Summer Flavors

As promised, I'm back with another review based on a Crowdtap sample-share.

This time I was lucky enough to get in on a generous package from McCormick's Grill Mates, who sent a  box chock full of 5 full-size seasonings to use on the grill.

...And wouldn't you know, we landed ourselves a brand new Traeger grill/smoker only days before. Perfecto!

I didn't do a very good job did an absolutely horrible job of taking photos of the delicious, smoky goodies being consumed, but at least I got pics of the prep and cooking process. I'll let the photos do the mouth-watering talking from here on out.

As always, feel free to leave me a note in the comments with your email address if you'd like an invitation to join me in my samplings on Crowdtap. You take surveys, get free goodies, and earn points to cash out (Amazon gift cards and more) or donate to a charity of your choosing (mine is ASPCA).

Join the 'Crowd'

Hi friends! I'm remaining more involved these days with my lifestyle blog, In Knots, but wanted to share the latest and greatest from Crowdtap.

I know I've talked about the program here before, but it has ended up being far from a flash in the pan. I'm currently involved in nine discussions, three of which offer free goodies to test! So thought I'd take a minute to fill you in.

Remember my post about getting a free winter coat of my choice via Crowdtap? Well, Old Navy strikes again, and members of their 'Style Council' were able to apply (aka: take a short survey) to this time pick up and review a free swim suit of their choosing. As was with the coat, an extra coupon to bring a friend was included too.

And while I had plans to share with a different pal "the next time", I had to go with Mom again. She's been complaining for ages about not being able to find a swim bottom that has enough, well, bottom, and once I went into Old Navy to scout which suit I'd choose, I knew I had to hand over the freebie to her.

I went with a - dare I say it - sexy one piece (did you know such a thing could exist??) in bright orange. Ready to see?

Mom's combo

My new suit

Such fun, and I can safely say the first time I've been excited to go swim suit shopping. Usually such a depressing chore! And my Mom and I got to have some fun setting up our little mini photo shoot, trying to get creative without having to photograph ourselves for the world to see.

I've also gotten samples of a bunch of McCormick's grill seasonings that I'll share about at some point, and am going to be receiving samples of Woolite for testing with friends in the near future. Interested in joining in the survey-taking fun? Happy to send you a link - Just leave a note in the comments below with your email address and I'll mail you an invite.

WhoWhatWear

Does anyone else read the blog Who What Wear?

While 95% of the goodies they post are financially out of reach, I find it to be a fab site for inspiration and illumination. I find myself frequently pinning looks to put my own twist on, or jewelry to recreate for a fraction of the cost.

They always to a great job of Runway-To-Realway too - I mean, Elvis In Vegas is not a theme you see yourself thinking as you look at your closet, but then you see this and it seems like an option :

(images)

Check it out for some eye and brain candy - Always fun to see what's happening out there in the world!

Yo' Mama

The folks at Real Simple recently tackled all the tried-and-[sometimes not quite] true Mom fashion advice we all grew up with.

Picking the brains of experts like Stacy London from What Not To Wear, designer Laura Bennett of Project Runway, and designer Dana Buchman, among others, tips like 'matching your belt to your shoes' and 'ignoring size to focus on fit' were all put to the panel for dissection.

 Bad Mom Fashion Advice.

Image courtesy of modernkiddo.com

Here's one exerpt (courtesy of cnn.com) :

"Always wear shoes that are close in color to your pants, especially if you have big feet."
Stacy London, co-host of "What Not to Wear" and a New York City-based style expert: Wearing shoes that are exactly the same color as your pants is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
Dana Buchman, designer: Oh, my goodness. That really dates from 1910. With all that's going on with shoe design, doing that would leave you out of a lot of the excitement of getting dressed.
Jenna Lyons, head women's designer for J.Crew: That's crazy. There's nothing better than a bright shoe. As long as it doesn't make your foot look like a boat, you're fine.

Read the whole article here, and feel vindicated that sometimes yes, you should have 'gone out of the house like that'!

Closet Case

Excuse the delay, but buying and moving into a house is soaking up my time like nothin' else. But it's given me a fantastic excuse to completely immerse myself in color and texture : Two of my favorite things!

Closets are currently on my brain - The master bedroom has given me my first ever walk-in (JOY! RAPTURE!), and we're lucky enough to have scored a home with more bedrooms than we have people to sleep in them, so I get my own sewing room as well.

I think it would be fun to go a little nuts in the master walk-in : My fiance loves a neon, and I'm not scared of brights either, so how fun would it be to have a crazy pop of color or pattern in a place where you can close the doors and hide it away whenever you want?

Image from here

 Image from here

And my sewing room. I've seen some shots on Pinterest where folks have removed their closet doors completely and added healthy dose o' contrast for a sort of shadow box effect. Loving it :

Image from here

What do you think? Any recommendations from you lucky ducks who've been living with walk-in's or extra storage space for a while? Dish.

Merry Everything!

Happy Christmas!

Fellini Couture ~ Christmas Gown

Image courtesy of  stylefilebyclarabellekay.blogspot.com

De-Glitterize

I mentioned here that removing glitter nail polish was not exactly the best part of my fun, sparkly manicure. After some good ol' fashioned web research, the consensus is (drumroll, please...) :

Step 1: Saturate cotton with acetone or polish remover (a remover with acetone works best).
Step 2: Place the cotton on the nail and wrap each finger in aluminum foil. Press down.
Step 3: Leave on for 5 minutes.
Step 4: Pull the foil off and your glitter polish will glide off, too!

The above text was snaked directly from the Refinery29 website, which is a great beauty site that tends to always offer the best summations of info. So there you have it - A little time consuming with the 5 minute wait time, but I say wrap 'em all at once, and it will be nearly time to take them off again by the time you finish the prep work on the 10th digit.

Better than taking a granite sander to your fingers, anyway.

Image courtesy of favim.com