Little Einsteins Party Printables

#TBT to an adorable Little Einstein’s birthday party for a cute set of two-year-old twinsies using our custom banner and cupcake toppers!

My favorite part: The characters on the cupcake toppers have fronts & backs!

Thanks for sharing @ggpinon!

A Birchbox Year in Review

Last month marked one year since my hubby gifted me a 1-year subscription to Birchbox, and I received my final shipment in the mail a few weeks ago. I'm a little sad it's over because who doesn't love a surprise in the mail every month!? I really had a lot of fun receiving new products every month, but I don't think I will be renewing my subscription. Here's my story...

Last year I went knee-deep into a beauty product phase. I read a thousand blogs, watched a thousand vlogs, and visited Sephora or Ulta on a weekly basis to test everything that appealed to me--from all sorts of make up to every skin care line available. {Side note: Did you know that Sephora is the best because they offer free samples of almost everything in-store?} I brought home so many samples that I had to empty out one of my vanity tabletop jars just to hold them all! I was able to test out products before I determined whether I wanted to buy it or pass. It was so much fun that I figured a Birchbox subscription would be an awesome idea! For $10/month, Birchbox sends you samples of a large range of skin care, make up, perfume, snacks, and other fun items. You fill out a profile of what you're interested in and watch the adorably packaged boxes mosey on over one by one to your doorstep each month.

I think it's a great way to sample a lot of different types of products without spending a fortune on something you might not even like, look good on you, or make your skin break out! But then I started to realize that I was backed up with sample testing from months before! As a busy mom, I don't have all the time in the world and I really should've taken note from my giant stack of unread magazine subscriptions haunting me every day. It's now 1 year later and I still have a large amount of samples to try out that keep accumulating and taking over my bathroom vanity.

For now, my sampling days are over, but here are some of the products that I actually tried, liked and made my Birchbox year worth it for me (in no particular order, btw)

1. Amika Dry Shampoo: It smells awesome and definitely works for extending a wash one more day.
2. Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream: I used this till the squeeze! Super hydrating and non greasy!
3. Philosophy Hope in a Jar Night: Great moisturizer for those really dry-face days!
4. Dr. Jart Black Label Detox BB Cream: Love this BB! It's got great coverage and it's mattifying.
5. Anastasia Clear Brow Gel: Kept my wild brows in place and it's not glumpy.

Shutterfly Minds My Beeswax!

After reading my post about how much I loved making my pregnancy album, Shutterfly contacted me and asked to share it on their social media outlets! Of course, I was honored! You can now see Mind My Beeswax on Shutterfly’s Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest accounts! So exciting!

Another Teddy Bears' Picnic Birthday!

I just love when I get photos of our party printables in action! One of BeeswaxBuzz's sweet customers all the way from Melbourne, Australia sent photos of her baby boy's adorable 1st birthday party and she pulled off such a great version of The Teddy Bears' Picnic using our invitations as inspiration! See photos below and follow Beth on instagram @bethlucinda to see more from a creative Melbourne mum!

Thank You Mrs. Spade

Attention female besties: Awesome birthday gift alert!

Pretty cool huh? My sweet buddy arranged for THE ACTUAL MRS. KATE SPADE to write some best wishes for me on her Style book! I went back into my memory bank recently and remembered that my first Kate Spade purchase was when I was 16 years old! It was a tiny black canvas purse that I loved so so so much and I wore it till it died. {May she RIP}

Since then, Kate Spade has been one of my fave designers ever, and these days her design team is just kicking major polka-dot bows & glitter stripe ass. My latest Kate Spade gifts and purchases have been from their accessories category. Love me some Kate Spade whimsy pops of color!

My Pregnancy Journal

While on maternity leave {between the late nights and continuous feedings} I got to take care of a lot of tasks from my household to-do list. How you ask? I have not a single clue! But somehow I managed to create a Pregnancy photobook that I had been planning to do since we found out Livi was coming! I searched high and low for cute templates and finally found this Shutterfly version that was PERFECT! It's actually a pregnancy "journal" so there are many page layouts to document all the notes and stages I went through each month of my pregnancy. It was overwhelming at the beginning to get it started and lay out all the pictures I wanted to use, but once I got the hang of it and stuck to a pattern, it was pretty easy!

I made sure to include photos of each month's belly, notes of things I was feeling/craving, photos of when I broke the news to family, photos of my other preggo friends, the Baby Shower, our Babymoon pictures and other tidbits I can look back and read later in life...because we all know pregnancy-brain lasts a really long time! Here are some pages of the book:

I love the way it came out! The designs are modern and there's tons to choose from. I'm now in the market to shop for a "Baby's 1st Year" photo book and might just give Shutterfly's storybook collection another shot!

Bit by the Organization Bug

Some say the messier the home, the better the parent. This makes me feel so much better about the giant overload of toys spread across my living room at all times of the day, the leaks inside the fridge of Livi's prepared food, and the mounds of laundry that I can't ever get to fold and put away properly. It's just not gonna happen--I'd much rather spend my couple of hours a day with my child than sorting the mail that's been piled up on the counter for weeks. But with the new year, I've promised myself to try to get some organization back into our home for the sake of my sanity! In the beginning of January I made a list of all the areas I want to tackle and have been working on them little by little, one at a time, after Livi goes to bed of course!

The first area on the list was the disastrous gift wrap section of the office closet. Eventually the whole office will get an organized makeover, but in the meantime this area had to be cleaned up. I wish I had a "before" picture--there were ribbons, wrap, bows and cards everywhere! I actually use all of this a lot so I figured a little investment to get it organized is worth it. There are so many options out there and I got tons of ideas from other bloggers, but this little cart was a perfect match! (BTW, I bought it on super-sale!) It's got 12 drawers--the larger bottom ones are for gift bags and tissue paper, the middle ones are for bows and ribbons, and top ones are for scissors, tape, cards and birthday banners. I was able to get the gift wrap rolls to stand up in the corner where I can see them, next to the gift boxes. There's a convenient table-top where the paper cutters and sticker machine will live. And last but not least, the castor wheels will allow me to take it out as often as needed. 

And I even organized my cards in an accordion folder I had laying around!

Ahh so much better!