect containers for lip balm! I didn't mind buying the travel kit because I know it will come into use later and it was only $5.99! 

The lipstick is called "Blossom" by NYC. It was 99 cents and I fell in love with the shimmery pink color; so perfect for summer!

I decided on a small container of Vaseline and it was only $1.75!

Time to get started on the DIY!

Go On A Blind Date With A Book!

I love reading; almost as much as I love writing. There has been countless occasions where I completely disregarded a book sitting on a shelf because of it's cover art, which is totally judgmental of me. Now that I've started a blog, I realized how upset I would be if someone disregarded my blog post based off of the title. The picture on the outside of the book shouldn't matter as much as the material written inside of the book. The picture we paint for ourselves inside our head while reading the book is more prominent in our minds than any cover page ever could be. A book is suppose to make you feel something, anything, and these feelings can differ from person to person; which is why I think it's ridiculous to judge a book by it's cover. One person could fall in love with a piece of art, while another hates it; the same goes for cover art. It's nearly impossible to choose artwork that satisfies everyone, so why not just pick a book based solely on the content? 

I've heard of one person blind dating another person but I've never heard of a person going on a blind date with a book! It's something that a few book stores and libraries have been picking up on recently. It's simple! The idea is to make sure the person buying the book CAN'T see the cover. You can use any kind of paper (brown paper is used here) and decorate it in any type of way that interests you (they added a simple bow as seen above)! You could find these simple, inexpensive, items at your local CVS or Dollar Store! Once the book is all wrapped up, remember that you have to put the price on it as well as a few descriptive words for the book; so try not to over decorate! The few words will grab the readers attention and have them interested in the content of the book as opposed to the cover. It will also arouse their curiosity regarding the "blind date" process. If you're thinking about hosting your own "Blind Date With A Book" it would be a great idea to test it out at a yard sale! Books are usually huge hits at yard sales! 

Mammograms and Motivational Mornings

Good morning blogging world! It's currently around 9:00 am and I'm getting ready for work! But before I do, I feel like it's necessary to blog! And it's very important that I start this blog off on a positive note and end it on one!

I found this quote on Pinterest yesterday while I was browsing through my feed. I couldn't seem to get this quote out of my head! It's definitely something I can relate to. There's has been countless occasions where I've been indecisive about what I should or shouldn't do; I wonder what the outcome will be and if the risk is worth the reward. This particular debate I have with myself is usually strenuous, lengthy and tiring. Normally, I get frustrated with my lack of judgement and ability to make a quick decision; however, once I saw this quote the opinion I had of my "dissatisfing" trait completely changed. See, I may not be producing the greatest idea in the quickest way possible, but, I'm producing a better and newer idea than I did yesterday. I mean, really, I should be lucky I have an idea at all! And that's what life is really all about, right? Growth.. And shaping yourself into the person you want to be, whether it takes you ten years or ten minutes. Take as much time as you need with your life and accept your indecisiveness as a good quality rather than a bad one!

On an entirely different note, I felt as though this blog should have a very inspiring beginning and end because I have some "not so fun" news to share. In July of last year I decided to undergo surgery for a Brest Reduction. I will talk more about before, after and during, the surgery in a different post because for right now I would like to focus on the present instead of the past! Yesterday, I had to go get a mammogram because one of my breasts have been swelling randomly and extremely sore for a long period of time. The reason I'm letting the entire world know about this is because I was terrified to get a mammogram. And I did one of the worst possible things which was google "what does it feel like to get a mammogram?" Before I knew it I was reading stories about how painful it was from women all over the world. My palms got more and more sweaty with every link I clicked on and I could feel my anxiety skyrocket through the roof. So, I'm here to put all of that nonsense to rest because that's exactly what it is, nonsense. I wish I had never gotten myself so nervous for something that I barley felt (even though my left breast was extremely sore)! 

Birthday (On A Budget) Part 2!

Hello to all reading this blog post! Thank you for stopping by :) I'm catching up on some Pretty Little Liars while I write this blog post! I'm very new to the TV show and I'm liking it so much that I've been breezing through episodes! I'm currently watching the third season on Netflix to try and catch up with season four (which is on TV) and I'm really enjoying it so far! 

