Peppermint Bark Recipe

This is a sponsored post on behalf of #McCormickBaking I was compensated for my time but all opinions are my own.
 
 
Every year the kids & I try to come up with a yummy new recipe to make goodies for all their teachers. This year we decided on a few batches of Peppermint bark. They don’t call this stuff “Christmas Crack” for nothin’! Once you start chomping away at this stuff, you can’t stop. 
What I especially LOVE about this snack, is it’s pretty low in calories and pretty easy to make. 
 
 
 
 
[edamam-recipe-recipe:6]
 
Make sure to pick up McCormick Peppermint Extract, and Food Coloring for optimal results! 
 
#McCormickBaking
 
 
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments

Build a LEGO Minifigure Family

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LEGO for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You can build anything with LEGOS and do I mean ANYTHING! Even your own family! This Christmas season LEGO has created a great online experience called LEGO Minifigure Family"which gives you the opportunity to create your own LEGO Minifigure holiday card! 

You can personalize each family member by selecting their skin tone, facial expressions, and more. You can even set a scene. Once you complete your minifigure family, you can share it on all your social networks to share with your family and friends.

Check out our awesome LEGO Christmas card. My son who is 5 is obsessed with LEGO helped me make ours, and he thought this was the absolute coolest thing EVER! We played around putting cute outfits on everyone, then changed it up to Santa and Elf constumes. We were able to personalize my oldest daughter with glasses, and my youngest daughter with freckles, and even a smirk on my husband's face (looks just like him!)

We've made a couple of these and keep changing the scenery, as well as the people in it. My son has decided he wants to make a birthday invitation from the LEGO Minifigure family site, and I agree it's a great idea.

 

 

Head on over and make one of your own!

 

 

 

Visit Sponsor's Site

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Will you lose weight if you get a tummy tuck?

Although there is no substitute for regular exercise, adequate amounts of rest and a healthy diet, taking these steps doesn’t always produce the slimming figure that some women and men desire. In fact, there are people who do numerous sit ups, walk for miles and keep their weight down but who have been unable to flatten their stomach. For these people, a tummy tuck may offer a solution.

Reasons why people struggle to get a flat stomach include consuming too much salt and consuming too many calories, especially right before working out. By consuming too many calories before a workout, adults force themselves to have to expend lots of energy to burn off the calories they recently consumed, rather than to start to work away at fat that they’ve been carrying for weeks or months.

A tummy tuck might be a person’s last option to flatten and smooth their abdomen area, especially if the person eats a lot of salt, making it hard for them to lose water weight. After all, retaining water can make a person appear to be heavier and thicker than she actually is.

Gas, constipation and food allergies can also cause a person’s stomach to swell. However, most of all, the problem may be due to simply carrying too much fat. If strenuous exercise doesn’t correct the problem, a tummy tuck may offer the support a person needs. Results from a tummy tuck could also encourage a person to continue to take steps to eat healthier, exercise regularly and live an improved lifestyle.

Although people can lose several inches after undergoing a tummy tuck, the average amount of weight clients lose after getting a tummy tuck is five pounds. Yet, they may appear as if they lost 15 pounds in their abdomen area. Furthermore, it generally takes two to five hours to perform a tummy tuck. The specific amount of time the procedure takes depends on the client and how much fat the surgeon has to remove.

On the other hand, it can take less than two hours to perform a mini-tummy tuck. During the surgical procedure, a plastic surgeon will make small incisions in or around the abdomen area. Traditionally, an incision is made near the hipbone or above the pelvic area. Another small incision is made near the naval cavity.

After excess fat is removed from the body, a plastic surgeon will stitch the incisions closed and apply sterile medical gauze dressings over the area. Drains may also be placed near areas where incisions were made to drain excess blood and liquids from the body.

Clients who undergo a tummy tuck can expect the recovery process to take several days, perhaps a week or longer. During this time, they may experience soreness. If they experience intense pain or other unexpected discomforts, they are encouraged to contact their plastic surgeon. However, it’s always good policy for clients to keep in touch with their surgeon until they have fully recovered.

