Along with the myriad of cute stuff that I’ve come to love, all things chalkboard jumps on top of that list. From chalkboard contact paper to pre-cut labels, I can’t get enough of this stuff and now, I’ve discovered how to make custom color chalkboard paint. That means, almost every wall in my home will be made with chalkboard paint.
The original DIY by the one and only, Martha Stewart can be found here. I found a neat trick to creating an endless amount of custom colors using paint samples! I love that the paint samples come in 8ozs so all you have to do is add your tile grout, no need to ruin a perfectly good plastic jar. Plus, the cost is between $3-$4 per sample.
I couldn’t decide between these two shades of pink, so I got them both and I picked this lovely teal as a surprise gift for Trinidad, since this represents her brand color.
First, you want to mix well, 1 tbsp unsanded tile grout into your paint sample.
Next, dip the foam brush into your chalkboard paint and paint until your heart’s content.
After they’ve dried completely, you want to use the side of your chalk to ‘condition’ the chalkboard. Conditioning will keep writing from ‘burning’ into your chalkboard and will give it a nice vintage look.
Here are some fun examples of how you can incorporate custom chalkboard paint into your home:
What will you do once you start making your own chalkboard paint?
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
I love the new year! After all of the gluttony of the holidays, the new year is a time to start shedding those gained pounds on your body and around your home. I like to take the time to go room by room to see what is needed and what I haven’t used in a long time. It’s also the time to organize your closets and cabinets to make the rest of the year easier. (My sisters tell me I have OCD, but I see it as being prepared. Organization makes finding things less stressful) While some people may fawn over the latest gadgets, I’m all over baskets and mason jars. I’ve also fallen in love with anything chalkboard and these 3 things together create the perfect storm (see what I did there) for organizing everything. Add some bookcases and a few other items here and there and you are on your way to creating extra space throughout your home.
Cabinets: Mason jars are both cute and functional. I love using the wide-mouth jars for storing dried goods such as sugar, flour and nuts. They make scooping easy. Get them in the same size, line them up and add these great chalkboard labels so you will never mistake the salt for sugar again. Bookcase: These are perfect because they get items off of the floor, get them as tall and you have just added so much extra storage space. I like to store all of my magazines in these holders that I found at Target’s Dollar Spot. I cut chalkboard contact paper and can always make updates to my files as needed. Closet: This is my pièce de résistance, I added a bookcase for folded jeans and sweaters (I was inspired by retail stores). For hanging, I put like with like: white shirts together organized by arm length, ruffles; skirts are put together by fabric, hem length etc. Getting dressed in the morning works out so much better because there’s no more guesswork as to what is where. Getting into the groove of organization will save you in aggravation down the road. They say it takes 21 days to create a habit, once you’re organized and in the groove of putting things in their place, it will not only become a habit but automatic.
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
Whenever the weather gets cold, I inevitably begin to hibernate by curling up on my couch with my crocheting needle, loads of yarn as far as the eye can see and a glass of bourbon. I begin to imagine all of the amazing blankets and hats that I will create with my bare hands and then reality sets in that I can only make square & circle shapes and have perfected 3 different stitches.
Since the holidays have snuck (sneaked?) up on us yet again, I decided to make these easy and fast crochet coffee cozies for my friends and to help keep disposable coffee cups from landfills, I paired them with the Starbucks reusable tumblers that are only $.99 in the stores. Once you get the hang of a certain stitch, you can crank these babies out in less than 20 minutes. It takes me 30 because I’m usually watching TV or doing other things while I crochet.
Never heard of crochet let alone a coffee cozy? Check out this detailed DIY video on YouTube on how you can make your own crochet coffee cozy.
And if you want to get fancy, you can make a Cat Crochet Coffee Cozy
Don’t feel like making it yourself? Buy them from Etsy!
What do you think? Will you be making one of these yourself?
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
The holidays are upon us, and we are getting to crunch time when it comes to gift buying. We asked our contributors for their top picks under $50. The things they cannot absolutely, couldn’t possibly live without. Here’s what they had to say:
2013 Gift Guide – Under $50
Holly:Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill mascara. I can’t live without it because it’s the BEST mascara I’ve ever tried and I’ve tried almost all of them. As a makeup artist, it’s my responsibility to try products before I use them on my clients. For years I’ve only found mascaras that I like; until I tried Eyes to Kill. The mascara lengthens and adds volume without clumping. I don’t have long or thick lashes, but the mascara (magically) finds the shortest lashes and lengthens them and the thinnest lashes and adds volume that looks very natural. The end result, is beautiful, long lashes. A great mascara is the stand-alone product that makes my eyes Pop!
