Personalized Room Designs

I just bought a very nice shower gift for my friend. I found a lady in North Carolina that paints personalized room decor and asked her if I could order something from her, since I don't live near Raleigh. She was more than happy to oblige, and I was shipped the perfect present for my friend.

I had seen something like this at Target/Walmart but 1. it was so expensive and 2. it wasn't personal enough for me to give to my dear friend. I knew she had picked Pooh as a theme, so I asked Sassy to create a scene with the characters and add the baby's name somehow. She did a fantastic job. My friend said that it was her and her husband's favorite gift. She asked if the lady lived nearby so she could have her paint a wall mural. Only Raleigh, North Carolina is so lucky!

Check out her website. Sassy-Design.com. She has a bunch of photos on there just to give you an idea of what items you could purchase, but have them personalized, which makes them even more special! She can basically paint on anything.

The possibilities are endless.

Hot Fashion Tip

Check out Affordable Glamour for a hot fashion tip.

I've noticed that neons are also back in for nails.

Blueberry Moon Giveaway

Blueberry Moon specializes in ordinary, useful products with a stylized twist. Take your everyday burp cloth—useful but very boring—Blueberry Moon takes it one step further and personalizes it making it chic and fashionable.

What I really liked about the products offered by Blueberry Moon was that they were high quality—apparel from Carter's and Jumping Beans, to name a few. Now, the gifts you buy for someone's baby shower can mean that much more.

I loved all their products. With today's fashion-forward lifestyle, mothers can now carry those style-cramping baby products in their handbags and they'll be covered in chic camouflage.

Blueberry Moon is announcing their first product giveaway for fellow bloggers! Two easy steps could win you the baby essential above.

1. Write a post on your blog about Blueberry Moon telling others about this giveaway and one of the products you like in their store, either the Designer Travel Wipes Case or something else that caught your eye. You can review their inventory at http://www.bbmoon.etsy.com/ Your post has to include a link to their blog to qualify--www.blueberrymoon.blogspot.com

2. Email the link to your post to blueberrymoon@live.com

The best post by August 8th wins. The winner will get to choose this style travel case or have one made with any fabric and embellishment they choose, even their child's name!

How to Grow a Healthy Head of Hair

1. Eat healthy. This will not only help your hair, but also the rest of your body. You'll have more energy and your hair will shine.

2. Drink plenty of water. Again, not only for your hair, but also for your body. Many people do not get enough water each day.

3. Vitamins. Take a vitamin that is high in folic acid. This is found in most prenatal vitamins. Just because it says prenatal, doesn't mean you have to be pregnant, nursing or trying to conceive to take them. They are full of the best vitamins and minerals that your body needs daily. The folic acid will also help your nails grow fast and strong. You can't go wrong taking vitamins.

4. Stay active and go outside. Studies show that exercise as well as great sunny weather speeds hair growth. The increase of endorphins means that your body is operating at its fullest potential, meaning hair growth is optimized.

5. Take care of your hair. Wash only when needed. For some it is twice a week, others just once a week. Don't over wash, this dries out your hair and scalp. Brush carefully and be sure to trim the ends every 6-8 weeks.

More Great College Fund Ideas

Here are a couple of other money saving tips to boost your child's college fund.

FreshmanFund offers a way for gift givers to directly deposit money into your child's college fund account. And, it's FREE! Check it out today!

Also, a friend of mine does this and it is great for the environment too. She takes her daughter for walks everyday on her rural country road. They pick up aluminum cans in the ditch and stock pile them at home, and when they have enough, mom recycles them and puts the money into her daughter's savings account for college. She's also asked neighbors and friends who don't bother recycling to save cans for her daughter. She'll pick them up once a month from all of her contributors. They've made a lot of extra money so far and her daughter is only 13 months old.

Thanks for the tips everyone! Keep them coming.

Great College Fund Idea

Here are a couple great tips for helping to add to your child's college fund.

Starting from when they are babies, instead of toys or presents, ask friends and relatives to get savings bonds (or the money and you can buy the bond) as birthday or holiday gifts. I believe that the parent should be getting their child the most memorable gift anyway, so save the "it" toy of the season as your own gift to your child and ask that they purchase the bond. It may not mean much now, but when those bonds mature, your child will be at the age when they will appreciate it most, and your house won't be full of useless toys and clutter.

