Beach Bummin' It | Tips + Photo Diary

I don't know about you, but as soon as the temperature is above twenty two degrees Celsius and the sun is out I just want to spend every waking second at the beach! As a self proclaimed 'beach bum', I have become somewhat of a professional with having successful beach trips! Today I'm going to share with you a few tips for a perfect beach day!

Tip number one is obviously to check the weather prior to going out. Once you've determined it's a good day to be a beach bum, the next step is to pack a bag full of essentials. For me, the beach means no makeup; however, I always bring a chapstick with SPF in it. In my beach bag, I always pack sunglasses, a towel, my beach rug+pillow, a good book and a bottle of water. Birkenstocks are my footwear of choice when heading off to the beach.

I always like to wear a summer dress over my bikini when heading to the beach. This helps me to avoid those strange lines that shorts can leave on your tummy. Not to mention that awkward moment when you go to take your shorts off and your bikini bottoms start to come along off with them!

The next tip I have is just lounge! Catch some rays and soak in that vitamin D. I don't personally use sunscreen but I do make sure I eat plenty of sun blocking foods the day before I have beach plans. This includes tomatoes, carrots, dark chocolate, and tuna. If I see my skin beginning to get pink I throw on a light cotton beach cover up.

My gorgeous best friend, Logan, who came along with me to the beach was kind enough to be my golden hour model while I played around with my camera. How stunning is she!? There's nothing better than some sunset pictures on the beach.

Then she decided to try her hand at it. After a quick briefing in photography she snapped these shots of me!

This impromptu photoshoot leads me to my last beach bum tip: bring your bestie. There's nothing better than lounging in the sun with your best girlfriend and talking each other's ear off about everything and anything!

I hope you all are getting to the beach as much as possible this summer! Do you have any beach related tips? Do let me know!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

Nice Things Fund! | DIY

I love money and I love DIY projects so combining the two was right up my street! I made myself a savings jar to hold loose change as well as 10% of each of my paycheques. By the end of the summer I'm sure the cash will add up and I will be able to treat myself to some nice things!

 Today I wanted to share how I made this adorable money jar- what I used and the steps I took to make the final product. 

For supplies, I used:

- A Mason Jar

- Acrylic Paint (colour of your choice)

- Paint Brushes

- Painting Sponge

- Ruler

- Pencil

- Lace Applique

- Clear Crafting Glue

- Card Stock

- Hot Glue

- Scissors

- Letter Stickers

- Any other little decor items you wish!

The process I used to complete this project was relatively straight forward:

1. Wash and dry Mason jar. Make sure it's bone dry!

2. Paint jar how you like it. I painted my jar completely white. I had to do two coats and then I let it dry for about three hours before painting the lace detailing in the coral colour. I also painted the lid ring coral!

3. Let the paint dry for 24 hours

4. Cut a circle out of card stock to top the jar. Remember to make a slit opening in the top so you can drop in your money!

5. Place the letter stickers (if you want) on the jar

6. Cover the entire jar with the clear crafting glue. I used Martha Stewart's decoupage glue. I ended up doing two coats of this just to make sure everything was sealed well

7. Hot glue the card stock circle into the top of the lid and screw onto jar 

8. Add any little decorative items you wish

9. Let the crafting glue dry for at least 12 hours. I left mine for 24 hours

10. Fill with cash & treat yourself!!

I absolutely love this little jar! I find that adding 10% of each paycheque adds up so quickly! It's nice to put the money in this jar and just sort of forget it's there. I'm someone who sees extra money in the bank and spends it on silly little things. This jar keeps the money out of sight and therefore out of mind which helps me to save!

If you make a money jar let me know! Send me pictures!!

If you have any money savings tips do let me know- I need them haha!

Check me out other places; YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest!

Thanks for reading & check back again to see what KatieDidd, xo

16. Ribbons & Bows: Wrapping Gifts! | Blogmas

Everything about gift giving at Christmas time gets me so darn excited!! From the planning to buying the gift to watching someone open it and everything in between- gift giving is a christmas favourite for me! Of course to give a gift, you have to wrap a gift... Now some people really dislike gift wrapping as it can be quite tedious and time consuming. However, I really enjoy it! I love the ribbons and bows and paper and boxes and all that jazz! So for todays blogmas post I thought I'd share my gift wrapping process and a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way!

I always begin by buying everything I'll need for everybody's gifts all at once. I hit up DollarTree (they've actually got amazing stuff) and picked up some cute gift boxes, wrapping paper, ribbon, gift tags, and bows. I used all the same wrapping paper just because in my family there's so many people that we all wrap our gifts in the same paper to avoid confusion in case any tags fall off. I also really happened to fall in love with this one particular paper this year so it worked out perfectly!

Once the gift is in the box, it's time for wrapping! A tip I learned to get the perfect piece of wrapping paper size wise is to place the box in the bottom corner, roll it over twice and up once. It's always seemed to work for me! For clean edges, make sure your scissors are sharp and don't use cutting motions- instead slide your scissors straight along the paper. Be sure to hold the paper taught!

Now I know I'm not the only person out there who struggles with the end bits. They're super tricky!! a little tip I learned from my mom is to fold down then tuck in. Once the sides are tucked in to get that triangle shape at the end, tape the middle where the two sides of the wrapping paper meet. This will help to avoid those bubbles that tend to appear upon folding the triangle up. I also recommend using the Scotch gift wrapping tape as it doesn't show at all on the paper!

And voila! I used a matte ribbon and a sparkly ribbon to add some contrast to the gift. I really like the way the white bow looks with the tag against the paper and ribbon colours! I have to say though that I much prefer the gold ribbon against this paper. It feels much more warm and Christmassy. I kept the ends of the ribbon on the gold one and curled them tight to the bow which I really quite like! Wrapped gifts just looks so cute! It's almost a shame we have to open them, don't you think?

I did a few just with the gift boxes because they're too cute not to show case- sorry family, I broke the rules ;) 

I'm really happy with how all the gifts turned out- they look so cute! Here's hoping they fare well in the flight home haha. Do you enjoy wrapping gifts? If you have any tips and tricks for gift wrapping do leave them in a comment!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn