Champagne Bar!

Hey everyone!  I wanted to do a post on how to create a great Champagne Bar for New Years Eve!  I did this for Christmas for my family, but with a few quick changes, it will be perfect for ringing in the new year!  If you are interested, keep reading!

To start, you will need come champagne bottles of course!  You can use any kind your little heart fancies!  Begin by peeling off the labels on the bottle- this may take awhile.  I used warm water and soap!

Next, take a can of chalkboard spray paint (from Michaels Craft Store) and spray paint the bottles in a well ventilated area.  I did mine outside!  This particular spray paint dried very quickly, and I was able to do two coats within a few hours!

After both coats have completely dried, use mod podge and adhere labels or pictures of your choice to the bottles!  Or you can go sans label and write some creative messages on the bottles with chalk!

With a few final touches, you can create an at home champagne bar!  For a NYE theme champagne bar, you can adhere different festive images to the bottles, or write 2014 with chalk!

I used these great napkins I found at Nordstrom Rack, paired with champagne glasses and striped paper straws from World Market!  I also added some berries for a pop, as well as some mini pink bellini bottles, which I thought were absolutely adorable!  If you like my chalkboard sign, I did a DIY on it here!

I hope you enjoyed this fun and festive idea!  Let me know if you recreate this!  And as always, thanks for reading!

xoxo
linds&bells

Blogmas Day 21: DIY Holiday Banner

Hello beauties!  Today I wanted to show you how I created a DIY holiday banner that I will be hanging on Christmas Eve!  I was inspired by the hot chocolate bars on pinterest and can't wait to recreate my own!  To get started, I created a cute hot cocoa banner that will just go perfectly with my hot chocolate bar setup!  Want to make one too?!  Keep reading!

What you will need: I purchased all of my items at Michaels Craft Store

• wooden letters (I spelled out "HOT COCOA")
• White Paint
• Mod Podge
• A paint brush or sponge
• Glitter (any color, I chose gold)
• Red card stock
• Twine or string
• Clothes Pins
• Scissors
• Ribbon of your choice
• Heavy duty tape

Start out by painting the wooden letters with the white paint.  I recommend two coats, and let each coat dry for one hour.  While the letters are drying, cut out pennants using the red card stock.  You can free hand the shape, or use a stencil from the internet, whichever works best for you!  Next, using the mod podge, glue one letter to the center of each pennant and let them dry.

While the pennants are drying, take your clothes pins and apply one coat of mod podge each.  Next, sprinkle glitter over the clothes pins and allow them to dry for a few hours.

When everything is completely dry, cut some twine and use the clothes pins to adhere the pennants to the twine!  Make sure you cut the twine long enough to hang it up!

To cover the part where I taped my banner up, I made little bows with some polka dot ribbon!

I will post more pictures of my whole hot chocolate bar when I set it up on Christmas Eve!  But for now, what do you guys think?!  Let me know if you recreate this!

xoxo

linds&bells

Blogmas Day 18: Lipstick-less red lips?!

Hey everyone!  Lately I have been all about the red lips and I have gotten some questions as to what specific color I am wearing, so I thought I would do a post on it!  Not to mention red lips are just perfect for New Years Eve parties!!

First things first, in nearly every single one of my lip looks (if you follow me on instagram @lindsandbells), I forgo lipstick and opt for lip liner and gloss.  Some might find this really weird, but I I absolutely love love love the outcome!  My #1 tip is to always fill in your entire lip, as opposed to just lining it, even if you are using a lipstick!  This will make the color last so much longer!

For todays look I will not be using a lipstick, but instead "basic red" lip liner by MAC paired with a limited edition red lip gloss (Ronnie Red) by Mac.

To achieve a fab red lip, line and fill in your lips with a bright red lip liner!  The liner allows you to be very precise with your color, and will ensure your lipstick or lip gloss (or both!) does not bleed!  Often times if you just apply a lipstick with no liner, the color will begin to feather or bleed onto the skin surrounding your lips, so lining is definitely important.

After using your lip liner, you can choose any gloss you like- from a sheer or clear one, to a super opaque red gloss!

And voila!  A lipstick-less red lip!

I hope you guys enjoyed this look and as always, thanks for reading!

xoxo
linds&bells

Blogmas Day 17: Whats in my Clutch

Hey everyone!  Today I wanted to do a post on the perfect clutch (and what to keep in it!) for those holiday gatherings that are just around the corner!  I don't know about you, but bulky bags can totally be a burden at parties- if you keep it with you the whole time, it can bump into people, but if you choose to set it down, it might not be the safest idea.  That's why I often opt for a super cute clutch!  I choose ones that are large enough to hold my necessities, but small enough that I can keep it with me all night and won't be bumping into everyone!  Plus, most of them offer hidden straps, so when I get tired of holding it, out come the straps, and on it goes onto my shoulder!

My favorite clutch at the moment is this chocolate bar inspired piece by Kate Spade!  Cute right?!  It too has hidden straps and is pretty roomy inside!  It also offers a zippered compartment, which I use to keep my cards and cash in!

What I keep inside: my phone, credit cards, lip products of the evening, chapstick, a mirror, eyelash glue (you never know...) and some tweezers!  The phone and cards are pretty obvious, but I do think its important to carry your lip products to do touch ups, your chapstick in case your lips get dry, tweezers if your false eyelashes need some adjusting (or really for anything- they do come in handy), bobbi pins & hair rubber bands if you need to put your hair up and finally a compact mirror for touch ups and spinach in the teeth checks.

My current mirror is one by Winks, which also houses a spare pair of falsies, as well as some eyelash glue!  I think this is absolutely perfect because as the night progresses (especially if there is dancing involved), your falsies may need some touching up!  Whenever I wear them for long periods of time, they tend to pop up towards the inner corners of my eyes, so having glue nearby is definitely a must for me!  This particular compact also comes in handy when you need a safe spot for your falsies at the end of the night so you can reuse them later on!

What do you guys keep in your clutch?!


xoxo
linds&bells

Blogmas Day 15: DIY Chalkboard + Xmas Card

Hey everyone!  Today I wanted to do a quick and easy DIY chalkboard that you can use as decor in your home, or for a cute holiday picture like I did!

You will only need a couple of things:

• A mirror or framed piece of wood (I found a very inexpensive mirror at Ikea)
• Chalkboard paint (Michaels Craft Store)
• a paint brush or sponge
• chalk

Apply two coats of the chalkboard paint to the mirror, making sure the first coat dries completely before applying the second one.  After applying the second coat, let the mirror dry for at least one whole day.

After it is dry, you are done!  How easy was that?!  I chose to use mine for some cute holiday pictures I took of Bella!  (Get ready for Bella overload)

Look at that guilty face....

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, as as always, thanks for reading!!

xoxo

linds&bells