When you want to cut your child's hair (if it is 10" or longer), instead of throwing it away or donating it to one of those organizations (I've heard many disheartening things about LOL), you could sell it and put the money into their savings account. Throughout their life, they may be able to cut their hair several times, adding to their college fund.

Sign up for Upromise. It allows you to earn money for their college fund while you spend as you normally would.

If you have any other college fund and money saving tips, please feel free to contact me.

Hot Summer Hair

The hottest trend for hair when the weather seems to get hotter is a braid. French, English or whatever you want to call it, braiding is in. A messy braid is a great casual look, while a more sleek French with an accent accessory is great for the evening.

High or low. Tuck in the end. Upside down. However you braid it, it will never go out of style.

The photo was taken from a great book I own called Beautiful Braids. It can be purchased from Amazon.com at a great used rate.

If you have any great hair tips or photos, be sure to email them to me.

Time to Think About Back to School Shopping

The time is nearing. Back to school shopping is just around the corner. In fact, you will see plenty of school items already on the store shelves. To get the best deals, you need to wait until a week prior to school for supplies and a week after for clothing.

I would say wait until a week after the start of school to get supplies too, but you need to send them to school with something.

As a general rule of thumb, the longer you can wait, the greater the savings.

Sell Hair, Buy Hair, Easy!

Sell your hair. Make money. Easy!

Selling your hair is an easy way to make some extra money without doing a lot of extra work. You just take care of your hair the way you always do, eat healthy like we all should, and, after a few short years of growth, you'll be able to cash in.

Visit EasyHairNetwork.com for all the details.

Rainy Day Solutions for Kids

It's another rainy day. What can you do to keep your kids occupied indoors?

1. Bake
Use this opportunity to teach your kids the essentials of cooking. Let them help you measure and pour, stir and set the timer.

2. Create
Why spend money on non-personal, commercial greeting cards when you have capable artists at home? Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or just because—this is sure to keep them busy for at least an hour or two. And, you'll have your cards ready for the next few months.

3. Sort
Go through old toys and clothes that they don't use anymore and prepare them for a garage sale or Good Will.

4. Visit
Call a nearby friend and see if their kids are in need of some visitors. Offer to bring something to share for lunch or a board game that everyone can play.

5. Crafts
Teach your kids how to sew, knit, crochet or cross stitch.

6. Relax
Use this time to make a bowl of popcorn, put in a movie and snuggle under a blanket on the couch.

7. Plan
Plan an upcoming birthday party or weekend plans. Allow the kids to help you prepare lists of things to do. Keep them involved with all the decision making.

If you have any rainy day tips, send them over.

A Much Needed Plug

Visit these very talented graphic designers. They do fabulous work for a great deal.

Perfect for small businesses, like myself. They are fast and professional.

Fusion Creative Team

Coming Soon!

Affordable Glamour is all about being chic and fabulous without spending oodles of money. Some topics I'll be discussing are fashion, beauty products and elegant home accessories.

Tune in each Friday for great tips from Affordable Glamour.

Funny Celebrity Forward

My friend Jenna sent me one of the funniest email forwards today. I just had to share it with you.

You know how you get those forwards that ask for personal information? "When is the last time you cried? Do you like chocolate or vanilla?" Or sometimes you get the ones that ask for lists of things? "Name four places you've lived. Name four jobs you've had." Or there's the ones that have a long list of something and you either you fill in the missing anniversary or birth dates or you add to the end of it and then send it on to all your friends? This one was like the latter. Except it was asking for a huge compilation of celebrities that we think are ugly. As I was scrolling down the list, I was saying to myself, "Uh, maybe. OOOh, definitely. Yes, he is really gross." Some people were adding comments to the names as well, as if to justify why they wrote it, or perhaps to persuade others that may think that person is still hot "in a creepy sort of way."

Oh, another thing: the directions were that you could only pick one celebrity. Your top, all-time, super gross, ugly, nasty celebrity. You were allowed to duplicate answers though.

Anyway, here are some from the list (as they were posted):
Napoleon Dynamite
Alan Alda (and Clinger and the whole cast of MASH)
Billy Crystal
Cher (what is she like 80 and still wearing spandex and sticking that tongue out, ew)
Morgan Freeman
Matt Damon (something about his face is not right)
Marc Anthony
Seal
Meatloaf
Steve Buscemi (not sure of the spelling, scary eyes and mouth)
Angelina Jolie (she is ugly to me because she is a wh*re)
Morgan Freeman
Elijah Wood
Hilary Clinton
Bill Clinton (bulb nose)
Julia Roberts, Steven Tyler and Liv Tyler (they tie because their mouths and lips are waaaaay too big)
Lindsey Lohan's girlfriend
Mathew McConahey (he is so not cute, his accent is gross too)
Paris Hilton (guess all her money can't buy her un-ugliness, not just looks either)
Conan OBrien

...and this is just a sampling. Feel free to comment with your most disgusting celebrity.

