Christmas Shortbread Cookie Recipe

Hi Everyone!! ;)

I am soooo excited. I'm about to fly home to spend Christmas with my family and there really isn't anything better than that! Also, I've got 2 great things for you in this post; my shortbread cookie recipe from the cookies I made last week and my Holiday GiveAway.... finally! But let's start with the cookies! Here is how mine turned out

And they were delicious too! MMMmmmm! My favourite cookie! My boyfriend and I made this together while we sipper hot chocolate...no, Marshmallow Swirl Hot Chocolate!!

Okay, so if you guys liked the look of these and you'd like to try them yourself (you really should, they are too good) then here is the recipe and remember: these should be eaten in 3 days otherwise they start to lose their amazing melt-in-your-mouth-ness and they have A LOT of butter. This means 2 things. The first we already know; they are DElicious. The second you can easily guess; they aren't the friendly to our hips...but it's Christmas, Enjoy!

Art Series - Post #3

Hey Everyone!

Time for another Art Series post! :) This week, since Christmas is right on our heels, I'm showing you all a small selection (11 below) of the handmade Christmas cards I have created. These have all been hand drawn and painted by me. Even the text. And my preferred media when making my cards is watercolor so that's what all these are done in. Someday I hope to have my own line of cards...perhaps a good place to start would be Etsy, but that part is just a thought at this point.

I've also done cards for many other occasions; Birthday Cards for friends, Anniversary Cards, Wedding Cards, Baby Shower Cards, Moving Away Cards, etc.. I'll show you guys some of those in a future post sometime. Some of the images I have are older and pulled off my very old MacBook so somehow some of the files got ruined. You can still see the important parts, though. Enjoy! :) 

Pretty Holiday Makeup Tutorial - For All You Beauties!

Hayyyyy all!

How are you doing with your Holiday preparations? I’m a little behind, at least I feel I am, but hopefully I can get caught up this weekend. I did have time to make some delicious Shortbread Cookies (my favourite) and they turned out great! It wasn’t my usual recipe but I’m so glad I tried it!! Next week I will be sharing that recipe with you so if you like cookies, make sure you’re keeping an eye out for that post because you won’t want to miss these babies! Mmmmmyummmm! 

Sooooo this week I’ve done a Holiday Makeup Tutorial for all you beauties out there. Maybe you have a Holiday party coming up or you just want to look extra special over Christmas or maybe you’re looking for a great look for New Year’s Eve. This look will be perfect for any of those and could also be worn for any other special occasion. Take a look!

So, that's pretty scarey...baring the pretty-much-no-makeup face to the world, but I've done it bravely....for you guys! ;) I guess I did it in my Zombie Makeup Tutorial too, but this time there's the photo, just staring back at me...ya.

Liebster Award Nomination

Sooooo, The Creative Glow was nominated for a Liebster Award!! Yay! Thanks to Mallory Frayn a.k.a Because I Like Chocolate for nominating me! You should definitely check out her food blog (click here); it’s about more than just recipes and food, it’s also about having a positive relationship with food for a healthier lifestyle! I am so grateful and excited for this award!

What is the Liebster Award?

The Liebster award is an online only award which is given to new bloggers by other bloggers. It’s sort of welcoming them into the blogging community (or blogosphere) and helping to promote them. So I am very honoured to have been nominated and I love the idea of it.

 

So, here we go. If you have been nominated, these are the rules:

1. Read my answers to the (10) questions selected by the blogger who nominated me.

2. Find (10) bloggers with less than 200 followers who you feel deserve to be nominated.

3. Write a post on your blog which is 1.) featuring the Liebster Award, 2.) thanking the person/blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog, and 3.) list the bloggers that you are nominating.

4. After you have written your post, comment on each of your nominee’s blogs informing them of their nomination with a link back to your post (like this one) explaining the award since they may not have heard of it.

Soup Can Ornaments, Give-Away Update & Award

Hiiiii! 

Today I have another video tutorial for you guys! This one is much easier than the previous Personalized Tree Ornaments tutorial I did (click here for that post). It’s mostly just cutting and gluing! The thing that makes this one unique is that we’re re-purposing soup can lids to make it! 

