Insta-Becca: Sweet Moments

Enjoying my break at work with some fruity tea from Sweet

I shared with all of you last week how I had a pretty awful Monday. The next day, I woke up with a great, positive attitude and wrote here, inviting you all to move past your own bad days. Easier said than done, after a long shift on my feet at work when my bruises started showing up. There was a day where even bending my knees and walking around was very painful. My optimistic attitude definitely wavered, but I did find some nice moments worth documenting last week, and I'm here to share them with you all.

Remember, you can follow me here on Instagram for photos every day that don't always make it on the blog!

A favorite photo of Abby and I resting on the couch

It's startling how one letter can completely change the meaning of a word

I'm picked up some of this tasty candy, which I'm calling Junior Mints 2.0

I got a little fancy with my fountain pen when I left this note for my parents

That's it for today! I'll be back on Wednesday with a post I've been wanting to do for a while!

Liebster Award

The last time I was nominated for something was when I was 17 and graduating from high school. I was nominated for a Senior Superlative in Orchestra. A pretty good feat, since my orchestra was made up of 140 students. That year I took home the nominated title of "Orchestra Sweetheart" (how cute is that?) which I have cherished ever since.

I woke up the other day to find that I'd been nominated for something new called the Liebster Award! I was nominated by Sam over at Miss Freckle's Blog so go check her out! This award is for bloggers (like me) who don't have a ton of followers so that we can all discover new blogs and support each other! This is pushing me to find some newer bloggers. I usually follow blogs that already have a major fan base(they inspire me to make my blog better and to strive for great content), so finding other blogs has been fun and exciting! To be honest, I'm so new to blogging that I'm still trying to find out how to put a permanent link to my Twitter and Pinterest on my blog. I also haven't connected with many bloggers yet, so I'm hoping to meet some great new friends through this nomination!

The Rules

Post 11 random facts about yourself

Answer 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you

Nominate 11 bloggers to do the same

Let the bloggers know they have been nominated

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I studied abroad in Oxford, England for 6 months when I was 19.

2. I'm a descendent of Pocahontas(my sister and I are part of the 13th generation).

3. I've played the violin since I was 5 years old.

4. My 2 favorite movies are 500 Days of Summer and Stardust, which was recently added to Netflix!

5. I was born with a broken collar bone.

6. I always watch The Colbert Report and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for my late night TV, or I DVR it.

7. I love wearing braids in my hair and learning new braids. If you're a good friend of mine, I've probably braided your hair at some point.

8. This past May, I had my first short story published titled Ripped. It's a sarcastic, funny, and dark story set at a gym that comments on the way people behave at the gym and view health.

9.  I have read the Harry Potter series so many times that I've lost count.

10. Nearly all of my lip products are by Revlon.

11. Not many people outside of my church know that I love to sing. I've been part of my church choir for years, sang solos during services, and I was recently asked to sing at friend's wedding which I'm so excited about!

Answering Sam's Questions

1. What is one place you want to visit before you die?

Croatia. While studying abroad in England, a bunch of us almost traveled to Croatia but we backed out because of the cost. I regret not being able to go, and I would love to make the trip! Seriously, type 'Croatia' into Google Images and you'll see how crazy beautiful it is.

2. What is your all time favorite TV show?

You have no idea how much of a loaded question this is. I watch a ridiculous amount of shows, so I'll break it down by my favorites for each genre:

Comedy: The Office, Fantasy: The Vampire Diaries, Thriller: Orphan Black, Crime: Criminal Minds, Horror: The Walking Dead, Drama: Scandal, Reality Show: Project Runway

3. Biggest challenge you're facing while blogging?

The technical aspect. I'm not that smart when it comes to the layout of this blog and how to manage everything. The struggle I mentioned earlier about how to get my Twitter and Pinterest to show up is very real.

4. What is your favorite nail polish?

Bikini So Teeny by Essie

5. What is your favorite store to shop at?

Earthbound. I don't live close to one now, but I did in college. It's pretty much hippie heaven. Every time I went in there I left with jewelry and a new dreamcatcher.

6. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

I have a place where I can pour out all of my creativity! I have so many thoughts on music, art, fashion, beauty, crafts, and food. My sister told me for years to get a blog, and now that I finally have I'm having so much fun sharing all of my thoughts and ideas!

7. How many times do you post a week?

I post 3x a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. (This week was a fluke since I got injured). Ever since I set myself a schedule a few months ago, I've been pretty good about sticking to it.