Anywho, in my last blog I mentioned that I wanted to talk about Cody's birthday dinner but I got a little distracted blabbing on about his birthday party. So, onto the fabulous birthday dinner! We went to eat with Cody's sister, brother, sister in law, father and his fathers girlfriend. It was such a great time and I was so happy to see everyone! Before I start on where we went and how AMAZING everything was I'm going to post some pictures of my outfit from that night! 

I paired a white baggy button-up blouse with a tight denim acid wash skirt and strappy sandals. The acid wash skirt is a size medium from Pac Sun. It's high-waisted and it was $39.00. One thing you should ALWAYS splurge on is denim; denim will last forever! The white baggy blouse has gold buttons and is also a size medium. I decided that I didn't want to wear it tucked in, so I let it flow over the skirt. It has a really nice fit and was soo comfortable. I wore a simple black (kind of) sports-bra garment underneath the sheer blouse and loved the way it looked! Especially because my strappy sandals (from H&M) were black also. The blouse is from Charlotte Russe and was $14.95. Such a steal! The shoes were $12.00, so, all together my outfit came to $66.95! A full special occasion outfit from a retail store for under $75.00! Sounds like smart shopping to me!

Here's what the outfit looked like put together:

Birthday (On A Budget)!

My boyfriend Cody's birthday was on July 16, he turned the BIG 2-1!

Here's a picture of the big, bad 21 year old eating the BIRTHDAY BREAKFAST I cooked for him!..

It was definitely an exciting time for, not only him, but every member of his family and his friends as well! We threw a "Christmas in July" themed party which turned out GREAT. We even rented a Sno Cone machine that was in the shape of a polar bear. It couldn't have worked out better! Now, I originally intended to fill up this post with details of the AMAZING dinner we had last night at Carmine's in Atlantic City, New Jersey, (located in the Tropicana Casino) but I'll save that for the next post!

So, let's start off with the food! My mom owns a restaurant in Ventnor, New Jersey, Called Domenico's. Luckily, she catered the party which saved me a very big amount of money! I was so relieved that I could put some of the food funds toward the decorations.

Here's a picture of the way we had the food set up:

I also picked up some snack food from Sam's Club. If you do not have a Sam's Club Card, I highly suggest getting one! They sell large quantities of food at (almost) wholesale prices. It's a great way to shop because it allows you to buy things in bulk for a cheaper price than if you were to buy them individually! I picked up a huge box of Capri Sun juice, lemonade, chips, dip, hamburgers, hot dogs, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, lollipops, those red candy-cane looking mints that remind you of Christmas :) and I also picked up this really cool iced tea pitcher! In total I spent about $150 there which was great for the amount of stuff I got, especially because everything came in such large quantities!

Now, onto the biggest hit at the party, the Sno Kone machine! It cost around $60.00 to rent the machine and then when you arrive at the store you have the option to buy the Sno Kone Juice and cups for the ice to go into. All together I spent $75.00 renting the Sno Kone machine. I got three packs of cups, the Sno Kone machine and two different flavored juices. Everyone LOVED it and it was well worth the money! I rented it from AC Party Rental located on the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township, New jersey.

 Here's a picture of the Sno Cone machine and their website: http://acparty.com/

My friend, Brittney, was REALLY liking the polar bear head.. Can you tell?

However, the thing that made my night wasn't the Sno Cone machine, it was the fact that everyone really took the theme of the party serious and got all dressed up for it! We had a green, red and white dress code and it made me so happy to see that people cared enough to acknowledge the theme!

Here's a picture of one of my favorite outfits from the night!

All-in-all the party was a HUGE success. It [the party] got us all in the Christmas spirit! Here are some more pictures from our very own Christmas in July celebration!

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog and thank you for reading my very first blog post! I'm still getting used to this, so try and bear with me while I learn the ways of the blogging world! If you would like to know some background on me you can click on the "About Me" tab! I also have a tab that will lead you to my online thrift store, so click away and explore! I look forward to discussing my day-to-day thoughts, savings and experiences with everyone!

Don't forget to subscribe and follow me on twitter and instagram! @BriMazzuca