My Favorite Things

Welcome to the first ever My Favorite Things Linky Party! I am so excited to get this started! For those of you who didn't read the introduction you can see it here. Now that I have that out of the way, let's get started!

This month I would like to share my favorite hairspray with you. I was hesitant to make this my first topic, simply because I am not a beauty blog, but I just HAD to!

There are some beauty products that I am super loyal to. One of them is hairspray. I have used Kenra Volume 25 spray for the longest time and it just works the best! Styling my hair was a pain in the booty before I stumbled upon this gem! But believe it or not I found something better than Kenra Volume 25.

Well, I don't know if I would call it better. It is the same exact thing, just cheaper! I was at Sally's one day buying a new straightener (the one I had for years finally broke :( ) and after picking out a new one I was roaming around the store. While glancing at the hairspray section, a bottle of Generic Value Products hairspray caught my eye (or was Heaven shining down on the bottle? I get confused)! Anyway, ;) I noticed the price was cheaper, it appeared to have the same ingredients, and it smelled just like the real stuff. Since Sally Beauty has a really great return policy I decided to buy a bottle and try it out.

I can honestly say the Generic brand works just like Kenra Volume 25. My hair stays curly all day, my style doesn't melt with the heat or humidity, and it sprays on amazingly! A plus with this brand of hairspray is it smells really good. Believe me I have tried a lot of hairsprays and some of them smell nasty! Aqua Net anyone? Ewe, I'm pretty sure most things smell better than Aqua Net. You really should give this product a try though! You can find Generic Value Products Volumizing Spray (Compare to: Kenra Volume Spray) at a Sally Beauty store or on their website. This hairspray is only $7.99 for a 10 ounce bottle with your beauty club card or $8.99 without.

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I can not wait to see what you guys have to share! Be sure to grab a button so others can join in on the fun. Also, make sure to link up below! :)

My Favorite Things Preview

Hello my lovelies! I would like to start my own little link up party! Please feel free to join in on the fun and share your favorite things too!

I am starting this linky party because I have found some really amazing products that I absolutely love, and I want to share them with others! I figure I can’t be the only person who feels this way. Right?

Here's how it will work. On the third Thursday of every month, write a review about your favorite thing. It can be your favorite product or really anything you want! Your favorite hairspray, your favorite hot glue gun, an amazing pair of fabric scissors, a spatula, lotion, you get the picture right? Make sure to include WHY you love it so much. And maybe a little back story of how you stumbled upon it?

Our first link up will we Thursday, June 20th, so get ready!! Please be sure to grab a button so everyone knows where to link up!

<div align="center"><a href="http://theupstairscrafter.blogspot.com/" title="The Upstairs Crafter"><img src="http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b596/TheUpstairsCrafter/FavoriteThingsFinal390_zps1c741931.png" alt="The Upstairs Crafter" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Now all you need to do is publish your post and link it up so other people can read it and enjoy!

Type in your blogs name under "Link Title". Make sure you enter in the ENTIRE URL where we can find your post! That way people can click on your link and go DIRECTLY to your Favorite Things blog post. :)

I am so excited to see what you guys have to share every month! If you have ANY other questions about this link up please let me know and I will be happy to help you! 

Breakfast Yummies

Ever get bored of having the same bagel for breakfast everyday? I sure do. Here are some yummy recipes from my Pinterest Board Breakfast Yummies. Be sure to check it out! :)

Home Lovin'

I'm alive! As you can probably tell I needed to take a little break from blogging, but I'm back now and ready to roll! Be sure to stop by later this week to check out a DIY wall art tutorial. If you follow me on Instagram you have a sneak peak of what's to come! GET EXCITED! ;)

All I can think about is decorating and planning my future non-existent home. Needless to say I have been feeling very homey lately. I guess you could say apartment living is kind of lame. You can't paint your walls or do anything fun gosh darn it!