8. How did you find my blog? And what is your favorite thing about it?

I found Sam through Twitter! She favorited a tweet of mine and followed me, so I followed her back. My favorite thing about her blog is that she's not afraid to get personal and share about her experiences while job hunting. I relate to her a lot because I committed to my blog after graduating without a job lined up and searched for a while for employment.

9. If you had to choose between Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram- which one would you choose and why?

After a close battle between Instagram and Pinterest, I would choose Pinterest. It's so easy to create boards and to pin from other websites.  I have so much fun adding to my boards full of clothing, quotes, recipes, and puppies! If you're interested- you can check out my Pinterest.

10. What is your favorite dish?

My grandma's mashed potatoes. They're amazing. I'll have to share that recipe on here sometime.

11. Who or what inspires you?

Magazines for sure- In Style, Glamour, and especially the Anthropologie catalogue. The fashion in movies and TV can be great inspiration. I subscribe to a ton of beauty and fashion gurus on YouTube, and they give me so many ideas. Pinterest is also a good source of inspiration.

Questions for My Nominees

1. How would you describe your style?

2. What is your favorite makeup brand from the drugstore?

3. What is your favorite season and why?

4. If you had to be on a reality show, which one would you choose and why?

5. What is your favorite singer and favorite band?

6. Why did you start your blog?

7. Which celebrity has the best red carpet style?

8. What are your top 3 favorite movies?

9. If you had to read 1 book for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

10. What is something you learned from your last relationship?

11. What do you love about blogging?

My Nominees

(Since I'm new to the blogging community, I don't know many other bloggers. If I nominated you, it means that I responded positively to your blog and I want to know more about you!)

Jenny of JRebeccaStyle

Eve of Eve Antoinette

Maurissa of Maurissa Sees Beauty

Jessica of JB-Beauty

Carmen Jen of Pretty Fetch

This was so much fun to do! A big thanks to Sam for nominating me! If you decide to participate, leave me a comment on this post with a link to your own post so that I can read your random facts and the answers to my questions! I'd also love to see who you nominate!

Insta-Becca: Glitter & Good Vibes

A shot of many brussels sprouts that I halved and roasted for lunch. To get the recipe see this food post that also has a great smoothie recipe.

Yesterday I had a bad day. I fell on a run and badly scraped up my hands and knees while cracking my phone screen when I hit the concrete. A few hours later, I was overcharged at a gas station and had to scramble and transfer money to cover my account (NOTE FOR EVERYONE: do NOT use a debit card at the gas station, the card companies now do things like charging $87 instead of the $22 of gas I got to cover themselves, even though they give back the overcharged money once they see it's there). Lesson learned, I'm now using cash when I fill up my car.

I let you guys know about my bad day not to complain, but to let you know why I'm posting my weekly Instagram favorites today instead of yesterday. Also, I think that it's important to move on and not let the rest of my week be affected by yesterday's unfortunate events. Yes I'll have a cracked phone for a while until I replace it, my knee still has a bad wound, and my bank account is a bit off for a day or two, but I can get past it all. This previous week was wonderful for me- I got the other job I had interviewed for, which I'll start next month and I'm very excited for. As usual, I'd like to share some of my photos from last week, and next week I'll know that I'll have more photos, because yesterday was just one day, and I have 6 more to look forward to and improve upon.

A sign I made for a silent auction basket my mom put together called Frozen Sweet Dreams Gift Set. I used glitter paint to mimic the title and I glued popsicle sticks with glitter together to make snowflakes.

A Fox Place Card Kit that I picked up at Paper Source that I am excited to put together for Thanksgiving dinner.

2 small, beautifully scripted words that I felt should be shared more often. Kindness is a quality that I feel is not acknowledged often enough.

The new lock screen for my phone! I showed the previous one last week, but the colors felt too pastel-y for me. I'm really enjoying this one and it's a fun, positive graphic.

For more photos each day, you can follow me HERE on Instagram! Have a great week, and if you have a bad day akin to mine, don't let it ruin your mood for the rest of the week, keep on moving!!!

My Fall Inspiration Board

Since the beginning of October, I've been paging through magazines and ripping out any pages that have a cool look and make me excited for fall. I took pages of ads, photoshoots, catalogs, text, and scenic landscapes. A few months ago, I took this bulletin board that was previously an eyesore and created my DIY End of Summer Inspiration Board which you can check out again. Back then, I created a board that had only a few full pages taken from magazines that were big splashes of color. This time, I wanted to make more of a collage for the fall.

Let's break it down.

I chose only two pages that were pictures of people. This photo of Zooey Deschanel comes from a cover photo shoot. I'm in love with the coat she's wearing as well as her hair and makeup. She looks relaxed, and when I stand back and look at the collage, she doesn't stick out as a "celebrity" so the photo is a nice compliment to the rest.

This quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald looks like something out of Pinterest, although I found it in Seventeen magazine. It's perfect and gives some great color to the collage because fall shouldn't always be about the darker colors. I should also mention that I got these great chrome push pins to replace the sparse push pins I had of every possible color. Using these push pins, they don't look out of place or distract from the pictures.

My second piece of text comes from this month's Anthropologie catalog. I absolutely love that line, "autumn on the rise," it sounds so exciting! Also, the chandelier here is one of three I cut out of the same catalog. I pinned them in a way that it looks like they're hanging from the top of my bulletin board.

The biggest piece I used on my board was this cutout of a house in the Anthropologie catalog. I was debating for a while whether to put it in or not because it's so large, but in the end the clothesline of fabrics sold me. They're all so unique and the few pops of color are what I needed to keep the whole thing from looking too monochromatic.

On the left end I have another chandelier and some pieces of a picture of cacti as filler. I'm currently obsessed with them and I'm asking for a cactus plant for Christmas. The second and last face I used is from a Dolce & Gabanna ad. I remember ripping the page out of a magazine sometime this summer, but the makeup, clothes, and ornate accessories just looked like fall to me.

Again, here is the final product! I remember complaining in my post where I created my summer inspiration board about how small the cork board was and that it was difficult to fit much inspiration on there. I worked on changing that this time and picked out small pictures while cutting down the larger ones to reasonable sizes. Inspiration is possible, you just have to work to make it fit.

Fall Shoe Wishlist

Ever since I started my job working in retail, I've only been able to wear a few pairs of shoes in my closet. I'm only allowed to wear close-toed shoes and no tennis shoes. I have some boots that I'm not ready to bust out of storage yet, but I'm feeling the soreness in my feet with the few flats I've been wearing over and over. I'm in need of some new shoes that I'd love to wear but would also be realistically comfortable to walk around in for many hours. I browsed some of my favorite shopping sites for shoes I'd want to wear tomorrow.

one- Free People Solid Rajah Flat
two- Faux Suede Lace-Up Booties in Black
three- Cinnamon Grin Boot
four- Kimchi Blue Elastic Cross-Strap Flat in Nude
five- Fairchild Embossed Bootie
six- ALDO Edeniel Pointed Lace Up Burgundy Flat Shoes

Insta-Becca: Shiny Heirlooms

Tried a cool masking technique with stamps at work

Last week was a busy and fairly productive one for me. I went on an interview, did my sister's hair for a wedding, and got my first paycheck from the job I recently started. Woooooh!!

This week, I'm anxious as I sit back and wait for news from my interview. I'm also in the middle of a fairly simple, fun craft that I'll show part of in this post. Today, I put together a new collage for my Fall Inspiration Board, which I'll post on Friday.

Wearing a necklace given to me by my grandma, the V is the first letter of our last name

The new lock screen on my phone, it reminds me of watercolors

Small collage of photos I took of Abby and I relaxing one evening

The supplies for my crafting project! Can you guess what's going to happen here??

Remember to follow me on Instagram for more photos each day! Have a great week!!!

DIY Cardmaking- Faking Your Way Through Calligraphy

Lately, I've been practicing a technique that looks like calligraphy. Inspired by Cupcakes & Cashmere, I made a card for my sister's birthday using the trick. It's simple- write out a word (like above) and then go over again with the pen any downward strokes you made when writing the word. Leave any upward strokes you made the way they are. After some practice, the effect looks great. When receiving my card in this envelope with her name on it, my sister first thought that it was printed. A pretty swell compliment since I have never taken a calligraphy class.

If you're interested in what I got my sister for her birthday, check out my latest post.

You Will Need:

• blank card
• fountain pen
• 2 buttons (preferably different colors)
• glue

Write out the message you want on the front of the card.

Go over all of the downward strokes you made carefully.

Place your 2 buttons where you would like them on the card. We're making birthday balloons, so place them near each other.

Place a dab of glue under each button. Be careful not to use too much.

Draw the strings for the balloons. Write a message inside the card and you're done! The B on the card didn't quite turn out how I would like, but the other letters look nice and the overall effect is good. Remember, it gets better with practice! I'm already much better at this faux calligraphy than I was when I worked on this card.

Have you heard of this technique before? Let me know how it goes if you try it!