DIY Tinted Moisturizer

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN TINTED MOISTURIZER

Tinted Moisturizer is simple and easy to make. Make your own tinted moisturizer for custom color, coverage, and skin care needs! 

It can be hard to find the perfect shade of tinted moisturizer, especially as the seasons change. I have a quick, simple tip to share on how to make your own tinted moisturizer in minutes. You can customize the color and coverage as you use the products that work best for your skin! It leaves your skin with a dewy, fresh look.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

You’ll just need two ingredients – moisturizer and foundation – or three if you include a sunscreen as well. You can either use a small glass bowl to mix your tinted moisturizer together or simply mix together on the back of your hand. You can also use a sponge blender or a foundation brush or just your fingers to apply.

Moisturizer

Use your favorite moisturizer for your skin type. I love that I can customize and use a moisturizer based on what my skin needs at the moment or just use my go-to daily sunscreen or a combination of the two.

Foundation

Use either liquid or loose powder foundation.

^ what I used ^

HOW TO MAKE YOUR TINTED MOISTURIZER

• Begin by adding some moisturizer into a mixing bowl then start adding foundation little by little.
• Customize your coverage. You can adjust the amount of coverage in your tinted moisturizer by adding less foundation for a lighter coverage or more of your foundation for a fuller coverage. It's a good idea to also have a foundation in a shade or two darker that you can begin adding a drop or two to the mixture as well since skin becomes darker in the summer.
• Mix together your moisturizer and foundation until well blended and you have a smooth, consistent color. Then, apply as normal.

That’s how simple it is to make your own tinted moisturizer! No more worrying about trying to find the perfect shade or getting an allergic reaction since you can quickly and easily make your own with products you already have and love.

Chicken Fajita Quesadillas

Do you love chicken fajitas? Do you love quesadillas? Combine the two and you have one amazing quesadilla you'll want to make over and over! Quesadillas are one of those things I love to order when we go out to eat. They’re easy to eat and fun to dip and top with things. Chicken not your thing? Switch up the protein and use steak, or shrimp, or any vegetarian protein!

I never pass up a good quesadilla. Combine it with the flavors of a fajita and my taste buds do flips! My favorite part about quesadillas is the fact that they are SO family friendly and can easily be modified to everyone's personal taste. 

I love to dip my quesadillas in guacamole. I will basically dip *ANYTHING* in guacamole. 

I found this recipe on pinterest a while back and we can't get enough of it. I make this meal 1-2 times a week now! It's our new family favorite and I'm so excited to share this special find with you all. Enjoy!

(The only thing I changed from this recipe is when my tortilla is heating up I add a layer of cheese first THEN all the filling followed by another layer of cheese before putting the other tortilla on top. I'm a cheese fiend.)

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla recipe

Ivy in Onederland

A friend of mine recently asked me to help her out with her daughter's 1st birthday party. I jumped at the opportunity because any reason is a good enough reason for me to craft. She asked me to make an outfit for Ivy. She sent me a couple of photos she found online and I blended them together and made one outfit. I used my Silhouette Portrait to design and cut out the image for the shirt then I just made the tutu with some tulle and elastic. She used the outfit for her cake smash photos and I couldn't believe how adorable she looked. Here is a sneak peek at some of the photos from that photo shoot. You can click here to see the rest. The photos were taken by a very talented photographer friend of mine here in El Paso named Tessa. You can see her work here. 

I fell in love with the party theme and basically volunteered to make Ivy's cake. I was pretty stoked when Lanya agreed to let me do it! I jumped onto pinterest to get ideas and instantly became super excited about this cake. 

I made 4 layers of yellow cake with strawberry frosting in between each layer. I added pink heart-shaped sprinkles to the frosting just because. I ended up having extra batter so I even threw in a dozen cupcakes. My cake design ended up being a blend of like 10 different Alice in Wonderland cakes I saw on pinterest. I started making the gum paste figurines about 5 days before the party. My imagination really ran wild with this cake. I love Alice in Wonderland and wanted to make sure this cake displayed as many little details as possible. I even made a little fabric Alice skirt and apron for the glass cake stand. 

The day before the party was spent baking the cakes, rolling and stamping the homemade marshmallow fondant, and hand painting the entire cake. I wanted to make the Mad Hatter's top hat look very worn and fabric-y, if you know what I mean. So I stamped the fondant and then hand painted all of it. The brim of the top hat was made of gum paste because I wanted it to be shaped a certain way that worked better when made with gum paste. 

I just got home from the party about an hour and a half ago and it was so much fun! They had a bouncy castle so my daughter lost her mind and had the time of her life. The food was delicious, the decorations looked lovely, and the guests were wonderful. A great time all around. Here are a few pics of the cake on the party table with the cake stand I made.

Happy un-Birthday to you, little Ivy. 

Pasta e Fagioli Recipe

I used to work as a waitress at a little Italian restaurant in my hometown. They made the most delicious pasta e fagioli I've ever had in my life. I haven't been back home in years and I randomly go through little phases where I miss that soup like no other! I've looked all over pinterest and could never find one that looked like the soup from the restaurant. The photos all looked okay, but I wasn't going to bother with the recipe if the photo of the finished product didn't resemble my beloved pasta e fagioli from Harrison, NJ. 

Then a few days ago I came across this recipe and I just knew that I had finally found it!

Pasta e Fagioli Recipe

I made a few little changes to this recipe to make it even more like the soup from NJ. I used ditalini pasta and didn't add any meat. Oh, and I added way more pasta than I wanted to because my husband insisted on pasta overload. Next time I will definitely add less so the taste of the cannellini beans can shine through a little more. 

My first taste was unreal. It took me right back to my early 20's when I was working crazy long hours at that little restaurant. Finding this recipe has made my life complete lol

Van Gogh / Doctor Who Cake

Being a military wife is pretty stressful. We move a lot, our husbands are barely ever there, we spend years raising our kids alone, we worry when they're deployed, we spend long periods of time without talking to our spouses, we have zero control over any life decisions because the military controls everything. There are some good point, though. Not many, but some. One of them is when you're lucky enough to meet a fellow military wife that knows exactly what you're going through. Someone that you won't live near for a very long time because the military is bound to move one of you soon, yet for a short while you have found a really good friend. 

I have one here in El Paso. She's a fellow whovian and lover of most geeky things just as I am. She has a lovely family and we are going to miss them like crazy once we move away in a few months. If nothing else, then I am extremely grateful for this insane military life we lead because it brought her into my life. Chances are we won't ever live near each other again, but we won't ever forget her, her husband, her beautiful kids, and puppies. 

Her birthday is tomorrow so naturally I made her a cake. Doctor Who fans will take one look at this cake and they will instantly know exactly what episode this cake is inspired by. 

I added the sunflowers because Van Gogh :) 

Here is a quick synopsis of that episode followed by a short clip of the best scene.

{The Doctor and Amy travel back in time to meet Vincent Van Gogh because of some usual Doctor Who/Alien drama that I won't get into because it's hard to explain. In 1890, they find Vincent at a cafe, a lonely man with a bad reputation. They befriend him and later that evening the artist confesses that his works have little value to anyone else, but he believes the universe is filled with wonders that he must paint. The next day, the Doctor and Amy prepare to leave. Vincent asks Amy to return and marry him should she leave the Doctor. As Vincent turns to leave, the Doctor offers to show him something. The Doctor and Amy take Vincent in the TARDIS (blue police box/time traveling spaceship) to the present and the Van Gogh exhibit at the Musée d'Orsay. Vincent is stunned at the display, and becomes emotionally overwhelmed when he overhears an art curator say that Van Gogh was "the greatest painter of them all" and "one of the greatest men who ever lived". They return an emotionally changed Vincent back to the past and say their final goodbyes. As the Doctor and Amy return to the present, Amy hopes that there will be several more paintings by Vincent waiting for them, but instead learn that Vincent still committed suicide at the age of 37. The Doctor explains that life is a mixture of bad and good, and while their brief encounter with Vincent couldn't undo everything wrong, they added some good to his life. The evidence is in Vincent's displayed works since now a there is a painting of a vase with 12 sunflowers that bears the inscription "For Amy".}

- click on the cake photo to enlarge it - 

Starry Night Cake

Add a light up TARDIS and Boom! Instant Doctor Who episode cake.

Sunflowers "For Amy"

Bubble Guppies Party!

Rose just LOVED the Bubble Guppies when she was little. She still does! This was the first TV show that she seemed to really show interest in as a baby. I just knew that I had to make her 1st birthday party Bubble Guppies themed. We were living in North Carolina at the time and we were so lucky to have one of my best friends drive up with her family from Florida to be at Rosie's party! They were a HUGE help with the party and it was just wonderful having them around. We haven't seen them in person since this party, unfortunately. 

Distance sucks. 

Here are some of her cake smash photos:

Party photos:

Baby Rosie's BFF, Sophie:

Recipe for Mini Nacho Cups (I skipped the sour cream)

Recipe for Mini Mac and Cheese Cups

Our Little Lumberjack is ONE!

I know it's such a cliché thing to say but I can't believe my itty bitty little baby is one already! This year flew by and it's so bittersweet. I'm extremely happy to see Lennon grow and learn new things every day but it makes me so sad because I feel like he's growing up too fast!

His actual birthday was on the 4th of February but today was his party. Today is also my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary is the day before Lennon's birthday. February is a busy month for us. 

This is the last kid's birthday party I'll be throwing in El Paso. Every party from now on will happen in our new home once we move to Oregon. A lot of people showed up today and that made this party extra special for us since in a way it's sort of like a 'going away' party too. 

Anyway, enough chatter. Here are some of the pics!

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Party favors for the boys:

Party favors for the girls:

My DIY Pancake Cake:

DIY Ax Toss Game (see tutorial here):

Photo booth backdrop and DIY props:

Party favors:

Lumberjack Cake Smash Pics (view them all here):

Lennon and daddy:

Singing happy birthday:

Yellow cake with milk chocolate filling:

Happy Birthday my beautiful boy. Mama loves you, bubba.

I also whipped up a quick homemade reece's peanut butter cup for my hubby. 

You can find the recipe and tutorial here: