Mommy Chronicles: 1st Birthday on A Budget

 My little turned one at the beginning of the month and I can't be more surprised at how fast a whole year has flown by me. I truly understand the old adage "they grow up so fast" now more than ever. 

I've always been into planning things, being crafty, and finding new and exciting ways to stretch my budget so I was super excited to be able to arrange and execute my son's very first birthday successfully.

Might I warn you that planning a first birthday, or any birthday for that matter, is slightly overwhelming as a single mother.  Since I knew that I was pretty much in this alone, I began planning as early as September-setting deadlines, writing out the menu, thinking of a theme, and creating the invite list. 

I went with a 'Rainbow Theme' full of bright, primary colors in order to eliminate having to search all over for specifics. The invite was customized by Styles With Charm and printed at Office Max. 

The cake was homemade by a local small business owner. (I'm all about supporting small business lately by the way). The same person made the cake for my baby shower last year. You can see that cake here. Let me tell you, this lady puts her whole foot in her cakes. Not only are they beautifully made, but the taste and consistency is perfection. Visit her FB page here if you are local. 

The balloons were a big hit. They brought extra pizazz to the room and my Bubby absolutely loved tugging on them throughout the party. It's amazing how the simplest things can bring so much joy to little ones. 

The balloons actually bring me to my first Budget Party Planning tip: To cut down on expenses, have each of your immediate family members, god mommies, and/or aunties be responsible for bringing an item for the party. This will also cut down on some of the last minute party errands for Mommy. For example, for our party the cutlery, balloons, tablecloths, and a few other items were provided by family members. 

And speaking of budget tips, check out the high chair that my Mother thrifted for 10 bucks at a yard sale. By any means necessary we will remain 'Thrifty and Shameless'!

The gift table was one of my favorites. I decorated it with a Welcome Sign, a fun, personalized one year statistics chart customized by Inky Invite, and a photo from his most recent photo shoot with Erica Nicole Imagery. I decorated it using colorful DIY confetti circles and numbers that I cut using an Ellis machine. The cardstock was actually left over from a DIY project that I did for my baby shower last December. 

Enough of the good stuff. Everything that could go wrong, went ALL THE WAY wrong on the day of the party. For starters, I wasn't given clear instructions on how to gain entrance into the clubhouse that I had rented so I got started with setup super, duper late.  

Budget Party Planning Tip: if you must rent a location for your party make certain to rent a place with a refundable deposit. That way a portion of your monies will be returned to you provided you don't trash the place. 

These girls saved my sanity. You know you have true friends when you don't have to tell them you're in need, they just show up-ready to help, hug, and listen to you vent. I love these two in ways that can't be explained.

Here are some of the other decorations. Everything here was customized by Sweet Scarlet Designs. The candy jars were purchased from Dollar Tree and the rainbow popcorn boxes were $.99 for a pack of 5 at Party City. The Rice Krispie Treats were another DIY project. The treats, candy, and popcorn were free after the coupons that I used.

Bubby absolutely enjoyed every part of the event. He was truly the life of the party. He had a ball getting loved on by everyone, showing his latest dance moves, and playing peek-a-boo with all of us. 

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful family. 

Happy 1st Birthday Bubby. Mommy and Daddy love you!!

I would love to hear from other Mommies about your birthday party experiences. 

Thank You for reading!

XOXOXOXO

Red Carpet Recap: Best and Worst Dressed at the American Music Awards

Happy Monday everyone. 

I hope all of you had a nice, peaceful weekend. 

I spent time with my little love bug, preparing for his upcoming birthday and doing some things for my boutique. I was also able to catch a glimpse of the Red Carpet coverage for the American Music Awards which aired on E! TV. 

I love awards show season-the red carpet fashion in particular. For this post, I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary for the blog-a Best and Worst Dressed Recap. 

I must say that I wasn't extremely thrilled by any of the fashion this season but here's my list anyhow. 

Among the Best Dressed...

My top 3 were....

Giuliana Rancic-this asymmetric Alex Perry number was EVERYTHING!!

Jhene Aiko-pretty, pretty

Jessie J-because this is one flawless white pantsuit!

And on to the Worst Dressed of the evening...

Heidi Klum-this is such a disappointment seeing as how she is the top judge on Project Runway. I'm sorry Heidi, but "you are out"!

Uzo Aduba-her stylist should be fired immediately. Everything about this is a NO!

Frankie Grande-he is NOT serious, is he!?

Who made your best/worst dressed list last night?

I can't wait to hear from you. 

Thanks for reading.

XOXOXOXO

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Thrifty and Shameless Find: Dana Buchman Leather

Happy Monday my loves. 

It's time to talk about my 'Thrifty and Shameless' find of the week. 

As an avid thrifter and boutique owner I love it when I stumble across things that are new with the tags still attached.

For instance, this great Dana Buchman Bustier...

I found it at a Goodwill shop in South Carolina last summer for a whopping $2.99. Might I add that Charleston, SC has some AMAZING Goodwill stores. 

Anyhow, this was the only item I scored at this particular Goodwill that I visited and I was OK with that. This bustier was so extremely soft. As soon as I saw the $350 price tag I knew it would resell for a decent amount. 

I actually let this sit for so long that I forgot about it. When I put it up for sale, it sold in less than 3 days. I felt like shooting myself in the foot because I only listed it for $40 when I should've listed it in the upper $100's. Oh well, you live and you learn. There will be much more awesome finds to be had. so I will make sure to capitalize on those. After all, I'm still trying to get the hang of everything. 

What kind of thrifting/reselling mistakes have you made in the past?

Please feel free to visit the shop, like and follow on Facebook and Instagram, and stay tuned for awesome deals and daily updates.

My inventory gets posted first on Ebay, then I move on to Instagram, Vinted, and FB groups. I usually post new things on Sunday and Thursday give or take a day or two. 

If you have specific styling questions or concerns leave them in the comments section or email me directly at missrockwellsracks@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope to fulfill your styling needs somewhere in the near future. 

As always, Thank You for reading. 

Thrifty and Shameless Finds: Hot Sellers

Happy Monday everyone!

If you're just visiting my blog, welcome! I have recently begun to dedicate Monday's to my shop, Miss Rockwells Racks. Here is where I will share my finds, tips, and overall experiences as a boutique owner/reseller/thrift flipper. 

Today, I wanted to chime in about some of the items I've found that were super hot sellers for me.

Shoes and fur!!!

I absolutely love finding new shoes as they almost always sell. Some take longer than others but they will go. Faux fur seems to sell a bit faster for me but for a fraction of the cost of real fur obviously. Different colors do extremely well.  

$7-SOLD for $37

$4.98-SOLD for $23

$8-SOLD for $50

$10.88-SOLD for $33

$5-SOLD for $47

$7.50-SOLD for $25

Total Investment: $43.36

Total Sales: $215.00

Net Profit: $67.34 (after fees and shipping) 

$11.22 per item

As I shared in my last Thrifty and Shameless Finds post, I wanted to begin this series by backtracking to some of the things that I have sold previously whether on eBay, Facebook, or Instagram. All of the aforementioned items were sold in the latter part of 2012/beginning of 2013 when I had just started to get my feet wet with selling online. I hadn't yet designated a specific area of my house for picture taking so please excuse the fussiness of my backgrounds. In addition, I don't have screenshots of the eBay listings because at the time they sold I wasn't even thinking to blog about it.  Might I also add that in my beginning stages I had no idea about shipping and getting the best rates, so my profit margins sucked back then. 

That's it for this week. I'm still fairly new at everything so as time goes on and sales begin to get better I will share more than once a week. 

Please feel free to visit the shop, like and follow on Facebook and Instagram, and stay tuned for awesome deals and daily updates.

