Not Your Basic Invite: Truly Custom Online Holiday Cards & Stationery

When it comes to sharing life's moments, both big and small, nothing beats sending a card or note the old-fashioned way — by hand or through the mail. Nowadays, everything is digital and seemingly shared with the world, so it's nice to create something personalized that you can not only hold in your hand, but hold on to.

That's why I really like Basic Invite, a website I recently discovered that offers completely customizable invitations, announcements and stationery. You can change the colors on every card design with more than 180 different color options (and foil, too!) and instantly preview it online, so you can see exactly how the final product will look. Plus, you can choose from more than 40 different colors of peel and seal envelopes, so your special delivery stands out from the moment you drop it in the mail. Basic Invite is also one of the few websites that allows you to order a printed sample of your custom card, so you can see and touch it before you place your final order.

The holidays are coming up fast and Basic Invite has you covered with more than 500 Christmas card and holiday card designs, including custom Halloween party invitations, online holiday cards and Christmas card ideas. They also have some useful items for sports fans. I love how easy it is to edit text and change colors on their designs, and be able to see a proof right away. I experimented with some of them to give you an idea of the fun, creative things you can do with Basic Invite.

Watch Party Invitation

This football-themed invitation can be easily customized for your next watch party! 

Thanksgiving Invitation

If you're having people over for Thanksgiving this year, get their attention with the things that matter most — food and football! The word "football" on this Thanksgiving invite was originally "pie," but with a few quick clicks, I made it a little more personal for my pretend guests. :)

Recipe Cards

I'm constantly cutting recipes out of magazines to file away in my recipe box, but some recipes (like the one for my mom's sugar cookies) deserve to be written out and preserved in a more formal way. These Recipe Cards can be instantly downloaded and filled out in Adobe Acrobat, so you don't have to hand write them. Then just print and re-use the handy printable as many times as you want to build your beautiful new recipe library!

Stationery (vertical, horizontal)

If your team colors happen to be your favorite colors, you can customize any of Basic Invite's stationery templates to match! I created a couple of examples, one featuring my USF Bulls' green and gold, and the other with the New York Giants' royal blue, red and grey.

Sports-Themed Birthday Invitation

This is a no-fuss, just fun invitation for a sports-themed kids' birthday party. This one is for baseball fans, but you can easily customize the watch party invitation above for football fans.

Giveaway Alert! I really want you to try out Basic Invite, so I've partnered with them to give away a $35 credit to use on their website toward ANYTHING you want. Enter below and stay tuned — the winner will be announced Monday, Sept. 24.

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P.S. Basic Invite is also offering 30% off with coupon code: holi30. Have fun customizing! :)

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Basic Invite. All opinions regarding their products and services are my own.

Official Review: Maybelline's The City Mini Eyeshadow Palette

Confession: I have a serious weakness for eye shadow palettes. No matter how many I collect, there's something so irresistible about a bunch of pretty, shimmery pots of color arranged together. It just screams, YOU NEED ME and I eventually agree (almost) every time. This kind of weakness can get expensive, though, with many palettes costing $40+, so when I came across The City Mini Eyeshadow Palette by Maybelline, I was intrigued. At less than $10, this compact palette packs a powerful punch with a set of complementary matte and shimmery colors that mix and match for a variety of looks.

The Urban Jungle set caught my eye because it has all the shades a USF Bulls fan needs with greens and golds a plenty! I've found many drugstore brand eye shadows too good to be true — they may be affordable, but you get what you pay for in terms of pigment and wearability. However, this palette pleasantly surprised me in both areas, so much so that I bought a second one (Rooftop Bronzes). As long as you wear an eye shadow primer (my go-to is Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion), you get fierce color that lasts all day. I highly recommend picking up a few of these if you need some basic color palettes to round out your makeup collection! Plus, they're the perfect size for traveling.

Shop all the palettes on Amazon here.

Have you tried Maybelline's The City Mini Eyeshadow Palette? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought!

Giveaway: Back to Football!

It's the most wonderful time of the year — for football fans! I'm so excited to see and hear college football on TV again and I'm busy dreaming up new gameday outfit ideas. To celebrate the return of my favorite sport, I'm giving away something every football fan girl needs in her closet: a stylish stadium-approved clear purse in your choice of NCAA team, pending availability. :) Enter below this weekend and stay tuned — the winner will be announced Monday, September 3.

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Are you excited that football is back? Leave me a comment and let me know who you're rooting for this season!