Author Archives: lifewithlilred

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About lifewithlilred

Just your average gal blogging an average blog!
Jun7

Happy 24th Birthday To Me!!

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Happy 24th Birthday To Me!!

Hello!!! Today is a wonderful day for planet Earth, because it’s my 24th birthday! Although I’m not too keen on getting older, birthdays are still a time for celebration – and I do love celebrating myself. 😀 These past few years have been a royal shit show for yours truly so, even though going into a new year is scary, I am looking forward to things *hopefully* going up from here!

Thanks again to all of my wonderful readers for all of the love and I hope you guys have an amazing day – I’m sure going to try to!

Happy birthday to meeeeee!!!!!!!!

Jun6

Designing Your Own Custom T-Shirts

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Designing Your Own Custom T-Shirts

Designing a few custom t-shirts can be a great way to promote your brand, represent your favorite local club, or just have some unique articles of clothing in your wardrobe. Regardless of what purpose you’ll be using your custom shirts for, there are some particulars you’ll want to consider beforehand. Here’s what you should be keeping in mind:

What’s Your Goal?

You might think a t-shirt is just a t-shirt, but it pays to think about your goals before jumping into your design phase. If you’re going to be marketing your custom shirts as a sale item, you’ll want to craft them with that purpose in mind. Techie has a great write-up that covers how you can craft shirts that will sell well, with some choice tips being that you should concentrate on basic colors (like black) and simple designs.

If you’re going to be using your shirts to market your brand, as part of a unifying outfit for an organization, or just for your own enjoyment, however, you can experiment more with colors, font choices, patterns, and the like. The more personal to yourself you intend the final product to be, the more leeway you’ll have in this regard.

What About Your Design?

No matter your goals, you’re going to want whatever shirt you design to be high quality. If you have a measure of graphic design talent yourself, you can get to work devising your t-shirt art, remembering to keep in mind some of the best practices for doing so. Both 99designs and Creative Bloq have excellent guides that can set you on the right track. Above all else, you’ll want to take the tone and personality you’re trying to convey into account:

“You want to make sure your t-shirt design communicates clearly…Is your brand playful or serious? Edgy or conservative? Luxurious or affordable? A focused t-shirt design can answer all of these questions at a glance.”

You can convey a great deal of information with the right graphics. Do your research if you’re going for any sort of symbolism, and don’t go too “on-the-nose” if you’re trying to attempt something humorous. Remember: the small details matter, but subtlety and simplicity will help you win the day when it comes to designing the best t-shirt you possibly can.

Now, if you aren’t particularly savvy when it comes to design, but still have some ideas that you think would look amazing printed, you might have to turn to a third party to help bring your vision to life. Companies like The Teehive (and others) are generally regarded as specialists when it comes to putting designs onto clothing. Normally, working with such a business to complete your designs grants a few options.

You could, for instance, select one of the designs that they have available, applying subtle (or sweeping) customizations to make them more personal and applicable to your brand.

This might be a good option if you don’t need anything overly-distinct, but if you have something more innovative in mind, a better option would be to work with a designer directly. You could describe your idea to them and they would use your input to draft something that fits what you’re going for.

If you decide to go the third-party route, remember that the tried-and-true wisdom on selecting the right graphic designer to work with you is always applicable in such scenarios, and you should probably prioritize quality and professionalism over pricing in most situations.

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Chillin’

What About Getting Your Shirts Printed?

Unless you’ve got a screenprinting business set up in your back office, you’ll need to turn to the pros for this final step. Again, there are plenty of companies that can assist — from your local print shops to bigger names like The Teehive — and a skilled touch is exactly what you’ll need to bring your shirts to life. Just remember, there are plenty of options when it comes to t-shirt fabrics, weights, sizes, labeling, etc. that will affect the look of your end product and total costs. Make sure you take all of these into consideration to ensure that you end up with custom t-shirts that make you satisfied.

Wrapping Up:

Going the custom t-shirt route for your brand, club, or personal enjoyment has its intricacies but, when done right, it can be a worthwhile endeavor. Keep some of these tips and considerations in mind and, above all else, you should try to create something that speaks to you — just a bit of thought in this regard will go a long way in ensuring the best quality.