A Common Complaint About Hair

Since I am growing out my hair again, I wanted to address a very common complaint about long hair that can easily be managed.

Brushing.

When your hair length is beyond your shoulders, it is a serious chore to brush everyday. Now take a shower and add in two other terrible factors: wet and heavy. And, let's not forget that you lathered well, as the bottle says. I've heard time and time again from friends, "I would love to have long hair like yours, but I don't think I'd want to deal with brushing it all the time."

Solution.

Brush your hair before bed. Then braid it and lightly secure with a hair binder. In the morning, remove the braid and run your fingers through it lightly. You may spritz it gently with leave-in-conditioner and brush minimally to remove any waves that you don't want. When you shower, brush your hair before you get wet. This way you are able to remove any drain-clogging stragglers first and brushing when you are done is a million times easier because all the snarls were fought out prior to getting wet. Easy on the lathering too. Unless someone dumped a bucket of sand on your head, you shouldn't need to tangle up your hair that much.

A FREE Teaching Tool

I've often been tempted to buy my children those expensive book sets on different learning topics, but I could never drag myself, or my pocketbook, to go through with the transaction.

My family started a garden this year. I encourage the children to take an active roll in caring for the garden. They help me pull weeds, turn on and off the sprinkler, fetch various tools, etc. I don't force them to do anything they don't want to do. (I was forced to tend to our family raspberry patch as a child. I love raspberries and have my own patch, but to this day I've harbored some animosity towards raspberry bushes, so I don't make the effort to care for them as much as I do the garden. Strange, I know.)

Each day I take the children to the garden and explain the various processes that are taking place. For example: Why do we need to water the garden? What do the flowers mean? What do the leaves do? What types of animals are interested in our garden and how do we keep them away? Why do some grow tall and some stay short? My children love to ask more questions and I take great joy in being able to answer them and fill their inquisitive minds with knowledge.

In fact, just the other day, my son used some of the things I taught him in the garden in an everyday scenario. I was floored!

This is a great way to teach your children valuable, everyday lessons, FREE!

Eggplant Anyone?

Eggplant has always been one of those weird, indecisive veggies. To me, it's like caviar. You don't like it really, but you eat it because it makes you look wealthy and like you have exquisite taste.

My neighbor brought a eggplant dish to the neighborhood bbq on the Fourth of July. It was pretty good.

Sliced into rounds, she covered them in a mixture of 1/2 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp oregano and some salt, and then fried them until golden brown on each side. Strange texture but tasty. And, you get the added bonus of knowing you are eating veggies...or eggplant for that matter.

You can also do this with zucchini. I can't wait until my garden in ready this fall. I plan on trying and creating new recipes. I'll let you know how it goes.

Welcome!

Hello everyone. My name is Beth. I am here to write about my life and experiences, and hopefully offer useful tips .

Let's get started. For my first tip, I would like to get the word out about my new website.

Have you ever considered selling your hair? Have you ever been in a financial crunch and wondered, "Gee, if I could just get a couple of extra bucks...but how?"

http://www.easyhairnetwork.com

It's an easy solution for people with long hair to list their hair for sale, in a classified format, for potential hair buyers to view. Unlike other hair selling/buying sites, EasyHairNetwork.com offers you ad space for your hair for only $10 until it sells. Plus, I think EasyHairNetwork.com is so much more visually appealing than those other places. And, there's another site out there that claims to have the highest traffic count of any hair selling website, however, they charge double and will only list your hair for 3 months. I am determined to spread EasyHairNetwork.com's popularity and offer the highest traffic count for my listers.

You may get slack from others for selling your hair instead of donating it. Well, it's your hair, and ultimately it is your decision, not theirs. They can donate if they want. If they don't have hair to donate, I'm sure those charities will take monetary donations. And, you might find that the process of growing your hair was so easy that you'll grow it out again and donate it next time. It's your choice. I started EasyHairNetwork.com as a way to help me out of a financial crisis. I was glad I had my hair to fall back on. Now I am growing it back out. Who knows what I will decide to do with it this time?