Hello lovely readers! Today I am over on We Heart This with my tutorial for a DIY Evil Eye Ring. It’s actually so easy to make with a little bit of clay and paint, and rivals anything you can find in a store. Plus if you weren’t aware of the deep history behind this symbol, I’ve shared a little about the cultural significance of it too. Check it out and let me know what you think!
xo
Carly
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Last week I shared how to make some easy pastel-colored French macarons, and today I’m going to share what to do with the ones you’ve made. You don’t want them just sitting around, right? How about making them into something even better, like a cute little stack holding a message of love for your sweetheart? It looks adorable sitting on a desk, makes a great gift for children or teachers, and is quite easy to make as the clay is soft enough to poke holes into without power equipment. Here’s how:
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I was contacted by a member of the Associated Press recently to feature my DIY Enamel Spring Flower Bib with Martha Stewart Crafts. It’s a super-fun jewelry project that uses the innovative Martha Stewart crafts Enameling Paints for a beautiful, vintage-inspired look. We had a nice chat over the phone, I sent photos, and then found out that the story posted on a number of news outlets. Here are the links so far:
Thank you so much for featuring my bib project!
xo
Carly
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I spotted this over on Joss & Main and thought to re-post here. Though I don’t share a lot about home decor here (I am planning to though, in the near future!), I figured books are easy-access, wonderful sources of inspiration and ideas. Decorate away, fellow DIY’ers!
Must-Have Books for the DIY Home Decorator
And you can always turn to Joss & Main for a chic, on-trend selection of curated home decor finds – it’s been such a source of inspiration to simply receive their newsletters in my inbox showcasing all sorts of possible rooms and design schemes…they always get my crafty cheapskate DIY-or-die mental wheels a-spinning!
Check Out Joss & Main Here (invite link)
xo
Carly
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Inspiration: Prada on the runway vs. Topshop’s low-priced alternative.
With Prada’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection we saw a fun throwback to 60’s-style oversized flowers: a reincarnation of Mary Quant’s iconic daisy design. That graphic floral element has remained strong throughout the Fall and Winter, popping up on fashion’s trendsetters and street style mavens everywhere. DIY-able? I think so. Stay tuned for a how-to coming up soon!
xo
Carly
Image sources: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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Who isn’t obsessed with French macarons lately? They seem to be everywhere: flooding Pinterest, on inspiration boards, in recipe guides, and all over Instagram. Though I love love love the real ones as an occasional indulgence, sometimes I want to have some around as sweet little objets d’art, and as the basis for another fun craft for Valentine’s Day I have coming up. 
They could also be used in jewelry and accessory projects too! (More on that later.) In the first of my series on Japanese-inspired Deko Sweets, here is how to make your very own (extremely realistic!) pastel-colored French macaron out of clay:
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We have just about 2 weeks until the big V-Day and it’s getting time to figure out how to celebrate it. Will you celebrate with a kind gesture towards your loved one, whip up a favorite dish, splurge at a pricey store, or go anti-V-Day? If you are actually celebrating it with your sweetie, why not make something personalized that is uniquely representative of you two as a couple? Here are some great DIY ideas to get you started: (more…)
I’m always on the hunt for a bargain, and savings on top of that bargain is just icing on the cake! My local Target is one of my favorite places to score fabulous, fashionable items for a steal – and now with the Cartwheel App, there are even further discounts available! It’s super-easy to use (and fun to be able to use it in the store and see what you can save on the fly!) Cartwheel can be used on desktop, tablet, mobile web, iPhone, and Android (though first you have to download and install the app on your device.) You can use it before going to Target, to see what has Cartwheel discounts before going. 
When checking on items at Target.com on your mobile device, you may see a notation next to the item that says “Cartwheel Offer” – for these items, you just click through to the item and hit the “See Target Cartwheel Offer” button. 
The Cartwheel app will open and tell you what discounts are available. If you find a Cartwheel offer that you like, you simply hit the “Add” button to add it to “My Cartwheel” – which will then be scanned at the register at Target. The barcode that is generated by Cartwheel is unique to you. 