Featured Image By: Pexels

Jun6

Creative Ways To Save For Travel

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Creative Ways To Save For Travel

You can travel with debt, but taking steps to reduce your debt before traveling is advisable. Loan consolidation makes a lot of sense, and could save you enough capital for a trip over time. Generally, when you’ve got any debt, your best strategy to liberate yourself will be to live beneath your means until the cost has been overcome.

For example: say you make $2,000 a month. $800 goes to rent and utilities, $200 goes to gasoline, $500 goes to food. What do you do with that additional $500? Do you spend it, or save it? Well, if you’re living beneath your means, you save it. That, or you put it toward paying off any debt you owe.

Something you additionally want to do is find ways to cut down on regular bills. For example, if you’re paying $200 a month in gas, but you only live two miles from where you work, and this is your primary reason for driving, see if you can cut that number in half. A 250-mile tank can make 125 two-mile trips or 62.5 consecutive work-days.

If you’re only working 20 days a month, then you can make it to and from work and still have 80+ miles left over for whatever you like. If you’ve got a conventional car, a tank is only around $50. So, if you can cut down your time spent driving, you can preserve the lifespan of your vehicle while reducing your monthly expenses, allowing you to either save money or pay off debt with greater expedience.

Practical Considerations:

Certainly, this is easier said than done. Once you’ve established the non-negotiables of your budget, it’s time to see what you’ve got leftover and what you can do with it. Even if you have relatively little, proper planning can help you attain necessary capital for a vacation. Funds for your trip could come from smart, short term budgeting for a weekend getaway. Or, perhaps you would like to explore luxury holidays to Iceland. A big trip means planning to the letter, budgeting until you have the means and then some, and making long term changes to your lifestyle.

If after you streamline your budget, you can only add an extra $200 to your expendable income, that is still $2,400 in a year; or enough for a pretty decent vacation. You might also find that budgeting paid off during your travel itself. If you travel abroad and have extra money left over, you could convert old currency to cash to put towards your next adventure.

While you are considering your travel budget, you might want to think about group travel to cut back costs on lodging. Vacation rental properties like those offered by christina lake rentals (or a similar option in the place you are traveling to) offer places with a maximum occupancy of eleven. The cost per night divided by a group of friends can result in huge savings for you. The same goes for the cost of practical necessities like rental cars and gas.

Transportation:

Another important thing to consider in your budget is your car itself. If you feel like you are constantly shelling out for repairs and a full tank isn’t getting you far, you might be due for an upgrade. A great first step is researching “preapproval car loan” to find dealerships near you where you know you can purchase from. You can also look into how much money you will get towards a better vehicle if you trade your car in. Newer models of cars are safer and more economic and can end up saving you money in the long run. Not to mention you will want a safe car when you are driving to your vacation destination!

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Budget wisely!

Avoiding Creature Comforts:

Still, this is a fairly ideal circumstance, and cutting down your monthly expenditures in terms of food and gas can be difficult. So, you must find ways that you can eliminate discretionary spending. You may be surprised at how many unnecessary things you buy. Don’t think about creature comforts, think about living at a bare minimum.

For $100, you can eat well for a month as an individual, should you be careful enough in purchasing and preparing your own meals. You can combine such a budget with EBT or food bank sustenance to increase the amount of food you have access to. You can additionally seek options beyond your income to help you acquire what you need.

You may be surprised to find what you actually qualify for, especially if you’re a low-income family, there may be support solutions out there for you. Here’s the AUS Benefits website; it can help you to see if you’re eligible for financial assistance in certain areas of life. Sometimes, this can come in the form of direct support or tax breaks.

Something else that can help you save money is where you choose to travel. You don’t have to stay in the highest dollar accommodations available. You may look for friends, relatives, or look for special offers such as these. There are also after-market type hotel situations which, though perhaps not ideal, can save you a few hundred dollars.

Although travel is a luxury, it can be more attainable with the above tips!

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Jun6

How To Organize Your Photography Portfolio

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How To Organize Your Photography Portfolio

Whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur snapper with ambition, it is sensible to have a portfolio of work that you can show clients, friends, and anyone else who shows an interest. These days, photography is mainly digital, so an online portfolio is the way to go, but even if you still develop your photographs the old-fashioned way, the same tips apply:

Quality Control:

The best thing about digital photography, is that you can take hundreds of photos in a very short time. The bad thing is, that you end up with thousands. Be honest: most of your photos are not worthy of a place in a portfolio. This is not to say that they are no good, but the whole point of creating a portfolio is that you are highlighting your very best work.