I started saving my lids a few years ago, that’s when I first got this idea, so I have LOTS (I have so many I had to stop collecting) so I also use them as little palettes to mix my paints on. Anyway, now that I’ve made this tutorial for you all, I’ve finally gotten to do what I originally wanted with them. I say soup can lids, but you can use any kind of food can or frozen juice can lids and they can be many different sizes. For the purpose of this tutorial we’ll need a larger one 3” lid but you can use the smaller ones for other ornaments where you can fit old Christmas Cards in them and fancy them up with all kinds of ribbon, glitter, paper, etc. Ok, ok, so this is what I’m showing you how to make this video:

 

Art Series - Post #2

Hey, pals!

It’s time for another Art Series post. Today I am going to show you guys a drawing I did a while back. I have got a lot of stuff on the go right now like my next video, a second video for my upcoming Holiday Give-Away, some Christmas gift art projects (which I will be showing after Christmas), and Christmas gift shopping. So, lots, lots, lots going on and so that’s why I am showing you some past work this week.

This drawing is one I did for an assignment on cross-hatching back in college. I think it’s from 2001 or 2002. If you look real close you’ll notice that nothing is actually shaded in this drawing, but is all just a series of cross-hatched lines overlapping one another in varying amounts of layers to create dimension and the look of being shaded.

 

The first thing you need to do when creating a drawing like this is to evaluate the highlights and shadows that occur, and then create yourself a scale of about 7 to 10 shades from your brightest highlight (white) to your darkest shadow (black). You only need one HB pencil to do this. It’s best to choose an image that demonstrates a high contrast so that you will have that range from white to black. Once you’ve done that, you can then draw a light, rough outline of your drawing and also block out the different areas in your drawing for each shade on your scale.

Holiday Party Dress & Dandelion Drawing "Fame"

Hey there all you amazing people! ;) Hope you’re all having an amazing day and for those of you reading who are in the U.S., HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Are any of you heading out to great Black Friday Sales tomorrow? Here in Canada, Black Friday is growing in popularity, I think almost every store participates now, so I may have to get out there early to find some great deals myself!

Tomorrow evening I will be attending my boyfriend’s company Holiday Party, so that means gettin’ all fancied up. I never get to do that so I am always excited when I do. I will try to film me doing my make-up for a great Holiday Make-up tutorial, but if it doesn’t work out, I will at least take photos and blog about what I did. ;) I have two dresses to choose from; one is red and more form fitting with a pencil skirt fit on bottom and the other is green and very soft and has more of a billowing fit on bottom. Here are two pictures and you can tell me which one you think I should wear:

So, like I said, leave me a message in the comments below and let me know which you like best… I think I like the red one…but I’ve been known to change my mind. :)

Art Series - Post #1

Hey, Everyone! :D

 
So, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, I’ve decided to start doing some extra posts that will showcase my art. I’m really excited about it because I feel it’ll get me back to doing more art, which I have been trying to get back into for a while. I’m always creating but haven’t been doing art nearly as much as I should. 

I’m going to try and have something to show you guys every week. I'll continue to do my usual blog posts once a week, like I have been doing (with videos every second week), but this will be in addition to those Thursday posts. Sometimes it’ll be new art, sometimes it’ll be art I’ve done in the past, sometimes it may just be quick sketches and then sometimes, if I’m working on a longer/larger project, I'll show you how I’m progressing. This will all be on a trial basis for now; I’ll see how well I can manage my time and how much interest is shown in these additional art posts. I certainly hope you like them!

So, today I have the very first of these projects to show you. This is a drawing I did using chalk pastel and a small bit of colored pencil just for the little bug. The paper I used is a black, 75lb, textured Tiziano (Fabriano Brand) which is great for holding the pigments of the pastels. Working on a black surface meant drawing the opposite of what you would if working on a traditional white surface. So instead of darkening the midtones and shadows, I lightened the midtones and highlights. So here is the final drawing:

Christmas Ornament How-to, Blog News & Cute Vase

Haaayyyyy!!! Are you as excited for the upcoming Holidays as I am? Oh, WOW, I can’t wait! I love Christmas so, so, soooo much! In the Spirit of Christmas, I’ve started doing my Christmas video tutorials and in this very first one I show you how to make these awesome Christmas tree ball ornaments! 

Aren’t they lovely? And the best part is they are customized to show whatever photo you want on them, which makes them a very special homemade Christmas gift idea that your loved ones will be so touched to receive!  I’ve made them for several people in the past and everyone displays them with fondness on their trees each Christmas. A great idea, which I did for my boyfriend’s parents, is to make a set of 6 showing a different special moment on each. In the case of his parents, I did one of their first dance together at their wedding, and then one of each of their 5 children. For my own Mom I did a set of 4; one of each of us 4 kids. And then I’ve done variations of those ideas for others. But, obviously, you can do anything; funny moments with a sibling or best friend(s)/partner, photos of Christmases past, your favourite quotes, etc… The sky’s the limit really!

You are ALL BEAUTIFUL!

Hey, Beauties! 

Today, my mission is to help you all remember how beautiful you truly are! Sometimes we struggle to feel that way and we need a reminder. Even the person you feel is the most physically beautiful person has days when they struggle to feel beautiful. But, you know what? You’re all wrong because you are truly ALL beautiful! And, yep, even though I am writing this telling you that we’re all beautiful, I too have difficult days when it comes to seeing my own beauty. Knowing how crippling that feeling can sometimes be, I feel that it is important for you to know that I do see the beauty in you all! 

Journals, Bed Sheets & Over-Sized Awesome-ness!

Hello, Friends!

Today I've got a great video for you guys showing you how to customize and personalize your own art journal or writing journal, so if journaling is something you enjoy or you know someone else who really loves it, you'll want to watch this video and create one yourself! Here's mine:

I'm going to get to all the things you'll need for this project in a moment, but first I wanted to share some other things with you! :) 

So, the first thing I want to show you guys are these awesome bed sheets I found at Target! Why are they sooooo awesome? Well, they are Benzoyl Peroxide Resistant!!! Which is awesome because, if you have issues with acne, then you’ve probably been recommended or, even prescribed, to use a product with Benzoyl Peroxide in it and this ingredient can really wreak havoc on fabrics that come in contact with your face, such as your bed sheets. Essentially, it causes discoloration or bleaching. Since the product is often applied before bed, it can be a real issue, so I was so pleased… no, excited to find these. Even OTC products like Proactiv contain this ingredient. It is quite common in the treatment of acne. The label also says that they resist stains from other cosmetics as well; AWESOME! So, anyhow, I just thought some of you out there may find this info useful! ;) 

The Power of Positive Thinking & Big Hugs!

Hey all you Ghouls and Goblins! Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween! 

This post is going to be for all you people out there who may be having a rough time in their life at the moment. Perhaps you’re feeling like bad luck has been making too many appearances in your life, perhaps bad news has come your way, perhaps you’re feeling a lack of motivation or inspiration or perhaps you’re just feeling blue and aren’t quite sure why. Well, I’m here to give you a great big virtual hug and tell you better times will come your way! ;) The main thing is to just keep positive; don’t let negativity into your brain and if it tries to creep in there without you noticing, just shove it away. As soon as you notice your brain taking you in that direction, just say “NO! I will not let myself think that way… I can’t!”, and try to set your thinking on something else! It does take a lot of practice; truthfully, it won’t be easy at first. But, I know you can do it and it will get easier! I believe in you! :) Not only will great things start to happen for you, but you’ll start to feel better, happier and liberated from all that negativity. 

Halloween, Zombies & Decorated Glass Results

Mwaahaahaa!! Hello all my likers, followers, watchers, newcomers… and anyone else who I may have forgotten! I’ve broken from my schedule of videos every second week to bring you this extra special post! In preparation for Halloween I’ve done a costume tutorial! Yay! I’m breaking away from the typical girlie costumes I normally do, and doing a gross, scabby, Zombie-Hobo instead. Sssexy! 

(Video at End of Post)

Crafty Tutorial - Decorative Vase

Hey, Y’all!!

So, my second video went alright. I'm still working on getting the lighting right and I did have to re-record the end part of my video (you’ll notice I’m dressed different at the end, well that’s why) because I forgot to turn the TV off and you can hear it in the background which can be quite distracting, and I couldn’t have that. ;)

For this tutorial I decided to show you all how to create a nice decorative vase from an existing plain ol’, clear glass vase. It’s sort of like a decoupage technique only there aren’t as many layers of varnish or paper. What you’re going to do is use decorative napkins to create a neat sort of mosaic frosted glass look. It’s really neat! This is something I learned how to do about…wow, 12 years ago. Hopefully you’ll all enjoy it and want to try to create a masterpiece of your own! :)

My Art Room, Décor Ideas & Thanksgiving

Hey, Everybody!!! It’s Thursday, again, and today I've decided to blog about my new Art Room to be! We're moving to a new place (since our landlord has offered our current place to his sister effective next month). Due to the fact we'd rather not run into the possibility of moving when it's snowing (I've experienced it several times in the past...not fun!), we're moving at the end of this month aaannnnddd with this move we decided to get a place with 2 bedrooms so that I can have my own space rather than my drawing table and all my art supplies being set up in the living room area. Now that I'll have that, I can decorate it to my heart's content and to my liking! Yay!! I am so excited about this!!

 

So, this week, I visited Target to look at some of the décor pieces they have that I might like. I did find a couple things I like that fit within my vision of my art room. I have found a few sample photos online that show the style that I am going for but I am unable to post other people’s photos on my blog due to copyright issues. If you’d like to see a few examples I have included some links to those sites which, I think, so be ok. What I am thinking is a vintage looking color combination like this:

I’ll add a modern touch to it by having an animal print piece somewhere. I do have a Zebra print bean bag seat that I’ll probably stick in the corner. But just one piece of animal print because too much pattern can be overwhelming in such a small space. I also love the look of vases with big, poufy flowers.

First Video - Messy Side Bun & Beautiful Aurora

Hello again, Everyone! :D Soooo today I am really excited because I’ve got 2 things to blog about. First, my video. Well, the whole thing, from beginning to end, was an experience. Ha Ha. Over the time it took me to set everything up I knocked over my background panels several times and knocked over one floor lamp, spilled 2 different drinks and cleared anything that was on my coffee table. :) But, it’s all in the fun of doing something for the first time. I learned a lot so I can do it better and more efficient next time.

So for this video, I decided to do a hairstyle tutorial. I’ve had a lot of strangers compliment this hairstyle and ask how I’ve done it which was the inspiration for starting my blog, and so, it’s only fitting for my first video. But, if you’re following my blog and you’re not into hair and makeup and maybe more interested in Art/Design/Crafts rather than beauty tutorials, don’t worry, there will be plenty of those in the future as well and, in fact, I plan on having something more crafty for my next video. It’s all about being creative here and I like to express that in many ways! ;)

Ready, Set, Go...

Hey, Everyone! Well, here I am, doing my first official blog post. I’m very excited because in this post I will explain what this blog is all about and what you can expect from me and when I will be doing more posts! :)

Originally I wanted to start with a video to go along with my first post but I am working on a DIY backdrop for my videos that is taking me longer than I’d expected. Don’t worry though, I should have that video, my very first one, for you next week! Yay! Now, having said all that, I’d like to talk about my schedule, or rather my blogging schedule. What I’ve decided to do is a blog post every Thursday (starting today!), and every second Thursday I will include a video! What will my videos be about? Well, they will be about anything that sparks my creativity and hopefully, in turn, spark your creativity! From Fashion and Hair & Make-up to Home Décor and Art to Photography and Design and anything that I feel inspired by! Sometimes I will have DIY tutorials/projects (probably for the most part), advice or opinions (sometimes based on your questions, if any), inspiring and/motivational words, hauls or product reviews, and day to day happenings in my life (if anything worth blogging about happens, he he). So, I am going to try my best to stick to this schedule. If there becomes a demand from you guys for more videos or more posts, so basically if you all like what I’m doing, then I may possibly change my schedule to include more posts and/or videos! J

Well, I guess that’s all for now, friends! Don’t forget to come back next week for my very first video! :D Also don’t forget to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter! Let’s have some fun together! Hope you all have a wonderful day filled with laughter and, of course, inspiration and creativity!

Excited About This Journey,
Samantha
xoxo

See You Soon!

First official post coming soon!
Stay tuned! :)

~Sam