Saturday, December 31, 2011

Traditional Champagne Cocktail

Major Baggage wishes you and yours a wonderful New Year filled with many Fun Finds, Must-Haves and "A-Ha" Moments!
Thank you for following me on my creative journey ~ I look forward to sharing much more in 2012!!
Cheers!   
Traditional Champagne Cocktail (click here for recipe)

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Holiday Decor Favorites

I can't believe how fast another Holiday Season has gone by!  This year was very fun and festive with several new elements added to my decoration collection.  It's sad when the time comes to start packing away all the decor, so I've decided that a few items from the past weeks can remain through the Winter months ahead:
Ornamental Kale - love the texture.  These are a great, inexpensive way to add life to your garden and pottery during the cold months ahead.
Cinnamon scented pine cones - I stocked up on these for the holidays.  Place them by the front door so you get a delicious sniff as you and guests arrive to you home.  They are on sale at 50% or more off at many of your home & garden stores.
Love this glittery vintage garland - I'll be leaving this up through February.
A pretty little Champagne station on the buffet - Fun to have always have ready for any impromptu gatherings in addition to New Year's Eve!
Wine bottle toppers - love the sparkle... We could always use a little "Cheers!"

Friday, December 23, 2011

Easy Cherry Cobbler

As promised, below is a super easy and equally delicious dessert that you can make in a pinch!  A dear friend turned me onto this recipe for a Cherry pie filling, walnuts and yellow cake crumble and hope she doesn't mind if I claim it as a top ten on my list of baking "Must-Haves"!  I followed this recipe (click here) made some substitutions and skipped the lemon juice...


Delicious with vanilla ice cream, no doubt and I'm also inclined to drizzle a little Fleur de Sel (sea salt) Caramel sauce next time around, too.  Enjoy!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas Manicure

Finally made it in for a long overdue manicure and I was overwhelmed with the gazillion shades of red polish!  I usually like to go with an orangie red (shown here), but then decided on the eenie-meenie-mynie-moe game (who knows if I spelled this right!) and came up with a deeper, traditional shade that was aptly named "Forever Young" which is exactly how I feel this time of year.
From Essie's 2008 Winter Collection... A nice tomato hue of red.
What's your red recommendation?

Holiday Makeup Sets

I'm telling you, NOW is the time to visit Sephora if you are in need of some lovely gifts for the ladies in your life that deserve some fun pampering.  They have tons of lip gloss and nail polish sets that are ideal for breaking apart into a handful of little stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and even as little party favors!  Below are some of my finds and some ideas for packing as gifts:
Sephora & OPI have teamed up to offer this great set of 18 mini polishes in all the current colors - for $48 this actually means 9 little gifts when packaged perfectly with a special touch of Holiday cheer...
A Chinese take-out container is the perfect box to hold a couple mini polishes and a sparkly holiday ornament.
This set of highly coveted Stila lip glaze has 8 shimmery shades - I'm thinking of breaking apart and using each as an enticing gift topper.
The Smashbox gloss set had six amazing shades for $24... This is perfect as an added bonus tucked into a small makeup bag as a gift for your favorite teen girl :-)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Etsy Find!

I've been looking for an accessory that would look great with a strapless dress that is different from traditional jewelry.  Of course EVERYTHING creative can be found on Etsy.com and now my latest must-haves are these great faux collars by lovesexton

Adorable for dressing up a basic tee!


Faux leather for a bit of edge.
And of course a bit of shimmer!
Wishing you a wonderful week!