Project: Kate Spade Beeline Cardigan

I'm a Gleek! There, I admit it! What's not to love, right? I love the singing, the story lines, and the fashion of one Miss Emma Pillsbury! I love cardigans and she just wears the cutest ones ever! So I was watching an episode of Glee when I saw Miss Emma rock a particularly cute bee cardigan . . .

ADORE! OMG . . . I had to have it! So I googled "Glee Bee Cardigan", hahaha, seriously, that's all it took and lo and behold, found the exact one that she had on!

And OF COURSE, it's Kate Spade! And of course, it's like $295!! *sigh* guess I don't HAVE to have it! So, I gave up on it! And then for some strange reason one day, I decided to look for it again and hallelujah it went on sale for $118! Much more do-able, but of course, it was all sold out by the time I found out about the sale! UGH, anyways, while I was searching Miss Kate Spade's cardigan, I came across some DIY's of the sweater and being that I'm not entirely crafty, noticed that it is pretty easy to recreate! So here I go . . .

You'll need:

* basic sewing skills
* white embroidery floss ($0.35 at Michael's)
* sequin bee applique ($1.75 on ebay)
* black cardigan
* 2 hours

I actually went out and bought a nicer black cardigan because if I was going to spend all this time on a project, I wanted the cardigan to hold up and wear forever! But you can use an old one that you already have on hand. Carefully figure out where you want the bee and iron it in place. My sequin bee had little red hearts as antennae, which I didn't care for, so I cut them off. Use Kate Spade's stock photo to carefully stitch the path of the bee's flight. There were a lot of loops on the bottom right of the cardigan - I was getting tired of stitching and actually didn't like how there were so many, so I edited some of it out - so the end result is not an absolute exact replica, but close enough! Some people used a chalk pencil and drew the path first before stitching, but I just free-handed it because I didn't have a chalk pencil and it turned out okay! The finished results . . .

I absolutely love it! Super cute and easy to do and way less than $295!

Product Testing

I've always wanted to be a product tester - I mean, the first person to be "in the know" about something and have companies want and value your opinion?! How awesome of a job would that be? Alas, my career path didn't quite get me there to be an "official product tester", so instead, I did some searching online to see if I could do something like that during my spare time! I came across SheSpeaks (http://www.shespeaks.com/), which is created by women for women to give them a forum to connect with others and to express their opinions! Pretty cool concept! I haven't had much opportunity to do any product testing from them save for a survey and now finally . . . some chips!

I received a coupon from SheSpeaks for a free bag of Tostitos Artisan Recipes. I picked up my bag (Reg: $3.99, on sale for $2.99) at my local QFC. Usually with "new products", it takes awhile before it's available in stores, so I was super happy that it was so easy to find! I picked out the Roasted Garlic and Black Bean Tortilla Chip flavor (the other being the Fire-Roasted Chipotle flavor) and brought it home to try with my husband. I decided to serve it with Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Hummus and their Edamame Hummus. The chips were super yummy - not too salty so that they can be eaten on their own and won't overpower the dip either. My husband thought they were really good too, and with each bite, kept commenting how good the chips were (he had no idea I was going to jot down notes on his reaction for this review)!

Review: Love & Toast Hand Creme

I discovered Love & Toast while I was in SpaceNK in London - what caught my eye was the whimsical packaging and the light scent and formulation of the creme (as well as the cute name!) It was a spendy 14 GBP, but I thought it was something that I could only get there! When I brought it home and looked at it carefully, I realized that it's a Denver based company and that I could've paid $9 for a tube here in the States versus the crazy $22 USD that I spent over in London! YIKES!

Anyways, I've been looking for the "perfect" hand creme - I loved Aveda's Hand Therapy, but think they may have changed their formulation because now it just feels way greasier than it used to be! I've tried L'occitane's Shea Butter Hand Creme and find it slightly greasy as well. Then I tried Love & Toast and fell in LOVE! The scents are very light & feminine and the formulation is also light and sinks in perfectly to leave your hands soft and non-greasy. The price is comparable to your L'occitane hand cremes, but it can be hard to find since not all retailers carry it. The tube is similar to L'occitane as well - being metal (or aluminum) so it folds and crinkles up in weird shapes sometimes. Not a complete fan of the packaging since I feel it can be hard to get every last bit out of these types of tubes. The tube is also sealed with a thin metal film that you have to prick open but they don't provide you with anything to do so, which is annoying. I ended up prying it open with some scissors, so please be careful!

I've only tried the paper flower scent - which is a very light citrus and floral fragrance. But I'm totally excited to try them all! And now if you purchase from their website, they have free shipping from 11/26/10-12/23/10! http://www.loveandtoast.com/
Have you tried these yet? They're my ultimate favorite hand creme! Let me know which scents you love!

Review: Philosophy Apricots & Cream Body Lotion

I was taking a tour of Sephora and happened to glance at the Philosophy section and came upon a tester bottle of their Apricots & Cream body lotion. I thought nothing of it as I sampled a little bit, but when I got a whiff of it, my heart literally skipped a beat. I was in love! The smell is so delicious - sweet, feminine, and more like peaches than apricots. It is divine! I was being good and decided not to go ahead and purchase the bottle, but as I drove home, I just kept smelling my hands over and over again! I could literally nibble my hands off - it was THAT good of a smell!

Naturally I succumbed to my temptation and bought a bottle since I couldn't stop obsessing over it! It's $24 at Sephora for a 16oz bottle (and it's limited edition - which always makes you buy more than you should, right?) The texture is light and creamy - perfect for everyday normal use, but may not be sufficient for those of you with really super dry skin. It doesn't have an oily finish either, so it's good for your hands as well. The bottle is huge and should last you quite a while - I've been using mine continuously for the past 2 weeks and have barely made a dent in it. All I can say is . . . PLEASE don't ever discontinue it!

What do you think? Have you tried it out yet? What scents are you obsessed about?