Four Holiday DIYs!

Hi everyone! I'm back with four Holiday DIYs that will make your room a little more festive for the holidays. There are four DIYs in this blog post and most of them are inspired by Pinterest; if you want to find more great holiday DIYs, check out Pinterest because it has the BEST ideas!

Peppermint Christmas Tree DIY 

I've seen this first idea all over Pinterest and so I thought it would be fun to re-create it for you! You are going to need a foam cylinder, a candlestick holder, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, and 2 or 3 bags of peppermints. I purchased all of these supplies (except the peppermints, which I purchased from Target) from Michael's.

First, glue the candlestick holder onto the bottom of the foam cylinder with hot glue gun. Make sure to let the hot glue gun warm up for about 5 minutes before trying to use it. Next, unwrap several peppermints before you start gluing them onto the foam cylinder. Basically you're just going to glue the peppermints on one at a time, all the way around the cylinder. There may be a gap in the back, but that is ok; you can just turn that side towards the wall. Keep adding the peppermints around the foam cylinder until you have completely covered it and in the end, you will have a very festive looking Christmas Tree.

Be careful when transporting this because it is very fragile and the mints can break very easily. I just placed the tree on a bookshelf in my room and it ended up looking very cute for the holiday season.

Gold Reindeer Canvas
This idea was inspired by Pinterest and if you have read my previous blog posts, you will know I did a very similar DIY during the summer. Instead of a gold glitter state, you will be using a reindeer.
For this DIY, you will need a silhouette of a reindeer (I just found mine on Google), red and gold glitter paper, a white canvas, scissors, a pen, and a hot glue gun.
First, cut out the silhouette of the reindeer. Then place the stencil on the back of the gold glitter paper and trace the outline of the silhouette. Then cut out the gold glitter paper along the outline of the reindeer and glue the reindeer onto the white canvas. I added my own twist to this DIY by putting a red glitter circle onto the nose of the reindeer.
This DIY turned out SOOO cute and I used command strips to place the canvas on my wall!

Christmas Scrabble Coaster
This DIY is super simple, but it literally looks like you bought it at a store. It's super cute and so easy to complete.
First, you'll need scrabble letters (I just ordered mine off of Amazon). Lay out five Holiday-ish words to glue onto the cork. Here are some ideas for words: gifts, angel, candy, bells, carol, cider, elves, santa, light, merry, holly, cocoa, jolly, frost, gifts, skate, wintry. Place the words onto the cork so that you can cut the cork to the exact measurements of the words. Use a hot glue gun to glue the scrabble letters onto the cork. I placed this on my bookshelf as a coaster. Just a little tip: you may want to spray the coaster with sealant so that the wood isn't ruined by water

Christmas Cork Board
This DIY is probably the easiest DIY ever, but it adds a touch of Christmas to your room. I'm so sorry, but I lost the pictures for this DIY, so I just have the final result.
All you'll need is a cork board (I got mine for $10 from target) and some Christmas colored washi tape. Super simple... just tape the outside of the cork board with the washi tape and you're finished!

I arranged all four of these DIYs around my bookshelf and it looked super cute!

I hope you guys liked these DIYs and look forward to more Holiday-themed blog posts! Leave me a comment below with some requests for holiday blog posts!

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5 Tips for Getting Fit

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to give you a few tips for getting in shape. I know it might seem really scary and intimidating to have to eat healthy and workout, but these are simple tips that I hope will be pretty easy for you guys to apply to your life! 

1. SUBSTITUTE SODA/JUICE FOR WATER

Ok I know you have probably heard this from everyone, but I'm not kidding; this is actually one of the most helpful tips. Soda has so much sugar and so many carbs, that by simply substituting one of your sodas per day for water, you will automatically be helping yourself a lot. To make it easier on yourself (if you drink a lot of soda), first try drinking juice instead of soda. Then when you're comfortable with that, switch over to water. Also, make sure you're getting enough water each day; you should be drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day. 

2. INVEST IN CUTE WORKOUT CLOTHES

This will honestly motivate you so much to go workout. If you buy really cool and cute workout clothes, you'll want to wear them and be seen in them. You'll want to go to the gym or go on a run. I absolutely love buying new workout clothes; I would recommend checking out Nike, Lulu Lemon, or for some cheaper options, Target. 

3. PICK A FRIEND WHO WILL GET HEALTHY WITH YOU

Holding yourself accountable when working out and eating healthy is so hard, but if you have a friend who will try the whole "getting in shape thing" with you, your life will be so much easier. This will motivate you to stick to your diet/exercise routine because you don't want to cheat if they're actually sticking to the routine. Hold each other accountable!

4. MAKE A WORKOUT SCHEDULE

By making a workout schedule, you are basically telling yourself, "I am going to do this workout on this day," which commits you to actually completing your workout. Then you can check off that you completed the workout when you finish. You could do it week by week or month by month or however far ahead to you want to plan. I would recommend doing both strength and cardio, so if you have to switch off, that's fine. (Note: strength training actually burns more fat than cardio)

5. GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK (CHEAT DAY)

You don't want to be to hard on yourself or do anything too drastic. If you eat healthy six days a week, it's completely fine to have a cheat day where you have a pizza and ice cream. This will make it easier to eat healthy the other six days because you have a little reward waiting for you at the end of each week.