The first step in creating a portfolio is to curate your work. Go through your best shots and select the ones that you think are worthy of a place in your portfolio. Don’t just rely on your own judgment, as it will almost certainly be biased. Instead, ask a selection of people to choose their favorite shots based on artistic qualities and technical ability. The photos that make the grade should tick the right boxes for everyone.

Quality control isn’t just about your pictures itself but employing best practices at every shoot so you can continue to grow your portfolio. Come prepared to smile, be engaging, and have fun. Don’t forget backup equipment because nothing halts a photo shoot like technical problems. However, if you forget a spare film camera battery, it’s worth noting that many film cameras can still function, allowing you to take pictures even without a working light meter. Your clients have the potential to review you via word of mouth and online so you always want to put your best, most professional face forward.

Professional Portfolios:

If you are a professional photographer, or you have aspirations to become one, you need to organize your photos to fit your business model. For example, a Suffolk Wedding Photographer wouldn’t include images of edgy urban scenes, as clients are not going to be interested. Instead, he/she would make sure that there were plenty of wedding themed photos in the portfolio so potential clients know exactly what they are getting when they book the photographer.

Organize into Themes and Galleries:

Check out Virtualphotographystudio.Com to see how to organize your work into galleries. Themed galleries are very important, as they help clients and viewers find the images that they want to see.

Using our example of a wedding photographer, we might have separate galleries for couples’ shots, family portraits, and perhaps miscellaneous photos of kids, animals, and even wedding cakes. If you have several existing clients, you might choose to organize your work by the client rather than subject matter. This would be applicable to a fashion photographer. You could also organize by creative theme. For example, if you have a series of images of Tuscan villas or Canadian landscapes, add them in separate folders.

A portfolio needs to be easy to navigate. Use a main menu and sub-menus. The harder it is to find images, the more likely you are to lose a viewer.

Caption Images:

Images should be captioned with key details such as title, the year it was taken, etc. If you have an online portfolio, images also need an image tag so that search engines can identify what they are and include them in search results.

Choose the right portfolio design. There are many themes to choose from if you decide to create an online portfolio, so select the best one for your business model and impress the socks off of potential clients!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Jun6

English Factory Tennis Dress

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English Factory Tennis Dress

Hello!! My favorite thing about TJMaxx, other than their amazing prices, is that it gives you access to brands that you’ve never heard of or brands that are a bit out of your budget. Both of these go for the brand English Factory, which I discovered during an online shopping stint on TJ’s website. Upon inspection of English Factory’s own page, I saw that there was really nothing on there that I would be comfortable paying for, because all of their items were upwards of one hundred dollars. But, thirty five dollars for the beautiful, albeit a tad wrinkly dress seen below? I can swing that! Take a look:

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Before we go any further – yes, this dress has been ironed since these pictures have been taken! Lol!

I haven’t had much luck recently when it comes to finding some cute new dresses. And, with summer officially here, I was getting pretty desperate to find a lightweight dress or two to wear for work or play. And then, this English Factory beauty comes along and knocks me off of my feet. As soon as I saw this online, I loved it and I was completely confident that it would look awesome on me. And, obviously I was right. So much so, that out of the seven or eight items that I ordered, this dress is the only thing that I kept.

I love the quirky retro brickabrack detailing on this little number. It looks so sailor girl chic against the crisp, white cotton and I’ve never seen anything that looks like it before. The shape is also extremely flattering on me. The more structured top that turns into a flouncy skirt gives a unique silhouette – very different than every single piece of clothing in my wardrobe. And, the best thing about this dress, is that there is a slip built into the skirt so that your underwears don’t show through. Freaking SCORE.

My new English Factory dress doesn’t need much when it comes to styling an OOTD. A fun pair of platforms and one of my new Foley + Corinna purses are all I need to create a statement look!

How would you style this dress? What are some of your favorite, lesser known brands? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun5

“You Don’t Wash Your Hair?!”

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“You Don’t Wash Your Hair?!”

Hello!! So I have received many a request asking me to write about how I don’t wash my hair, so here it is. Bear in mind, that these are the results for my body. I can’t promise anything for anyone else, so please don’t get mad at me if a similar phenomenon doesn’t happen for your hair! Okay, with that disclaimer out of the way, here we go:

I began dyeing my hair when I was fifteen or so, and even at that age, I was a penny pincher. I would avoid washing my hair for as long as I could to keep the color looking fresh and sleek. But, it wasn’t until red became my staple color that I began thinking about what would happen if I just stopped washing my hair altogether.

Throughout my life, I never had problems with oily or greasy hair and never really experienced dandruff or dryness, either. My hair has always been very healthy, so it made the early stages of my no wash regime easy, because even after a week, my hair still remained nice and fresh. It was awesome.

I think that I was about seventeen when I began dyeing my hair red regularly, and it pissed me off when I would wash my hair and see the color literally washing down the drain. But, still, I was in high school and for fear of people thinking that I was weirder than I already was, I kept with my weekly washing routine. And, all of the while, my hair was just fine. No oil, no grease, no odor, nothing.

I maintained my week or so wash schedule for a while, but then, a new beauty revelation came out about four years ago – dry shampoo. So, you’re telling me, that there’s a product out there specifically made so that you don’t have to wash your hair?? Amazing!! For the next one or two months, dry shampoo became my best friend, and I worked my way up to just not washing my hair, period.

But, then, I noticed a few major character flaws with dry shampoo. It left my hair SO difficult so work with, it looked dusty, and I hated the baby powder smell. I also didn’t see the point in paying for it when my hair was doing fine without any products like that for years. So, I eliminated dry shampoo and washing in one foul swoop.

And, guess what? It was all okay. Even with using product in my hair daily and being a cigarette smoker, my hair has been so used to cleaning itself that it remains oil, grease, and odor free for an entire month. The only time that I get my hair wet now, is when I redye it monthly. And, even then, I only condition my hair because I am so anti shampoo.

I have literally been training my hair for this point in my life for seven years. And now, for a solid four of them, I haven’t been washing my hair at all. My hair is my crowning jewel and its vibrant red summarizes my personality and brand perfectly. And, with a wash free lifestyle, I get to keep my color looking freshly dyed until I need to touch up my roots. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Who else embraces a no wash lifestyle? Who is willing to try out something like that? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Featured Image By: Giphy

Jun4

You Don’t Have To Be A Suck Up To Get That Promotion

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You Don’t Have To Be A Suck Up To Get That Promotion

No one like that one person in the office that is always laughing way too hard at the boss’s joke or begging for extra work! Luckily, you don’t have to be that gal or guy to get where you need to be in your career. You can excel without being a suck up, just read the post below to find out how:

Actions speak louder than words:

One way to prove yourself worthy of a promotion and a position of responsibility is to let your actions speak for you. What this means is that you don’t waste your time handing out hollow compliments to people or playing the political game but, instead, keeping your head down and focusing on the work.

Then, you can demonstrate your focus, dedication, and commitment without having to do anything else. These are all qualities which any manager worth their salt will recognize as being top of the list when considering you for a promotion.

Educate:

Next, you certainly don’t have to suck up to get a promotion if you can prove that you have the necessary education and experience. One way to achieve this is to complete a specialized course like this electrical engineering degree online in your own time. Then, you can fit your studies around your current work commitments and get qualified for the promotion that you want. Studying in your field puts you in a great position for a promotion.

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Hit the books!

Of course, it’s also possible to enroll in courses that provide on the job training, that will set you up nicely for the role that you want. Yes, these may pay a little less in the short term, a consideration that is important if you have a family to support or bills to pay. However, such courses do have the advantage of providing practical experience as well as just book learning. Something that is often perceived as incredibly valuable by potential employers and those in a position to offer a promotion.

Lastly, do not forget the power of volunteering in your chosen field in your own time. This shows your dedication to the area and can provide you with the relevant experience that you need to climb the ladder.

Be your own person:

The temptation in a work environment is to become a yes person or join a group or clique for safety and security. However, sometimes being a part of a larger group can do more damage than good when it comes to landing that promotion that you are looking for.

