Treat Yo Self: Valentine's Pin-to-Win

 On your own or with loved ones, Valentine's Day is the perfect day for self-love, so TREAT YO SELF! Have a donut for breakfast, buy yourself a bouquet at Trader Joe's, or take a super long bath. Whatever you like! The cherry on top? You could win a sweet prize pack from Fleur d'Elise!

There are 3 prizes!

1st Prize: A Ban.do Party Banner Necklace & neon pink flower pin & Benefit's Watt's Up Face Highlighter

2nd Place: One of my newest notecard sets! You get 6 cards & envelopes featuring happy pastels & platinum ampersands. 

3rd Place: It's a surprise!!

 This giveaway is a little more involved than my most recent giveaways, but don't worry! It's gonna be fun! You get to be a little creative :) The main part of entering involves creating a pinboard! Pin one of the images from this post and then go crazy! What would you not normally buy for yourself? How do you treat yourself? Pin that! My favorite board will win first place! For inspiration, visit my pinboard.

Second & Third place will be chosen by Rafflecopter.

How to enter:

1. Create a Pinterest Board titled 'Treat Yo Self' (Required)
2. Follow my Pinterest! (Required)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Open to US/Canada Only.
Ends February 14th, 2015

DIY: Make Your Mail Glitter!

Here's a simple way to make your Valentine's mail even more special.

What You'll Need:

1 cellophane envelope

Some glitter & confetti

Washi tape

1 address label

A cute card

A cute friend

Step 1:

Fill out your card. The mushier the better.

Step 2:

Just kidding. That's gross.

Step 3:

Seal it up in its paper envelope, then slip it into the cellophane envelope. You can get a package of them here.

Step 4:

Throw in a pinch of glitter and a pinch of confetti. Seal up the cellophane. Make sure you don't fold the cello envelope smaller than it really is (tip from USPS). Use the washi tape to seal any gaps where the glitter escapes.

Step 5:

Address the envelope. Add postage, duh.

Step 6:

Fill someone's mailbox with love!

P.S. I made that Grumpy Cat stamp! I've made so many cards with it. They watch over me while I sleep.

♠

DIY: Valentine's Day

I love this holiday. It's always a wonderful excuse to buy candy for people, make cards, and just generally shower loved ones with little gifts and affection.

I've been pretty busy this time around, and have V-Day plans that extend into the weekend!

I made a card for my husband and bought him some chocolate covered marshmallows at Trader Joe's. I'll also make a dinner of some sort, but have yet to decide on the menu.

I've been cleaning and crafting all week in preparation for a small tea party I'm hosting on Saturday. It will only be the second time I've invited more than 4 people over to my apartment for this sort of thing. We didn't have a couch for a while, so it was hard to sit too many guests. Well, now I've got a couch and a clean apartment, so bring it on! 

Here's an easy DIY decorating idea:

I used vintage magazines, wrapping paper, and flocked vinyl to create various hearts. Then I just simply taped them to the wall above where I'll be setting up the tea. They're so cute, I'm tempted to leave them up forever...

Cupcakes and Mexican wedding cakes are in the works, and I may also make this biscuit recipe from last year. I attempted to make hard candy jewels for favors, but my goodness, is candy making tricky! Not sure I have the energy to try a 5th batch :-/

Well, hope you all have a wonderful day full of romance and chocolate!

Photo-a-Day: Week 3

13. blue


14. heart


15. phone

My phone is crap. It drops about 75% of my calls.

16. something new

My hair color and my falsies!

17. time


18. drink

My husband came home from San Diego and took me out to breakfast. I ordered as many drinks as possible. I love drinks!

19. something I hate to do

I hate throwing away magazines. This isn't my whole collection, either. Even the ones I don't like, I at least try to resell at Half Price Books.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter! @catiebeatty

hearts & candy

Yet another holiday with the purpose of reminding us to tell our loved ones how much we appreciate them. Go buy some chocolates for someone :)

In these photos:

Thrifted Land's End sweater

H&M belt

Forever 21 skirt and shoes

Now, for a delicious recipe! It's always nice to have something special on Valentine's Day, so I came up with this Rose-Pistachio Buttermilk Biscuit recipe, based on one from the Fannie Farmer cookbook.

Rose-Pistachio Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter or shortening

2/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup chopped pistachios (if salted, they should be rinsed first)

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease to 8-inch cake pans. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter using two knives, a pastry blender, or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the utensil. Add more buttermilk if it looks to dry, but be careful not to add too much! Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 14 times (really, that's what it says, it's not just a Valentine's Day thing). Pat or roll until 1/2 inch thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out biscuits. Place about 1/8th inch apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve with raspberry or cherry jam and mint tea.

For the icing:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp rosewater (Very affordable at Halal markets!)

Optional: Crumbled rose petals

Stir ingredients until well mixed. Drizzle over slightly cooled biscuits.