Cute Little Bunny Clothespin Craft - Perfect for Easter & Springtime

So it's Saturday night and I'm officially painting little bunnies on clothespins. While that may sound silly, these little cuties are just too cute not to share! This super easy craft project is perfect to help celebrate Easter or just spring time in general!

You probably already have everything you'll need to make these little cuties in your house already and since these are so easy to make, get the little ones and have them help you out! You'll just need to grab clothespins, white paint, a black marker, a pink marker, and some coffee to help fuel your creativity (obviously optional, but totally necessary for me). That's all!

You'll begin this simple project by painting your clothespin white.

After the paint has dried, draw on a tiny pink line on each "ear" (the pinch-able part of the clothespin).

Now you'll add the whiskers on with the black marker, with no exactness. You want them to look wispy!

The final step is drawing a little 6 for each eye ball, one the correct the direction and another horizontally flipped.

That's all! Now you have these cute little bunnies to use as you please! I think I'll clip mine onto a bag of delicious treats for a few friends. How will you use your cute little bunny clothespins?

Buying a New Car Without The Drama: Show Cars.com Your #NewCarFace and Win Up to $25,000!

Today's discussion about shopping for a new car
& the possibility of winning up to $25,000 to pay off the car loan is sponsored by Cars.com.

Buying a new car is a little bit like getting engaged, having a baby, adopting a dog, or any other huge commitment that requires some maturity and responsibility. Car shopping is a super exciting time in anyone's life, you are making a serious commitment to a loan and your car, you are required to provide maintenance and upkeep, drive responsibly, etc.  You are embarking on a relationship of sorts when you buy a car. Your car relies on you and you on it, so choosing the right car is important.

While buying a new car tends to be a well-thought out process for most, our recent vehicle purchase included my husband signing the papers and driving it off the lot before I even saw the car. I guess you could say we like to do things on a whim, but buying our Kia Soul was the best thing we have ever done and it was completely drama free... Well, hubby dealt with the drama while I was working, so it was drama-free for me at least (next time we'll use Cars.com to avoid the drama entirely)!

It may sound silly but since this was our first "big purchase" as adults, we both were feeling a bit giddy. He practically jumped out of the car as he pulled up, stumbled over his words as he showed me all the awesome new features, and after I looked the new little cutie over for a while we hopped in and took our first short little trip to the beach. Our car blends into our lives perfectly.

Well, any car would suffice I suppose... but I love our car! Our Kia Soul is cute and it fits who we are and what we like to do. It's a car that we can take with us from beach to beach without worrying about gas mileage, it holds our 13 foot kayak on the rooftop with ease, and this little baby can even go off-roading when we want to spend time doing yoga at our favorite secluded beach spot. What more could this beach bunny ask for?

Whether you are playing "soccer mom" to a house full of kids or roadtripping around the country and exploring what this great nation has to offer, your car is what you rely on to get you where you need to be. When choosing a new car you want something reliable, that's a great deal, that also fits your lifestyle, and Cars.com can help you find that!

Cars.com takes the drama out of the new car shopping experience, helping you breathe a little easier... But I bet you didn't know they are taking the drama out of your car loan as well, by giving away up to $25,000 towards your new car in the #NewCarFace Contest!

You can enter to win The NewCarFace Contest via twitter, instagram, or facebook. You'll simply need to upload a photo of you, your totally awesome new car face, and your new car! I've shared a few examples today and here's one of the hubby practicing yoga with his Soul... haha. Get it?

Be sure to use the hashtag #newcarface and don't forget to tag Cars.com (@CarsDotCom) directly in your post as well! If you are entering via facebook, make a post directly on their facebook wall with the hashtag for your entry to be valid!

What's your New Car Face look like
and will it win you $25,000 to help pay off your new car loan?

And here's some legal stuff: You can only submit one entry during the promotional period. Need to know more about the rules? You can click here to find some inspiration and check out all the details. Open to legal US residents (excluding MD, NJ, & TN), must be 18+ and hold a qualifying vehicle loan or lease. Contest ends 4/17/2015 at 12pm CST. Prize will be valued up to $25k. Subject to the Official Rules, including eligibility criteria, and qualifiying vehicle restrictions. Sponsored by Cars.com, a division of Classified Venture, LLC. Just FYI, a new car is considered a new (or used) car bought or leased on or after 1/1/2012.

Funny Bunny Donut Pops: A Delicious and Silly Easter Treat

I'm a bit of a bunny lover. I mean what's not to love about little fuzzies that hop around and look adorable? Their little tails look like cotton and their ears are just so floppy. Plus, there's a pretty cool bunny that only comes around Easter that kids seem to like... I guess you could say I just like Easter themed things, since pastels and bunnies are pretty much two of my favorite things in the world.

With my love for Easter and the fact that I'm a blogger, I feel like it's a pretty obvious fact that I enjoy decorating for Easter (or any other holiday for that matter); so as you can imagine we have a little bunting banner hanging in our living room, a few bunnies of all different sizes and colors gracing our counter tops, and we may even have a few decorated eggs in the house.

And if you've been to the blog before, you know I love to play with my food. So while I want to share a ton of fun Easter/spring themed projects with you (and plan to share a few more soon), today I'm sharing a way to make some creative, silly, and delicious Easter themed donut pops. These silly little bunnies are so easy to make you'll probably want to ask the kiddies in the home to help you out.

Funny Bunny Donut Pops

What you'll need:



Powdered Donuts

White Peep Bunnies (or White Marshmallows)
Pink Marshmallows

Marshmallow Cream
Candy Eyes
Toothpicks

These are so, so easy to make. You'll begin by removing the ears from the White Peep Bunnies (or cutting a white marshmallow in half and using it as the ears). Break a toothpick in half and place half inside the ears and the other half into a donut.

Next you'll tear off a small piece of pink marshmallow and place a small amount of marshmallow cream onto the "back" of the nose and then place it in the center of the donut.

Once you have the nose in place, you'll want to put marshmallow cream on the back of the eyes and position them on the donut above the nose. (This is so easy, it's comparable to playing with a Mr. Potato Head toy!).

Next tear off a small piece of the white peep (or marshmallow) and stick the other half of the broken toothpick halfway into it and the other end of the toothpick should be placed on the booty of your bunny, giving your little silly faced bunny a tail!

Place a candy stick into the bottom of the donut, continue making bunnies until you have a whole family, and your little funny bunnies are finished!

Not only are these cute little desserts delicious, they will make you giggle with their funny faces each and every time you look at them! You don't want to celebrate Easter without a dozen of these bunnies on your table so be sure to grab the supplies today!

So now that I've shared a super cute little dessert idea you can make all spring long, what kind of fun do you have planned for Easter Sunday?

16 Places to Find FREE E-Books Online

I'm a bit of a bookworm so when I recently bought a new kindle, I knew I had to load it with books that I want to read. While I bought several e-books, I found numerous ways to score free book downloads (legally) and want to share them with you!

16 Places to {Legally} Find FREE E-Books Online

1. Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best of the best when it comes to classic books.
2. The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database that seems to hold a wide variety of books - everything from the ABC's of Honeybee's to Classic reads.
3. Project Gutenberg: This has over 46,000 free books online, search by category or catalog and find your favorites or find something new!
4. Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as Presidential speeches on this site - broaden your horizons and read outside the box.
5. Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more. Browse recent titles or the poetry section for something eccentric and fun to read.
6. Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here,from Dickens to Brontë, every classic you'll want to read can be found on this planet.
7. Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 reads that you should check out... with everything from thrilling reads to Jane Austen's classics, plus study guides and reference books.
8. Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including Voltaire, Mark Twain and more.
9. Bartleby: While the classics are what this sight was founded on, you can check out the best works of Fiction from a variety of authors with Bartleby.
10. Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works that have won the Pulitzer Prize and works listed on Modern Library's Best!
11. Free Classic Literature: Find the Complete Works of Shakespeare as well as 75,000 recipes, a little bit of something for everyone is available on this site.
12. Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to discover their full text online.
13. DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the more recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch and is an awesome way to encourage yourself to take the time to read daily.
14. Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.
15. ManyBooks.net: Download a wide variety of books that will thrill and educate you here.
16. Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, fiction novels, and some odd little writings among the classics.
    