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Pexels Image

Those in power may associate you with the group first and not judge you on your own individual merit. In fact, they can also be concerned that because of your loyalty and friendships within the company that you will provide favorable treatment to those that you are close to; that could compromise the running of the business.

To that end, it’s always best to be your own person as much as possible while at work, and don’t be afraid to speak out if you think something is a bad idea. Although, do remember to do this constructively with valid reasons. Otherwise, you risk being labeled as a complainer, and that certainly won’t be too good for your promotion prospects, either.

Being up for a promotion is a big deal, and following the above steps can help you land the spot that you’ve always dreamed of!

Jun4

NYX Lipstick Swatch In Indie Flick

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NYX Lipstick Swatch In Indie Flick

Helloooo! Today’s NYX lippie that we’re going to swatch is called Indie Flick. At first, I thought that purchasing this shade would be a good idea, because it does have hints of red in it. But, upon trying it on at home, I was gravely mistaken, because this color is straight up orange! Lol, check it out:

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I have always really liked the idea of orange lipstick, because it looks SO cute on the gals that can pull it off. But, unfortunately, Indie Flick is just too orange for me. If it were still a red color with orange undertones to it, maybe it would be a different story. But, it’s definitely an orange shade with a tiny smidgen of red thrown in for good measure.

Would a color like this look awesome with bright red hair and pasty pale skin? No, absolutely not. But, maybe – just maybe – a pale peach or something soft and sweet would look better, instead! I guess I’ll have to find a color like that and see what happens! 😀

Who here can rock an orange lip? What is your favorite brand of lipstick? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun3

NYX Lipstick Swatch In Shocking Pink

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NYX Lipstick Swatch In Shocking Pink

Hello everyone!! Back in the day, before I became a loyal red lipstick lover, I was all about experimenting with different lippie colors. But, now, I really only buy more reds or nudes, because I know that they will look good on me. With red hair, the pinks, purples, and the more out there colors all look a hot mess on me. So, I have a box full of lippies from my “let’s try every color ever” phase to swatch for you guys. And, now I present to you, Shocking Pink by NYX:

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Shocking Pink is definitely an appropriate name for this lippie, because this is PINK! But, to be more precise, I would call this fuchsia. 😉 Obviously, I would look like a clown in a color like this, but I can picture it looking SO stunning on someone with jet black hair. Shocking Pink has very cool blue undertones to it, so combining it with the sleekness of black hair would be really fabulous.

I used to think that I could get away with wearing any lipstick color, but I don’t think I ever even tried wearing this one. Shocking Pink looks like a really difficult color to pull off and I applaud anyone who can manage looking fantastic in a fuchsia lip!

Which color of lippie looks best on you? What are some lipstick colors that you would never wear? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun2

It’s In The Bag: Foley + Corinna Pt. 2 Edition

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It’s In The Bag: Foley + Corinna Pt. 2 Edition

As I was saying yesterday, my beautiful off white Foley + Corinna purse was so perfect that… I had to get it in black, too. *Face palm*

BUT LET ME EXPLAIN!!

As I admired myself with my white purse in the mirror at TJMaxx, I thought to myself “Boy, I sure hope that they don’t have this in another color”. I was so enamored with this bag, that if presented with it in a rainbow of colors, I would have bought every single one of them. But, luckily, TJs only had it in one other color, and it just so happened to be my favorite:

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Yeah… I bought it in black, too.

Finding this purse in black was like a kick in the gut and a complete brain blast all in one. I loved both of the colors so much and now I had to pick between the two?! I must have spent a solid half an hour at TJMaxx weighing in the pros and cons of each purse and each time I thought that I was making progress, something about the color that I was about to eliminate made me fall in love with it all over again. I was torn.

So, I guess it’s a good thing that my twenty-fourth birthday is coming up in five days because my mom pulled through in the clutch and offered to get me one of them for my b-day! How could I pass that up?! Was it necessary to get both colors of this bag? Absolutely not. But did I really, really want both? You have no idea. So, thanks to some birthday magic and a cool mom, I got to bring the only two of these purses in the store back home with me. HURRAY! 😀

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Have you ever bought anything in multiple colors? How has retail therapy helped you out during a tough time? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah