Winter/Holiday/Christmas Nail Design and Video Tutorial!!

After getting my Julep box this month, I knew I wanted to use one immediately for a holiday design! I chose Vivien, which is a gold micro-glitter polish with large gold hex pieces. I really liked the idea of layering it so that is exactly what I did!

I came up this pretty wintery design! The best part about this design is that is can be for any holiday you celebrate! Change the rhinestones or not add any at all and they still look very festive!


I did a video tutorial on YouTube to show you how I created this design! Please let me know what you think and if you feel it works for the holidays!

Julep's December "It Girl" Box!!

I posted about Julep before and it only seems right that since I get it monthly, I can allow you to view what I receive each month! Maybe some of you can really see what they provide and it may sway you into joining Julep yourself!

To check out November's "It Girl" box from Julep, click HERE but for now, let's get into the box I got for December and a few add-ons as well! More details for joining Julep and becoming a Maven are at the end/bottom of this post :-)

They always package each box very beautifully and usually include extra goodies!

An inspirational quote of some type is always in the box, and most are fitting for the time of year. Because it is December, they also include a Sweet Stripe peppermint candy, YUM

Julep also usually includes a little card that has mani or nail design ideas using the colors in your box!

This month, they included a small gift! It's called a cabochon ring. It has a detached "jewel" that you paint on one side and stick into the ring, secure it, and see the gorgeous color on your ring! I haven't decided how to do mine yet but I am super excited!

 And finally, the heart of the ocean, the reason I became a Maven- The gorgeous polishes! This month, they were all some type of glitter polish for the holiday season. Each polish has a different type of glitter texture, consistency, and application!

Blue glitter/shimmer polish with purple tints

 The first polish is this gorgeous blue micro-glitter/shimmer color and it's called IVY. Ivy is a beautiful cobalt blue color with hints on purple shimmer. It has a seemingly metallic-type look to it but not in a tacky way at all.

 Ivy is very pretty! Covers the nail well and can easily stand on it's own! The above picture was two coats and it covered the nail pretty well. For any blue-lovers, this is a must have for your polish collection!

Sea foam green jelly base with gold, green, blue and silver glitters

 The next polish is this sea-colored multi-glitter polish and it is named HARPER. Harper is a jelly-based polish with a light sea-green color and tons of iridescent glitters, including green, gold, blue, and silver.

 I think Harper is absolutely beautiful! This polish very much reminds me of a mermaid's tail! Although the base is semi-sheer, this polish looks amazing on its own. However, I can imagine that layered over another green or even a blue, would look fabulous!

A multi-dimensional gold glitter polish with a gold micro-glitter base

 The last polish in this month's Julep box is this gold glitter polish and the name is VIVIEN. Vivien is a beautiful micro-gold glitter with gold hexagons. It is described as a "full coverage" polish... but I disagree on that one.

 Vivien is a stunning gold glitter polish BUT I would not recommend this polish as a "full coverage" polish or to stand on it's own. The micro-glitter in the polish is simply not enough for full coverage unless you did maybe 3-4 coats...maybe. I think as a layering polish, this would be gorgeous! Just getting the hex pieces situated can be a pain but that is to be expected with any chunky glitter polish.

 Overall, I am still very happy with my box! All of these colors are beautiful and each glitter polish will have a different use and give a different kind of sparkle! I can't wait to pick out which one I am going to use first

Julep provides nail polish to your home, no shopping or leaving. Once you sign up and establish your personality profile, they will ship you a monthly box for $19.99. The box contains between 2-3 polishes and sometimes other goodies or extra polish. I have gotten lip balm, foot cream, candy(can't forget the candy!), cute makeup bags, etc. They really make sure you get your money's worth for the $20!

It's also no obligation, you can cancel anytime, or skip a month...or you can send your box to a friend or family member! I have been a Maven for about 6-7 months now and I love it!

 To join today, click this link and use the promo code COLOR2012 to get your first Julep Maven box for only 1 penny! Make sure to get in on using this promo code before it expires and get your first box for only one cent!

What do you think about these colors for the holiday season? Which is your favorite?

Homemade Hot Chocolate and Easy Holiday Gift! Yummy!!

This time of year is perfect for so many things- time with family, staying in and cozying up with a movie, singing Christmas (or holiday) songs, AND enjoying the perfect cup of steaming hot chocolate topped with marshmallows and/or whipped cream! YUM

I started making my own hot chocolate and it is divine! Just the right amount of chocolaty goodness without being overly sweet and it definitely has a nice richness to it. Besides that, it is SUPER easy to make. I will give you my bulk recipe that I use. I make one huge amount, then distribute some to friends and family and keep the rest for our personal holiday enjoyment :-)  If this recipe is too large, just cut in half or even 1/4 and make the amount you need or want!

Cre8tiveKtina's Hot Chocolate- BULK Servings (100)

• 24 cups of Dry milk
• 13 cups of Baking coca
• 25 cups of Powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)

Keep in mind you will need a VERY large container to mix all the ingredients for this amount... I used a large summer cooler haha  (I made sure it was impeccably clean, but needless to say, I had nothing else size-wise to hold this recipe).

Once the bulk amount is made, all you need is 2-3 tablespoons of the cocoa mix and add it to a cup with 1 cup of boiling hot water and you have an amazing cup of hot chocolate! 

This is a 2-quart container we kept for personal hot cocoa

You can always edit as necessary too. Like it sweeter? Add some more sugar. Need more chocolate? Add more cocoa. Not creamy enough? Add more dry milk. No matter what you preference is, you can adjust it and make it the best cocoa you have ever had! And you made it, so you can be proud of your dazzling creation and enjoy it's tastiness.

I made enough hot chocolate so that I could give out little holiday baskets to neighbors, family, and friends (The holiday baskets I make will be in another post see keep a lookout for that!). The holiday baskets will include nearly 1 cup of hot chocolate mix per basket. So I had broken down the amount of baskets I was making, how many servings I wanted per basket and then how many I would need total. When all was said and done and all the calculations were in, I needed to make 100 servings of hot chocolate.100 seems like a lot but this was enough for me to make enough servings for everyone I was giving it too as well as a good amount for my own family to sip on and enjoy during the holidays. 

*Keep in mind that this is how I made it, it's not exact and everyone has different tastes. Feel free to change it as you need so you and your family are happy with it. This is just how I make it and how my family and friends love to drink it!*

SPECIAL NOTE FOR PEPPERMINT COCOA* For anyone who likes peppermint hot chocolate, I also made a batch of that! To give your hot chocolate a peppermint twist, simply add a heaping 1/8 tsp. of finely crushed peppermint per serving. Truly delicious and so much more satisfying drinking a delicious cup of peppermint cocoa that YOU made :-)

Take the time to smell the chocolate and enjoy this warm, tasty treat! Perfect for the holidays or any season! 

Inside My Home Management Binder- All the printables that help keep me organized! (Christmas included!)- Part 2 of 2

In a previous post, I had shown how i created some different home management binders using regular black binders, some homemade print-outs and some mod podge! Now I will show you what I put on the INSIDE of my binder!

This binder can be edited as things at my home or with my family change, which is the beauty of this project. You can change, add, or take away things that apply/don't apply to your life or family. Tons of different sites out there offer many different and free printables to make home organizing easy! Depending on what printable you need, they can also be super easy to make! Let's get right into it!


Morning and Evening Checklists can help structure your day and ensure a good scheduling

 A quick cheat-sheet for birthdays and anniversaries can make it easier to "remember" everyone's birthday and anniversaries, great for growing families!

 Master checklist allows you to keep track of any home or family projects you intend to accomplish

Organizedhome.com has some great printables for overall home organizing! The 3 printables above were ones I retrieved from here and there are a ton more for all different wants or needs!

The above monthly bill organizer is one that I made. I wanted something simple and with just the right amount of info and I found it hard to find one that was fitting my idea. I made this one very easily by creating a table in Word, then adding my labels to the top of each column. If you are interested in THIS monthly bill printable, simply comment below (preferably with an email) and I will be happy to email you it!


Christmas printables are equally awesome! Having 3 kids, I try to do up the holidays as much as possible and these printables are going to make every year from now on easier.


A baking planner to organize recipes used every Christmas! I make homemade hot cocoa AND homemade orange shortbread every Christmas, so those recipes went in here :-)

Specific family traditions can be also neatly organized with this printable, allowing you to never forget about certain things that are important to you and prepare for them a little easier

Keeping track of Christmas decor can be a snap with this checklist. It enables you to check off things you have and jot down things you need. I also plan on using the lines next to each item to specific which bin it's in, to make it easier to organize and find all my Christmas decorations!

A very simple Christmas gift checklist. Write down who you are buying for, a gift idea or what you bought, and then you can either give yourself a budget or write down what you spent to keep track of spending!

All of the above printables are incredibly useful and were all retrieved from this site, which has many more printables to offer (Holiday and Home) and all are for free. A great and efficient way to get everything organized!



I decided to include a few other sites that have some great printables. Depending what you're looking for, these sites, as well as the other mentioned, should be a huge help!

Useful websites for other home organizing printables:
Tip Nut- Make a Household Notebook
Lovely Little Snippets- Cute and Simple Holiday Printables



December will be dedicated entirely to Christmas and the planning of. I told my fiance' that this year, i am not doing anything home or project related in the month of December unless it is related to Christmas. I am going to spend the whole month finishing decorating, making yummy sweet treats, sending out cards, and coming up with great gifts!

This means that all my posts for the next month will be solely related to the holiday and preparing for it! check back to see the recipe for my homemade hot cocoa, a cute idea for hanging Christmas cards, holiday basket idea for the hard-to-buy people, and any sweet treats and holiday awesomness I do along the way! Hope everyone has a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and I will be back soon with the start of my month of Christmas!!

Fast and Easy Thanksgiving Tablescape! Enjoy a beautiful table with little effort for the holiday!

Thanksgiving seems to come and go very quick around my house! We do so much preparing and decorating for Halloween and then just as Thanksgiving is approaching, we are trying to the same preparing and decorating for Christmas!

This year, Thanksgiving will NOT be lost among the other holiday hustle and bustle. We are making sure to keep our holidays separate and celebrating Thanksgiving solely by itself.... (But, don't get me wrong, the day after Thanksgiving, up goes our tree!).

 To help keep our house festive specifically for Thanksgiving, I decided to do a very simple and pretty autumn inspired tablescape!

 This tablescape was put together easily and without much time at all! Most of these things I had from various occasions or previous years.

Mostly, these items were used in my Halloween tablescape (click here for Halloween tablescape). I just removed the spooky or gross items, and added in a few autumn or Thanksgiving extras!

This above view shows you what this tablescape basically consists of. I used an dull orange "placemat" that I folded in half, so it would only be in the middle of the table and not stretching across. I have a small silver platter (not real, $1 at dollar store) that I covered with a leaf plate(on clearance at Walmart- $3!) and several small foam gourds that I also found at the dollar store. it was a small pack of 5 for $1. I added a string of fall colored leaves around the outside of the platter (fall leaves- $1 at dollar store)

 I finished it off with a turkey "bowl" (the label says bowl but I used it as a candle holder) in the center, which was on clearance at Walmart for $3 and I also had 4 pumpkin candles from previous years and I used one in each corner of the placemat.

 The added bonus was that I also found this really cute leaf napkin holder on clearance at Walmart for $3! We actually needed a napkin holder and until I find a more general use one that I like, this works great for the season!

 This tall bird's eye view shows that even a gorgeous tablescape can look amazing without taking up too much space. I have a big family and we all sit at the table to eat, so we clearly have enough room, even with enjoying the beautiful decor!

As you can see, my son loves sitting at the table (and jumping in my pictures with his smiles!). This festive table is perfect for something small with a lot of pop. It's perfect for the season, easy to put together(and take down), and very affordable! Feel free to try this tablescape for your Thanksgiving dinner or maybe get cre8tive and toss some other things in there too! Enjoy your holiday and have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Gobble gobble!!

Gorgeous Fall Nail Art- Easy to do!

This time of year is so beautiful for so many reasons- the cooler weather, the falling and color changing leaves, and holidays! Well, here is gorgeous fall/autumn inspired mani with gold leaves! I will show you how I created this adorable design and I hope you love it as much as I do for this season!

Items Used:

Deep Gray polish

Gold Glitter top coat

Deep Beige/Natural polish

Bright Gold Glitter striper or polish

Cuticle stick/Toothpick

I started with a deep gray base color. The specific color I chose was SLATE by Sinful Colors

 Then I used a holographic gold glitter to add some sparkle to the gray. I used SHINING STAR by Orly

 I wanted a slight gradient so then I used a holographic polish of a deep natural color. I used ALL HAIL THE QUEEN by Butter London (P.S. I LOVE this polish! The holographic finish in it is amazing and truly it is a gorgeous color with tons of sparkle!)

 Next, I used a gold striper to create the leaf shape and used my cuticle stick to make little indents, to simulate the veins of the leaf!

 After a healthy coat of top coat to seal in the design, I was finished! Simple right?! And I love this fall look! I really enjoy the different colors on the base and how the leaf pulls it all together for a great autumn look. Perfect for the season and fall holidays! May be a good choice for Thanksgiving nails, without being difficult or time-consuming!

 I hope you like this design and please let me know what you think! If you have any requests or ideas, be sure to comment below or post them to my Facebook and I will try my best to fill requests! What's your favorite fall mani? :-)

DIY Home Organizing Binder/Home Management Binder! Part 1 of 2

The more time I spend on house projects and crafts with the kids, the less time I have for all the other little stuff. Home management binder, to the rescue!! The idea for this is to keep all my little stuff, ideas, dates, and little stuff I need in  one place and completely organized for easy access and efficiency.

So, to show you how I created my binder, I am doing a 2 part post and this first post is part 1. Part 1 is the outside of the binder and part 2 will be the inside! Keep a lookout fora  future post on part 2, where I show you all the printables and goodies I stuffed inside!

This binder is super easy and affordable to make, and to personalize! Now, you can get a basic black, 1" binder at Walmart for .97 cents, as pictured here. I made a few binders for other people so I decided to make them a bit more fun and personal.

 The roll of Quick Cover is simply a self-adhesive "shelf liner" or basically a patterned contact paper. It has a coat paper that your remove and you can stick the print where you want it. I got this roll at Dollar Tree for $1!

I cut a rectangle shaped piece for the front of the binder....

 And a smaller strip piece for the side...and then stuck both to the binder using adhesive side.

 I printed out title pages for the front of the binders and small labeling strips for the sides. I just did this whole thing in word, and picked out clip art that I liked, base don who the binder was for and what I thought they would like. You can personalize this in ANY way... use any colors, objects, pictures, whatever you like!

 Notice the right side title says "task & reward book".... Yes, you can make a binder for the little ones if you want and they can stay organized too! (This one is for my 12 yr old sister, and the binder offers chore sheet, reward system, consequence page AND boredom bursting activities!)

 I used Mod Podge (matte) and a foam brush to glue and seal the title page onto the shelf liner. I did only the back and then waited 5 full minutes. Then I coated the front of the title page 5 times, allowing a 20 minute drying in between each coat. (VERY important to let the coats drying in between, and a full 15-20 mins!)

 I did use the first 2 coats over the title page and the last 3 I did over the entire front cover, to help seal the liner in as well. Because I used the matte finish, it gave the front a wood, almost grainy type finish. But not in a bad way! It has a nice texture when you touch it and it definitely feels solid and sealed. I don't feel seams, and so I know it will last and everything will stay stuck on! :-)

*Note* I used regular printer paper for my title pages and it did create a few small bumps because the paper is thin, but the bumps were mostly able to be smoothed out. Another alternative, which I should have done, would be to print on cardstock!

So in all, these binders came out really cool, they are personalized for the people they are going to AND the cover is solid. You can stick this in a bookcase without worry of the front coming off, and the side labels help to find it fast!

What do you think of this binder? Would you make something like this for yourself? Keep a look out for my next post on all the stuff I put in the binder to help organize my house and life and things I found to help with these binders I made for family that may be useful! That post will be SUPER informative!!

Until next time! :-)
Cre8tiveKtina