Monthly Archives: April 2012

Necklace Giveaway

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After receiving numerous comments and questions about my turquoise bauble necklace from this post, I thought it appropriate to offer a very similar necklace from Pop of Chic to one very lucky reader!

Here is the beautiful necklace in purple and navy from Pop of Chic that will seriously add the right amount of pop to any outfit:

 

And here are the rules:

The giveaway, open to US residents only, is open from Monday, April 30th until Sunday, May 6th at midnight. The winner will be announced on the blog Monday, May 7th and will have 48 hours to claim their prize by emailing me at thethreadaffect@gmail.com!

To enter, please leave a separate comment for each entry!

Mandatory entries:

Like The Thread Affect on Facebook
Like Pop of Chic on Facebook
Leave a comment stating you completed both mandatory entries and tell me which color necklace you prefer and why!

Additional entries:

Subscribe to The Thread Affect by email [use widget on sidebar]
Follow The Thread Affect on Twitter
Follow The Thread Affect via Bloglovin’
Follow The Thread Affect on Pinterest
Tweet, Facebook, shout from the rooftops about this giveaway, 1 extra entry per shout out

Thank you so very much to each and every one of you for reading my blog!  I sincerely appreciate every reader, comment, question, and suggestion!  Thank you!  Love you all!  And a special thanks to Cynthia from Pop of Chic for helping me with my very first giveaway!

Weekly Rewind

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This past week was full of family and exciting accomplishments: my blog post “Striped Dress, Two Ways” was Freshly Pressed by WordPress and had over 10,000 views in two days, my older brother Drew had an interview in Chicago (fingers crossed he is moving our way), my youngest brother Ryan qualified in the Steeplechase for Drake Relays, and Justin had extremely successful life-changing LASIK surgery.  Needless to say we are all extremely thankful for the extra amazing gifts we were blessed with this week.
Shout-out to Yvette and the other amazing Drake girls who made these awesome shirts to help support Ryan this weekend!  Everything from the picture to the quote to the handwriting was absolutely perfect!  You ladies rock!
Make sure to check back tomorrow for a giveaway inspired by this post! :)

Reese’s Pieces Drop Cookies

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Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup clear corn syrup
4 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups Special K original cereal
1 cup Reese’s Pieces

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan bring sugar, syrup, butter, and salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Allow to boil for 1 minute before removing from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Fold in cereal making sure to coat thoroughly. Gently mix in Reese’s Pieces until evenly combined. Drop a tablespoon of the mixture onto waxed paper or aluminum foil and allow to cool (I like them to cool in the refrigerator). Makes about two dozen cookies depending on the size of your drops.

**Recipe Source: Jennifer Cooks**

Thrifty Threads: Atlantic-Pacific

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This outfit from Atlantic-Pacific combining pastel pants with a seafoamy green sweater layered over a denim shirt topped off with a neutral snood and accents is the epitome of incorporating spring trends during this chillier weather.

{Pants $46 | Denim Shirt $40 | Sweater $20 | Heels $38 | Snood $40 | Handbag $35 | Chain Bracelet $45 | Bangles $14 | Sunnies $8}

Follow The Thread Affect on Polyvore!

Pinspiration: DIY Hex Nut Bracelet

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Watches have easily become my daily go-to wrist accessory but when I saw this DIY Braided Hex Nut Bracelet (here) from Honestly..WTF I thought it would be the perfect trendy, masculine/rough addition to my sometimes boring wrist candy.

Materials You Need:  3 Strands Butcher’s Twine cut into 1 yard pieces and 18 Hex Nuts, you may need more or less depending on your wrist size!

Gather the three strands of butcher twine and tie into a knot leaving about two inches of slack for tying the bracelet onto your wrist.  Braid normally for about an inch.  Before you cross the far left strand over to the middle, thread on a hex nut tightly to the top of the thread, and crossover.  Keep the hex nut tight by placing your thumb at the base.  Before crossing over the far right strand, thread on a hex nut, push it to the base of the braid, and crossover.  Thread another hex nut onto the far left strand and crossover.  Repeat these steps by threading a hex nut onto each outer strand before crossing it to the middle (thread, cross, thread, cross).  This definitely takes some patience and all your fingers working together, believe me it will look normal as you thread additional hex nuts!  Finish off the bracelet with another inch of braid, tie into a knot, trim to your liking, and layer it with all your bracelets and watches to create a fun eye-catching wrist party!

