Great Marketing JCP

I was pretty skeptical of the new JCP logo when they announced it a while back.  It's not exactly eye catching or really unique.  Red box outline, smaller blue box, white company initials, pretty simple.  But pretty simple is what they were going for.  They rolled out a whole new look to accompany their whole new 'everything should be simpler' type philosophy.  I get it.  Slick JCP, very slick. 

What I really love about JCP right now is actually their new newspaper inserts!  Each one has a colorful theme and they traded in product cluttered pages with an over used design for less product and a simpler look.  Since I'm trying to simplify every thing around myself, my home, my mind, and (gasp) my closet, this whole new look JCP has going really appeals to me.

Here is the most resent ad I have:

(All images are property of their respective owners)

I love this mix of blues and greens.  For the first time ever a retailer's ad inspires me and gets my creative juices flowing!  These new ads make me want to search out this ad every time to see what cool coloring they have next.   Whoever is doing the marketing and design over there is an absolute genius!  This ad revamp is one I hope a lot of other retailers will copy soon!

What do you think of their new ads?  Love?  Hate?

Today

While I'm waiting for a phone call to set up an interview I'm going to be spending the day messing around with the layout and design of the site.  I haven't really finished with the design I had in mind and it isn't really that fabulous looking, soooooooo I'm going to give it another go!

*crossing my fingers for the call back*

New Spiky Friends

I'm from Texas, where every thing is bigger and better, and where when you buy tiny plants for your windowsill or desk they are as deadly as they are pretty.  Okay not really deadly but they can hurt if you don't watch what you're doing! 

 

I just bought these two little babies to protect my desk from tiny alien invaders bugs ghosts ninjas absolutely nothing.  Actually I've just been wanting to get some small cacti for a long time and finally picked a couple I couldn't leave the gardening section of Home Depot without.

I couldn't leave them in the little plastic pots so I transplanted them today into some old tins I had lying around.  They look much cuter and now have bottoms that won't leak.

I love this pic!  This cactus is known as the 'Red-headed Irishman' because the spines are red.  It blooms with these pretty little flowers during the winter and spring.

This is called 'Moon Cactus' and gets it's color from a lack of chlorophyll at the top, making it orange-ish in coloring, although it looks pink and yellow in the pic.  It has a red-ish orange color with some deep yellow and all together looks pretty fabulous.

 

I had these containers sitting around so I decided they would be perfect for the new cacti.  I painted them both white then put snack size bags inside as a liner to keep the water from leaking out the bottom too much.  Then I put each in their new homes and they look great on my desk!

Now I just need to think of some names for them!

Have a fantabulous day! :D

Fun Nails!

I saw a post on Tumblr featuring a great nail art tutorial from The Beauty Department.  The Beauty Department is a website for all things beauty: hair, make-up, trends, questions, etc..  It's pretty cool and run by Lauren Conrad, Kristin Ess and Amy Nadine.  I love the layout and all of the cute posts.  Definitely check it out!

 

On to the nail accent tutorial with tape!!!  Mine is simple, it is the first time I've tried this and I didn't want to get too detailed immediately.

Supplies:

Two or more nail polish colors

Clear nail polish (not pictured-I forgot!)

Clear tape (I didn't have any clear tape so I winged it with matte tape)

Scissors

Step 1:

Pick the colors you want for your accent designs and paint some thick straight lines on the sticky side of the tape.  I wanted to put a lot of different colors when I first started this, hence the four pink polishes, but ended up only using two. It's easiest to paint the lines while the tape is still on the roll, just paint on the part between the roll and the cutting edge.  Cut it off and let it dry.

Step 2:

Paint your nails with the base color.  I did a terrible job but I'm blaming it on doing it at 2 am and in a hurry, haha.  

Step 3:

Cut and stick the tape to your nails where you would like it.  I found that it's best to do this if the base coat is still a little wet, the tape will stick better to the nail.

The last step is to paint a coat of clear polish over the tape to keep it smooth and prevent it from peeling off.  I forgot to take a picture of that, but it's pretty self explanatory!

Here is another close up of the nails/pic of moi! Haha.  I cleaned them up a bit and made it look a little nicer.

This tutorial is really easy and great when you don't have much time but want to add a little something to your nails!  I'm going to try it again some time with different shapes and see what I can really do!

I just want to take a quick second and give some praise to NYC 'In a New York Minute' color nail polishes.  This line of NYC polishes dries fast, is pretty thick (not watery/thin colored), and comes in a lot of fun shades (These two are 'Water Street Blue' and 'High Line Green').  I love NYC nail polishes because they're always pretty good quality for cheap and since I never wear one color for long, if I wear any at all, I don't like to spend $5-$20 on one polish (These were $1.27 each and not tiny).  NYC polishes usually only need two coats to be perfect and last for days.  

Hope you like the tutorial!

Any questions or comments?

What I Bought : Books

If I have money to spend it's going to one of two things: Books or Food.

Every once and a while I may buy some clothes, or something I probably needed months ago, but usually I spend everything on reading and eating.  Since I finished school in December (B.B.A. in Marketing for anyone looking to hire!) I have had A LOT of free time.  I spend a good deal applying for jobs at companies I never hear back from, and the rest of my time is split between a few friends and books.  It's April and I have already passed the 90 book mark (I think its actually over 100 but I lost count).  We're talking a book a day.  Some of them I've already written about on here, Georgette Heyer and Clare Darcy novels to name a few.

In order to keep up with my reading I've been checking out way too many books at the library and buying the rest.  I thought I would snap some pics of a bit of what I've bought over the last three months, a lot I have read and a good deal I haven't (Yet!).

I bought these seven yesterday, a couple of the Heyer novels I have already read this year but didn't own my own personal copy, and the other books I can't wait to read (already started on Wordsworth!).  The cities book looks really interesting, it talks about how different cities ushered in new ages, stages, and innovations throughout history.

Definitely not the best pics ever but I snapped a few shots weeks ago before I finally found a way to store all these on my already over flowing bookshelves.  I have a list of books I'm trying to get my hands on, its a ridiculously long list (no joke) that I found on a website (www.thenonesuch.com) and a lot of these are the beginning of my attempt to finish it.

This box was like Christmas and my birthday all wrapped in one, even if I only bought it two weeks ago.  I read A LOT of Regency period books, fiction and non-fiction, and while looking for a particular book on Ebay I came across this amazing box.  It contained 104 mostly out of print books and I paid way less than a dollar a book.  The were in great condition and almost everyone was one I needed off the list!

In addition to these purchases, I've also added many ebooks to my collection.  When I don't have a lot of light or can't take a book with me (I try to avoid that situation lol) I pull one up on my phone.  This is great when I'm waiting for someone or am utterly bored and can't get home yet.

That's a quick peak into what has been keeping me busy the past few months.  Any suggestions of a good book or if someone wants some info on any of the books I've bought/read leave a comment!

Have a great day!