    

Now that I've share some of the ways I've been able to satisfy my reading habits, I'd love to know what your favorite book is? What genre of books do you prefer? Lastly, do you have any reading recommendations?

Chocolate Chip, Banana Pancakes with Nicole's Naturals Mix

Although I received a free sample of Nicole's Naturals to sponsor today's discussion the love I now have for Pancakes is my own.

As some of my close friends may already know, I'm kind of a breakfast hater. While a sugary donut or some cereal occasionally make a great snack, you'll usually find me munching on some spicy chicken or a large serving of peas in the AM. I just don't eat breakfast foods, especially for breakfast.

It may sound silly, but some people just aren't breakfast eaters and I'm one of them... or I thought I was, until I tried Nicole's Naturals Mix. The texture of this mix is perfect and made into chocolate chip banana pancakes, I really felt like I was eating a giant cookie! I can do pancakes if they taste like this.

I'm kind of sharing the recipe today, but it's so easy I'm not even sure you could call it a "recipe". You'll use Nicole's Naturals mix as instructed but instead of using 2 eggs, you'll use 1 egg and a ripe banana. I also used Spring themed chocolate chips in yellow and pink for a fun touch! I'm imagining making these again in the future and topping them with peanut butter next time, because that just sounds absurdly delicious, doesn't it?

This awesome gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, soy-free (but definitely not taste-free) brand just launched nationally and was  recommended as a “delicious” mix and a “waffle you want to eat” by the Los Angeles Times. How cool is it that they wanted to send me some of the delicious mix so hubby and I could try it out...? I was hesitant because I don't eat breakfast, as I just revealed, but hubby is a huge pancake fan so I went all out this weekend. I made breakfast for dinner and I'm so happy to report these pancakes are the bomb dot com.

This mix is so amazing in fact, that they are giving one of my readers an awesome Nicole's Naturals prize pack. You'll get the mix, one container of delicious syrup, 4 small breakfast plates, and a NN apron that you'll just love! Enter to win with the form below:

Entry-Form

Want to get your hands on some Nicole's Naturals Mix now? Nicole’s Naturals Gluten-Free Waffle & Pancake Mix is currently sold for $8.99 for a 22-ounce container and can be found at www.amazon.com or at www.NicolesNaturals.com.



Disclaimer: Must be 18 or older to win. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter or any other company mentioned above. You understand that you are providing your information to Lauren Paints | a beautiful life and not to Twitter, Facebook, or any other entity, I will not use your information other than to e-mail you a winning notification if you are the chosen winner. Enter using the Giveaway Tools form above. Void Where Prohibited. Please note that Lauren Paints | a beautiful life and all other bloggers participating are not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes.

My Secret to Long, Beautiful Eyelashes: Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes

While my love for the cosmetics listed below is all my own, today's post was sponsored in part by Younique by Kassia.

When I heard my friends raving about Younique Cosmetics I instantly knew I had to try out the mascara they all loved! I actually had my first experience with Younique's lash-enhancing 3D Fiber mascara around Christmas when my sister received it as a present. The way the 3D Fiber Lashes blend made her eyes look was amazing and I knew I had to try it out myself... and when I did, I knew I really, really wanted a tube of my own. I'm so serious when I say this mascara is revolutionary. Unlike any other mascara I've ever tried, I've literally ditched my falsies for my own lashes with 3D Fiber Lashes!

Something I absolutely adore about 3D Fiber lashes is that you are supposed to apply a layer of your own personal favorite mascara (Yves Saint Laurent MASCARA VOLUME EFFET FAUX CILS for me, please) before applying the transplanting gel and fibers. This means I get to experience the delicious scent from the newly formulated YSL mascara I received from Influenster all day long while rocking the most amazing, lengthy lashes thanks to Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes from Younique.

To apply 3D Fiber Lashes, you just apply your favorite mascara first. Then you simply apply a layer of the transplanting gel, then build the fibers on your lashes. Then put the finishing touch on by adding just a bit more transplanting gel! It's so much simpler than messing with eyelash glue and looks SO much better and more natural than my falsies ever did!

So now that you know how I achieve these rockin' lashes. Let me tell you about my other new favorite items Kassia sent over. I'm obsessing over the gorgeous shade of silver eye pigment and the creamy black eyeliner pencil, two items every single girl needs in their make up bag!

The eyeliner is a standard pencil liner and goes on easily. I'm not usually a fan of eyeliners that need to be sharpened but since Kassia sent over a sharpener, this really wasn't that big of a deal... and the fact that this eyeliner actually stays in place when I apply it means I can finally stop worrying about having racoon eyes.

The eye pigment she sent over is in the shade "Feisty" and I'm a huge fan of how densely it goes on. I typically have to apply several coats of other eyeshadow brands but with Younique pigments I only apply one coat and get a nice thick layer that stays on all day long but never looks cakey. Oh and did I mention the eyeshadow brush is pure perfection? It's probably the eyeshadow brush you've been dreaming of, actually...

I know I've done nothing but rave about how amazing my new make up is... but do you want to know the best part about my new make up routine? It's so simple and may make me sound a bit lazy, but I love that my face is no longer a hot mess when it comes time to remove my eye makeup. 3D Fiber Lashes are waterproof but they easily wash off with facial cleanser and warm water... no more scrubbing to try to remove black circles from around my eyes at night.

I can now go from drab to fab in just minutes thanks to this awesome mascara bumping my look up to the next level. I apply BB Cream, a smidge of powder, my mascara & 3D Fiber Lashes, with a tiny bit of pigment on my lids and I'm all set! What's your go-to make up routine look like? Have you tried 3D Fiber Lashes yet? Check out Kassia's Younique page to give this miracle working mascara a try, I promise you won't regret it.

The Perfect {Light} Cocktail

This St. Patty's Day I wanted to have a beverage that made me feel good but didn't have an overload of calories or sugar. While I was walking through the liquor store I had a few ideas but when I noticed they had a new coconut flavored vodka, I was all over that nonsense... This drink was what I sipped on while running through the streets of New Orleans, a tasty and light beverage that keeps you hydrated while also allowing you to get a buzz - what more could you ask for?

This tasty treat is the best way to celebrate spring nights on the patio or summer days on the beach. Perfect for those that like girly drinks but don't want all the calories and sugar from fruit juices.

To make this drink, all you'll need is sparkling flavored water and coconut vodka. Garnish with some fruit if you like and sip, sip, sip until your hearts content!

I'd love to know, what's your favorite light and tasty drink?

Lucky Penny Rainbow St. Patrick's Day DIY Project

Everyone loves St. Patty's day, right? A holiday that includes green beer for adults and silly antics for the kids, with maybe a few pinches involved for those that forget to wear green!

Today I'm sharing a super cute craft I put together last-minute to decorate the house a bit for this Irish holiday. I made this little project using a handful of pennies, a piece of stock paper, school glue, and a green marker - it's that easy! This super simple project would be a lot of fun to work on with the kiddos, something adorable to put together quickly while you celebrate the holiday!

DIY Lucky Penny Rainbow
for St Patty's Day

What you'll need:
A large handful of pennies (some new, some tarnished)
Paper
Glue
Green marker

You'll begin this project by laying out the pennies the way you plan to glue them down. I made a small half circle with the bright fresh new pennies, then made another half circle with the tarnished pennies, and another with the new pennies... You could continue on with this pattern or use less. This lucky penny rainbow looks cool big or small.

After you lay the pennies out, begin to glue them down. Once the pennies have dried in place, you'll want to draw clouds at the end of the rainbow! I think if I made this again I might even draw a little black pot... you know, a pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow!

I decided to write lucky inside my penny rainbow, you could find a favorite Irish blessing or a friendly st. patty's day greeting, so many fun ways to personalize this project!

After your finished, place your new St. Patty's decor out for the world to see!