Last Minute Holiday Cards and Festive Party Invitations by Paperless Post

If you are anything like me the holidays are crazy and there just doesn't seem to be enough time to accomplish everything on my to do list.  Let's face it, it's Dec. 23rd and we are down to the wire here.  But if you still need to send out Holiday Cards or last minute impromptu Party invitations Paperless Post is your solution.  This is an online greeting and custom stationery company with some really fashionable choices in designer cards by Kate Spade, Rifle Paper Co., Kelly Wearstler, Paper Source and many more.  It's so easy to email out some really cute ecards or invitations in no time at all.

I've posted about Paperless Post before, and when I was approached again to write a holiday post, I jumped at the chance.  It's fun to look through the wide variety of cards and invitations.  And I've been using them to send out get well cards and birthday cards since my last post.  You can customize your backdrop, envelope, envelope liner and my favorite - choose a cute stamp for your envelope.

Here are some stylish choices in holiday cards and party invitations for the holiday season:

Holiday in the City

Rifle Paper Co.

Isn't this a cute Cityscape Holiday card? I especially love the taxi with the tree strapped to the roof!

Diamond Tree

Kate Spade New York

And if you want a little bling for the holidays...

Ornaments

The Indigo Bunting

And here's an option for those of you who like to include a photo.

Big Dot Merriment - Gold

Sugar Paper

I really like the simplicity of this one.  Polka dots get me every time.

Reverse Snow Globe (Square) - Lapis

Cheree Berry

How cute are the matching blue swiss dots in the envelope?

Bijou - Merlot

Kelly Wearstler

All this sparkly gold confetti is festive for sure!

You can purchase coins on the Paperless Post site in packages of: 

25 coins for $10

100 coins for $20

200 coins for $30

400 coins for $50

1000 coins for $100

In the first card shown (Holiday in the City by Rifle Paper Co), you can see that the card starts at 2 coins.  When you start to customize, each item after that will cost another coin.  You have choices of picking designs in backdrops, envelopes, envelope liners and stamps for an additional coin each.

I chose all customizable options on one card I sent out, and it ended up costing 6 coins.  All these fun choices and I'm not making a big paper mess on my desk!

So don't despair, get those cards out ASAP with Paperless Post!

Happy Holidays to you all!

This post was coordinated by bloggeroutreach.com

Trying out Art Philosophy Inc. Watercolor Confections Palette

I've decided I want to try stepping out of the studio and painting on the go a little.  I use several palettes and watercolor in tubes in the studio, so I thought I'd try a more portable option.  I found this cute little Art Philosophy Inc. Watercolor Confections Pan Set and a Pentel Water Brush Pen.  I bought The Classics set which comes with 12 colors: white, pinky, red, orange, yellow, green, icy blue, blue, purple, cocoa, grey, and black.  The paints seem to be a little more opaque than what I am used to with my mixture of tube paints: Sennelier Auarelle, Winsor & Newton and Winsor & Newton Cotman, Sakura Koi,  and Grumbacher.  But I'm having fun with them.  I'm truly not used to painting with a water brush and a pan set, so it's going to take a lot more practice before I'm really comfortable with this change.

This is a good basic color set.  I think I want to try the Pastel Dreams or Vintage Pastel set next. And I might get a couple of different sizes of the Pentel Water Brush. 

The first piece I tried to paint with these supplies was an utter failure.  I'm using it as a paint tester paper.  It's hard to judge how much you need to squeeze the pen to get just the right amount of water out.  Plus I reflexively try to dip the brush in a non existent water jar out of habit.  More practice needed!

A little Autumn doorway doodle.

Another little doodle of a black gown.

I'll keep on practicing with this pan and water brush and hopefully I'll get used to painting this way.

Holiday DIY Clean Beauty Lipstick Palette With Honeybee Gardens

I started this little project out of necessity.  I'm slowly trying to transition to all natural clean beauty products, but I don't want to jump in to expensive products if I've never tried them.  I will be so upset if I spend a lot of money on something I don't like.

While trying to ease the pain of overhauling my makeup bag, I stumbled upon an affordable green beauty company, Honeybee Gardens.  You can buy Lipstick Samples for 50 cents each or a set of all their colors for $11.  That way you can try out several colors.  I bought a few samples that I thought might look good on me.  They came in mini ziplock bags.  While trying to use them in this packaging, I decided to empty my new tin of ginger mints from Trader Joe's and use that as a lipstick palette.  Now I have a cute little palette that I can use at home or bring with me in my purse.  Along with my Sephora retractable lipstick brush, this is a great way to have several colors at your finger tips. I like a retractable brush, because when I'm on the go, I don't have to worry about fooling around or losing a lid.  And once the brush retracts, I won't get my makeup kit or purse messy.

I must say, since I created this little palette, I'm having a lot of fun combining these samples and creating my own unique lipstick colors.  Just like mixing paints!

Honeybee Garden Lipstick Samples - Valentine , Sweet Pea, Bombshell, San Francisco, Bermuda, Goddess, and Risque

I bought this retractable lip brush at Sephora, but I couldn't find it on the website anymore so here are some alternatives that are similar:

Professional Lip Brush in a variety of colors from Amazon for $7.99

e.l.f. Retractable Lip Brush for $4.00