My inventory gets posted first on Ebay, then I move on to Instagram, Vinted, and FB groups. I usually post new things on Sunday and Thursday give or take a day or two. 

If you have specific styling questions or concerns leave them in the comments section or email me directly at missrockwellsracks@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope to fulfill your styling needs somewhere in the near future. 

I hope you enjoyed my segment. 

Thanks for reading.

XOXOXOXO

Fall Favorites: Vests & Fringes

Happy Wednesday my loves.

Just wanted to drop in with a quick style post.

Vests and Fringe are two of my most coveted wardrobe staples this season.

The stylist in me just had to share 3 looks that I would rock with these trends.

Fall Favorites: Vests & Fringes by sherockwell featuring a layered skirt

Sleeve shirt / Aéropostale longsleeve shirt / Uniqlo slim shirt / Waistcoat vest / Slim vest / Morgan faux vest, / Layered skirt / Topshop destroyed boyfriend jeans / Emilio Pucci flare leg pants / Aquazzura suede fringe boots, / Charlotte russe boots / Liberty Black ankle cowgirl boots / Atmos Here cluster necklace / Beading necklace / Ball jewelry

How are you ladies wearing your favorite trends this season?

I can't wait to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

XOXOXOXO

Thrifty and Shameless Finds: Vol 1

Hello my loves!

I am soooo excited to be blogging once again. I've had a million and one things going on but all of it brought me back to my first love of writing (blogging). I've been battling with myself about what direction I wanted to take with the blog-beating my brain up because I felt that I should choose one thing and focus on it but then I decided against that because my life is so diverse-hence the reason this is a lifestyle blog. 

In case you all didn't know, I've been running an online boutique for upwards of a year now. My shop, Miss Rockwells Racks, specializes in bringing you your favorite name brands and designers for a fraction of the cost. Currently I'm on Instagram as well as Facebook. I also sell on Vinted, Poshmark, and Ebay. I'm truly passionate about fashion and I do believe that I find good enough deals wherein I'm able to offer my customers a great price while still making a decent profit for myself. 

Once a week I want to dedicate a post to the exciting things that I've found/sold in the shop. And that is why I'm so excited to be blogging again today. 

For the first couple of installments I will be posting old things that have been in the shop just to give you an idea of my style and the types of things I like to look for when I shop. I tend to focus on the more trendy, smaller size items just because there are already so many vintage sellers out there already. Trendy sells too-maybe not as fast as larger sized, more unique pieces but it sells all the same. 

I thought this Roxy brand colorblock sundress was everything. It was brand new with tags and a size XL. The cutouts on the back and sides instantly drew me in. It sold less than 24 hours after it was posted.  Only $22. 

I originally purchased this romper for myself. See how I styled it here. As you can see, I'm a sucker for prints and details. This ruffle sleeve had me at hello. This baby sat in the shop for quite some time before it sold on Vinted for $15. 

These wedges are so different. They were an online return at one of my favorite places to source so I got them for a steal. They sold less than an hour after I posted them in The Frugal Stop Shop. $22

I had these new Ralph Lauren gingham rain boots in inventory for over a year before they sold. I just knew that people would jump all over these but they didn't. They were a size 6 so maybe that's why it took so long for them to go. Nevertheless, they finally went for $35 on Vinted. 

Lastly, this bow front gingham cocktail dress had me swooning. Surprisingly this also sat in inventory for over a year before someone on Vinted grabbed it up. Only $15.

That concludes Vol 1 of my favorites thus far. 

Please feel free to visit the shop, like and follow on Facebook and Instagram, and stay tuned for awesome deals and daily updates.

My inventory gets posted first on Ebay, then I move on to Instagram, Vinted, and FB groups. I usually post new things on Sunday and Thursday give or take a day or two. 

If you have specific styling questions or concerns leave them in the comments section or email me directly at missrockwellsracks@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope to fulfill your styling needs somewhere in the near future. 

I hope you enjoyed my segment. 

Thanks for reading.

XOXOXOXO

Mommy Chronicles: Toothbrush Skills 101

One of the very first things I notice about anyone I meet is their smile. How good are your 'mouth skills'? I believe good oral hygiene is a determining factor to what type of person you are. Your mouth speaks VOLUMES about you-every ounce of pun intended! Seriously, if I can't trust you to take care of your own teeth, then I wouldn't trust you with my life and therefore our dealings will be few and far between. Because one thing about me is that I can't stand a bad mouthpiece. 

As a Mother, it is highly important for me to instill good oral hygiene practices as soon as the opportunity arises. Which is the exact reason for today's post.

Bubby received his first teeth about 2-3 weeks ago. The bottom two. They literally came through overnight! I've heard so many horror stories about teething but honestly besides a few grunts and endless gnawing on everything, my little took teething like a champ.

 

As soon as his teeth grew in all the way I immediately ran to grab his first toothbrush and paste set. Well, it didn't technically come as a set because I had to purchase them separately but I made sure they were both the same Aquafresh brand. No thriftiness here because Bubby is the only person I will pay full price for-but that's besides the point.

Gosh, it's so stinking cute isn't it? 

I always attempt to brush my teeth in front of him if he is awake, otherwise I will just explain to him what we are doing as I brush for him. Our conversations usually center around the fact that all the pretty little girls love when handsome little boys have clean teeth and fresh breath. I know it's a little early for all that but it's the truth.

The first couple of times we attempted our toothbrushing routine, I guided Bubby along...

Now, he likes to grab the toothbrush and do it himself. I'm thankful that he's such a quick learner and I'm hoping that my need to instill these values early will pay off in the long run with a bright smile and beautiful, clean teeth.

Mommies, how early did you begin brushing your littles' teeth?  And if you began early has it proven to pay off for those of you who have older children?

I can't wait to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

XOXOXOXO

How To Achieve Postpartum Abs featuring The Flex Belt®

**Product sample provided by The Flex Belt®**

I will admit that the first thought that crossed my mind when I found out that I was pregnant was my body, which I had worked so hard to keep in tact. I'm no health nut...nor am I a gym rat but I really do have an affinity for weight training and toning.  Before my little man got here it was easy for me to go to the gym at a moments notice-after work, super early in the morning, or as spontaneous as I felt necessary. Now, that moments notice is not so easy to act upon. Long gone are the days of hitting the gym. And since I have absolutely zero ounces of discipline, I don't work out at home either. 

Up until recently I had unfortunately began to accept the fact that what was left of my baby bump would forever remain. And then...I opened my email to correspondence from a Flex Belt representative asking me if I would like to sample and review their product. Ummm...YES, YES, and YES!!

The product arrived super quick and when I took it out of the box I immediately envisioned my baby bump troubles floating swiftly away!!!

The Flex Belt® is the first of its kind cleared by the FDA for toning, strengthening and firming the ab muscles. It tones and strengthens your stomach muscles using medical grade Electronic Muscle Stimulation to provide a perfect workout.  

The best and my MOST favorite part about The Flex Belt is the convenience of it. For a busy mom such as myself, convenience is everything I need in life!! This device allows me to get a "concentrated ab workout" while doing my everyday household activities.  

The unit has 10 different workout programs to choose from and the controller allows you to increase/decrease the intensity level of your workout as needed.  

There is a 30-Day Plan included in the instruction manual and that is what I will be following for the next month. Since I've only been using the belt for a few days, I don't have noticeable results yet but I absolutely can't wait for these abs to be toned once again. 

If you're interested in this program, it's super easy to purchase and really inexpensive considering its effectiveness. If not for yourself, the Flex Belt makes an awesome gift as both men and women can benefit from its use.  Just click here to start your hand free journey to terrifically toned abs. 

Follow my Facebook and/or my Instagram as I will be posting updates about the program there. 

Thanks for reading. 

XOXOXOXO