  

Leigh’s Lasagna

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After a weekend full of busy activities with my girlfriends, Leigh and Amanda, it was a nice change of pace for the three of us to slow down on Sunday to make this delicious lasagna family recipe of Leigh’s, play card games, and catch up on old times.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
6 oz can tomato paste
16 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
Lasagna noodles
1 large pkg mozzarella cheese
12 oz carton cottage cheese

Directions:

In medium skillet, cook ground beef and garlic salt together until meat is brown.  Drain fat and add tomato paste, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano.  Cover & simmer for 20 minutes.  In an ungreased baking dish and beginning with the meat sauce, alternate layers of meat sauce, noodles, mozzarella cheese, and cottage cheese ending with meat sauce and an extra layer of cheese on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 60 minutes.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting into pieces to serve.

Chalk It Up

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Chalkboards aren’t just for teachers educating little ones anymore but instead are being utilized for all aspects of life.  As seen below, people are using chalkboard paint for entire walls of rooms, for displaying recipes, inspiring words, calendars, and signs, for hosting purposes including seating arrangements, weddings, or writing names on glasses, for labeling plants or spices in gardens, for organization, and for kids to show off their artistic talents.   Chalkboard paint has become easily accessible whether you purchase it from Home Depot or whip up a batch of your own in your favorite color (recipe found here).  Have you ever used chalkboard paint to make your life a little more exciting or more manageable?  If so, how and where?  I’m looking for a new, easy DIY project that incorporates chalkboard paint since I’m incredibly jealous of Cece’s new chalkboard kitchen (see below) and would love suggestions!

Images via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Seeing multiple images of chalkboards and chalkboard walls displayed in kitchens, my friend Cece was inspired to give it a try in her new Chicago apartment and graciously asked me to tag along.  After taping off all the doorways, lights, and outlets, we applied the first coat of Rust-oleum Specialty Chalkboard Latex Black Paint to her clean kitchen walls, allowed it to dry four hours, and repeated with a second coat.  My favorite part is that the doorways along the wall basically create two separate chalkboards: one large one for anything at all (notes, inspiring words, etc) and a smaller one perfect for grocery lists, recipes, or weekly menus.  Seriously, how cute?  Jealous? I know I am!

The Before:

The During:

The After:

Striped Dress, Two Ways

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The purchasing of new clothing items happens way more frequently than it should, however, the returning of said purchases occurs just as frequently.  Why?  If I don’t immediately wear the item or can’t figure out how to wear it at least two different ways, it goes into the return pile and back to the store.  Recently I purchased this pink and orange striped dress from Forever 21 even though it had a high return potential due to the colors resembling a watermelon, the tight material, and the appropriateness of this dress anywhere besides the beach.  Fortunately once I got home, I realized this dress could easily resemble a t-shirt with the addition of a skirt and the tightness could be downplayed by layering a loose button-up over the top.  I think it’s a keeper.  Which look do your prefer?  Dressy/professional or casual/bohemian?  Any other styling suggestions for this dress?

Pinspiration: The Sock Bun

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I am constantly looking for any excuse to go just one more day without washing my hair.  My hair styling routine mainly consists of clean, curly, styled hair on day one followed by a spritz of dry shampoo and possibly a low pony for day two and ending with a high ponytail resembling a rat’s nest for day three.  Seeing as my rat’s nest is generally not public approved for risk of huge embarrassment, I am excited to add this sock bun (also referred to as a doughnut bun) to my new repertoire in hopes of looking a little less disheveled come days two and three.

Gather your materials:  a sock, scissors, and a hair tie.  Cut the toe off of the sock.  I found that knee-high socks added too much bulk to my hair so I like using a normal tube sock close in color to my hair.

Beginning at the toe, completely roll your sock down until it resembles a doughnut hole.

Gather hair into a ponytail at your crown and secure with a hair-tie. 

Pull hair through the doughnut hole and position at the end of your ponytail.  Spread hair out away from the hole to cover the sock.  Tuck the ends of your hair into the bottom of the sock and begin rolling the sock towards the base of your ponytail.  The sock will roll with your hair to secure it into place.  I promise this is not even half as difficult as it seems.  The moment you start rolling the sock your hair will follow stride and be in a perfect doughnut/sock bun in no time!

Oh and this sick photography is all thanks to Miss Kate!  Thanks lover!