So here are some things I have been dreaming about lately! Enjoy :)

Bloggy Tips DIY How To's

So have you checked out my Pinterest lately? I have been doing a complete overhaul. I'm talking totally reorganizing my boards, deleting no good pins, and of course adding more fabulous ones. ;)

As you have probably noticed I did a ton of work on my blog design over the weekend! I am super proud of it so forgive my bragging. :) I wanted to share some of the tutorials I used and other helpful blogging tips and DIY how to's I found while researching this past weekend. 

If you are a new blogger like myself, these resources are extremely helpful! I would still be a lost, little lamb without them. A big THANK YOU to the kind bloggers who created these tutorials!! :) Have a great day everyone!

Hair Tutorials

Happy Wednesday everyone! This week I am taking the liberty to share some amazing hair tutorials form my Pinterest page. You will notice almost all of them are from The Small Things Blog. I LOVE this blog!! Kate's tutorials are so easy to follow and very thorough. I was pretty much hair stupid before I stumbled upon her blog. You will also notice I also am sharing a lot of braided hair tutorials. Here's why.

About a year ago I decided to bob my hair... Never again. It was cute but I hated that there was really only one style I could wear it. My hair is finally getting long again (yay!) so I can play around with different styles. I must say I am loving being able to create braids and buns! Problem is I have to learn all the braids!! So far I have french braiding my bangs down pretty well, but now I need to learn the others. Thankfully I have my awesome Pinterest Hair Board to teach me! :)

I hope you enjoy these pins and learn as much as I did! Be sure to check out my Pinterest Hair Board for more hair tutorials!

Pinterest Birthday Wish List

My 22nd birthday is coming up at the end of the month and I am super excited!! I wish I could be in Oregon with all my family and friends but the reality is that won't happen. :( boo!

One awesome thing about birthdays is of course, presents. One not so awesome thing, everyone asks you what you want and you have to repeat the list over and over again. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone this week. This is Oh, How Pinteresting meets My Birthday Wish List. It is kind of in order of importance. I realize a couple of these are probably just pipe dreams. But a girl can ask right!? Let's see if this works!

Week Six: Ways to Love Others

When I saw the list topic "Ways in which you can Love Others", I interpreted it as a what are things you can do to show and communicate love to others. Some things on my list I feel like I already do, and some are things I would like to do. And all I would like to master! :) When you put love out into the universe, you will get love back. :)

Ways in which I can Love Others:

- Smile at others more
- Give out hugs to family and friends
- Be patient
- Send a care package to a loved one far away
- Send a care package to a soldier
- Listen more
- Give advice when it is wanted
- Be a shoulder to cry on
- Give space when the other needs it
- Send a "thank you for being in my life" letter or card
- Be kind and polite, even when others are not
- Accept other peoples beliefs, even if I do not agree with them
- Accept and admit when I am wrong
- Be gracious when defeated
- Forgive others
- Give someone a "just because" present
- Be honest with others
- Be courteous and thoughtful of others
- Be more willing to share and open myself up to others
- Be joyous for others successes and triumphs
- Be encouraging and positive when others feel defeated
- Never forget a birthday or special day
- Call loved ones I haven't spoken to in a while just to say hello

Week Five: What I am Grateful for

Let's be honest, this list could go on and on! I filled up my paper while I was writing everything down and still had more when it was filled!

I am grateful for:
- A roof over my head
- Food on the table
- My animals
- Cute animals and the joy they provide
- Cute babies are always good too
- My sewing machine
- My loving, respectful, wonderful, supportive boyfriend
- My family
- My friends
- Freedom: the right to have my own thoughts and beliefs, and be able to act upon them
- My Kitchen Aid
- A warm, soft bed to sleep in
- My past. It made me who I am today
- Books
- Education
- Modern medicine
- The weekend
- Modern technology
- Air conditioning
- The men and women who have and who are serving our country
- Naps
- Spontaneity
- Dishes: Because it means you ate well! That one needed an explanation! ;)
- Sunshine
- Snow days
- Rain
- Music
- Schedules
- Date nights
- Cookies
- Ice cream
- Root beer floats
- Adventures
- Nature
- Running water
- Hot water
- Electricity
- Forgiveness
- Lazy days

