Charlie Tamara Piper

The holiday season is crafting season! I so enjoy gift wrapping and card making and Christmas time is a fabulous time to get even more festive and indulge in my crafting obsession. Last year I shared my wrapped gifts and I'm making it a tradition! But first, I'll start with making my own holiday cards. I used my iPad Pro and the Amaziograph app to create my own holiday-themed designs. I then loaded the graphics onto my computer and printed them out on sticker paper. I used edging scissors, card stock and some holiday stamps to create a sweet holiday message on the outside of the card. I then laid the sticker paper onto white card stock, folded the cards in half and voila! Homemade holiday cards! And on to mail the cards! First, I took two pieces of 8.5x11" card stock and used my card as a guide to see how best to create the envelope flaps by lightly folding the top piece of card stock. I used an adhesive dot roller to secure the ...

Calling all Stranger Things fans! I recently put togther a Stranger Things-themed gift wrapping job for a friend's birthday and I'm super excited with how it all turned out! Here's how I pulled it off: The Card: To make the card, I found a website that allows you to make your own Stranger Things-fonted messages, and I downloaded that image into a new Microsoft Word file.   I then printed a picutre of the Upside Down and my birthday message onto sticker paper, then mounted the sticker paper onto card stock. Here's the back of the card pulled together. For the inside of the card, I printed a picture of Dustin - my friend's favorite character - and mounted it onto a card stock spring that I made by folding a small, thick piece of card stock into an accordion. This way, Dustin pops up when you open the card. I then hand wrote a birthday message.   The Gift: I started by wrapping my gift in red gift wrap to coordinate with the red card s...

I'm beginning a series on this blog to discuss some of the new (or new to me) beauty products that have been welcome additions to my collection of beauty products. From hair to skincare to makeup, I'll round up the products that have impressed me and that you may want to check out for yourself. First up is Too Faced's Hangover 3-in-1 primer and setting spray. It delivers an ultra fine mist that lightly moisturizes and primes skin, creating a nice base for your foundation and concealer to sit on. I'm not sold on it being a traditional setting spray for locking in makeup for a long day's wear, but it definitely does a fantastic job of making powdered makeup blend into the skin and refreshing makeup to make it look new again. For anyone who found the lotion version of the Hangover primer to be too heavy or greasy, this liquid spray version give all the great moisturizing benefits without any of those downsides. Too Faced's Peaches and Cream Peach Mist...

Earlier this month, I shared how much I've been enjoying my Kate Spade planner to keep myself organized. My only knock on the planner was that it didn't come with dividers to separate the months to make planning even easier. I searched high and low for dividers that I'd like but I realized that the only way to get what I was looking for was to craft it out! This was such a fun crafting project and I am so happy with the end result. Here's how I customized my planner to make it even more functional. Get ready to measure! I had the perfect book of crafting paper to create a black/white/grey/gold color palette for my planner. I cut fourteen pieces of card stock down to the size of my planner by using an original insert as a template. I toyed around with making tabs to create more traditional dividers but I actually preferred going without it. I then laid out my dividers in the order that I wanted to place them in my planner. Time to make the lab...

I fell ill this weekend with a migraine and I'm slowly rebuilding my energy. I've created and prefected a routine that helps me get back on my feet after dealing with the side effects of migraines.  Migraines are extremely painful headaches that are often accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound and nausea. They can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days and can be extremely debilitating. Disclaimer: I'm not a licensed doctor or professional - just a migraine sufferer for the past 10 years. Please consult your doctor before taking any of my advice.  Meet with a neurologist to figure out what triggers your migraines and spot the warning signs that you're about to experience a migraine. When I first developed migraines, I had no idea what was wrong with me. It was a pain like I'd never experienced before and it felt like it came on so suddenly that I couldn't figure out how to treat it. My first step was to meet with my primary care d...

This summer I reviewed the Moleskine planners that I began using when I first got into paper planners a few years ago. I loved how functional, light and easy they were to use. My Moleskine planners served me well and I'd still recommend them to anyone looking for a new planner or to get into paper planning. But as I talked about in my original planner post, finding the right planner is all about analyzing how you use it and how it fits into your lifestyle. I found myself needing a single planner that could store everything - sticky notes, pens, highlighters and additional notes relevant to my planning needs - in one single item so I could avoid carrying a separate notebook and pencil case to keep everything else I needed with me handy. I also wanted to invest in a very sturdy, refillable planner that I could customize to fit my needs as my planning needs evolve. I settled on the Kate Spade New York Grove Street planner  after considering the ways in which I'd ...