Ok these were pretty simple tips, so if you would like me to go into more depth on something in particular, let me know in the comments. Also, let me know if you would be interested in healthy recipes and I would love to do that! Thanks for reading my blog and remember to follow me on social media to stay up to date on all things BrandyGirlBlog! Have an amazing rest of the day!

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MUSIC MONDAY: Bastille Album

So today I wanted to do an album review for you guys and since it does happen to be Monday, I thought I'd call this MUSIC MONDAY! Clever, right? Haha anyway, today I'm reviewing Bastille's album, "Bad Blood". Now this album is not new at all, however, since their song "Pompeii" rose to the top of the charts awhile ago, I wanted to tell you guys that you should go listen to their entire album. I am a long-time Bastille fan and I love every song they've released. While "Pompeii" is an incredible song, their entire album is filled with unbelievably amazing songs. If you have not already, please go check this album out. I'll link the album on iTunes below.

I did a little research on the British band so I could give you guys a little more information. Bastille formed back in 2010; originally it was just singer, Dan Smith. Later, the band became what it is today with four members - Dan Smith, Kyle Simmons, William Farquarson, and Chris Wood. Oh and I'm guessing you're wondering why they call themselves "Bastille"... Well, Dan Smith's birthday happens to fall on July 14th, which is Bastille Day. So there ya go.

Anyway, that's probably enough information for you guys, but if you want to learn more, feel free to do some research. 

I thought I would list some of my favorite songs from this album (and also from their other album, All This Bad Blood)... These are in no specific order, but you should check out the entire album because I love every single song. These are just a few of my absolute favorites:

1. "Of the Night" - This is from their newer album and its a little bit different from their usual songs.

2. "Laughter Lines"

3. "Things We Lost In the Fire"

4. "Bad Blood"

5. "Icarus"

6. "Weight of Living" - There are two parts to this song and I love both of them!

7. "Laura Palmer"

8. "Oblivion" 

9. "The Silence"

10. "These Streets"

OK I'm going to stop listing them now because I've listed almost the entire album. I literally cannot tell you how much I love this band. Their music is so different from all the Top 40 music that you hear every day; these songs never seem to get old. Dan Smith's voice is absolutely incredible and almost haunting in some of their songs. I know most of you have heard "Pompeii" and I just wanted you all to be aware of how amazing their entire album is.... so please please please go listen!

Thanks for reading my blog! Follow me on bloglovin' and the rest of my social media links below. If you listen to the album or if you are already a Bastille fan, comment your favorite song! Have an amazing day!

Link to Bastille on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bastille/id420203509

I used Wikepedia for some of the background info on Bastille: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_%28band%29

 

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Product Review: EOS Shaving Cream

Hey Everyone! I'm back with another product review! Now this isn't exactly a new product, however, I just thought it would be good to let you guys know whether or not this product is worth the money. Anyways, I'm going to give you three reasons (similar setup to my last product review) why you should buy this product!

1. Extremely Moisturizing

This shaving cream is by far the most moisturizing shaving cream I've tried. Immediately after getting out of the shower, you notice how soft your skin is and it seems like you don't even need lotion (I still put lotion on anyway, but you know what I mean). When compared to Skintimate's shaving cream, EOS easily trumps it for the moisturizing quality.

2. You Can Shave Wet or Dry

OK, for me, this is a major plus. Being able to do a quick shave before going to the pool without having to get into the shower is a reason to buy this in and of itself. Other shaving creams just don't work as well dry. This shaving cream is almost like the consistency of a lotion, but a little lighter and fluffier. I mean, how nice would it be to just do a quick touch up under the arms in less than a minute?! AM I RIGHT LADIES?

3. Allows the Razor to Get a Lot Closer to the Skin

I don't know what EOS puts in this stuff, but somehow, a shave lasts soooo much longer when you use this shaving cream. Normally that annoying stubble hair grows back with in a couple days, but this shaving cream kept a clean shave for 3 or 4 days. I use a Venus 4-Blade Razor if you were wondering. With that combination, I'm able to shave my legs and not have to shave again for 4 days (NO STUBBLE). 

I would highly recommend this product to all you girls out there. It's extremely moisturizing, you can shave wet or dry, the shave lasts so much longer, the packaging is adorable, and it's pink. What's not to love? The price is about $3.29 at Target and compared to Skintimate (about $2.99 for regular), it's definitely worth the extra 30 cents. If you haven't already, go out and give this a try. I'm 99% sure you won't regret it.

Link to product on Target's website: http://www.target.com/p/eos-pomegranate-raspberry-shave-cream-7-oz/-/A-13729177

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great rest of the weekend! Follow me on Bloglovin and all my other social media links below! TTYL!

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