New obsession: Urban Decay eyeshadow

When I moved recently, I threw out about 90% of my old makeup/beauty products. Why? They were nasty. Everything was either old and gross or just plain never used. I always figure that if I haven't used or worn something in a year, I don't need it. Also, throwing out old junk gives you the excuse to buy something new that you might actually love. I started out with one Urban Decay product in November and have collected quite a bit more over the past few months!

My favorite palettes: Naked 2 (top), Mariposa (left), Glinda w/Bordello eyeshadow (right)

I decided to start with the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette that I had seen in Sephora; the colors looked neutral (no possibility of fuck up as long as I stayed away from the black eyeshadow) and shimmery, which I like. I instantly loved it; the colors are just pretty, and I think it would look good on almost anyone. Cute and natural enough for everyday wear, but you could also do layers and some darker colors if you're going out at night.

I then saw they had new palettes based on the new "Oz" movie, and the Glinda palette looked adorable (plus, it comes in a build-your-own-palette tin, which means you can switch out the colors for other full-size UD eyeshadows!)  I hated the "Oz" color (the split gold/silver glittery crap) so I switched it out of my palette for a full-size "Bordello" (glittery mauve-ish color).

Original eyeshadow colors and 24/7 pencil that came in Glinda palette

I also took advantage of a huge sale that Urban Decay had on their website, 20% off everything including sale. Got the Mariposa palette at a huge discount, as well as a set of 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils. Mariposa has some darker shades that I use just for fun, and the pencils I got right after trying out the sample that came with the Glinda palette. I'm awful at doing anything that requires any sort of attention to detail (especially in the morning) so eyeliner has never been my thing. But these pencils are SO easy to use, I had to get more of them.

Basically, I love almost everything I have purchased from Urban Decay (if i didn't love it, just because the color was not for me) and would totally recommend most of the products to anyone, even if you have less than 10 minutes in the morning to actually put on makeup, like me! :)

Irish Flag Baby Blanket

Lisa, the wife of one of my coworkers, is probably the biggest source of my "custom order" business. And she is damn proud of her Irish heritage.

She asked me last month to make a Irish flag baby blanket for her newest grandson, with a white border and a matching ear flap hat. Due to moving at the beginning of February, I just got started on this 2 weekends ago. So far, I have gotten the flag portion completed, and have started working on the white border. Below is my progress:

Note: I am THE WORST photographer ever, so all of my projects are going to look much wonkier/crooked/weird in photos than they do in real life.

Pretty easy project, except I must have miscalculated the gauge when I got started and the blanket is a little bit smaller than I would like. SO, I'm going to be doing a thicker white border than I intended but I think it will look nice and Lisa will be happy with the final product!

This better shows the actual colors

Close up of the stitches

UPDATE: Finished the baby blanket and hat set on 3/1/2013!

And just to show you that I am not kidding about how serious Lisa is about her heritage, here's a pic of a previous Irish-themed baby blanket that I made for her, based off the Mitre Square Baby Blanket pattern. 

First Post!

My name is Jen, though you probably have figured that out by now. I live & work in Newark, Delaware. I have my own knitting/crochet business . . . .which sounds like it would be a lot of fun (it is) but it is also a TON of work.

I started this blog to keep better track of my yarn-related projects, but I'll also be posting about a bunch of other things . . . . what I'm reading, awesome deals that I've found in stores/online (i'm a crazy coupon lady), new products or businesses that I think are awesome (or not so awesome), cool DIY projects that I've tried and from November through March. . . COLLEGE BASKETBALL!!