Eva Said It: A slam dunk for coffee lovers. What’s better than a pound or two of gourmet beans and a grinder! Hit any store that sells kitchen appliances and gadgets for a grinder. You can go high end and fancy, but my its not uncommon to find a basic model that does the job just right for about $20. Then, hit a gourmet shop (in NYC, I love Porto Rico Importing Company on Bleecker St. www.portorico.com) for some of the tastiest and exotic coffee beans you can find! Toss both in a basket with some shortbread cookies or chocolates, et voila! A gift they wouldn’t dream of returning or regifting, and will use with pleasure!
Charlene: When holiday shopping for someone who already has it all, or you just can’t figure out what to get someone, I opt to send a donation to their favorite cause or charity in their name. You get to do good and it’s tax deductible. You can even make the donation at justgive.org and let them choose the organization where they want the money to go.
Scarlett: My Roku box is the best thing a girl can have (and it doesn’t hurt that Roku sounds like the French pronunciation of my last name). Roku is this cute little streaming box that lets you turn any TV into a Smart TV and the prices start at $49.99 for the LT model. You can watch channels like NetFlix, Amazon Prime and so much more. All you need is wireless Internet and a TV. Boom.Done! Oh, they have free shipping right now!
Trinidad: You’ll pry my food processor from my cold dead hands, it’s one of my most prized possessions. It’s definitely a thing I can’t live without. This handy gages chops, minces, dices, purees and in a pinch blends. I’ve used it to make soups, pestos, grating cheese and even making dough. The thing is seriously versatile. This is a great gift for anyone who likes to cook and/or entertain.
Now that the holidays are quickly approaching you might be thinking that you have to buy so many gifts with so little time and money. Here are our holiday budget tips to making shopping easier.
Create a holiday budget. You can do this by visiting www.mychristmasbudget.com. This budget lets you see how much cash you will have available to spend on Christmas gifts.
After creating your budget, make a list of the names of individuals you will be purchasing gifts for and right down the gifts that you want to purchase for the individuals.
Check for the best deals for items that you want to purchase.
Stay within your budget that you’ve created buy not over spending.
Shop at stores that price match.
Use coupons. An excellent site with a wide variety of coupons is www.retailmenot.com. This site has both printable and online use coupons.
If you have to use credit cards for your holiday purchases, use the card with the lowest interest rate and try to pay off the holiday purchases asap.
What are your tips for staying on budget during the holiday season? Let us know in the comments.
Contributor | Charlene Bey Charlene Bey is an Accountant and is the owner of Easy Flow Bookkeeping, LLC. Charlene eats, sleep and lives accounting and loves giving her opinion when it comes to being financial savvy.
I love terrariums. I love the look of them and the idea of having a little island in a bottle seems so cool. Terrariums evoke a very earthy and organic feel when you look at them and that’s why I wanted one of my own.
I always have these lofty ideas of what I’m going to do until I begin to actually do it. Once the research started, the pricing realized and the time needed, laziness began to ensue and I decided I’m going to fake my terrarium for only pennies and minimal effort.
Being a Budget Socialite, I am always finding ingenious ways to being fabulous without having to crack open my sample sale kate spade wallet. I have devised this top 10 list that can get you on your way to becoming the financially savvy socialista that I know you can be.
1. Set a short term financial goal. What financial goal(s) would you like to see within the next 5-10 years?
2. Set a long-term financial goal. Think about what age you would like to retire and how much you will need to live comfortably without having to worry about finances.
3. Train yourself to be financially independent. Create a budget and not rely on credit cards for purchases. If you must use a credit card, make sure that it is for a purchase that you can pay right off.
4. Buy a home. This is a great time to purchase a home with the housing market rates.
5. Fund or continue to fund 401(k) or IRA account.
6. Have at least 6 months worth of salary saved up for a crisis.
7. Pay off credit card debt if you have any. Start with the highest interest rate card 1st.
8. If you have children, now is the time to start saving for college. No age is too early.
9. If you have student loans and you are having a hard time making the monthly payments, call your loan holder to reevaluate your payment plan. If you call, they will work with you.
10. Think about starting a business. There are a numerous amounts of tax advantages for small businesses.
Let us know what you think or if you have your own ways to being more financially savvy.
Contributor | Charlene Bey Charlene Bey is an Accountant and is the owner of Easy Flow Bookkeeping, LLC. Charlene eats, sleep and lives accounting and loves giving her opinion when it comes to being financial savvy.
Are you the type who loves the idea of DIY projects, but when it comes down to it, you never actually do them because they tend to be complicated? Do you have a Pinterest board dedicated to DIY projects that you will get around to? Well, this easy DIY is so simple and clever.
The chalkboard memo board. I love doing this and it’s pretty easy to go overboard with it. That’s okay, because you can always give them away as gifts.
Remove the glass from the frame and wipe off any dust or debris to avoid air pockets, cut the contact paper to size, peel and stick.
Put your chalkboard into the frame and start writing to your heart’s content. What do you think? Will you make this? Let us know in the comments.
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
Starting your own business can be very daunting. As entrepreneurs ourselves at the Budget Socialite, we’ve compiled a list of some of the start up business services we use or have come across in our research that are either free or have a small fee. If you know of any, please add them to the comments so others can learn about them as well.
Dropbox
www.dropbox.com/
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!
SohoOs.com
Our vision is to establish a new global micro-economy by empowering micro-businesses and freelancers worldwide with the management tools they need to flourish. First, to help stimulate and increase growth, and second, to provide a supportive environment in which to interact and collaborate with others- free of charge.
Mint.com
http://www.mint.com
Mint is fresh, intelligent online money management. Not only is Mint free, it saves you money. While existing personal finance software packages require hours to set up, a passion for accounting (is that possible?) and hours of weekly maintenance, Mint is virtually effortless.
Get Clicky
http://getclicky.com/. It gives you code to put on your site to track your traffic. It tells you how many people are visiting your site, where they are coming from (facebook, twitter, searches), how long they spent on your site, what the clicked on, where they are from (country, state, town), what provider they use, etc… It’s awesome because you can tell what is working in generating traffic and what isnt. Also if you send a link to someone important, you can tell if they visited your site. My friend sent a link to someone at MTV, and it listed that someone from MTV new york had visited.
Quickbooks Simple Startup – Free trial
http://quickbooks.intuit.com/
QuickBooks from Intuit is the #1 rated and best-selling small business financial software1. Find out why small businesses choose QuickBooks accounting software. Get a 30-day free trial and then, if you need more time, you have another 60 days to decide if you want to keep it.
MailChimp
http://www.mailchimp.com/
The Forever Free Plan
Store up to 500 subscribers
Send up to 3,000 emails per month
No contracts or credit cards required. You can link to your Zoho account to update your contacts as well as other popular CRM solutions through their API exchange.
ZohoCRM Free Edition
http://www.zoho.com/crm/index.html
Great CRM to keep track of your customers & vendors they give you alot for free
Number of Users Three Users Free
CRM Modules:
Leads and Sales Opportunities
Accounts and Contacts
Cases and Solutions
Marketing Campaigns and Email Opt-out
Activities and Calendar
Reports & Dashboards
Survey Monkey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Free version gives you up to 10 questions and 100 responses. You can view the responses, but can’t download which means you’d have to do your own copy and pasting. Square Up
https://squareup.com/
Accept payment cards on any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone. After signing up for Square, provide your address on the web and we’ll send your free card reader and Square sticker. It’s not quite ready yet, so sign up and once they’re ready, it will be all systems GO!
The Small Business Web
http://thesmallbusinessweb.com/
These guys have gotten together to help make small business better. They have an online directory of different service providers and you can join to add your own business to their listing.
Do you use any of these services for your start up business or have some not on this list? Let us know about it in the comments.
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
I put a loveseat in my dining room! And why not? Most people eat in the living room because the couch is so comfortable. Since the couch in my living room is white, eating in there is out of the question. And after I got done with my dining room loveseat, it quickly became my (and my guests) favorite place.
I found this piece on Craigslist for only $50 and paid an extra $20 to have it delivered by the owner. It doesn’t look like much because of the color, but the shape and size were perfect. The cushions were a bit to be desired and I had to do something about the height.
I used painter’s drop cloth to recover the loveseat. I liked the creamy cotton look that fit perfectly with my Shabby Chic theme and the price was great. I ordered mine online, but a quick online search will get you to a bunch of sites that offer drop cloths. (Tip: You will want to wash it first to remove the chemicals and to soften the fabric.) You can also order a nice slipcover as well. Check out this one for a real country look on Amazon.
I purchased a new cushion from a craft store, added batting and sewed a new cover for it.
Next, just fit the rest of your drop cloth over your slip cushion, tucking in extra pieces.
To raise the height, I used wooden risers so it was tall enough for the table.
What do you think? Would you put a love seat in your dining room?
Co-founder | Scarlett Rocourt Scarlett creator of Wonder Curl is a Marketing Maven, DIY Diva & Glamour Girl! Her affinity for style, organization & discount designer shopping makes her a true Budget Socialite. Her flare for creativity allowed her to translate that into a career in marketing.
