Delicious Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I'v officially fallen into the whole pumpkin craze this year. I love love love chocolate chips cookies and got the itch to bake some from scratch over the weekend. The only thing was that I couldn't get the idea of maybe how amazing pumpkin chocolate chips cookies would be...I mean I hardly even eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving so this was really a gamble for me. I was just really curious about the whole thing and quickly looked recipes on Pinterest. I followed this one with a minor tweak...yum yum yum, these are mouth watering good :)

In one bowl mix together

1 cup of canned pumpkin, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup of white sugar, and one egg.

In a separate bowl, mix together

2 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, *1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp salt.

Dissolve 1 tsp of baking soda with 1 tsp milk and stir into the wet ingredients.

Add your bowl of dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Add 1 tbs of vanilla and stir in one 11 oz bag of chocolate chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon mixture into separate cookies.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

*My tweak was adding the pumpkin pie spice because I wanted to taste more of the pumpkin flavor. See the original recipe here.

xoxo erica

DIY // Garland Wrapped Invites

Invites: Tiny Prints

This year I decided to host my own halloween get together and went with a night of cake and crafting...the good stuff. Whenever I do invites, I always like to add that something extra special. Our wedding invites had an envelope full of heart confetti, last year's birthday invites came with glittered horn blowers, and for this party I went with a message garland. I think it's always fun to get the people you're inviting into a festive mood. With a message garland, I think the possibilities are endless. I used "boo", "witchy woman", and "cat lady" for the Halloween theme but "thankful" would work for a Friendsgiving dinner, "fa la la la" for a Christmas celebration, or "you're cute" for Galentines Day...you get it...just have fun with it.

1. Cut out flags and small squares for banner from scrapbook paper in contrasting colors.

2. I used a white paint pen for the lettering but I think a black sharpie would look just as great.

3. Use double stick tape to adhere letters to flags.

4. Hot glue flags to string and wrap around invites.

xoxo erica

Dressed Up Basics

Blazer: H&M, Tee: Target, Jeans: Thrifted, Heels: Lulus, Necklace: Forever 21

So today on the blog, I'm showing you a fashion first for me. Can you believe I've never owned a blazer? Seriously. I've wanted one for years now but never seem to find one that has a good fit on me. Well finally my search ended while shopping around in LA. There was a shopping center just a few blocks away from our hotel and Chris said to go buy whatever I wanted. My guy knows how to make me happy :) I ended up letting my little heart go a bit wild in the stores and luckily I managed to get everything back home. Let's just say I earned the art of layering airport style.

xoxo erica

A Month of Being a Cat Lady // Metallic Leopard Nail Tutorial

Happy Friday! This week has felt like the longest so I'm just happy for it to be the weekend. Anyway, I wanted to end the week with a cute and easy nail tutorial. I've been wanting a metallic nail polish for so long now and finally bought a bottle last week. I'm loving the way it looks mixed with a leopard print. 

 Start with a base color. I'm using Essie's No Place Like Chrome.

 Next make a few small dots with another color for the center of the leopard spots. I went with Revlon's Gold Coin.

 Then using black polish and a brush or in my case a black sharpie, make the outline of the spots. To create the outlines, make half circles on the top and bottom of your dots leaving the sides open.

 Add a few extra small dots to complete the look.

xoxo erica

If you try this, tag your pics with #sobdlife

Gimmie What I Want // October Wish List

the dress // the shoes // the accessory

Luxurious looking lace, embossed gold oxfords, and eye catching faux furs...payday can't come any faster. I've been trying to buy a gift here and there for family to get an early start on Christmas shopping. Yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas and my favorite holiday hasn't even passed yet! I suppose though an early gift to myself won't hurt. 

xoxo erica

A Month of Being a Cat Lady // Rhinestone Cat Ears

 My mom's annual Witches Convention is right around the corner and so it was time to start getting costume ready. At the party, all the girls in my family dress up as either a witch or black cat...no surprise that I'm going to show up as a cat! Last year I made lace cat ears but this year I really wanted to go with something sparkly. These rhinestone cat ears diy is probably my favorite project to date...absoultely love them.

 Supplies: Black felt, paper template, rhinestone stickers, headband

 1. Start with a piece of felt and fold in half.

2. Cut a template from paper and use that to cut out two ears from the felt. 

(mine are 2 inches on each side)

3. Cover the ears in rhinestones.

4. Hot glue the felt ears to the headband.

Have you started working on your Halloween costume? Are you dressing up as a black cat?

Let me know if you give this a try. #sobdcatlady #sobdlife

xoxo erica

DIY // Gold Confetti Pumpkin

 Sometime after Easter passed, I came across the prettiest eggs on Pinterest. They were dipped in gold confetti! Yeah, after glitter, confetti is pretty much my next favorite thing. I don't know how I missed it, but I did :( Thankfully I didn't have to wait around a whole year to dip anything in gold shiny confetti and made it work with this cute pumpkin I picked up last week. This is a really simple diy but it has the most gorgeous effect...loving it.

 Supplies: Pumpkin, glue, brush, and gold confetti (I made mine by cutting gold foil paper)

 1. Apply glue to pumpkin.

2. Using a brush, spread the glue to thin it out...this will help everything dry faster.

3. Sprinkle confetti. If there are any extra gaps, just use your hands to place confetti to fill it in.

4. Continue this all the way around the pumpkin and let dry.

xoxo erica

Hair Tutorial // Loose Pigtail Braids

Whenever autumn starts to roll around my brain automatically thinks Free People and then I start to think loose messy braids. I just love the bohemian vibe. I've tried to do loose pigtail braids before but somehow could never get it right. They would still come out looking too tight or the braid part didn't seem to fall far down enough. But then it came to me and it turns out the look is so easy to achieve. It's all in the twist to make it look effortless.

1. Split your hair into two even sides.

2. Twist your hair in towards your face and rubber band about an inch and half down. 

3. Straighten out your hair so when you that begin to braid it comes down straight.

3. Braid whatever kind of braid you like...I went with a normal braid because it's fast.

4. Tie your braid at the bottom and cut the rubber band from the top of your braid.

5. Loosen the braid and repeat to the other side.

xoxo erica

A Month of Being a Cat Lady // DIY Black Cat Coasters

With Halloween around the corner, I couldn't resist making October a month of being a cat lady!! There is always some kind of get together going on all the time for halloween festivities and I thought these would be perfect to use at some of our parties. Actually, I'm not gonna lie, I think they are perfect for all the time. All my cat ladies agree right?

1. Draw out a cat template and trace onto cork board. 

2. Cut out and paint with black paint.

3. Sprinkle glitter on paint while still wet. 

4. Once dry bend cork board to flatten it out.

5. Brush on a layer of mod podge to seal everything in and let dry. 

let me know if you give this a try #sobdcatlady #sobdlife

xoxo erica

Cake & Craft Party // Halloween Pumpkin Decorating

 Last week I threw a fun get together for my family to start off the holiday season. Halloween has always been one of our favorite times of the year and I thought a little cake and crafting would be a great way to spend the night. For the crafting part of the party, I went with pumpkin decorating! I hadn't ever decorated a pumpkin before and had so much fun being all artsy with the family. Getting the party together was actually pretty easy. I tried to keep the concept simple...just cake and crafting. Thankfully I already I had a good supply of crafting materials like glitter, rhinestones, and paints. I only had to buy a few extra things and placed a good variety on the table. Everyone's pumpkin turned out ah-mazing. Not to brag, but my family is super talented.

Do you ever have crafting parties with your family or friends? Definitely give it a try!

xoxo erica