My Life Today

I have a lot on my mind, so I'm getting this post out a little bit earlier than I normally would be today.

It's been a very long week, and I'm still feeling pretty zapped. I do have a ton of photos to show you. First though, I wanted to share what is probably the most important lesson I've learned this week.

I was very fortunate because I had a busy morning the day my mom called to let me know of my grandmother's passing.. fortunate, I say because one of my cousin's had posted something about it on Facebook before everyone in the family knew, myself included. If I had been sitting around looking at Facebook, I probably would have gotten the news there and not from my mom. I was fortunate. Some of my other cousins were not. A second cousin posted something about it later that day, and apparently another cousin read it before she or her mother had gotten the news. I feel so bad for my cousin because she had to call up my aunt and find out what was going on.. definitely not the easiest thing she's ever had to do, I'm certain. I can't imagine finding out about a loved one's death via Facebook... so that being said, please please please if someone you know has died, please don't immediately go posting about it all over Facebook :(

So first up, I received a bunch of prizes in the mail Saturday. I got my prizes from All Polished Off and Bundle Monster.

Here are the 2010 and 2012 plates I won from Bundle Monster! They were out of one of the prizes, so I got to pick an alternate prize and of course I picked a second set of plates :D Please pardon my messy floor in these pictures :P

 2010 plates

2012 plates

I also won their stamping plate organizer which is good because it is now just about full!

Yesterday I made this very simple DIY lightbox. I wish I would have thought to do this a long time ago.. it was really simple, and best of all it didn't cost me anything because I just made it from stuff sitting around my house.

I just used an old cardboard box (actually it's the box my Bundle Monster prizes came in), tissue paper, packaging tape, white construction paper, and a flashlight and my camera's flash as light sources.

I couldn't get any nice pictures of my nails with the lightbox, but I did get some good pictures of my prizes from Brooke at All Polished Off! These first two polishes I knew I was getting, the other 2 were surprises! I love surprises :)

 China Glaze Pure Joy and Blue Bells Ring

 Milani Chocolate Sprinkles and Fantasy Makers Once Upon a Time

So that's my nail polish goodies for this weekend! Thank you Brooke and Bundle Monster for spoiling me silly :)

I also played around with the lightbox and our black light a bit, using one of my glow in the dark nail polishes. Definitely getting better glow pictures now!

So last of all, I have some more craft projects to share with you!

Penguins!!!

 (please ignore the very dirty blinds in the background... these blinds are stupid and I pretty much cannot touch them at all without them falling down.)

I got these templates from Right@Home. I just downloaded the file, printed them out, then starting cutting and gluing. I used regular printer paper and I was surprised at how sturdy they are. I'm planning on making a few more for other decorations around my home :)

So I think that pretty much sums up this weekend.. we finally got a bit of snow. Not enough to make us happy, but it's a start. In blog news, I have a couple of reviews to do this week and next, the award post which I swear I will get to soon, and of course a bunch of giveaways to get caught up on... I haven't really felt like dealing with any of that with everything going on this week so I'm a bit behind. Hope to get caught up with everything soon :)