Where has summer gone? Didn’t we *just* get accustomed to easy sundresses and skin-baring glam? ::SIGH::
Labor Day is upon us, but as we wave good-bye with BBQ salutes, it’s time to look ahead to autumn with excitement! Not only is September a fashion world explosion, but it’s also the start of fall “social season” in New York City! Charity dinners and auction invites and opera debuts – oh my! But…what does one wear to such events? Black tie? White tie? Cocktail attire? What’s a Budget Socialite to do?!
Not to worry – I’ve got you covered for every calligraphy laden invitation you’re about to get and ask me to attend with you. It’s not so tough afterall!
What’s it all mean?
Let’s start with some basic definitions.
White Tie: The most dressy and involved of the formal dress levels. You might hear it referred to as “tophat and tails” or simply, “tails”, referring to the long coat gentlemen wear that creates a…well…”tail” silhouette. Reserved for ULTRA formal occasions – think UN dinners, debutante balls, and super formal weddings. Ladies have only one option here: floor length formal gowns. Got a diamond tiara handy? This is the only time you might get away with wearing one outside your home. ::whispers:: So whip that bad boy out, sister! ***Shopping tip: Bloomingdales does an early fall clearance that is unbeatable for gowns. My favourite floor lengths silks danced their way from the sale rack to the Waldorf! Don’t miss this sale!***
Black-Tie: The most common formal dress code, though less intricate than White Tie. Gentlemen are required to be in tuxedos and ladies should don floor length gowns or cocktail length dresses. If you dare to do the Little Black Dress, it HAS to be your fanciest LBD ever…and I know you have one! The old stand-by won’t do here, Socialite. But…leave the tiara at home. Also, resist all urges to relive prom night: black cummerbunds on your escort are the preferred standard. (Did he choose plaid? Take your sister with you instead.)
Black-Tie Optional: For the gents, tuxedos are encouraged but not required, with a dark, well-tailored suit considered a perfectly acceptable alternative. You’ll see a mix of both choices on attendees. Ladies needn’t feel rooted to the floor length gown – you’ll see every length dress from floor to knee in the room. Your LBD still works, but can be less dressy, with your jewelry perhaps helping to make bold statements for you.
Cocktail Attire: Ladies hit their stride in this IDEAL Little Black Dress territory! It’s more fun than formal, and more sexy than stuffy, with elegance being the key. Nothing too formal or close to floor length, please. Gents, a dark suit and power tie are a MUST! Bright cufflinks all around!
FAQs
The invite says “Black Tie” – can’t I just wear a dressy knee length dress? Technically, yes. However, Black Tie is a formal occasion. You might be alone in a sea of elegant floor length gowns, so research your crowd/venue and make sure you’re choosing a formal dress, even at knee length. Still in doubt? Ask your host or someone close to the party planning. Better to ask than show up and be embarrassed.
A gown and a dress are the same thing basically, right? No! A dress may be any length, but once we hit the floor, sister you’re in a gown! A gown is always formal, whereas a dress isn’t necessarily so. Ever hear of a “casual gown”? A “flirty sungown”? I thought not.
These are old rules and customs. Does anyone care if I get it wrong? I mean really – it’s 2013. Pfft. Yes. Yes, people DO care – namely, your host. As an invited guest to anything, it’s important to show the simple respect of following an established dress code, if one has been requested. Still think it’s all nonsense? There’s no shame in declining an invitation. But…why would you willingly miss all that champagne?
Obviously, fashion is subjective and people interpret the rules as they may – it’s fun to bend them sometimes! But you have to know the rules to break them. The rules of formal dress lean towards classic style over fashion. To get even MORE technical, Wiki has some great point-by-point specifics. These are a general standard, meant to help you plan as you wade through the piles and stacks of RSVP cards that I just know await us you, Socialite!
See you next month!
The season approaches – are you dressed and ready? Have some formal dress tips? Let us know in the comments!
Contributor | Eva Said It Eva is a mother, writer, entertaining doyenne, and snark expert based in New York City. Money can’t buy happiness, but it buys her lots of wine and stinky cheese…which is close enough. Catch more of her stiletto clad sarcasm at www.evasaidit.com.
Along with the myriad of cute stuff that I’ve come to love, all things chalkboard jumps on top of that list. From chalkboard contact paper to pre-cut labels, I can’t get enough of this stuff and now, I’ve discovered how to make custom color chalkboard paint. That means, almost every wall in my home will be made with chalkboard paint.
You’ll need:
First, you want to mix well, 1 tbsp unsanded tile grout into your paint sample.
After they’ve dried completely, you want to use the side of your chalk to ‘condition’ the chalkboard. Conditioning will keep writing from ‘burning’ into your chalkboard and will give it a nice vintage look.