Cartwheel offers can only be used on in-store purchases, but once you’re at the store you can also scan the barcodes of items to see if there is an applicable Cartwheel discount. This scarf caught my eye, so I scanned the barcode to see if it was discounted on Cartwheel. By tapping on the barcode icon in the top Search Bar of the Cartwheel app, the app opens your phone’s camera with a rectangular area to scan the barcode. Hold the phone with the item’s barcode in the rectangular area, the app will scan it, and then it will redirect to a page that tells you if there are any Cartwheel offers on that particular item.
And there was: 15% off Women’s Fashion Scarves! Score! When I browsed through the lamps aisle, thinking to pick up something for my bedroom table, I saw a gorgeous clear bubble-stemmed lamp base, and decided to see if Cartwheel was offering a discount on it. 
I was in luck and Cartwheel was also offering 15% off Lamps, expiring that very day! So I tapped the “Add” button, and it was added to my other saved Cartwheel discounts.
The neat thing is that even if items are on Clearance or marked down, the Cartwheel discount is on top of any other Target discounts or coupons, manufacturers’ coupons, and your REDcard discount. So it’s like double, triple, quadruple savings! 
At checkout, after ringing everything in my cart up, the cashier scanned the barcode Cartwheel was displaying. This barcode activated my saved discounts: 15% off Lamps, 15% off Mirrors, and 15% off Women’s Scarves. I had 2 mirrors and so the discount was applicable to both of them – woohoo! One of the mirrors was even a clearance item and marked down already – so I got 15% off that final price. (For each Cartwheel discount, you can have up to 4 items.) I ended up saving a grand total of $30.68! This was on one lamp base, 2 mirrors, and 1 scarf – and though some items were already on sale, just by using the Cartwheel app I saved an additional $17.18 off my purchases. Cartwheel offers change often (there is a countdown in the app to when each offer expires), and there are more than 700 discounts available! Each person starts with 10 spots on their list to “clip” their virtual coupons to. You can earn badges for saving and interacting with the app, which earn you more spots on your Cartwheel list to fill up with extra discount offers.
To celebrate the launch of their new app, Target is offering one person a $1,000 Target GiftCard®! Entering is easy: just leave an answer to the following question in the comments on this post:
What is the biggest discount you’ve gotten when purchasing something? Did you use creative couponing, time your purchase to an annual sale, stock up on gift codes – how did you make that big score??! Do tell!
Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 1/30 – 2/28.
Be sure to visit the Target Cartwheel brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!
Good luck! xo Carly
As I posted on Facebook earlier today, yesterday we wrapped a full day’s shoot for this amazing promotional video project I’ve been working on. Since mid-December it’s been in pre-production, all in order to showcase this fun and FABULOUS watch brand to a fashion-loving audience. I can’t WAIT to share the finished product with all of you! Yesterday was like clockwork: we had the best crew ever (we’re talking serious film credits here), the GORGEOUS and talented Meredith Adelaide as our actress, a beautiful location just on the edge of the Pearl District, and our Production Designer who whipped a blank slate into a fully-furnished room in just over an hour.
I was posting updates on Instagram throughout the day – you can check some behind-the-scenes sneak peeks out here. What could be better than gorgeous fashion, a fun day shoot, a talented and upbeat crew, and Modify Watches, the BEST COMPANY EVER to partner with to do all this??!
Just look at those colors!! Go Modify!!
Stay tuned for the finished video, coming up soon!
xo
Carly
The Peter Pilotto for Target collection is on its way (so is it wrong to be ridiculously, crazily excited this early??). On February 9 the Collection drops, featuring the brand’s signature bright prints and intricate patterns. Straddling the line between resortwear and Spring Fashion and priced between $16.99 to $79.99 (with most items under $60), this collection is guaranteed to sell out super-quick. Follow it here to stay in the know and follow the Collection as it makes its way to Targets nationwide. Click on the banner below for an interactive preview!
See the full lookbook below: (more…)
Carly J. Cais I am a DIY’er, designer, sewist, maker, and marketer. Chic Creative Life is where I share what I do, and help others bring their unique style into their own lives.
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