In addition to losing up to five pounds, adults who get a tummy tuck will also lose several inches. It’s not uncommon for clients to drop an entire dress size following the surgery.

This was written by Lily Weaver. Lily had a successful tummy tuck at New Look New Life in Brooklyn, New York. However, she had a friend that did not have a great tummy tuck success story from her plastic surgeon in NYC. Lily advises that you always do your research, read plastic surgeon reviews, and make sure that a tummy tuck procedure will work with your body type.

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Wonderful Watercolor Brushes at Plaza Art

Plaza Art supplies watercolor brushes for both novice artists and experienced ones. The best brushes for watercolor are made of natural fiber and provide both resiliency and hold. Watercolor artists over the years have experiments with various fibers and found that brushed made of form hair tips of male sables are the best. However, the scarcity of these fibers has also lead to the development of synthetic brushes that can be used by watercolor artists. Certain effects are created using squirrel mob brushes as well.

A Myriad of Sizes & Styles

Plaza Art provides a range of watercolor brushes that suit various needs and budgets. As a rule, these brushes have a short handle since the artists’ work close to the media. The brushes come in a variety of sizes and styles. For instance, you can purchase angular, bright, Filbert, flat, mop, oval wash, round, square wash, and script or liner brushes made from either natural or synthetic fibers from us.

All of the brushes we supply are made to adhere to quality standards and will be able to hold the color and retain the shape. They are fairly easy to maintain and will bounce back to shape when treated properly.

While the watercolor brushes supplied by Plaza Art are made to last long, we recommend that they are used exclusively for watercolors to ensure that they are not damaged. Moreover, these brushed should be cleaned and dried after used and stored vertically in holders. This will prevent the water from reaching the wooden handles and expanding it, thereby, damaging the ferule. While watercolors are easy to wash off and do not stain the brush, prolonged exposure can damage the ferule or even the resiliency of the fiber.

Watercolor artists need to equip themselves with brushes in all the sizes and shapes to ensure that they are able to paint the pictures they desire. While detailing requires liner brushes, broad work such as the sky can be painted using a flat brush.

We offer different quality sets that are ideal for watercolor painters with varying degrees of proficiency. While expert artists can opt for natural fiber brushes, children can begin learning the elements of watercolor painting using lower cost synthetic brushes. We also have mid-range brushes that can be used by students and others.

A Fantastic Gift

While many watercolor artists prefer to purchase their own brushes, these brushes can also make sterling and beautiful gifts for the budding artist in your family. Plaza Art provides a set of brushes that can be gifted or purchased as well as open stock brushes for experienced artists to replace only the damaged brushes from their existing set.

Magnificent Art will be Produced

While sable hair brushes are the most preferred by watercolor artists, you can also use squirrel hair, ox hair, or pony hair watercolor brushes if you are looking for particular effects or lower cost brushes made of natural fiber. While red sable brushes are expensive, you can ensure that they last long by taking proper care of them. Ensuring that they are cleaned and dried after use will help prolong their life.

Sally Campbell

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Ellore Femme Hair Chalk – a great gift for tween girls!

Both my girls have been begging for hair chalk, and I’ve been a bit hesitant. Some stay for days, even weeks, and others are just too expensive to try out. But Ellore Hair coloring chalk has a great deal going on now for their hair chalk – that easily washes out in the shower!

If you don’t know what Hair Chalk is, then prepare yourself for amazingness! It’s a super fun, temporary method to add some serious flair to your hair. These vibrantly colored hair-chalk sticks from Ellore Femme help you to easily paint rainbow hues onto strands. The easy-to-blend dyes are formulated with natural plant pigments, rendering the chalk non-toxic. All 24 colors easily wash out in the shower.

hair chalk

Spontaneous hair color
Set with heat
Blendable colors
Nontoxic, natural plant pigments
Washes out after one shower
Use on wet hair
24 vibrant shades
May transfer onto clothing during application
May cause respiratory irritation if inhaled

My Readers save $30 Off Ellore Femme 24 peice Hair Chalk set with promo code BL15

http://www.ellorefemme.com/usd/hair-chalk.html/
Regular Price: US $44.99

Blog Price: $14.99 (with Promo Code: BL15)

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