What's for Dinner? Pinterest Edition

This week I would like to share some dinner ideas I have discovered on Pinterest. I will admit I have not made any of these yet. My hope is by putting them here and separating them from the other 250 pins on my Favorite Recipes Board, I will actually try them out! :)































Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for lots of other recipe ideas! :)

My Pinterest Closet

I was a bad blogger and didn't make an Oh, How Pinteresting post last week! I guess you could say life got the best of me, I was really busy and super tired all week. Plus Tom was sick :( poor guy. But no more excuses!

This week I would like to share some of my favorite Pinterest style finds! I would LOVE to have my Pinterest style board be my closet, I am sure I am not the only girl out there who feels that way ;) Enjoy!

Current and Future Goals and Dreams

Welcome to my week four of the 52 Lists Project! This week focused on listing your current and future goals and dreams. I must admit I had a lot of fun with this one. It is a fantastic feeling to put your goals and dreams on paper, and SEE them! :)

- Have my own personal library.
- Have my own special craft room.
- Run a small no kill animal shelter/rescue.
- Learn how to sew clothes.
- Learn how to safely use a saw, then use it!
- Grow my blog and business, be successful!
- Create more items for my shop.
- Get married.
- Have babies (while still maintaining a -successful- business).
- Visit Europe.
- Visit EVERY U.S. State.
- Graduate college.
- Create a household budget and stick with it!
- Attend a blogging conference.
- Save enough money to send my future kids to college.
- Smile more at strangers (if could change their day and yours).
- Be able to care for my parents when they grow old.
- Visit Disneyworld.
- Sell my creations by various means (not just Etsy).
- Take a cooking class.
- Never stop reading.
- Work on finding the silver lining in my life events and not just others. Be more optimistic.
- Grow my own Christmas tree (at least once).
- Have a garden.
- Make working out part of my lifestyle and not just a chore.
- Complete everything on this list!! :)

Join in the 52 Lists Project {here}, have an amazing week everyone!

52 Lists: Things to be proud of

Honestly, this post was challenging to write. I thought about skipping it altogether, but that would be cheating! So I sat for a while and just thought. Eventually I came up with this list. I strongly feel like everyone should make one! Especially if you are having a bad day! It forces you to come up with positive things about yourself and your life. :) Enjoy! :)

- I am a loving, compassionate person.
- I love animals. I want to help every lost one I find, and I almost always do.
- I am creative.
- I have learned from my mistakes.
- I try to enjoy the little things in life that many people overlook.
- I stand behind my beliefs and do not conform simply to fit in.
- I am in a healthy, loving relationship (with an amazing guy, I should add :]).
- I started my own blog, which is something I have always wanted to do.
- I started my own business.
- I am not afraid to dream.
- I am determined.
- I am a hard worker.
- I am a good cook.
- I am making and maintaining a happy home for Tom and I while working full time and starting my own business.
- I haven't killed our basil plant.... YET! ;)

Join in the 52 Lists Project! Moorea Seal's blog is great!

Pinteresting Spring Cleaning Tips!

So for whatever reason on Wednesday I could not for the life of me get a pin to embed from Pinterest! I think they should just go back to the old way it was done. Anyway, complaining time is OVER! Today it finally worked for me! YAY! So I present to you: Pinteresting Spring Cleaning Tips!























































For more cleaning tips and tricks, check out my Pinterest board "Sparkly Clean Fun" {here}!!

52 Lists: Greatest Comforts

When I first started this list, I did not think I would have so many things that comfort me. The more I thought about it though, the more the list grew. Even now as I write this post I think of more things I want to add to the list!

Writing down my greatest comforts was really fun for me. Plus I love going back and reading it. Moorea Seal put it perfectly, "And now every time I look at my list, I just feel comfort surrounding me as I think of all the ways that I can grasp comfort in my everyday life."

Tom says my cursive is hard to read so here it is all typed out again:

Column One: blankets, pajamas, cuddles, Tom, snuggles, Thomas, reading, the sound of rain on the roof, fire in the fireplace, birds chirping, snow falling, Christmas time, music, family, friends, acceptance, sweatshirts, safety, and a warm bed (I know it isn't in the picture, but it needed to be added :]).

Column Two: stability, order, the sound of the ocean, Disney movies, quilts, sewing, singing, sunshine, macaroni and Cavenders, hot chocolate, hugs, showering after a hard day, snuggling animals, animal kisses, meat gravy and potatoes (only my Mom's), hearing Dad listening to music, and listening to my grandparents tell stories. 

52 Lists

This morning I was on Google looking for some fun list ideas to make about myself. For every search I did 52 Lists popped up. I finally clicked on it, and I am so glad I did! All the lists actually have a purpose behind them, which is fantastic! I know I have a lot of catching up to do, so bear with me. I am going to start doing the new lists every week, but also catch up on the old at the same time. Please follow along and get to know me better! :) Visit Moorea Seal's blog (here) to join in on the 52 Lists fun!

Here is mt first list. The prompt is "Words that Touch your Soul".

If you are having a hard time reading the picture here are my answers:

Column One: love, sweet, tenderness, special, beautiful, fluffy, companion, family, snuggles, caring, cuddles, hugs, kisses, flirting, happy, frolicking, playing, sunshine, joy, laughing, radiant, and friendship.

Column Two: forever, compassion, bliss, freedom, helping, trusting, support, respect, sweet, joy (double) lets put in alive instead :), bliss, kindness, progress, organized, cleaned, help, balance, nice, plan, vibrant, color, acceptance, peace, laughter, music, and song.

Column Three: dance, fun, cozy, soft, warm, protect, cherish, escape, memories, blessed, appreciate, determined, faithful, happy (double again) change it to gracious, reading, learning, knowledge, faith, create, imagine, and success. 

If I only had a Saw....

I am going to try out a theme this week for "Oh, how Pinteresting". Obviously from the post title, these are the things I would make if I only had a saw, and probably a house too! ;) Thankfully, my dad is a handy dandy contractor and one day he will give me a saw lesson so I can get on with making these projects!! :)

Pinteresting Finds!

This weeks Pinterest finds are random to say the least! But regardless, I hope you enjoy them! Be sure to snoop through my Pinterest page for more fun pins! :)

Source: di.sn via Jessica on Pinterest

Good Old Disney! :) 

Source: rstyle.me via Jessica on Pinterest

In love with this color.

Source: fab.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I would actually wear this.. Is that bad? :)

Source: shopbop.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: starringinmyownstory.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I really do hate it when people ask me what my favorite book is. I can not pick just one!

Source: rstyle.me via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: seekatesew.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I am going to make this one day!

Source: 9gag.com via Jessica on Pinterest

My two favorite things!! Some mistakes, but I still love it. <3 nbsp="">

Oh How Pinteresting!

Be sure to stop by every Wednesday to check this out! :)

Source: compartmentlife.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Keep watch for this project on the blog! I have been saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls.. And I almost have enough!! 

Source: google.com.au via Jessica on Pinterest

I hope to have one of these in my future craft room!!

Source: inmyblessednest.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

So true!

Source: img.zszywka.pl via Jessica on Pinterest

My great grandpa taught me how to make these a long time ago. I still have the belt I made! :)

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Cheap, unfinished frames. 

Source: pinterest.com via Jessica on Pinterest

We use spices for EVERYTHING in our house! I think this would be awesome to make for the spices we use on a regular basis.